wall-mounted

The holy grail of adhesives?

UMass is not the first institution to look to the gecko and its remarkable powers of adhesion. A team from Berkeley announced a gecko-inspired nonskid surface back in 2006. "I can list maybe 20 other people" heading up similar work, says UMass researcher Al Crosby.

Most of that work, however, has focused on the hair on the bottom of the gecko's feet. Called setae, these hairs are only part of the reason why the gecko, among other species, can use adhesion to move along walls and ceilings.

"In order for something this large to use adhesion," Crosby says, "its tendons are stitched right into its skin. And so you have the tendon, which is very stiff tissue, connected to the skin and the setae. That direct connection is critical. Without that, the gecko could not use adhesion. This direct integration is what we ended up mimicking in Geckskin.… Read more

When it comes to speakers, thin is in

British speaker manufacturer KEF is now offering a range of superthin (less than 1.5 inches deep) flat-panel speakers designed to look great mounted next to flat-screen TVs. The T Series speakers all feature a radically new ultralow profile bass/midrange driver and a new tweeter. Designing audiophile-grade skinny speakers isn't easy, but KEF might be able to pull it off.

The T Series models all feature KEF's Selecta-Mount system, which automatically adjusts the speaker's frequency response to compensate for how and where the loudspeaker is mounted. The idea is to produce a consistent tonal balance, for on-wall and in-room speaker placement. The T-Series speakers' thin driver technology was developed using finite element analysis (FEA) computer modeling. … Read more

How to wall-mount your iPad

We've seen a nonstop parade of cases, docks, and stands for Apple's iPad tablet, but one configuration we would have thought would be a natural is mounting it on a wall. After all, the iPad offers many useful widget-like apps, requires no separate keyboard or mouse, has a large bright screen that can be seen across the room, connects to data wirelessly, and--most importantly--has a long-running battery that can display useful info all day long without recharging.

We trekked down to our local hole-in-the-wall hardware store and picked up a handful of plastic hooks from the 3M Command … Read more

Ultraslim wall mounts let HDTVs kiss the wall

Nowadays, it's not just about skinny HDTVs, it's also about similarly thin accessories for these panels. Take the latest Sanus Super Slim wall-mounting brackets, which enable an HDTV to be installed less than an inch away from the wall. They come in two flavors: the ML11-B1 for 26 to 46 inches/110 pounds and the L11-B1 for 37 to 65 inches/165 pounds.

Besides horizontal and vertical adjustments, these Sanus brackets offer quick release and ClickStand functions. The former unlocks the TV from the bracket easily, while the latter lifts the panel to deliver 3.08 inches of … Read more

Porsche Design has some hang ups

If you think that I've been blogging heavily on Porsche Design-inspired kitchen gadgets lately, then you'd be right. I can't get enough of the cool designs and brushed aluminum look of their line of housewares. But I've saved the best for last in the trifecta of Porsche Design kitchen gadgets with this wall-mounted kitchen scale.

If you've read enough of my other posts (it's all right if you haven't, we can still be friends), then you'll know that I live in a space-challenged apartment in Brooklyn. OK, by Brooklyn standards, it's … Read more

Father's Day Plasmas/LCDs

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Anyone who flipped through the ads in the Sunday Paper would have seen SO many gadgets being pushed for Dads & Grads. There was an underlying guilt that surged through me as i flipped through them over breakfast... I only got my dad a book... and a card. Was i supposed to have gotten him a new phone? laptop? digicam? TV? And then suddenly I was lost browsing the many options of 30-60" plasmas and lcds... 720p vs 1080p... so, I gave up and went and chatted with my … Read more