If you thought vacuum cleaners were boring, think again. LG has strapped two of its cordless vacs to the back of extreme climber Blair-Coyle who scaled a glass skyscraper using their suction alone to stay attached. The LG CordZero Sierra vacuum uses lithium-ion battery power so could be used wirelessly as a suction aid. One was used for each hand, and strapped in feet, as Blair scaled the building wearing the retrofitted unit on her back. The apparently fearless Blair stopped halfway up the 140-metre, 33-story tower for a vacuum system swap-out to keep juiced up with battery power. The vacuum, says LG, can manage a full 40-minutes of power thanks to its 80V battery. Blair reached the top in under 30-minutes suggesting the vacuums may have been overclocked to kick out a bit more power than usual. Of course all the necessary safety precautions were taken meaning she was roped up should a vacuum cut out. But it looks like the LG CordZero Sierra vacuums are made of some seriously tough stuff and kept her attached.

The Smart Inverter Motor is on average 28 per cent smaller, 24 per cent lighter and 13 per cent more efficient that conventional vacuum motors, says LG. READ: LG RoboSense CordZero will stalk you like a creepy vacuum cleaner Item model number: VC3316NNT Date first available at Amazon.in: 19 July 2014 Average Customer Review: Be the first to review this item #1,53,636 in Home & Kitchen (See Top 100 in Home & Kitchen)Last year I bought a LG Hombot Square robot vacuum cleaner. After 3 months of use I'm still very satisfied. But now it's time to bring this device to the next level. After spending some time on Google I found that the LG vHomBot Square 3.0 has a different name in other countries.One of the topics describes how you can add WiFi functions to the HomBot. (after translating the text, the last German school class dates from 15 years ago...). So to help English speaking readers I translated the text and added some pictures and videos so you can add WiFi to your own HomBot (or whatever it is named in your country...).

Disclaimer: Be aware that all these steps are at your own risk! There will be no support from LG and may void your warranty. For the firmware hack to work you must run at least firmware version 11128. It is recommended to upgrade the firmware to the latest available (at the time of writing version 13865). You can download the firmware at the LG website. The user firmware update guide describes the process to upgrade to the latest firmware. Because the HomBot isn't equiped with a WiFi module we need to add a WiFi USB dongle. You can't just use any dongle, the following chipsets are supported by the kernel; - rt8192 (WPA/WPA2 + hidden SSID) - rt5380 (no encryption available) - rt3070 (no encryption available) - rt3370 (no encryption available) I've bought a TP-Link TL-WN823N witch features a rt8192cu chipset. This dongle is priced around € 11,00 ($ 9,99) and easy to get. Media Markt NL: http://www.mediamarkt.nl/mcs/product/TP-LINK-TL-WN823N-USB-WiFI-adapter,10259,482736,457561.html?langId=-11

Now its time to prepare a USB thumb drive. This drive needs to be at least 64MB. Now you can use the thumb drive to install the WiFi functions (and custom webserver) on the HomBot. Follow the these steps;bissell vacuum carpet cleaner In the video below you can see the above process on my own HomBotbest vacuum cleaner for stairs uk It is recommended to update the webserver after the initial installation. where to buy hitachi vacuum cleaner bags So now you have a LG HomBot with WiFi and an embedded webinterface, but what can you do? Here's an overview of the different webpages. On the home tab you can review the current state of the HomBot. Like battery level, cpu usage, current working state.

Also you can send commands to the HomBot to start cleaning, pause or go to the home station. On the tab you can specify an alternative cleaning schedule. By default the HomBot can only be scheduled at the same time every day, now you can schedule different times and modes on different days. This tab shows information about the current version and the author of the webinterface. This page is for geeks (like myself 🙂 ), it will show you how many times the HomBot has start cleaning and bumps into obstacles. Here you can see the map of the last three cleaning cycles. This is the service tab where you can update the webinterface as seen before in paragraph Update Webserver If you want you can connect to the remote console of the HomBot by ssh. Use a ssh client (for Windows I recommend Putty) to connect to the console. The username and password; I want to thank "herluf" and "fx2" from the Roboter-forum for creating these modifications. Non of the above is made by me, only the English translation.

In a next post I will show you how you can connect the HomBot to a domotica system. Samsung vs LG 4K TVs (CES) The CES technology show in Las Vegas is under way and that means a whole host of shiny new televisions from the big brands, including Samsung and LG. These South Korean heavyweights, the top TV names in the world, are both touting 4K sets with support for High Dynamic Range (HDR). But they’re championing two different screen technologies in a story that heralds a battle for the future of TV. Bookmark our CES 2016 news hub for all the latest news, views and hands-on videos from the Which? team at the show. Also, follow the @whichtech Twitter feed to send us your requests and questions. Best Buy TVs – the TVs that aced our tests in the Which? LG bets the house on OLED in Las Vegas LG’s CES booth is filled with impressive-looking LED 4K TVs, but what stands out more is the firm’s focus on OLED displays. While other brands are just tipping their toe into the OLED market, LG has a range of new OLED sets coming in 2016, across B6, C6, E6 and the flagship G6 ranges – most with support for 4K Ultra HD resolution.

Leading the OLED range is the G6, which has the headline-grabbing feature of a ridiculously thin screen – coming in at 2.57mm thick for the OLED screen unit and around 5mm overall when you add the translucent backplate. The back itself can be customised with an overlay, such as flower prints, though we question whether many people really care about the back of their TVs. You do, however, get a neat stand that doubles as a 4.2 channel sound bar. The G6 is a 4K TV that supports HDR content (see more on that technology in the video below). It comes in 65-inch and 77-inch versions, and both will no doubt cost a pretty penny. LG says it will have more affordable OLED sets and while we’re probably not talking under £1,000, they’ll be comparable with premium LED models. LG is investing billions in OLED production and really believes this technology, which doesn’t need a backlight and can achieve greater black levels than LED, is where the TV market is going.

What is HDR TV? Samsung banks on LED Although Samsung has released OLED TVs in the past, it is focusing on LED-backlit LCD sets for the moment. That’s because the firm believes that it can achieve almost OLED-like black levels and pictures with its latest SUHD TV range (and no, we’re still not 100% sure what the ‘S’ stands for). Samsung’s, top-end model, the KS9500 features Quantum Dot Technology, which has actually been around for a few years now. This uses a layer of nanocrystals in front of the backlight that charge for the TV to display more vibrant colours and Samsung claims it has improved the recipe for 20165 to make it work even more effectively. The KS9500 has a 10-bit panel that supports a wider colour gamut, plus it can reach up to 1,000 nit brightness, meaning it has the capacity to display much brighter pictures than a standard LED set. Samsung also claims that it has improved its local dimming technology, so that there’s less leakage of light into darker areas, creating – in theory at least – black areas that can rival OLED (though that are never quite as black).

The display’s additional brightness is also potentially key with the HDR film and TV content that’s on the way from streaming services and broadcasters. Elsewhere, the Samsung is claimed to have a wide viewing angle, meaning the picture shouldn’t lose colour and contrast accuracy when watched at an angle, another key strength of OLED TVs. Samsung vs LG 4K TVs – Which? Samsung still hasn’t got behind OLED in the same way as LG and clearly feels LED technology has plenty more legs in the near term. I’ve got my money as OLED as the future of, though. The impressive display tech delivers a really fantastic picture quality, while the super-slim designs – possible because you don’t need a backlight (as with LED sets) – are often stunning. However, if LG wants to ween consumers off affordable and high quality LED televisions it will need to quickly drop the price point of OLED to something that most people can afford. Andy Laughlin – Which?