We all know that it can be a real challenge to wake up in the mornings. If loud alarm clocks do not do the trick, people... meet the Tyrant alarm clock.

As its namesake, the Tyrant alarm clock forces its owner to wake up with an ingeniously cruel method. Either wake up within 3 minutes or face sheer humiliation.

A picture is worth a thousand words. Therefore, a video is worth a... uhm... well, you do the math. To have a visual understanding on how air conditioners work, here are 2 videos from YouTube:

1. How Air Conditioners Work
2. How Inverter Air Conditioners Work

When looking at advertisements of inverter air conditioners (read more about inverters), one might find terms like R22 and R410A are being used. R22 and R410A are terms referring to the type of air con refrigerant. Now you must be thinking... why does the type of air con refrigerant matter?

Well, it matters whether the air conditioner uses R22 or R410A because:

1. there is an effect on the environment
2. and more importantly (for many of us), there is a price difference!

If you are shopping for an air conditioner these days, you will likely come across two different types of air conditioners, namely non inverter models and the newer inverter models. One may ask, what is this thing that they call inverter?

The blog, Singapore Air Con, Salesman and Me, has an article demystifying the differences between non inverter and inverter air conditioners.

Go and give it a read.

Besides that, AsiaOne has an article entitled: Why no savings from inverter air-conditioner?

Also see:
Know Your Air Con: R22 and R410A
YouTube Videos on How Air Conditioners and Inverters Work

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No... it's INVISIBLE GRILLE!

Wait, if it is invisible, what are we looking at?

Jokes aside, Invisible Grille is an unique product by Bright Future Enterprise. Here in Malaysia, putting up grilles in our homes is like a necessity. Bright Future Enterprise must have thought if we have to cage ourselves up, it would be a good idea to make the 'cage' invisible.

Ah! Looks like ICI Paints Malaysia has finally revamp its website. The new look site is now more informative and easier to navigate.

The products page is now updated with all the latest range of paints (interior, exterior, woods, high performance paint etc.).

Here's something non-renovation related. If you thought a revolving restaurant like the one in the KL Tower was cool, wait until you read about a skyscraper that can revolve each floor!

New York-based architect David Fisher's Dynamic Group has announced plans to build an 80-storey Dynamic Tower in Dubai which they call the 'world's first building in motion'. This shape shifting skyscraper will be 420 meters (1,380 feet) tall. For comparison, the 88 storey Kuala Lumpur Twin Towers (KLCC) is 452.0 meters (1,482.9 feet) tall.

The humble flower pot used to be a boring affair. Things are changing though. First, we saw an intelligent pot with a LCD screen. Now, here comes a flower pot that glows in the dark! And its eco friendly to boot.