In this week’s SmartHome roundup, we’ll be doing something a little different than what we’ve featured in recent weeks – instead of apps and services that are all about home security, we’ll be looking at automation solutions for furniture, windows and more.

Stained glass-solar panels

The Cathedral of the Holy Family in Saskatoon, Saskatechewan, recently installed stained glass that doubles as a solar panel.  This design fuses usability and design to maintain the aesthetic integrity of the building.  Though stained glass windows are typical of churches, that doesn’t mean one cannot apply the same concept for homes.  Instead of a plain-looking window, why not amp it up a bit and affix colored windows with abstract designs to spice up your home as well as harness the sun’s energy?

Toronto artist Sarah Hall is responsible for these cool glass panels.  Solar panels aren’t transparent, and they do not look quite pleasing to the eye.  Hall adds a high-tech “dichroic” glass to the back of the cells in some cases to make them colorful and reflective.  Lux Gloria, the installation in the cathedral, is expected to provide 2,500 kilowatt-hours of energy a year which is a third to a quarter of the electricity consumed by a typical Saskatoon home annually.

Intelligent Glass

If painted glass is not your thing, you could instead equip your home with Intelligent Glass. There are a variety of Intelligent Glass solutions, such as the self-adhesive Smart Film that easily attaches to existing glass panels which you can control and switch from clear to opaque with a touch of a button; the Smart Glass that has the same capabilities as the Smart Film; and MirrorVision Glass, which turns into a reflective mirror from transparent glass with the touch of a button.  This could be a great way to hide your TV when no one is watching, and there’s even an Interactive and Sound Glass option available.

MAP Sense

Wouldn’t it be great to have a bed that analyzes how you sleep and tells you what you’re doing wrong, honing in on the reason for your constant backache, snoring, or unrestful sleep?  Though the technology may be here, we’ve yet to see a smart bed that does this.  Still, there are technologies that could help prevent pressure sores from developing in bedridden patients.

A new smart bed actually turns a patient to prevent pressure sores from developing, but that could potentially be harmful for the patient if they fall out of bed while unsupervised.  Luckily, Wellsense has developed MAP Sense, an electronic sheet laced with thousands of sensors to detect real-time distribution of pressure across the mattress.  The sheet links to a handheld monitoring device that displays images of pressure distribution and sounds alarms if patients need to be turned. Caregivers or healthcare providers can also access the history of the patient’s positioning.

According to a thoracic surgeon who studied the MAP system on 43 patients, the technology could reduce pressure sores by about 50 to 60 percent.

Checkout our Smart Homes collection on Springpad!