The former Beverly Hills home of the late Doris Day has a new owner. The contemporary-style dwelling, which Day owned for several decades, was originally built in 1922 and sits on two thirds of an acre in the Beverly Hills Flats neighborhood. According to the Los Angeles Times, the four-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bathroom house sold for $11.025 million, substantially less than the $14.5 million asking price, but still a considerable bump above the $6.5 million the actress sold it for in 2006.
The single-story residence still maintains much of its original ritzy, elegant charm, with such detailing as beamed ceilings, wainscoting, crown molding, and numerous crystal chandeliers throughout. Measuring 4,300 square feet, the home is flooded with natural light and features a combination living and dining room with glass doors that open directly out to the backyard brick patio. An upgraded kitchen boasts a La Cornue range and sleek stainless steel appliances.
The master suite also has direct access to the backyard, which features a large swimming pool, an outdoor fireplace, an expansive lawn, a sports court, and plenty of space for outdoor dining and entertaining. Day and her then-husband and manager, Marty Melcher, bought the home together in the 1950s, while Day was gaining fame in Hollywood with such hit films as Love Me or Leave Me and Lover Come Back. Day passed away last spring at the age of 97.
Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
#625 INSIDE Tour of BARBARA STANWYCK & JACK OAKIE Empty House! - Jordan The Lion (4/23/2018)
If you're popping to Asda for your weekly food shop, you might be tempted to make a detour to the home appliance aisle to pick up a cheap vacuum cleaner, toaster or kettle.
With own-brand kettles and toasters for less than £20, and a cordless vacuum cleaner costing just £60 (a whopping £174 less than the average price of the cordless vacuums we've tested) they're certainly a tempting prospect.
These appliances look cheap and cheerful, but while some are bargain Best Buys that give pricier brands a real run for their money, others are so bad we've had to label them Don't Buys to avoid.
We've rounded up the latest Asda gadgets to go through our tough lab tests, so you can find the great-value options worth snapping up – and the ones best left on the shelves.
Kitchen appliance reviews – get our independent verdict on everything from air fryers to coffee machines
If Dyson is the iPhone of the cordless vacuum cleaner world, then this Goblin is an entry-level Nokia. It's a fraction of the price of the cheapest cordless Dyson though – the Dyson V7 starts from around £200.
It may not have the cool factor, but it's got a few handy features you might not expect on such a cheap model, including a pull-out handheld vacuum and a combined dusting brush and crevice tool for smaller cleaning jobs around the house.
The foldable neck (something Dyson has only recently added to its stick vac designs) makes it easy to reach under coffee tables, and at 2.4kg it's nice and light, so you shouldn't have to strain to push it over your carpets.
It runs for longer than some cheap models, but does it actually bust the dust? Read our full Goblin GSV401W Foldable 2-in1 Stick cordless vacuum cleaner review to find out.
Asda Goblin corded vacuum cleaner, £23
One enthusiastic shopper caused a stir last year when she declared her new cheap Goblin vacuum to be 'better than a Dyson'. Naturally, we decided to get some Asda vacuums to our independent lab to see whether there were bargains waiting to be discovered.
The brand's latest corded stick model, the Goblin GSV101B-19, is astonishingly cheap, at just £23, and combines the lightweight convenience of a stick-style vacuum with the uninterrupted run-time of a corded vacuum.
It's rare that a vacuum cleaner that's this cheap impresses in our test labs, though. Could this one buck the trend?
Find out how it fared in our comparative tests, which put every vacuum through the same series of challenges to find the best, by checking the full Asda Goblin GSV1010B-19 vacuum cleaner review.
Best cordless vacuums and best corded vacuums – see our top picks for cleaning, allergen retention and ease of use
Asda kettles Asda George Home Kettle GPK201C-19, £12
Kettles rarely come much cheaper than this simple plastic Asda model. It's very light, at just 0.7kg, and has capacity for 1.7 litres of water (pretty standard for a kettle), making around six to seven cups of tea in one go.
It comes with a two-year warranty and, seeing as most kettles break down in the first two years of ownership, according to Which? research, this is a pretty good deal.
We love how light and balanced it feels in your hand, but is it also quick, quiet and efficient enough to be a true bargain? Check the full Asda George Home Kettle GPK201C-19 review to find out.
Asda George Home Fast Boil Kettle GJK401MP-19, £20
Since Pantone named rose quartz as its 'Colour of the Year' in 2016, pale pink has been a popular feature in home decor. This pink and chrome kettle offers a bit of added pizzazz without breaking the bank.
Like the Asda George Home Kettle, it holds 1.7 litres and comes with a two-year manufacturer guarantee.
It's really easy to see the water level through the clear window, but not everything was quite so rosy in our tests. Get the lowdown on this kettle in our Asda George Home Fast Boil GJK401MP-19 review.
Kettle reviews – find your perfect match with our independent reviews of hundreds of kettles
Asda toasters Asda George Home GPT101C-19 Toaster, £11
Breakfast sets can be pricey, so you'll be pleased to know that buying this cream toaster and its matching kettle (above) will leave you change from £25 – perfect if you're setting up home somewhere new and trying to keep costs down.
It has all the standard options to reheat toast, defrost bread and cancel the cycle, as well as seven browning settings for the pickiest of toast connoisseurs.
It's smart, compact and easy to use, but does it toast well? Read our Asda George Home GPT101C-19 Toaster review to find out if it's a golden (brown) ticket to top toast.
Asda George Home GST201B-19 Toaster, £18
This model is a little pricier than Asda's cheap cream toaster, but for this you get a stylish metal exterior and a high-lift lever, which crumpet lovers will find useful to stop their fingers getting singed when retrieving toasted treats.
It's quick to serve up slices, but does it toast them evenly? Head to the full Asda George Home GST201B-19 Toaster review to find out.
Toaster reviews – see our reviews of toasters from all the big brands, and supermarket offerings
Can cheap appliances compete with the big brands?
The price of gadgets such as kettles, vacuums and coffee machines can vary by hundreds of pounds. So is it ever worth buying at the lower end of the spectrum?
We test products at every price point, and time and again our testing has shown that price isn't a reliable indicator of performance. We've found ultra-cheap appliances that do a brilliant job, and pricey gadgets that fall far short of expectations.
However, cheaper products can be much more of a minefield, with plenty of mediocre or even downright terrible products sitting alongside the gems, so it pays to check our reviews first to find out which cheap gadgets will do you proud.
We also survey thousands of Which? members to find out which products last when you get them home. You can see how Asda home appliance owners rated the reliability in our guide to the best kettle brands and best toaster brands.
Shares of At Home (NYSE:HOME) surged today, finishing up 13.5% after a Wall Street analyst released a bullish research note on home-furnishing retailers. Separately, investors were also encouraged by fresh retail sales data released by the Commerce Department.
So what
Jefferies boosted its price targets on numerous home improvement and home-furnishing companies, including Lowe's, Home Depot, and Wayfair. The firm believes that the broad shift to remote work that COVID-19 is spurring may translate into a large number of people moving from urban cities to suburban areas, boosting homeownership in 2021. Those new homeowners are then expected to start buying more products to furnish those homes, particularly as homeowners tend to spend more on big-ticket purchases like appliances than renters.
Image source: Getty Images.
While At Home is not mentioned specifically in the research note to investors, the company would clearly benefit from those trends.
Now what
The Commerce Department also released monthly data regarding retail sales today, and the report showed that overall retail sales in the U.S. jumped 17.7% as more states move to reopen their economies. More specifically, seasonally adjusted retail sales for furniture and home furnishing stores soared by 90% to $7.7 billion in May, compared to $4.1 billion in sales in April.
Throughout the coronavirus outbreak, e-commerce companies have noted that demand for home furnishings has remained strong as consumers spend more time at home. In its annual report, At Home notes that it does "not currently engage in e-commerce," so it will rely predominantly on the return of retail customers as lockdown restrictions ease.
On the opening day, Haier announced the achievements of its global roster of premium brands, which have registered growth despite the COVID-19 pandemic. It had also unveiled its Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem strategy, by featuring differentiated scenario-based solutions that tied together multiple products in an overall system, refreshing the conventional single product display. Haier's global ecosystem partners, customers, and users were invited to participate in the many digital events taking place over the course of the fair.
"Our Internet of things ecosystem is empowered by Haier's COSMOPlat platform," said Qingfu Zhang, VP of Haier Overseas Electric Appliances Corp. "On this platform, all parties can share resources, co-create, and interact with solutions to enhance quality, optimize resource allocation, and engage in digital transformation. Currently, the COSMOPlat platform boasts 340 million users, making it the world's largest mass customization solutions platform. We are thrilled that many consider COSMOPlat as the world's leading industrial Internet ecosystem brand, and it has even been selected as one of China's top 10 industrial Internet platforms by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology."
With this year's scenario-based presentations, Haier is offering participants a deeper look at its smart home solutions, through the lens of their Internet of things ecosystems. Through a livestream format, Haier distributors in seven countries and factories in six countries will explain the specific solutions, emphasize their localization and customization possibilities. Meanwhile, its sub-brands are also organizing their own digital experience zones. For example, AQUA is unveiling its Smart Community Laundromat as well as demonstrating the potential of its AQUA Cloud IoT ecosystem, while European e-commerce player AO will team up with seven executives to introduce their strategic cooperation in the refrigerator and washing machine categories.
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About Haier
Founded on April 1989, Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd. (former Qingdao Haier Co., Ltd., Shanghai: 600690) is the world's leading home appliance maker.The Company boasts seven world-class brands including Haier, Casarte, Leader, GE Appliances-US, Fisher & Paykel-New Zealand, AQUA-Japan, and Candy-Italy.
According to Euromonitor International's 2020 Global Major Appliances Brand Rankings, Haier's retail sales volume of large household appliances ranked the first in the world for 11 consecutive years. Haier Smart Home is also a Fortune Global 500 company.
Haier Smart Home focuses on the continuous improvements of the best user experience so as to provide consumers with smart home solutions, create full-scenario smart life experience, and offer design and function options customized for and by users.
For more information, visit: http://www.haier.net/en/
Video - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1190630/warm_up_video_01___ecosystem.mp4
SOURCE Haier Smart Home
Обзор курса Разработка инновационных продуктов (русский перевод)
QINGDAO, China, June 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The world's leading home appliance brand and smart home ecosystem builder, Haier Smart Home ("Haier", Shanghai: 600690), announced that its five major brands, Haier, GE Appliances (US), Candy (Italy), AQUA (Japan) and Fisher & Paykel (Australia/New Zealand), will present at the 127th virtual Canton Fair to showcase the next-generation smart home solutions integrated with IoT. From Haier's factories to the showrooms based around the world, Haier will leverage the digital platform to introduce the upgrades for the products designed to achieve a full-scenario smart ecosystem.
The 127th Canton Fair will take on a whole new online format packed with remote solutions for product promotion, matchmaking and business negotiations. Haier is also accelerating the digital transformation to move its smart experience space to its online platform with the launch of Haier Smart Home App in 2019.
Together with Haier's global ecosystem partners, customers and users, Haier is set to invite the audience to witness the smart home solutions with the extensive functionality designed to create an all-around and interconnected ecosystem to fulfill the users' needs including cooking, living, clothing and entertainment.
"Haier has been working on digital services for years. The virtual Canton fair is the perfect opportunity to not only present our smart home solutions but also connect with customers," said Qingfu Zhang, VP of Haier Overseas Electric Appliances Corp., "With our online platform and professional broadcast team, Haier aims to transport viewers into the vision of future where the IoT powers the entire smart home ecosystem."
The second highlight of the exhibition is that Haier's five global brands, namely Haier, GE Appliances (US), Candy (Italy), AQUA (Japan), Fisher & Paykel (Australia/New Zealand), will share the same stage to bring the product portfolio tailored to the needs of users in different countries and regions.
For years, Haier, alongside its sub-brands, has gained a strong foothold in the global markets owing to its strong innovation and R&D capacity. Haier has also demonstrated strong resilience in the global markets despite the economic headwinds brought by the pandemic. In Q1 2020, Haier has maintained a leading position in its overseas market by achieving the 31% increase in sales.
"With our smart home solutions and localized services, we are committed to our vision of delivering green and healthy living for households around the world. From R&D and design to manufacturing and post-sale services, Haier has adopted the customer-centered approach to bring more values to our customers," said Zhang.
About Haier
Founded on April 1989, Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd. (former Qingdao Haier Co., Ltd., Shanghai: 600690) is the world's leading home appliance maker.The Company boasts seven world-class brands including Haier, Casarte, Leader, GE Appliances-US, Fisher & Paykel-New Zealand, AQUA-Japan, and Candy-Italy.
According to Euromonitor International's 2020 Global Major Appliances Brand Rankings, Haier's retail sales volume of large household appliances ranked the first in the world for 11 consecutive years. Haier Smart Home is also a Fortune Global 500 company.
Haier Smart Home focuses on the continuous improvements of the best user experience so as to provide consumers with smart home solutions, create full-scenario smart life experience, and offer design and function options customized for and by users.
For more information, visit: http://www.haier.net/en/
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Want to pocket an extra $1,000 each year? Here are six simple home electric upgrades that save money, make your home more comfortable and help the environment.
Of the appliances in a typical home, water heaters consume the most resources.
Purchasing an efficient, durable one can avoid energy waste, solid waste and waste of money in the long run. Maintaining your water heater can save even more money and resources.
Comparing the water heater in your home to your other appliances is like comparing your teenager to your child of any other age. The water heater consumes resources like a teen consumes food.
The website www.visualcapitalist.com features a study showing the average water heater uses 14% of a typical home's electricity, while a refrigerator uses just 4%. After the water heater, the next closest consumer is the washer and dryer together, at 13%.
In terms of solid waste, refrigerators are the only appliance weighing more than water heaters. An average empty refrigerator, at 200 pounds, weighs more than an average water heater, at 120 pounds, but if a water heater is not completely drained, it is far heavier. Full, water heaters average 450 pounds.
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Although water heaters are recyclable after being drained, and refrigerators are recyclable after the refrigerants are siphoned out by a certified recycler, the resources expended transporting and processing either one of these heavy, bulky items make their solid waste management issues as difficult as the logistics for a teenager's pre-pandemic extra-curricular activities.
However, unlike other appliances, and unlike teenagers, water heaters can be replaced with alternatives. One alternative, a solar water heater, is sometimes used to supplement, rather than replace, a water heater.
In Ventura County, since freezing weather is so uncommon, direct circulation systems are viable. Water is simply pumped through solar collectors, heated by the sun, and can then either supplement or can replace a water heater.
Complete replacement, for example with a system from Sunbank Solar, which specializes in online sales, features a 40-gallon solar water heating system for under $3,000.
Tankless water heating systems are another water heater replacement technology. Usually using natural gas, they heat water with intense blasts of energy when hot water is needed, rather than heating water frequently and storing it in a tank, where it gradually cools and requires more energy to re-heat.
Although these substitutes are efficient, most people use conventional water heaters. Choosing an efficient, durable water heater can save energy and reduce solid waste.
When shopping for a water heater, look for Energy Star certification. Every appliance sold in California must have a label indicating expected energy consumption compared to average comparable devices.
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Only some appliances are efficient enough to earn the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star certification, indicating the device exceeds minimum standards.
Some devices offer not only efficient design for heating and storing water, but also other conservation features. For example, Ankur Maheshwari, senior global product manager for Rheem, told me his company's new ProTerra Hybrid electric water heater features two green innovations.
First, the ProTerra LeakGuard model has a built-in leak detection system, automatically shutting off to limit water loss from the tank to no more than 20 ounces. It also sends a text alert to notify the homeowner.
The second, a heat pump water heater, works "like a refrigerator in reverse," saving "nearly $500 in annual energy costs compared to standard electric water heaters."
With a retail price of approximately $1,300 at a major home improvement store in Ventura County, the ProTerra is more expensive than comparably sized water heaters, but the annual savings, if performing as promised, provides a full return on the additional investment in less than two years.
Water heater maintenance makes a big difference for efficiency and durability. Start with proper installation. Although some water heaters, including the ProTerra, allow zero clearance installation by placing all service components in front of the unit, most require at least two feet of space for optimal operation.
To optimally maintain any water heater, Maheshwari recommends draining about a quarter of the tank at least every six months to remove sediment and debris. Turn off the cold water supply, hook up a garden hose to the drain valve, and drain water into a bucket or out a door until water runs clear.
For gas-powered water heaters, check plumbing joints for corrosion. Check the water supply by turning on a nearby hot water tap and listening for water running.
Best practices also include replacing the anode rod every three years and testing the pressure-relief valve, on the top of side of the heater, by placing a bucket below the discharge pipe and gently lifting the pressure-relief valve lever. For both conservation and safety, set your water heater to less than 120 degrees.
To recycle your old water heater, contact the company hauling your residential refuse. Contracts and service are different in each Ventura County city, and some allow refuse haulers to charge for large items.
For example, the county's unincorporated area refuse haulers offer free collections twice per calendar year for bulky items unable to fit into curbside carts. However, haulers are allowed to charge for items over six feet in dimension or weighing over 80 pounds.
To learn more, visit www.energystar.gov and energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Appliance.
Eco-tip is written by David Goldstein, an environmental resource analyst for the Ventura County Public Works Agency. He can be reached at 805-658-4312 or david.goldstein@ventura.org.
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Why I live a zero waste life | Lauren Singer | TEDxTeen
Jamelle J. McBride, 32, and Brenden Butler, 22, were arrested after a search of the home on the 16000 block of Josef Drive, executed by sheriff's detectives and representatives of the United States Secret Service, Drug Enforcement Administration, Illinois Department of Revenue, Lake Forest Police Department and the Chicago Police Department.
