Her GadgetMatch

Habitat Horticulture Gromeo: Self-watering plant system for busy bees

Turn your smart home into a green and sustainable space

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Gromeo
IMAGE/Habitat Horticulture

Forget the bland, white walls filled with smart lighting yet no sign of greenery. As our cribs transform into smart homes, the appreciation for a well-lit, open, green, and airy space grows.

However, nurturing greenery can be a difficult task. Though, people still try to foster potted plants, in hopes of making their homes breathable and beautiful.

Fret no more, experts at Habitat Horticulture — an award-winning design firm — designed Gromeo, a copious spot of greenery attached to your walls.

A sustainable living wall system

Gromeo is a ready-to-hang, fully planted palette that has a self-watering living wall system, without the need for plumbing and electricity.

Gromeo

IMAGE/Habitat Horticulture

It uses Habitat Horticulture’s signature geotextile called Growtex — using 100 percent recycled water bottles — to combine soil and a hydroponic blended system. This makes plants passively absorb water to maintain their ecosystem.

Gromeo

IMAGE/Habitat Horticulture

In short, no drainage is needed, making it the perfect low-maintenance plant to nurture, especially for busy people.

Beneficial in the long run

Living wall systems like Gromeo can help improve a busy bee’s physical and mental well-being. The presence of natural greenery can enhance self-esteem, reduce levels of stress and anxiety, and produce feelings of revitalization.

IMAGE/Habitat Horticulture

It increases happiness, productivity, focus, and concentration — prompting a person to work smarter. More importantly, it cleans the air and removes volatile organic compounds found indoors, most of which causes headaches, fatigue, and respiratory problems.

There’s a Gromeo for every type of space

Admit it: we all check the lighting before taking the perfect selfie. The same should apply to plants if you do consider getting one. Some can handle basking in sunlight, some find it too much.

This is why each Gromeo is designed depending on the levels of light available. A High Light Gromeo is recommended for walls that get full, direct sunlight. Or at least very bright lights.

Meanwhile, walls that get dappled sunlight suits a Medium Light Gromeo. For those who have walls that get no direct light at all, consider getting a Low Light Gromeo.

IMAGE/Habitat Horticulture

Price and availability

Gromeo starts at US$ 265. It’s available at shop.habitathorticulture.com. One percent of each Gromeo sale goes to Feeding America. Meanwhile, teachers and healthcare workers can avail a 10 percent discount upon purchase.

Accessories

Dyson Airstrait: Hair straightening with air, not heat

Less heat, less damage

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People may now straighten hair without worrying about heat damage. Dyson has launched the new Dyson Airstrait hair straightener, ushering a new era in hair straightening. As the product name suggests, this innovative tool introduces a new way to straighten hair using just air.

The Airstrait has a simple wet-to-dry straightening process. Airflow is accelerated through the two arms’ 1.5mm openings, creating a high-velocity downward blade of air at a specific angle. This creates a controlled downward force to straighten hair simultaneously as it dries.

With the tool, stylers can achieve a naturally straight and shiny finish that maintains the hair’s strength and healthy look. The Airstrait also speeds the process up by about 25%. What’s best is there is no heat damage, unlike traditional straighteners.

Designed for multiple hair types

The Airstrait runs on a specifically-engineered Hyperdymium motor, a 13-blade impeller that spins up to 106,000rpm and generates 3.5kPa of pressure. Like Dyson’s hair care range, the Airstrait features intelligent heat control that measures the airflow’s temperature to ensure there is no damage.

Users may switch between two styling modes: Wet and Dry. The Wet and Dry modes are pre-set with specific heat and airflow combinations for the best results. A Cool mode is also available to set the style. Moreover, the airflow control has two speed settings, low and high. Drying, meanwhile, can be set to cold shot or root drying.

The science

Dyson has constantly invested a lot financially in research and technology development to craft innovative products in its specific industry. In creating the Airstrait, Dyson engineers studied every detail, from airflow dynamics to hair structure. They also considered thermal, mechanical, and chemical damage and their effects to hair health.

In the end, the Airstrait works based on one key principle. In styling hair to a new shape, hydrogen bonds from each hair strand are broken down. Traditionally, this is done through heat or moisture. But Dyson came up with a tool that just lets water weaken the hydrogen bonds, and then style hair with the optimum level of heat and controlled airflow.

Price, availability

The Dyson Airstrait is available starting April 16 in two colorways: Bright Nickel/Rich Copper and Prussian Blue/Rich Copper. It is priced at PhP 33,900.

Those interested in preordering may already do using this link: Dyson Airstrait

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Her GadgetMatch

Filipina who created Window Garden joins Google Play program

More indie games to come?

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Filipina-owned CLOVER-FI Games is taking the next step to build more accessible mobile games through Google Play. One-woman developer and publisher Camilla Santiago is representing the country at Google Play’s Indie Games Accelerator (IGA) program this year.

Her CLOVER-FI Games studio is behind hit local game Window Garden. The idle game lets players plant and decorate their own virtual indoor garden while relaxing in chill vibes, lo-fi music, and a cottagecore aesthetic. It was released in October 2021, back when Santiago learned app development amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Windows Garden has since amassed a million downloads. In almost three years, it has been received well by gamers with a 4.7 rating based on more than 8,200 reviews.

Google Play IGA

The Google Play IGA is a 10-week course designed for high-potential indie game studios. The program allows these startups to access the best of Google’s programs, products, people, and technology to be able to build and improve a successful organization.

The last Philippine representative in the program was Ranida Games, which had created one-on-one fighting game Vita Fighters. Through IGA, the title received benefits, allowing the developers to improve it.

Like Ranida Games, Santiago’s CLOVER-FI Games is just getting started. Her studio’s goal is to ultimately create more cozy-themed games that are accessible to everyone through mobile platforms.

With the help of the IGA, Santiago will be equipped with the necessary skills and experience needed to create another potentially successful title just like Window Garden. We can only wait as she empowers Filipinas through her craft.

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Dyson unveils ‘most intelligent hair dryer’ yet

The Supersonic Nural

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During its global launch event in Seoul, South Korea, Dyson has unveiled its “most intelligent hair dryer” yet: The Dyson Supersonic Nural.

The styling tool harnesses Dyson’s new automatic Nural sensor technology to protect scalp health and enhance hair’s natural shine.

One of the Dyson Supersonic Nural’s key features is a Scalp protect mode which is activated by the Nural sensors.

This automatically reduces the dryer’s heat as it nears a person’s head, protecting the scalp from damage. The process is done by having the sensors recognize when the dryer is already nearing the person’s head.

In addition, the Supersonic Nural’s LED light automatically changes under Scalp mode, depending on the distance from the head. Users will see yellow for low heat, orange for medium heat, and red for high heat, for convenient usage.

Moreover, the tool intelligently remembers your last used heat and airflow settings and will apply them the next time it is in use.

Price, availability

The Dyson Supersonic Nural comes in two color palettes: Ceramic Patina and Topaz or Vinca Blue and Topaz.

The entire package will come with five attachments, including two new ones:

  • Gentle Air Attachment
  • Styling Concentrator
  • Smoothing Nozzle
  • Diffuser
  • Flyaway Smoother

However, the technology has not been made available in the Philippines yet as of writing time. To be the first to know when it arrives, sign up here.

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