One reason why vacuum cleaners are preferred over traditional cleaning equipment such as brooms and mops is that they do not need the mechanical force that these devices need and because they are much more effective at the cleaning process itself. One more advantage is that vacuum cleaners can be used on horizontal, vertical as well as inclined and inverted surfaces and can clean even inaccessible nooks and crannies easily, something that traditional cleaning devices cannot do.

There are various kinds of vacuum cleaners used for a variety of purposes today. The hundred odd years since their first invention has allowed them to evolve and become highly convenient and purposeful objects today. There are vacuum cleaners that are designed to remove solid as well as liquid particles known as wet/dry vacuum cleaners, vacuum cleaners that can be used in an upright posture known as upright vacuum cleaners, canister vacuum cleaners, handheld vacuum cleaners, lint removers, bug cleaners and many more. Some of the more versatile vacuum cleaners comes outfitted with hoses of various dimensions. At the same time, there are vacuum cleaners of various shapes, sizes and bulk.

A typical vacuum cleaner will contain an inlet valve, a fan with electric motor and an exhaust valve. The fan is the most important component. It is designed with slanted blades so that when it moves, it can create a higher pressure below (where the inlet valve is present) and a lower pressure above (where the exhaust valve is present). Air has a tendency of moving from an area at higher pressure to an area at lower pressure. Thus, when the fan is put on, a current of air begins to move from the inlet valve to the exhaust valve. The electric motor connected to the fan energizes it for its motion.

The inlet valve is separately energized. It contains a horizontal cylinder with a spiral brush arrangement on it. When the cylinder rotates (it can rotate at high speeds), the entire brush comes in contact with its surface. As it moves, the brush sweeps out the dust and dirt particles from the surface. Once loosened, these particles move with the flow of air in the direction of the current.

A dust bag is attached somewhere between the inlet valve and the exhaust valve. It may be placed in between the inlet valve and the fan (as in canister vacuum cleaners) or it may be placed between the fan and the exhaust value (as in upright vacuum cleaners). The purpose of the bag is to collect the particles as they move with the air current. These bags also act as filtration devices. They are porous but with pores so tiny that the air can pass out of it but the dust and dirt particles remain trapped within.

Bags will accumulate these particles till they collect so much of it that it will reduce the efficiency of the cleaning process and will need to be emptied out. From here, the air current moves out of the exhaust valve. The current is continuous as long as the vacuum cleaner is in operation.
Some vacuum cleaners will need their bags to be replaced often while some of them will not use bag arrangements at all, but a compartment where the particles are collected. Even these will need to be emptied out, but they make replacement bags unnecessary due to which they have become more popular.
Vacuum cleaners are measured by two factors – the amperage, which is the power of the motor driving the fan, and the gallon capacity, which is a reference of how much air current it can take in at one time.

Now, in this so-called battle for the living room, providers of electronic devices, entertainment delivery services and content are competing fiercely for consumer loyalty. At the same time, consumers are trying to come to grips with the range of choices and technologies that have made the digital home much more complicated than a few decades ago, when the TV was often the only appliance in the living room.
Let’s review the players in this scrum. There’s the dean of living room appliances, the TV – easy to use and always reliable, but going through some radical mid-life transformations of late with Internet connectivity and interactive capabilities. Close by is the set-top box, which increasingly over time became the brains behind the TV. The PC, delivering Internet content, multimedia and e-mail, is now part of the living room landscape, as are the game console, the laptop, and newer digital players like Internet movie and entertainment boxes, netbooks, and tablets.

Add in cell and smart feature phones, which have become appendages practically grafted into the hands of an uber communications-savvy generation, the kids and young adults who are helping to shape and define not just the battle for the living room, but for the entire digital home, and, well, everywhere. As they get older, settle down and nest, their impact on the future of the digital home will become even more significant.
While the device makers battle it out, so do the service and delivery platform providers, from the cable guys to the telephone companies to the satellite firms to the makers of Internet access equipment for web-based content, which increasingly is finding its way directly into the living room via devices such as Internet-enabled high definition TVs and Blu-ray players. Additionally, there are a number of interesting ways to connect all of these devices for seamless wired and wireless delivery of content in any room.

Consumers are familiar with Wi-Fi for wireless connectivity throughout the house. In time, they will no doubt become more familiar with names like MoCA (Multimedia over Coax Alliance), an industry group that supports home networks using existing coaxial cable already installed in most homes, and terms like Ethernet, a connectivity standard found in many businesses and increasingly in the home to tie together PCs, Blu-ray Disc players, routers and other devices.

Another standard developed by a group called the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), formed in 2003, helps resolve compatibility issues among electronics gear, an enormously important contribution to the digital home as consumers seek seamless and effortless sharing of content across myriad devices. While the digital backbone and entertainment network in the connected home serve a critical role in enabling the reliable transport of high bandwidth content such as HD and 3D video to and among TVs, set top boxes, DVRs, computers, smartphones and other multimedia devices, they add a whole additional level of technological complexity to the mosaic of home devices, delivery systems, and service and content providers.

And it seems like every day, companies are introducing new products and services. Just last month we saw more evidence of traditional consumer electronics devices evolving into content distribution platforms when it was announced that one of the most popular video game consoles will stream live Major League Baseball games via the Internet directly to the television.

So, who’s winning the competition for consumers’ hearts, minds, eyeballs and dollars? Well, the battle continues, as myriad providers strive to emerge as winners, and consumers try to keep up, mixing and matching from a sometimes dizzying array of choices and technologies. Consider these items from recent news reports and a recent conference:

* Americans now have about 25 consumer electronic products in every household, compared with just three in 1980.
* The number of Internet-connected consumer electronic devices will number 10 billion globally within the next five to eight years, according to panelists on a session called “The Smartphone Economy” at a March media conference.
* Americans are spending significantly more on their monthly telecommunications bills than they were 10-15 years ago, paying for services like cable TV, advanced telephone services, the Internet and video games — household costs they no longer consider discretionary but necessary in our increasingly connected society, according to a New York Times article. The story quoted Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project, who noted that Americans are transforming their homes into entertainment hubs. As a result of that and the need to be connected with the rest of the world, he notes: “Our homes are bristling with technology.”

A couple of central themes emerge that resonate for those of us in the technology world:
First, consumers will decide on the winners in the battle for the digital home, as they sort through and become comfortable with the ever increasing number of choices for connectivity, communications and entertainment. As they make their preferences known through their purchasing power, they will obviously become the beneficiaries of all this wonderful technology and connectivity, and will be able to harness it far beyond entertainment delivery and social interactions. Think health care assistance, education, green living and numerous other life-enhancing benefits. And in a nice example of synchronicity, it is the technology and connectivity that is allowing unprecedented levels of tracking and analysis of consumer trends and preferences, allowing the device, service and content providers unprecedented opportunity to dissect and respond to consumer desires.

Second, as consumers sort through the often-perplexing choices now before them, we in the technology community must remember that true innovation is a combination of technology advancement and user utility. Spectacular technology is of limited value if it can’t be harnessed practically, which comes down to ease of use. As the digital living room and home become increasingly complex, we want consumers to enjoy the benefits and avoid the hassles, which means that we ultimately want the enabling technology to recede into the background. Just as earlier innovations turned once-technological marvels into easy-to-use and common everyday experiences, today’s battle for the living room must evolve into a win for consumers, allowing them to communicate, connect, share, network, entertain, educate, and live better — with the ease of flicking on a light switch, picking up the phone and calling a friend, or turning on Dad’s old tube TV.

However, like most ice makers, the Scotsman machine also has a downside. Since its products are mostly targeted for commercial use, even the smallest unit can be quite large for home use. On top of that, its smallest unit can go anywhere from $1500 to $1800, a far cry from the price tag of its competitors that hover around $800 to $1000.
If you constantly have company over, or just find refuge in a glass of ice cold water, the 15″ Scotsman ice maker, which produces up to 80 pounds of ice in 24 hours and stores up to 24 pounds, is the perfect option for you. That is, if you have more than a grand to spare.

We’ve also heard it garnered some rave reviews at a recent Italian trial. Knowing Samsung, the NaviBot is likely to tout everything short of the kitchen sink. Besides 38 sensors to avoid collisions and cable entanglement, the Korean vacuum bot has an onboard camera system called Visionary Mapping. This uses infrared sensors and wide-angle camera to take snaps of the room at 30fps and create a map for the quickest, most efficient cleaning route possible for the NaviBot. Once done, it automatically docks back into its charging stand.

Too bad, consumers are stuck with just the gray version, since Samsung has said it will be bringing in only the one color for Singapore.