CURRENT AFFAIRS
BSH opens UnserHaus Centers
BSH Home Appliances launches Asia’s first UnserHaus Customer Care Center and UnserHaus Experience Center. Literally “our house” in German, the lifestyle concept includes a 1,350-sq-ft customer care space conceptualized as a contemporary home, with a model dining room and living room featuring built-in appliances, from dishwashers to wide-screen televisions, that customers can explore while waiting for their appliances to be repaired. The experience center is set up as a fully functional open-concept home outfitted with the latest appliances from Bosch and Gaggenau, providing a source of inspiration for kitchen planning and design and a space to host events such as cooking classes.
Bose launches Bose frames
Sunglasses, wireless headphones and an audio augmentedreality platform — Bose Frames fulfill three functions with one product. The smart glasses offer music streaming, phone call capabilities and access to virtual assistants: Acoustic components are embedded in each of the two arms, removing the need for in-ear elements to deliver audio; a small microphone and a multi-function button are located near the right temple to control power, device pairing, Siri and Google Assistant, calls and music playback; and Bose AR determines a user’s location and direction not through a camera but through a nine-axis head motion sensor and the GPS on an iOS or Android device. The glasses’ lithium battery supports up to 3.5 hours of music playback and up to 12 hours on standby, and the lenses can be swapped out for gradient and mirrored options in the Bose Frames Lens Collection.
Leica presents 100th anniversary edition CL
Leica marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Bauhaus art school with a special edition of the Leica CL, the 100 Jahre Bauhaus. Limited to 150 sets worldwide, it comprises a silver version of the Leica CL camera and a matching Elmarit-TL 18 mm f/2.8 ASPH lens. The leather trim of the camera and its carrying strap bear the Bauhaus logo, created by artist and sculptor Joost Schmidt in 1929, and the Leica logo on the camera body is rendered in black and white, instead of red and white, reflecting the Bauhaus design principles of form following function and eschewing elaborate ornamentation. The compact system camera is equipped with a 24-megapixel sensor and EyeRes electronic viewfinder, and offers a continuous shooting rate of up to 10 frames per second.
Audemars Piguet presents sound installation at Art Basel
As part of Art Basel, Audemars Piguet presented a site-specific sound installation created by Norwegian sound artist Jana Winderer, located in the AP lounge designed by Fernando Mastrangelo. An aural collage representing an acoustic journey through the Jura mountains, home to the manufacture, the composition
“Du Petit Risoud aux profondeurs du Lac de Joux” is made up of sounds created by elements in nature, from 300-year-old spruce trees of the Risoud forest to fish in the Lac de Joux, recorded through microphones and ultrasound detectors and amplified, in an exploration of how human activity impacts the natural landscape.