Briefs covering the launches, research, products, companies, and projects shaping high-performance homes — what happened, and why it matters.
Single-family permits fell 4% in September, while total building permits rose in the Northeast and Midwest year to date. Multifamily permitting also moved higher.
Apple worked with LG and Schneider Electric on a range of cameras, locks, thermostats and sensors built for a unified Apple Home experience.
Apple’s seven-inch HomeView recognizes up to six residents and shows a personalized interface, turning a shared home-control screen into an identity-aware device.
LIT has introduced ARC, a one-person infrared sauna concealed behind a mirrored oak-veneer front. Its compact size and household-power connection put dedicated recovery equipment into rooms that were never designed as spas.
Ring’s first smart lock removes the physical backup key and replaces it with a hand-powered dial that can generate enough emergency power to unlock the door when the main battery is dead.
Trane has launched residential cold-climate heat pumps designed to maintain full heating capacity at 5°F and continue operating at -20°F, pushing all-electric heating deeper into regions that have traditionally relied on furnaces.
SmartAC’s new Gen2 Sensor gives HVAC contractors a low-cost way to monitor residential system performance between service calls, pushing the home toward a professionally managed maintenance model.
CTN Recovery Technologies has launched a two-person hard-shell OxyPro chamber and is explicitly positioning residential wellness developments as one of its target markets.
The $2,195 Tread Flex gives Peloton a folding design and a lower entry price. For home gyms, the useful change is how much space equipment occupies between workouts.
Eight Sleep’s Pod 6 adds a denser biometric sensor array designed to separate nearby sleepers while keeping each side’s thermal microclimate independent.
Jordan’s new strength equipment brings its signature design language to the home gym, through the business behind Nike Strength.
A small laboratory study points toward sleep environments that respond to the sleeper.
A Cell Reports Medicine study found that indigo wavelengths abundant outdoors but scarce in conventional white LEDs prevented experimentally induced myopia in tree shrews — a hypothesis about spectrally incomplete indoor light, not a product prescription.
After August 6, 2026, covered furniture and wood-based articles placed on the EU market must meet enforceable formaldehyde emission limits under REACH — a shift from voluntary low-VOC labeling toward regulated product performance.
Researchers are beginning to treat indoor smell as more than a nuisance or aesthetic preference. A new laboratory study examined whether different olfactory environments produce measurable emotional and physiological responses.
With the Muhammad Ali Estate, PENT launched hand-stitched gloves, walnut and leather weights, benches, and bags — training gear positioned as signed collectibles.
A removable Hyperice pod in a Nike slide: three heat levels up to 117°F, three vibration settings. $249, September 29.
Humidifiers, shower filtration, and sleep products land at Ulta Beauty - home environmental gear merchandised next to skincare.
Circadian lighting, air and water purification, a hyperbaric room, and a spa terrace across three floors of Miami's Rivage Bal Harbour.
A flower-shaped monitor whose petals droop as CO₂, temperature, or humidity worsen - a prompt to ventilate, not another dashboard.
Sand Stone extends one warm material language - clay touchpoints, mica-flecked stone, natural wood - across Technogym's cardio, strength, and Pilates lines.
Every home in the 28-unit KA Residences includes a 400-square-foot Merkaba room with sauna, cold plunge, and hyperbaric chamber.