Ireland, who already licenses her name on everything from window blinds to sofas, will put her imprimatur on a 400-home subdivision near Orlando, Fla. scheduled to break ground by October.

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Ongoing renovations at the hotel will see the introduction of electronic window blinds in all rooms (all of which have excellent views of either the Cotopaxi or Pichincha volcanoes) and renewed local art.

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Or handles for drawstrings on window blinds.

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Closer to the lake sits the 142-room Park Hyatt Zurich, frequently named a business traveller favourite on Trip Advisor thanks to its blend of contemporary furnishings and swanky features, including electronically controlled window blinds and specially blended Blaise Mautin toiletries.

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From colored lighting and ambient music to digital art (on your TV), temperature, window blinds and specially designed mood-enhanced wake-up calls (like "wake me gently" or "wake me wildly"), you can direct the room's whole look and feel, all without having to get out of bed.

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With the sun stabbing at them through their window blinds, the two old men struggled to their feet and lurched out onto their adjacent verandas, emerging at almost the same moment, like characters in an ancient tale, trapped in fateful coincidences, unable to escape the consequences of chance.

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Steven Burt, G24's chief financial officer, talks of light-bulb-powered TV remote controls, smoke detectors and computer keyboards. (A non-removable internal battery would store charge for use when the lights are off.) The company already offers prototypes of bags and jackets with photosensitive panels woven in, designed to charge digital cameras and mobile phones, and a hotel in Las Vegas is using G24's products to run its electric window-blinds.

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One such session gave rise to a Pella innovation this year: between-the-glass cordless blinds and shades (window and patio-door treatments tucked between panes of glass and away from dust and yanks from kids).

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