Frontgate Puts Your (Expensive) TV Outside

By Geoff Duncan Published May 3, 2006

Frontgate Puts Your (Expensive) TV Outside — Image used with permission by copyright holder

If you’ve ever dreamed of working on your tan while reviewing key frames from the Lord of the Rings movies, supervising the unreliable landscaping help while watching HD sports broadcasts, or perhaps swatting mosquitos with your kids as you rumble through GTA: San Andreas, high-end home outfitter Frontgate has the solution for you: an outdoor entertainment island, complete with a Clarion surround speaker system, CD/DVD player, Sirius satellite compatibility, and a 42-inch JVC plasma TV.

In conjunction with Cal Spas, Frontgate’s outdoor entertainment island aims to bring all your entertainment to your patio or poolside. Featuring a galvanized steel frame tastefully sealed and capped with ceramic tile and stucco, in its closed state the unit looks like a slightly pretentious bench: couple throw pillows and some a citronella candles and it’ll blend right into your decor. But appearances can be deceiving: with the touch of a button, the unit opens up and a 42-inch JVC plasma TV rises from within the island.

Recommended Videos

The system includes four 6-inch Clarion surround sound speakers system with subwoofer, a DVD/CD player, and an AM/FM radio tuner. The system includes a coaxial input to support satellite TV or cable service, and it’s compatible with Sirius satellite radio. Plus the 42-inch JVC plasma screen. Lets not forget that.

The island is designed to withstand the elements (at least in its closed state), using the same technology and construction used for marine craft: heat, cold, sun, and water aren’t supposed to faze it. Did it get a little schmucky after the last rainstorm? No problem: just hose it down with the garden hose…or have the help do it.

Price? A tidy $16,995. But at 1,200 pounds, instant gratification can’t be provided: in-home delivery takes 10-11 weeks. Order now before summer passes you by!

Former Contributor

Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

Smart Home

Proxima wants to move blood tests into the home, and it has cleared an important early hurdle

The portable analyzer delivers blood-count results in about 20 minutes, but its promise depends on transparent clinical data

Furniture, Table, Desk

Algocyte’s Proxima is designed to run blood-count tests from a small finger-prick sample and send the results to a clinician in about 20 minutes. For patients who need frequent monitoring, that could mean fewer trips to a clinic or laboratory.

The device has also moved beyond the concept stage. Proxima carries UK conformity credentials, while Algocyte operates under a certified medical-device quality system. Those steps give the project more weight than a prototype shown at a launch event.

Emerging Tech

Remember Samsung’s Ballie home robot? It may finally be inching closer to reality

Leaked app wireframes give the strongest hint yet that Samsung's Ballie home robot, first shown at CES 2020, might still be headed toward an actual release.

Samsung Ballie robot in a room next to a dog feeder.

Samsung's rolling home robot has been the industry's longest-running "will it ever actually ship" joke, and I'll admit I'd mostly given up on it. Now, there's finally a glimmer of hope.

Samsung first unveiled Ballie as a concept at CES 2020. Then, it showed it as a significantly upgraded version four years later. However, the company never confirmed a release date or committed to releasing it at all.

Smart Home

The US foreign-made robot crackdown is coming for future Roombas too

Future Roombas face new US sales hurdles, but existing models are unaffected

Roomba 980

The FCC has already made it much harder for foreign drone makers such as DJI to bring new products into the US. Now, the same crackdown is reaching a machine far more likely to be moving around your living room.

The US government recently added foreign-made advanced robotic devices to the FCC’s Covered List. The announcement appeared focused on humanoids, robot dogs, and industrial machines, but an FCC spokesperson has confirmed to The Verge that robot vacuum cleaners are covered too.