Unboxed by Made.com

Interiors e-tailer Made.com has launched its very own social network, Unboxed. The online community enables users to connect with other Made.com customers in their area, and take a virtual house tour to see how they've styled the products purchased from the website.

Photo-real renders by Apparent Reality

Italian studio Apparent Reality applies 3D technology to interiors, creating images with an extraordinarily photo-realistic value.

Homebuildlife on Instagram

As well as checking in with us here, on Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter, you can now follow Homebuildlife on Instagram! We will be posting inspiring images from events, trade shows, exhibitons, collection launches and interiors shops.

Lazy Bytes exhibition: the new remote control

EPFL+ECAL Lab invited four of the world's most prestigious design schools to re-invent the remote control. For once, the main purpose is not just performance and functionality but also the aesthetic and experience of the object. 

The projects by ECAL, ENSCI-Les Ateliers, Royal College of Art and Parsons School include concepts such as the combination of hand-writing and digital control, or the transformation of everyday objects into remotes. Most ideas are currently undergoing tests to be turned into marketable products.

Zappie: kids' lifestyle app

Zappie is a new app that combines products and augmented reality technology to create a series of colourful animations that bring to life bedroom walls, furniture and clothing.

Floral Friday Competition: creative uses of Instagram

Photo by @annettabosakova

Emily Quinton of The Startup Wife blog started the Floral Friday competition on Instagram as a way of engaging fans of flowers, while at the same time building up an ever-changing moodboard of gorgeous blooms created by the Instagram community.

AppMachine: easy app building

New Dutch company AppMachine aims to open up the app creation process to anyone, whatever their experience of digital design and coding.

When Wine Tastes Best app by Floris Books

Edinburgh-based publisher Floris Books has launched an app for iPads and iPhones that tells users when it is a good or bad day to drink wine. When Wine Tastes Best is based on the biodynamic theories of Maria Thun, author of The Biodynamic Sowing and Planting Calendar.

L'ArcoBaleno: new online boutique

Landscape Table #4 by India Mahdavi

Design Miami founder Ambra Medda has teamed up with former eBay director Oliver Weyergraf to launch an online design boutique and journal that explores the best of design. With pricepoints ranging "from impulse to investment", L'ArcoBaleno combines design classics with contemporary pieces from the likes of Nendo, Max Lamb and India Mahdavi.

The Secret Garden at Hampton Court

London-based garden designers Katerina Rafaj and Jens Haendeler have incorporated augmented reality into the garden with The Secret Garden, an installation at Hampton Court Flower Show 2013. The image of an ivy-covered brick wall serves as a base to reveal an undiscovered world when ones holds an iPad in front of it.