The kitchen has only the essentials. “It’s not a house in which you’re supposed to live 365 days a year—it’s set up as a place to get away and relax,” says Claudio.

A Seattle family tasked Atmosphere Design Build with creating a sustainable dwelling in Nevada City, California, the matriarch's hometown and a historic mining community. The firm's material-driven approach channels the pioneer spirit of the gold rush, without compromising comfort or high-efficiency standards.

Icehotel 365 Torneland bar

365 Ocean features an elegant entry to welcome homeowners and guests

Simpatico Homes founder Seth Krubiner has lived in the prefab company’s nearly net-zero prototype since it was customized and lifted onsite in 2011.

When guests aren't splurging at the fancy restaurant 365, they are likely chilling out at the bistro, an airy room adorned with remarkable arches.

Components for low-cost prefab homes designed by Habitat for Humanity and the firm Minarc for South Central Los Angeles were trucked in and assembled over three days. Photos by Art Gray.

Manhattan is just a ferry ride or train ride away for residents of 365 Ocean. Commuter ferries operate out of the nearby town of Highlands daily, and NJ TRANSIT rail service to Manhattan is also available via the Long Branch train station, which is within walking distance of 365 Ocean. The Monmouth Medical Center is also just a short walk away. www.365oceannj.com

One of the available models—the ESCAPE Traveler XL—is available to rent for $195 per night or $1,365 per week.

Before: The main floor of the 2,365-square-foot penthouse had terracotta tile throughout, which was dark and in poor condition.

Rice surfs the net at the built-in desk.

Directly adjacent to the winter hall lies Icehotel 365, which allows guests to experience frozen accommodations all year round.

You can set the schedule up to a week in advance, and get push notifications when a fresh pot is ready. It brews at about 205 degrees Fahrenheit, and you can adjust the strength. You can also pause in the middle of the cycle in order to pour a cup.

Drawing power from integrated solar panels, both devices connect to Wi-Fi to relay relevant information about the soil to your phone or tablet. It will even automatically water from the hose using weather forecasts.

The Silent History is an app for your iPhone, a multi-author dystopian sci-fi novel, a mobile storytelling experiment, and a sprawling work of geo-located literature that its makers don't even fully understand. It's out there, man. Buy it! ($2)

In Time is a fun painting on polished plaster where I played with impasto for the soil, moss, shrooms and an over sized snail! Mixed Media 12" x 12" Framed panel $365

Most impressive of all, a solar array on the roof empowers the residents to produce more energy than they consume on-site.

For the fashionista with an edge on your list, get the latest from legendary style icon and former French Vogue editor-in-chief Carine Roitfeld: a book so stunning, no coffee table is complete without it. ($365)

The superimposed images of the furniture look slightly surreal, as expected, but the ability to furnish a room with multiple items and choose from such a large array of brands makes it superior to the Home Depot’s similar app.

The Solar Stair is a cantilevered concrete spiral in the centre of the building, with Eduardo Paolozzi’s Black Hole mosaic at the base. The stair itself represents the solar year, with 52 steps cast in concrete with seven strips to produce a total of 365 grooves inscribed on the risers, one for each day of the year.

Fortunato Depero's Heart Eaters (Mangiatori di cuori), 1923.Painted wood, 36.5 x 23 x 10 cm Private collection © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, Rome Photo: Vittorio Calore

Timer-activated coffee makers have been around for years, so it's almost hard to believe it took this long to make the device smart. Finally, Belkin made one from a partnership with Mr. Coffee, and it goes beyond scheduled brewing.

OfficeIQ, which is iOS and Android compatible, measures how many calories are burned and can sync with third-party fitness apps. Users can also just use a desktop interface if they prefer. The OfficeIQ system sends notifications to your screen when it's time to move from sitting to standing.

Regular intervals of standing reportedly reduce fatigue, minimize injury, and improve long term health. The information collected is aggregated and individual data is anonymous. Part of the goal is to measure healthy habits of an office, which could potentially be used to lower the cost of health insurance for the business.

The Museum of Modern Art added their first app to their collection, Björk's Biophilia app that interacts with the listener.

Seventy percent of smartphone and tablet owners say they'd like to control something in their house remotely from bed, such thermostats, lights, or coffee makers (an appliance 27 percent named specifically).

With its app, Sunn allows users to select any time and location, and the light will track the patterns of the sun accordingly. Trying to ignore the gray weather outside? Users can also select which season they'd like the light to reflect.

To add cards to your Coin, you need to take a photo of the front and back and then use a provided card reader to swipe the card. Once your cards have been synced, you can use the app to manage your library and choose which cards you'd like to use on the physical Coin. Although the accompanying mobile app can store an unlimited number of cards, a Coin card holds no more than eight.

Coin is about the same size as a traditional credit card, and comes in a similar plastic.

Pressing a small buton on the card lets you toggle through the different credit card accounts that you have uploaded to Coin. Currently, Coin only assimilates magnetic stripe cards and has no support for the up-and-coming EMV chip technology.

Coin uses a low-power Bluetooth signal to communicate with the app. If you ever leave your Coin behind while buying coffee, your phone will receive a notification asking whether you left without remembering to take your card. A phone is not required to use the card, however.

The Coin's screen displays the credit card brand, the last 4 digits of the card number, and the expiration date on a digital display. There's a signature panel on the back.

The Myfox Security Camera responds to these concerns with an ingenious solution: a motorized shutter. Using a smartphone app, homeowners can open and close the camera's aperture as needed. Thus, it is as effective at safeguarding your property as it is your privacy.

When you find a color scheme that resonates, the app will find brand-specific color codes that you can bring to the hardware store. Currently, it only works on interior spaces.