Automated Home

Video: Lighting with Loxone

Mark McCall — Wed, 15 May 2013 07:19:00 +0000

We’ve covered some in-depth Loxone Case Studies already, but here’s something really easy to digest. The Loxone guys have put together a quick 90 second video showing their Miniserver set up to control lighting ‘scenes’. With home automation systems like this you get much more than the ability to just remotely turn lights on and [...]

Control4 Announces New Wireless Lighting Control Family

Mark McCall — Mon, 13 May 2013 07:11:20 +0000

Control4 have announced a new family of of wireless lighting control products. The company says they reduce programming complexity and are ideal for both for retrofit and new build projects. The new Control4 Wireless Lighting family includes Keypads, Switches, Controllers and Dimmers. Make sure to check out both videos below… Control4, a market leader in home automation systems, today [...]

TWiT Demonstrates Google Glass – Home Automation Potential?

Mark McCall — Thu, 09 May 2013 07:15:48 +0000

There have been plenty of Google Glass reviews already but last Sundays episode of ‘This Week in Tech’ provided one of the best insights yet into the product. The $1,500 developer preview should be more like $200-$500 once it’s available as a consumer product in 2014. But it’s going to require an adjustment to ’social norms’ before we [...]

New Trent iCarrier Heavy Duty Dual USB Charger Review

Mark McCall — Tue, 07 May 2013 07:30:16 +0000

We all have gadgets that seemingly need endless charging and the nature of our favourite mobile devices means that they are often away from a mains power source. Smart phones and particularly modern tablets like the iPad have even more demanding charging requirements. For the last four years I’ve been using a little external USB [...]

Video: Clipsal Colour eDLT for C-Bus

Mark McCall — Mon, 06 May 2013 07:32:58 +0000

A recent post on our C-Bus Forums highlighted a couple of new videos from Clipsal on their new eDLT (enhanced Dynamic Labelling Technology) switches… The best just got better with Clipsal’s eDLT (enhanced Dynamic Labelling Technology). The eDLT provides sophisticated and user friendly control of your C-Bus System and offers the ability to customise the colour [...]

Rumour: CommandFusion to Release iViewer Lite for DIY Home Automation?

Mark McCall — Sat, 04 May 2013 12:54:12 +0000

We’re hearing on the grapevine that CommandFusion may be about to launch a ‘Lite’ version of their highly regarded iViewer Ethernet control software. Currently users have to pay a license of around £100 for each device (iPhone, iPad etc). This isn’t unusual as part of a quality bespoke home automation system, however there are DIY [...]

New VoicePod Speech Recognition Device Enables Hands-Free Home Automation

Mark McCall — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:07:31 +0000

HouseLogix are launching their new ZigBee Voice Control Device for Home Automation called VoicePod. It’s a completely hands free system that interprets voice commands and sends appropriate signals to the home automation system using wireless ZigBee technology. VoicePod can be used to control all the usual HA suspects, including TV, music, thermostats, lighting, shading, security and [...]

Zipato ZipaBox Wireless Home Automation Controller Mega Review

Ant — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 07:09:18 +0000

The £170 ZipaBox from little known Croatian company Zipato challenges VeraLite’s Micasa Verde on price, yet promises a feature set on a par with high-end controllers like the Fibaro Home Centre 2. We put the ZipaBox through its paces to find out if it can really deliver. For this test, we’re using a ZipaBox together [...]

Home Automation Case Study: Custom Controls

Mark McCall — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 07:12:18 +0000

UK specialist Custom Controls recently undertook one of their most ambitious projects. Read on for all the photos and details… This project saw Custom Controls using and integrating just about every piece of automated control kit available including advanced audio, video, lighting and heating controls. This project covered a total area of 10,000 square meters, including [...]

New UK Show Home Demos Savant’s Apple Powered Home Automation Solution

Mark McCall — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 06:54:28 +0000

UK Distributors RGB, have just opened a Savant Experience Show Home to demonstrate how Savant has brought the familiarity of the Apple user interface to home automation. The system powering the central London Show Home is based on a Savant SmartMediaPro12 modular matrix switch/controller fitted with cards for 8 zones of audio and 10 zones of [...]