TouchLinc controller reincarnated

March 23, 2010 Ruslan Ulanov 0

Remember that touchscreen from a decade ago, called TouchLinc? It was one of the few affordable X10 touchscreen controllers at the time. It had black and white screen and three hardwired connections: power, PC Serial port (for programming) and 4-conductor telephone cable to your powerline interface. Guess what? Smarthome is releasing an updated wireless version pretty soon (expected in stock 5/18/2010). Yes, of course it will support INSTEON, and to accomplish that you will have to have a SmartLinc (aka 2412N) controller in your set-up. So, what’s new?

Control4 My House iPhone app gets an update

March 15, 2010 Ruslan Ulanov 1

Control4 has updated their free iPhone app to version 2.4. Control4 My House UI app controls lighting, HVAC, Audio and Video devices including Apple TV and iTunes, IP cameras, etc., through a familiar Control4 interface. Added new language support including: Afrikaans, Croation, Czech, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish. Various defect fixes including but not limited to: Control4 1.8 version changes. Duplication of thermostats in certain projects. Security keypad issues in certain projects. Portrait to Landscape switching view issues. Album artwork retrieval issues. Improvements in camera movie display. Display of diacritic characters in certain languages. Device Driver support updates […]

Deal alert: Home Control Pro price drop

February 20, 2010 Ruslan Ulanov 0

NVS, the maker of Home Control Pro iPhone application (formerly known as Vantage Remote Pro), slashed price for its offering from $449.99 to just $189.99 to celebrate release of version 2.0. Home Control Pro is an iPhone and iPod Touch App designed to control your Vantage Infusion System. It automatically gathers data from Infusion Master to populate system-wide control of buttons, lights and thermostats. What’s New in Version 2.0 Please make note of all system ip address before installing this update. You will need to reload all Vantage Systems after installing this update. Automatically configures load types as a slider or […]

Innovative light switches from Basalte

December 22, 2009 Ruslan Ulanov 0

Being a home automation enthusiast I’ve seen a lot of different light switches, keypads and even LCD touch screens. And to tell you the truth majority of them are either pretty boring or too complex. And then there are light switches from Belguim-based Basalte, that has a very sleek website, but also some pretty innovative switches, that were rightfully awarded with numerous prestigious design awards such as Red Dot and iF product design.

Deal alert: Black Friday at SmartHome.com

November 26, 2009 Ruslan Ulanov 1

Here’s the link to Super Secret Black Friday Deals at SmartHome.com. These deals will last for only 4 days starting 11/27 through Cyber Monday on 11/30. Featuring: a Sale on INSTEON products Free Shipping Offers by Brand Dollars off when checking out via eBillMe or Google Gifts with purchase Get the coolest Christmass gifts for your favorite geek in the family, parents or friends from the brand name store — SmartHome.com. There’s something for every one!

CFL, is it worth it?

November 23, 2009 Ruslan Ulanov 2

I stumbled upon this, a rather lengthy, post that brings up some valid points on the CFL technology as a whole and the trade offs you’ll have to consider when upgrading your incandescent fixtures, especially in regards to home/lighting automation. In wanting to lower my carbon footprint, I tried switching to CFLs myself a while back, but found too many drawbacks in present generation of this technology and opted for replacing all (or most) switches in the house with dimmers and setting their default level to about 80%. The effect on my electricity bill was immediate, the solution was less pricey considering that no fixtures had to […]

Smarthome Introduces LampLinc INSTEON Plug-In Dual-Band Lamp Module

November 16, 2009 Ruslan Ulanov 0

Smarthome™ Introduces New LampLinc™ INSTEON® Plug-In Dual-Band Lamp Module Irvine, CA – November 16, 2009 -Smarthome announces the release of the new LampLinc INSTEON Plug-In Dual-Band Lamp Dimmer Module. The new product is a full-featured plug-in dimmer than can be remotely controlled by powerline and radio frequency (RF) INSTEON controllers and also doubles as an Access Point, relaying RF and powerline signals to other INSTEON-compatible devices. “Our new Dual-Band LampLinc Dimmer continues our efforts to provide our INSTEON customers with the most complete and reliable home automation network on the market,” commented Laurie Maroni, Vice President of Marketing at Smarthome. […]

The Ultimate List of Home Automation Software for iPhone, Part 3

October 19, 2009 Ruslan Ulanov 1

Last Updated: December 21, 2009 UPDATE: This list has moved to a new place, please go there for the most up-to-date information. This is Part 3 of The Ultimate List of Home Automation Software for iPhone. For your convenience the short link to this post is http://tinyurl.com/iphonehas3 (as in iPhone Home Automation Software, Part 3). The Ultimate List … Part 1 The Ultimate List … Part 2 The Ultimate List … Part 3

I/O Linc – INSTEON Morning Industry Lock Control Kit

October 14, 2009 Ruslan Ulanov 1

Irvine, CA – Smarthome announced the release of the new I/O Linc – INSTEON Morning Industry Lock Control Kit today. The kit, which includes two I/O Lincs and a Morning Industry RF Remote Control Key Fob, allows users to activate the locking mechanism of Morning Industry RF deadbolts and/or doorlocks (sold separately) via radio frequency (RF) to lock or unlock their door from any INSTEON controller.

Indigo 4.1.0 Home Automation Server Gets Released

September 30, 2009 Ruslan Ulanov 0

Perceptive Automation today announced release of the new version of company’s home automation software Indigo 4.1.0. The new version adds support for PowerLinc Modem (2412U/2412S, aka PLM) in addition to PowerLinc Controller (2414U, aka PLC). The PLM includes the ability to use extended INSTEON commands which can be used to control advanced functionality of newer INSTEON products. The PLM syncs INSTEON links significantly faster than the PLC. The new PRO version of the software also provides a way to create complex conditionals through embedded AppleScript. See the long list of General Improvements after the break.

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