Home Automation Gadgets and News

Latest news and gossip on X10, Zigbee, Z-Wave, UPB, and Insteon. Home automation is growing and we have all the newest automation products and the best technology out there. We are your source for the smarthome.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Bluetooth the next home automation standard?

I just read a brief article this afternoon that the bluetooth standard has been revised, revamped and ready to go after the home automation market. Could we have yet another new technology entering the market? Bluetooth makes sense for cellphones and cars but I know from my own experience that security is an issue. Lots and lots of people do not turn on security to their bluetooth devices. =)

The good part is they have more than a headstart as far as partnerships and widespread acceptance. The bad part is that it is relatively insecure and the cheapest bluetooth product I have purchased was a $79.99 headset for my cellphone. I say the more technologies the merrier.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

New from iRobot - Scooba Dooba


I know I am a bit late on the roomba news but this made my day. Why have your robot vacuum when you can buy it a little blue buddy to have it mop right along side. This will be available just in time for the holiday season.

Cool factor: blue

Russound Color Touchscreen UNO-TS2



New from Russound. This color touchscreen interface works in conjunction with their multizone systems to display realtime information on the screen including track, artist, . Notice the hard buttons on each side to control volume, track selection, pause/play, etc. I would hope that you can create custom skins for this guy or then what is the point of shelling out $1500?

Cool factor: Fits in a standard double gang box and available in 5 majestic colors... white, black, bone, almond, and the ever popular brown.

360 Degree Rotating Plugs


360 Electrical just announced the introduction of rotating plugs. This is a pretty slick idea for home automation enthusiasts, now we don't have to plug appliance and lamp modules into one another and hope that they don't melt from the heat.

No mention on their site as to how much they are going to cost retail but I will definitely be in line when they start shipping.

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

INSTEON Ships!


I got an email this morning with details that Smarthome began shipping Insteon. Right on the heals of Control4 announcing it was to begin shipping Zigbee products, Smarthome jumps into the playground. The price seems right,Insteon Starter Kit for $99, I believe the comparable Z-Wave starter kit is $129.

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Control4 to begin shipping


Wow did I speak to soon two days ago. According to this press release they have started shipping. I can't wait to see pricing on this stuff, how is anyone going to run cat.5 cable to all of their light switches? The products are awesome, I can't wait to see them in the real world.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

The first post

Welcome to the first post on the future of home automation. How long will X-10 survive? It has been around 30 plus years but is starting to fade a bit. I have seen lots and lots of press releases about Z-wave and Zigbee lately. I have had the opportunity to play with Z-wave on several occasions and have seen Zigbee for the last year at some of the Electronic House trade shows. Looks like great stuff if Control4 ever decides to ship. That is the first post, hopefully I can post lots of new pictures and links to cool things coming up.