Here's an interesting new video which gives a good look around an American Home Automation installation.  Some of the subject touched on are star wiring, CCTV installation (with power over CAT5), wall mounted touch screens, security and HVAC...

Philips Dynalite has announced Morban Ltd as the first UK member to its Dimension dealer accreditation and training group.  Lancashire and Oxfordshire-based Morban, are a residential systems integrator, which has been working with Philips Dynalite for three years, delivering home automation solutions that combine lighting, security, AV, environmental, and communications/media systems. The Philips Dynalite Dimension program provides standardised training, improved access to technical support, and essential marketing support to all accredited companies and individuals.  Read on for the full details...

Earlier this month we had a request from a reader to setup a new forums facility for users to write up their home automation projects so others can benefit from their experience.  So the "Projects" forum was born.  To start us off there are now projects there from user jaffaon - Temperature Capture plus a two-part post on ripping / storing your DVD collection and then streaming the movies around your home.  Join in and post your projects in the new forum...

UK Home Automator turned podcaster, Don McAllister, is famous for his high quality video tutorials for the Mac.  This week he comes back to his roots covering a true smart home application and an Automated Home favourite - Plex.  Like us, Don is "blown away" by the OpenSource media player / library manager and the show is a great resource for anyone setting up Plex for the first time as well as showing some of the more advanced features if you are already a Plex user.  Links to the 46 minute long Free HD video after the jump...

In his latest post our masked installer considers how he stays in love with automation and talks about managing the expectations of his clients.  How he remotely reboots flakey set-top boxes and the state of his order book in these recession hit times...

Perceptive Automation today announced the release of version 4.0 of Indigo, their intelligent home control and automation server for Mac OS X.  New with this release is support for Indigo Touch, a native iPhone and iPod touch application, which allows a user to control their home automation system from anywhere using WiFi, 3G, or Edge connectivity.  Indigo Touch is available now as a free download from the iTunes App Store.  Check out the video after the break...

Vesternet have launched what they are describing as the worlds first dedicated ZigBee eCommerce store.  With a huge range of ZigBee equipped products plus their own newly developed Zigbox Ethernet gateway and Zigbytes web-based user interface, the site is sure to be of interest to home automators.  Read on for the full release...  

Our last video podcast showed what a fantastic media player the Mac mini is when connected to your home cinema.  But the new £499 price was a bit of a shocker.  However, tonight Apple have added some of the previous generation minis to the refurb store at just £379! 

Last year we talked to Data Robotics and asked them when we could have a Drobo with more drive slots.  Today they delivered with the announcement of the 8 bay DroboPro.  Read on for all the juicy details, the photos and the prices… 

News this morning from our forums that Clipsal are going to open up access to their C-Bus protocol. This is the news many custom installers and DIYers have been waiting for as it should seemuch easier integration of C-Bus prducts with other systems.  Interestingly this comes very soon after the announcement that Philips have aquired Dynalite.  The future of lighting control is definatley going to be interesting...