Another raft of updates this week from one of our favourite UK innovators - AlertMe. Firstly the new "AlertMe Smart Energy" package with a full-colour display (and six months free online and mobile service included) is now available to pre-order at £49.99.  Also the new free iPhone App for the Energy system is now on the iTunes store and joy of joys a sweet new UI is here at last for the Web Interface...

Zigbee based home automation and entertainment system Control4 has just launched its second generation software.  The Flash based system brings a 'multiple new interface design' and the promise of easy customisations by the user.  In addition the update also includes a fashionable 'apps store' called 4Store which allows users to purchase applications to enhance the functionality of their system as well as third party products attached to it.  Check out the video and PR after the jump... 

When we built the Automated Home in the late 90s we wanted to be able to detect vehicles entering and leaving our driveway.  At not inconsiderable expense we buried the best available sensors at the time - using two so we could also determine the direction of travel.  We ran underground cables back to our Node Zero and used HomeVision to do the logic.  So we were pretty interested to read about a  brand new new Driveway Sensor that is Wireless and that just started shipping this week from HAI...

Here's the new MVP-9000i from AMX.  A 9” widescreen LED-backlit touchpanel for control and automation that uses what's described as a "next-generation user interface that supports finger-swipe navigation and animated page transitions".  The unit has full Ethernet connectivity when in its PoE docking station, plus wireless 802.11 a/b/g Wi-Fi when on the move.  There's a built-in speaker, microphone, USB and Micro-SD slot too.  The MVP-9000i is available in white or black, has over 1 GB of useable flash memory and supports up to 6 hours of continuous use on its battery.  Full PR after the jump...

Still one of our favourite IP CCTV camera ranges - Y-Cam - now has a new "Bullet' model.  The MPEG-4 streaming IP camera is Windows, Mac and Linux compatible and is rated IP66 for outdoor use right out of the box.  In addition it has a switchable IR filter meaning you lose the purple tinge of previous models during daylight, whilst retaining the low IR capabilities at night.   You can record video based on motion to its local microSD card as well as emailing and FTP stills.  The camera also produces MJPEG and 3GPP and supports streaming to iPhone and Blackberry for example.  The unit has wired 10/100 Ethernet and Wireless (802.11b/g) with support for WEP and WPA2...

A few guys on our forums have been working on using the O2 Joggler as a home automation controller.  With some hacking they've put together a system that enables the Joggler to send and receive xAP packets, potentially allowing it to control almost any smart home system whilst showing live updates of say caller ID, temperature, light status etc on its display...

Naim are famous for their high-end music servers boasting music playback with bit-for-bit accuracy.  Their NaimNet system also offers home automators control of lights, AV, screens and blinds, heating, and security.  All Ethernet connected, using a standard domestic PC network.  It's not surprising then that Naim have joined the ever increasing band of companies identifying the iPad as a their smart home controller....

This one came right out of the blue - Apple have just released a brand new 1.4" high unibody Mac mini - complete with HDMI !  The new machine also includes the NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics, an SD slot and for the firsrt time a built-in PSU.  It and can now take up to 8GB of RAM and - put your pallet knives away - there's now a removable panel on the bottom for easy RAM upgrades.  Read on for all the details...