Items Tagged With hardware

AMX have launched the new Modero X Series, a range of super-wide, panoramic, frameless touchpanels.  The new form factor allows the user to control more from a single screen - without having to page across for more UI elements.  The units feature edge to edge glass, capacitive multi-touch, built in HD camera, Bluetooth and even Near Field Communication technology.  Check out the video after the jump...

We've always been fans of AlertMe, the UK company has brought innovative products to the market over the last few years .  However a couple of things have always spoiled the party a little, the closed nature of the systems and the on-going subscription costs.  However, after a sit down chat with the AlertMe boys and girls last week it's clear the company is ready to embark on a new chapter.  They have decided to drop subscriptions (yay!) and launch new hardware.  But more significantly they have decided to embrace open standards for their Zigbee powered wireless hub.  The aim?  To become the gateway between the Internet and a whole host of services and controls in our homes... 

In a quest to make our MacBook last out until next years rumoured major redesign (carbon fibre anyone?) we decided to do the trendy thing and install an SSD.  However we've always been used to having a big hard drive so the 128GB SSD we chose wasn't going to allow us to hold our entire LightRoom library and video files on the laptop like we're used to.  The solution?  Removing our un-used optical drive and replacing it with one of the recently launched 1TB 2.5" 9.5mm hard drives.  SSD speed plus a capacious spindle to store all our stuff on, does it get much better than this?  It's an easy project that anyone can follow.  Here's how we did it...

Many home automators have legacy systems linking to external control hardware via RS232.  As times and (OS's) have moved on many if us that ran multiple PCs have consolidated then into a single unit to ease management and running costs (as electricity prices have soared).  Virtualisation is another hot topic and moving to USB eases the pain with the move considerably.  Best of all the USB 2.0 to 4 x RS-232 ports is currently under £25 with the Dual channel version around £15...

We interviewed DF Solutions last summer but with one thing and another we never got this to you (sorry, our bad).  But suffice to say the home grown UK company is one we are always interested to hear from.  While it continues to face competition from DIY systems like Plex, it's definitely worth a closer look if you are in the market for a media server and not the hands on type, (we first heard about DF Solutions through a shining endorsement of a well known Customer Installer company in the UK).  Their interesting 3D matrix UI makes spotting the movie poster or album cover art you are looking for faster than with the normal single row scrolling UI's. DF Solutions also now integrate Spotify as a music source too.  Check out the videos after the jump...