Edward Pearson has launched new xAP Plugins for CeBotics HouseBot that lets the software work with any xAP-enabled device on a home automation network, like lighting systems including C-Bus, Dynalite and DMX; 1-Wire temperature/weather monitoring; audio servers like SqueezeCenter; caller ID and more. Read on for a special limited time offer of 20% off for Automated Home readers.
If you are not aware of HouseBot by CeBotics, it's an affordable HA controller application for Windows that allows you to monitor and control lights, appliances, A/V equipment and much more using customizable graphic interfaces for PCs, touchscreens, and wireless PDAs. HouseBot includes an intuitive task scripting engine where tasks are created using a point-and-click wizard for sophisticated events without manual programming.
xAP Plugins for HouseBot by ersp-design is a new software that lets HouseBot work with any xAP-enabled device on a home automation network. xAP-enabled HouseBot installations can work with audio servers such as SqueezeCenter;
lighting systems including C-Bus, Dynalite and DMX; 1-Wire temperature/weather monitoring; caller ID etc.
xAP can also be used to integrate HouseBot with other home automation platforms such as HomeSeer and Comfort providing user interfaces that can look as good as those from high-end manufacturers for a fraction of the
price.
The xAP plugin adds additional devices to HouseBot:
All these are fully compatible with other HouseBot devices. They can be scripted, used in triggers and tasks as well as working with HouseBot's graphical remote control development tools.
HouseBot can be evaluated free for 30 days (visit www.housebot.com) and costs just $69US for a full licence. The xAP plugin can be used in trial mode with a limited number of devices for any period; an unlimited version costs just $10US. Visit www.erspearson.com/xAP/HouseBot.
Special offer for readers of AutomatedHome - purchase xAP Plugins for HouseBot any time before the 10th of November 2008 and receive a discount voucher for 20% off the price of HouseBot itself - you do the maths! Edward Pearson, ersp - design, London.
www.erspearson.com/xAP/HouseBot.
We reported back in June on some interesting new modules Keene Electronics were working on. Well their IR Anywhere product has now been launched, allowing you to send your IR remote control signals across IP networks.
"The IR Anywhere modules are physically identical and can be software configured to act as either a receiver, as a target or as a stand alone.
A receiver will receive an IR command, convert it to packet data and send that data to a pre-determined IP address (usually another module).
A target module will decode the received data and retransmit the IR as originally received. Once correctly configured, one target can receive data from multiple receivers.
A stand alone module will operate as a target receiver without attempting to locate a compatible PC or other module on the local network.
How you configure the modules will depend largely upon how you wish to use them in operation. You can use them as a transmit/receive pair across a local network or across the internet, or a module can be configured to respond to commands from a computer or other compatible device.
The modules will operate via LAN, and also via WAN assuming firewall and routers are correctly configured.
PC software can be downloaded for configuration and operation. Enhanced scheduling software and other 3rd party applications are also in development. The configuration software and other software news will always be available at www.keene.co.uk/iranywhere
The modules are compatible with 36-40K IR signals which covers the majority of domestic AV equipment. A wide band IR receiver can be purchased separately that will extend the range to cover 20KHz to 120KHz if required. The IR Inputs and outputs are fully compatible with the Keene IR Distribution range so other styles of receivers and emitter wands can easily be incorporated.
The AppleTV is such an "almost there" device. It's in-ability to play popular codecs like DivX and stream from shares on your network have always left users wanting more. Now Scott Davilla has released a USB patchstick image to add all that missing functional by installing Boxee, the media center software based on XBMC.
"Earlier today Scott released the USB flash drive creator for the AppleTV, which makes it relatively easy to get your Apple TV to run xbmc/boxee.
it adds a new menu option to your Apple TV that enables the user to launch boxee (as well as keep on using the Frontrow stuff). once you run boxee on Apple TV you can do stuff like play almost any video format, get a much richer experience of browsing your media library, listen to music from last.fm, send recommendations to friends, and more. you get the full boxee experience."
This afternoon I stumbled across possibly one of the most useful pieces of software ever! A mate's recent blog post referred to "Jaikoz" - an audio tag editor with a difference. In these days of iPods, Cover Flow and Media centers its more important than ever to have your music all properly tagged and complete with album artwork, But it's a hateful task, even with normal tagging software to help. But the Jaikoz ace is the way it does it automatically, identifying music even without any existing tags at all.
"Jaikoz uses MusicBrainz, an online database of over 6 million songs. Many of these songs also have an Acoustic Id provided by MusicIP, allowing a song to be identified by the actual music, so it can do a match even if you have no metadata! These feature means that Jaikoz gives you the flexibility to lookup your songs by both the acoustic id and the metadata making Jaikoz a very accurate tool. But no identification system is 100% accurate so we have made it as quick and easy as possible to edit your data manually as well using a convenient spreadsheet view, with many autoformatting features."
Jaikoz supports tagging of MP3, Mp4, M4a, M4p, Flac and OggVorbis files. Best of all Jaikoz is available for Windows XP/Vista, Mac OS X and Linux and there's a free trial available (£15 to buy)...
www.jthink.net/jaikoz : [Thanks Andy ]
You arrive back at your automated pad after a hard day at work. You fire up the home cinema and start to unwind to a great movie. Then the phone ring and you answer to find someone wanting to sell you double glazing! Annoying isn’t it. Well help is at hand from PhoneSpamFilter.co.uk
Building a database of unsolicited caller’s numbers, the site already has the largest user-generated list of telemarketers out there with over 10,000 numbers currently in the catalog.
Anyone can add to the database, once you’ve been phone-spammed it’s a fast and easy process to add the number to the system. You can also leave comments on the caller and feel good knowing you’ve added to the knowledge.
Of particular interest to Smart Home owners is the ability to automate the checking process. With a specially formatted URL you can instantly query the PhoneSpamFilter database and obtain a score for a particular number. As with email spam filters, the higher the score returned, the more likely the number is bad. PhoneSpamFilter recommend rejecting any number with a score of 50 or above. With such an open “API” integrating number checking into many home automation systems should only require a small script.
PhoneSpamFilter are already working on simple scripts for automating this process with various well known PBX phone switches and it already publishes files that allow it to integrate with the popular “Asterisk” open source VOIP PBX.
So, if you’d like to use the database, or contribute that number that disturbed your movie viewing last night then head on over to PhoneSpamFilter.co.uk
Lighting control and automation group, Dynalite, has launched the 100BT Ethernet gateway series. The 100BT series permits Ethernet connectivity between Dynalite’s peer-to-peer communications serial bus network, DyNet, Dynalite control systems and third-party technologies, such as audio-visual and building automation systems.
Comprising three compact and lightweight models (DNG100BT, DDBG100BT, and DMNG100BT), Dynalite’s new 100BT DyNet-to-Ethernet gateway series is available in a variety of housings and mounting options to suit nearly any control application. Wall, shelf and DIN-rail mounting options, along with a selection of enclosure types, including steel, polycarbonate and plastic, provide users with unrivalled levels of installation flexibility.
Dynalite’s 100BT series supports TCP/IP protocol with either static or DHCP-assigned IP addressing. The gateway’s ‘routing mode’ enables multiple units to be linked via point-to-point or broadcast modes, while its integrated web server permits browser-based control.
The 100BT series is a key element of Dynalite’s end-to-end solution-set. This complete and fully integrated distributed control system comprises a full range of controllers, multi-function occupancy and light-level sensors, user interface panels and switches, a PC-based graphical control and monitoring interface, plus Dynalite’s DyNet network. The modular and distributed nature of the Dynalite solution-set ensures it can easily ‘evolve’ to meet the needs of the building occupants and their ever-changing interior space requirements.
According to Dynalite Business Development Manager, Phil Main, the new 100BT DyNet-to-Ethernet gateway series provides commercial and residential building owners and occupiers with streamlined controllability and unmatched scalability. “The 100BT Ethernet gateway allows multi-site remote control and linking via the Internet, or corporate LANs,” he said. “Rather than designing and installing individual networks for each control system, a single Ethernet-based network can be used to access and distribute lighting control information. Users can simply tap into this central Ethernet loop using a 100BT gateway--a real time- and cost-saver.”
The 100BT gateways can be linked to touch-screens or HMIs for displaying and analysing diagnostic data. Further flexibility is provided by two power-supply options--units with an integrated dedicated power supply are available, while there is also an option for a unit that can be powered by the DyNet network.
Like all Dynalite technologies, the 100BT Ethernet gateway series is founded on Dynalite’s world-renowned distributed control philosophy, where control intelligence is distributed about the network in a modular fashion and linked via the DyNet network. Equipped with a built-in programmable logic controller (PLC), the new 100BT DyNet-to-Ethernet gateway series can process conditional and sequential logic and arithmetic functions.
“The 100BT gateways are not reliant on third-party controllers and are easily configured via a laptop computer,” said Main. “Once programmed, the unit’s on-board intelligence retains all the required information for fast and reliable operation, even in the event of a power outage. If the gateway itself or the DyNet or Ethernet network goes off-line, the information is retained within the unit. It is smart control solutions like this that helps keep building control systems online and running smoothly.”
Edward Pearson has just announced that following many months of beta testing, a xAP plug-in for SqueezeCenter v7.x is now available. xAP Plug-in v2 for SqueezeCenter is a second generation, pure-Perl implementation of a xAP connector for this platform. The previous version, released in 2006 supported server software v6.x (SlimServer) and followed on from the original .Net version. This version has been revised to work with v7.x SqueezeCenter software, features significantly enhanced message display functionality as well as numerous other enhancements and bug fixes plus new documentation...
The xAP plug-in for SqueezeCenter supports messages from these xAP schema
specifications:
The plug-in provides two-way xAP communication for SqueezeCenter with the
following main functions:
The plug-in can be found at:
http://www.erspearson.com/xAP/Slim/slim_main.htm
There is online documentation at:
http://www.erspearson.com/xAP/Slim/Manual.html
Cytech Europe have just sent us news on their new smart home video presentation featuring their Comfort Intelligent Home System.
"The video, filmed in a family home, entertains, informs and demonstrates all aspects of smart home technology including security, networked sound and vision, remote control of heating, air conditioning, lighting, curtains and gates and an intercom which calls a mobile phone when no one is home...."
Our mailing list on YahooGroups is 10 years old today! Over the last decade the list has been a huge success with currently 2,000 members from around the world and an incredible 150,000 message archive.
Many thanks to all the readers and contributors plus the handful of co-moderators that have taken on the task of keeping the list a nice place to be over the years.
M.
Join our mailing list here - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ukha_d/
Check out the History of Automated Home Here
We've been contacted by Craig at CSI, makers of HomeVision, with a special offer for Automated Home readers...
"To promote the purchase of HomeVision-Pro in the UK and the rest of Europe, we are making a special offer. During September and October 2008 we will give a free Multifunction Expansion Board to European purchasers of a HomeVision-Pro unit. We have a web page at www.csi3.com/mfebspecial.htm with all the details this offer."
HomeVision Pro available in Europe from - www.letsautomate.com