So as if to prove his point, a day after our Masked Installer's piece on how the iPhone and iPod Touch are becoming such great Smart Home controllers, Sonos release their free app to control their multiroom music system.
"The Sonos Controller for iPhone™ is a free application that turns your iPhone (or iPod® touch) into a full-fledged Sonos Controller. Plus, it uses the familiar touch-screen interface and fits in your pocket so you can carry it with you all over the house. Best of all, you can download it for free on the App Store in seconds. Just grab your iPhone and simply touch the screen to pick a room, point and flick to pick a song, and then hit play. Grouping zones and searching tracks has never been easier. You can mix and match Controllers (CR100, Desktop Controller and Sonos Controller for iPhone) for maximum flexibility. Or get started with Sonos using the iPhone you already own and one or more ZonePlayers spread throughout your house."
Jump to the Free Sonos App on iTunes : www.sonos.com
This time our Masked Installer gives us his candid take on how the iPhone (and iPod Touch) is shaping the way his clients control their professional custom installed smart home systems and how it really could be the device that changes people's perception of Home Automation."When I posted my heroes and villains of last year I had iTunes in the villains' camp. I didn't like the DRM, the inadequate bit rate and the non-standard method of dealing with cover art. I'm still not a great fan of iTunes but I do have more than a sneaking regard for Apple's other products. A quick inventory of what I've got...
If I was doing another Heroes and Villains piece I'd have the iPhone in there on the side of the good guys. I think it's the most capable all round piece of hardware I've ever used, more importantly I think it's the device that's most likely to change people's perceptions of what home automation could do and how it should work. To put that in perspective I'll do a comparison of what my iPhone does vs. a wireless AMX touchpanel. They're very different devices but because they're multifunctional personal touch screens there's a lot of crossover.
The AMX panel is a better home automation device. We run whole houses on these things with a single integrated interface for audio/video, heating, security, lighting, blinds, gates, CCTV etc. Because we design the GUIs we can tailor the interface to our clients' needs and because we have some talented programmers we can pretty well control anything using the Netlinx programming language. The touchpanels talk to an AMX processor usually tucked away in the rack and the processor has an array of comms onboard - IP, RS232 , IR, Relays, Digital I/O. That's a pretty potent combination and it comes at a price. The panel is over £3k, the processors vary but the one we use most often is around £2k and when you get any of this kit out of the box it doesn't do anything - just about all of the functionality requires custom code - so there's programming fees as well. That said the end result is a solid, well supported install with remote management capability and an interface that is absolutely tailored to the customer’s requirements.
My iPhone cost nothing with the package I chose. That package has proved to be £30 a month less I was paying to Orange for using my gruesome N95. Out of the box you get a phone (sorry I know that's pretty obvious), email, SMS and a really usable browser. AMX for all its capability is a long way behind when it comes to comms. The new panels have VoIP capability, there's a SIP gateway so it's possible to use them as phone devices and I've seen email and RSS readers implemented (though it's not something we do) but there's no browser. As an information device, an AMX panel lacks a lot of what the iPhone can do. Shouldn't be too surprising though, the iPhone is a communications platform. What is more surprising is how much wider the iPhone's capabilities become when you throw in wealth of stuff the Apps Store.
The first thing I put on mine was Remote - the Apple application that offers you control over iTunes or an Apple TV. As a taster of what's possible it's a great introduction. I've never really got the whole AirTunes / Airport Express thing; without some form of smart remote interface, there's still the need for a PC or Mac to control what's going out. Remote fills that gap and gives you a pretty full featured interface for iTunes control. It's not a true multiroom audio solution in terms of selecting output zones, managing volume and all the things that make dedicated multiroom solutions work well but its media selection interface is just lovely - in some ways better than the iPod Touch's own interface. Remote was something I played around with for a bit and then left alone. It's free, it's fun and it makes remote iTunes management an option but I wasn't going to use it at home.
Zones had me changing stuff around on my home setup to accommodate it. Zones is an iPhone / iPod Touch app for Sonos control and I've got a fair chunk of Sonos kit. If you've got a Sonos Zone Player then it's worth the £9 or so it costs. It doesn't have the same multizone volume control of a Sonos CR100 controller and it's not got Zone synching so like Remote it feels like more of a point to point solution. The difference for me is that it offers a new interface on top of the Sonos hardware. Sonos is a dedicated multiroom audio solution, Zones gives you a new way to access a lot of what Sonos does really well.
So searching with Zones is much nicer than hunting for stuff with a CR100, browsing your lists of Albums, Artists and Genres is more fun than browsing with a CR100. I've always loved Sonos but the iPhone form factor and touchscreen's multitouch capability makes the CR100 feel really dated. The great thing here is that you're just adding a new fun way of enjoying a Sonos system, nothing gets junked.
"Zones" controls Sonos with the iPhone / iPod Touch
If I look at the other multiroom systems we sell then there is similar activity. Speakercraft have developed a custom web interface for the iPhone. Not being a native client it doesn't make maximum use of the iPhone's capability but it's simple to integrate, it works and again it's an additional way of enjoying an existing system. I'd describe it as an addition to a well set up Speakercraft system and worth looking at if you've gone down that route.
What all of these applications lack that AMX has in spades is the totally integrated interface. With one of our AMX panels you get an interface that gives you all of the control you need, not just the ones relevant to a particular application. Our cinema interfaces offer control over lighting levels, heating levels, source selection and control, fine tune over video processors and AV amps. However, there's a shortcut route to integrating an iPhone or iPod Touch here as well. All AMX 4th Generation (G4) panels offer VNC. Jaadu (formerly known as Teleporter) is a brilliant VNC client for the iPhone. A widescreen AMX panel has a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, Jaadu makes a pretty good fist of scaling that down to the iPhone's screen. Again, this isn't a replacement for AMX - in this context you need an AMX panel to VNC into. What it is a nice additional way of controlling a wider control system with a device that you're likely to have in your pocket. On a local network, it's very usable. On a WAN you need a bit of patience but it gives me an acceptable way to remotely manage sites including our own showrooms.
The next step from that has to be native applications - there are a number appearing now and among them is the Command Fusion iViewer application for which a team of AMX developers are developing an AMX module. Native apps offer the possibility of a higher level of integration and the use of the platform's hardware capability. Tying an iPhone interface to AMX code running on an AMX processor is very appealing and offers us the potential to create great user interfaces to our own code base. I think the key to great control interfaces has to be simplicity and providing we don't ignore that we can supplement our installs with a handy pocket size device that so many of our customers carry.
Simplicity is the key to the best iPhone apps. Some personal faves. Trains is a UK app that lets you check departure times by Station. TV Plus is a fantastic client for Sky's Remote Record. Newsstand is a fun RSS reader that makes great use of the multitouch features of the iPhone. Touch Term is a great SSH client for remote management and the last.fm client is a nice way of extending your iPhone's library when you're in Wi-Fi range.
So have I gone completely insane? Am I putting forward the view that the top end players like Crestron and AMX are under threat from a phone or an iPod? Not exactly, I still hold that an AMX setup is a vastly superior home automation platform - it's what it's designed to do. The iPhone in comparison can be viewed as a crude mish-mash of unrelated applications, but some of those applications really make you think about how touchscreen interfaces should work. The defining moment for me was when I was when I flicked my finger down a list of artists on a wall mounted touch panel and stood there waiting for something to happen.
As an addition to the range of tools available to Cutom Installers, we should welcome the iPhone with open arms!"
iTunes links for the Apps in this article - Remote : Zones : iViewer : TV Plus : Trains : Newsstand : Touch Term : last.fm : Jaadu
Read the Masked Installer's Previous Articles
Our friends over at AlertMe continue to improve and develop their smart home security system. Recent additions are a beautiful new interface for the iPhone (other phones supported soon), the announcment of an API for developers to interface to the system and most interestingly news that "SmartPlug" is on the way.
SmartPlug will be the first product in the AlertMe Energy Saving Range. Due in the next few weeks and rumoured to cost around £25, the SmartPlug will be dual purpose. Firstly it will allow you to control the appliance plugged into it (a la X10, Z-Wave etc). However, cleverly, it will also be able to monitor the electricity being used by that appliance too. It doesn't take long to see the benefits of such a device, especially when linked to the smarts of the AlertMe hub. A single button on your keyfob can now arm your alarm as you leave AND switch off the Coffee Machine and table lamps.
The new AlertMe iPhone / iPod Touch Application is now available at mobile.alertme.com. You can view and change the status of your alarm, see who's at home, look at your event history and view the temperate sensor values around your house. AM say they are also working on a version to work on a wider range of phones in the coming months.
Finally, the AlertMe API (that's used for the iPhone interface above) is now being offered to 3rd parties. AM are looking for developers to get in touch with the company if they wish to interface to their device. An API is one of the many improvements we wanted to see from AM in our in-depth review of the system, and we're impressed with how far the system has come in recent months.
www.alertme.com : Our In-Depth AlertMe Review : Listen to our Podcast with AlertMe
Here's the perfect companion for your new Drobo or other storgage device. Amazon are currently offering the Western Digital Green (reduced power consumption) drives for £70 including VAT and free delivery! We run these drives ourselves here at AUtomated Home, they're quiet, fast and HUGE!
"WD Caviar Green drives use less power and support quieter, cooler-running desktop PCs and external storage devices. As hard drive capacities increase, the power required to run those drives increases as well. WD Caviar Green drives make it possible for energy-conscious customers to build systems with higher capacities and the right balance of system performance, ensured reliability, and energy conservation.
Up to 285,700 digital photos Up to 250,000 songs (MP3) Up to 25,000 songs (uncompressed CD quality) Up to 76 hours of Digital Video (DV) Up to 440 hours of DVD quality video Up to 120 hours of HD video "
This morning, Data Robotics have officially launched DroboApps. Since the announcement of the Drobo SDK beta back in July, over 100 developers have signed up for the program producing around 20 applications for the unit. Amongst these are several applications that will already appeal to the Smart Home enthusiast. uPnP, iTunes and DLNA apps all help to transform the Drobo from a storage device into a media server.
Many if not all of the current applications are free and open source. However DR aren’t ruling out apps that are chargeable too. While many applications will require the Linux powered DroboShare (various IP based servers for example), some will be available to run on stand alone Drobos too, or may even be desktop based like the Drobo Dashboard for Linux.
Keen not to upset the “it just works” philosophy, the apps system will not be enabled by default, but will be easily switched on by the more technical user interested in the added functionality it provides.
We asked DR how they got round running multiple apps on the relatively modest DroboShare hardware. The answer is “Add Swap Memory”, a piece of software that allows you to increase the memory available for running programs by either utilising 512 meg of hard drive space or cleverly a USB thumb drive plugged into the back of the unit. Running multiple apps, especially something like a busy FTP server will of course have an effect on Drobo’s core performance as a NAS.
DR will provide no warranty or support for 3rd party apps and it will be left to the developer community to vet them for malware. Some of the success stories in the applications already available include:
Fuppes – A UPnP / DLNA media server, Fuppes will allow DroboShare to stream media to your Xbox 360, Sony Playstation 3 or many other network enabled media players.
Jumbo Frames – I
f you have a Gigabit Ethernet network with Jumbo Frames then the Jumbo Frames DroboApp changes the MTU level to 9000 on your DroboShare so that you can get extra performance. DR say users have reported a doubling of read/write performance from this 1k application.
Time Tamer – Designed to stop Apple’s Time Machine backup system taking over all the space on Drobo, Time Tamer creates a disk image for Time Machine to use that will grow to 2x size of your hard disk, but no larger. The utility is supplied in a Mac .app file which allows it to work on all disks, not just Drobo.
Many other useful apps like SSH, WOL, PERL, FTP, rSYNC are available now. DR have already seen a beta version of AFP running on the system too and they are also predicting the command line bit torrent client will soon have a GUI front end. The DDC (Drobo Developer Community) is free to join and we look forward with interest to see what other applications can be created for Drobo.
drobo.com/droboapps : www.drobospace.com/developers : Our Drobo/DroboShare Review
Buy Drobo
The Official Press Follows...
"DATA ROBOTICS ALIGNS WITH DEVELOPERS TO DELIVER 20 NEW APPLICATIONS FOR DROBO AND DROBOSHARE
Community-Created, Community-Supported DroboApps Provide Customized Functionality for iTunes, BitTorrent, Time Machine, Yoics and more
SANTA CLARA, CA – October 21, 2008 –Data Robotics, Inc. today announced that since opening up its storage platform to third-party developers in July 2008, 20 DroboApps have been developed or ported for use with the award-winning Drobo and DroboShare. DroboApps enable customers to interact with their Drobo and DroboShare in exciting and novel ways that everyone from typical home users to Linux enthusiasts will appreciate. DroboApps opens up a world of possibilities including, iTunes™ music server, UPnP and DLNA media streaming, BitTorrent™ downloading, FTP and Web server functionality and remote access via the Yoics™ client, among others.
The Drobo Developer Community (DDC) and DroboApps initiatives underscore Data Robotics’ commitment to working closely with the developer community to provide a completely customized experience to every Drobo customer. Anyone interested in developing or porting applications to Drobo and DroboShare can sign up for the DDC at www.drobospace.com/developers.
“The Drobo solves consumers’ ever-expanding need for storage in a simple and reliable way. When combined with Yoics, the stored data becomes instantly accessible from anywhere on the internet,” said Ryo Koyama, President & CEO of Yoics. “The application we created as part of the Drobo Developer Community transforms the Drobo into an internet appliance, where the data stored on it is available from any web-browser–even the one on your iPhone.”
Some examples of DroboApps available today include:
“We are very excited about the community’s rapid response to our developer program in creating and porting DroboApps for Drobo,” stated Dr. Geoff Barrall, Founder & CEO of Data Robotics. “Unlike traditional storage devices that limit users to a fixed number of features or applications, Drobo now provides an open environment that allows nearly limitless expansion of new functionality. Users will no longer have to choose their storage solution based upon fixed feature lists.”
To view the full suite of DroboApps currently available for download, or create and submit a new application to the DDC, please visit www.drobo.com/droboapps"
Back at the start of the year we ran a review of the TVCatchup service. We ended our piece with a prediction that the "suits" might spoil the fun and it turned out just that way. But now TVCatchup is back, no longer an on-line PVR, but now free live streaming of 15 UK TV channels. Read on to get one of our invites to the beta.
There's a small issue with the aspect ratio of some shows as can be seen from our screen grab above. All in all though it's superb quality and a really useful service.
"TVCatchup is a new service which lets you watch live television online. There are currently 15 channels to choose from, it's totally legal and absolutely free!
So whether you are at uni, on holiday, travelling with work, away from home or are just too darn lazy to move away from your PC, join the revolution and start watching television with TVCatchup today!"
Click Here for an invite to the www.tvcatchup.com beta
As winter edges closer for those of us in the northern hemisphere, thoughts once again turn to heating our homes. This new device promises cost saving and its touch screen beauty along with wi-fi connectivity will give you access to your HVAC system from the Internet .
"ecobee, a company dedicated to helping consumers conserve energy, save money and reduce their environmental impact, has just unveiled its first product, the ecobee Smart Thermostat. Homeowners can program this new programmable thermostat easily and simply using its touch screen, or over the internet, from anywhere, in seconds.
The ecobee Smart Thermostat is an attractive, modern-looking consumer electronic device with an easy-to-read full-color LCD screen, featuring touch-screen technology. The thermostat connects to the homeowners’ standard WiFi (wireless network), which gives them remote access to their thermostat settings from any computer. Its guided “Wizard” function leads the homeowner through each step of the programming process with a series of simple questions.
“Ordinary, old-style programmable thermostats, if used correctly, save homeowners about 15-20% of their heating or cooling bills on average,” said ecobee President & CEO Stuart Lombard. “But it takes a rocket scientist to figure out how to program them, so people don’t use them and don’t get the energy savings they could.”
Lombard explained that he founded the company because he wanted to reduce his home energy consumption and had trouble programming his own home thermostat. He thought there must be a better way. “The ecobee philosophy is ‘green made easy’!” he remarked. “We can make a positive environmental impact if we make conservation a simple and easy choice.”
Using the technology platform ecobee has established for its Smart Thermostat, North American utilities can communicate one-on-one with their residential customers, to send them branded messages, alerts and notices of demand response events. Throughout North America, utilities are incorporating new rate structures to drive reduction of peak demand. The ecobee Smart Thermostat allows them to strengthen their green leadership at the community level by empowering individual customers with the tools they need to adjust to new rate structures so they can conserve energy and control their utility bills.
The Smart Thermostat can be pre-ordered online at ecobee’s website (www.ecobee.com) for delivery in early 2009. It will also be available from selected HVAC technicians. The company says the product which sells for $385, will pay for itself with energy cost savings within the first 12 – 18 months.
ecobee has already received high accolades: it won two awards within the past month – prior to launching its first product:
Lombard says the company, founded in 2007, will target the large markets of heating, cooling and ventilation, utility demand response and green automation. ecobee estimates that eight million thermostats are installed in North America each year, with programmable thermostat sales of about $1 billion annually. “These markets are in for a huge shake-up,” Lombard said. “There is growing awareness of the need for home energy conservation due to high energy prices, a lack of capacity within the electrical grid, a changing regulatory environment and growing concern over environmental issues, including global warming and consumers’ desire to reduce their environmental impact.”"
We've been contacted by BAFTA award winning documentary makers, Century Films for help with their next project, and it's right up our street! They're keen to talk to Home Automation enthusiasts who have fitted, or are about to fit high tech smart home security systems in their home. Read on for all the details on how you can help
"Century Films, one of the UK's most prestigious and respected factual television companies, have recently been commissioned by Channel 4 to produce a prime-time documentary exploring the increasing number of British homeowners that are investing in advanced electronic security systems to protect their homes.
We are very eager to speak to home automation enthusiasts who have incorporated – or may be about to incorporate or upgrade - automated home security systems into their homes. This is not a documentary about the security of celebrities, VIPs or the super-rich; it is about the growing number of us for whom domestic security is a high priority. At this stage we are simply looking to speak to homeowners who have advanced security systems to tell them about the programme we are producing and ask them a few simple questions. This documentary represents a great opportunity for home automation enthusiasts to demonstrate how far domestic security technology has come in recent years and the high level of security is it is able to provide.
We are very aware that those who prioritise domestic security may have sensitivities about discussing their security concerns and systems with a member of the media. I'd be very grateful if you would be able to reassure any clients that you think might be suitable that all phone calls will be in the strictest confidence and talking to us will not in any way commit them to any further involvement in the documentary. If we did proceed to filming we would take all steps to ensure that their security was not compromised by the filming process in any way (for example by not disclosing any details about where in the UK they live).
To give you some more information about Century Films: Century is an award-winning documentary production company. We have won the Best Documentary BAFTA twice in the past four years, for Make Me Normal (Channel 4), a documentary about a school for young people with autistic spectrum disorders, and Feltham Sings (Channel 4), a film about a young offender’s institution. We pride ourselves on making socially conscious films, often working in collaboration with major institutions and organisations. Over the past few years we have made documentaries a residential home for people with learning and behavioural difficulties, a young offender’s institution, a school for children with autism, and a drug rehabilitation centre. If required, we can provide references from any of the institutions that we’ve worked with, including the British Government’s Home Office. For more on Century Films, please see www.centuryfilmsltd.com.
We would love to hear from anyone interested in finding out more about this opportunity. Please contact the director Jamie Balment, on jamie.balment@centuryfilmsltd.com . Alternatively please telephone Jamie on 0207 378 6106 or 07770 853982."
Tekniska Byrån has updated its MiniController software with a more contempary interface and and additional smart functions. The PC software has language support for English and Swedish and can control the most common functions in smart buildings via KNX/EIB
"MiniController is a compact and flexible program for PC which controls the most common functions in smart buildings via KNX(EIB), ISO/IEC 14543. It is a program which can be placed as an accessible short cut on the computer desktop.
The program also becomes a simple and flexible complement to the KNX system in general which, at the same time also increases the functionality. The addresses in the system are predefined but the user can easily change the addresses at any time. This makes MiniController easy to install (plug-'n-play), but also very adjustable. Status and values in the application are read in realtime from the system. All fields are updated automaticly.
You can download a trial version and you can buy your license and unlock the application via license utility located on the start menu after installation."
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 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.