Home Automation: What It Can Do for You

This is a fascinating area that is, for some, a reality, but for many, something that borders on science fiction.

Automation, in all areas of life, usually does one of two things for you: save you time you can use productively, or provide you with convenience. There are all sorts of products out there to help you automate elements of your home, ranging from those that the average can afford and implement to those that cost as much as the house itself.

This article will help you to find out why home automation is worth bothering with or not, (depending on the conclusions you draw for yourself in this case).

1. Lighting

Lighting automation allow you to rig up your home to control your lights from a remote control panel inside the home, when you get to work only to realize you left everything on, or remotely for when you hop into bed and you remember that a light has been left on. And of course you can just as easily turn them all back on once you get home or before a bunch of guests arrive.

These are some reasons of why lighting has, by far, been the most popular and common use of home automation since it was a technically and financially viable option.

You can also have a preset for every mood. Most lighting automation systems give you control over light dimming. This is no breakthrough in itself, as dimming is a pretty commonplace thing, but combines that fact with the ability to create intricate profiles with different lights set at different levels through the house.

Of course, lighting control can’t stop at bulbs. There’s natural light to consider as well, and there are products available to help you control curtains, blinds and shades.

2. Home Theater

You may have taken part in a small part of home automation, if you’ve ever bought one of those programmable, all-in-one remotes. A lot of home automation hobbyists will have the most intricate remote programmings you’ve seen. But there’s also multi-zone audio to consider – the ability to select various speakers around the house through which to play audio from any given source, or even the ability to play from them all at once (or any combination thereof). If you’ve used AirTunes at home, you’re familiar with multi-zone audio, which provides one of the smoothest integration and operation experiences.

3. Security and Surveillance

An automated security system in your home provides a far more protective and much safer experience than traditional methods. You can have a motion sensor that sends you a text message if it notices movement when nobody is meant to be home, or if sensors on your windows sense the glass breaking. With cameras you can view over the Internet, you can ensure nobody is taking off with your HDTV.(or even keep an eye on the kids).

If your system includes intercom, you can have alarms played through all those speakers around the house, ensuring that everyone in the house is aware of danger. And as we said about lighting automation, you could have all the bulbs in your house switch off when you leave home; advanced systems even allow you to lock up all the doors and windows as you’re leaving at the same time.

If you’re going on holidays, you can use the old simulation of presence trick; getting your system to randomly play with your blinds, playing music and flicking lights on or off. You can sleep a little sounder knowing that your home is a little less likely to be broken into.

4. Air

You’re sitting at work in the air conditioning and you know it’s going to be a hot drive home. The last thing you want to do is get out of the hot car and into a hot house. With home automation you can get your air conditioner and a couple of fans going just as you take off for the day. Of course, the same thing applies to heating and ventilation, too.

Air conditioners are expensive beasts. If you’ve routinely caught someone in your home forgetting to turn the thing off and running up the electricity bill, use an automation system to shut your air conditioner off after a half hour’s use.

5. Communication

Intercom technology often falls into the home automation field. Intercom systems can assist in transmitting alarms right throughout the house; if you have trouble hearing the smoke alarm from your bedroom, this may just be what you need to keep alive for the rest of the year.

Hobbyists often like to have an intercom system right through the house, in every room. Intercom system also can be made accessible to your PDA or smartphone via wifi, and practically any device via the Internet.

Our productivity types like to have one source to go for everything – take the old one inbox rule, for instance. If you’re like that, you can have your intercom system routed into your phone so that you only have to speak into the one mouthpiece, avoiding the germs of other persons. I imagine this works best when there’s an intercom at the front gate; there’s not much use for intercom over the phone when it comes to in-house intercom.

What else in Home automation?

There’s still much more to home automation. There are systems for getting your pets fed on time, in case you’ve killed a rat or two due to negligence, and irrigation automation, in case you’re guilty of the same when it comes to plants. You can even have your percolator or espresso machine brewing fifteen minutes before your alarm goes off.

It is true that we can all live without this stuff. We have been for thousands of years. But these things can make life easier and more enjoyable, so they’re certainly worth considering if you’ve got the interest and the budget.

Digital Signage

Digital Signage is the way of the future and can help grow your business.

Digital signs can inform, educate,  and entertain. Have you ever entered a store or a restaurant, and had your attention automatically go to the running TV?

Well, digital signage provides an even better, more tailored source of information and entertainment to the shopper or guest! Also, a digital sign can increase efficiency, productivity and enhance the enjoyment of your customer or guest’s overall experience.

Think of this: Moving images and music can be soothing and put people at ease. A digital sign will accomplish this for you.

Now, it can be a challenging task to setup digital signage for your business by yourself. Most people have limited or no experience in setting up a digital signage system. What kind of cables do I use? Plasma or LCD display? Will a regular monitor work well or do I need a professional model display?

That’s where we come in.

GotUWired is an expert in San Diego digital signage and we can get you a tailored setup that meets the needs of your business. After all, you only have a short amount of time to capture your customer’s attention!

Product Review: Panasonic Panaboards

The most effective tool to improve your next meeting, training, and presentation.

The latest development in presentation and interactive learning is the Panaboard (the whiteboard), also commonly known as the interactive whiteboard. They may look a little similar to the standard whiteboard; but they provide a huge number of services.

Panasonic whiteboards allow the user to function a computer right from its’ very own surface. They have a touch sensitive screen which projects the computer image on it. The user controls what is on the screen with a finger, marker, or pen, in this way, the user can change pages as required. The user can also access, print and email documents through this technology without having to go to a computer, and also access directly to the internet during a presentation. Notes can be taken on top of the projected images. These notes can be saved directly into files from the Panaboard to the computer. Afterwards, if need be; they can be edited and retouched as desired. The saved notes can be mailed to whoever needs them.

With all these benefits that the Panasonic Panaboards offer, have rapidly reached a big popularity, such that has been replacing regular chalkboards in the classrooms, meeting rooms, etc.

Panaboards have become immensely beneficial tools for many businesses. They are being installed in the boardrooms and meeting rooms and adding excitement to conventional meetings and presentations. They have helped in overcoming the hindrance of lack of communication with the remote employees and satellite offices. Now employees can work in partnership from anywhere in the world where this service is available. It has completely cut down on the wastage of time due to manually entering data into a computer, printing and distributing it. Now, all of these processes can be done directly on the Panaboard. High quality digital Panaboards also have an in-built printer. Users can print handouts directly from the Panaboard. Thus, Panaboards have not only saved time and money, but also energy.

Similarly, this outstanding teaching technique has allowed that lessons that are generally hard to deliver in the classrooms can be conveyed in a thrilling and motivating manner. This is because of the increased interaction the panaboard can create for the students not only with the teacher but also amongst each other.

In such an environment, students are highly inclined towards being attentive in the class. This teaching tool allows the teachers to create interactive lessons, and thus increasing student productivity through participation. Such subjects that require more diagrams, illustrations, note-taking (Math, Science, English, etc.) have been perked up through the use of Panaboards.

Panaboards are revolutionary whiteboards that improve the efficiency of all types of meetings, both daily discussions and major presentations, and also allows information to be effectively shared between presenters and participants, and even with people who cannot attend.

Panasonic offers not only an extensive but the best range of market leading Panaboards or electronic whiteboards. Panasonic Panaboards come in interactive and networkable models. They consist of all those preferred features that you need to fulfill your requirements.

AppleTV (2nd Generation) Review

The AppleTV is one of Apple’s most popular creations and can help bring music, TV, movies and pictures into your living room or workspace. While the first Apple TV was built with an aluminum frame and grey finish on the top panel, the second generation adopts a polished black housing. The device now looks more like a typical A/V component.

The new device easily connects with Wi-Fi networks, including faster 802.11n routers, and 10/100 Ethernet for wired homes. It includes access for for iTunes, Netflix, Flickr, MobileMe, YouTube, Internet radio or other services. Enabling Home Sharing allows the Apple TV to connect with videos, music, and pictures from iTunes libraries. Users can easily access content from multiple computers on a home network.

One of the highlighted new features is AirPlay, Apple’s wireless standard that will allow Apple TV users to access content stored on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. The feature should be a popular option for people who start to watch something on their i-device and want to finish watching it upon arrival at home. Pushing an AirPlay button will automatically switch the presentation from the handheld to the TV.

Content

Apple has worked to expand the range of content accessible through Apple TV. The company changed its business model regarding videos, which are now distributed as rentals rather than outright downloads. The shift is appropriate for the new Apple TV, as it eliminates the need to store anything on a local HDD.

Renting iTunes content allows users to rent HD or SD TV shows for $0.99 each, which provides 48 hours to finish an episode after playback has been started. For movies, the pricing jumps to $5 for HD new releases or $4 for library titles. A dollar is slashed from each price if the movie is streamed in SD quality, while all movies have a 24-hour limit to complete watching.

Netflix subscribers have access to a wider range of content, with TV shows and movies from NBC Universal, CBS, Paramount, MGM, 20th Century Fox, ABC, Disney, Warner Brothers, Lions Gate, and New Line Cinema. Using the Apple TV UI, users can access their queue or search for content.

Conclusion

People don’t want to rent discs anymore and streaming content is the way to go. The second-generation Apple TV has succeeded in making a simple experience even simpler. It is a perfect device for the masses, especially those already renting content from Apple’s own iTunes portals.