home automation Archives - Page 2 of 2

How to get them all to play together ?

Home automation, entertainment, mobile devices, routers, cable modems, security, and a whole range of devices are a part of the connected modern home. That’s the mission of the Universal Plug and Play Forum. It assumes IP networking, and then gets them all working together. A lot of it is behind the scenes, without the user being aware of any specific app, insuring that devices interoperate. Over a thousand companies are part of the consortium. A number of other organizations (Suchas DNLA) or devices or apps such as Skype, X-Box or Playstation transparently opening correct ports and authorizing activities within your home network.

Interview by Andy McCaskey and Courtney Wallin of SDRNews for the TechPodcast Network.

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Steve Iommi chats to Todd and Tom about Somfy‘s new Tahoma system which takes home automation to the next level. It’s based round the concept of “scenes” – a scene might be “weekday-morning” which has certain set of actions, e.g. open blinds at 7.30am, whereas the “weekend-morning” opens the blinds at 8.30. With a whole a range of scenes, everything from blinds to thermostats can be controlled according to the day of the week and the activities of the owner.

As with all things these days, the Tahoma system is connected to the Internet via the homeowner’s Wifi, meaning that the owner can connect via a web browser back to the system to make any changes that might be needed, say, because of changes in the weather.

The underlying technology is the Z-Wave RF home automation wireless standard, so upgrading a home to for automation doesn’t involving lots of recabling. It’s simply a case of replacing the controllers with Z-Wave-compatible ones.

A basic Tahoma system can be professionally installed for under $2000.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central and Tom Newman of The Fogview Podcast.

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