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Crestron, seemingly the first control manufacturer to do so, has unveiled a home automation app for Apple’s iPad. Just like its iPhone and iPod touch app, the iPad app “transforms the Apple iPad into a full Crestron touchpanel.” The iPad App will use 3G, 3GS or Wi-Fi to communicate with the Crestron system and control lighting, shades, room temperatures and more. “Crestron is committed to offering great solutions for integrating Apple products into the home, school and office,” says Vincent Bruno, Crestron director of marketing.… View this story
Home Control • Home Control Systems • Touchpanels and Keypads • Portables • Product News

There’s a lot of talk in the home electronics industry about “blending in.” You’ll hear custom electronics (CE) professionals speak about the clever ways they’ve managed to make the speakers disappear into the walls of family room. Homeowners will brag about how you can’t even see the rack of A/V equipment that drives their home theater system. Even the manufacturers of home electronics products boast about the inconspicuous nature of their flat-panel TVs, keypads, and other components. Blending in is all well and good. It… View this story
Front Projection • Floor Standing Speakers • Equipment Racks • Home Theater Accessories • Touchpanels and Keypads • Home Theater • Product News

On January 27, 2010, we’ll finally find out what Apple’s “latest creation” is. Apple is hosting a private event at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, according to several reports. The invitation is teased “Come see our latest creation.” Many have speculated that Apple is poised to release a tablet with various features, including an e-reader and ability to watch movies and surf the Internet. It will be interesting to see if said tablet will feature home automation capabilities. Apple’s wildly successful… View this story
Home Control • Home Control Systems • Touchpanels and Keypads • Computer Accessories • Gadgets

Consumers always seem to ask: Why do I need an expensive touchscreen for home automation when I control the house through an iPhone or iPod Touch? Two reasons: The iPod products don’t work as quickly and effectively as dedicated touchscreens and you can’t mount them nicely in a wall. iPort, at least, is solving problem No. 2 with the forthcoming Control Dock, a prototype of which was shown in the Control4 partner pavilion during CES 2010. Unlike other in-wall/on-wall docking stations, this one mounts your… View this story
Docks & Cradles • Multiroom Audio • Touchpanels and Keypads • Product News

Home control has always been about having your house work the way you want it to. Want the lights to turn off automatically at midnight? The system should do that. Want the thermostat to bump up the heat before you come home from work? That should happen as well. Want every user of the system to have his or her own customized interface, tailored to that person’s wants and needs? Yes, even that’s possible today. And it shouldn’t cost you a fortune. Tailor Made Having… View this story
Home Control Systems • Touchpanels and Keypads • Home Control • Info and Answers

Home control is all about simplicity. You press a button and a million things happen. If you can’t find that button, though, it’s pointless to even have a system in your house. That’s why it’s so important to make sure the interface (i.e. remote control, touchpanel or keypad) you use to command the lights, thermostats, A/V gear and other devices is well designed by your custom electronics professional. It’s a difficult endeavor, both for manufacturers who build the interfaces and for the pros who design… View this story
Home Control • Touchpanels and Keypads • Remote Controls • Home Control • Info and Answers

It never fails. As soon as I’m in bed, I remember all the things I should have done before I hit the sack. Things like checking the back door to make sure it’s locked, turning down the heat downstairs and shutting off the outdoor floodlights. It’s too bad I don’t have some sort of control device on my nightstand. That way, I could just lean over, press a few buttons and take care of whatever needs taken care of. Unfortunately, I’m like the cobbler’s wife.… View this story
Remote Controls • Touchpanels and Keypads • Telephones • Product News

If you’re interested in monitoring your home’s energy use, there have been two basic options: expensive systems starting at $5,000 that can give you detailed breakdowns of your gas, electric and water use—or inexpensive systems that can give you the basics of your total electric usage. There hasn’t been much in between. So what if you could get some pretty fancy energy monitoring and some basic home control on top of it for free … from your electric utility? That’s what home control manufacturer Control4… View this story
Home Control Systems • Touchpanels and Keypads • Green Technology • Info and Answers

At CEDIA Expo 2009, Control4 is showing OS 2.0, which allows custom electronics professionals to design their own GUIs, at least to some extent. “There’s more flexibility and personalization around the GUI,” says Control4 president Glen Mella. “We’ve always been the guys with one default screen. Now, if you want just TV and music in a room, then you can do that level of customization.” During a sneak preview before CEDIA, John Yoon, director of marketing demonstrated a “global” thermostat view, in which users could… View this story
Home Control • Home Control Systems • Touchpanels and Keypads • Product News

Tops on Russ and Vivian Fessel’s electronic wish list was a system that could deliver music and video to every room of the house, wouldn’t require any special training to operate and would fit into their budget of $60,000. “We wanted to be able to pick up one remote and operate any of the 12 TVs in our house. Their custom electronics professional, Derek Cowburn of DistinctAV of McCordsville, Ind., chose two identical T2C RTI color handheld remotes—one for Russ and one for Vivian—for the… View this story
Remote Controls • Touchpanels and Keypads • Info and Answers

It’s easy to get swept away when planning for a home automation system. The systems are so robust they can do just about anything. However, it’s important to keep a level head when designing a system for your house. Your custom electronics professional (CE pro) will be there to guide you, of course, but it never hurts to know what to watch out for yourself. Here are some tips. Overdoing it. “Designing a grand home control system can be a very intoxicating experience, and something… View this story
Home Control • Home Control Systems • Touchpanels and Keypads • Info and Answers

Projector technology has shown it can be squished into smaller footprints these days, hence the increasingly popular “pico” projector. Touchscreens have grown to where some are the size of mini TVs—17-inchers—with similar functionality. How about bridging the gap and marrying the two types of products? That’s what British-based company Light Blue Optics (LBO) is working on, and plans to help introduce to the market, probably in products from other companies next year—with LBO serving as the OEM. The company recently raised $15 million in funding… View this story
Video Projectors • Touchpanels and Keypads • Product News