Background

Mobile phones have actually made automation a simpler procedure that permits users immediate command.

Even Google is experimenting with the suggestion of home automation according to the system setup files for the Android OS.  Google’s Android @Home principle may still be revived in the future.

There are already apps and various other programs that could make automating a home a workable idea.  For instance, open doors remotely or alter the thermostat remotely.  All of these processes could be controlled by individuals with mobile phones or computer systems and do not have a difficult learning curve.

The Automation Push from the Young

Youngsters are also driving the need for budget friendly home automation, as Insteon’s Isaac Sanz thanks that .- They are used to being linked. They have social media on a smartphone that keeps them in touch with friends, so why not have your home on the mobile phone as well? A lot of individuals have grown up around this.

The Impact on Automation Product Development

Some home automation firms have quit entirely on creating system specific touchscreen remote controls, since so many people already have touchscreens with their feature phone and tablets and windows 8 computers. In addition, the manufacturers that still make devoted touchscreens are placing more and more focus on integrating iOS and Android tools.

The Impact on the Price of Automation

Frost & Sullivan, a leading market research firm, say that the key factor influencing home automation prices is the use of tablet computers.  This has significantly reduced the cost of the total system, particularly at the luxury end of the market.

Extra Features introduced by the Featurephone

One thing that featurephones and internet connected tablets allow that proprietary touchscreen remotes couldn’t is mobile access to the automation systems within the home. With today’s home automation systems, you can launch an application on your phone when you’re leaving work or from an airport, restaurant etc and turn on lights, the house amusement system, activate the safety system and even combinations of these things with one button-tap.

Sources:
http://www.electronichouse.com/article/trends_in_affordable_home_automation_systems
http://www.cedia.org/view-all/whats-new-in-home-automation
http://www.sourcingelectricals.net/home-automation.html

Home Automation Trends Part 2 of 7 – Image and House Sales

A study carried out by Better Houses and Gardens Real Estate found that 42 percent of individuals asked “would be more likely to boast to a friend regarding a residence automation system over a newly-renovated kitchen area.” There is an expanding technology trend of integrating automation into houses and making the procedure a lot more obtainable. Continue reading “Home Automation Trends Part 2 of 7 – Image and House Sales”

Most people now make use of modern technology which would have been science fiction until a couple of years back - carrying the entire world around in our pockets then grumbling bitterly on Twitter when we can not see a film as a result of way too much buffering because we don’t have a strong wireless signal. Continue reading “Home Automation Trends 2013, Part 1 of 7 - Getting Started”

Google’s Project

Google’s driverless car prototype has driven more than 300,000 miles without an accident. Bill Ford, executive chairman of Ford Motor Co., says fully autonomous vehicles will be a common sight on roads in the U.S. By 2025 – while Google say within the next 3 to 5 years.  Interesting bet??

Google’s project is led by  Sebastian Thrun, director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and co-inventor of Google Street View. Continue reading “Futurist Developments – The Driverless Car”

Introduction

Our two blogs this month are about two futuristic developments by Google X Lab, Google Glass and the driverless car. This Google facility thought to be located somewhere in Northern California Reportedly the lab is working on around 100 future technology projects.

Continue reading “Futurist Developments – Google Glass”

Actually, that’s not a lie. With today’s technology you can have as much (or as little) control as you want. Now it is even possible to control any electrical equipment in your home, from anywhere, all by using your smart phone. I kid you not. Total home automation from anywhere you happen to be.

OK, so there is a little work to do, you need to by a device to connect all your equipment together, and you need Wi-Fi, but once that’s done, the world is your remote controlled oyster! Turn lights on and off remotely, turn on the coffee percolator as you leave the office… the choice is yours.

Take a look at our X10 Home Automation system, for example. A simple plug and play device that can have you up and running in no time. Download an app from the Apple Store or Google Play and you can manage the whole system from your phone! From lights through automated curtains to televisions and other media. All can be connected quickly and easily, and all without any additional extra wiring.

As I’ve already said, the possibilities are endless. Let’s look at media, since that is how most of us spend our leisure time now. Even carrying an Ipod around the house, with its attendant speakers, is painful, and keeping the thing connected just by earphones means that you can’t have your bad singing drowned out by the music! The solution is simple, a Marmitek Wireless speaker for any Apple or Bluetooth enabled device.

Now all you need to hear your music anywhere in your house without the need to be chained to your device, is turn on the speakers! Simple, as someone said once.

Since X10 is an international standard for automated communications systems, the apps are simple and straightforward to use. Take iHome Touch by 1 Jump 2, for example. This simple and easy to use app is extremely intuitive. Select the room in your house, and then the device you want to control – job done!

Another simple to use and equally intuitive app is the X10 Commander by Melloware. Again, you have device by device control. Open the garage doors as you come down the street, turn on the garage lights and the external lights on your house, switch on the lights in the hall, turn on the kettle… Honestly, the sky is not even the limit here.

What about buying a domestic robot for carpet and floor cleaning and even to mow the lawn. You could manage them from your chair in the pub. Now that is control!