Home Automation DIY

Jan 20, 2012 -
Cortexa Automation Releases New Home Automation Ready (HAR™) Controller. New Controller to Support INSTEON® Wireless Home Control Solutions.

Austin, TX – Cortexa Automation announces the release of its new Home Automation Ready (HAR™) Controller with support for INSTEON wireless home control systems. Cortexa’s INSTEON compatible controller gives homeowners and installers access to the easiest and quickest way to set up their INSTEON devices – whether it us a simple lighting control solution or and advanced home automation network.

The Cortexa EZ Home Automation Ready (HAR) Controller offers home and small business owners an easy and convenient way to monitor and control devices within their home or building. The Cortexa can control “smart” systems and devices in the home, including lighting, appliances, HVAC, security, cameras and more. Cortexa’s controller can also help reduce energy bills by up to 30%, saving homeowners time and money while increasing quality of life. All of this can be accomplished using a wide variety of INSTEON enabled devices including lighting, HVAC control, door and window sensors, motion detectors, garage door control and more. Cortexa also works with other HAR devices including Z-Wave products, Global Caché, T.E.D., DSC Security, Rain8Net, and Somfy shade controls.

Cortexa Automation Sales and Marketing Director, Jesse Lind states, “We’re very proud and excited to be working with INSTEON. This opens up a whole new arena for Cortexa and INSTEON products alike. Not only does this give the DIYer an easy, convenient, and intuitive way to setup and control their INSTEON devices, but it also gives the professional installer a wide range of new offerings for their customers. Our controller really does offer the easiest and fastest setup for INSTEON devices on the market while bringing the luxury of a high-end home automation system at a fraction of the cost.”

“We’re very happy to expand our product offering with the new Cortexa Home Automation Ready (HAR) Controller,” commented Mike Scharnagl, Director of Marketing for Smarthome. “Cortexa’s products are highly regarded by both our retailer customers and our dealers and installers.”

The Cortexa EZ Home Automation Ready (HAR) Controller and other Cortexa home automation products are available online at www.smarthome.com/cortexa.

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(Playa Vista, CA) -January 9, 2012 – Belkin today launched WeMo, a line of simple, modular home automation products that allows household electronics to be controlled from anywhere using a mobile app on a smartphone or tablet. Consisting of two initial products, the WeMo Home Control Switch and the WeMo Motion Sensor, WeMo is a customizable, accessible home automation solution designed to simplify home maintenance and bring peace of mind to busy families and individuals on the go.

WeMo works with a home’s existing electrical system and requires only a Wi-Fi® network and free smartphone app to set up and control. Simply plug the WeMo Home Control Switch into any electrical outlet and then plug in any device, such as a lamp, into the WeMo Home Control Switch. Through the free smartphone app, the item then can be turned on or off remotely or scheduled to turn on and off at set times. The second product in the line is the WeMo Motion Sensor, which works with the WeMo Home Control Switch to make your device react to motion. Used together, WeMo can create a home environment that can turn a light on when someone walks in a room, or off when no one is present. (continue reading this article and leave comments here…)

According to CE Pro website the pioneer of DIY home automation devices X10 is shutting down its manufacturing facilities.

See details here.

OutletLinc Dimmer

Please welcome a new member of Smarthome’s dual-band INSTEON product family - OutletLinc Dimmer!

This is a first of its kind dimmable wall outlet, that can be controlled from a remote control, keypad or even a mobile phone. It features advanced options like an adjustable ramp rate that slowly brings the lamp on, a preset dim level that stores your preferred choice of 32 brightness levels when turning the lamp on initially, as well as load sense, so you can still use the lamp’s built-in switch to turn the light on and off.

OutletLinc Dimmer will be a welcome addition for families with small kids, thanks to its tamper resistant outlets, which have spring-loaded shutter mechanism that allows plugs to enter but resists access to single-pronged items like keys, hairpins, or nails.

Thanks to its dual-band technology OutletLinc Dimmer is able to send and receive commands using both radio frequency (RF) and power line. So it will repeat both signal types for other devices in your network, making your entire INSTEON system faster and more reliable. It’s also backwards compatible with X10 devices, making it a good addition for customers with existing X10 installations.

But the uniqueness of OutletLinc Dimmer is in its Dimmer Key, a small, razor-thin piece that goes over the lamp plug, which prevents others in your home from unplugging the lamp and plugging in non-dimmable appliances that could result in damaging of the appliance or even in a fire from overheating.

OutletLinc Dimmer Key

The OutletLinc Dimmer is available for pre-order at Smarthome.com for $59.99 for White (Item# 2472DWH), and $64.99 for other varieties (Light Almond, Almond, Ivory, Black, Brown, Gray). The shipments are expected to start in the end of July.

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ARCHOS 35 Home Connect

Archos, the French company recognized globally as one of the primary players in the touch tablet market adds two new devices to its Android portfolio - ARCHOS 35 Home Connect and ARCHOS 35 Smart Home Phone.

The Smart Home Phone is an Android DECT (land-line) phone. It brings Smartphone functionality into your home and gives you access to thousands of applications such as weather, news, games and traffic.

The ARCHOS 35 Home Connect is the perfect music box and the best  portable Android device for streaming radio and music anywhere at home such as the bedroom, kitchen, bathroom or kids room. But with the right set of apps its usability might go far beyond a juke box and alarm clock. It might become your next favorite news reader, or, thanks to the front facing webcam and a mic, a video calling, baby monitoring and even room surveillance gadget. It might even find its way into home automation domain, as a touchscreen controller. As proved by Chumby, a comparable device running Flash-based apps, a healthy developer community could push the number of apps in to thousands.

The complete press release and tech specs are attached below. (continue reading this article and leave comments here…)