There is a point in scaling out a home theater where a good universal remote control becomes an essential part of the experience. Yes, you can get by with the pseudo universal that came with the AVR, but then you have to train your family, and worse the babysitter, how to use that in a productive way. They need to […]
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We met with the folks at Silicon Dust during our week at International CES 2015, and among the things we talked about were the antennas they were using to pull in a signal. They are manufactured in the USA by HD Frequency. While we were not able to meet in person with them at CES, we did get a […]
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We saw OOMI at ShowStoppers and while they didn’t have actual product, they certainly said all the right things to indicated a good understanding of what HA is and what HA users want to get from the system. If you’d like to get in on the launch [aka pre-order] price of $229 (SRP will be $449) head on over to […]
Read moreEureka Park is one of my favorite things about going to CES. It’s a special place where pretty much anyone can come to the show and demonstrate their product. Most are actual products (like UPPER DESK), some will be soon, and others are still questing for funding. With Internet of Things (IoT) (which BTW is a horrible name, but since […]
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Our kitchen is small so there really isn’t a good place to put a TV, even a small one. So I often end up watching football of the tablet while getting the Sunday roast started. Finding a good place to put it can be difficult though because I don’t want it down on the counter with the chicken and vegetables […]
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I don’t remember seeing Zipato at CES last year, so when I noticed their unique Z-Wave ZIPABOX home automation controller (HAC) while roaming the show floor I made a point to stop in and have a look. With all the change in the smart home space it can be tough to select the right hardware; with the HAC the most […]
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Z-Wave sensor/switch maker AEOTEC teased a new switch before CES, so I made a point to stop by and have a look. It was worth it. Losing ½ the size from the previous generation external module the Smart Switch 6 gains USB support and doesn’t give up any of the energy monitoring features present on the previous generation. We will […]
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Creating a new standard for anything is hard. For a market as diverse as home audio, I can only imagine how difficult it is to get OEMs to collaborate, let alone agree on a wireless standard that lets end users build best-of-breed systems according to their needs – instead of playing to the vendor’s desire to lock them into their […]
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My first introduction to Piper was at last year’s CES, this year they were back again with an updated night vision version of their innovative Z-Wave home automation controller/camera. The Piper NV (for night vision) also upgrades the ARM processor (allowing for more imaging processing options), sensor (to 3.4MP), and ups the field of view to 180 degrees. Naturally the […]
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SiliconDust didn’t have any new products to show in their suite this year, but we did get a chance to look at the new packaging which is important as they make a bigger push into retail, especially in Europe. We did get a chance to discuss some of the products that should have launched, but unfortunately were delayed due to […]
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