Home Automation Today!

The HTINews is our Bi-Monthly Online Magazine featuring the most up to date Home Automation news available. Here you'll find feature articles, product ads and reviews, interesting columns and interviews as well as press releases announcing the latest technologies available from those companies pioneering the Home Automation industry.

Past issues are available and we've compiled libraries of all the feature articles and product reviews for easy reference.

HSPlus Lighting System
RCS Sales Managers
Lynx Security System
LonWorks Devloper Kit
Wireless Weather
Crutchfield Online

Reviews - HomeTool Pro
House/2  OS2 Shareware
EZHome - Amiga Shareware

WOW ... Cabling is a hot topic and in my humble opinion this issue of the HTINews is the best we've put together so far. As usual, the credit goes to the contributors and there are a lot of them this month. I even got my act together and wrote a summary article. Over the last few months I've become convinced that wiring for a Home Network is no longer an option ... it's essential. The driving force is not coming from Home Automation demand however. Home PC and entertainment system networking is where it's at and this in turn is benefiting the Home Automation industry. I sent out 6 questions to 8 cabling system manufacturers and they all responded with great answers. This series of interviews gives you a great cross section of information so I recommend you read them all as well as my summary. In addition, there are articles about wiring from Todd Regar (AMP), John Cowley (Lucent Homestar) Greyfox and a great one from Brian Karas. What if you don't want to tear the place apart to get those cables in. Better have a look at Herb Hauser's article about the "Fourth Utility". I like his philosophy.

The most common cable in your house is still that old electrical system that just sits there and works ... sending power to almost everything we own. A terrific article from Eitan Einwohner of Itran Communications brings us up to speed on the latest developments in PowerLine Communications and it's an eye opener. PC Networking on the PowerLine ... that's a long way from X-10 lighting control. And if you just want to send serial data over the house wiring, have a look at the PLM-24 Power Line Modem.

And there's lots more in this issue. Uncle Phil expands our X-10 knowledge with Part X in his excellent series. This installment tells us more about Noise and Filtering. Craig Chadwick explains how to set up HomeVision to determine when it’s a holiday so you can make special things happen. Joe Comerci challenges the industry to do a better job of marketing. I've got to agree with him. So far the efforts to show off this industry to the general consumer have been pretty lame. Better have a look at the SmartBox (David Porter). It's another one of those product ideas that you may think you don't need but probably won't do without in the future. Jon Vogel has another great do it yourself project as well ... Build Your own PC controlled Universal Remote Controller for under $50.00.

The product reviews in this issue are all software for the CM11A. House/2 is OS2 shareware, EZHome for Amiga users and  Home Control Assistant is a commercial program for windows.

So, what's new and exciting out there in the Home Automation world? Did you know that the Home Automation Association has a new website ... www.homeautomation.org . Have a breeze through the News Releases for the most up to date info including some new partnerships (Greyfox / Bell Atlantic, Axlon / Phast), Show announcements and reports (LightFair, BICSI, ISC, HA Show 99), new software versions (HAL2000, HomeVision, MouseHouse, ECS), and many other interesting developments. You should keep checking back to the press release section during the months to come as we post new information there as soon as we get it. If you want to be reminded automatically, sign up on our Update Mailing List. You'll get an email once a month or so with news and links to new information.

What about the next issue? Well it's makeover time again at Home Toys. Look forward to a new and I hope improved look and feel on October 1st. As the quantity of information grows it becomes more of a challenge to organize and present it to you. One of the most exciting features will be "The Home Toys Gadget Tour". It'll be a fun way to shop for Christmas, find nifty new products and learn what's available to automate your home. I've also got the latest version of HAL2000 to review as well as Home Tool Pro from Smart Corporation. This is the configuration software for their SmartOne system (One of the first CEBus solutions to hit the streets). I can hardly wait to get into both of these trend setting systems. The topic in October is HVAC and Energy Conservation. Hopefully we'll get lots of input for that one. Other topics in the future include:

December = Home Office Automation
February = Vacation Home Automation

Can you believe how many great companies, both large and small, are supporting this website with their advertising. Just have a look through the list of "Toys 'n Stuff" in the index on the left and click on some of the banners that you see floating about. Please help us keep this site fresh and informative by supporting these companies when you need to buy products for your home system. Click on those banners and follow those links cause that's what keeps us going. Oh ... and don't forget to tell them that you read about them at Home Toys.

Lastly, you can help out by sending ideas, letters, gripes and news to yours truly ( bobh@hometoys.com ). That's how we find out about what's happening out there so we can put together this Ezine. Besides, sometimes it just gets lonely out here in Cyberspace :-)

Hope you're having a great summer. Enjoy!