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.

Nov/98 - New Product Reviews:
SmartOne System - SmartOne is the first CEBus based home automation systems and is supported and installed by a network of authorized dealers.
Leviton 6343 Switch - All in all, this is the nicest X-10 switch that I have seen or used so far (haven't tested PCS or Smartlinc yet though).

Phew ... been a hectic month for me. A total remake of the website as well as a new issue to put together. I'm glad it's done and I hope you like the new look and feel. The indexes are a lot less cluttered making navigation easier (I hope) and I think things are a little more pleasing to the eye. Don't worry, none of the content is changed and in fact there are a few new features. Special thanks to my eldest son Luke (luke@hometoys.com) for the graphics design. If you like what you see he needs more work because he's moved out on his own now :-)

To familiarize yourself with what is available here you should have a look at the Home Page menu descriptions. Some new features include The Home Toys Gadget Tour (a guided tour of some hot products) and the Authorized Dealer List which I hope will grow into a valuable source for those in the market for an installer. Of course you're encouraged to have a look at the Toys 'n Stuff index where you'll find lots of information about products and services including the latest Hot Deals from Home Automation Systems and X10. In fact you can now compare prices and shop directly from these pages without leaving Home Toys. Another new feature is our Home Automation School which is an index of recommended reading for all levels of expertise in Home Automation including Beginners, Techies and Dealers. Please let me know if you have ideas to help improve this service or items to add to the index.

The theme of this Ezine issue is HVAC (Heating Ventilating Air Conditioning). I am extremely pleased with the content. With winter coming, energy conservation can save everyone money and there are some good ideas presented here. A.Ron Carmichael tells about HVAC Texas Style and Ken Sinclair gives some insight with Lessons Learned (Nine years of living with your own HVAC automation design). HVAC Integration by Jerry Drew is an excellent article that gives us some basic design considerations. An intriguing Smart HVAC system from Smart Systems adjusts the temperature based on room occupancy and Jeff Vogel gives us the details on controlling your HVAC and managing zones using the Smart HouseKeeper. If you really want to save some energy have a look at Solar Power, some solar consumer products available from SBT Automation.

I'm an old war horse from the glory days of HVAC automation in the commercial sector as is my good friend Ken Sinclair (he's an even older horse than I). We both feel that the home automation industry can learn much from the lessons learned by the commercial system designers. DDC or Direct Digital Control systems used to control large buildings have evolved from simple comfort control systems to sophisticated all encompassing systems which include control of lighting, security, access and safety systems. There are many networking and programming features in DDC systems that could be beneficial to the home automation industry. Interoperability is one area of concern to all and Ken's article about the BACNet Standard gives some insight into that.

Uncle Phil (Phil Kingery) continues the saga of "Which One To Use" with Part 11 if you can believe it. This installation continues to discuss Noise and Filtering and focuses on Troubleshooting X-10 systems. Brian Karas sent his first installment in a series about Cabling Basics. I'm looking forward to more from the cable guy on this hot topic which is also addressed by industry expert Ken Wacks who has some concerns about Wiring Chaos. Brian Baker has agreed to continue as a columnist and keep us informed about Home Plug & Play and last but not least ... Cutler Hammer has entered the Home Automation foray with some interesting Power Products.

The reviews this month were fun to do and the products are definitely on the cutting edge. HomeTool Pro is the software used with the SmartOne CEBus automation system from Smart Corporation. HAL2000 is an amazing Voice Controlled system which does a lot more than just dim the lights. The Vidan HX-1 controller allows you to control the house via a floor plan on your TV set. Special thanks to Brooks Talley of Info World for sending in his review of Slink-e & CDJ. Control Sony CD changers with this hardware / software combination from Nirvis.

Lots of press releases from such companies as Parks Associates, DomoSys, MouseHouse, TVR Technologies, Enertel Controls, BICSI and Universal Remote. 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.

Have a look at the Directories index. There are some new Job Opportunities, Events and Training Sessions posted and the Libraries index lists the Shareware, Links, Articles, Reviews and Tips & Tricks archives which have all been updated. The contest prize this issue is a thermostat from HAI. Send in an entry about your Christmas Automation Idea to win.

The next issue will feature "Home Office Automation" and it's shaping up to be a good one. I just got a copy of Dragon Dictate to review and I have some of the new CEBus products from Smart Corporation to try out. We're always looking for new articles and ideas so please don't be shy. Contact me to share what you know with the internet community.

Lastly, I want to thank the many companies who support Home Toys with their advertising dollars. We couldn't do it without them. Please have a look through the list of Toys 'n Stuff and click on some of the banners that you see floating about. Oh ... and don't forget to tell them that you read about it at Home Toys.