Smart Home Blog

Good news for the Nokia and home automation fans. The famous mobile devices producer has announced its Home Control Center which is gonna be released next year. Basically it will be a home gateway with built-in DSL-modem, wired router and WiFi access point. There will be possibility to attach Z-Wave controller and manage all Z-Wave devices via Nokia’s mobile phones, Internet Tables or using web interface. Additionally the home gateway will be equiped with GSM/GPRS module. The Nokia’s Home Control Center will cover security and surveillance, lighting and climate control.

It’s good that Nokia chose Z-Wave. It’s grows very fast and now there is a lot of devices with reasonable price for European frequency. Moreover Z-Wave devices have a good interoperability. So, it’s possible to use dimmers, switches, sensors, PC adaptors from different producers. In any case, we will see the advantages, shortcoming and cost of the Nokia Home Control Center whet it will be released next year in Europe.

[via Engadget]

Good news for all LinuxMCE users and Z_Wave funs. Another Z-Wave USB dongle has been confirmed as working with the latest Z-Wave driver (4.27 from October 2008). The MCV Z-Wave Dongle supports all the new command classes, and supports both high speed (4x 40kbps) and standard speed Z-Wave devices. It’s available for US and Europe Z-Wave frequencies and it’s just $65. Moreover, there is a lot of other Z-Wave devices on the MiCasaVerde online shop suitable for Europe and company offers worldwide shipping by very reasonable price. For example, shipping to Cyprus of MCV Z-Wave Dongle will cost just $24. Not bad at all!

Company Innovus has announced its new software module which allows to integrate its Z-Wave House Controller with Squeezebox Duet. The special Innovus MyHome Plug-in offers an elegant way to control all Z-Wave devices connected to the controller from the smart Duet’s remote control equiped by 2.4″ color LCD display. That’s good example of simple and efficient way to implement common user interface for home automation and control music playback and using of resources of advanced remote controls.

[via AutomatedHome]

Touchscreen PC WebDT 366 was suggested as WinCE Orbiter for Plutohome and LinuxMCE. But it was too expensive (about $1500 – $2000). But now the situation has been changed. There are a lot of touchscreen UMPC on the market and the WebDT 366 was discontinued. As result, its price (for used devices) was decreased and now it can be even budget control panel for the LinuxMCE installation.

One of the LinuxMCE developers Tom aka tschak909 created a micro-distribution of Debian (based on Lenny), which contains the Linux based Orbiter. So, you can find WebDT 366 and flash it by yourself by Tom’s image or you can buy already preconfigured device ($250) or/and bootable LMCE webpad orbiter installation USB stick ($25).

In any case with Linux image WebDT 366 got a new life. So, don’t miss opportunity to add inexpensive and stable 8.4” touchscreen Orbiter to your LinuxMCE installation.

Marmitek, well-known producer European X10 and Z-Wave devices, announced its new 3 WayFull-HD HDMI Switcher Connect310. It provides three HDMI 1.3 inputs and one output with supported resolutions: 480p, 576i, 576p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p. Switching between inputs is done either automatically (by signal level, I guess) or using remote control.

The 40EUR Marmitek’s HDMI switcher Connect310 is an inexpensive way to connect more HD devices to your TV. So, if your TV doesn’t have enough HDMI inputs or you have a big number of HD devices Connect310 might really help you to enjoy HD content on your TV.

[via AutomatedHome]