Smart Home Blog

AsRock is going to release a three new Ion based nettops: Ion 330HT, Ion 330Pro and Ion 330HT-BD. They will ship with a dual-core 1.6GHz Atom 330 processor, up to 4GB of DDR2 RAM, 7.1 channel audio, gigabit Ethernet, HDMI / VGA outputs, six USB 2.0 sockets and a powered eSATA port. The Ion 330Pro sports DVD RW drive and Ion 330HT-BD – Blu-ray. Both models are equiped with MCE remote controls (not sure with one IR or RF) which is very helpful in case of using those nettops as HTPC (in my mind this is their primary purpose).

The is no any information about availability and price. But I don’t think that AsRock will delay with release. I though to buy AsRock Ion 330 sometime ago. But I found in some review information about noisy fan on the back of nettop. So, I decided to build Ion HTPC by myself. Will post about it soon. Stay tune!

Good news for all UK inhabitants who’d like to control their electricity consumption. Producer of DIY home security system AlertMe announced its new product – AlertMe Energy which will be supported by Google PowerMeter service. The AlertMe Energy contains two parts – Meter Reader clipped onto the home’s electricity meter to measure the energy consumption, and Hub plugged to the into the home broadband connection to transmit received data from the meter to the AlertMe web service and now – to the Google PowerMeter. The Meter Reader and Hub communicate each other via ZigBee.

The price of the AlertMe Energy is £69.00 and £2.99 per month for the online service. Well, personally I like TED 5000 more because it doesn’t need any subscription fees. But it can be used in US only as I understand. In any case the partnership with Google is a clever move for AlertMe. Because their security system is too expensive taking into account its limitations. New energy monitoring product can help AlertMe get more customers and keep existing ones.

Sure it’s better to have some professional solution to organize surveillance system in your home. Moreover the integration with home automation system will be useful as well. But sometimes people need something easy installed and simple in use. The new wireless surveillance system UDW10003 from Uniden fits those criteria. It contains two parts – indoor/outdoor camera with IR night vision and monitor (both are wireless). The monitor can be with 3.5-inch or 7-inches displays. The price of the basic package including 3.5-inch monitor and one camera is just $199.99. The bundle with 7-inches monitor and two cameras is $299.99 and each additional camera is $99.

The Uniden wireless surveillance system is an ideal solution for the most people who don’t want to spend time and money to install complicate system.

[via SlashGear]

Good example of using used EEE netbook is demonstrated by German folk sidekickx81. He created a media PC for his kitchen. It allows to him watch DVB-T TV, video from online services or network shares, listen music, check receipts or weather forecast. In standby mode it can be used as digital photo frame.

The kitchen PC is controlled by touchscreen added with USB touchscreen set because original EEE doesn’t have that feature. It’s connected to LAN via WiFi. So, no additional wiring is needed. Moreover, thanks to netbook battery it can work a few hours after power cutting.

Nice idea, implementation and … music in video clip 🙂

HomeSeer offers its iPhone HSTouch client which allows to users control their HomeSeer-based home automation systems from anywhere. It just needs Internet connection of course. At the first glass the client looks very attractive. But it’d be nice to hear opinion somebody who uses it. Drop the comment if you do it.

The HSTouch client an be downloaded from iTunes App store without any charge. It works with HSPRO or with HS2 + HSTouch.

[via eHomeUpgrade]