Smart Home Blog

Brando keeps making life of HTPC owners nicer and easier. Its new Rii Mini Wireless Keyboard is not bigger then ordinary remote control but provides QWERTY input, mouse touch-pad and navigation buttons. It has built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery which can be charged from PC USB port, and a lecture laser pointer in case if you need it.

The new Brando Rii Mini Wireless Keyboard probably the best portable keyboard for HTPC I have ever seen. The keyboard is supported by Linux, Windows and probably Mac OS X and it can be found on the Brando site at $92.00 or on the TomTop at $59.99 only.

[via Engadger]

New Potato Technologies introduced an Infrared iPhone / iPod touch dongle FLPR. It turns iPone into smart remote control and allows to manage all IR-based devices in the home. It offers IR codes for more than 14000 different devices and App with generates remote control UI.

The big advantage of Potato FLPR IR dongle is that it doesn’t need additional device like, for example, RedEye which needs IR transmitter near your TV or air-condition. The FLPR is self-sufficient. That fact gives consumers more flexibility.

The Potato FLPR IR dongle is already available in the producer’s online shop at $79.99. The rest shops will get it at the end of March.

[via Engadget]

ASUS introduced the first networked media player with USB 3.0 support. Its new O!Play HD2 additionally is equiped with HDMI 1.3 as well as with Composite, Component and Optical outputs, USB 2.0 and eSata ports, card readers for CF, SD, and Memory Stick and, of course, USB 3.0 PC link. That player together with Seagate BlackArmor PS110 should demonstrate the USB 3.0 power.

Unfortunately there is no any words about date availability and price of O!Play HD2.

Zotac announced its new nettop ZBOX HD-ID11 based on the nVidia Ion 2 graphic platform. The rest spec includes a dual-core 1.66GHz Atom D510 CPU, HDMI 1.3a, six USB ports, integrated 802.11n WiFi, dual-link DVI, and a 6-in-1 media card reader. The box supports Full HD and offers flawless Flash 10.1 playback as well, thanks to powerful 16 cores GeForce G210 GPU. And the price is very attractive – $209.99 only for the barebone version in US! Hope that European version won’t be much more expensive.

[via Engadget]

Echoflex Solutions announced its EEK200C Evaluation Kit. For only $149, integrators, OEMs and smarthome enthusiasts will be able to explore the breadth and performance of EnOcean wireless energy harvesting technologies in different conditions as well as capabilities of EnOcean PTM, TCM and STM radio modules and interoperability with other EnOcean-based products.

The kit includes following devices:

• TCM-200C: bi-directional communication with the transceiver module that connects directly to a laptop or PC allowing Windows® based applications to monitor and control;
• STM-110C: solar powered sensor module with integrated reed switch, temperature sensor and set point adjustment;
• PTM-220C: mechanically powered switch module used for on/off and dimming applications.

Additionally the WinEtel utility should be downloaded and installed to monitor radio packages in the EnOcean network.

I like the EnOcean principles of energy harvesting. That approach is not just saving energy and, as result, money and environment. But it also makes consumers life easily because they shouldn’t replace batteries in their devices at all. So, I hope that the EEK200C Evaluation Kit will help integrate EnOcean technology in the many popular commercial and open source home automation systems.

[via EnOcean]