You Will Get A Virus

Hey everyone - nothing new to really write about technology wise, but I did want to ask for your comments and thoughts. 
I’m in the process of preparing to build my home office - and I’m trying to think of “tech” oriented things to include in the design.  Since this is my first go at building […]

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Earlier in the week I mentioned I had a project cooking that I thought was pretty cool. Last night, after I received the last piece of hardware I needed to make it work, I got it all set up and working. This didn’t involve much heavy lifting (none, actually) as I had already done the difficult parts when I set up a proof of concept to show Ann ( my girlfriend, for those who don’t know).

I’ve had it set up for a while such that, when I wake up in the morning I press a button on a keypad (mounted in wall) in my room and my room light comes up slowly - so as to be easy on the eyes - and the bathroom vanity lights turn on. The vent fan is then set on a 5 minute timer to turn on about the time my shower really starts producing steam - and turns itself off after about 15 minutes, ensuring it got all the steam. I press the same button on my way out my bedroom door and the bathroom light shuts off, as does my bedroom light.

Pretty cool way to do things - one button controls everything. It just got cooler.

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I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the home automation gear I’ve been installing in my house,  specifically mentioning the Venstar T1700 thermostat I bought.  At the time I initially tried to simply replace my existing thermostat with the Venstar, but found I was lacking a very important piece - the common wire.   Not […]

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Last night I wrote how I was disappointed that my home security system’s X10 controls weren’t robust enough to allow me to trigger lights and other actions off of output from the various security sensors in my home.   For instance, having lights turn on near a particular door when it opens.  I did a […]

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So last night I was able to get some neat stuff going to integrate my alarm system (provided by an awesome company called FrontPoint Security - check them out if you’re looking for an alarm system) using it’s native X10 signaling and my home control server’s ability to understand it.

Tonight I wanted to play around with it to see what all the X10 commands are it sent out - primarily to see if what I would LIKE to do is possible (it’s not, yet).

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Back when I was ordering my security system from FrontPoint Security (Which utilizes Alarm.com), I knew that it was capable of X10 control of your lights. At the time, though, I didn’t really think much of it. You see - I stopped using X10 a few weeks ago when I upgraded all of my home automation components to Insteon. Thus, while I thought it was cool that the alarm system was capable of performing X10 control - I just didn’t see it as very useful.

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A few months ago (and by few months I mean more than 3) I heard about a little gem of a website called Mint.com. At the time I heard about it, Mint was just entering it’s public beta period and so only offered a small amount of real usability and functionality. It took me an inordinate amount of time to do some of the most basic functionality and sometimes things would break for no reason.

I still gave it a shot, understanding it was a beta and those things are almost unavoidable. I also figured it would be something that would get better (and more usable) with time.

I apparently was correct.

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Friday was a big day for me: my new home security system from FrontPoint Security Solutions arrived. All of the equipment came pre-configured, so all I had to do was take it out of the box and mount it in the areas I wanted coverage. They claimed that most installs took 20-30 minutes for the average user and I was anxious to put that number to the test.

I was quite happy to note that, about 20 minutes later when I finished installing the hardware, they were correct - it really is that easy and fast. Think about that for a minute: It took me 25 MINUTES to install my own home security system.

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In my last post I questioned whether or not I should get a professionally installed home security system or whether I should buy my own equipment and do a homebrew security system monitored by a central station. I came to find some unfavorable reviews of that particular central station online (such as difficulty in reaching them via phone, delays in dispatching police or fire, etc).

Still, though, I was unimpressed with what companies like ADT, Brinks, et al had to offer. ADT had mixed reviews online - some people had no problems, others had a lot of problems. Brinks got good reviews for customer service and reliability (so, if you want a generic run of the mill security system, by all means look at Brinks) and even came recommended as reliable by a family friend who uses them.

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As a relatively new homeowner, I’ve had to consider things I had never really thought about before. For instance, what colors I want decorating the guest bathroom, how best to clean a deck ( hot water, OxyClean and dawn soap), etc. On that long list of things “John totally didn’t even consider when he was buying a house” was home security. That’s somewhat ironic, given that my profession is security (though not directly of the physical sort), but true.

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