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Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Hsu Research ULS-15 mk2 Subwoofer Review
The original ULS-15 was a successful 15" sealed subwoofer for Hsu Research back in 2008, but it was time for a refresh. It's recently-released successor, the ULS-15 mk2, turns out to be 30% less expensive and 20 lbs lighter, but does that mean it has taken a hit in performance as well? The answer may surprise you! Read our review of the Hsu Research ULS-15 mk2 to find out how it compares to the classic original and how it performs as a modern day subwoofer.
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Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Logitech Button Controls Sonos and Other Smart Home Systems
Mobile apps designed to control smart home devices from a smartphone or tablet are great, as long as you don’t mind entering your passcode, launching the app, and scrolling to the appropriate command. Who’s got time for that? For time-pressed, app-annoyed homeowners, Logitech has developed a simple solution that requires nothing more than flipping a switch. The Logitech Pop Home Switch Starter Pack and Pop Add-On Home Switch, putting smart home control at your fingertips. After initial set-up, with the push of a button, everyone in the home can control smart home devices to set the scene with lighting presets, Sonos playlists and more.
“Sometimes you just want to set the mood for movie night without opening multiple apps to turn down the lights, turn on the TV and the sound bar and draw the blinds.” says Renee Niemi, head of the Smart Home business at Logitech. “With Pop, you can do all that with a press of the switch. It makes the smart home simple and accessible for everyone — not just the person with the smartphone.”
Can you benefit from a home automation system?
Answer the following questions to determine if your home is a good candidate for a smart home system.
Download checklistLogitech Pop Home Switch is compatible with a wide range of lighting and smart home products including smart light bulbs, door locks, and blinds from companies like LIFX, Phillips Hue, Lutron, and INSTEON, and you can mix and match product controls on an individual switch.
Each switch can trigger three actions using different presses – a single press, a double press, and a long press. For example, you can set individual switches to turn smart products on/off, adjust brightness and scene presets, or quickly access your favorite Sonos music playlists and stations.
The Pop app (available for Android and iPhone) scans your Wi-Fi network for compatible devices in the home. Then, you can assign individual devices to a switch or combine multiple devices into a single trigger using Recipes — simple combinations of product controls you can set up using the Pop app. So, if you want to set the mood with lighting and the music turned up for date night, you can do that easily with a single press of Pop. Or if your kids want the music tuned to a specific playlist or the lights bright to help them concentrate when they’re studying, they can easily do that with another press.
Plus, pairing your Pop Home Switch with a Logitech Harmony hub-based remote expands the types of devices that Pop can control exponentially with the addition of every entertainment product Harmony can control. The Pop Home Switch can be used to trigger one-touch Harmony Activities, such as “Watch TV” or “Listen to Music”, combining both home entertainment and smart home devices like lights, locks, blinds, and more.
The Logitech Pop Home Switch Starter Pack and the Logitech Pop Add-on Home Switch retail for $99.99 and $39.99, respectively. The Pop app is free.
The post Logitech Button Controls Sonos and Other Smart Home Systems appeared first on Electronic House.
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Philips Hue Light Bulbs Respond to Movement
Philips Lighting has added a new product to its Philips Hue family: a motion sensor, which enables you to control your home lighting through movement. The Philips Hue motion sensor is a simple way to interact with light without needing to touch a switch and without requiring complex installation.
Setting up the Philips Hue motion sensor, which is wireless and battery powered, involves putting it on a side table or book shelf, sticking it on a metal surface with the magnet, or mounting it to a wall or ceiling, and adjusting the motion detection direction. It links directly with the Philips Hue app, and seamlessly integrates with all of the Philips Hue products. You can connect up to 12 motion sensors to the Philips Hue bridge.
Easy Lighting Control Made Possible by Smart Home Control Systems
Download this guide to learn about Smart Lighting Control.
Get the Free Guide“The Philips Hue motion sensor not only provides hands-free control but also helps deliver peace of mind. You can be guided safely throughout your home at night with lighting,” says Sridhar Kumaraswamy, business leader, Home Systems, Philips Lighting. “Plus, you no longer have to remind the kids to turn off the lights when leaving a room. The reliable detection the motion sensor provides when you exit supports this and also helps you be more energy efficient.”
You can personalize your settings, for a gentle light at night and your favorite scenes during the day. With a built-in daylight sensor, the Philips Hue motion sensor knows if there is already enough light in the room and will only activate the lights if needed, helping you save energy.
The new Philips Hue motion sensor will be available for $39.95 on MeetHue.com and at retailers including Amazon.com and Best Buy starting October 2016.
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Basement Renovation Yields a $500,000 Entertainment Complex
By Jim Duffy
When we decided to move from South Florida to Charlotte in 2010, one of the most exciting aspects of designing a new home was the prospect of having a basement. Years earlier we had toyed with the idea of someday designing a super-basement. So once the move was finalized, the ideas started flowing. The wish list of activities and play spaces continued to grow, and soon evolved into a “street concept” where each space would occupy its own storefront on a street. We sketched out a 4,000-square-foot layout then had our architect design the rest of our house around the footprint of the future basement.
In October of 2015, Holevas and Holton, of Charlotte, N.C., began constructing what would become “The Bronx Street.” It is a melting pot of memories, interests, and favorite hang-outs. Many of the spaces are based on actual stores from the neighborhood in the north Bronx where I grew up. The 12-foot high ceilings allowed us to design realistically-scaled storefronts. The street is covered with a blanket of stars from a 52-foot ling fiber-optic starfield, complete with shooting stars. The stores are constructed from actual brick, stone, and wood. All design, decorating, and specialized paint work was done by the Duffy family.
The Egyptian Theater:
Design and installation by The Integrated Home, Charlotte, N.C.
Lobby Size: 8’ X 10’ X 12’ high
Theater Size: 19’ X 20’ X 12’ high
Systems: Control4 control system, Sony video projector, 140-inch Screen Innovations screen, Integra 9.2 Atmos receiver, Episode speakers and subwoofers
Sam’s Soda Shop:
Size: 18’ X 17’ X 12’ high
The Cavern Club Pub:
A British-style pub and music room patterned after the famous Cavern Club in Liverpool, England. Includes a drum stage and band area, two pub tables, large antique bar, pool table, shuffleboard table, and darts area. Brick front.
Size: 25’ X 44’ X 12’ high
The Arcade:
A turn-of-the-century, Coney Island-style penny arcade featuring a vintage Americana theme. Includes two pinball games, colorful carousel horse, and a working mechanical shooting gallery. Clapboard wood front.
Size: 16’ X 26’ X 12’ high
McDougal’s House of Horrors:
Patterned after a vintage wax museum/chamber of horrors, it features life-size figures of classic monsters (all created by our son, Greg) and a small gift shop area of vintage masks and costumes. Brownstone front.
Size: 12’ X 27’ X 12’ high
The Apartment Foyer:
A tight foyer reminiscent of a small New York apartment house entrance. Includes a working elevator, frosted-glass office door, and period apartment-style mailbox panel. White limestone front. Size: 7’ X 7’ X 12’ high
Tony’s Cafe’ at the Bronx Italian-American Club
A covered outdoor cafe’ setting with tables and chairs, menu board, and wall decor.
Size: 20’ X 13’ X 12’ high
FRONTS ONLY/NO INTERIORS:
The Toy Shop:
A facade based on my favorite toy store in the mid-‘60s. The display windows feature our collection of 1960s antique toys. Wood front.
Size: 16’ long X 12’ foot high
The Grocery Store:
A facade of a typical Mom & Pop grocery store, based on my great-uncle’s Bronx store. Includes two fruit & vegetable stands and soda bottle cases. Brick front.
Size: 16’ long X 12’ foot high
Creating a home theater isn’t difficult and there are no special rules to follow. However, you will need a lot of equipment. First and foremost, you need to figure out where you’re going to put this home theater.
This checklist will help you determine if your house is ready to accommodate a home theater system.
Get the checklist!The post Basement Renovation Yields a $500,000 Entertainment Complex appeared first on Electronic House.
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Monday, August 29, 2016
100 Years Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) turns 100 years old in 2016. The organization that has overseen and set the standards for the most important technical advances in movies and TV over the last century isn't getting old, it's getting more relevant to an industry that is in the midst of so many changes. The SMPTE 2016 Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition has a lot of ground to cover this October 25th through 27th and will hit all biggest topics from new digital broadcast technology, visual enhancements in movies and TV and even virtual reality.
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Sunday, August 28, 2016
Saturday, August 27, 2016
Six Steps to Increasing Dynamic Range of Your Home Theater System
Dynamic range is the ratio of maximum system output to the noise floor. The more you improve upon this ratio, the better sounding your system will be since it would not have to work as hard for you to hear the loudest and softest musical passages with absolute clarity. In this article and related YouTube video, we provide the six (6) essential steps for improving system dynamic range. Be sure to share your experiences and tips in our related forum thread too.
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Friday, August 26, 2016
Thursday, August 25, 2016
Amped Wireless System Boasts 15,000 Square Feet of Wi-Fi Coverage
Amped Wireless is bridging Wi-Fi performance, security and simplicity with the launch of ALLY, a whole-home smart AC1900 Wi-Fi system with MU-MIMO. The ALLY Wi-Fi system offers a seamless roaming solution with fast Wi-Fi speeds, MU-MIMO technology, and whole-home coverage with high power technology. Offering easy setup and a mobile app for on-the-go control, the ALLY and ALLY Plus systems reach up to 15,000 square feet of secure coverage for seamless roaming and uninterrupted streaming.
Built with the digitally-connected family in mind, ALLY features intelligent parental controls that make online parenting feel easy and safe. Through ALLY’s customized user profiles, parents can manage and limit access to selected content, websites, or apps. Additionally, parents can monitor and segment a child’s screen time, review an activity log, pause Internet service, and even set a curfew schedule for their Internet use.
Parents can also feel at ease knowing that devices on their network are protected by AVG Technologies, a provider of software and services to secure devices, data, and people. Customers can download the ALLY app and help safeguard devices from malware by activating AVG’s free, built-in web protection and real-time monitoring of network traffic. ALLY’s security features, parental control options and iOS and Android apps are built on Chime, AVG’s smart router platform developed by AVG’s Innovations Labs, an exploratory branch of AVG Technologies.
Can you benefit from a home automation system?
Answer the following questions to determine if your home is a good candidate for a smart home system.
Download checklist“Innovation is part of our DNA here at Amped Wireless,” says Jason Owen, executive vice president of Networking, Amped Wireless. “We are elated to announce ALLY and our partnership with AVG. By combining Amped Wireless’ award winning high power technology with AVG’s software and security expertise, we’ve created the industry’s best whole-home Wi-Fi solution. The result is a one-of-a-kind system that performs at the highest levels while providing a user experience that is second to none, bringing peace of mind to users as their network and families are protected.”
The partnership establishes ALLY as the only home wireless system that offers web protection that safeguards devices, including tablets, phones, computers and other devices. Additionally, the system alerts users when a new device requests network access, further protecting the network from unwanted parties.
“Gartner predicts the average family house will contain more than 500 smart devices by 2022. As the complexity of the connected home increases, so does the potential risk involved,” says Todd Simpson, chief strategy officer of AVG Technologies. “AVG’s Innovation Labs created Chime to simplify security and router technology for connected families. In time this will be like an antivirus for the home that can stop threats before they reach devices.”
In addition to the advanced software and security, all units are built with next-generation 802.11ac, Multi-User MIMO technology. Traditional Wi-Fi systems stream data to just one device at a time, leaving the rest of the devices to wait their turn which results in slower downloads and video buffering. With MU-MIMO, ALLY is able to stream HD content at faster speeds to multiple devices at once, delivering increased speeds for homes with multiple devices. Pair that with Amped Wireless’ award winning High Power Technology and you have unparalleled reliability, coverage and performance. Every smartphone, tablet, computer, TV and more can connect from virtually anywhere in the home or office. It is the solution for a flawless, whole-home, reliable Wi-Fi system.
There are ALLY solutions for both small-medium sized homes, as well as medium-large sized homes, and everything in between. Both ALLY and ALLY Plus products have an estimated delivery of late September. ALLY is priced at $199.99 and ALLY Plus at $379.99.
The post Amped Wireless System Boasts 15,000 Square Feet of Wi-Fi Coverage appeared first on Electronic House.
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Outdoor Speakers Add a Splash of Color to Your Backyard
When it comes adding an outdoor audio system to the backyard, the goal of most homeowners has been to hide or disguise the loudspeakers. Speakers masquerading as light fixtures, rocks, and planters are effective solutions, but why not show off your outdoor speakers? Why not let them look like a loudspeaker?
Triad Speakers thinks that the speakers that you listen to outside should be just as colorful as the umbrella over your patio table, and has infused a rainbow of colors into its first line of outdoor loudspeaker line. Two 2-way designs are available: the 6.5-inch driver model OD26 ($600 MSRP pair) and the 5.25-inch OD25 ($400 MSRP pair). Each incorporates carbon fiber drivers and titanium tweeters. While standard in black or white, Triad will paint the speakers any color desired, including custom-matching (slight upcharge).
Aptly capable of handling from 25-150 watts, the OD26 and OD25 are well-suited to serve residential and light commercial settings. The speaker enclosures are weather-resistant and durable, yet lightweight. Installation is further made easy by way of a provided adjustable bracket which neatly attaches to all surfaces (under eaves, to posts, etc.). Constructed of anti-corroding aluminum alloy, Triad’s Acoustiperf speaker grill can also be painted.
“So often we see installations of outdoor speakers that because of their limited color options look just plain clumsy and even obtrusive in their settings,” says Triad Speakers’ director of marketing Paul Teixeira. “In typical Triad fashion, the goal with our Outdoor Series was to deliver a solution that provides robust sound while completely blending with the décor.”
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10 Ways Your Home will Change by 2020
By Ed Wenck
Feeling overwhelmed? Of course you are. We all are, to some extent. We’re on a ride that’s getting ever faster, a ride powered by the “Law of Accelerating Returns.”
This premise, famously posited by Google Futurist Ray Kurzweil, states that information technology is growing — and learning — exponentially. Humans don’t operate that way — we are, by our nature, linear — but the machines we’ve created have the ability to double their “thinking” power at a startling rate. Exponentially, in fact.
As people, we plod along. We proceed in simple steps, one after another. As Kurzweil told the Financial Times, “30 steps linearly gets you to 30. One, two, three, four; step 30 you’re at 30. With exponential growth, it’s one, two, four, eight. Step 30, you’re at a billion.”
That rate right now, right here in 2016? “Every 18 months we’re doubling the knowledge that’s available to us,” says Dave Pedigo, CEDIA’s (Custom Electronics Design and Installation Association) senior director of Emerging Technologies.
And what does this mean to you?
Everything.
How soon will the LANs become obsolete? When will copper wire disappear? When will home appliances learn to repair themselves? (Short answer to all three questions: Perhaps sooner than we think.)
Pedigo and 16 volunteers have created the CEDIA Technology Council, a group that discusses these very things and attempts to make concrete predictions regarding what’s next in the smart home industry. Their most recent project: creating a list of 100 predictions for the year 2020 — a list that includes everything from the birth of the residential “social robot” to the end of copper wire.
In order to wrap our collective skulls around these emerging concepts and the products they’ll spawn, we’ll break them down into 10 lists of 10 — yes, linear lists written by a human for consumption by other humans. (A machine can’t quite write articles like these. Yet.) In other articles to follow, we’ll take some deeper dives into the impact a dozen or so of these developments will have on the smart home industry and the wider global implications for these accelerating technologies.
Something to remember as we dust off the crystal ball, according to Pedigo: Some of these guesses could easily be wrong. When it comes to imagining what’s next, humans tend to overestimate what’s possible in the next two years — and wildly underestimate what’s coming in the next ten. (That’s according to a quote widely attributed to Bill Gates.)
Without further fanfare, let’s look at the first 10 predictions, in no particular order.
Prediction 1: Mixed reality rooms will begin to replace home theater. You might be familiar with virtual reality headsets that envelop the eyes and provide a view that’s closed off — a movie with you as the camera, to oversimplify. There’s also “augmented reality,” technology that overlays some kind of digital information over your real-life experience. Combine those two concepts and you get a buzz-term called “mixed reality.”
Here’s how it might work: You could be looking at an ordinary table, but see an interactive virtual world from the video game Minecraft sitting on top of it. As you walk around, the virtual landscape holds its position, and when you lean in close, it gets closer in the way a real object would. Can a “holographic” cinema experience really be that far off? With 3D sound? And Smell-O-Vision?
Prediction 2: Contact lenses will include displays — and even cameras. These are extensions of the “augmented reality” above, but they’ll be wonderfully interactive: In addition to adding data in the most heads-up display conceivable, imagine literally wearing a lens-sized video camera to capture your daughter’s recital.
Prediction 3: We’ll consume media with high-resolution video glasses. The hi-res tech that’s getting ever more complex on your home screens will be quite wearable in the near future. (And there’s much more to be written about just how “hi” that “res” can get.)
Prediction 4: Implantables will become the new wearables. Don’t get too nervous about this: Yes, we’ve heard the story about a Finnish hacker who lost part of his finger in a motorcycle wreck and replaced it with a thumb drive. The term “implantable” can easily mean something as removable as the aforementioned contact lens. (And yes, we realize that Prediction 4 means that Prediction 2 will eventually overtake 3. Or something.)
Can you benefit from a home automation system?
Answer the following questions to determine if your home is a good candidate for a smart home system.
Download checklistPrediction 5: Predictive algorithms will replace conditional logic. Clearly, great minds program alike. At the same time the Tech Council was building its list this spring, Wired magazine dropped a cover story that outlined this very concept. In the piece, titled “The End of Code,” Jason Tanz broke the idea down beautifully:
In traditional programming, an engineer writes explicit, step-by-step instructions for the computer to follow. With machine learning, programmers don’t encode computers with instructions. They train them. If you want to teach a neural network to recognize a cat, for instance, you don’t tell it to look for whiskers, ears, fur, and eyes. You simply show it thousands and thousands of photos of cats, and eventually it works things out. If it keeps misclassifying foxes as cats, you don’t rewrite the code. You just keep coaching it.
It’s already happening, of course: How do you think Facebook knows who you’re looking at when it asks you if you want to tag your brother-in-law in that backyard barbecue photo?
Prediction 6: The intelligent kitchen will ensure you never burn another burger. Robotic arms will stir your sauce. Your countertops will become touch screens. Sensors will shut off burners the moment internal meat temps hit the desired doneness. The possibilities are endless, and their earliest application is something that Pedigo himself wrote about in 2012 in a piece called “The Internet of Things Tastes Delicious,” in which a sensor told his smartphone that his New York strip was cooked correctly.
Prediction 7: AI and machine learning will monitor — and fix — your home. Imagine artificially intelligent plumbing. Imagine that plumbing develops a leak, which triggers a moisture sensor, which tracks the failed pipe or coupling, which orders a small machine loaded with high-tech sealant to close the leak — and orders a second machine to mop up. Imagine the report that comes to your smartphone: “Leak detected, problem resolved, no further action needed.” Now imagine not having to file an insurance claim. (By the way: This is merely one of an infinite number of scenarios that we’ll be pondering for future articles. We have a feeling this one’s a biggie.)
Prediction 8: 16K 16-bit high-frame-rate content is emerging. We could dive seriously into some high- tech weeds here, but Pedigo gave us this hyper-concrete example: The shades of red, blue, and green you can see now on a state-of-the art screen? It’s in the hundreds. Shortly it’ll be in the tens — then hundreds — of thousands.
Prediction 9: Copper wire is coming to the end of its useful application. Soon there will simply be too much data coming down the line for that metal conduit to handle. If your fortunes were made from copper mining, it might be a good time to invest in fiber-optics.
Prediction 10: Video will be decoded and rendered at its device. We could get super-wonky with this explanation, but we’ll leave it here — everything you stream is about to get a lot more efficient, not to mention higher-def.
Next: Predictions 11 through 20 envision a world where apps live right on the walls of a home, personal audio will become astonishingly immersive, and over-the-air TV will include exactly two kinds of content: news and sports. See you in the future.
The post 10 Ways Your Home will Change by 2020 appeared first on Electronic House.
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Windows to the World of Home Automation
There are no rulebooks when it comes to automating your home. You can incorporate as little or as much technology as you deem necessary or that your budget allows. You can start out small and grow your smart system gradually. You can focus on one room or on the entire house. You can even concentrate your automation efforts on a particular element of your home.
The owners of this luxurious London residence chose the latter approach, utilizing a Lutron HomeWorks QS system to automate their home’s more than 70 windows and doors to the hilt—a decision that helped their home win the Lutron Excellence award for Project of the Year.
Lutron QS Synchs the Control of Windows, Shades, and Doors
The Lutron HomeWorks QS system was designed and installed by the London-based home systems integration firm SM Contracts (SMC) Limited to control every part of the home’s numerous windows and doors. This would include motorized blinds and curtains on the interior, motorized shutters and awnings on the exterior, and even the positions of the windows and doors themselves.
Additionally, the HomeWorks QS system was programmed by SMC to signal the glass of select windows to turn from clear to opaque at the touch of a button.
Elegantly engraved buttons on easily accessible Lutron seeTouch® keypads—more than 95 total—provide the homeowner and his family with a simple, intuitive way to take charge of the home’s 
90+ Lutron seeTouch® Keypads Offer On-The-Spot Command of Lights and Shades
With so many items in this home under the aegis of the Lutron HomeWorks QS system, the family would need an equally robust user interface This would require that each room be fitted with a keypad that was able to accommodate numerous buttons. A standard Lutron seeTouch® keypad can hold 10 buttons, so SMC ganged two keypads together for double the control options. The faceplate on each of the home’s 90+ keypads were flushed mounted into the wall for a seamless appearance. To simplify the control process further, each button was custom-engraved and fitted with an LED that changes color to indicate the status of the window treatments and lights.
The seeTouch® keypads function admirably for on-the-spot adjustments within a particular room; for times when the owners would like to sweep through the entire house—perhaps closing all of the windows and doors before leaving for a vacation—they grab an iPad or visit a wall-mounted Crestron touchpanel to access commands that can adjust every window, door, blind, curtain, awning, and light for their departure, bedtime, and other common household routines. The family can also use the iPad control app to quickly determine which lights might have been left on and where, if any blinds have been left open, and so on.
Remarkable Room Transformations at the Touch of a Button
Unified control over dozens of devices is not only handy for speedy departures; it enhances the functionality of the house. For example, what could have been a barebones exercise area transforms at the touch of a button into a full-fledged yoga room where the owner is able provide instruction to her students in a peaceful, serene, restorative environment. Programmed moods and effects can be instantly engaged by tapping a button on an iPad or on a Crestron touchpanel. SMC integrated Philips DMX colored lighting into the HomeWorks operating system so that any hue from thousands can wash over the walls to enhance the effect.
“Blue lights might make the room seem cooler; red, warmer,” Courtenay explains. And like any good yoga studio, the temperature, as well as the music, which plays through two imperceptible in-ceiling speakers, can be tweaked to suit the specific practice of the day. To make the room feel cozier, another touch of a button lowers custom-designed fabric shades over a bank of windows. Open them, as well as the motorized sliding glass doors, and the yoga-goers can enjoy the view of and the breeze from a lush backyard, where various water features—again, all controlled from the owner’s iPad—can create the perfect atmosphere, whether it’s in the yoga room, family room, kitchen or anywhere else in this smart, exquisite, elegantly automated home.
Other Lutron Articles you may enjoy:
Automated Shades Harmonize with the Great Outdoors
Automation Adds Elegance to the Unique Architecture of Chicago Home
High-Tech Luxe in Tribeca
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