How Schneider And Clipsal Want To Dominate Home Automation Schneider Electric the owners of brands like Clipsal, Square D, APC Power and PDL Electrical are set to consolidate their brand with Companies like Clipsal set to be relegated to being a sub brand of Schneider Electric.
Is Home Automation The New Green Choice? According to various reports, home automation control systems such as Control4 or Clipsal C-Bus are not only becoming a necessary amenity in any high-end home, but it seems they have also become the new weapon in the war to fight global warming.
Home Automation And Networking Set To Grow 56% More Australians than ever before are turning to home automation a recent SmartHouse study has revealed with many consumers now turning to automation to control heating and electricity costs. Another big driver is security and home entertainment. Leading global research Company Park & Associates claim that home networking will grow nearly 50 percent by the end of 2008.
Free Google Media Server Ideal For Home Automation Google has released a media server that allows any Windows based PC to access and play content from multiple devices and multiple sources. Ideal when setting up a low cost home automation enviroment the software is available for free.
Slick Automated Display Home Take a guided tour through this stunning display home and pick-and-choose from the best home automation and entertainment on offer.
Control4 Now Inside a HiFi Reciever Control4 whose products are sold via Convergent Technologies in Australia is about to start a major expansion drive by allowing Hi Fi, consumer electronic companies and IT companies making set top boxes and media centres to include their home control operating system.
AV Integrators High On Passion, Low On Business Skills According to Todd B. Adams, the CEO and founder of DIpartner, an international training and curriculum development company dedicated to educating residential integrators, custom integrators are brimming with passion but lacking in business acumen - a situation he says is retarding the future growth of the industry both here and in the US.
Lighthouse Rolls Out New Professional Halogen Lamp The Clay Paky Alpha Wash Halo is a 1200W warm halogen lamp with true colour mixing and extensive optical zoom and is designed for film, television, theatre, concerts and corporate events.
3 Style Releases Low Energy LED Luminaires 3 Style has released the Alya Series of GE 85CRI high powered LEDs that produce downlights that have quoted efficiencies greater than incandescent, halogen or xenon lights.
AMX Executive Charged For Snooping On Competitor A senior Vice President of automation Company AMX has been arrested by a US Computer Crimes Task Force and charged with the unlawful Access of a Computer System / Network. He was also charged with conducting an illegal wire tap. The investigaqtion came about after a competitor complained to police that they were constantly being undercut for automation contracts and that it appearede that AMX had access to confidential information.
Clipsal Addressing Automation Issues With Electricians Clipsal who were last week awarded the Best US Home Automation System award by the organisers of the EHX Expo has hit back at claims that electricians are leaving a trail of problems when they take on home C Bus and automation work
Man Shot Dead By Robot That He Trained To Use A Gun The Gold Coast Bulletin in Queensland is reporting that an 81-year-old was shot dead by a robot that he had built using information taken from the web. The man who lived alone had deliberatly trained the robot to fire a gun.
TV Shopping Cart Coming Soon Fed up with not being able to find goods in your local supermarket, well that may be a thing of the past. Engineers have developed a shopping cart that actually tells customers where items are located within store. They also allow advertising to be served to the trolly based on a prior buying history.
C Bus Electricans Leave Automation Chaos Clipsal a leading supplier of electrical goods and the C Bus home automation system have been accused of fostering electricians to move into the automation market despite them have little if any knowledge of computers, sound distribution or TV display issues.
Smart Home Solutions Goes Bust But Not In Sydney Smart Home Solutions a Bribane based installer of home automation and entertainment systems has been placed into administralion. The Company has no involvement with Smart Home Solutions in Sydney run by James Billington.
New Home Automation Guide For Developers AVD Australia and Project Connection Australia have released a much-needed White Paper for the home automation industry, providing a comprehensive, 7-step guide for smart home project-builders on the importance of enlisting a home automation designer, trends and techniques in home automation technology, and even product selection.
New DNA Technology Set To Catch OZ Crooks Australian police are set to have access to revolutionary DNA technology developed in the UK. The move could catch thousands more criminals every year and allow police to investigate cold cases from years past.
Z-Wave Wireless Calls For New Industry Standard A consortium based in the US but open to companies worldwide is ramping up its presence at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this year, moving to establish Z-Wave as the new international standard in wireless controls for the home.
Tech Knowledge Set To Be Expanded On Google Technology information seekers as well as professional installers looking for information are set to benefit after Google kicks off a project to create an authoritative store of information about any and every topic. The search giant has already started inviting people to write about the subject on which they are known to be an expert.
Control4 Unveils High-tech Green Display Home A design team called Ark Space will tonight unveil Sydney’s first high-tech environmental display home featuring smart wireless switching and audio visual technology in an environmentally-sustainable design.
The Changing Face Of Custom Installation The custom installation market in Australia has evolved rapidly in the past ten years with high-quality installers such as Len Wallis Audio and Audio Connection in Sydney, along with Smarthome Solutions in Melbourne, leading the way.
Which TV Mount Is Best Local Or Imported? Local Manufacturers of mounts and lifters for large screen TVs are set to come under pressure from a new generation of products that are seen as being “far more efficient and cosmetically more appealing” than mounts coming out of engineering companies like Ultralift and Screen Technics.
New Windows MC/OS To Be Launched With Crestron Microsoft, which has struggled to get traction in the media centre market by partnering with PC vendors and third party media centre builders is now set to change tact. At the CEDIA Expo in Denver in September Microsoft will announce that it has teamed up with Crestron to deliver the next generation of its media centre offering via embedded chip technology that can be programmed to deliver a vast array of automation and entertainment capabilities for both the home and commercial environments.
What Is The Killer App For Home Automation In part two of our look at the home automation market, questions are raised about the next killer app. What is agreed is that it must command widespread acceptance of the technology. So is Zigbee the next killer app?
Where Is Home Automation Going? Where is home automation going and what will be the driving forces? What role will networking play and what will be the underlying technologies? In this two part series we take a look at what's hot and what's not.
New Z-Wave Technology Coming Zensys, developer of the Z-Wave wireless home control standard, has announced that its third-generation Z-Wave chip - the ZW0301- is in mass production.
Video Distribution The Next Big Thing Home video distribution is poised for the same explosive growth as home audio distribution and home theatre were a decade ago. Some of the reasons for this are the same, but new trends in lifestyle and technology could well push consumer demand for home video distribution even stronger than it did audio.
Forget About HD The Future Is IP Forget about HD or Blu Ray as being the future for home entertainment and AV. the future is the Internet claims NetStreams president and CEO Herman Cardenas who also says that predicting the future of audio and video isn't rocket science. "If you want to see where the new type of product will come from, follow the sources," he said.
Dumb Australian Builders Missing Out On Millions In Profits COMMENT: Builders and Architects in Australia are missing out on millions in profits are they don't have a clue about home automation. In fact most are so dumb about technology that they struggle to understand a computer.
PC Will Not Control The Digital Home Claim AMD Chip maker AMD has claimed that the PC will not control the Digital Home, a view that is not shared by Intel. This they say has changed AMD's thinking about home automation.
Audi Grabs Leading Automotive Award Luxury car maker Audi has taken out a leading Automotive Pioneering and Innovation Award for a 650HP Diesel engine.
How Home Automation Will Grow High touch retail environments, home monitoring via a service provider, and turnkey systems in new homes are three approaches that take home automation to the mass market, claims a study by USA based ABI Research.
Clipsal Stole C Bus Technology Court Claim Clipsal the owners of the C-Bus home automation system has been accused in the Federal Court of systermatically stealing technology from as far back as the early 1990's. Now a small Perth based technology wants $2billion dollars in back payments.
Home Automation Vendors Facing Litigation A new report by West Technology Research Solutions has revealed that the manufacturers of home control and automation products based on ZigBee, Z-Wave, and other RF-only technologies face significant litigation from Lutron Corporation.
AMX Rolls Out New Gear AMX will use the UK Cedia 2006 Expo to deliver a major boost to dealers and installers serving the residential market. A raft of new products designed for residential applications will be unveiled for the first time along with 'Visual Architect',which is new design software for solution providers.
Cisco Buys Digital Home Company Cisco Systems has made an undisclosed investment in US tech Company Zensys in an effort to expand into the home automation.
HPM Part Sold 25% of Australian electrical and home automation Company HPM has been sold to a South African Private investment bank, Investec Bank (Australia) Limited.
Control 4 Still Coming Despite being launched at the CEDIA Expo in August Control 4 products will not be launched in Australia until early in 2006. The problem appears to be certification and quality.
Bash Still Offers Variety Recently, the team from Audioworks, David Small, Stephen Small and Cam Herbert, successfully completed their 14th consecutive Variety Bash.
Logitech Targets Nevo SL Universal Remote Logitech, the industry leader in universal remote control is set to go after the likes of Nevo SL and the One for All brand after announcing a big move into the high end of the universal remote market.
OZ Digital Home Best In The World An Australian house fitted out by a Sydney based technology installer has been voted the "Best Integrated House In The World". The award was announced at the CEDIA Expo in the USA
Australian Builders Technology Dunces Australian builders are technology dunces with research showing that many of them are not offering a technology solution other than when asked. In the USA the story is very different.
The systems installers The installation of smart technologies requires the expert knowledge and tailor made advice of a systems professional. This is where your smart house really starts to come together
Smarthouse gives you the low-down on all that HD TV has to offer - the best TVs both LCD and Plasma, plus peripherals. We also cover great ski gear and awesome in-car entertainment, as well as all the usual features…
