Archive
Track Electricity Usage with the Kill A Watt
December 14, 2013
The holiday season is upon us, and for many of us that means Christmas lights. For some of us, way too many Christmas lights: A question that comes to mind when seeing some of that extravagance is “how much does…
Are LED Christmas lights worth it?
December 17, 2013
We’ve covered the Insteon 8-watt light bulb, a DIY project involving LED light strips, and the Kill A Watt to quickly view energy usage (without needing a whole-house system). Armed with the knowledge that LED lights are cheaper to run…
You are connecting your extension cords this way, right?
December 18, 2013
Public Service Message: Whether it’s Christmas Lights or power tools, any time you’re connecting two power cords together that have a chance of being pulled on, they should be connected thusly: Unless, of course, you want to get all fancy…
Last minute gift idea: Worx semi-automatic screwdriver
December 20, 2013
You’ll never look at the screwdriver in your junk drawer the same way. Some time back I saw this Popular Science article that proclaimed “The SD SemiAutomatic is an entirely new take on the cordless driver”, and thought I’d check…
PSA: Back up your ISY-994i
December 31, 2013
There are two types of people in this world: 1) Those that know that they should do regular backups of their systems and actually do them, 2) those that know they should but don’t do them, and 3) those that…
An aerial view of the Arlington Winter Wonderland
January 3, 2014
Home Automation is all about leveraging technology to make our lives easier, more secure, and more convenient. While we’re not quite ready to get our deliveries from the air, the laws are still being established, and there are occasional mishaps,…
Diagnosing an IOLinc connected to a Doorbell
January 5, 2014
After the post on adding your doorbell to your Insteon network, reader Steve was having some problems: I have tried for days to set up my doorbell to my insteon network/isy-994i and it doesn't seem to work for me. My…
Tales from CES: Quirky Home Automation Gadgets
January 20, 2014
I had the opportunity to go to the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) again this year, and now that I’ve caught up on my day job (and recovered from the Vegas hangover), I wanted to share some experiences from the…
Tales from CES: Emerging Home Automation Technologies
January 24, 2014
CES had its share of neat Home Automation gadgets, but there was also a fair share of emerging home automation technologies on display as well. Here’s a quick round-up of some of those technologies that peaked my interest: First off,…
Automate home systems while on the road
January 28, 2014
While at CES earlier this month, I was faced with a challenge when I had housekeepers scheduled to come while I was on the road. Normally if I wasn’t going to be home I’d leave a key in the mailbox,…
Insteon Hidden Door Sensor
January 31, 2014
We’ve covered the Insteon TriggerLinc to detect when doors and windows are opened, but some people may find even the relatively small devices obtrusive on door and window frames. A relatively new device in the Insteon arsenal is the Insteon…
Create a personal domain name to access home systems
February 3, 2014
Your ISY-994i is set up, and now you want to be able to access it remotely over the internet with MobiLinc. By far the easiest and most cost-effective way to do this is via MobiLinc Connect, a $30/year remote access…
Provide indirect lighting anywhere with an LED light strip and Insteon
February 7, 2014
I’m a huge fan of LED lights, whether the application is to save electricity, run Christmas lights, or provide indirect pathway lighting. Today’s project is along the same vein as the pathway lighting, but with LEDwholesalers‘ color-changing LED strip. This…
Set up a personal VPN server with DD-WRT
February 11, 2014
A Virtual Private Network “extends a private network over a public network, such as the Internet”. You may already use one for work to connect to your company’s network, but you can also set one up to easily connect to…
Insteon Door Lock Sensor
February 14, 2014
I wish Insteon would give us a tiny, wireless, DIY module (like Arduino) to allow us to build our own input/output devices for an Insteon network that are more compact and modular than the IOLinc. Until then, we’ve got to…
Designing 3D Parts with Autodesk 123D Design
February 24, 2014
The MakerBot 3D Printer is a pretty cool piece of technology that we’ve covered before. 3D printing technology continues to advance, as seen in this excellent infographic on ComputerScienceHub.org. While it still has a long way to go before we’re…
The true cost of 3D printing with the Makerbot
February 28, 2014
Earlier this week we walked through the design of a plastic replacement part for a snowblower, and someone asked the question: “Couldn’t you just buy a replacement part for much less cost and effort?”. First, in some cases this would…
Blink house lights when your smoke alarm goes off
March 4, 2014
Smoke detectors are a great investment in protecting your home; the First Alert devices with ONELINK allow all detectors in your house to connect to each other, so when the one in the basement goes off all the others are…
Build a tiny, cheap media center with a Raspberry Pi
March 8, 2014
XBMC is my favorite media center software. It’s open-source and runs on just about anything from old Apple TVs to full-blown computers. But the cheapest device available to run it on is probably the Raspberry Pi. They’re not the most…
Cao Gadgets wireless smart tags
March 12, 2014
About a year ago, as I was considering various ways to save energy, I thought about installing air duct dampers at various points of my A/C system to control temperature with more precision throughout the house (rather than just the…
Track Electricity Usage with the Kill A Watt
December 14, 2013
The holiday season is upon us, and for many of us that means Christmas lights. For some of us, way too many Christmas lights: A question that comes to mind when seeing some of that extravagance is “how much does… Are LED Christmas lights worth it?
December 17, 2013
We’ve covered the Insteon 8-watt light bulb, a DIY project involving LED light strips, and the Kill A Watt to quickly view energy usage (without needing a whole-house system). Armed with the knowledge that LED lights are cheaper to run… You are connecting your extension cords this way, right?
December 18, 2013
Public Service Message: Whether it’s Christmas Lights or power tools, any time you’re connecting two power cords together that have a chance of being pulled on, they should be connected thusly: Unless, of course, you want to get all fancy… Last minute gift idea: Worx semi-automatic screwdriver
December 20, 2013
You’ll never look at the screwdriver in your junk drawer the same way. Some time back I saw this Popular Science article that proclaimed “The SD SemiAutomatic is an entirely new take on the cordless driver”, and thought I’d check… PSA: Back up your ISY-994i
December 31, 2013
There are two types of people in this world: 1) Those that know that they should do regular backups of their systems and actually do them, 2) those that know they should but don’t do them, and 3) those that… An aerial view of the Arlington Winter Wonderland
January 3, 2014
Home Automation is all about leveraging technology to make our lives easier, more secure, and more convenient. While we’re not quite ready to get our deliveries from the air, the laws are still being established, and there are occasional mishaps,… Diagnosing an IOLinc connected to a Doorbell
January 5, 2014
After the post on adding your doorbell to your Insteon network, reader Steve was having some problems: I have tried for days to set up my doorbell to my insteon network/isy-994i and it doesn't seem to work for me. My… Tales from CES: Quirky Home Automation Gadgets
January 20, 2014
I had the opportunity to go to the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) again this year, and now that I’ve caught up on my day job (and recovered from the Vegas hangover), I wanted to share some experiences from the… Tales from CES: Emerging Home Automation Technologies
January 24, 2014
CES had its share of neat Home Automation gadgets, but there was also a fair share of emerging home automation technologies on display as well. Here’s a quick round-up of some of those technologies that peaked my interest: First off,… Automate home systems while on the road
January 28, 2014
While at CES earlier this month, I was faced with a challenge when I had housekeepers scheduled to come while I was on the road. Normally if I wasn’t going to be home I’d leave a key in the mailbox,… Insteon Hidden Door Sensor
January 31, 2014
We’ve covered the Insteon TriggerLinc to detect when doors and windows are opened, but some people may find even the relatively small devices obtrusive on door and window frames. A relatively new device in the Insteon arsenal is the Insteon… Create a personal domain name to access home systems
February 3, 2014
Your ISY-994i is set up, and now you want to be able to access it remotely over the internet with MobiLinc. By far the easiest and most cost-effective way to do this is via MobiLinc Connect, a $30/year remote access… Provide indirect lighting anywhere with an LED light strip and Insteon
February 7, 2014
I’m a huge fan of LED lights, whether the application is to save electricity, run Christmas lights, or provide indirect pathway lighting. Today’s project is along the same vein as the pathway lighting, but with LEDwholesalers‘ color-changing LED strip. This… Set up a personal VPN server with DD-WRT
February 11, 2014
A Virtual Private Network “extends a private network over a public network, such as the Internet”. You may already use one for work to connect to your company’s network, but you can also set one up to easily connect to… Insteon Door Lock Sensor
February 14, 2014
I wish Insteon would give us a tiny, wireless, DIY module (like Arduino) to allow us to build our own input/output devices for an Insteon network that are more compact and modular than the IOLinc. Until then, we’ve got to… Designing 3D Parts with Autodesk 123D Design
February 24, 2014
The MakerBot 3D Printer is a pretty cool piece of technology that we’ve covered before. 3D printing technology continues to advance, as seen in this excellent infographic on ComputerScienceHub.org. While it still has a long way to go before we’re… The true cost of 3D printing with the Makerbot
February 28, 2014
Earlier this week we walked through the design of a plastic replacement part for a snowblower, and someone asked the question: “Couldn’t you just buy a replacement part for much less cost and effort?”. First, in some cases this would… Blink house lights when your smoke alarm goes off
March 4, 2014
Smoke detectors are a great investment in protecting your home; the First Alert devices with ONELINK allow all detectors in your house to connect to each other, so when the one in the basement goes off all the others are… Build a tiny, cheap media center with a Raspberry Pi
March 8, 2014
XBMC is my favorite media center software. It’s open-source and runs on just about anything from old Apple TVs to full-blown computers. But the cheapest device available to run it on is probably the Raspberry Pi. They’re not the most… Cao Gadgets wireless smart tags
March 12, 2014
About a year ago, as I was considering various ways to save energy, I thought about installing air duct dampers at various points of my A/C system to control temperature with more precision throughout the house (rather than just the… 
