Archive
Insteon-enabled your garage doors
March 16, 2014
We’ve controlled lights, checked our mail, connected our doorbell, and wired our smoke detectors, so let’s take a look at another device to connect to our Insteon system: the Insteon garage door control and status kit. Really, this device is…
MobiLinc adds Voice Control
March 22, 2014
MobiLinc, my current favorite iOS app for controlling Insteon systems, has recently added voice control. Until iOS allows access to Siri for easy application integration, the feature isn’t ideal since you need to start up the app and turn it…
Add an SSL certificate to your ISY-994i for secure home automation
April 7, 2014
If you’re not using something like MobiLinc Connect to remotely access your home automation system, it’s likely that you’ve created a personal domain name, and maybe even secured the connection to your home network with free VPN software with DD-WRT.…
The Spark Core is going to be awesome for Home Automation projects
April 17, 2014
I’ve got my share of Arduino and Netduino devices that I’ve always planned on integrating somehow in my home automation projects, but never really got around to doing so because there really wasn’t any good way to integrate them with…
Moves is a great personal activity tracker
April 22, 2014
Quantified Self, or Lifelogging, is all about being able to capture and record information about yourself, such as weight, activity/sleep, and location. After Google Latitude shut down, I went looking for an alternative to capture my location all the time,…
Tiny SanDisk Cruzer Fit moves files easily in a tiny package
April 26, 2014
I visited my parents last weekend and helped out with the usual tech support stuff, including putting movies and music on the XBMC/Apple TV and dealing with a full hard drive on one of their laptops. The solution for all…
Change XBMC Audio Offset for better viewing experience on Raspberry Pi
April 30, 2014
The Raspberry Pi makes for a crazy-cheap media center running XBMC, but it’s not all that powerful and occasionally struggles with HD video. Particularly when combining HD MPG video with multi-channel audio, you may find that occasionally people’s lips (video)…
ISY-994i is not vulnerable to the HeartBleed bug
May 3, 2014
For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been dealing with the SSL Heartbleed bug in my day job pretty aggressively. The bug is a serious one and likely affects you in your daily Internet browsing, as any “secure” internet connections…
Thank you, Amazon
May 6, 2014
As I’ve made clear since this blog launched last year, this blog is partially supported with my Amazon Affiliate account, which pays a referral fee for sending customers to Amazon. You can support this blog by simply following any Amazon…
Ideaspace from a drones-eye view
May 10, 2014
I’m starting to hit the limit of what I can build into my Insteon home automation system with off-the-shelf parts, and have started some more aggressive builds with the 3D printer and Spark Core – but even then there’s a…
Put your house to sleep at day’s end
May 14, 2014
After a long day, who can be bothered to remember to turn off lights or lock the doors? Fortunately it’s easy to automate this with Insteon and some simple programs in the ISY-994i. The concept behind this is pretty simple:…
Replacing Insteon devices in the ISY994i
May 18, 2014
Occasionally Insteon devices go bad. It’s not an often occurrence, but when it does happen there’s more to the replacement than just swapping out physical gear: you also need to update the links table of associated devices and scenes, and…
The Google Smart Home Infographic
May 22, 2014
Back in January in covering some neat home automation technology at CES, I talked briefly about Nest and Google’s recent acquisition of the company. Flash forward a couple of months, and I get a message from Brandy at forrent.com asking…
Turn off air conditioning when doors are open
May 26, 2014
Spring is here, which means great weather and open doors or windows. In the past, the routine has been “Open door, close screen door, turn off air conditioning”. But with an Insteon-controlled thermostat and door/window sensors, the third part of…
Apple’s new Home Automation feature in iOS 8
June 3, 2014
As you probably know, yesterday Apple announced the new features of iOS 8 due in the fall. There were some interesting features, but of course the one I found most interesting is HomeKit. Details are still wildly vague, but the…
Storage solutions for your small electronics projects
June 16, 2014
I’ve accumulated a lot of stuff for my home automation projects and drone hobby, and throwing all the parts into boxes just wasn’t working. So I found two great solutions to keep everything nice and tidy. The first is this…
Emulate an 8-button RemoteLinc with a 4-scene device
June 20, 2014
The portable Insteon RemoteLinc is a great device that allows you to add control to your Insteon system from virtually anywhere in the house, whether or not you have a light switch nearby. While there are actually two versions of…
Mini Tool Kit
June 24, 2014
Behind every great project is a great set of tools. I’ve got a pretty varied collection of tools in my arsenal (albeit not as comprehensive as discussed in LifeHacker’s Essential Tools post), but the go-to set if find pulling out…
Introducing Intellihome: a web-based home automation app for Insteon
June 27, 2014
For the past year or two, I’ve been working on writing a home automation application called Intellihome. It’s more of a pet project than an actual product, but recently a few readers have asked questions that can best be implemented…
Calling all (beta) testers: Integration between ISY994i and Nest
July 2, 2014
Nest has finally published their public API! I’ve started developing an integration between Nest and the ISY-994i via IntelliHome, and am looking for beta testers. I’ve got data coming from the Nest API into IntelliHome using the Nest Developer Chrome…
Insteon-enabled your garage doors
March 16, 2014
We’ve controlled lights, checked our mail, connected our doorbell, and wired our smoke detectors, so let’s take a look at another device to connect to our Insteon system: the Insteon garage door control and status kit. Really, this device is… MobiLinc adds Voice Control
March 22, 2014
MobiLinc, my current favorite iOS app for controlling Insteon systems, has recently added voice control. Until iOS allows access to Siri for easy application integration, the feature isn’t ideal since you need to start up the app and turn it… Add an SSL certificate to your ISY-994i for secure home automation
April 7, 2014
If you’re not using something like MobiLinc Connect to remotely access your home automation system, it’s likely that you’ve created a personal domain name, and maybe even secured the connection to your home network with free VPN software with DD-WRT.… The Spark Core is going to be awesome for Home Automation projects
April 17, 2014
I’ve got my share of Arduino and Netduino devices that I’ve always planned on integrating somehow in my home automation projects, but never really got around to doing so because there really wasn’t any good way to integrate them with… Moves is a great personal activity tracker
April 22, 2014
Quantified Self, or Lifelogging, is all about being able to capture and record information about yourself, such as weight, activity/sleep, and location. After Google Latitude shut down, I went looking for an alternative to capture my location all the time,… Tiny SanDisk Cruzer Fit moves files easily in a tiny package
April 26, 2014
I visited my parents last weekend and helped out with the usual tech support stuff, including putting movies and music on the XBMC/Apple TV and dealing with a full hard drive on one of their laptops. The solution for all… Change XBMC Audio Offset for better viewing experience on Raspberry Pi
April 30, 2014
The Raspberry Pi makes for a crazy-cheap media center running XBMC, but it’s not all that powerful and occasionally struggles with HD video. Particularly when combining HD MPG video with multi-channel audio, you may find that occasionally people’s lips (video)… ISY-994i is not vulnerable to the HeartBleed bug
May 3, 2014
For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been dealing with the SSL Heartbleed bug in my day job pretty aggressively. The bug is a serious one and likely affects you in your daily Internet browsing, as any “secure” internet connections… Thank you, Amazon
May 6, 2014
As I’ve made clear since this blog launched last year, this blog is partially supported with my Amazon Affiliate account, which pays a referral fee for sending customers to Amazon. You can support this blog by simply following any Amazon… Ideaspace from a drones-eye view
May 10, 2014
I’m starting to hit the limit of what I can build into my Insteon home automation system with off-the-shelf parts, and have started some more aggressive builds with the 3D printer and Spark Core – but even then there’s a… Put your house to sleep at day’s end
May 14, 2014
After a long day, who can be bothered to remember to turn off lights or lock the doors? Fortunately it’s easy to automate this with Insteon and some simple programs in the ISY-994i. The concept behind this is pretty simple:… Replacing Insteon devices in the ISY994i
May 18, 2014
Occasionally Insteon devices go bad. It’s not an often occurrence, but when it does happen there’s more to the replacement than just swapping out physical gear: you also need to update the links table of associated devices and scenes, and… The Google Smart Home Infographic
May 22, 2014
Back in January in covering some neat home automation technology at CES, I talked briefly about Nest and Google’s recent acquisition of the company. Flash forward a couple of months, and I get a message from Brandy at forrent.com asking… Turn off air conditioning when doors are open
May 26, 2014
Spring is here, which means great weather and open doors or windows. In the past, the routine has been “Open door, close screen door, turn off air conditioning”. But with an Insteon-controlled thermostat and door/window sensors, the third part of… Apple’s new Home Automation feature in iOS 8
June 3, 2014
As you probably know, yesterday Apple announced the new features of iOS 8 due in the fall. There were some interesting features, but of course the one I found most interesting is HomeKit. Details are still wildly vague, but the… Storage solutions for your small electronics projects
June 16, 2014
I’ve accumulated a lot of stuff for my home automation projects and drone hobby, and throwing all the parts into boxes just wasn’t working. So I found two great solutions to keep everything nice and tidy. The first is this… Emulate an 8-button RemoteLinc with a 4-scene device
June 20, 2014
The portable Insteon RemoteLinc is a great device that allows you to add control to your Insteon system from virtually anywhere in the house, whether or not you have a light switch nearby. While there are actually two versions of… Mini Tool Kit
June 24, 2014
Behind every great project is a great set of tools. I’ve got a pretty varied collection of tools in my arsenal (albeit not as comprehensive as discussed in LifeHacker’s Essential Tools post), but the go-to set if find pulling out… Introducing Intellihome: a web-based home automation app for Insteon
June 27, 2014
For the past year or two, I’ve been working on writing a home automation application called Intellihome. It’s more of a pet project than an actual product, but recently a few readers have asked questions that can best be implemented… Calling all (beta) testers: Integration between ISY994i and Nest
July 2, 2014
Nest has finally published their public API! I’ve started developing an integration between Nest and the ISY-994i via IntelliHome, and am looking for beta testers. I’ve got data coming from the Nest API into IntelliHome using the Nest Developer Chrome… 
