Interview with Crestron: Affordable Luxury Home Automation Systems

For more than forty years, Crestron has used the latest digital technology to provide the world with home and commercial solutions that are both innovative and elegant. The company’s designs are not only visually striking, but they are also energy efficient and, thus, contribute to a greener environment. While known for creating luxury automation systems, Crestron’s designs remain affordable for middle-income Americans. Dedicated to moving the world toward greater high-tech lifestyles, the company focuses its efforts towards creating solutions for a variety of functional spaces including homes, schools, office environments, hospitals and hotels. With offices in more than 90 countries around the world, the award-winning company is considered a global leader in the building automation space.

As all of Crestron’s commercial and home solutions are Integrated by Design™, the environments that the company creates are not only exquisite, but also provide greater convenience, ease and control to the end-user. With most people using multiple devices for a variety of different tasks and entertainment, consolidating all of these into a single interface is precisely Continue reading

Lowe’s Brings Affordable Cloud-Based Home Automation

It is 2012 and home automation may not be quite what we thought it would be 20 or 30 years ago. Though we don’t all have a household iRobot, our homes are becoming more automated as the technology continues to go mainstream. Lowe’s Home Improvement has introduced a new cloud-based smart home solution called Iris. The Iris home system allows you to monitor and control system devices from your smartphone, computer or tablet.

Though Iris is not new technology, and home automation is not new to the big box stores, Iris is one of the first home automation systems offered by a big retailer. In addition to offering the hardware, Lowe’s provides a free basic self-monitoring service.

Iris Home Automation Kits

Iris helps make home automation simple and affordable for more consumers than ever before. It can be customized to fit your lifestyle needs and is available in three different starter kits.

Iris Safe & Secure Kit ($179) - Safe & Secure gives you a basic level of home security including a motion detector, contact sensors for doors, windows or Continue reading

Interview with Steve Harris from Think Automatic – Home Automation is Getting Smarter!

Home automation has become increasing in popularity among tech savvy home owners; however you don’t have to be tech savvy to be able to make your home smarter and more energy efficient. I had the pleasure of talking with Steve Harris, an inventor who is currently in the process of crowdfunding his project, the Luminode. Imagine that all your light switches could talk to each other and remember how you like your lights setup during different times of the day. This is exactly what the Luminode does, without requiring any extra wiring! Check out the interview below to learn more about the Luminode and other future products from Think Automatic that can add substantial value to your home.

HomeAlarmSystems.com: How long have you been working on home automation projects?

Steve Harris (Think Automatic): I’ve been interested in home automation for many years.  I installed X10 devices in my home and started playing with systems back in 1995, but I first got professionally involved with home automation when Continue reading