HOME AUTOMATION AS HEARD ON KPRC AM 950

• April 16, 2018

So, the show is Saturday from 9 – 11 AM on KPRC AM 950 (and iHeart Radio) w/Mike Landry and Susie Loucks. The hosts will be discussing home automation 15 years ago and what home automation is like now. Jose and Mike will discuss how not too many years ago it was just the half million dollar homes that had this technology and now most new homes have the capability.

Jose will explain the difference between home automation and controlling your home. Dynamiq AV can take advantage of technology that may already be in the home, such as an alarm system, and have it perform at its fullest capabilities.He will explain “Automation” being something as simple as dimming the lights when you push on the blu-ray, to something complex: when you open the garage door, the system knows to turn on the interior lights and play music through-out the home. Even to having the system wake up you in the mornings by slowly raising the blinds, gradually having the lights brighten, starting the shower to get to your ideal temperature, and turning on the TV with the speakers in certain areas playing the broadcast so you aren’t missing traffic and weather updates.

Reminds me of Deanna Troi of “Star Trek Next Generation” waking up and saying, “Computer, lights”, only to discover she was on a Klingon ship and – oh the inconvenience – had to turn on the lights herself. (Does it say something about the world we live in that Google Docs knows how to spell “Klingon” ?

Myself, I’m holding out for a voice-activated ceiling-fan. You see, I like to fall asleep with the ceiling-fan going. But I wake up during the night – cold. But I’m too sleepy for my brain to get the rest of my body to wake up and pull the cord to turn it down a notch. So I lie there, not quite asleep and uncomfortable. I could buy the kind with a timer, but when I get cold every night is different, depending on how humid the weather and how hot or cold the house got during the day. Of course, I’ll have to train it to respond to my “sleepy voice”, but that will be hard to do because I don’t really know what my sleepy voice sounds like. But that would be a “good problem”. Looking forward to the day.

Home automation isn’t my area of expertise, but let me tell you what I have learned recently. Dynamiq AV has something cool going. It’s called a Control 4 Universal Remote. And when I say, “Universal” I mean lots of things in your home, not “wibbily wobbly timey wimey…stuff”. From one remote, you can turn up the thermostat, turn down the lights, start the TV, and play the blu-ray disc.

Ah, but that’s just getting started. There is almost no limit to how you can expand the system. You can even tie-in your security system to it. How about… you hear a “bump in the night” and switch from watching the game to looking at your security cameras, which are recording everything. Pretty avantgard. (ooh, got that spelled right the first time, yeah me)
Chuck

P.S. “turn UP the thermostat” ? Does that mean warmer – or colder – to you?