And now the nominees for best use of the letter X with electrical
wiring: X.25; X11r6; X-10; and X Files.
The winner is X-10, the most popular
protocol for communication over household wiring. With X-10 devices,
you can turn lights and appliances on and off, set up a security
system and control it all from your computer. You can set up macros to
do multiple operations triggered by a single event. You can even use
voice commands to tell your devices how to respond, or trigger events
by light or motion detection.
X-10 is typically marketed as home
automation equipment, but it's also useful in the office. For
instance, an X-10 motion detector set up in the computer room could
trigger emergency lights and a call to your phone or pager using a
voice dialer device.
There are two types of X-10 devices -
transmitters and receivers. Some devices do both. Receivers respond by
turning attached appliances on or off, dimming lights or completing
other tasks. Transmitters send signals over normal home wiring at the
push of a button or when triggered by light, motion or voice command.
There is a wide variety of X-10 devices
available, and there are many vendors for each type. I've posted links
to some on Network World Fusion (DocFinder: 6322).
The brain of a typical X-10 system is
software that runs on a PC. You can buy a basic starter kit such as
X-10 Corp.'s ActiveHome or IBM's Home Director, but the best control
system I've seen is Home Control Assistant from Advanced Quonset
Technology. It lets you display all your X-10 devices on a floor plan
of your home, while a separate pane lets you zero in on a specific
floor, device or controller. The product provides wizards for common
tasks for new users and a visual environment for creating complex
sequences of X-10 operations connected by programming logic.
Lately, the X-10 protocol has gone
wireless. I tested X-10 Corp.'s Hawkeye motion detector and Xcam
Anywhere camera. Hawkeye sends a radio frequency X-10 signal to a
wireless transceiver that's plugged into an electrical outlet. The
transceiver sends a signal to any X-10 device or the console.
Xcam Anywhere lets you mount a tiny
camera anywhere, even outdoors, and send the color image through an
attached wireless transmitter to a wireless receiver within 100 feet.
There's an indoor model too that would make a fine baby sitter cam.
You can use the motion detector in conjunction with the camera to
record images of anyone entering a room or coming to your door, for
example.
The tinkerer in me really loves X-10
products. One of these days I'm going to set up a do-it-yourself home
security system with X-10 technology. Memo to burglars: Please wait
until I'm ready to test it.
X-10 isn't the last word in home
automation. Newer products such as CEBus and LonWorks have advantages
over the older X-10 technology, but they're also more expensive.
It takes a lot of gadgets for a house
to become a home. I spent last weekend at the Consumer Electronics
Show in Las Vegas; stay tuned for reviews.
