Press Reviews

CNET: Light Up Your Life Electronically

ZDNET: Featuring Home Control

FamilyPC: X10 Control: Let There Be Lights

light up your life electronically*
By Christopher Lindquist : Editor at C|NET

X10 wants to change that. Its ActiveHome house automation system is an inexpensive ($99), all-in-one kit that the company hopes will get users hooked on controlling their homes with a PC. If you're looking to become the ultimate couch potato, this kit is for you.

Open the ActiveHome box, and you'll see software and an impressive collection of gadgets. These include a universal remote that can run X10 modules (the electronically controlled switches you use to operate appliances) and many current TVs, VCRs, cable boxes, and stereo components; a key chain remote; a lamp control module that doubles as a dimmer; a computer interface for connecting a PC serial port to the system; and a transceiver that transmits commands from the wireless remote controls to the modules.

Installation takes about 30 minutes. Simply plug the computer interface into an outlet and connect it to a free serial port on your PC. Then install the software from the included CD-ROM and start up the program.

The ActiveHome software includes a rich variety of options that should satisfy even the most ardent twiddler (once you learn to ignore the annoying start-up voice). Life Style mode records every command you send to your X10 modules during a 24-hour period; then plays them back every day to make your house looked lived-in while you're away. You can divide your modules up by location, such as living room and kitchen, making it easier to track appliances. You can even combine a series of commands into macros that control multiple devices. For example, you could create a Good Night macro to turn off your living room lights, turn on the bathroom light, and start up your electric blanket. Requests from the ActiveHome software travel through your home's electrical wiring to the appropriate modules. (One note: in our installation, the system occasionally locked up. X10 admits that some units had the problem but says that has been corrected in current shipments.)

Best of all, you don't have to leave your computer running 24 hours a day to keep your home "active." You can program a limited number of Fast macros and individual module settings to reside in the computer interface, where they run automatically, based on the unit's internal clock. Standard macros require that the computer be running, though PCs that support On Now or Rapid Resume can be configured to power up as necessary.

X10 and several other companies sell additional modules (starting at about $16 each) that let you control everything from sprinkler systems to air conditioners to burglar alarms. Using those modules, you can make your abode almost completely computer-controlled.

Now, if only ActiveHome did the dishes.

The Article above is presented as it appeared on C|Net Copyright © 1995-97 CNET, Inc. All rights reserved.

Featuring Home Control
By ComputerLife Magazine (ZDNET)
(3/98) The following are excepts form the article ...

"Ah, the joys of modern living. You pull into your driveway after a hellish commute, click the miniature remote control attached to your key chain, and the front porch light comes on, along with your living-room stereo and window lamp. Inside, the air conditioning unit has already been cooling the house for an hour.

A Jetsonian fantasy? Not at all. With today's home-automation programs, it's easy to tame and train the ever-growing assortment of electrical appliances and lights that populate your home, right down to creating a home-security system that automatically phones you when it senses a break-in. And while it's true that you can spend thousands of dollars on sophisticated projects that require professional installers, most do-it-yourself automation kits start at less than $100."

"The good news about home-automation systems is that they're not as complex as you may think. For starters, you don't need to run any additional wiring; X10, the current major communication protocol for home automation, uses your existing power lines to send one-way commands from your PC to remote modules that control lights, appliances, and other devices. And since many Windows-based automation systems work even when your computer is off (by downloading commands to a PC-connected module), you don't need to leave your computer on all the time."

"Before you buy a home-automation kit, write down your goals. Do you want to simplify everyday tasks, such as the tedious ritual of turning on your bedside lamp and kitchen coffeepot every morning, or do you need a home-security routine that turns on your living-room lamp and porch light every day at dusk? Next, take a look at the available options in your price range that will do the trick. For simpler tasks -- turning appliances on and off, setting timers, and so on -- PC-based home-automation programs like ActiveHome and Home Director, or the satellite receiver-based RCA DSS Home Control Kit from Thomson Consumer Electronics, are your best bets."

"Smart appliances and fancy wiring-based systems are still a way off, but here's a quick and easy, five-step automation routine that anyone with a PC and a few extra bucks can use to get up and running. X10's ActiveHome beat out IBM's Home Director by a pinch because of the included key chain remote control, handy for turning on lights and appliances in the evening before entering the house. Although this walk-through is specific to ActiveHome, you can substitute Home Director for any of the steps.

1.Plug the Transceiver Module, which receives radio frequency (RF) commands for lamps and appliances from the ActiveHome remote control, into an available AC outlet. Make sure the module's House Code dial is set to A and the Unit Code slide is set at 1. Then plug a lamp or appliance into the module.

2.Set the Lamp Module's House Code to A and its Unit Code to 2. (Each module needs a unique address for ActiveHome to recognize it.) Plug a lamp into the module and then connect the module to a convenient AC outlet. The Lamp Module can control an incandescent lamp rated up to 300 watts, but it doesn't work with fluorescent or energy-saving lamps.

3.Connect the brown end of the interface cable to an open serial port on your PC. Then connect the other end of the cable to the Computer Interface Module and plug the module into a nearby AC outlet. Finally, insert two AAA batteries into the Computer Interface Module's battery compartment. Also add batteries to the key chain remote, which you can later use to turn devices on and off.

4.Install the ActiveHome software. The first time you run the program, ActiveHome will load a file called MYHOUSE.X10, which will display a graphical representation of the Transceiver ("My appliance") and Lamp ("My lamp") modules. Select New Standard Macro from the Macro menu to create a new automation routine.

5.Use the Macro Generator to set start and stop times for your lights and appliances. Choose the device you wish to program, right-click on the mouse, and select Delay Time from the pop-up menu. You can also program lights to brighten and dim at selected times. ActiveHome comes with several sample macros to get you started."

X10 Control: Let There Be Lights

Ready or Not? By Bill Machrone (Family PC)

For an overview of the technology, check out www.x10.com .   For a firsthand view of how it works, you’ll have to stop by my church or my house (just make sure it’s before 11 p.m.).

The Article above is presented as it appeared in Family PC © 1998
Ziff-Davis Inc. All rights reserved.

Arnold Spier is an observant Jew. That means that he’s ethnically Jewish, and he practices the Jewish religion as well. If you know anything about the Jewish religious observances, then you know that they can have a fairly strict regimen. Especially when it comes to observances such as Passover, Rosh Hashanah, and, of course, the Sabbath.

For those unfamiliar with Jewish traditions, the Sabbath (every Saturday) is the last day of God’s creation when he declared a "Day of Rest" for himself and his creation. So, every Saturday the Jewish people must rest. This rest period lasts from sundown Friday night to sundown Saturday night. In observance of the scripture - "And there was evening, and there was morning, the (first/second/third/etc)... day."

"As part of my religion I am prohibited from turning on and off electricity on the Sabbath or holidays," Arnold says. This can be especially complicated during those long winter nights when it gets dark around 5:00 in the evening. That means that for most of the night on Friday nights Arnold either has to turn the lights on and leave them on, or turn the lights off, and leave them off. But Arnold found a solution.

"I hooked up my bedroom, kitchen, dining room, living room and even bathroom lights to the Active Home system," he says. "The lights are programmed to go on and off as I plan on needing them." As the days get longer or shorter, then the timers can be easily reprogrammed. And, as the time of year changes and needs in certain rooms vary, changing the program from the PC is simple.

Gregory had what might be called an "X10" apartment. He used ActiveHome modules and timers to run everything from the television and radio, to the lights. "It worked wonders," he said. "It kept my place looking lived in." But it may have worked a little too well.

Shortly after Gregory moved into the apartment, his Superintendent had to do some work in the apartment, and Gregory gave the Superintendent permission to do the work while he was not at home. One night though, he came home to see the Superintendent standing in the hallway looking "scared out of his wits." When Gregory asked what was wrong, the Super said in somewhat of a panic that the apartment was haunted. He proceeded to recount how the stereo and the lights had been turning themselves on and off throughout the day. The Super confessed that he didn’t believe in ghosts, "at least not until today" he told Gregory.

So Gregory took him around and showed him how the system worked, to put his mind at ease. The Super was impressed (not to mention relieved) when he saw the system in action.

He later borrowed a few ActiveHome control modules from Gregory for a "romantic" night and candlelit dinner he had planned with "a young lady who later became his wife" as Gregory put it. "I’d like to think that somehow I played a part in their getting together" Gregory says.

Well Gregory, we understand, and we’d like to think that we too played a part in this budding love relationship.

Susan Dennon’s young son Jason had such a problem. Every night Jason would fight bedtime because of the hazards of making his way from the light switch to the covers. He’d turn down the covers (because as we all know, no monster can reach you under the covers), make his way to the light, and then turn off the light and run to the bed and jump under the covers. Yet, every night he lived in fear that he would not be able to make the long trek from the light switch to the bed, and then under the covers in time to avoid some unforeseen nightmare just waiting to pounce upon some poor unsuspecting five year old. "Unfortunately, adult reasoning doesn’t hold a candle to the intricacies of the five year old mind," Susan says.

But she wasn’t going to allow her son to be terrorized by the sinister forces trespassing in her son’s room, and intruding on his sleep. So she took drastic action. "I hooked up a lamp in his room to an ActiveHome Controller, and I hooked up a lamp in the hall to an ActiveHome controller. Then I gave him a SlimFire Remote to turn on and off the lights."

That’s right, she put the power into Jason’s hands. Now, he has the ultimate weapon when it comes to expelling nighttime terrors. He has the power to turn on the lights. And right there from under the covers where no monster can ever penetrate. Once that light is on, no matter how bright, no monster will have a chance.

"Not only has the scary darkness been taken away," Susan says, "he’s often so preoccupied with the remote, that it completely takes his mind off his fear of the darkness."

ActiveHome’s got the Tree Lights

November 27, 2000 - The most wonderful thing about Christmas has to be the lights. Every year neighborhoods go all out decorating their houses both inside and out with colored lights. Cities string lights up and down their main streets, and neighbors decorate entire blocks. In some neighborhoods the lights are so outstanding that they attract visitors from all over town. And inside the house, Christmas celebrators hang decorative lights around their trees.

"It’s very nice not to have to go digging under the Christmas tree every night to unplug the lights while attempting not to knock over the tree," Joani said. And quite frankly, we agree.