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Smart Home Hacks Tips & Tools for Automating Your House

By Gordon Meyer
October 2004
Pages: 400
Series: Hacks
ISBN 10: 0-596-00722-1 | ISBN 13: 9780596007225
starstarstarstarstar (Average of 1 Customer Reviews)

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Book description

Smart Home Hacks covers a litany of stand-alone and integrated smart home solutions designed to enhance safety, comfort, and convenience in new and existing homes. Learn how to equip your home with motion detectors for added security, install computer-controlled lights for optimum convenience, and much more. No matter what your technical level may be, Smart Home Hacks will help you achieve the automated home of your dreams.
Full Description

So much of what is commonplace today was once considered impossible, or at least wishful thinking. Laser beams in the operating room, cars with built-in guidance systems, cell phones with email access. There's just no getting around the fact that technology always has, and always will be, very cool. But technology isn't only cool; it's also very smart. That's why one of the hottest technological trends nowadays is the creation of smart homes. At an increasing rate, people are turning their homes into state-of-the-art machines, complete with more switches, sensors, and actuators than you can shake a stick at. Whether you want to equip your home with motion detectors for added security, install computer-controlled lights for optimum convenience, or even mount an in-home web cam or two purely for entertainment, the world is now your oyster. Ah, but like anything highly technical, creating a smart home is typically easier said than done. Thankfully, Smart Home Hacks takes the guesswork out of the process. Through a seemingly unending array of valuable tips, tools, and techniques, Smart Home Hacks explains in clear detail how to use Mac, Windows, or Linux to achieve the automated home of your dreams. In no time, you'll learn how to turn a loose collection of sensors and switches into a well-automated and well-functioning home no matter what your technical level may be. Smart Home Hacks covers a litany of stand-alone and integrated smart home solutions designed to enhance safety, comfort, and convenience in new and existing homes. Kitchens, bedrooms, home offices, living rooms, and even bathrooms are all candidates for smart automation and therefore are all addressed in Smart Home Hacks. Intelligently written by engineering guru and George Jetson wannabe, Gordon Meyer, Smart Home Hacks leaves no stone unturned. From what to purchase to how to use your remote control, it's the ultimate guide to understanding and implementing complete or partial home automation.

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Good book on DIY HA!,  December 18 2004
Rating: StarStarStarStarStar
Submitted by Linux HA   [Respond | View]

The author covers HA from the prospective of the MAC, OSX, XTension HA software and mostly X10 but don't hold that against him as it's not the goal of the book. I treated this book as more of an idea book and almost all the ideas are portable to other scriptable/extendable software. It's for those of us who have a little imagination, some programming experience and the willingness to put a little effort into programming. It is in no way a recipe book where you follow the directions step by step to build a project. I really like the book and I really find it perfect for bathroom reading (you can read a section pretty quick to get your ideas). :-)

And I forgive the author for not cover Linux better. :-)


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Media reviews
"Smart Home Hacks leaves no stone unturned. From what to purchase to how to use your remote control, it's the ultimate guide to understanding and implementing complete or partial home automation."
-- Shield & Diamond, a journal of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity

"Gordon Meyer [is] capable of holding your attention while writing about technological projects--no mean feat--and explaining them in plain language."
--Blogcritics.org, January 2005

"Strengths: An excellent book on 'George Jetsoning' a home. Cross platform.
Weaknesses: None Found.
Now we all can become like the electrical engineer that took care of George Jetson's home. This book puts play back into tech."
--Robert Pritchett, MacCompanion, January 2005 (3:1)

"Meyer says he's aiming for the shade-tree mechanic of the home automation world. Why should Bill Gates have all the fun? Meyer figures the fiscally challenged have been shortchanged for too long on the promise of a whiz-bang future."
--Mike Cassidy, San Jose Mercury News, December 2004

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