As convenient as wireless networking is, there are some situations where it either doesn’t work or isn’t the most efficient mechanism to bring networking support into a remote location of the home. PowerLine devices generally fill this void quite nicely, but haven’t done a great job of keeping up with what is possible with modern 802.11AC. With the announcement of […]
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Haswell D54250WYB based Intel NUCs included a HDMI-CEC exposing Custom Solutions Header (aka HTPC Header) on board, but there were two pretty major issues with the implementation. The first, and most important, is that there just isn’t space in the chassis to put the adapter that was available. The second is that the 3.3V pin droops when current is drawn. […]
Read moreThis is some great news for anyone that’s ever tried using the HDHomeRun within XBMC (now called Kodi), as there’s now an add-on which adds some slick support for your network based tuners. Still no recording functionality for now, but at least it’s a step in the right direction. And just in time for the Tourney! No longer will you […]
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Chromecast has a new firmware out and it has released HDMI-CEC control commands. Google Chromecast has worked with HDMI-CEC since day one with the power and ability to change to the right input. Not all TV manufactures have HDMI-CEC turned on and Andrew Van Til has talked about it a lot with the HTPC and Intel NUC we have reviewed, but this is […]
Read moreSome pretty crazy news passed my way by our friend George S., linking to a forum post by Jeff from (formerly) SageTV, announcing that they somehow convinced Google to open source the SageTV code! What does this mean? It’s too early to tell, but given how involved software developers were in making SageTV a great experience, I have a hunch […]
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We saw OOMI at ShowStoppers and while they didn’t have actual product, they certainly said all the right things to indicated a good understanding of what HA is and what HA users want to get from the system. If you’d like to get in on the launch [aka pre-order] price of $229 (SRP will be $449) head on over to […]
Read moreEureka Park is one of my favorite things about going to CES. It’s a special place where pretty much anyone can come to the show and demonstrate their product. Most are actual products (like UPPER DESK), some will be soon, and others are still questing for funding. With Internet of Things (IoT) (which BTW is a horrible name, but since […]
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Our kitchen is small so there really isn’t a good place to put a TV, even a small one. So I often end up watching football of the tablet while getting the Sunday roast started. Finding a good place to put it can be difficult though because I don’t want it down on the counter with the chicken and vegetables […]
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I don’t remember seeing Zipato at CES last year, so when I noticed their unique Z-Wave ZIPABOX home automation controller (HAC) while roaming the show floor I made a point to stop in and have a look. With all the change in the smart home space it can be tough to select the right hardware; with the HAC the most […]
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Z-Wave sensor/switch maker AEOTEC teased a new switch before CES, so I made a point to stop by and have a look. It was worth it. Losing ½ the size from the previous generation external module the Smart Switch 6 gains USB support and doesn’t give up any of the energy monitoring features present on the previous generation. We will […]
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