By Dan Cash CCTV • Design • Do It Yourself • Energy Saving • General Information • Home Entertainment • Home Security • Tips and Tricks • Uncategorized • WiFi • • 0 Comments

Making Homes Safer, More Efficient And More Secure With Smart Home Technology

When we talk about Smart Home Solutions it’s usually put in terms of home entertainments and making it easier to control media. What is often overlooked is the ‘Home’ aspect of the technology. We’re dazzled with the fun and exciting developments, but often overlook the incredible opportunities ‘domotics’ are offering.

Domotics is the word coined to refer to domestic robotics. These are the devices which are smart, but are related to the smooth, efficient, comfortable running of the home rather than home entertainments. Domotic devices include heating controls, smart lights, air conditioning, blinds, shutters and access control.

These devices don’t leap out as being the most exciting items on your home’s complement of goods, but in terms of function, labour saving and economy, they’re the stand-outs that are going to save you enough money to invest in the fun stuff. Bear in mind that anything which saves you money is therefore reducing energy consumption, which means that you’re saving the environment too, which are all good arguments to look into domotic

Smart Home systems. A cosy, low cost, low labour home? Sign me up! Read more

By Dan Cash CCTV • General Information • Home Entertainment • Home Security • Tips and Tricks • 0 Comments

Smart Lighting? That’s A Brilliant Idea!

https://www2.meethue.com/en-gb
Philips’ Hue Lighting Enhances TV Viewing

They’re the first thing you switch on when you get home, and the last thing you turn off as you get into bed, but you only really notice them when they stop working. Without them the electrification of the western world would still have happened, but at a much slower rate. Outwardly their design has changed very little, but the technology that goes into a lightbulb has changed radically, so why do you need to invest in Smart lights?

Edison and Swan invented the incandescent light bulb at almost exactly the same time, but Edison saw that to get electricity into every home he’d have to make it all the more practical, which is why he still holds the record for the most patents registered: all these labour saving devices meant mains electricity wasn’t a fad or a luxury, it was a necessity. Read more

By Dan Cash CCTV • Design • General Information • Home Entertainment • Home Security • Tips and Tricks • WiFi • • • 0 Comments

Do You Know The Difference Between Your Smart, Connected, and IoT Devices?

smart home solutions, connected, iotWhile we bandy the words “Smart” and “connected” devices and “Internet of Things” around as if they were simply synonymous with one another, the truth is that while they’re closely related, the don’t in fact mean the same thing. So which is which and what’s what? Read on for a quick walk around the basics.

First of all, let’s look at Smart technology. Smart is actually an acronym for “Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology” meaning that you are able to control the devices by voice or app, and check back on them via the app on your phone or computer. If the device is battery operated it will let you know in advance when the power levels are getting low, and you can see other diagnostic data when you look at the settings or status data your Smart devices are feeding back to you. Read more

By Dan Cash Construction • Do It Yourself • General Information • Older People • Tips and Tricks • WiFi • • • • 0 Comments

Are You Plugged Into To Wireless Charging?

Wireless charging is one of those things: Nobody seems to know how it works, we only know it does, and that, I suppose, is all it takes. Have faith and your phone will work! We’re so used to plugging in in order to charge our devices that it seems like magic when you can just put something down, and after 30 minutes, it’s almost fully charged again.

The technology has been around for a couple of years now. It crops up in adverts, it looks cool, but nobody seems to be overwhelmingly enthused by it, even though it allows for fast charging, (Huawei, the current leaders in wireless charging, claim 70% in 30 minutes, which will naturally improve over time) charging between devices on the go and one plugged in phone being able to charge several other devices at the same time if you’re not near a charging pad. Read more

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CCTV Is The Most Effective Deterrent Against Burglary And Car Theft

The numbers are in and it’s been confirmed: CCTV is the leading reason why both burglars AND car thieves will keep walking past your house or vehicle, and hone in on a neighbour who doesn’t have a visible deterrent instead.

When you need a product review, you ask an expert, right? If you want to know about a new car or washing machine you want to know what the experts think, so why should home security be any different? And that’s why CO-OP asked a dozen reformed criminals what it was that was the biggest deterrent against them breaking into a house or car.

And so it transpires that basic security lighting is at the bottom of the field while a CCTV camera is at the top. Security lighting is unreliable as it does nothing to spur neighbours into action if it’s triggered. Additionally, because the light goes off again once people stop moving once they’re on your property and forcing a door or window, so long as they don’t move energetically, the light won’t come on again. Allying lighting with cameras on the other hand sends out a strong signal that you’re taking security seriously and recording images of everyone who steps onto your property. Read more

By Dan Cash Construction • Design • Do It Yourself • General Information • Home Entertainment • Management • WiFi • • • 0 Comments

There’s A Smart Future Ahead For Architecture

The Utopia for the ultimate in home technology has always been complete voice control and automation. The idea is often mocked, as evidence by such artists and film makers as Heath Robinson and Nick Park. However, the advances in microtechnology and electronics means that many of the ideas which were the realm of science fiction and comic books are now either available today or currently in development. So how do you go about futureproofing right through from planning to building?

We’re rapidly becoming familiar with smart phones, smart TV and smart speakers, using apps and voice controls to operate heating, lighting, viewing and blinds for example, but is the technology moving faster than architects, designers and builders can keep up?

Manufacturers are busy thinking how they can make their goods connected to the internet of things, we have fridges which will tell you when food is nearing its best before, blinds which will obey your commands, work on a timer, or independently when factoring the sun’s position in the sky, and ovens which can turn themselves off when your roast reaches the optimum shade of cooked, so you don’t have to keep opening the door as the timer runs down, just to check. Read more

By Dan Cash Do It Yourself • General Information • Home Security • Management • Tips and Tricks • WiFi • • 0 Comments

Increase Both Speed And Security When You Buy A New Router

Yellow ethernet cables plugged into the back of networking hardware.We’ve been concentrating on how adding new digital devices to your home network has the potential of introducing vulnerabilities into your home network, both for data security and the physical security of your property. However, it’s also worth looking at some of the older equipment that has to go from providing broadband to a couple of computers and phones to supplying data to dozens of different devices, all trying to talk to one another at the same time.

Your home router is essentially the brain and beating heart of your system, an yet it’s quite possible that you’ve not even looked at it since you last changed your internet provider. It’s true, as far as digital technology is concerned, a small box that just sits there with one or two flickering lights is hardly the most exciting piece of equipment, and it only draws attention when it stops working or you need to find it for the sticker with the wireless password printed on it. Read more

By Dan Cash Do It Yourself • General Information • Home Entertainment • Older People • Tips and Tricks • WiFi • • • 0 Comments

New Tech, New Frustrations! How To Get To Grips With Your Brand New Gadgets

Sonos music speaker and a tablet showing the artwork for an album.So it’s been a month, how are you getting on with the new electronic devices you got for Christmas? If you think you’re struggling and that you’re not getting as much out of your tech as possible, you’re not alone. More than a quarter of people surveyed said that they’re not sure how to use their electronics properly, and feel they are probably missing out.

The problem most of us have with electronics we’re not familiar with is that we use it in exactly the same way we used the piece of tech that it is replacing, and if we don’t get to grips with a new feature straight away, it’s unlikely that we’ll ever get to know it. Attempts have been made in the past to teach new users how to improve their interface with the user, you’ll remember of course Microsoft’s paperclip, called, imaginatively enough “Clippy,” a dog called “Rover”, and a wizard called Merlin which would pop up whenever you wanted to do something, getting in the way and giving you flawed advice. Fortunately for all, that particular piece of fury-fuel was discontinued in 2007 after it was noticed that everybody hated it. Read more

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The Modern Parent’s Guide To Screen Time For Kids

WiFi enabled tablet in persons handsNobody can deny that IT, interactive and Smart devices are going to play a huge part in our children’s lives, and many people have opinions on how the amount of screen time, that is time children spend using VDUs, smart phones, laptops and tablets is going to affect educational and physical development.

For generations there have been adults who are prepared to wax nonsensical about how whichever latest trend or technological development will slow the mind or adversely affect the physical development of the children and adults who are exposed to it. Not surprisingly the latest generation of nay-sayers have set their sights on touchscreens, voice control, and home automation. Read more

By Dan Cash Do It Yourself • General Information • Home Entertainment • Tips and Tricks • WiFi • • • 0 Comments

New To Alexa? What To Do With Your Smart Speaker Straight Out Of The Box

Over Christmas Briant Communications and Jacobs Steel, a local estate agent based in Worthing, teamed up to give away a Sonos Smart speaker to one of our Facebook followers. Jonathon won it and dropped by to collect it last week. While he was happy to have one, he quipped that he had no idea what to do with it.

And that’s a problem that a lot of emerging tech has to contend with. People fail to appreciate what brilliant things their gadgets can do and so never get the full benefit of owning such handy home devices. I’m sure we’ve all watched over a colleague’s shoulder as they struggle to do something on their computer or phone because they didn’t know there was an easy way. (Years ago I had a colleague who would copy email addresses for contact by hand and then type them into the address field because he didn’t know you could copy & paste.) There must be any number of things we all do every day that those in the know would find baffling or incredibly timewasting, so how do you get the most from your smart speaker straight out of the box? Read more