Everyone knows that the next generation iPad is coming, but will Apple skip past the iPad 3 and go straight for iPad 4G?
The Wall Street Journal has reported that the newest iPad will feature 4G LTE technology, which will enable it to the faster networks on Verizon and AT&T.
It’s still speculation at this point, but it seems rather likely that Apple will capitalize on its carrier’s 4G networks.
Home Automation is all about control and convenience. Our systems give you control both at home and while you are away.
In-wall, portable, and handheld touch screens are the primary user interface and provide easy control over the entire house. From any touch screen you will have control of your entire home automation system.
Remote access from your Smart Phone, computer, or phone line is also possible with many of our systems.
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Featured In-Wall Touch Screen Options and Digital Home Control Panels
HAI’s OmniTouch 5.7e Touch Screen features a 5.7″ screen and the ability to have any graphics you desire. We can design these screens from the ground up to suit your desires.
Control4′s Infinity Edge 5″ & 7″ look great on the wall and give you easy access to your media, lights, climate, and more.
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Featured Portable & Handheld Touch Screen Options
The OmniTouch 10p Touchscreen is a portable 10.4 inch Ethernet based Wi-Fi Touchscreen. The homewoner can carry it around the house or keep it in a charging docking cradle on a table for easy access to manage the home’s lighting, temperatures, A/V equipment, and more.
Crestron Prodigy Handheld Touch Screen gives you one-handed control of your TV/Theater as well as control of lights, music, and other devices.
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Home Control Software
With HAI’s Snaplink software you can control your home from any Windows-based computer with internet access (sorry, Mac users).
Change the temperature, arm the security, or turn the music on outside; it’s all at your fingertips!
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iPhone/iPad Control
All the systems we offer have iPhone/iPad apps that will allow you to control your system from anywhere in the world.
Many of our systems have apps for Android, Blackberry, andWindows Mobile smart phones. Please give us a call for your specific application.
One question that pops up every now and then is about customizing the HAI Omnitouch Touch Screen graphics. HAI has designed a nice interface that is well organized and very easy to use. This interface is perfect for 95% of the population, but some people like to be able to customize the look and feel of their screens.
At this time there is no customization allowed by HAI on their touch screens. While at first this seems like a negative, it is done for good reason. When an interface is customized the system becomes near impossible to troubleshoot if problems arise. With a standard screen, it is easy to walk through steps to diagnose and fix the iss
ue. Another great feature of the current HAI touch screen is that changes made to the Omni Pro II or Omni IIe panel are automatically updated on the touch screens. With custom screens both the system and the screen must be updated independently.
Having said that, there are a few options for the hardcore DIY-er….
Software Based Control:
While we aren’t able to customize the current (notice I say current, HAI does have some future plans…) touch screens, we can use 3rd party software applications to create a custom interface that sits on top of the HAI system.
My favorite is CQC (charmedquark.com). This is software that you can load on a wireless tablet PC, or a server. You then build the interface from scratch, right down to the font and icons.
In addition to the graphical interface, CQC also allows you to build the back-end system to control the HAI system. This takes a lot more work, and in the end does not provide the same amount of control that the standard HAI does. However, you do get a slick looking screen.
The downside:
2 years ago I created a spin-off business (5280automation.com) that would create these custom interfaces. The time to design and program a single system was about 200 hours, a good month of work. In addition to time, a dedicated computer and dedicated touch panels were also required. All of this brought a single custom design with 2 touch screens to around $15,000. Not exactly in line with our product offering or clients…
After a year we scraped the project. As a business venture it did not make sense, but for a homeowner with an extra computer laying around, a lot of free time, and a vision the result can be excellent.
Closing thoughts:
>As you may imagine, my home is chalked full of the equipment we sell. I spent the 200+ hours to create a working interface for my home. I ran this custom system for 2 months, then switched back to the HAI touch screens. The main reasons were speed and reliability.
If I wanted to arm the security or run a lighting scene I did not want to wait for a network connection to occur, I wanted to instantly. Since the system ran on a Windows based computer, I would sometimes wake up to a blank screen or Windows desktop after a Windows update had occurred. Not the end of the world, but I like knowing whenever I walk up to the touch screen it will be ready and waiting for me.
* All custom interfaces were created by us when 5280automation.com was up and running.
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