Home Cinema – whether you’re in or outside London
Home Cinema, or home theatre – the phrases are interchangeable (although sometimes it’s argued there is a difference) – used to be the domain of the rich and famous only. Typically, those living in the confines of the M25 in London, who had unlimited budgets, were the only ones who could afford the enormous prices ... Read more
Want a smart home? Start by ditching that free router. Here’s why.
It’s becoming increasingly difficult to purchase home entertainment products that don’t include an RJ45 ethernet socket and/or a WiFi antenna. Once the stuff of the purely specialist custom installation industry, the notion that products can be controlled by phone or tablet and are plugged into the internet is now the norm. We’ve heard the term ... Read more
A bit about Subwoofers
Q. What is a subwoofer? A. A big dog. So goes the age old and not so funny joke. But what is a subwoofer and do you need one? To understand what a subwoofers are and why they are required, we need to examine loudspeakers in a bit of detail first. The human ear can (theoretically) ... Read more
Smart Security on the rise
The rise of the smart phone, internet and Wi-Fi is revolutionising the home security business. It used to be that an alarm system had to be professionally installed by one of the many security firms that inhabit the towns and cities. They would be Nacoss registered (now NSI) and would put you on contract for ... Read more
As the days shorten lets talk lighting design
In these weeks of late evening sun and very early sunrises, probably the last thing you’re going to think about is lighting design, especially if you live in the north of England in such places as Leeds and Cheshire where the nights are even longer. Further south of course the nights are a little shorter, ... Read more
From Julie to Alexa – the evolution of voice activation
For as long as science fiction has existed we’ve been exposed to computers that respond to our voices. Remember Majel Barret’s voice of the computer in Star Trek, or Zen and Orac from Blakes 7, or HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey? We’ve had a fascination with making computers more human ever since they were ... Read more
Mood lighting – romantic
With romance still hanging in the air and the greetings card industry counting its takings following Valentine’s day, we’re turning our attention to how home technology can help set the mood. The simplest way to set a romantic mood is to dim the lights, a favourite trick of restaurants of course (although sometimes I wonder ... Read more
Staying warm the smart way
It’s really cold outside. The fan heater is on in the office and the central heating is burning gas to keep the chill off the house for when I get home tonight. I don’t know what time I’ll be back, so there was no point in setting the timer as it might not come on ... Read more
Cool Automated Window Treatments
Q. “Why did the little boy take a pencil to bed with him?” A. “To draw the curtains!” It’s an old one, but it still makes me smile. It used to be curtains or nothing; hand drawn or, if you were really posh, they had a cord on either end that you could pull for ... Read more
Lights, camera, action
There’s a reason why those three words are said in that order. It’s not because of the logical order that one must follow when starting to make a movie, but because of the hugely significant importance of the lighting in the process. Without light, there isn’t a movie. Sure, good directors can work wonders with ... Read more
I have a dream….to build on a brownfield site?
Some dreams are monumental in ambition and require a whole nation to come together to make them happen. Some are slightly smaller in scale, but certainly no less important to the dreamer; one such thing being the building of a home, your dream home. They say an Englishman’s home is his castle and that’s certainly ... Read more
Let there be light – the history of artificial light
Since the dawn of time we’ve been obsessed with light. It controls every aspect of our lives and that of the planet we inhabit. Plants need it for photosynthesis; many animals need it to hunt; we need it for our sleep cycles, to give us the vitamin D our bones need and to see by. ... Read more
The Evolution of Home Automation
Home automation is nothing new. The idea of labour saving devices to make the housewife’s life easier is as old as the hills – as is, thankfully, the now embarrassing concept of the ‘housewife’! While not home automation as we think of it today, those pioneering labour saving devices were the forerunners of the systems ... Read more
Rack ‘em up!
Preparing for this blog entry I started by asking myself “What is a rack?” Childishly that made me snigger, just as the whole room and particularly the guest presenter (usually a well-known comedian) sniggers during the Cedia Awards when they announce the prize for “Best Dressed Rack”. Yes, they give an award out for the ... Read more
