The dream of an automated house has never been more achievable, and thanks to DIY software like Cinemar's Mainlobby, just about anyone can roll their own at a reasonable price. Of course, the more you can control with your home automation system the better. Now, in addition to being able to control lighting, security, home theater gear, thermostats, whole house audio and manage all your movies from a wall mounted touch screen, Mainlobby owners will soon be able to use their iPod Touch or iPhone as a remote. The key to making this work is Mainlobby's built in web server and Safari's extensive AJAX support -- sorry Windows Mobile fans. Unfortunately, this is only a first look, but these examples will be included in future versions of MLServer. And considering the lead developer on the project plans to use it as his "
primary handheld controller," it should mean lots of future development. More pictures after the jump.
Just create a Bookmark that points to your MLServer web server.
Browse your movie collection
All the details of the movies at your finger tips, just hit play to have DVDLobby control your 400 disc DVD changer or play a movie from your hard drive.
Check the weather, data is pulled live from Weather.com
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ChiWax @ Dec 20th 2007 3:25PM
Someday all of these devices will do this without mods or extra software. How long we have to wait for that is the question....Q
ryan10ad @ Dec 20th 2007 3:50PM
No price given, so "reasonable price" can become quite expensive.
Ben @ Dec 20th 2007 3:53PM
It's a modular system so it depends on what you want to integrate.
The software is about $300 (need your own windows computer)
A Security system that can be controlled is about $600
A wireless touchpanel is about $1000
I have about $600 in lights
Whole house audio is about $2500
So compared to $7000 crestron touchpanels, it's a reasonable price.
bigglare @ Dec 20th 2007 5:55PM
Check out http://www.Homeseer.com for the great software thats not too expensive. Looking for a non computer based option check out the Zwave enabled Home Remote line from Hawking. Does the same thing with little effort.
Mister Cow @ Dec 20th 2007 7:14PM
i could do this all back in 2003 with my HP iPAQ rx3750 running Nevo mobile media: http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Home.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=215348&prodSeriesId=457080&lang=en&cc=us
http://www.mynevo.com/html.php?page_id=5
VivekB @ Dec 23rd 2007 3:24PM
Respectfully, I would suggest that a solution that 1) requires knowledge of javascript, 2) is not transportable to non-windows mobile platforms, 3) and is inherently non-optimizable so if you have the same image 5x in your screens you need to download it 5 times is neither easily deployable nor efficient.
There are much better options out there that address all of those situations, if you go with windows-mobile platforms, but also have webserver support if you're wedded to an iPod.
I documented my personal setup at http://www.myhometheaterpc.com/ , but that's by no means the only look&feel - matter of fact, many folks using the same software I did have opted for an entirely different UI. I can control all of this over the Cingular network, so the efficiency bit noted above is important to have usable screens that don't require 45-90seconds to download.
But you are right - it is exciting that more options abound. If you're willing to be a programmer, this is a good path.
Diehard1 @ Dec 27th 2007 1:48AM
Really only 1 of this is an issue and only a minor one.
Javascript not a problem, established language, tons of books, excellent existing knowledgebase. Learning something new is no different than the requirements for all the other systems out there CQC, Control4, Homeseer, Crestron. Each uses its own special language with its own syntax and limitations. Sure some try and hide it from you with pull downs and their own compiler but how is it any different. The problem is most do a poor job of doccumenting the language so it is easy to get stuck searching forums or poorly organized knowledge bases to get answers.
Non transferable. Minor but not the fault of the product. M$ has always hated standards they don't control. This line of though is the same reason we have crappy, bit mapped, unTrueType fonts instead of Postscript and crippled java support.
Non-optimized downloads. Kind of funny, that is what caching is for. If you reference the same image in a page 50 times the browser only grabs it once. Even then the biggest use for most of this will be while you are home with the system. That is where WIFI comes in. It is nice to adjust lights and turn on the TV when you are not home but it is hardly a daily thing for most. When was the last time you needed to check the weather while you were out and logged into your home server over the internet to check? If you have internet access why check it on your home server when weather.com is available.
Download time is more and issue of good GUI design. If you design a GUI that take 10 click to do common task then you are going to have problems.
The best part of this as I see it it being able to us an iPod Touch as a remote for the system. A sub $300 touchscreen remote is nice. No had buttons may be a problem but I can accept that.