Home Automation

Unix geek’s doormat: “There’s no place like 127.0.0.1”

1 Comment / Gizmo of the Day, Home Automation, Miscellaneous / By /

127.0.0.1 door matLove this one, the “There’s no place like 127.0.0.1” door/floor mat. In case you’re not a computer/network geek, 127.0.0.1 is the IP address for localhost, or another way to think of it, home! Get it now?

The mat itself is 2’x3′, made of polypropylene with a vinyl no-skid backing. You can even clean it by hosing it down.

Buy now!
Price: $39.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

The Unix geek’s clock of choice – the Epoch Alarm Clock

3 Comments / Gizmo of the Day, Home Automation, Miscellaneous / By /

thinkgeek epoch alarm clockAfter pranking you with the iCade for iPad, we figure we may as well lay some real gadgets from ThinkGeek on you.

Here is a super-geeky Epoch Alarm Clock, which can display the time in multiple different formats, including binary and hexadecimal. My favorite? Of course, it has to be why the clock was named: the time since the Unix epoch (Jan 1, 1970).

Yes, this also functions as a working alarm clock, with snooze, and has USB ports so you can charge up those gazillion USB gadgets you have. Now, if it only ran about the room like Clocky…

Buy now!
Price: $39.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Negative Ion Generator cleans up smoke, dust, pollen and more from your home/office’s air

Gizmo of the Day, Home Automation, Miscellaneous / By /

negative ion generatorClean up the air around you in your home and/or office by using a negative ion generator. Eliminate dust, pollen and smoke and other energy-draining items.

This particular model from Purely Products generates 2 million anions per cubic centimeter, plugs into a regular wall outlet, and has a yellow indicator light to let you know its working.

Buy now!
Price: $49.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

The Cry Baby Analyzer – why is your baby crying?

Gizmo of the Day, Home Automation / By /

So you just became a parent? Congratulations! Now you get to deal with more than a few sleepless nights. Or do you? Maybe not with the Cry Baby Analyzer.

It claims to analyze why your baby is crying. Could be annoyed, hungry, sleepy or even bored. The Cry Baby Analyzer has a big LCD screen with a bunch of smiley faces that correspond with those emotions/states, so you can quickly see what’s going on.

Now no telling if this works or not, but for a pretty low price, you could test it out.

Buy now!

Price: $99.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

RedAlert motion-sensitive recorder captures video and images

Gizmo of the Day, Home Automation / By /

Here is another security monitor for your home – the RedAlert by Swann which is primarily a motion-sensitive video recorder. It records either JPEG photos or AVI videos when motion is selected. It can record from 1 camera at a time, although you can hook up a wired camera to it as well and switch between that and the included wireless camera. There’s a PIP feature that lets you watch both simultaneously.

The included 128MB SD card can record 250 10 second videos, and the wireless camera can ‘see in the dark’ up to 16ft away. Connects to your TV for viewing the photos and video. What’s really missing is a network capability so you can monitor your cameras remotely.

Buy now!
Price: $199.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Taylor Digital Measuring Cup and Scale

Gizmo of the Day, Home Automation / By /

Another must-have gadget for your kitchen that is very practical and can replace your existing analog, boring tool. The Taylor digital measuring cup measures both dry and liquid ingredients, and displays it on the LCD screen on the handle.

It can convert weight to volume for water, milk, oil, sugar, and flour. It can display both metric and imperial units and weigh in increments of milliliters, cups, fluid ounces, grams, and pounds.

No need to change batteries – a long-life Lithium battery is embedded.

Buy now!
Price: $34.95
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Leave the light off – Night Lights for your Toilet

Gizmo of the Day, Home Automation, Miscellaneous / By /

jonny glow toiletWe’re kicking off Monday morning with some toilet humor. No, not that kind. Actually, it’s a set of  gadgets for your bathroom. They’re night light accessories for your toilet, so you don’t need to turn on the light in your bathroom if you need to make a pitstop in the middle of the night.

First up is the Flush Light that replaces the flush handle on your toilet with one that has a red LED light and an on/off button. It shuts off automatically after a while.

The next toilet ‘night light’ is the Jonny Glow which is a self-adhesive fluorescent strip that goes at the top of the toilet bowl’s rim. Only problem I have with this one is a cleaning one, although they claim it’s easy to clean. On the other hand, it doesn’t need batteries or button-pressing.

Buy now!
More info from the manufacturer
Price: Flush Light: $11.99, Jonny Glow: $12.95
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Protection One’s eSecure lets you control your home alarm system from your iPhone

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esecure iphone appHome security comes to the iPhone from security company, Protection One. eSecure is a Web-based home security system that also features an iPhone app.

The Web app lets you monitor in real-time your cameras at home as well as adjust your home alarm system. There is also an SMS text message-based system for controlling your Protection One alarm system.

The iPhone lets you turn your alarm system on and off and receive alerts. Reminds us a lot of what the remote home automation apps like iLinc can do.

Buy now!

Price: free with Protection One’s eSecure alarm system
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Tiny Spy Cam is Motion Activated, Can Work as WebCam

Gizmo of the Day, Home Automation, Miscellaneous / By /

brickhouse spy camHere’s another fantastically tiny spy camera that we could add to our round-up list of spycams. This glass-lens spy cam takes 640×480 video at 30 fps and can also act as a web cam if you so desire.

One of its best features has to be the SD card slot that can accept cards up to 16GB which translates into roughly 250 hours of AVI video. Another great feature is the voice-activated recording, so perfect for keeping an eye on your home/office when you’re not there.

Buy now!
Price: $199.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

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