Greg In The Desert

Have a Dish Network DVR? Have it connected to the Internet? They you should have this free iPhone app that allows remote control and scheduling of TV shows.

DISH Remote Access is free on the iPhone App Store.

Introducing DISH Remote Access – a whole new way to manage your DVR and record your favorite shows – anytime, anywhere with your iPhone or iTouch. With the touch of a fingertip you can easily browse the program guide, schedule DVR recordings and manage your DVR library as if you were at home. You’ll never miss your favorite shows or sporting events with this must-have application.

FEATURES

Schedule DVR Recordings
-Schedule DVR recordings from anywhere
-One-touch recording – simply chose to record one event, all events or only new events

Browse and Search the Program Guide
-Search the program guide up to 9 days in advance
-Search for shows by title, genre, network, keyword or actor
-View graphics and posters of your favorite shows and movies

Manage your DVR Library*
-Set recording priorities
-Manage recording conflicts
-Delete shows you’ve already watched
-View and adjust your recording schedule

DISH Remote Access is compatible with the following DISH Network receivers: 522, 625, ViP® 612, ViP® 622, ViP® 722, ViP® 722k and requires an online DISH account. You must first access DISH Remote Access at least once from your PC, prior to using your iPhone – login to your online DISH account and click on DISH Remote Access to get started.

*Requires high-speed internet connection to one the following compatible receivers: ViP 612, ViP 622, ViP 722, ViP 722k

If you don’t have one of these compatible receivers, upgrade today by calling 1-800-333-DISH (3474)

Lego is having a black friday sale until 30 November which is nearly 10% off. I’m planning on purchasing the 10194 Emerald Night train set. They Emerald Night works with the new power functions sets. These are nice since there are no longer train specific motors and controllers but it’s made all my previous train engines obsolete.

I emailed Lego and asked why they no longer carry the Emerald Night with power functions and the new flexible track as a kit. They responded with the following:

The product you inquired about have been discontinued from our current product line as a kit and we do not expect to offer it that way at this time.

Purchase any 4 Items of Power Functions accessory and Get 10% off, or Any 8 Items and Get 15% off, instead of releasing a new Power Functions Train Accessory Pack.

Here are the individual items that need to be purchased with the Emerald Night to make a complete kit.

• 8867 Flexible Train Track
• 8878 Power Functions Rechargeable Battery Box
• 8887 Transformer 10VDC
• 8870 Power Functions Light
• 8879 Power Functions IR Speed Remote Control
• 8882 Power Functions XL-Motor Item
• 8884 Power Functions IR Receiver

iHome Remote brings an 3rd party Indigo interface to your phone as a stand alone application. That’s interesting because there is a iPhone application available from developer of Indigo, Perceptive Automation, for free.

Why purchase iHome Remote? The official free app only works with 4.0, if you don’t want to pay the upgrade fee from 3.0 to 4.0, iHome Remote will work with 3.0. iHome Remote doesn’t have access to action groups but it does have access to Scenes which the official app does not. iHome Remote is $8.99 from the iTunes App Store.

Have you ever wondered if you left the lights on at home? Do you want to have everything just so before arriving home?

Used in conjunction with Indigo on your Mac, iHome will allow you to control your home lighting (Insteon and X10) using your iPhone or iPod Touch from anywhere.

** This app requires the Indigo Control Server from Perceptive Automation to be running on your Mac to work and is compatible with either version 3 or the soon to be released version 4 of Indigo.

FEATURES:
- View the status of your home lights and appliances
- Control lights and their dim level
- Turn appliances on and off
- Execute Scenes/Action Groups
- Access your home from anywhere
- Insteon and X10 control

Both Insteon and X10 allow you to add automation to your home without any rewiring required.

Insteon is a new standard in home control, which features true bidirectional communication to ensure that your iPhone knows the status of what you are controlling.

With iHome and Indigo, you can have full remote control of your home!

Now the the master bathroom is down to the studs, it’s my chance to put in exactly the kind of shower controls that I want. The Grohe digital thermostat looks like the kind of controls I’m looking for. Their website states:

The main control unit allows you to select the temperature, flow rate and to program the three personalised user buttons. These buttons illuminate when selected directly or via the remote control. Two backlit LCD panels display the water temperature and flow level and are controlled by the temperature and flow dials. The flow control dial can also be used to start the shower. To prevent children from turning the water above 38ºC, the SafeStop (temperature override) button must be pressed before the raising the temperature above this level – so there’s no risk of accidental scalding.
For convenience, the Pause button allows you to temporarily stop the water mid-shower – great if you want to wash your hair. When you’re ready to re-start you shower, press the button again and it will return to the exact same setting. Finally, the Stop button is used to turn the shower off. This button can also be used to turn the shower on at the safe temperature of 38ºC – perfect for when you have guests staying.

Pretty nifty. I can’t seem to find US pricing or availablity for this product. Anyone familiar with this product or similar devices?

Indigo, my Home Automation application of choice, has hit 2.0 after a (long) beta period.

Indigo 2.0 has been officially released and is no longer beta! Version 2.0 can now be purchased at a special introductory price ($20 off retail). Although v2.0 has a higher retail price than v1.8, all existing 1.8 customers can receive a $90 discount towards their purchase of v2.0. 2.0 Download and Trial http://www.perceptiveautomation.com/indigo/download.html After you download Indigo 2.0 and register for the 30 day free trial, join us on our new 2.0 discussion forum. Important The location of Indigo settings and database files has changed. Read the ReadMe included in the download DMG for detailed information about migrating from Indigo 1.x to 2.0. Indigo Client/Server Design 2.0 has been redesigned as a client/server application to allow remote control and configuration from anywhere. The server can run headless (no UI) in the background on your Mac while consuming minimal CPU resources. The GUI client can be run on the same machine or on a remote machine while still providing the same level of control and configuration. Web Based Control Pages In addition to now having a built-in HTTP web server, Indigo now supports graphical Control Pages allowing quick and powerful creation of Web controllable home interfaces. These Control Pages update in real time as device and variable states change. Here is an example floor plan Control Page that is included with the 2.0 Sample House file: http://goprism.com:8000/controlpage?name=1st_floor (this is a live example — try clicking on various devices and buttons) And here is an example of an iTunes controller that allows remote control of iTunes, as well as continuous updating to reflect changes to tracks, albums, artists, and volume: http://goprism.com:8000/controlpage?name=itunes_controller (this is a live example — you are controlling what songs are being played on a Mac in a data center in Las Vegas) Both of these examples were quickly created in Indigo by using the graphical Control Page editor. Live WYSIWYG browser previewing of Control Page editing is also possible (try the Browser Preview button in the Control Page editor). And here are some example pages of text-only based web pages which can be viewed on lower end hardware (like mobile phones and some PDAs): http://goprism.com:8000/basicpage http://goprism.com:8000/basicpage?miniUI=1 Native Sprinkler Support Powerful new UI and actions for controlling irrigation via the EZRain, Rain8, and IrrMaster controllers. Universal Binary Indigo (client and server) run native on both PPC and Intel Macs. Indigo UI Makeover

• The entire UI (all windows, dialogs, panels) has been redone for 2.0. In addition to providing a better appearance (note the brushed metal appearance is a preference in case you are antagonistic towards brushed metal), several other improvements have been added:
• Live searching of Devices, Trigger Actions, Time/Date Actions, Action Groups, Control Pages, and Variables.
• Embedded AppleScript compiling, error reporting, and syntax coloring.
• Table column width adjustment via dragging.
• Live window resizing.
• Dialog window resizing.
• Main dialogs are no longer modal.
• Scroll wheel/ball support.
• Improved text rendering.
• Improved Upload Settings dialog.

Improved POP3 and SMTP Clients The POP3 and SMTP clients have been replaced. Authentication and SSL/TLS are now supported. You can even use a Google GMail account now for scanning Triggers and sending notification emails. New Time/Date Action Options

• Day-of-month.
• Start and end date limits.
• Sunset/sunrise limits.
• Repeating intervals (year, month, week).
• And more!

New INSTEON and X10 Trigger Types

• Trigger on “any” command.
• Trigger on command from “any device.”
• Multiple Actions (without having to create Action Groups)
• Trigger Actions, Time/Date Actions, and Control Page element click actions can now have multiple actions without having to create a named Action Group.

AppleScript

• Added AppleScript device property type to correspond to the device type class: x10 or insteon. Previous type property has been renamed to model.
• Added AppleScript device properties: supports all lights on and off, supports all off, supports status request.
• Added AppleScript application properties: current time date action name, current trigger action name, current action group name.
• Added AppleScript verbs: status request.

Miscellaneous

• Added Trigger Action and Time/Date Action suppress logging option.
• Added Reset Interface Connections action. Use this to force Indigo to attempt a reconnect to the interfaces.
• Added log error message if system date/time becomes invalid.
• Changed log files to use UNIX friendly line endings.
• Increased Event Log window buffer size.
• Main Window progress area can now show if multiple interfaces (X10 and RF) are connected.
• Improved idle and busy CPU utilization.
• Improved infinite loop detection.
• Improved device sorting by type.
• Improved reliability of communication with CM11 interface when power is interrupted and restored to the CM11.
• Improved robustness when communication with interface fails (USB to serial adapter unplugged, PowerLinc USB unplugged, etc.).
• Improved robustness of preference changes (preference file is now periodically auto-saved).

And more!

I’m interested to see how well they can do this.

Elgato Systems has announced plans to add a Full Screen menu to its EyeTV software when the 2.3 version is released, hopefully later this month. The Full Screen Menu helps to integrate EyeTV-enabled Macs with Front Row, Apple%u2019s remote control media playing software.

You might recall a post I made about a DIY MIRT. I questioned if it was legal or not. No need to wonder anymore, it’s now a federal crime.

The Safe Intersections Act, part of the transit bill signed Wednesday by President Bush, makes it a misdemeanor for unauthorized users to wield a “traffic signal pre-emption transmitter,” a special remote control used by police, firefighters and ambulance drivers to change traffic lights to green as they approach an intersection.