Segment 1

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Craig: One of the pioneers in home automation and control has been X10...they’ve been around for a long time.

Mark: Much longer that X-9

Craig: Yes...originally for those who like to tinker, you know, those people who hang out at Radio Shack... they would take things apart and see how they work. Now there back with their ActiveHome Pro PC Home Control system and this one is for the general consumer. It’s easy to install and set up and gives you a lot more control over everything in your home. Much more than ever before. Here with me in the studio is Jeff Denenholz. Jeff is VP/PR for X10 WTI. He’s here to tell us all about it. Welcome

Jeff: Thanks- pleasure to be here.

Craig: X10 conjures up images of modules plugged into wall outlets...sort of foundation that technology is built upon. You haven’t abandoned that, correct?

Jeff: absolutely not

Craig: This is the building block- when you look at a home it already has AC wiring. Someone said way back when why don’t we use that as the lines of communication. Not only for delivering electrical power. Your signal piggybacks on the AC power line so you can avoid special wiring, correct?

Jeff: Absolutely. To Mark’s point about X-9 versus X10, this was the 10th product that the company had done way back when in the mid 70’s and it became X10. An industry standard to remotely control lights and appliances using the existing power line. It’s been around for a long time. It’s the backbone of all lighting and appliance control systems available on the market. The hardware is basically the same. A lamp that plugs into a control module that plugs into a wall outlet or a wall switch that you can address, give individual address too that you can send commands to turn on an off.

Interesting thing about home automation. Mass consumer really doesn’t understand very well. Been pushed aside for a lot of years to those folks you mentioned earlier. The X10 core target customer in the beginning---The tinkerer.

The reality is that technology has become more prevalent with a PC in almost every home. There are companies helping to expand the power and reach by coming up with user friendly software interfaces so that you can do a lot more than just send IM, email, download photos, etc. Now you can do PC lighting control, wireless PC to TV, wireless PC to stereo, even control wireless cameras.

Craig: These days everything is wireless. Technically X10 lighting control is not wireless, correct?

Jeff: Beauty of X10 is compatibility of wired and wireless systems. History built on Powerline protocol-wired. About 6 years ago, supplemented with 2.4 Ghz wireless platform for entertainment products- Showtime, Lola, line of XCam color video cameras-Ninja, Vanguard, XCam2.

This particular product it’s like virtual rewiring, because you are creating a mind of their own for individual lights and appliances without physical rewiring.

Craig: I guess you have added security because one of big issues with wireless is theft of data..if your using existing wiring nothing to latch onto, correct?

Jeff: This is very traditional technology with millions of units in use. We have benefit of distribution channel and customer feedback. Continue to improve the technology in controllers. Inherently noise/interface in power line. Sometimes hear criticism. It’s the proven standard, de facto shipping standard. The only one with millions of units in the marketplace. Continue to improve through customer feedback and continue to reduce noise.

Craig: Power lines in the news- being considered as technology for delivering Internet data. What’s the acronym Mark?

Mark: BPL- Broadband over Power line

Craig: Having a great deal of success-Here we are again

Jeff: There are companies in the market space picking up PC home control for mass market. A couple have decided to go with alternate wired protocol-not X10 de facto standard...and even one wireless.
Great ideas but no history, no shipping product, no distribution channel, no customer feedback.

In terms of shipping products, PC home control, power line is best option for value

Craig: You mix power line with wireless, were going to talk about the cameras. One of the units you showed me today actually has antennae for future upgrading as well.

Jeff: The beauty of the platform is the ability to do wired and wireless- soon will have plug ins to also control wireless cameras. For example, motion sensor, light and wireless camera at front porch. Motion sensor activated, system can turn on light and camera can start recording

Craig: Can control from convenience of lap top or your computer from anywhere

Jeff: Absolutely

Segment 2

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Craig: Introduced X10, little modules, can you still buy at Radio Shack, I think you can. Jeff- yes

Craig: Concept behind AH Pro

Jeff: History: X10 low cost, DIY affordable for lighting control, entertainment and wireless cameras. Always has been Mantra, always will. DIY, low cost solution. We’ve realized that fewer seem to spend time on home computer. So many demands on our time, most of us work on computers all day. Except for occasional use we talked about earlier, home PC not utilized completely.

For a number of years we’ve been helping to extend the reach of the PC at home, extend the power of the PC at home, and integrate control.

We talked about stereotype of home automation. What if we said it this way- Have you ever wondered why you still have to turn your lights on after dark? Why they don’t automatically turn on. In this age of technology, you would think lights would turn on by themselves.

Wouldn’t it be cool to give lights and appliances a mind of their own from your PC? What if the whole family could enjoy it? Even better, what if you were done, you could turn PC off and commands would still be executed. That’s what were talking about with AH Pro- the ability to SET AND FORGET. Using the hardware, deciding which lamps to light up at night, so you don’t arrive home to a dark and scary property in the winter time. Going to the software program, using familiar point-click and drag and drop commands to add those lights by room and then time them based on however you want to. Time of day, day of week, extended vacation, dusk/dawn setting by typing in your address the computer will know where you live and when dusk and dawn occur. Or even a security setting which will randomize times so that it looks your home is occupied even when you’re gone.

These are things that the whole family can do, the whole family can enjoy. They integrate the home PC into the equation and start at fewer than 50 dollars.

Craig: Computer timing controls usually require keeping the computer on, with AH Pro no longer the case

Jeff: New hardware-USB computer interface with USB cable attached to USB port. It’s a little mini computer.

{Craig describes product sitting in front of him in the studio...

Segment 3

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Craig: You’re a customer

Jeff: I’m the target audience for X10- a computer user familiar with MS Office, can browse net, certainly not a techie by any means. But someone who is interested in this, especially this time of the year when my wife and kids are coming home at night to a dark and scary property. No one wants to turn the lights on all day and burn electricity, so how do you take care of that situation.

PC lighting control for the whole family. How do we give these lights a mind of their own so that they automatically do what we want them to do- a SET and FORGET philosophy.

Described my set up for evening lights...

Lamp modules- join newsletter for even better offers...

Decora wall switches available...

Within minutes hardware connected

Software...Individual versus macro features

Segment 4

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Craig: Chat room question- PC just used to program X10 box, then does it thing on its own.

Jeff: Software interface=mechanism to input commands and download to interface. Then turn PC off, interface can run connected to computer or plugged into wall outlet.

Craig: Power failure

Jeff: Battery back-up

Craig: How do timers work?

Jeff: Lets go back to scenario. Mass market PC user like myself. Young boys at home-getting into their Imac. Wouldn’t it be great if we could give these lights a mind of their own, using the PC. Better yet, we can turn off when were done and it will still run. Software is fun, colorful, easy-to-use-simple Windows interface.

How do we make it safer to arrive home at night?

Quick hardware- plug and play

Macros- one or groups

Last part is to schedule. Software is very feature rich. Looking at interface you can quickly decide inside lights to go on at 6pm, off at 10 when the kids go to bed, back up at 7 for wake up and then off at 8 when they go back to school. Or my evening lights outside can work off at dusk/dawn. When I registered typed in my address, computer knows where I’m at; it’s got a dusk/dawn table that runs automatically year round.

Craig: What about day light savings time?

Jeff: Even knows about daylight savings time

Another thing you can do- goes from simple to advanced depending on your needs. One of the coolest, plug and play features are the security settings. If youre going away on business for a couple of days, the family is taking a vacation. Sometimes its a pain in the neck to ask the neighbor to come over, grab the newspapers, turn the lights on, turn them off again. You just basically click the security box and now youve randomized the times within about 30 minutes either way. Making the house look occupied even when its not.

Craig: Is remote control via the Net available

Jeff: Very good question. What weve done with lighting/appliance control, entertainment products we talked about before, and the wireless cameras, is that the first application was home control. The next application/next plug in will be remote control via PC, cell phone. In fact I forgot to mention we have introduced an SDK for the home hobbyist, the HTML guy, the scripter, the junior programmer. We’ll give you some code and documentation. You can actually write a third party application to do web based control so you can do this from home or the office. Those types of apps are coming in the future.

Craig: Usually plug in technology so dont have to buy all over again. Have foundation set for software modules with additional functionality.

Jeff: Right. The way were building this software interface is like a big menu board. It’s almost like going to Mc Donald’s and deciding I want the happy meal, and then I’d like fries and a coke. What will happen is as these plug ins are available every time you boot up and are online you will get some sort of a message that says update software here or new plug in available here...simply click on and you’re on your way.

Craig: That’s wonderful- Mark and I have maintained that apps that are aware they need to be updated rather than having to send away for a disk or CD, that do the update process automatically online, especially within the application, that’s even better.

Jeff: This is all about trying to make it a fun, simple, easy-to-use experience for the mass consumer. The folks who’ve got the PC at home. Their not getting as much out of it as they can. They’ve got maybe some younger kids around the house becoming computer savvy. They’ve got real needs for this lighting control like security. But you can also do some fun things with it. We talked about movie night before and some other scenarios where you could automatically dim the lights and light up the path to the kitchen for intermission. Or turn on the stereo or the DVD or the TV player.

Craig: Future plug ins?

Jeff: In addition to what we’ve already discussed, remote control by Internet or cell--we’ve had a line of popular wireless cameras color video cameras for quite awhile since the late 90s’. The XCam2 probably being the most infamous of that particular line. $79 dollar camera, about the size of a golf ball—color video camera—sending a 2.4 Ghz signal about 100 feet from a location to a PC, TV or monitor. Shortly a plug-in will be available to create a scenario with a motion sensor, a light and a wireless camera. All that would happen based on motion.

Craig: Dynamic system that you can add too?

Jeff: Virtual rewiring without the wires

Closing Segment

Craig: What about remote control?

Jeff: The great thing about the X10 technology is that you have so many options for control. You can do it from the keyboard, automatically through USB interface, or through line of hand held remote controls. We have universal controls, little mini controllers that will sit on your bedside to turn these on and off. We have key chain remotes that will do this as your approaching the house or as your leaving the house. We have SlimLine wall switches which look like a wall switch and stick to the wall. Can put in the kids room and they can do their own control. All very affordable control options.

Craig: Future Mac?

Jeff: Were looking significantly at that. We’ve always had a community of Mac and open source customers who have been interested in looking at those options in terms of compatibilities. Were definitely not ruling that out. For now, Win 95, 98, 2000, ME and XP are all compatible.

Craig: Cost

Jeff: USB, cable and software starting at under 50 dollars...ahpro.com