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 How
Can it Help?How Does it Work?How Do I Get
Started? |
Home automation is the use of technology to make your home or office secure, energy-efficient, convenient, and fun. MouseHouse makes it easy to control your house and schedule events from the convenience of your Macintosh.
How Can Home Automation Help?
Imagine your house working around the clock to make sure that it is energy
efficient, that it is safe and secure, and that it makes your everyday tasks more
convenient. With MouseHouse you can tell your home to:
- Wake me up at 6:00am by turning on the TV to channel 7. Before I wake up make sure the coffee is brewing and the kitchen lights are on.
- When I leave home for a long weekend, be sure to lock the front gate, turn down the furnace to 62¡F, feed the fish twice a day, turn the porch light on 30 minutes after sunset, and randomly turn indoor lights on every hour to make the house look lived-in.
- When I am home, make sure you notify me when someone approaches the front door and make sure I don't leave any lights on that aren't needed.
- I come every weekday at 5:30pm, make sure that when I arrive that the furnace is set to 70¡F, the hot tub is on, and the CD player is playing my favorite music. If I am running late, I will call home from my cellular and tell you to wait until I call again.
While this system is somewhat advanced, it is very easy and very affordable to get started. You can even get started simple, and grow into it by adding components over time. Read on to see what you need to get started.
How Does It Work?
Using the standard X-10 protocol, MouseHouse allows you to control any electrical
appliance in your home or office. You can create an icon list of appliances, turn lights
and appliances on and off, define a weekly schedule of events, and build sets of commands
that can be operated with a single click. X-10 is an inexpensive, safe, reliable,
and easy-to-use method of controlling electrical appliances using the existing 110-volt
wiring in your home or office. By sending transparent signals over the wiring to
inexpensive modules attached to your appliances, you can control your
home.
MouseHouse works by sending commands to either the ActiveHome or CP290 computer interface that is plugged into the modem or printer port on your Macintosh. Scheduled events take place even when your Macintosh is turned off. You an easily begin to control your lights, appliances, furnace, air conditioner, security system, pool/spa, outdoor lighting, irrigation, audio/video system, windows and curtains, and so on.
What Do I Need to Get Started?
Home automation has developed an enormous following that has yielded a wide array of
modules including lamp and appliance control, thermostats, alarm systems, infrared remote
control, telephone access, response from environmental conditions, voice recognition, and
more.
The minimum requirements to get started with Home Automation are:
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We have made it easy for you to get started by purchasing the MouseHouse Starter Kit.
Once you are ready to expand your home automation system, we invite you to browse our MouseHouse Product Catalog, where you can shop for additional modules or other MouseHouse compatible products.
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