By Joni Wittenbach
You know what they say, “Always be yourself. Unless you can be Batman, then always be Batman.” So as the February 10th release date for the much anticipated “The LEGO Batman Movie” approaches, we’ve come up with some ways you can have an automated home, similar to Batman’s automated bat cave. (Check it out in the video!)
By Guest
With the coming new year on the horizon, it’s a great time to audit your home for easy safety and technology improvements. There are many simple upgrades you can make to improve your home’s safety—all you’ll need is a few smart devices and some tried-and-true hacks.
By Guest
Homebuyers are most amenable when they’re feeling bright and happy, so generally, flooding your interiors with warm, yellow light really gets them in the mood to sign. However, with a smart lighting system, you can use programing to cycle through various scenes that a buyer might go through in their day-to-day lives, helping them project themselves into your home’s spaces.
By Guest
Check out these fun facts in this infographic featured in our most recent issue of Home Smart Home magazine. Download this issue for more fun, inspirational and entertaining articles and stories about automation and technology.
By Guest
With the rise in SVOD (subscription-video-on-demand) streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu, the internet has become increasingly important in the way that consumers now watch television. But is online TV killing traditional TV? Check out this infographic with statistics on how people in the United States and the United Kingdom are consuming their shows and movies.
By Guest
Now that the smaller and outrageously low-priced Echo Dot is hitting the market it’s becoming harder to resist trying what many consider to be the most convenient piece of tech they’ve bought in years. Most Echos end up in the kitchen (where hands-free timer setting and DJing tend to be the most helpful), but we’ve been wondering about its potential in the conference room. We put one in ours and here is where it shined.
By Crystal Watts
Utilizing one type of interface to control your home is not always ideal. You may want a handheld, tactile remote to enjoy your video experience in the living room, a touch screen with a large display in the kitchen to browse and play music throughout the home, a keypad next to the garage door that allows you to shut the entire house down with one touch as you head out, and a smartphone or a watch on your wrist to offer insight to what is going on at home while you’re away.
By Guest
Stop for a moment and think about the number of devices in and around your house that rely on your home network. Ten years ago, this might have amounted to no more than a laptop, a desktop or two, and maybe a DVR. Today, your network is likely congested with tablets, TVs, media streamers, music systems, multiple smartphones—including those of your frequent guests—and maybe even a few appliances. And that’s not even considering the fact that the home network forms the foundation for any home automation system.
By Crystal Watts
The tiny house phenomenon is on fire, with many homeowners choosing to downsize to live a life of simplicity. While this type of living isn’t for everyone, there are certainly aspects of compact living that are quite desirable.
By Crystal Watts
Do you love gaming but feel like something is missing? With these five home automation tips, you can boost the mood of your gaming session and take it to the next level.
By Guest
A dark space, high definition crystal clear clarity, ear popping surround sound, and the smell of buttery popcorn. Going to the cinema holds a great appeal for many, but what with long lines, crowded malls, and exorbitant prices for tickets and concessions, that appeal can quickly wane. Luckily there’s a new frontier in cinema currently taking place which eradicates these issues. The home theater includes all of the immersive advantages of a traditional cinema but at your own convenience, control, and customization.
By Crystal Watts
With a refreshed appearance to the user-interface and enhancements specifically in the comfort and security experiences—whether it's to maximize energy efficiency or to ensure that all is safe and sound—monitoring and controlling your smart home from the palm of your hand (or even on your wrist) has never been easier...
By Crystal Watts
Last year, we saw a dramatic rise in smart home reports and surveys popping up everywhere. As a manufacturer with over 180,000 smart home systems in the field, we receive a ton of great information from our customers when we issue our customer surveys. Our own feedback shows that homeowners desire personalized experiences in the home with regard to entertainment, comfort, security and more. In fact, we estimate that 60 percent of them want their homes to react according to their predetermined preferences, just as they walk through the door.
By Crystal Watts
For the second year in a row, the CE Pro 100 Brand Analysis determined Control4 as the brand leader for the whole-house automation and control category and was named top brand in additional categories. See more, with a link to the full CE Pro report.
By Guest
The FBI reports that in 2014 we had 1,121,416 residential burglaries nationwide. Spacing those out evenly across the entire year gives us one burglary every 28 seconds. But here’s the good news: that number is down 10% from 2013. In fact, that statistic has been steadily dropping each year since 2011. Not coincidentally, by 2011, more than 75% of U.S. homes were connected to the Internet. Wireless home monitoring was the new trend...
By Guest
Would you like to make your kitchen futuristic without having to break the bank or spend months waiting for your home to be renovated? That’s now very easy to achieve in the modern era of smart kitchen technology, where fridges can tell you what’s inside and for how long each item has been there, or cookers that can interact with your smartphone to tell you when your meal is ready to be served. This infographic by Pennywell (www.pennywell.ie) takes a look at the impact of smart kitchen appliances, giving you a peek into an exciting future.
By Guest
Network stability is the foundation for every smart home. It’s not just a “nice to have,” it’s a requirement. Whether you spend $2000, $10,000 or $100,000 on an AV system or a smart home system, its performance is only as good as the network it runs on. Would you buy a high performance Lamborghini sports car and fill it with unleaded regular gasoline? Of course not, but that is exactly...
By Guest
Working from home has its luxuries, including a flexible schedule, no dress code, and the lack of office environment stress. But that doesn’t mean it’s an all-day movie marathon pajama party. You have important tasks to accomplish that require tuning out numerous distractions, and you must tackle menial side-tasks without getting derailed. When you’re physically uncomfortable or worried about activities going on outside of your office, a whole day’s worth of productivity can fly out the window.
By Guest
Smart home technology is all about the automation or management of your home and daily life. This could be anything from lights that can be controlled remotely or on a schedule, to connected home entertainment systems for streaming media to multiple screens, or added features to enhance your home security. To some, smart home technology might seem like an appealing concept for gadget-gurus. But in reality, a big selling point of smart home technology is that it can actually save money, in addition to making life more convenient...
By Martin Plaehn, President & CEO
Today we announced the acquisition of Pakedge, a leader in advanced home networking products and cloud network-management capabilities for both wireless and wired networking solutions. Pakedge brings to Control4 deep networking expertise and an industry-leading suite of networking, power management, and remote monitoring products, along with advanced software capabilities unlike any others on the market today. Their founders, senior management, and product organization are joining the Control4 team and we are enthusiastic about all we can do together for the future of the smart home.
By Crystal Watts
Whether it’s watching TV or listening to music, you could say that entertainment is the heart and soul of any home. As homeowners who love to entertain—or be entertained—we want our content readily available and easily accessible. And in today’s high-tech world, it’s not unrealistic for each family member to expect a personalized experience that allows them to watch and list to whatever, whenever, and wherever in the home...
By Crystal Watts
In June of last year, we launched push notifications that would allow you to receive proactive alerts about important events in your home. Today, we are incredibly excited to announce the full blending of smarts between the Control4 home and the Apple Watch. The engineers at Control4 were thoughtful in their development of this app...
By Crystal Watts
We are excited about the new year, and even more excited to share some big news with you. Join us for the online event on Tuesday, January 26 at 10:00 a.m. MST, 12:00 p.m. EST to watch it live!
By Crystal Watts
We are pretty excited to have been hand-picked by Houzz for an editorial ideabook feature titled, "Designing With the Stars: Aquarius." In the article, the author, Kate Macdessi, notes that people with the Aquarius sign are drawn to technology. In fact, they tend to be the most tech-savvy of the zodiac bunch. Are you an Aquarius sign? If so, do you agree that your sign is the tech-savviest of them all? We'd love to hear from you.
By Guest
Home burglaries and break-ins are common, far more than you may think. Though property crime has come down in the United States in recent years, a report released by the Criminal Justice Information Services Division of the FBI says that 1,121,416 residences in the country were burglarized in 2014. Fortunately, home burglaries are much easier to prevent if you follow a few simple safety rules and guidelines...
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