Controlling Your House with Computers

Of all the fantastic technology promises from futurists, home automation is among the best technologies that people can implement and enjoy today. PA actuators are making the household experiences of technically inclined people more enjoyable and unique. This article examines some the popular and unique that are currently used to control home automation systems.

Indigo
Indigo is a highly-respected Mac based software that has web server functionality. Users can manage activities things using their phone browsers or PCs. Indigo has Dashboard for people who prefer to monitor activities that way. It is compatible with scripting languages such as Insteon, X10, and AppleScript.

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MisterHouse
Written in Peril, MisterHouse is an open app that can operate in any operating system-Mac OS X, Linux and Windows. MisterHouse is extremely extensible and flexible despite its high cost. MisterHouse can control various key home automation systems since Perl is highly regarded for being hard to grasp.

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Xtension
Xtension is a Mac OS X software that supports OS 7.5 to OS X making it the app of choice for most of the recyclers out there. Xtension runs on X10 hardware and uses AppleScript in its extensibility like Indigo.

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HomeSeer
It is a windows app making it the ideal app for Windows users. HomeSeer supports Z-wave, X10, and Insteon home automation systems. It is extensible via VBScript only. HomeSeer has excellent voice capabilities. The app understands commands very well, synthesizes vocals inputs and alerts its users. HomeSeer is quite expensive, and one has to pay around $200 to acquire it.

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Thinking Home
Thinking Home is a commercial app with a never expiring trial. It works with X10 and Insteon standards and provides web-based monitoring through OS X’s personal sharing. It is extensible with scripting languages such as AppleScript, Python, and Perl, etc. The main advantage with this app is that it incorporates certain features in Mac OS X more effective than any other app making it the ideal app for everyone.

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HouseBot
HouseBot is one of the cheapest apps. It is a Windows app retailing at $70. HouseBot only requires hardware with 200 MHz processor with of memory of 128MB only.

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In conclusion, they various factors that one should consider when choosing an app. One should consider operating system and whether his or her hardware is compatible with the app. One should also consider whether he/she is familiar with scripting language for the application he or she wants to use.

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