Is There a Perfect App for Everything? Part 2

What is the magic that makes home automation work so spectacularly?  Well, it has about as much "magic" as Disney's Magic Kingdom does.  In other words, its really huge amounts of science, engineering and technology operating at breathless speed!

If you've ever seen a home automation "control system" at work, its all "oohs and ahs!"  Maybe it works like this:

You press a button that you named "Good Morning."  At that one touch, your bathroom vanity lights and heater turn on to a pre-set level just right for you, your dressing room light turns on, shades slowly rise to let in morning light, interior lights gently fade on, your preferred morning show turns on so you can catch your favorite music or else the morning headlines and your security system is disarmed so you can step out onto the back patio without having to squint at a keypad.

What's going on here?  The brain of the control system (the CPU) recognizes the button you pressed and instantly processes complex commands to activate specific strings of code simultaneously to each of the sub-systems (lighting, climate control, motorized shades, security, etc.) telling them what to do nearly instantly.

Now each manufacturer of their respective systems provides an app for their product.  But consider the following.

Automating means your mobile device is the central connection point for your control system where all the sub-system devices communicate with each other.  If you were to try to tell your home "Good Morning" without the control system, you would have to manually open and close each manufacturers app for each sub-system, log in and out of each, then manually adjust for each function.  You'd have to be wide awake and finished with your first cup of coffee just to THINK of doing all of that!

When a mobile device is used within a control system, there's only one app to select.  Within that single app you have full control of all of them because the control system app is simply telling the CPU which button is pressed.  The CPU does the work of communicating with and linking together all your systems.

Simple...convenient...and, yes, even magic!

by Bryan Naquin.  Follow Bryan on Twitter @ACIexperts.  And you can always contact him at 225.906.2589 or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Bryan Naquin is president of Acadian Home Theater and Automation based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  CEPro Magazine ranked Acadian in the top 100 consumer electronic companies in the U.S. coming in at Number 87 for 2011.