News and Reviews

In Part 1 of our ecobee WiFi enabled Smart Thermostat review, I showed you how I installed the ecobee Smart Thermostat in our house and how easy the installation was, despite the possibly intimidating equipment interface portion of it. In Part 2 of the ecobee Smart Thermostat series, I'll run you through its rich features and give some examples as to how it will pay for itself in a short manner of time, making it the perfect addition to your home network. There are a lot of features to cover, so let's get started.

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Wireless networks can be a beautiful thing, or they can be an incredibly frustrating thing. In this case study we'll look at how powerline networking was used to extend wireless coverage in a very big log house with thick logs walls and lots of tile, where running cat5 cable was not an option. For those not familiar with powerline networking, rather than running cat5 network cable, you simply plug a network adapter in to the wall at each location where you want to transmit and it uses your home power cabling for network communication.

The subject in question for this case study was suffering from abysmal wireless performance. Laptops used upstairs would consistently drop connections, streaming internet radio (via Sonos) would constantly buffer, and the wireless printer in the study would work marginally at best. To try and fix the problem a Belkin F5D7132 Wireless-G extender had been put in to place, in extender mode. This appeared to work sometimes, but most of the time wireless performance was still extremely frustrating.

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We've come a long way with home networks and cellular phones. With most cell phones now having wireless network capabilities, it only makes sense that we explore useful apps that can be used for the home network. Apps that go beyond just something cool to have, but instead have great function and usability. In this article I'll explore the top 14 Android apps that I feel you NEED for your home network.

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For the home network, an internet enabled thermostat can be one of the more rewarding, yet more intimidating things you can install. On the surface internet enabled thermostats may seem to blur the line between necessity and a home network device that is simply cool to have. This blurring often comes without knowing the power of what can ultimately be done with a thermostat hooked in to the grid of your home network. To get this three part home networking series underway ecobee has sent me one of their Smart thermostats (EB-STAT-02) with Remote sensor module (EB-RSM-01), that I will install and set up, give a comprehensive review of its features, and look at some long-term projects that can be accomplished, highlighting how it can be an effective and money-saving home network device.
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If you have any questions about specific setup of the Vortexbox after reading this article, please post over on the forums and I'll answer straight away.

What if you could take every DVD you own, or watch with Netflix, and move it to digital format (MKV and MP4) for easy viewing at the push of a remote button anytime you please? What if you could also take every CD you own and rip it to both FLAC and MP3 format and have them available for listening via DLNA, iTunes, Sonos, Squeezeserver, and Windows share? What if I told you that the only thing you had to do was open the drive door, pop in the CD or DVD, and the appliance does all the rest, with no intervention from you? What if I also told you that you could do this with an ancient computer, one that's probably just sitting in your basement collecting dust, and it's all FREE? Sound too good to be true?
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