Call Custom Installation Services To Discuss How You Can Integrate Your i-Pad Into Your Home
It may be irrational, but even the wealthiest homeowner may find it wasteful and just plain wrong to mount an iPad semi-permanently behind a wall.
Where does an iPad belong? On a countertop? Coffee table? The couch? Your lap?
Or should it be Velcroed to your dashboard, mounted on the wall like a monitor, moved from wall station to wall station via plastic tabs or snap-on discs, or mounted permanently behind a bezel?
Custom electronics pros are debating this very topic on dealer-oriented forums, and the opinions are mixed.
In our world, the iPad is so cheap compared with most traditional automation touchpanels that you may as well buy several of them and lock them into the walls like those old-fangled touchpanels we used to sell for $3,000 apiece.
But our world has changed!
Homeowners may no longer say, “I want a home control system, and I would like to be able to use it with an iPhone and iPad.”
Instead, they say, “I love my iPad. Design a home control system around it.”
By that time, they’re already used to toting their iPads around the house, from room to room as needed. Maybe they have a few scattered around the place. Mobility is one thing they really love about this lightweight, skinny screen.
So won’t they balk at the idea of forever locking an iPad into the wall? It may be irrational, but even the wealthiest homeowner may find the idea wasteful and just plain wrong.
Bethesda Systems in Maryland has a nice blog post beseeching clients to do the unthinkable: tether their iPads.
iPad was designed to be held in your lap. And it’s proven itself to be a truly revolutionary mobile device. And now we’d like you to consider…letting go. Literally.
He shows some nice examples of iPads embedded in clever cases such as an old Mac classic, and in convenient places like a kitchen cabinet.
At the end of the blog, Bethesda shows an iPad with shattered glass, warning:
Don’t let this happen to you! With your in-wall mounted iPad it’s always safe, it’s always charged, and it’s always right where you left it.
Clearly, the right solution for homeowners who can afford it is to have multiple iPads mounted in convenient places around the house.
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Details from the I/O Google TV announcement.
Rumors, whispers, and snippets of info regarding Google TV have been floating around for a few months now.
But Thursday at Google I/O 2010, the company made the big announcement of Google TV, while Sony and Logitech followed suit with the first Google TV products. Dish Network also said it will offer a Google TV-powered DVR recording feature on set-top boxes.
Devices for Google TV will be sold at Best Buy.
Google TV
Roughly two out of three people watch TV. So it’s no surprise Google wants a piece of that pie. “Video should be consumed on the biggest, best, and brightest screen in your house, and that’s the TV,” says Google.
So how do they plan to bring the web to the TV without compromising video or content? A search-driven experience centered around discovery and customization. Media aggregation helps as well, with Hulu logos being thrown around like candy, which might be the most intriguing aspect of the whole ordeal.
All of this is going to be based on Intel’s CE4100 Atom processor running a version of the Android OS, Chrome browser, and Flash 10.1. Devices will have a WiFi network connection, HDMI, and QWERTY input option along with standard remote controls.
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Computer audio enthusiasts that want additional performance from their computer-based systems can run Channel D’s new Pure Music software on top of Apple’s iTunes to play back music files at their native resolutions.
Channel D, a developer of audio software solutions for Apple Macintosh computers, which includes its Pure Vinyl transcription, archiving and record editing software, recently introduced a new high-resolution digital audio playback software program for Apple iTunes.
According to the company, Pure Music is based on its Pure Vinyl audio playback engine and it automatically docks with Apple’s free iTunes digital jukebox software to handle music playback with a high-resolution playback engine. Channel D says that when iTunes and Pure Music are run together, iTunes will act as the database and playlist organizer, while its software leverages the user’s familiarity of iTunes functions such as track selection, music library navigation, and more. Channel D adds that when these programs are combined with a high-resolution sound card or DAC, Pure Music will deliver a dynamic and detailed audio playback.
Robert Robinson, director of engineering for Channel D, notes that one of the major advantages of the new software release is that it will playback audio files at their natural resolution without downgrading the bitrate and sampling frequency of those files.
“Pure Music offers many benefits over iTunes alone. Foremost, iTunes plays all audio tracks at the sample rate detected when launched. If this were 44.1kHz [CD quality], then all high resolution audio tracks [up to 192kHz/24-bit, which can be purchased and downloaded on the Internet] would be downsampled and played in a CD format, diminishing playback quality. On the other hand, Pure Music will automatically play high-resolution audio tracks at their native sample rate [if supported by the connected sound card or DAC]. This capability was previously only available in costly ($995) audio playback software, but now is available with Pure Music for just $129.”
Channel D continues by stating Pure Music offers more than native file type resolution playback by also offering features such as Memory Play, real-time high resolution upsampling of CD tracks, a 64-bit internal signal path, dithered volume control, subwoofer crossover, multichannel support, audio processing plug-ins, CoreAudio Hog Mode playback, high resolution audio streaming, precision signal metering, reverse play, and it works with all iTunes-supported audio formats, including but not limited to Apple Lossless, AIFF, Wave, AAC and MP3.
