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iPad Simplifies Home Technology

For years premiere home tours have been touting home technology advances which still required the company’s special control pad and remote gizmos. Step into Nashville’s only Southern Living Showcase Home, open through November 6 in Brentwood, pull out your iPhone or iPad, loaded with a Control4 app, and you can turn on, up and off your lights, music, HVAC and home security for starters.

Tom Lundborg, president of A.C.E. Technologies, gives Brett Wright, Castle Homes project manager, an iPad touch screen tutorial.

The latest advances in home technology have wisely taken advantage of the consumer love of smart phones. The showcase home’s builder, Castle Homes is working with Brentwood-based Alarms, Controls &  Electronics, Inc.  (A.C.E. Technologies), the area’s oldest, locally owned security company, in developing a comprehensive, user-friendly system for the showcase project. Utilizing Control4 technology,  “flexibility, affordability and everyday ease” are just some of the qualities, Brett Wright, Castle Homes project manager, likes.

“Remote manufacturers might not like these advances, but it eliminates the need for five remotes to control your entertainment system. Up to $3,000 in system controls are now replaced by your multi-use, $499 iPad and you are also able to operate the system off-site,” Wright said. “And, in case you can’t put your hands on your iPad, an InfinityEdge touch screen is placed in a central location.”

Everyday ease and effortless entertainment features include:

  • Never enter a dark home again. Set your lighting system to “welcome home scene” for your family. And, in addition to outside motion detectors, the system can be programmed for 1 a.m. outside illumination for additional security.
  • Default your televisions to your favorite networks like Bravo or ESPN.
  • Pause the ballgame in the kitchen and then pick up where you left off in the Media Room with a video distribution system – sharing video sources throughout the home.
  • Have different music playing in various rooms. Also, look up in the showcase home and notice the new SpeakerCraft Profile speakers with a magnetic rim and paintable mesh grid.
  • No more nagging dad with the ultimate “turn off the lights” feature.  System motion detectors determine when no one is in the room and turn off lights automatically.
  • Turn on your fireplace from your favorite chair with a ZigBee wireless control which can be retrofitted.

The system also boasts an important safety feature. With the ZigBee wireless technology, the system has a fire detector which shuts off heating and air preventing smoke from circulating, lights are activated and a wave file contains the audio message “a fire has been detected” which can be customized to your own voice and message.

Tom Lundborg, president of A.C.E. Technologies, says the showcase home’s system runs around $14,000. “Life and technology potential are so complicated. The Control4 system provides system organization and one-stop management. It is easily retro-fitted and wireless. Ultimately, it can save you money by helping you run your home lighting and air more efficiently and can even eliminate renting video boxes from your local cable and satellite providers.”