Home Automation Newcomer, Piper, Not All Bells and Whistles

By: Michael Manouel Jr., Social Media

Kickstarter is something we’re all familiar with, and we at Honestly Speaking like to follow it closely for developments in the home automation, audio/video, or home technology realms. You know how it goes—someone has a great idea, and they use Kickstarter to crowdsource funding for that product. The people who do donate can receive something in return, maybe some promotional materials, or maybe a lower-than-list price when the product launches. Sometimes it’s a dud, but sometimes things like Piper come along unexpectedly and surprise us.

Piper: The Smart Automation Device
Piper: The Smart Automation Device

Whole Home Automation At An Affordable Price

Piper is a Z-wave and Wi-Fi-based security camera, siren, smart automation hub, motion detector, microphone, speaker, and environmental sensor all rolled into one compact and clean device which is no larger than a small lamp (and available in both black and white). Using the Z wave radio ‘language,’ Piper can speak to up to a whooping two-hundred-and-thirty-two automated devices within your home, which means it’s a good first keystone piece if you’re looking to start your electronic home journey now.

Home Automation Hub: Piper's Specs
Home Automation Hub: Piper’s Specs

Without the monthly charges and complicated headaches of more traditional centralized security systems, Piper delivers elegant form along with broad, user-friendly functionality at an ultra affordable price. And like all good smartphone-enabled intelligent home devices, it is infinitely customizable, but comes preset with four modes: Off, Away, Vacation and Stay. You set the rules, and Piper will push notifications to straight your phone when motion is detected or a rule is breached, allow you to keep tabs on the family dog through its fisheye lens in 1080p, and monitor the temperature, lights, & sounds of your home, all of this through its free proprietary app. Home automation novices and enthusiasts alike will be amazed by this little device that packs a lot of punch.

Keeping Tabs on Thomas with Piper
Keeping Tabs on Thomas with the Piper app

Feeling secure in your own home is a must these days, and bulky security systems that charge monthly fees sometimes aren’t the best looking in your house or apartment nor are they the cheapest of solutions, so if you’re looking for a sleek, affordable security system that plugs into all the devices of your home, the so-called “Internet of Things” of your house, look no further than Piper. Home automation just got that much easier.

 

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Photo & video credit: getpiper.com

Home Automation 101: Everything You Need To Know In 700 Words

By: Michael Manouel, Jr., Social Media

Home·Au·to·ma·tion — noun

Pertaining to the field of “domotics”—(a portmanteau of the Latin word “domus” for home and “informatics,” the study of computing technologies)

1.     The many objects in a house connected by a central control, e.g. an iPhone, iPad, android device, or touch screen remote.

This remote controls mostly everything electronic in the top floor of this customer's home.
The One Remote Solution: Automate Your Media, Shades, Lighting, Temperature, And More – Residence in Dallas, TX

Define Your Home For Yourself

While this is just one definition, some see it as the ultimate intersection of bleeding-edge technology and in-home integration. Others see it as comfort, safety, and ease in one swipe of a screen. And others still see it at as the breezy convenience of having an automatically-dimmed light lead your way to the bathroom in the middle of the night, or a heated bathroom scheduled five minutes before you wake up.

Home Automation by Honest Install
Control Your Entire Home With An iPad –Residence in Dallas, TX

The smart home—once the domain of the rich and famous—has now, by the efforts of companies like Nest, Honeywell, SONOS, Lutron, Q-Motion, & RTi, been made a populist reality. “Smart” is the latest buzzword in the technology industry, but the smart home is anything but pure hype. Whole home automation includes almost all aspects of a house, including:

  • Lighting control
  • Energy efficient climate control solutions
  • Fire protection
  • Motorized shades
  • Whole home audio
  • Security (CCTV cameras, alarms and smart locks)
  • HVAC
  • Complete mobile access to your home

These stand-alone automated devices have all become relatively affordable and need only be tied to one master device in the palm of your hand. This is where programming and automation come into play, as when properly engineered and installed by Dallas/Fort Worth professionals, your home could even send you an immediate message or email about events you might need to know about when you’re at work or away, such as water leaks or about an intruder—or even a photo of who might be sneaking home with your son or daughter after school! A connected home will even allow you to send back an email to turn on a washing machine when you’re miles away from your home. Or with full voice automation, you could unlock your front door using just a simple command. Remember, home automation not only saves money, but is also easier on the environment—a green home is an automated home.

Home Automation, Key To Cost-Cutting Green Sustainability

Do you have a vacation home or a second residence that you don’t live in year-round? Home automation can not only save you cash on the maintenance and utilities of your property, but also gives you the ability to remotely set the lights to random pattern turn on-and-off at designated times of the night so it looks like someone is home, so as to ward off potential break-ins. With whole home automation, you have an edge when you’re able to view every room of your vacation house from your laptop or phone hundreds of miles away.

Honest Install -- Media Room/Whole-Home Audio -- Frisco, TX
Media Room/Whole-Home Audio – Residence in Frisco, TX

So we know the electronic house is no whim or fancy of futurists either, as we all now have at least some pieces of the home automation puzzle in our living rooms, our media rooms, our bedrooms. Add these few pieces of a smart home you may have to the fact that, now, everyday the systems to control them are becoming less costly–so much so–that home automation installation is not as expensive as you might think. But installing a home automation system means finding way for all these disparate electrical devices to ‘talk’ to each other.

No Universal Automation Language; Set It To Speak What You’re Most Familiar With

To ‘play nice’ together, these home devices all need to speak a single language, such as a radio frequency (RF) or something as simple as your home Wi-fi network. Once connected to the internet or RF and programmed by a specialist, each and every light, TV, surround sound speaker, motorized shade, smoke detector, indoor temperature system, outdoor lighting, security feature & smart lock, and even so-called “domestic robot” in your Dallas, TX home can be easily manipulated, even remotely at a distance, by an app or a touch-screen interface. This is a brief description of home automation at its most basic, but there are endless possibilities for custom configuration and tailored programming. The smart home is not the way of the future; it is the present tense of home technology.

 

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Photo credit: Honest Install