Indigo 2 - Fun, Safety, and Security - Automation at its best

Happy New Year! Did you start the New Year off by kicking the chair as you came stumbling in sometime after midnight? OR, maybe you went the the bathroom at 2am and got the shock of your as the bright light hit you in the face? Then you need to look into home automation, AND if you are using a Macintosh 10.x I have just the software for you.

No long is home automation just a spaced out dream, or something for the geeks in Silicon Valley. Home automation is here, easy to setup, and can really change the way you live. For a time now we have been using a software call Indigo 2 by Perceptive Automation (http://www.perceptiveautomation.com.

We've tested Indigo 2 with Mac OS 10.4 and 10.5 and it works great. With 10.5 you must install the Indigo 2 10.4 install then the 10.5 upgrade.

Now Indigo 2 doesn't work alone you need interfaces, device controllers from x10 or Insteon, and RF receivers.

I recommend to Insteon PowerLinc 2414U from SmartHome (http://www.smarthome.com) because it is Insteon and backwards compatible with x10. This allows you to use both x10 and Insteon modules without having to buy separate computer interfaces.

Now you ask why would want to automate your house, and for that matter what could you do with it?

Have you ever came home late at night getting the sleeping kids out of the car without waking them only to have them screaming as the bright lights inside the house burn into their eyes. With Indigo 2 and the right modules you can drive in hitting a motion detector and Indigo knows the time set processes in motion so lights are on all the way to the kids rooms at 30% of normal brightness - ENOUGH LIGHT FOR MOM AND DAD TO SEE BUT NOT BRIGHT ENOUGH TO WAKE THE KIDS. Now that's progress.

Planning is the first step. Indigo 2 is very powerful and provides lots of options, however planning saves you time in Indigo 2 and money on modules, plus you get the results you are looking for faster. Over the next several months I'll be writing and doing videos of different project using Indigo 2.