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[Duck69]

Hello fellow X10 DIY’s,
I wrote to Electronic House magazine decrying their coverage of mostly “High End” products & received a reply from Julie Jacobson, Editor Electronic House, CE Pro.

Her reply:

Hi, James --

Thanks a lot for taking the time to write.

As a matter of fact, for years we published an enthusiast/DIY book called Popular Home Automation. It was a GREAT magazine and readers like you loved it.

Unfortunately, it did not have much appeal to advertisers so we had to can it.

I'm afraid that would still be the case today.

HOWEVER ... we just hired a die-hard DIY as our chief technology editor. I met him because he was a frequent commenter on EH.com -- mostly slamming my articles to I wrote too much about custom installs.

He will bring much more DIY and low-cost solutions to the Web site and magazine.

His name is Stephen Hopkins, and I have cc'd him here.

Would you please provide us with some specific questions or specific articles you would like to see?

Again, thank you for your interest.

Julie

I see this as an opportunity to get some great articles for Home Automation and I hope that you do too. So, please send me your ideas. I will combine & send them to Julie as one.

In order to reply to Julie ASAP this post will, only be up for a short period of time.

Thanks
Duck69

[dave w]

Popular Home Automation was a great mag. I wrote some DIY articles and several product reviews for the mag. Leo Solderman was the editor back then. Would be nice if Electronic House would incorporate a a regular DIY section. I doubt they will be interested in supporting X10 simply because it is long on tooth and passe, but It would be a great article to discuss the foibles of X10 (phase coupling, noise, signal suckers, etc), and the common fixes.

[HA Dave]

Electronic House Magazine can't forget the DIY's and be current. Most home updates.. automation included.. are currently being done by DIY's. That has been a growing trend for years now.

Lately... there has been a major change in Home Automation software. Of course there are no stats or data that we can reference. But I believe that much of the current software products are "user created". Small software products like BVC, or BlueWatch. Those are just MY two favorites.... the list goes on, and on.

I think they are part of a paradigm shift of where such softwares come from. Maybe its bigger than that. Maybe software is turning into a product similar to a sandwich [in concept]. Sure most sandwiches are purchased... but don't we all have kitchens too?

[Duck69]

I made a list of 10 suggestions from Dave_x10_L, Dave W & myself which I sent to Stephen Hopkins, Chief Technology Editor @ EH Publishing.

They are:
Protocols for Home Automation & Is X10 still viable ?
What's available for/to the DIY crowd.
Software for Mac, Linux & Windows.
User created software programs for HA & Their role in advancement of HA.
Getting Started, What's Needed.
HA on a budget.
Budget Hardware for DIY's
HA & Home Theater for the fiscally challenged.
HA Control (Computer, PDA/Cell Phone, Internet, Remote & Voice).
Mixed HA Systems.

[HA Dave]

I made a list of 10 suggestions.. which I sent to Stephen Hopkins, Chief Technology Editor @ EH Publishing.

Very nice! Thank You very much!

[Duck69]

Reply from Stephen Hopkins, Chief Technology Editor @ EH Publishing.

 I have some things planned for DIY Home Automation focused on low-cost options, but it may be a few months before I work the details out with the MFG, get in equipment, setup, evaluate, and write.  That will be the first step into this type of content. 

Stay tuned!

Stephen