In my previous two articles I talked about my experience with the X10 home automation protocol. After having been burned by X10, one might rightly assume that I would have to be a glutton for abuse to move on to an even more expensive and less time-tested protocol like Insteon. But that's in fact what I did. X10 is a very old protocol. It was developed in 1975, ...

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Continued from "Home Automation--not just for McMansions anymore | Part I" Another X10 device I purchased was a bedside controller which operated every light in the house. Before getting the dogs, it was comforting knowing that if I heard a suspicious noise downstairs I could turn the house into Yankee Stadium with the touch of the ALL ON button by my bed. I found that it could also control macros on my ...

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As an old house lover and a high technology fanboy, I have to balance two competing aesthetics. On the one hand, I love old lamps and light fixtures. On the other, I control them with blue-backlit home automation wall controllers. Years ago, I bought into X10 home automation -- an older technology that uses your home's household wiring to send signals from controllers (typically a switch) to receivers (a ...

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