ControlThink Forums

Portus Home unveiled their new Z-Wave-enabled gateway at C.E.S..  The girl at the booth showed us some of the features of their GUI, which covered all of the stuff you'd expect, but one feature that caught my attention were some screens that plot your power usage.  This brought up the question of whether Portus does power line monitoring.  This question stumped the poor girl, who must have been working from a script.  The answer is found in their brochure:  "by inserting Portus Home power monitor appliance modules beween an appliance and the power outlet, you can monitor its current power usage, consumption history and energy costs."  The brochure doesn't say whether the power monitor modules are Z-Wave devices.  The gateway also has WiFi, Ethernet, and USB connections.

Mention of a subscription service is made, but no details are provided on their web site, which is under construction.

Chris Walker:

1. The ThinkBox software has a myriad of features that didn't make it into ThinkEssentials, such as support for 3rd-party hardware.

Hi Chris,

so is there any hope of all these features eventually showing up in TE, or will they remain ThinkBox features?

Cheers,

    Kari 

Kari,

We are bringing some of the ThinkBox features to ThinkEssentials in some form.

Chris

I saw announcements that Hawking will have a HomeRemote Pro, and that ActionTec will have their own box.

It looks like the ActionTec will work with your router, handle lights, switches, thermostats and PIRs (and cameras), and be available next month.  That'll probably work for me.  I don't see any availability information for Foyer that isn't outdated, so I'm starting to believe it'll never be released.  A subscription might work for the masses, but I'll avoid them.

ActionTec: http://actiontec.com/products/broadband/zcontrol/index.php

Deviant:

I'm starting to believe it'll never be released.

Then why would Leviton acquire ControlThink?

I totally missed ActionTec at the show.  They were in one of the suites at the Hilton, and we got sidetracked on the way up there by an RGB LED video display.

 Speaking of the Foyer, any news lately, particularly on what its capabilities are as far as operating as a controller when the main computer is off?

I imagine that Leviton saw value in ControlThink for many reasons, and not to buy concentrated focus to allow them to finish their Foyer product.  I have confidence that Chris didn't allow crappy code to go out the door while getting clients like Leviton dependent upon it.  He's a great guy with high integrity, IMO.  His technology and team will allow Leviton to leverage connectivity across a broad landscape - don't you just drool over a paper thin remote with an OLED SideShow, etc?  And yes, I hope Leviton gets a working Foyer out sooner than later.  Because...

I love competition!  I just bought a (new) HomeRemote from Hawking via eBay for $100!  Looks like they are either blowing out stock before the Pro, or getting rid of returns like possibly the defunct CompUSA.  Their forum indicates lots of bugs, but they're working on 'em.  For now I just want to easily set my thermostat using the internet - for free.  I love tinkering, but just haven't had the time.

If/when someone else has a better appliance (for cheap - not ready to spend $600 on one), I won't be sad to move this one over to a relative's house.

I had a Foyer sample with me at CES, although I was walking the floor--not at a booth.  The product is alive and well, with some new features.

I can't announce dates for Leviton, but I'm hoping that a few people will be able to beta test them soon...

Chris

 
In the past 3 days, the most popular thread for everyone has been "Please help me make sense of all the black boxes". The post with the most views is "Re: Please help me make sense of all the black boxes". The most replies were made to "Please help me make sense of all the black boxes".

Everyone is really looking forward to the standalone & networked devices, hmm? Count me in, I'm dying to get my hands on one.

Wow, The Vizia RF Foyer is TINY! Looks like a neat device.