Posted by Mark Komanecky on Thu, Jul 29, 2010 @ 11:41 AM
Going Green made Easy
All of us want to go Green. Preserving the environment feels good, and ensures that the world’s beauty will be enjoyed for generations to come. Unfortunately, with our hectic lives, many people feel that they do not have the time or means. Yet, going Green and living a simple, efficient and productive life are not mutually exclusive. Today smart homes with recent innovations in energy monitoring and automated energy control makes going Green easier than ever.
Energy Monitoring
“If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it.”
-Lord Kelvin
In order to conserve energy, the first step is to understand how it is being used. See if you can answer these simple questions about your home’s electricity consumption.
Do you know how much electricity is used when you leave your
TV on all day? How much would you save by adjusting your air conditioning by just one degree What uses more power every month - your refrigerator or your dishwasher?
As you have realized, you cannot know how much energy you can save unless you know how much energy you use. Today, by simply integrating your home with an energy monitoring systems that measures your energy consumption, you can realize how the smallest changes in your home, such as dimming your lights, can lead to tremendous savings in your energy bill!
Home Automation and Going Green
By simply using energy only when you truly need to, a home automation system allows you to custom program your home’s climate, lighting, and even irrigation based on your daily schedule and weather patterns.
With an eco-Smart Home, you can optimize your heating/cooling and lighting system based on time of day, seasonal changes, weather patterns all through an automated system. This allows you to go Green and still keep up with your hectic life. At most, instead of heading down to your basement to adjust your unfriendly irrigation panel on a stormy summer day, you can easily shut off your sprinklers using a remote while relaxing on your couch. Or let’s say the storm has also brought in a cold front, making your current air conditioning setting unnecessary. You can easily adjust the temperature from anywhere in your home or even your office.
So, as you can see, going Green by using home automation has never been easier. Utilizing a smart home can help you protect the environment while saving money; making you feel great about the world around you and your wallet!
Posted by Mark Komanecky on Wed, Jul 21, 2010 @ 03:52 PM
Anyone building a home today is probably focusing lots of energy ensuring that their new home has the proper infrastructure to support their current and future home techlology needs. But what about everybody else? Most people right now aren't building new homes, but that doesn't mean that they are not interested in all the energy saving benefits, conveniences, and peace of mind of living in a smart home.
If you are living in an existing home in the Boston, Philadelphia, or northern Vermont areas and are interested in home technology, I have good news: There are excellent retrofit options available to you with simpleHome!
Of course, it's never easier to create and install the ideal infrastruture for smart home technology than when the walls
are wide open. However, advances in wireless technology, combined with our experienced, skilled engineers and wiring technicians allow simpleHome to turn almost any existing home into a smart home. By retrofitting your home technology, you can easily control your home systems from within your home, or from anywhere in the world via your smart phone or the Internet.
Lighting - No need to worry about leaving on unnecessary lights. Be greener by using less electricity while saving on your electric bills.
Security - Enhance your peace of mind with an easy access to your security system.
Entertainment Sytems - Consolidate your entertainment controls to make it easier and more fun than you ever imagined.
HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) - Use what you need and save what you don't. Be green and save money!
Energy Monitoring and Management - If you know what you're using, you can make good decisions with your energy usage.
simpleHome employs energy-efficient, cutting-edge technologies to provide you holistic solutions to enhance your safety, security and comfort. Contact simpleHome to find out how we can help you.
Posted by Alex Zandi on Thu, Jul 08, 2010 @ 09:06 AM
Let’s face it; we live in world that is overflowing with technology and that should make our lives simpler and more enjoyable. Technology allows us to integrate many different facets of our lives, easily stay connected with family and friends, and even provide us with breathtaking audio/video entertainment from the comfort of our homes.
Still, with all the pluses of a digital world, technology should not be used in excess. For many people, however, the ability to use technology in moderation is a challenge. Recently, there has been a growing concern about the inability to unplug, which can manifest into a full-fledged technology addiction.
Below are five tips to help you manage technology, and make sure that technology does not govern you.
Experiment with short periods of inaccessibility. Your life won’t implode. Try taking a vacation unplugged, or even just a short walk in the park.
Leave your cell phone and PDA at home one day a week. Saturday or Sunday is a good day to cut-off email and cell phone usage; it will feel like a two-week vacation.
Set a "not-to-do list." Don't check email before 9 a.m. to avoid immediate reactive mode. Set intervals to check email, for example, at 9 a.m., 11 a.m. ., and 3 p.m. Make house rules, such as no phones at the kitchen table or no late night emailing.
Buddy up. Recovery should not be embarked upon alone; ask a colleague, administrative assistant, or spouse to help you enforce the new rules.
Learn moderation. Don’t be anti-technology. Some technology is good for you…but too much can be crippling. Try using technology that integrates many different facets of a modern digital world, leaving more time to unplug.
Posted by Alex Zandi on Tue, Jul 06, 2010 @ 08:14 AM
In the June addition of CEPro magazine, simpleHome was featured as the cover story, which focused on the tough decisions facing residential integrators when going commercial. In the past, commercial clients were an anomaly to us at simpleHome. But according to our founder, Mark Komanecky “more recently, we have started to get more interest in our solution from commercial clients.”
With a growing number of commercial clients, simpleHome has been firmly focused on translating the trademark quality, personal relationships and customer satisfaction from the residential to the commercial sector. To facilitate this transition, Komanecky decided to use the existing highly trained and professional staff, in order to maintain simpleHome’s core principles. Because our staff has a wide range of experience working on commercial projects, they are just as comfortable working with corporate clients as well as residential.
As for technicians, Komanecky says his technicians’ skills carry over from residential to commercial particularly well. “In those areas where they differ, like digital signage, we have simply invested the time and effort to better understand the available products and technology.”
At simpleHome, we know that service and support can be even more important in the commercial sector. According to Komanecky, “systems that don’t work well for corporate clients can negatively impact their business and bottom line. On the flip side, systems that work well can help our clients grow their businesses, which is very satisfying.“
Look to the future for simpleHome to create a new commercial brand. It will be separate, distinct, and consistent with our commercial solutions and provide a product that can integrate all of your audio/video, conferencing, control, and networking needs.
Posted by Eileen Komanecky on Wed, Jun 30, 2010 @ 10:55 AM
Every spring CE PRO magazine collects data from custom electronics integration firms across the United States, listing the largest firms based on annual revenue.
We are excited that for 2009 simpleHome made the top 100, while maintaining the intimate customer relationships that have been a cornerstone of simpleHome since our start in 2004.
We would like to thank all our clients, vendors, and partners who have helped simpleHome grow every year as a leader in the custom electronics industry.
Posted by Eileen Komanecky on Fri, May 28, 2010 @ 11:20 AM
Now that the weather is warm, most of us want to take advantage of enjoying our outdoor spaces as much as possible. There's nothing like hanging out with your friends and family at a cookout on a beautiful day, or just relaxing in your hammock with a good book and a glass of wine. And for many of us, adding great music is the finishing touch that makes it complete.
You may be thinking about installing speakers in your backyard. But before you run out (or hop online) to pick out speakers to add to your system, you may want to think about whether you are willing to settle for ordinary or you want to create something extraordinary.
Not all outdoor speakers/speaker systems are created equal.
You probably already know that, but it bears repeating. Creating excellent sound outdoors is more challenging than indoors. There are no walls to contain the sound, and you are often trying to cover a larger area than you are dealing with in your home.
What happens in outdoor spaces that are not properly 
designed is that you end up with very uneven sound. Depending on where exactly you are, it's either too loud or too soft. You want it to be just right. This "Goldilocks Syndrome" I just alluded to is the opposite of "the Disney Effect" that was mentioned in a previous blog by simpleHome's Mike Hoey. He discussed an extensive music system he designed and installed for owners of a large estate who love to entertain outdoors and wanted a great sound system. By employing the Disney approach, Mike was able to provide the homeowners with a system they absolutely love and surpassed their expectations.
The bottom line is that outdoor sound is best enjoyed when it is distributed though many individual speakers at a relatively low volume so that it sounds good no matter where you are. It requires a good design, the right equipment and installation by an experienced professional. But when it's done right, you'll know it the second you hear it. It will sound fantastic and will create an outdoor vacation oasis in your own backyard. Now that's extraordinary!
Posted by Eileen Komanecky on Wed, May 12, 2010 @ 12:27 PM
You may be thinking right now, what exactly is digital signage? It's pretty much just as the name implies - a digital sign, usually in the form of a flat screen TV, that is used by businesses and other organizations to promote their products & services, or educate their customers with information.
Now that you know what digital signage is, you probably also realize that you've seen it many times at different places. Like maybe while you were filling up your gas tank, when you entered a hotel and were trying to figure out where your event was being held, while you were sitting in your doctor's waiting room, to name a few.
Digital signage can be a cost-effective, compelling way for organizations to communicate timely and relevant information in an entertaining, professional manner to its customers, employees and partners. Combining the messages specific to your organization with news, weather and other interesting content is an excellent way to reach your targeted audience in an entertaining way.
Who would benefit from digital signage?
* Professional firms such as lawyers, accountants, architects
* Doctors & dentists
* Banks & credit unions
* Retail businesses
* And more...
If you are interested in learning about how digital signage could be an asset to your organization, please give us a call. As with all the solutions simpleHome provides, we will ensure that the digital signage systems we provide for you will be easy to use, reliable and fun!
Posted by Eileen Komanecky on Mon, Apr 26, 2010 @ 09:53 AM
Being at home with a cold this week was a good excuse to indulge in one of my guilty pleasures - watching Oprah's show. The topic was people who had dream jobs. One lady was the lead fashion designer for J. Crew, another person was the Cake Boss, who created amazing cakes for all kinds of people and events. The last guy last the "gadget guru." He was there that day to talk about how much fun he had everyday working with all the latest & greatest technology. With what I do at simpleHome, I could relate to this guy. I really liked him when I saw how excited he was to show off the new iPad. I couldn't wait for him to explain to Oprah, and all of America, about the huge impact on home automation the iPad will have.
Oprah could hardly even let the gadget guru guy talk. She already had an iPad and had already fallen in love with the thing. As an avid reader, Oprah loved the iPad as a virtual library that gave her instant access to millions of books with amazing visual quality. She raved about how the iPad was perfect for showing her digital photo collection of her dogs and some tree she likes, and also watching movies in great quality, anywhere in the world.
All this talk about the iPad was fine, but I was left frustrated. I wanted to hit the gadget guru over the head with my remote. "Hey, Mister, tell Oprah that the iPad is great for controlling your home, too. She can be reading in bed and control her lights, thermostat, security on the same screen. She can use it to see everything on her surveillence cameras at all 17 of her houses. She can turn on the music or TV with it. Tell her that the iPad can take the place of a much more expensive touch panel to control her home systems. What kind of a gadget guru are you, anyway? You would never make it at simpleHome, Buddy!"
So the moral to this story is that the iPad is a good thing. It's a great value, easy to use, fun and can do tons of things - more than can be discussed in one Oprah segment. If you are interested in learning more about the iPad, you can either watch the rerun of the Oprah show, or visit someone at simpleHome to check it out for yourself. We'd love to show it off for you and talk about all the things the gadget guru didn't have time to mention.
Posted by Eileen Komanecky on Fri, Apr 16, 2010 @ 10:58 AM
Wouldn't it be great if you could watch your favorite shows or movies, or listen to your music collection in any room of your home?
Don't worry, there's a solution for that and it's called audio/video distribution.
Distributed audio/video, also called whole-house audio/video, is a centralized system that provides audio and video services throughout the home. That means that you can have access to your entire music & video collection in any room of your home without the clutter of equipment. Cable boxes, Apple TVs, amplifiers, and other equipment that often create interior decorating challenges are relegated to an equipment rack in a closet or mechanical room. The only thing needed in each room is a TV and a networked remote control. In a "music-only" space like your dining room, you can have hidden speakers and an on-wall keypad for music selection and volume control. These systems can also be controlled using your smart phone, iPod Touch or iPad.
Another advantage of distributed audio/video is that you are maximizing the utility of the equipment you already own. Instead of a cable box next to each TV, you only need one for each personcentrally located in an equipment rack.
His, Hers, Kids centralized cable boxes are very common and makes it easy to turn on any TV in the house and select your own personal cable box with your favorite channels and your recordings.
When you want to expand your system to add a new device, like a cool new AppleTV, it's simply added to the equipment rack and it becomes available to every TV in the house!
How does it work?
The concept is pretty simple. The entertainment equipment is all located in a centralized equipment rack. This location is often in the basement or a mechanical room to allow proper ventillation and serviceability. The next key ingredient is wiring - and lots of it. The idea is to wire to every room that you may want music or video, either now or in the future. Fortunately, low-cost CAT5 wire works well for this purpose and it can be used to transmit just about any signal, including full high-definition video and surround sound audio.
With new construction or a major renovation, it makes great sense to wire almost every room imaginable. There will never be an easier time to wire than before the walls go up!
And don't forget about outside!
There's nothing like enjoying your entertainment in the great outdoors. The outdoor products that are available now, and will continue to be developed, are better than ever. Take advantage of distributed audio/video and take the fun outside!
Posted by Eileen Komanecky on Thu, Apr 08, 2010 @ 11:45 AM
Massachusetts Residents: Save some green by going green!
In an effort to encourage people to replace their old, energy guzzling washing machines, refrigerators, freezers, and dishwashers with new, energy-efficient models, the state has implemented the Great Appliance Exchange. "The purpose of the program is to take energy-inefficient clunkers out of commission so they won't be drawing energy," said Lisa Capone, press secretary at the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
Under the program, participating stores will deliver the new appliance and recycle the old one. The purchases must be made between the dates of April 22 (the 40th anniversary of Earth Day) and May 5 and delivery must take place by June 19. The program is on a first-come, first-served basis until the funds are depleted.
The program will offer rebates as follows:
Dishwashers - $250
Refrigerators - $200
Clothes Washers - $175
Freezers - $50
For more information, visit www.masssave.com/residential.