Product Description

Do you long to listen to your favorite CD from anywhere in your house? To set up a wireless network so you can access the Internet in any room? To install an iron–clad security system? To fire up the coffee pot while you’re still asleep and wake up with automated lighting? Smart home technology can help you do just that!

Smart Homes For Dummies, Third Edition, shows you how easy it can be to create and live in a cutting–edge, fully connected home—without breaking your bank account. With this user–friendly guide, you’ll discover all the latest trends and gadgets in home networking, automation, and control that will help you make life more enjoyable and comfortable for your entire family. We help you plan for things such as flat–screen TVs, intercom systems, whole–home audio systems, gaming consoles, and satellite systems. We talk about your wiring (and wireless) options and introduce you to the latest technologies, such as VoIP and Bluetooth. You’ll see how to:

• Build your home network on a budget
• Turn your home into an entertainment center
• Access the Internet from any room
• Get VoIP on your phone network
• Boost in–home wireless and cell phone signals
• Connect your computer to your TV
• Secure your home and property
• Increase your home’s resale value
• Avoid common networking pitfalls
• And much, much more

Complete with a resource list for more information and neat toys of the future, Smart Homes For Dummies is your plain–English, twenty–first century guide to a fully wired home!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #159391 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

International Smarthouse, January 2003
"…an essential resource for anyone interested in converting their home from a stupid house to a smart house…"

From the Author
Network your home for the future!
Smart Homes for Dummies was written to solve a real world problem that we ran into – namely the lack of good information on how to go about wiring a home for all of the neat telecommunications, computer, and entertainment systems that we wanted to install. Danny, in particular, ran into this problem when he was restoring an historic home in Maine. His contractor was great in many ways, but when it came time to install wiring for a computer network, multiple phone lines, and a whole-house entertainment system, things got a bit complicated. We just couldn’t find a good resource anywhere that would help the contractor (or the homeowner for that matter) – so we decided to write our own.

So if you’re building a new home, renovating an existing home, or just trying to install some leading-edge home entertainment or other home network in your house, this book is for you. In fact, it’s the only book out there on this topic – we checked!

Smart Homes for Dummies may bring to mind things like the Jetsons and Rosie the Robot, or Bill Gates’ famously wired home in Seattle – and we do talk about both – but we designed it to be useful even if your wiring ambitions are a bit less far reaching than total automation. We break down the "smart" systems in a home by category – telephones, computer networks, security systems, video and audio networks, and home automation systems – and take you through the design and layout of each one step by step. It’s NOT a wiring how-to manual as much as it is a design guide. We break each element of a home network down into its components, talk about what kind of wiring and equipment is needed, and give you guidance on how to put it all together in your house. We also realize that not everyone can run new wires in their home, so we have provided lots of information about alternative networks that use radio waves, electrical lines, or existing telephone wiring to get the job done.

The things you can do with a smart networked home are just about endless – and they’re not just for the fabulously rich or the hopelessly nerdy (though we’d like to include them as well). For example, a home video network is easy to install, and it can let you watch your home theater’s VCR or DVD player on any TV in the house, which means you won’t have to buy a VCR for each TV! A home computer LAN is also inexpensive and easy to install and it will let you share files and printers, play multi-user networked games, and even share a high-speed Internet connection on every computer in the house (even the laptop in bed). Those who work at home or have teenagers may want to wire their homes for multiple phone lines, or even for a home phone system that can do all the neat stuff an office system does, like transfer calls, set up conference calls and even play music on hold. The book details all of these things and more (including stuff like security alarm systems, automation systems that can turn on your appliances, lights, the all important coffee pot, and whole-home audio networks that pipe music to every corner of the house). We talk about how to set up your home to take the maximum advantage of all the devices you want to install in your house: TV, VCR, CD Player, Tape Player, DVD Player, Intercom, Phone System, Remote Controls, Video Doorbells, DirecTV Players, Smoke Alarms, Infrared Motion Sensors, Internet Refrigerators, Screenphones, Voice Control Automation, Home Entertainment Systems, and so on. What’s really neat about Smart Homes for Dummies is that we tell you how to mix and match all of these systems so you can play your audio tapes over your intercom system, or use your motion detectors to open the garage door.

Basically, we wrote Smart Homes for Dummies because we believe there are a lot of people out there who think like us. They want their homes to be future-proofed for this next age of communications – and that takes planning. Suppose you had an Internet refrigerator – how would you connect it to the Internet? Or suppose you wanted to watch your child take a nap in the nursery – through the Picture-in-Picture capability on your TV set – how would you wire that? Smart Homes for Dummies helps you save money by making the most of the investment you are making in your home. Do it right, do it once, and all the flexibility of your design enable you to take advantage of all of the neat things that networks can do today, as well as prepare you for future communications technologies.

Not to mention, we think having a networked smart home is a heck of a lot fun too!

From the Back Cover
Make your home safer and increase its resale value

Create a fully automated,21st–century wired home that meets your family′s needs

Want to live in a cutting–edge, fully connected home? Now you can design the powerhouse network of your dreams without breaking your bank account. From listening to CDs throughout the house to connecting your PC with your HDTV to watching your house over the Web, you′ll discover all the latest trends and gadgets in home networking, automation, and control.

• Build your home network

• Turn your home into an entertainment center

• Access the Internet from any room

• Boost in–home wireless and cell phone signals

• Secure your home and property

Customer Reviews

Great ideas and information.
I brought this just before re-wiring my house. I'm glad I did! I was just going to re-new the electrics and instal a few phone lines. It recommends Infra-red, data lines, intercomms, X 10, etc, etc. Much I never knew existed! Plenty of web addresses to explorer and ideas.

Covers Most Areas Well
A well written books that cover all possibilities of home automation.

A bit US centric, but fine as long as you are aware of it.
Also a few years old, but also fine as the authors seemed to have estimated the future perfectly.

Covers what you want to know about settting up phone, tv, audio, security, X10, Wireless, dialup or broadband connections, etc etc,

Some very good points on your wiring, so read it before you do it!

I thought I had pretty good idea of how I was going to make my "Smart Home", but this book told me many things I was not aware of, or had the wrong opinions of.

It is a good read, especially as it doesnt cost the world.

A must read for a wired home owner! Save 100s of $s & hrs!
If you're in the middle of wiring your house (or even just thinking about it), I urge you to read this book.

I wasted a lot of time chasing around when answers to nearly all of my questions were right in "Smart Homes" the whole time! After I got Smart Homes, I was able to make decisions much faster and avoided the expensive mistake of buying the wrong product.

I hope that you can learn from my mistake.

- Reid