Episode 20 - 5 Things Every Home Technology Customer Should Know

On this week's episode we take a break from the news and discuss 5 really useful tips everyone should know before starting any home technology project. This list comes from our experiences working with customers on projects past and present. Shown Notes 1. Thermal Management • Example of a cabinet cooling fan system (http://www.amazon.com/Cool-Components...) • Example of a closet fan system (http://www.amazon.com/Duct-CoolTM-Enc...) • CFM Calculator (http://www.middleatlantic.com/resourc...) • BTU/hr Calculator (select W and Btu/h) (http://www.unitconversion.org/unit_co...) 2. Network Equipment • Plan out WAP locations • Use POE powered access points for convenience • POE Midspans (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_nos...) • Apple Airport Extreme Router (http://www.amazon.com/Apple-AirPort-E...) • Apple Airport Express (http://www.amazon.com/Apple-AirPort-E...) • Ruckus Wireless (http://www.ruckuswireless.com) • Unifi wireless access point system (http://www.ubnt.com/unifi) • Unifi Layer 3 Adoption/Management (   • Video  ) • ihiji remote management (http://www.ihiji.com) • Embue's Switchboard (http://embue.com) 3. Service Providers Suck • Try to find a fiber to the home provider if available. Regardless of price the service should be better - but they will still suck. • Turn off ads on Verizon Fios TV (http://forums.verizon.com/t5/FiOS-TV-...) • TiVo (https://www.tivo.com) • The many, many, many ways to configure a FiOS network (http://www.dslreports.com/faq/16077) • Double NAT Configuration Explained (http://graemenoble.id.au/post/4869527...) 4. HDMI has 'problems' • HDMI is very hard to troubleshoot because of the lack of tools available to professionals and consumers. It should be "plug and play" but most integrators will call it "plug and pray." • Check for firmware updates on receivers and TVs • Cable boxes aren't always up to date (see point 3) 5. All systems will break • Integrated systems are incredibly complex, hard to troubleshoot, and have multiple points of failure. Given time even the most stable, reliable system will break.