Amazon Opens Home Automation Store

Many of our readers/listeners have been doing their shopping through Amazon for everything from kitchenware to home theater gear. Well now you can buy everything you want for home automation as well. Amazon just opened up a Home Automation Store front. They have sections for Energy Management, Entertainment, and Home/Office Monitoring. There are buying guides for door locks, communication protocols, thermostats and controllers. The guides offer a great starting point about the subjects.

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Sony Answers Your 4K Questions

Simon from Perth, Western Australia sent us an email with a link to this video created by Sony that answers some of the more frequently asked questions about 4K UHD Televisions.

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Logitech to Retain Ownership of Harmony

In a press release today, Logitech announced the expansion of its universal remote control lineup with the Logitech® Harmony Ultimate Hub, an accessory for consolidating all of your remote controls into one simple smartphone app, giving you personalized control of up to eight devices from anywhere in the house, using the smartphone you already own. But the more interesting, at least to us, announcement was the fact that Logitech will retain ownership of its Harmony remote product line.

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Press Release: HBO GO & WatchESPN Come to Apple TV

CUPERTINO, California—June 19, 2013—Apple® today announced that HBO GO and WatchESPN are now available directly on Apple TV® joining the great lineup of programming offered to customers. iTunes® users have downloaded more than one billion TV episodes and 380 million movies from iTunes to date, and they are purchasing over 800,000 TV episodes and over 350,000 movies per day. 

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Sony Announces Price And Availability Of Its New XBR 4K Ultra HD LED TVs, 4K Media Player & Distribution Service

LAS VEGAS, April 7, 2013 -- Sony Electronics is announcing prices and availability for its new 4K Ultra High Definition TV sets unveiled at CES in January. The new XBR-55X900A (55-inch) and XBR-65X900A (65-inch) 4K Ultra HD LED TVs will cost $4,999 and $6,999 respectively and are available for order online and at retail beginning April 21, 2013.

Sony is also announcing its 4K Media Player, the FMP-X1, and video distribution service – both industry firsts.

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INSTEON Beta Testing is Open for more Testers

We have just learned that Insteon in need of more beta testers for their home automation products. In addition to needing more testers from the US and Canada, they need international testers.  They are now actively selling products outside of North America having launched new plug-in, wire-in, computer interfaces, and remote controls for Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.  Here is an example of the new plug-in module for France:

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