Steve
Senior Member
Hey now... that was only the old technophobes in Palm Beach CountyMaybe Electronic House subcontracts with Florida for their voting procedure.
Hey now... that was only the old technophobes in Palm Beach CountyMaybe Electronic House subcontracts with Florida for their voting procedure.
I am REALLY impressed with Musiclobby from Cinemar. Ok, it may not be new, but its new to me and gets my vote.
That's funny.I'm not speaking for all cavemen, just myself, but I'm a little offended.. . . The RemoteLinc looks like it was designed by a caveman. . .
If you think I have pure design sense, you should come over and see some of the drawing on my wall.
And the nice thing about the RemoteLinc is that the buttons are big enough to hit with your club.
I am REALLY impressed with Musiclobby from Cinemar. Ok, it may not be new, but its new to me and gets my vote.
Oh stop it - you're just kissing ass after talking smack in the other thread ]
You have got to be kidding. That proves these press releases are totally bogus. The RemoteLinc looks like it was designed by a caveman. Hope I didn't offend any of you guys.
You have got to be kidding. That proves these press releases are totally bogus. The RemoteLinc looks like it was designed by a caveman. Hope I didn't offend any of you guys.
NO KIDDING!
That thing is the worst physical layout in it's and any nearly similar product space.
I'm glad it works functionally, but I can't comprehend how that physical design made it to market without someone drowning that runt.
What I find most ridiculous about it is how many usable, convenient X10 remotes were out many years ago... then we go backwards to this brick. It's like swapping a current cell phone for the original Motorola "brick" phones.
Seriously: the old X10 remote was much better, then there's the X10 credit card remote, and even the X10 keychain remote. These are all on the Smarthome site, so it's not like they couldn't see what the minimum decent product should look like.
I much prefer using the credit card remotes through the WG800RF through the Elk to control the Insteon lights... 'cept for the open nature of it.
how would they be able to call future remotes advances in size and quality if there wasn't a big piece of crap preceding it?
That cavement statement alone made it worth posting this press release I am surprised about this as well (I think), hopefully George or someone from SmartHome, or even EH can explain how they came up with the winner.
That cavement statement alone made it worth posting this press release I am surprised about this as well (I think), hopefully George or someone from SmartHome, or even EH can explain how they came up with the winner.
George here.
Well I don't represent either SmartHome or EH and they will have to step up and defend themselves. I will and do stand by the quote attributed to me.
First about these awards in general. There are some amazing things you hear sitting around the press room at different trade shows. At Sensors in Chicago this year Kirsten overheard a conversation between a representative of a hobbyist oriented electronic design magazine that I suspect most people on CT would recognize and a representative of a company showing at Sensors. The quote is "Let me get this straight. If I pay you a fee and commit to a certain amount of advertising you will guarantee that I will win an award? That doesn't sound right?" I'm not trying to imply that this is how EH does business and I don't know the specifics of how they select the winners of these awards so I can't comment on that. I will give you another quote that I think is illustrative.
Me to the marketing executive at a company in reference to an award from another analyst company that seems to come out with another award every other week: "How much did you have to pay to get that award?" Marketing Executive: "I don't know exactly. Not as much as they initially asked."
One last comment on industry awards. Most of the criteria have a requirement for either shipping product or a specific deadline to ship. I know of at least one award for an HA product that has yet to see the light of day after almost two years. IMNHSO this is a problem for the industry. Every so often WTRS is approached with the idea that we should give awards and so far we have declined to do so because frankly I have other things to do than set up a completly open and transparent way to manage the process.
Regarding the RemoteLinc. I'll say right up front that I am not the target market for this product although my kids are. I'm using KPLs anywhere that I would want a remote as that seems more straight forward than nailing a remote to the wall. For some reason the RemoteLinc does not photograph well compared to how it looks in person. In photos it looks immense and in person it looks much better and I admit I don't have clue one what SH can do about that. My personal opinion is that it has a 1940's Rocketman look that I kind of like but what do I know I'm just an old geezer.
Late breaking news. It appears that my wife is also in the target market for the RemoteLink. She just showed me the "Trade in your SignalLinks" offer and asked if we could do that. She wants something so the kids can turn on some lights on their way to the bathroom when they get up in the middle of the night.
As to why it took so long to get the product to market. What follows is my opinion so take it with a grain of salt. First off, RF is much harder than it looks. SH had some strenuous requirements in terms of effective range, link reliability and battery life. I know the team that did the actual RF design - SH outsourced the job - and it is a very good one. The job just took longer than expected. Adding some larger company issues such as when to integrate INSTEON extended messaging in the product line, implementing some of the lessons learned from the initial round of product releases and implementing a public beta program prior to final release also added time to the process. If you make the mistake of pre-announcing a roadmap it can seriously mess you up because these things always take longer than you expect. My last corporate gig was with the dot in dot com and we never gave anyone a roadmap presentation without an NDA and a whole bunch of caveats about this is only a best guess based on what we know today and don't you dare make any specific plans using this information.
As always, YMMV.
Disclaimer
WTRS is an independent market research and analysis firm in the business of publishing market reports based on our own proprietary research. We do not accept payment for quotes used in press releases or other marketing material. We do not have any financial relationship with any company that we cover. The sole requirement to receive an analyst quote or endorsement from WTRS is that a company be able to explain their value in a fashion that we can understand, that our research can verify their story and that we find the product or company interesting. I was not compensated in any fashion for the quotation in the referenced article.
George West
www.wtrs.net
Wow, SmartHome sure knows how to create a stir! They're the Microsoft of the home automation world!
I own a few RemoteLincs here, and I have to say they work absolutely great for me. I get over 300 feet of range from outside, they work reliably, and the family loves them.
I agree that it's not the best design in the world, but it's not half-bad when you actually USE/OWN/TRY one. I have to admit, like a previous poster says, it doesn't photograph well. Maybe SmartHome should consider photographing it with other devices next to it to give a more accurate representation of its size? Also, black is definitely nicer.
Here is a picture of my theater light remote along side a Harmony 880, a couple XBox 360 remotes, and a cupholder. It's really not that large.
Would I prefer a smaller one? Sure, but not too much smaller. Would I like a keychain remote in addition? Sure. Do I use the "All On/etc" buttons? Not usually. I think they should ditch them, and stick with the press and hold bright/dim method. Let me create an "all off" button if I want one.
Everyone knows most of these magazine awards/reviews are biased. Whether it's because of ad revenue, or it's because of reviewer bias, they ALL are. You have to take any of these things with a grain of salt.
But, the product is out there, and it works great - better than most expected. It might not be the best cosmetically, but it's not half-bad either.