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Smart Homes for Dummies, Second Edition | 
 enlarge | Authors: Danny Briere, Pat Hurley
Publisher: For Dummies
Category: Book
List Price: $21.99
Buy Used: $2.46
You Save: $19.53 (89%)
New (6) Used (17) from $2.46
Rating:  40 reviews
Sales Rank: 523267
Media: Paperback
Edition: 2 Sub
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.9
ISBN: 0764525395
Dewey Decimal Number: 643
UPC: 785555862609
EAN: 9780764525391
ASIN: 0764525395
Publication Date: December 23, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Help save a tree. Buy all your used books from Green Earth Books. Read -> Recycle -> Reuse!
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Most people have had some contact with a network through their work environment–computer local area networks (LANs) in the office, control networks in factories, telephone networks in many mid-sized or larger businesses. The Internet itself is one big network. Although some folks may think of a network as simply something that helps them do their work, the network concept has begun to move from the workplace to the home address. Smart home builders and remodelers (and forward-looking owners of otherwise perfect existing homes) are starting to think in terms of wiring (or wirelessing) their homes both to make use of a network today and to prepare for future structural requirements. Smart Homes For Dummies, 2nd Edition, lays out a richly landscaped spread of possibilities in networking your home devices–for convenience, cost control, time-savings, safety, and increased property values. This forward-thinking, fun guide spells out how to - Imagine all the cool stuff that home networks can do
- Make your home an entertainment center
- Plan a phone system
- Design a home-based LAN
- Wire a security system
- Install and configure all the gizmos
Smart homes never want for innovation; people are constantly inventing things. Stuff that seems niche-oriented and expensive today may be high-volume consumer products tomorrow. Smart Homes For Dummies, 2nd Edition, invites you to take advantage of the latest techno developments as you rev up for the upcoming gee-whiz things that'll make your home a twenty-first century castle. You'll meet the most recent information and insight on - Figuring how much you're willing to spend
- Connecting your kitchen appliances and more
- Feeding audio and video from your Media Center
- Accessing the Internet all over your house
- Integrating a satellite system to create a video network
- Untangling cables and components
- Seeing what's just over the horizon for telephone service
A home network opens the world to your entire household, and Smart Homes For Dummies, 2nd Edition, provides a plan for your home, sweet home to enjoy all that awaits in an infinite space.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 35 more reviews...
 Where's the beef June 12, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A good introductory book for understanding the options but not enough examples of how to use the technology in real life.
 An excellent orientation; a mediocre how-to November 4, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book was very useful in providing an organized and cross-referenced overview of all the systems and sub-systems and technologies that can be utilized in constructing a smart home. The best thing about it is that the authors manage to maintain good objectivity - it's not a glorified sales pitch for any particular manufacturer. The book is very useful for making decisions about what technologies to incorporate in your home. Audio and video may be a given, but the authors also address phone systems, home security, computer network (wireless and cabled), voice control systems, video cameras, lighting, and more.
The principal weakness is that the book doesn't really tell you how to create a smart home plan. It is weak on examples. If you're sitting down with a set of blueprints and this book, there are a lot of missing pieces to the puzzle (placement and types of outlets and switchplates, dedicated circuitry for the media room, in-wall or in-ceiling speaker placement for audio or surround sound setups, conduit layout, drawing and notating plans for the electrician, and so on).
It's very well written, with a personal and humorous touch from the authors and you can easily sit down and read it cover to cover in one day. But it's rich in information, so I'd suggest reading it with a highlighter handy for the things that grab your attention.
Good Guidance September 20, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Lots of info for x10 systems but not leaning to any particular vendor. Very much like that they wrote from personal experience. I did wish they were a bit more clear in regards to whole house audio, but the section on impedance was adequate.
 Food for thought. August 15, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
My husband and I are in the midst of a major remodel/expansion of our 1968 tract home so we have read pretty much every remodeling book we could find. This book offers a lot of information and food for thought on how to bring an outdated home into the technology age. Our budget is not unlimited and this book helped us decide which features were essential to add now and what could be added later (and how to add the foundation work while the walls were stripped to the studs for those future improvements to save us money in the long run). This book does not give reviews on specific products, that is not it's purpose. Technology is changing so fast, that any product reviews would have been obsolete by the time the book hit the shelves. I recommend you use this book to plan out the framework for your smart house and use magazines like THE PERFECT VISION, HOME THEATER, etc. to fill in the blanks. My husband subscribed to both magazines through Amazon (very inexpensively) for 2 years and did a lot of research on the Internet before making his preliminary choices. Since we aren't at the "fun stage" of our remodel yet, where we get to go buy all the equipment, those choices might still change because prices our dropping and items that were out of our price range 2 years ago are now more affordable. The bottom line is this book is the BEST for helping you plan your smart house because it is easy to understand by even those of us who are not tech savy (like me) and it shows you options that you may have never even thought of before. And believe me, in a remodel the time for thought, planning and innovation is before you put the drywall back up!
Good reading. February 19, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I am very much into the X-10 gadgets and have been for several years. This book was intended for the average DUMMY homeowner interested in inexpensive home security and automation. Although I own other books on this particular subject, I found this one to be the most down to earth.
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