Busy night reBooting some PC's

Just got home (it's 3am) from the office after spending the entire evening reBooting some of our old Pc's, some donated Pc's (Thanks Dennis) and some salvaged parts.

Why?  Well we are rebuilding them as part of our reBoot initiative to bring recycled computers to under-privileged youths. Our current project is for the BanYa Literacy Centre who are hoping to get 10 or 11 computers together for their computer room in their new school for children of construction workers living in local camps.

The recycling work is quite tough going, it's piecing together components, some work, some don't.  Once we have a working build we then purchase a Windows 7 License and upgrade to Windows 10.

These aren't going to be multimedia powerhouses but they are going to be useful and able to run all modern software, as a bonus we are keeping old Pc's and components out the landfill.

We are currently at 4 computers, from about 7 salvaged PC's, they will need mice and keyboard and new monitors. So we need another 7 computers to make the 11 total, which will mean we need about 9-10 more donated computers for this project. If you have an old computer lying around the house from 2010 onwards, please bring it in.

In a past life....

I was a recruitment consultant in the IT world, it's a shrinking industry nowadays with most companies hiring in-house 'talent acquisition' teams that do the same thing but represent the company directly.

Anyway, as I was completing the company Bio's today for our About Us page I was reminded of the one page CV I always insist that people should have, especially nowadays.  Attention spans are short, recruiters will decide on whether your CV is worth considering within 6 seconds of looking at it.

Our Bio's aren't quite CV's (or Resumes) but they aren't far off, and they represent data visually much quicker than a boring list of useless skills or I am statements.  Still I'm not in that industry anymore but I had fun doing these.

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5 Questions to ask yourself before buying your Sonos Music System.

Five very basic questions you should ask yourself before buying your Sonos Music system. Everyone is different, we all like different music, want to listen in different areas and at different volumes.  Here are five simple questions to ask yourself before you buy your first Sonos system.

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LingLong launches the DingDong

Chinese company LingLong have launched the first Chinese voice assistant and smart home speaker, their answer to Amazon's Echo and Google's Home, It's called the DingDong.

It uses voice interaction to do tasks such as playing music and switching on home appliances and understands Mandarin, Cantonese and a smattering of English.

A study by Juniper Research suggests China's smart home market could be worth $22.8bn (£18.3bn) by 2018.

Beijing based LingLong is owned by Chinese online retailer JD.com - They are currently selling the DingDong for 698 yuan  which is $100.

The device can communicate with 95% of the China's population, Beijing Linglong told Wired.

The DingDong also offers English lessons for children

Like Echo and Home, it can be used to control and automate smart home functions including light control, heating and home appliances. Like its rivals, it can also search the internet, traffic and weather information, directions, online shopping, and music streaming.

So far, customers primarily use the DingDong for music, drawing on a library of about 3 million songs. The limited feature set won’t change without far broader third-party support. “Echo is really great in this area,” Liu said. “[We have] 10 services like that, but Amazon announced that they have 4,000. It’s really a big gap.” To close that gap, the company recently made a voice service platform available to developers, and is offering tech support and other incentives to bring them aboard.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-38074089

Wanted - Your old PC - Phuket, Thailand

Have you got an old PC (under 5-6 years old) gathering dust in a cupboard? recently upgraded?

Want to help disadvantaged youth on the island?

We are looking for older PC's as part of a project to recycle them for a local charity, if you have a PC that's unused we'd love to help others to benefit from their use.  

Computers must be from this decade (not like the one pictured here) and either working or easy to fix.

It doesn't matter if they are tatty, we can provide new cases, keyboards, mice and monitors when required. We will also load new Windows O/S.

Please send an email to BenHobbs@H3-Digital.com or drop computers off at our office near the Heroines monument.  We will fix them up and give them a good home for you.

Controlling Lights and Music with voice control

I've been playing around with controlling my home with Amazons Alexa.  I really like the idea of voice control for lights, air-con, TV and turning my music system on and off.

I'm really enjoying it - my wife is just about getting the hang of it but the kids love it and spend half their time trying to get Alexa to say silly stuff or do their homework for them.

Here's a video of it working.

It's very basic at the moment, I can turn on and off or dim all the lights in my home, turn on and off my music system and change the colour of certain bulbs.  Also turns on and off my TV and media centre.

I will look to expand it later, add extra Sonos control for additional zones and skip songs, adjust volume etc...

A Tribe called Quest Sonos Play:5 special

Sonos have just released their limited edition A Tribe Called Quest speaker this month.

Just a few weeks ago, iconic rap group A Tribe Called Quest announced they'd be releasing one last album. And on Friday, November 11th, We Got It From Here, Thank You for Your Service, was released to great excitement from all sides of the music industry. And it seems, the excitement is coming beyond just within the music industry too, and from the audio industry as well, as wireless speaker innovators Sonos got involved with the release too.

Sonos and A Tribe Called Quest partnered up to make 50 custom designed PLAY:5 speakers in honor of their new album. Designed with red, black and green color blocking associated with the group, the speaker also has custom artwork of the album title from artist Richard Prince.,

There is also a special mural in the Sonos New York City store, which was hand painted by Prince himself as well. 

Roth Speakers Unboxing

We were pretty excited to unbox all of the different models of Roth speakers today, there's some videos coming soon of each model being unboxed so you know what to expect when you buy them.

Here's what the speakers look like from Roth Oli RA1's in White and Black to Roth Oli RA2's in black and Roth Oli RA3's in White and Black.

We played them on our Sonos, Nuvo and Reference:Audio systems and they sound fantastic, all of them. The small RA1's you would think it was a much larger speaker, the dynamics and punch are great fun.

Phuket Home Theatre - 100" Home Cinema Screen

Our latest install has us installing a 100" Home Cinema screen in this Phuket villa, the projector is a Sony SXRD one of our favourite projectors.

The projector system at the heart of the VPL-HW45ES is based on Sony’s SXRD technology. delivering Full HD resolution.

Sony has managed to up the VPL-HW45ES’s brightness to 1,800 lumens from the 1,700 lumens of its predecessor. Sony have completely redesigned the internals to deliver improved colour performance and reduced noise levels on this model.  There is a new alignment layer element within Sony’s SXRD chipset that improves contrast and black-level depth by retaining greater light focus and efficiency.

Sonos Tips & Tricks via Pocket-lint

Sonos tips and tricks: Get the most out of your multi-room system.

A great article from Pocket-lint with details of some really great tweeks to your Sonos system, almost all of them work on Sonos in Thailand.

Sonos has one of the strongest multi-room offerings out there. Its speaker line-up is not only plentiful, with several combinations possible, but the platform that controls everything is one of the best out there, if not the best.

If you've opted for Sonos over its competitors, of which there are several, then you've come to the right place. This feature is all about making sure you get the most out of your Sonos system.

Some of these tips and tricks you might already know, but there are bound to be a few that you don't and anything that allows you to listen to your favourite music more easily is a bonus in our book.

Sonos installation tips and tricks

Add another speaker or SUB to your Sonos system
Bought a new speaker or the Sonos SUB and want to add it to your existing system? This is easy. Tap the three lines in the top left corner of the app > Settings > Add a Player or SUB and follow the instructions.

Add a BOOST to your Sonos System
If your Wi-Fi network isn't the strongest and has a couple of weak spots, you may have bought yourself a BOOST to help get a signal in a particular room. To add a BOOST, head to the three lines in the top left corner > Settings > Add a BOOST.

Get the best out of your Sonos speakers
Sonos offers a feature called Trueplay that will tune your speakers according to their surroundings, even if that's in a cupboard. To make sure you get the best sound out of each speaker in your Sonos system, head to the three lines in the top left > Room Settings > Select Room > Trueplay. Make sure you tune all the speakers in your system.

Adjust the EQ to your personal preference
All about that bass, that bass, no treble? No problem, you can adjust the EQ settings for each Sonos speaker you have set up. To do this, head to the three lines in the top left > Settings > Room Settings.

From here, you'll need to select the room that has the speaker or speakers in that you want to adjust, then tap on EQ and slide the bars to suit your preferences.

Change a room name
Changed your office to a bedroom, or moved your Play:1 into the bathroom? That's fine as changing room names in Sonos is simple. Click on the three lines in the top left > Room Settings > Select Room > Room Name.

Create a stereo pair
You can combine two of the same Sonos speaker together in the same room, in order to create left and right speakers of a stereo pair. Whether that's two Play:1s, Play:3s or Play:5s, the stereo pair setting is accessed through Room Settings. 

Click on the three lines in the top left > Room Settings > Select Room > Create Stereo Pair > Follow the instructions.

Make use of your existing Hi-Fi system
Investing in Sonos doesn't mean your existing Hi-Fi system has to become redundant. The Sonos Connect has analogue, optical and coaxial digital audio outputs, as well as a line-in, allowing you to connect any device you want, from a turntable to a DAC.

There is also the Connect:Amp available in the Sonos range that features an RCA line-in and a subwoofer line-out, providing a streaming upgrade for your favourite stand-alone speakers.
Make sure your Sonos system is always running the latest software
Sonos delivers regular software updates, some of which are small, others of which are more significant, like Spotify Connect compatibility. Running the latest software means you'll get the best experience from your Sonos speakers so it's a good idea to set your system up to automatically check for updates.

Click on the three lines in the top left > Settings > Advanced Settings > Toggle on Auto Check for Updates.

Override audio compression settings
Sonos presets the best audio compression for player Line-In and Sonos DOCK but it can be overridden to be uncompressed or compressed. To do this, head to the three lines in the top left > Settings > Advanced Settings > Audio Compression > Select desired setting.

Reset Controller
If you want to disassociate a smartphone or tablet from one Sonos setup and reconnect it to a separate Sonos system, you can use the reset controller option. Tap on the three lines in the top left of the app > Settings > Advanced Settings > Reset Controller > Reset.

Turn off your usage data
Sonos collects information on how you use your Sonos system. It doesn't give it to third parties but if you'd still rather keep your usage data private, you can turn it off. Click on the three lines in the top left of the app > Settings > Advanced Settings > Usage Data > Toggle off.

Turn the LED light off
If you have a Sonos speaker on your bedside table or in your bedroom and you've chosen to play music to send you to sleep, you might not want the LED light on.

To turn it off, click on the three lines in the top left of the app > Settings > Room Settings > Select the room you want your speaker light off > Toggle off White Indicator Light.

Double tap to skip
The play/pause button on your Sonos speaker doesn't just play and pause songs. Double tap it and you'll be able to skip to the next track, without opening the app.

If you have the new Sonos Play:5, a swipe left will play the previous track, while a swipe right will skip forward to the next one.

Mute a single speaker
A long press of the play/pause button will mute the speaker you are pressing it on so you can take a phone call in your office, but still have the music playing in your living room, for example.

Disable the swipe functionality on the Play:5
For those of you with the new Play:5 and kids or cats who like to touch it or climb on the controls, you can disable the swipe functionality.

To do this, hold down the pair button for 10 seconds when the speaker is fully booted to disable the swipe interface. You'll then press it once to leave it in that state.

Skip tracks on your smartwatch or lock screen
An update to the Sonos software earlier in 2016 means you can now skip tracks, as well as pause and play directly from your lock screen, and wrist if you have a smartwatch connected to your smartphone.

It is available on both Android Wear and Apple Watch smartwatches, using your phone's lock screen controls to present you with the functionality on your wrist.

Use 3D Touch to play last song or radio station
For those with an iPhone 6S or newer, the Sonos app works with 3D Touch, Apple's version of a touch sensitive display that presents different features to you based on the force with which you press.

A long hard press on the Sonos app icon will allow you to pause or play the most recent track you were listening to without opening the app first. You'll also be able to launch Favourites or Search

more at the complete article at

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/139397-sonos-tips-and-tricks-get-the-most-out-of-your-multi-room-system

Home Cinema configuration & final setup

Today we are at one of our recently completed home cinemas in Phuket to do a final setup and  configuration.  Featuring a 120" motorised drop down screen and a Panasonic 1080p Projector and a Klipsch Surround Sound System all controlled by a new harmony Elite all in one remote.

Home Cinema Red levels

Home Cinema Green levels

Home Cinema Blue levels

The projector levels were actually all very good out of the box so there wasn't much to change, I used an old favourite of mine the Joe Kane Digital Video Essentials DVD to setup as currently they are mostly watching DVD's until they build their Blu Ray library up.

 Purple levels even?

Colour Levels

Home Cinema test pattern

It's a great cinema, I'm looking forward to the owners watching some amazing movies on it in the future.

Legrand launch ELIoT

Legrand North and Central America, an innovation leader in power, light and data technologies for homes, workplaces and data centers, today launched ELIOT, a groundbreaking IoT program that advances connectivity and intelligence in the Built Environment and enhances value in the use of connected products. Legrand is joined by partners Amazon Alexa, Samsung and Cisco in launching ELIOT, which offers a purpose-built cloud, gateways for installed legacy offerings, an array of natively-connected new products, and innovative solutions comprising connected, intelligent technologies and services.

Engineered specifically for the Built Environment with end users from the consumer domain and partners from the professional community in mind, Legrand’s ELIOT program advances both the technology and the IoT experience.

According to John Selldorff, Chief Executive Officer of Legrand North and Central America, Legrand’s deep expertise in manufacturing products that are integrated with building infrastructures, coupled with its understanding of how electrical technologies are purchased, deployed and used, improves the experience with the Built Environment.

“There is permanence to the work of our partners in the architectural, design, engineering and IT communities, so when they wish to create a space — a home, workplace or data center — they consider how it will be enjoyed today, and used tomorrow. They consider its impact, inside and out, on the community at large,” Selldorff said today.

“At Legrand, we have the technologies to facilitate better connectivity and intelligence that enable enhanced productivity, efficiency, comfort and sustainability. ELIOT aggregates these technologies and signals our intent to assure the market that Legrand will continue to advance connectivity and intelligence in the Built Environment,” Selldorff continued.

Echoing this sentiment, Stephen Schoffstall, Chief Marketing Officer of Legrand North and Central America, said, “Legrand is built in, not simply plugged in. This distinction is critical when you consider that ELIOT is an expression of Legrand’s determination to evolve the experience of living, working and operating in buildings - and to minimize the impact those buildings will have on the environment.”

“The success of IoT requires proximity to both the people who will use IoT devices and services, and to the power and data connectivity that will enable those IoT devices and services,” Schoffstall continued. “Electrical real estate where people live and work is fundamental to the success of IoT. Legrand and our partners are optimally positioned to flip the IoT switch on electrical real-estate and transform spaces into highly connected, highly efficient and autonomous environments.”

As of November 2016, there are over 22 million Legrand connection points already in existence. Annual sales of Legrand connected devices are over $350M in 2015, up 34 percent since 2014. Legrand is targeting double-digit average annual sales growth for connected products by 2020 and doubling the number of connected product families from 20 in 2014 to 40 in 2020. Legrand has an existing footprint in most North American homes and buildings that includes intelligent Power Distribution Units (PDU) and Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems from its Raritan, Middle Atlantic and Racklink brands, robust wireless networking from Legrand’s Luxul brand, Wattstopper residential and commercial lighting control systems, multi-room audio from Nuvo, and Intuity home automation.

“Advanced connectivity and the application of practical but progressive smart building strategies will transform the spaces in which people live and work,” Selldorff continued. “ELIOT brings us closer to a world where residential and commercial buildings will be smarter and better connected, easier to design and build, and deliver simpler yet more productive occupant experiences.”

https://www.legrand.us/aboutus/press-room/news/2016-legrand-releases/lna-launches-eliot-program