X10 Xmas Light Control with Pan and Zoom

zzxc writes "Last year, slashdot mentioned Alek Komarnitsky's 2002 Christmas Light display with the ability to turn ON and OFF each zone of lights. This year, he has added the ability to pan and zoom the camera in the web control, which works from 5-12 MST. You can select zoom from 1-5x, pan horizontally and vertically by selecting the angle, as well as turn each zone of lights ON or OFF. He also has sensors that tell you the current temperature, humidity, if it detects stars (vs clouds), and more. However after last year's 22,000 web controlled lights, he's "burnt out", putting up less than 4,000 lights. Last year, his lights pulled 78.6 amps of current. This year, he is only pulling about 14.7 amps. Also, last year his home T1 line was completely saturated by all the press attention. This year, he's ready. (Note that this is not referring to X10 wireless video cameras, but to power control devices using the x10 protocol.)"

Obligatory

[jargoone]

I didn't see the answer to the question everyone is asking: can you pan far enough to see the girl in the bikini by the pool?

hahaha

[fastidious edward]

"The localtime is 1154 - the webcam/webcontrol will be operational in 5 hours, 6 minutes" [komar.org]. Come back later.

Re:THIS WAS MODDED FUNNY

[DAldredge]

That isn't a low UID

Re:Obligatory

[Walt Dismal]

Not only can you, but the X10 CT-9000 Surveillance Christmas Tree makes a perfect gift for the hormone-impaired.

Re:Obligatory

[drinkypoo]

He lives in Colorado. It's Christmastime. The girl in the bikini by the pool has frozen solid. Unless you're a necrophiliac, there's not much for you here, though she is nearly naked, and petrified.

Gotta Love his Javascript popup for that link

[coolmacdude]

"Incoming Slashdot`er - Maximum Power to Web Server!"

Re:Gotta Love his Javascript popup for that link

[Joe U]

I liked the Javascript, but I didn't think much for his perl script though:

IP Address to Country Demonstration
Your Country Capital : Canberra
Your Country Code : AU
Your Country Currency : Australian dollar
Your Country Name : Australia
Your Country Region : Oceania
Your Hostname : 24-193-145-xxx.nyc.rr.com
Your IP Address : 024.193.145.xxx
Your Previous URL : http://www.komar.org/cgi-bin/xmas_webcam
Your Timezone : EST - Daylight Saving Time IS observed

New Y

Re:Gotta Love his Javascript popup for that link

[Midnight Thunder]

Given (xxx added):

Toronto-HSE-ppp3776xxx.sympatico.ca

I get told I am in the USA :(

Re:Gotta Love his Javascript popup for that link

[dorsey]

That script sucks. Given that my hostname identifies my state and metropolitan area (I have roadrunner) it still can't figure out that I'm in the US. Weak.

Hit the site

[The Tyro]

Love the "Incoming Slashdotter, Maximum power" message!

"The #1 non-adult related webcam!

[192939495969798999]

Making it 10 trillionth overall" - Simpsons.
Seriously, though, I'd bet that this site would do really well if on xmas eve, santa showed up and deposited presents, and then did a pole dance or something.

Re:"The #1 non-adult related webcam!

[donkeyoverlord]

santa showed up and deposited presents, and then did a pole dance or something.

If fat men in red suits depositing presents does it for you this quick google search is my present to you Santa Porn!!! [google.com]

Gratuitous linkage

[kevcol]

Do [do.com] we [we.com] need [need.com] a [a.com] link [link.com] to [to.com] everything [everything.com] that [that.com] caught [caught.com] the [the.com] posters [posters.com] eye [eye.com] ? [questionmark.com]

Re:Gratuitous linkage

[donkeyoverlord]

Not a single pr0n link in the entire message... CRAP!

Re:Gratuitous linkage

[kevcol]

Argh! I started with that, then I just changed to linking every single word to the .com equivilent.

Well donkeyoverlord [slashdot.org], not that you mention it, I've got HOT pr0n just for YOU! [localhost.nl]

Now you've done it!

[atrader42]

You've gone and slashdotted the most common words in the english language! Now what are we going to do?

Re:Now you've done it!

[Anonymous Coward]

Continue as before - spell badly ;)

Who cares?

[i_am_syco]

What's the big deal? What was wrong with the good, old-fashioned throw-some-lights-in-the-bushes-and-in-the-gutters light scheme? Now, everyone's house either looks like the front yard of a church or a disco roller-arena from the 70s. Its John Travolta meets Jesus.

Re:Who cares?

[Treacle Treatment]

Looking forward to hearing...

Atomic Jesus
Boogie Promised Land
Holy Stuff
Jesus Christ Super Freak
You Holy Thing
etc...

Re:Who cares?

[modpod]

you gotta admit though, it's geeky, and it's cool. now what i think would be even better, is if you could interact on some sort of basis with the dog.

Hehehe....

[Anonymous Coward]

This year, he's ready.

Do I hear a challenge?

Re:Hehehe....

[notanatheist]

Also of note.. on the site he mentions "when/if the Slashdot crowd comes..." Yup, that's asking for it. I think the article should be reposted when the lights are active. Heck, post it daily until the lights are down. What's Slashdot without a good dupe?

Yesam, and it looks like that brand spanking new

[Crasoum]

server is getting a pretty bad spanking.

Musta been naughty.

questions i gotta ask

[morganjharvey]

Isn't this a little dangerous? I mean, putting all that light out there, couldn't an airplane mistake his house for a runway?

And who pays this guy's electricity bill?

So what if I'm jealous. Let me be bitter. :)

Re:questions i gotta ask

[zangdesign]

couldn't an airplane mistake his house for a runway?

We can only hope.

-- The Grinch

Re:questions i gotta ask

[Treacle Treatment]

This happened to me last Christmas when I decided to light the entire driveway and use the PC to switch the lights on and off. Imagine my suprise when a C-130 tried to taxi into my garage!

At least last year

[The Tyro]

this light orgy was powered by wind power (not generated by him, I gathered... he still had to pay for it).

At least he's throwing a bone to the Enviro types... who apparently numbered exactly one. That's right... one person challenged him to put the display on wind power and sent him a check... and he was the only one to actually send money [komar.org]

At least there's one guy out there willing to back up his environmental beliefs with cash...

Children

[Treacle Treatment]

It appears his children were born upside down. I think doing the Christmas light is his way of coping with the pain and anguish.

X10 Camera Linux Drivers

[Anonymous Coward]

I did the same sort of thing. Hooked up the x10 and had the little cracker control a power module. Used the php x10 stuff and people could turn off the camera at will.

The driver which I help write is working under linux. The controls of the camera are not working right now (Porting driver to 2.6.0 kernel).

I did not get enough sleep, people would keep turning on and off the camera. Click, Click and Click all night. 8*)

If anyone would like to help/patch or use their x10 cameras here is the link:

http://www.emuit.com/webcam.html

And don't forget the other guy..

[wackybrit]

There was another guy who set up webcams in his house and put all his lights on X10, and allowed people to control them over the web. Thing is, he's STILL doing it, it must have been going for a couple of years now.

This story reminded me of it, so I went back, and he's live on the thing STILL, so well worth checking out.

It's here at DriveMeInsane.com [drivemeinsane.com] (definitely an apt URL).

Actually..

[wackybrit]

It looks like he got rid of most of the gizmos and only has three lights hooked up now. He used to have about 12 sets of lights, and you could also control a remote control car that had a camera on it. I guess that all gets a bit expensive to maintain though. Oh, and you could do the sprinklers, and look at his doorcam.

Re:Actually..

[Restil]

Actually... I just moved and haven't finished setting everything back up yet. I was hoping to have it all done by xmas, but nothing ever goes according to plan.

Don't worry though, in a month it'll be back up to where it was.

-Restil

Question?

[iamdrscience]

Is anybody else wondering why exactly this guy had a T1 line in his house in the first place last year? Furthermore, is anybody else a little disappointed that he didn't decide to upgrade his T1 line to a home T3 line this year instead of paying for hosting?

The wonderous side effects of annoying advertising

[weave]

I hate X10.

I know, I know, it's not just that company that does the annoying pop up ads.

Sorry, whenever I hear X10, it just creates so much rage in me I won't even bother reading the fine article.

Let my lesson be learned by all advertising execs. Annoy your customers enough, the backlash and bad feelings may last forever -- or at least the life of your company.

p.s. SCO could stand to learn a similar lesson.

Re:The wonderous side effects of annoying advertis

[Spoing]

1. Let my lesson be learned by all advertising execs. Annoy your customers enough, the backlash and bad feelings may last forever -- or at least the life of your company.

Agreed. Are there any companies that do the same thing as X10? How are they with Linux support?

Re:The wonderous side effects of annoying advertis

[Turq]

Er, yes, there are several dozen that make 'x10' hardware, x10 is a protocol, not just an irritating company; in fact, the protocol is older than the irritating company.

Re:The wonderous side effects of annoying advertis

[Spoing]

Er, yes, there are several dozen that make 'x10' hardware, x10 is a protocol, not just an irritating company; in fact, the protocol is older than the irritating company.

I wasn't aware of that, so I decided to search for other companies and came up empty; some tech on the protocol and all adverts were to the same X10 company that we all (ahem) "know and love".

Since I'm missing something that should be obvious, please point me to a couple of those other companies.

Re:The wonderous side effects of annoying advertis

[Tmack]

Since none of the replies have yet mentioned the other companies... I use X10 stuff, only the stuff I got from the company before they started their annoying pop-up ads, back when they were basically giving it away (the $50 starter kit w/firecracker, remote and a couple mods cost $8), charging only for shipping. I did get one of their camera packs, as I couldnt find any other company selling similar things cheaply, and honestly, they work well for most stuff, tho their battery powered motion detectors suck

National Lampoon

[pipingguy]

I think many stations are running "Christmas Vacation" [imdb.com] about now. Don't we all secretly want a crude, but well-meaning cousin Eddie to bitchslap the boss and have Beverly D'Angelo cup our balls? And have squirrel attacks from Christmas trees? The squirrel attack was the best part.

Blinkenlights

[DRUNK_BEAR]

This project reminds me of Blinkenlights... This was an awesome project where you could display a small picture/animation/play pong/other on a building using the windows and interior lights as pixels. http://blinkenlights.de/ [blinkenlights.de]

Re:Blinkenlights

[bleeper4]

and it just so happens that both these links (this and www.drivemeinsane.com) are included in the "Other folks who have done nutty stuff like this" link on his website...

All I want for Christmas...

[PetoskeyGuy]

is my own T-3, my own T-3, my own T-3....

So I can have a Merry Christmas.

*sigh*

You better watch out

[Anonymous Coward]

public const bool watch_out = 1;
public const bool cry != CRY;
string why; cout why;
santa.target = "town";
apvector[99] list;
for (x = 0; x list.length(); x++)
{
kid.nice = check(list[x]);
kid.nice = check(list[x]);
if kid.nice == "naughty"
naughty(kid);
if kid.nice == "nice"
nice (kid);

if kid.state == (sleep || awake)
know(kid);
if kid.state == (bad || good)
know(kid);
}

for (x = "goodness sake"); x != ""; x = x)
cout "be good!";

public const bool watch_out = 1;
public const bool cry != CRY;
string why; cout why;
santa.target = "town";

hate to be his neighbor

[sp00]

Talk about light pollution... It'd be like the sun is next door to you.

what's the code to execute program on motion?

[Cryofan]

I have misterhouse running on XP. What I need to play a sound file upon motion detected. I have a ms132 up and running and everytime it picks up motion, the misterhouse GUI prints out a "garage light XA2J is on" notification. I just want to play a sound file everytime that happens....

TIA

Re:what's the code to execute program on motion?

[Tmack]

The code the motion detectors send out is the same as if you hit the "on" button for whatever house+device code they are set for. Set your program to run on that event and it should work.

Tm

Why not use LED based lights?

[colink]

LED based Christmas lights [foreverbright.com] take about 5% of the power of regular bulbs but are a lot more expensive. Given the amount of power that he's drawing, why not switch over?

GEO-location sillyness

[TheTomcat]

"5. Some GEO-location hacks to assess what country you are coming from. Using the Perl Module Geo::IPfree, it is fairly simple to determine what country you are surfing from based on your IP address - try it now! ;-)"

Ok, so I tried it..

Your Country Name : United States
Your Country Region : North America
Your Hostname : modemcable*CUT*.mc.videotron.ca

Odd that a .ca is in the United States, no? (-:

S

Re:GEO-location sillyness

[Krunch]

Temperature is 44.4F ... Looks like no rain in the last hour ... Humidity is 41% ... Pressure is 30.21 inches Hg ... Wind Direction is 346 and averaging 4.8 mph with gusts to 7.6 mph ...

If he can see what is the my country currency, why doesn't he use my country's (and everyone's) system of units [wikipedia.org]. What's wrong with kelvin (or celsius) degree, (hecto)Pascal and ms/s (or km/h) ?

Re:GEO-location sillyness

[mistered]

Yeah, it seems that perl module isn't so hot. Check out hostip.info [hostip.info] for a free IP location service. It seemed decent when I tried it.

They're watching use even on xmas ;)

[DonCarlos]

Has anyone noticed small oval shape above the house's chimney? Seems one got a good time with image processing software ;)