Soni's Technology Advice

Are you longing for a life on the open road? Many American’s share your dream and thus the RV industry still enjoys a steady flow of new converts. However, planning your trip, routing the itinerary, and reserving spaces in the most desired RV parks are also part of the fun and today’s RV enthusiast has many tools to help in this endeavor. Planning a long, multi-stop RV trip can be a daunting task, but with the aid of the RV Trip Wizard, the visual manner of this system reduces this task to a fast, easy and fun method of accomplishing this chore.

The RV Trip Wizard is comprehensive in that it presents over 39,000 campgrounds and other points of interest regardless of affiliation with the publisher. The “Wiz” also takes into consideration that most RV’ers are also members of organization groups that offer various levels of discounts. This system allows the user to list and prioritize their memberships which are then highlighted when the planning process begins.

A preference file is stored with information about the user’s RV size, mileage, and current average fuel cost and also its size requirements. This allows the system to choose the best routes and to compute the estimated trip costs. Because this system was designed by RVers with years of experience, this system offers a revolution in trip planning because it uses technology adapted and licensed by Google. This system is detailed in that it offers information about the type of sites available, hook-up information, recreational facilities available, ratings, prices and much more.

The user can just drag a mouse over visual sites displayed in color for ease of understanding and differentiating on site from another. Once the desired route is chosen, the “Wiz” computes mileage and costs. An unlimited amount of stops and trips can be saved and recalled for later use.

A key function with the “Wiz: is its ability to interface with a GPS system. This system also offers additional websites to give the planner additional information on many possible destinations. It is accessible from all PC’s, MAC’s, tablet computers and smart phones. There is no software to buy, maintain or update. The subscription allows for a 15 day trial period to make sure of your purchase.

Controlling your household has never been easier. Today there is a plethora of gadgets and gizmos available to aid in this daily chore. Technology has definitely come home-literally. With the use of new technology it is now possible to monitor and control your household appliances and setting even while you are traveling or away from home.

The idea of using your smart phone as a remote control for household devices is not a new concept. However, new technologies such as voice-over-IP and signally protocols such as SIP enable new methods of integrating the user interface of a phone with the digital IP infrastructure being deployed in the home. Companies such as IEEE Explore offer new markup language to address the need for a signaling-layer protocol for transmitting user stimulus from low-power, consumer devices such as IP phones to control household consumer devices.

Logitech offers a unique remote control device called the Logitech Harmony 890 Advanced Universal Remote Control. This device can integrate up to 15 different gadgets including lighting and household appliances. It can even control your security alarms throughout the house.

Shopping sites like Smarthome- Home Automation Superstore can assure you are equipped with all the latest in home control technologies. Cameras and security devices are featured along with lighting controls, door locks, intercoms, pet control, sensors, energy saving devices, thermostat and HVAC control and timers and other cool products.

C/net- a digital home DIY company specializes in remote home control on a budget. Savings are generated by the consumer doing the installation and upkeep on the system.

Technology and home control are not new, but expect vast strides in this emerging market.

When solar panels were first made available to the general public they were so expensive that it made very little sense to seriously consider adding them to your home. Going green is becoming more and more popular. As technology has evolved and production methods have been refined, solar panels are becoming much more cost effective. In many areas there are federal and state solar tax incentives for purchasing solar panels as well. Installing solar panels used to have a payoff for a homeowner within 20 years and today with the right incentives it can be about 8 years. I can see why most homeowners weren’t jumping on the bandwagon when it was taking 20 years to reap the financial benefits of going green. At 8 years it is something to start thinking about.

if you are a homeowner you need to consider a few things before you decide to purchase solar panels. The first thing that you need to consider is the length of time that you plan on staying in your home. If you plan on staying in your home longer than 8 years, then your should definitely take it into consideration. If you think there is a possibility of moving there is a chance that your house won’t appreciate in value enough to cover the expense of installing the panels. Another thing that you should consider is if there are reputable installation and service companies in your area. If you don’t have an experienced company doing the installation, you could have problems down the road. For the investment that you would be putting into it, you would want it to operate correctly. Also, everything is bound to need servicing at times. Things do break just like any other household or electrical item. You want to be sure that there is at least one company in your area that can service your solar panels. I hope that someday solar panels become so cost effective that they can become a standard feature on new built homes.

The International Consumer Electronics Show announced that it had a record attendance for it’s 2012 show in Las Vegas. There were 153,000 people attending including more than 34,000 international visitors. The attendees included business executives from nearly every industry as well as government. Several attendees we just technology enthusiasts that just wanted to get a glimpse at the latest and greatest gadgets around. There were 3,100 exhibitors on hand showing off their new products covering over 1.8 million square feet of exhibit space. During the show over 20,000 new products were launched with many ready to be in stores for purchase this fall or sooner. Some of the new products launched were ultrabooks, OLED TVs, Android 4.0 tablets, next generation smartphones and 3D printers. The 2012 CES was the largest in the 44 year history of the show.