April 7, 2007

[](https://eecue.com/p/30915/My--Location-.html) I was randomly surfing the internet and I came across [this website](http://www.ip-adress.com/) which gave me some information about my IP address. I zoomed in on the google map, and according to their data, I am blogging from a cemetery. I would have thought that the location shown would have been my ISP (Speakeasy), but I guess not. Maybe my loft was built atop an ancient burial ground and soon zombies will be rising from my pool, or lack thereof. OMG, are those Zombies‽ **Update** I missed the best part, according to their website, they are the "most accurate IP Address locator." I would hate to see the [least accurate locator](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=united+states&layer=&ie=UTF8&z=3&om=1).

This blog post is a reminder to myself to use the [interrobang](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interrobang) (‽ in html) more often in my writing. Heck yeah‽

After many years of using X10 products to control various aspects of my house (apartment actually) I ended up stowing them all in a large box several years ago and eventually selling them all on eBay right before my wedding. I decided some time ago to start over with [Insteon](http://www.insteon.net/) products, I'm glad I waited a couple years for V2 stuff to come out, as from what I've read they fixed some annoying issues. So here is what I bought: * 2 x dimmer switches - $40 2876DB * 1 x control panel switch - $70 2486D * 1 x appliance module - $35 2456S3 * 1 x usb control module - $70 2414U * 1 x tabletop control module - $35 2430 * 1 x 3 prong dimmer module - $35 2456D3 As you can see I didn't buy any RF extenders, which was my bad, I figured they were only for large houses, and as I live in a fairly small loft I didn't think I would have any issues. For some reason I thought every module had an RF transmitter in it, obviously I was wrong, but luckily 90% of my loft is on one phase so most everything works. I will be ordering a few more lamp modules and a pair of the RF extenders on Monday. Unfortunately the ICON on/off switch was DOA so I'll have to return that, hopefully it won't be a painful process. The only issues I have so far is that the table top remote control, the Smartlinc puts out a really annoying high pitched whine. My wife couldn't hear it, but I can hear it quite clearly. It wouldn't be an issue, but I am using the control on my nightstand. I will talk to [SmartHome](http://www.smarthome.com/_/index.aspx) about it on Monday when I call to return my faulty switch. We are an Apple and FreeBSD based household, so currently I am using [Indigo 2](http://www.perceptiveautomation.com/indigo/index.html) in demo mode, I will probably buy it, although it is quite expensive at $180. When I had an X10 setup I controlled everything via my FreeBSD server using some custom scripts with a php frontend. I see that there are some linux drivers, but nothing for FreeBSD as of yet. Indigo is packed full of features, and is server / client based so it may work for me. Obviously Insteon is leaps and bounds better than X10 and so far both my wife and I are very happy with it. She especially loves the romance mode I programmed.