Thinking Home Features
Storage of events and responders in the controller |
Using Thinking Home you can store events and responders in supported controllers; then turn off the Mac if you want to. The controller’s description in Thinking Home’s Gadget Guide will tell you whether or not you can store events and responders. |
Setup Assistant |
Thinking Home’s Setup Assistant can save time by automating some setup tasks. The Setup Assistant can import information from other programs (such as Thinking Home v1, Indigo, and CP290 Director X), set up a controller, and discover the devices linked to an INSTEON controller. |
Gadget Guide |
Thinking Home’s Gadget Guide is an excellent resource for those seeking detailed information about scores of gadgets used in home automation. Here you can see what it looks like, capabilities, compatibility, where to shop, and more. |
Speech recognition and announcements |
With a simple checkbox preference, Thinking Home will obey voice commands to operate INSTEON and X-10 devices. Thinking Home can also make announcements at scheduled times or when triggered. For example, you could set up Thinking Home to announce “The garage door opened.” when someone opens the garage door. The Event Info and Responder Info windows both offer these announcements. |
Support of web server access |
Thinking Home uses Apple’s built-in Personal Web Sharing to let web browsers access Thinking Home. Once you have enabled this feature with the checkbox in the Preferences, you can load a page in your web browser to operate your devices. Details and Examples are provided. Thinking Home gets the request and performs the action. |
Desktop Remote |
Desktop Remote is a Contextual Menu Item that enables you to control your INSTEON and X-10 devices directly from the Finder without running Thinking Home. To use it, select the checkbox in the Preferences window. |
Sherlock plug-in |
The Sherlock plug-in searches the Home Automation forums and wikis. The forums and wikis are very active and have answers to just about any INSTEON or X-10 question — from shopping advice to technical details. To use it, press the “Sherlock” button in the Preferences window. |
Multiple controllers |
While most people use only one controller, you can have more than one controller; for example, one in the shed and one in the house or they may have more events than one controller can store. |
Logging |
Thinking Home includes sophisticated logging with options available in the Logging tab of the General Preferences window. You can log actions sent, events reported, problems with controllers and devices, and resolutions of problems with controllers and devices. The Log Window shows the text of the log and has a search option. |
Run Applescript and other scripts |
Thinking Home supports execution of AppleScript and other kinds of scripts such as UNIX shell scripts, Python, Perl, PHP and Ruby. Edit scripts in Thinking Home’s basic script editor or open a separate script file using your favorite script editor (set in the Preferences Window. |