Hartsco in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | Automation service

Hartsco

Locality: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Phone: +61 3 9020 2043

Address: Level 17, 31 Queen Street 3000 Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Website: http://home-automation.hartsco.com/

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25.01.2022 Considering the 3D post I made last week generated a fair amount of interest, this was just too cool to not make a follow up post :) Now, whilst I won’t guarantee you can print custom body parts to order just yet, I can tell you that you can print your own rocket engine (or at least part of it). NASA recently issued a press release to advise that they had successfully fired up rocket engine that included a 3D printed injector. The rocket injector is not that dissimilar to ...the fuel injector in your car, just that it mixes liquid oxygen and hydrogen on its way to making 20,000 pounds of thrust. Not that it translates directly to HP, but that’s roughly equivalent to taking one typical Victorian bus fully loaded with passengers, hooking up a tow rope to two more fully loaded buses and accelerating from the lights (at the freeway) to 100 kph in under one second !! FAST! So there you go, I get the feeling that 3D printers will be common place in everyone’s homes soon enough. Check out the article and video here: http://www.nasa.gov///sls/3d-printed-rocket-injector.html and give this post a like if you’re hankering for some personal rocket power of your own ;)

22.01.2022 Wear your heart on your sleeve or its output perhaps. Biometrics and wearable tech, three very cool words to sit side by side and becoming more of a reality day by day. You may remember me talking about the Basis health tracker previously (scroll down for the post if you don’t) which is an awesome multi-sensor wrist watch device. However, if you were after something a little more subtle or already have a favourite watch you don’t want to replace, a new start-up has released ...the world’s first ever collection of Biometric Smartwear. The company is called OM Signal and they currently have a catalogue of men’s fitness shirts available for pre-order with a Women’s line coming soon. In short, it looks to be similar to the chest strap theory of monitoring, except it is woven into the shirt itself with a plug on Bluetooth module that sends the data to your smart device. Whilst the module seems that it would be a little inconvenient, this design of tracker brings some obvious benefits including a large range of monitoring inputs and less likelihood of incorrect readings due to an ill-fitting wrist band. It also heralds the technology going main stream which means it won’t be long before those Bluetooth modules are miniscule or the tech is woven completely into the material. As it stands now, it’s still an awesome solution for multi sensor tracking during your next gym visit, especially if you are a little fed up with having to manually enter work-out details into a tracker app on your phone. The shirts are around the $100 US and you will also need to by a Bluetooth transmitter which is interchangeable between shirts. Have a look at the below video for a showcase of what how they envisage the product can be used (a little cheesy, but the concepts are great!) and check out their website at: http://www.omsignal.com/ for more information and to place your orders. Are you a fitness junkie who has been waiting for the ultimate tracker, let me know in the comments below and please share this post with anyone you think would enjoy some wearable tech.

20.01.2022 Good infographic on some of the safety and security features available through Z-Wave home automation

19.01.2022 Happy New Year everyone. 2015 is already shaping up to be a big year with Hartsco attending CES 2015 in Las Vegas on January 6th to 9th. We are going to have a look at all the latest technology offerings that are hitting shelves this year including some great home automation initiatives and advancements in the Internet of Things to bring back home to Australia.... So watch this space for some cool tech that you could be making use of this year.

18.01.2022 New blog post on the Amazon Echo over at the home-automation.hartsco.com website.

18.01.2022 Where to Johnny Cab? I have been talking with friends recently about the advent of car driver aids such as brake assist and adaptive cruise control and how we are quickly heading towards fully autonomous cars. What some of you may not be aware of is that this tech has been around for quite some time (circa 1977) and it looks like it may be getting closer to an everyday consumer reality. Back in 2004 (yes, 10 years is an eon in the tech world), the Defence Advanced Research P...rojects Agency (DARPA) in America held a grand challenge for autonomous vehicles on a 240km off-road course. Fast forward 10 years and the developers of the 2005 winning car has morphed into the Google car that you may have seen about the place snapping photographs for Google maps street view. What you also may not have realised, is that a number of those Google street view car’s, drive themselves! Google have advised that as of April 2014, their autonomous cars have travelled 1.1 MILLION KM’s of which there have only been two incidents, one whilst being driven manually at Google headquarters, another whilst stationary at a set of lights and being rear-ended, pretty damn impressive if you ask me. To bring this closer to home, I came across this very cool video from Hyundai who are promoting some of their cars current driver aids. Have a look and you can see why this is a very exciting time in history. Bring it on, I can’t wait! Do you think being driven home from the pub on a Friday night by your car is a good idea? Leave a comment below and let me know how you’d make use of an autonomous car (no I, Robot references please :) )

15.01.2022 One thing can certainly can be said for maintaining standards in the tech world. I’ve been frustrated with Apple’s decision to date not to increase the size of their phone offerings, however, what it has meant is that there are always a plethora of accessories available. Same can be said for the iPad and iPad mini and all you budding directors and movie makers now have a new tool to help make that perfect flick. The iOgrapher is your classic lounge room start up helped a...long its way via a Kickstarter campaign. This is a very handy (yes, it has handles) holder for your iPad mini that makes it easier for you to take video. With three cold shoe mounts for things like external lights and boom microphones and a threaded lens mount, it is a beautifully simple and practical design. Priced at $65 US with international shipping, it is well worth a look in. Check the link out here: http://iographer.myshopify.com/ and let me know if this is something you could see yourself using.

14.01.2022 Sonos special on the PLAY:1 speakers for July only at Hartsco. Read more on the home-automation.hartsco.com website.

13.01.2022 New blog post on the NBN and making sure you're ready. Read more on the home-automation.hartsco.com website

11.01.2022 CHEAP SONOS FOR CHRISTMAS!! Hi all, it’s been a little while since you’ve heard from us, but rest assured there has been LOTS happening with some exiting Home Automation news coming in the new year from Hartsco. In the meantime though, I thought I’d let you know about a great Christmas offer from Sonos. Purchase any Sonos PLAY:1, PLAY:3, PLAY:5 or PLAYBAR before the 31st of December and you get a free 12 month Preimum+ Deezer subscription which gives you access to over 35 mil...lion tracks (yep!) of streaming music for an entire year. I’m sure there’s even a few Christmas songs in there to enjoy. Hartsco also have a range of specifically designed wall mounts for the Sonos range to get those speakers high and mighty and some very cool color skins to turn those black or white speakers into something a bit more fun (think pink/yellow/blue/red/purple). Remember - Hartsco have better than retail prices on the full Sonos range, including wall mounts and skins but get in quick to makes sure we have you covered for Christmas. Drop us a line here or via [email protected]

11.01.2022 Vertical for the win! Hi Mac heads, most of you are probably already aware of a vertical dock solution from a company called Henge Docks, who just over four years ago released an extremely cool and effective docking solution for your MacBook (yes, no..?) Well up until now, those of you with more recent retina display MacBook’s have been left out in the cold - but chill no longer. Henge Docks have just release their new all aluminium vertical dock and it is well worth a look.... For those of you that aren’t sure just what this is, it’s a stand that has all of the various connections for your MacBook integrated into it. You walk up to the dock, slide your Mac Book down into the opening and bamm, it’s charging, connected to your network, external monitor, keyboard, external hard drive, etc.. etc.. When you need to run out, just grab it and go neato! I have used one of their earlier products and as the box says (or should if it doesn’t), simple, elegant and just darn works. If reclaiming space and keeping things neat is on your priority list - then head over to http://hengedocks.com/ and have a look at their range. Their MacBook Pro Retina vertical dock is just $119 USD for the metal finish and $89 USD for the original glossy white and they ship internationally. If you have used one of these before or are going to purchase one now (or just think they're cool), let me know what you think in the comments below.

10.01.2022 So the new iPhone 5S has been released and one of the big talking points is the fingerprint reader that is integrated into the home button. This gives you the ability to quickly unlock your phone without the need of entering a pin code I love the idea. Unfortunately, it has already been hacked, just two days after the official release of the phone! In short, you can take a high resolution digital photo of a person’s fingerprint that has been left behind on a glass or some... such object, print it out on a piece of paper and then smear some latex over the top to make a workable copy of the print. Fingerprint scanners and their vulnerabilities are nothing new and even the four digit pass code most of us use is easily hacked so don’t throw out that Apple device just yet. However, do take some advice and don’t link the finger print reader into your iTunes account or any other account that is linked to your bank accounts or credit cards. The convenience of the fingerprint reader is great and is a step in the right direction for the ongoing integration of biometric readers into everyday objects (so I greatly applauded it), but please be careful and be aware that it does have its vulnerabilities. Do you have the new iPhone yet? Would love to hear what you think of it and if you’re using the fingerprint reader leave me a comment below.

10.01.2022 In case you’re -not- a computer history buff (no I’m not saying my geek goes that far), you may not have realised that the first computer mouse was invented way back in 1965 and patented in 1970. Now that might not seem that long ago, but in technology terms it’s an eon. Sure, there’s been some remodeling done along the way and even some notable attempts to replace the mouse, but we all still have one, yes? With the advent of smart phones and tablets with their touch scr...een interfaces however, the public really has started to think about (and utilise) different ways of interacting with their tech Queue Leap Motion. Leap Motion have brought to market a small ‘pack of gum’ size hardware device that plugs into your computer and lets you control it with a wave of your hand awesome! Based along the same lines as the amazingly successful Xbox Kinect, the Leap Motion boasts tracking sensitivity down to 1/1000th of a millimeter, so it can pinpoint the end of a pencil you can use to draw a picture with in thin air! Launched at the end of July, it is still early days, and software companies are busy writing new content for. As such, most of what’s available is game based with some (to be expected) flying around the globe with Google Earth but I have high hopes. I don’t mind continuing to use a keyboard and even a mouse as long as I could make a gesture above my keyboard to open an application or swap between them, THAT will be cool enough for me. though who am I kidding, I've bought one anyway :) And yes.. I’m hanging out for that Minority Report style computer interaction 'cause that brings it one step closer to Tony Stark OK! Available for sale direct from their website for around $100 US delivered too good an opportunity to miss (for me at least) https://www.leapmotion.com/

08.01.2022 I remember when VHS tapes first came out (Just) and how everyone predicted the end of the movie cinema. Pretty sure I remember it again when big screen TV’s and downloadable media first hit the scene... and again, it survived. Perhaps the reason was because we’ve always been trying to duplicate something that we’ll never quite get to without basically building another cinema (think 40 speakers and a screen 18 meters x 15 meters) Perhaps we need something more than our local ...cinema can give us to keep us at home so I bring you D-Box. D-Box have been manufacturing a range of motion-systems (moving chairs) for industrial and commercial simulation industries since 1998. More recently, they have produced systems for both the commercial and home cinema. The way this works is that a D-Box chair is coupled with a control box and a custom designed motion effects soundtrack for a specific movie. You jump in the seat, start the movie and the chair moves and vibrates along with the action. If you’re too attached to your favourite chair or couch, no problem, D-Box also provide motion platforms that can be placed under your existing furniture to give you the same effect. With a movie database already in excess of 1000 titles and growing, you’ll have plenty of content to watch, however, these systems aren’t particularly cheap. Starting at around $7,000 US a chair (plus the control boxes) we may need to save up for a while, but definitely have a place in that dream home theatre setup. *sigh You can read some more about it here: http://www.d-box.com/en/consumer/home_products Can you see yourself rocking some of these chairs or have actually had a sit in some - let me know all about it in the comments below.

08.01.2022 Hartsco are in this weekends Herald Sun Home Magazine talking about Home Automation.Read more on the home-automation.hartsco.com website

07.01.2022 New blog post on home automation systems and what they mean for you at the home-automation.hartsco.com website.

07.01.2022 I’m feeling a bit peckish just might wander over to the food replicator and make me up some hot chips Star Trek style. Hmmm. It’s a nice thought, but unfortunately the geek’averse is lagging a bit behind on that one. What you CAN do though, is print yourself up the chips bucket that they’ll go into and a fork to help eat them! Welcome to 3D printing. Yep, it’s real and it’s actually quite affordable. The basic process involves printing layers of material (e.g. PLA wh...ich is a bio degradable plastic) one on top of the other until you build up a 3D model of something. Previously restricted to industrial applications as 3D printers are generally BIG and EXPENSIVE, printrbot are bringing it to the masses via starter kits from $299 US nice! This is not for the faint hearted as the $299 kit comes unassembled ($100 more and they’ll put it together) and even once it’s assembled, you will need to be able to navigate and manage 3D object software. However, like most things a healthy geek and a bit of perseverance and you’ll be swapping out household items for plastic reproductions in no time. Check out printrbot at: http://printrbot.com/ and also Thingverse http://www.thingiverse.com/ which has HEAPS of 3D image files you can download and print without having to build your own models straight away (you didn't think I’d give you an out did you ;) ) So, if you have a geek at home that you don’t want to see for a couple of weeks get the unassembled kit and I guarantee the first thing they print will be something for you :) and before you ask.. yes.. you can even buy a 3D printer that will print a 3D printer don’t ask me which one came first!

06.01.2022 Hartsco are happy to announce that our online shop is now up and running at http://hartsco.com/index.php/shopmain. For the moment, we have listed the full range of Sonos products at some VERY good prices, but will be adding new items soon. We are also offering free shipping Australia wide - so the prices you see on the site are all you need to pay. Please have a look and share this link with all your friends for a great deal on some great technology http://hartsco.com/index.php/shopmain

05.01.2022 Hi everyone and welcome to the new year (financial new year of course), hope you all made use of the sales about the place. Has been a little quiet here of late the Hartsco Facebook page, but that is about to change. So get out your geek card and keep eye on Hartsco for the latest cool tech I can find.

03.01.2022 Hi everyone, very excited to announce that Hartsco are now official SONOS dealers yeah ! If you haven’t heard of Sonos, listen up ;) In a nutshell, they are wireless speakers that you can place in your house/office/wherever and stream music to. That’s stream music from just about anything. Music stored on your iPod/phone/tablet/pc/NAS (big hard drive thing attached to your home network) internet radio, iTunes, Pandora, Deezer, Spotify (it goes on... and on) What you d...o is connect one Sonos device to your home network (i.e. directly to your WiFi router or a Sonos bridge) and then every other Sonos device connects to that wirelessly and you control it via a free app you download onto your phone (for example). Then you just queue songs and away you go. It doesn't have to be just your phone either. Imagine a BBQ at home where anyone attending can pair to your Sonos speaker system and then add some of their music to the queue to play very cool tech! You can also setup ‘zones’ so you can stream different songs to different rooms or the same song into every room go crazy!! Anyhoo what this means to you is that Hartsco can now sell Sonos gear at better than retail prices. We’re in the middle of getting our online shopping cart up and running so in the meantime, drop me a line for prices and availability. (Actually, Sonos don’t allow online sales so you will need to get in touch irrespective, but we’ll have the full range with prices up at www.hartsco.com soon) For the official pitch (which is very comprehensive) check out www.sonos.com.au and feel free to ask me any questions or get me over for a demonstration at your place no better way to show you how easy these things are to get up and running than having you do it yourself!

02.01.2022 Selfie-arm begone! All you camera buffs out there will know that remote shutters are nothing new. Most of you camera buffs probably distain from the phenomenon that is the selfie (hey, with modern tech you take the good with the bad). What has been somewhat underdeveloped (heh), are remote shutters for your smartphone/smartdevice, but what self-respecting geek would I be if I couldn’t find one for ya’ll. Born out of another successful crowd funding campaign (Indiegogo this t...ime), I bring you the Muku Shuttr. Shuttr is a small push button remote control for your phone camera, which connects via Bluetooth and lets you snap away to your heart’s content from afar. Small and slim, you can hang it from your key chain when not in use and it even comes with a small kick stand so you can angle your phone just right for that perfect dinner party snap. So say no more to that half disappearing arm in a photo and no easy way to compose a great group shot by yourself. It works with all apple products running iOS5 and above and a healthy range of Android devices with no app download required. For the devices that don’t work natively (due to the multitude of different handset manufacturers for android and differences in Bluetooth chipsets used) there is an app you can download. Just be sure to check their website for the list of compatible phones. At $49.99 US with free international shipping this is a great little gadget and well worth a look at: http://www.mukulabs.com/ With a bunch of uses (remote video start for outdoor sports?) let me know what you think in the comments below and please share this post with anyone you think would love a remote selfie.

01.01.2022 My Pebble has shipped :) No, it isn’t a small rock that’s got me geek’d up but rather the smart watch that connects to your phone and brings me one step closer to that Dick Tracy video watch tech all geeks want. For those unaware of the Pebble (think eBook reader on a watch that you can download apps for like your phone), it has the honour of being THE most successful Kickstarter project to date. For those that don’t know about Kickstarter (http://www.kickstarter.com/) it’s... a crowd sourced funding platform for anyone with an idea. The quick breakdown is: Person or persons have a cool idea for something but have no money. They ask the world if they’d be keen in helping out or pre-purchasing said cool idea and if the world says yes bingo! Pebble launched a project campaign to build a Smart Watch back in April 2012 with the hopeful target of raising $100,000 US to tool up and build their wearable tech (told you this wearable tech is going to take over). As one could only wish for, they reached that target in the FIRST TWO HOURS. They then went on a raised a total of 10 MILLION DOLLARS US WOW! So, after a few delays and much anticipation they first batch of watches started shipping earlier this year. You can get on their site and pre-order one for yourself but due to their popularity there is still a wait before you will take delivery (I ordered mine about 3 months ago). It’ll cost you $150 US and you may... get one in time for Christmas for your favorite geek. Check out their site here: http://getpebble.com/ and if you already have yours, add a comment below and let me know what you think.