Ever wonder what modern day pirates would plunder? My guess, given the relative scarcity of dubloons, would be high-tech equipment along the lines of what’s installed on this 92-foot Paragon yacht. I wanted to take a look at one more outrageously equipped sailing vessel and this one really goes overboard (yes I actually said that) – with an incredible 800 pounds of home theater equipment craftily stowed away in custom racks installed above the pilot house. The equipment list is jaw-dropping to say the least.

Designed by ArchiTechKnowlogy Design Group out of Laguna, CA (who coincidentally has one of the strangest websites I’ve ever seen) and installed by Atlantic Stereo, this system’s build began with the yacht’s construction itself. Custom bundles of cables (CAT 5 high-speed data, RG6 video, and Cresnet home control cables) were provided to the boat builders in Taiwanso the system could be completed back home in California. You can read more about the features of the Endless Summer in the article that appeared in Yachting Magazine.

“What made it complex was that the system had to be installed in a tight space,” says systems designer Xeven Zorra of ArchiTechKnowlogy Design Group, whom Atlantic Stereo called in to plan the system.

Kaleidescape technology supplies the music and movies on demand in all four staterooms, the crew quarters, galley, salon and decks. I like the idea of the waterproof Crestron remotes on the deck (it would be tragic to drop a non-waterproof model in the Jacuzzi) and the iPod dock in the salon allows guests to bring their favorite tunes along to the party. Finally, the captain can access the ship’s controls via a Crestron touchpanel in the galley.

Each of the guest staterooms and the crew quarters has a 20-inch widescreen Sharp LCD, with two Sonance Symphony Extreme in-ceiling weatherproof speakers. In the closet of each cabin and on a stainless-steel bracket is an Xbox 360 game console that can be used as a DVD player. The steel bracket also supports a Crestron Cat-5 room solution box hidden behind the closet wall; it receives the audio/video signals over Cat 5 wire from the central racks. The master stateroom features a surround-sound system with a 42-inch Fujitsu plasma.

Absolutely ridonculous! Check out the insane Equipment List:

Whole-Boat System
Crestron TMPMC-17CH-L17-inxh widescreen HD touchpanel
Crestron Pro2 controller
Crestron CNT-Block connecting blocks (3)
Crestron C2ENET-1 LAN card
Crestron BIPAD8 audio switch
Crestron PAD8 audio switch
Crestron C2N-TFM FM tuner
Crestron C2N-TXM XM tuner
Crestron PVID8x4 video switch
Crestron PBVR4 and PBAR4 balanced line A/V receivers
Crestron RMC-LVRoom solution boxes (8)
Crestron CEN-iDOCs (2)
Crestron ST-PC power controllers (3)
Crestron C2N-PWS75 power supplies (4)
Crestron CNX-AMPX16 x 60 power amplifiers (2)
DirecTV HR10-250 HD SATDVRs (3)
Extron DVS-500 VGA component converter switches (2)
Fujitsu P42TXA51 plasma display
Kaleidescape K-5000 media players (4)
Kaleidescape K-4000 music player
Kaleidescape K-1500 server
Marantz VQ-2400 composite component converters (3)
Panamax 1500 power conditioners (2)
Panamax 1000 UPS
Furman AC-215 power conditioners (7)
Middle Atlantic racks (7)
Middle Atlantic RSH4 Custom rack shelves for components (7)
Sonance XSSTR Extreme Waterproof speakers (33)
Sonance A8 in-ceiling subwoofers (2)
Sharp LC-20D30 LCD displays (6)
Microsoft Xbox 360 Game/DVD players (5)

Salon Theater
Fujitsu P55TXA51 55-inch plasma display
Krell HTS-7.1 surround processor
Sunfire Cinema 7-200 power amplifiers
Marantz DV9500 universal DVD/SACD player
Dynaudio in-wall speakers (3)
Sonance SRS-2 surround speakers (2)
Sunfire True subwoofer
Kaleidescape K5000 media player
Zektor HDS-4.2 component video switch
Middle Atlantic AXS rack
Auton plasma lift

Control
Crestron TPS-2000L wall-mounted touchpanels (2)
Crestron ST-1700CXP 6-inch wireless touchpanel remotes (4)
Crestron MT-1000 4-inch mini touchpanels (5)
Crestron WPR-48 waterproof remotes (3)

Network
Cisco 8 -port Ethernet switch
Cisco AP1100 wireless access points (2)
Linksys SD2008 8-port gigabit Ethernet switch

Systems Design
ArchiTechKnowlogy Design Group
Laguna Beach, CA
949.285.9787
www.atkdg.com

Systems Installation
Atlantic Stereo
Costa Mesa, CA
949-646-8895
www.atlanticstereo.com

Builder
Paragon Yachts
Newport Beach,CA

Earlier this week we took a look at a pretty radical luxury yacht that uses some sweet home automation. I uncovered yet another awesome cruiser called the Norwegian Queen, a 165-foot luxury yacht owned by Christine Lynn of Florida that incorporates some innovative home automation as well. The family lives on the vessel for months at a time while in Europe, and I would certainly say that it has all the comforts of home – and then some!

 From the portable Crestron touchpanels allowing control of music, video and lighting from anywhere on the yacht, to the Kaleidescape media server and satellite receivers transmitting to the numerous flat screen TVs (conveniently hidden behind artwork or inside cabinets) I can see why the owners would love their home away from home (or should I say, yacht away from home). I would totally live on something like this (hmm, I wonder if it’s for sale? Or rent maybe?).

All of the equipment to operate these high-tech systems is housed in an interior wall and concealed by a decorative panel. There are also surveillance cameras positioned strategically onboard that can be accessed via any of the TVs, and the pilot house can transmit navigational information as well.

 At any time, the owner can pull up the radar or plotter to see the current location of the yacht,” says Tom Lambert of Yacht Tech Solutions, the Stuart, Florida-based company that designed and installed the electronic systems.

What’s really fascinating about this, is how well Yacht Tech Solutions put everything together without sacrificing style. They really created some sleek spaces, without showing a trace of cables, wires or any of the “behind the scenes” stuff that can get a bit overwhelming–especially with the amount of equipment we’re talking about here.

One of the main hurdles when working on a yacht, says Lambert—even one of this size—is squeezing the electronics into somewhat tight cabin spaces. Fishing wire behind and through fiberglass walls is particularly difficult, and small storage areas afford little space for head-to-toe racks of A/V equipment. Moreover, bigscreen TVs can eat up limited wall and counter space. Still, Lambert and his seasoned team of designers and installers rose to the challenge, giving Christine a hightech home at sea … and a template to follow for the makeover of her 20-plus-year-old Mediterranean-style house on the Florida coast.

Yes, apparently owner Christine liked what Yacht Tech Solutions did so much, she incorporated a lot of the same concepts in her…ahem…22,600 square foot home (seriously? Wow.) 

You know what? I think I may even like this yacht better than the first one – maybe it’s the personal touches the owners have added that make it seem a bit more homey than the first one – but homey in an extremely high-tech, gadgety-sort-of-way, of course.  All aboard!

Which luxury yacht do you like better? What would you have done differently?

It might just take a three-hour tour to figure out how to navigate (no pun intended) the custom iPad app that lets Sean “P.Diddy” Combs and his family control the luxury yacht “Solemates” (which is, for the record, the first yacht to have this technology) that they leased from The Luxury Yacht Group at an astounding $850,000/week.

The German luxury yacht firm Lurssen created the software that gives guests the ability to control everything except commandeering the ship itself (which is probably a good thing). Entertainment, climate systems, cabin lights and even ordering beverages can all be done with the touch of a finger. Sweet! The iPads can also be customized to suit each guests personal preferences. 

For instance, if we have a client who we know is a music industry bigwig, then we’ll program the app’s homepage to have a prominent shortcut to our high-speed media server’s music library, and we’ll do our research to make sure we have all the music they’d want to listen to.

Some of the more noteworthy amenities on the yacht (besides the yacht itself) include a disco with an $80,000 integrated light and sound system, a wheelhouse equipped with a high-tech navigation and security system and luxury accommodations in all six cabins. Holy Disco Balls!

And that’s not all. After a round on the inflatable floating trampoline, jet-powered surfboards or James Bond-style underwater “sea bobs,” whoever’s lucky enough to commandeer the master cabin can wash off in what Connor believes is the world’s first yacht-board aromatherapy shower.

For more information on this insanely over-the-top Yacht-O-Mation, check out the original article or take a video tour here. This definitely got me daydreaming about all the amazing technology I would want on my yacht (if I had one!). 

How you would customize your Luxury Yacht? Would love to hear those outrageous ideas!

The final frontier (er, chapter) of the Ultimate Man Cave series gets the prize for the most over-the-top use of technology. If you don’t believe me, check out the equipment list for this Star Trek Next Generation themed home theatre, named 2007’s Top theme theatre by CEDIA (the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association).  And even if you’re not a bonafide Trekkie, you just can’t help admiring this phenomenal creation.

So, let’s take a look at some of the spectacular features in this Palm Beach, Florida home (the owner’s have chosen to remain anonymous – so I can’t specifically congratulate them on a job well done).

Motion-activated doors allow entrance into the theatre, bar and lounge areas. The Crestron TPMC-10 Controller “Red Alert” button activates red flashing LEDs and authentic Star Trek sounds and has reportedly “scared the pants off” first-time guests. I keep waiting for Captain Picard to stroll out on the bridge.

Even more impressive than the concept and resulting Next Generation décor is the enormous Kaleidescape hard-drive movie storage system (boasting at least 8 servers with over 3,800 DVDs–yikes!), housed in a hidden closet at the back of the theater.

The project that began as a traditional home theater idea evolved into what rivals a Hollywood movie set. The owners’ collection of vintage video games inspired Jay Miller of Acoustic Innovations and Jeff Hoover’s (Audio Advisors) extravagant final design.

Rumor has it the anonymous Trekkie owners were working on another venture – I can’t wait to see what they came up with next. Make it so!

****************************************************************************************************************

Here’s a look at the impressive equipment list. To read the original article and see more pictures, visit Electronic House.

Display

• Gefen CAB-HDTV-30MM HDTV DVI Exreme Fiber Optic Cable (30 ft.)
• Sony Q004R1 Qualia 004 SXRD Front Projector
• Sony VPLLZP550 Long Throw Lens for Qualia 004
• Stewart BRIC Masking Screen Control Interface
• Stewart EMSNH135H 135-inch Horizontal Masking Screen w/Micrpoerf Control System
• Crestron C2ENET-2 Dual Port Ethernet Card
• Crestron PRO2 Professional Dual Bus Control System
• Crestron TPMC-10-DS Docking Station/Charger
• Crestron TPMC-10 Isys i/O WiFi Touchpanel Audio/Video Sources
• Crestron CNXRMC Room Solution Box
• DirecTv HR10-250 HD Satellite Receiver w/ TiVo
• GuiFX Game Server Computer Gaming System (Custom)
• JVC SR-VS30U Mini-DV / VHS Combo Player
• Kaleidescape KPLAYER-2500 Kaleidescape Digital Movie Player
• Marantz DV9600 Progressive Scan Universal DVD Player
• Mitsubishi HSU748 VCR, S-VHS
• Pioneer DVL-909 DVD/LD Player Processing/Amplification
• Algolith Mosquito HDMI 3D MPEG Noise Reducer
• Gefen EXT-HD-441 4 HDMI x1 DVI HD Switcher
• Key Digital KD-MSW8x3 Component & RGBHV Matrix Switcher
• JBL S100IC Synthesis Interconnect Kits (2)
• JBL S800 2-Channel THX Powered Amplifiers (9)
• JBL SDEC2500A THX Digital EQ/Crossover
• JBL SDP-40 THX Digital Surround Processor/System Controller
• JBL Synthesis K2 Synthesis Hercules System Speakers
• JBL K2S1000DG 3-way Dual 10-inch Hercules Center
• JBL K2S9800DG 3-way 15-inch Hercules Floorstanding (2)
• JBL S1A Dual 8-inch Dipole Ambient THX Surrounds (4)
• JBL S1S-EX 18-inch THX Subwoofers (4) Power Conditioning/Surge Protection/Battery Back-up
• Panamax M1500-UPS Battery Back-up/Surge Protectors (2)
• Panamax MAX4400 Rack Mountable Surge Protectors, 20A (9)
• Richard Gray RGPC1200 Power conditioner Miscellaneous
• Middle Atlantic ERK-4425 44-Space 25-inch Deep Stand-Alone Rack
• Middle Atlantic RRF-45 45-Space Rack Rails, pair (2)
• Moto-Fab Aluminum Seating Frame for D-Box (Custom)
• Odyssey 340c D-BOX Series 3 Controller
• Odyssey 4600p D-BOX XL-series Actuator Set
• Pacific Digital MF-810SW 8×10 Memory Frames (2)

In my continuing effort to bring you the coolest Man Caves I could find, I thought this sci-fi/horror fan’s dream (or possibly nightmare?!?) themed home theater definitely deserved honorable mention. Dr. David Winn of Austin, TX designed this room to display his amazing collection of science fiction and horror movie memorabilia. He stocked his fantastic universe with life-size replicas from some of his favorite movies, and some awesome AV devices to create an atmosphere worthy of any mad scientist.

This little cave of horrors boasts not only an extraterrestrial venue to view spine-chilling flicks, but it invites the viewer into the setting with special effects that discharge steam from the ceiling, and hydraulic controls that propel an Alien through a wall (creepy, but at the same time, pretty cool!).

Winn likes to think of his creation as “a spaceship transporting dangerous aliens” and enjoys the fact that his friends sometimes have to request a change of underwear during a screening. Considering he has full size models of the Creature from the Black Lagoon and Predator caged on either side of the main screen, I would have to agree with him! (And I’m guessing this guy doesn’t have any small children…)

Portholes around the room allow you to look out over the galaxy, but it’s up on the 144-inch screen that Winn achieves “suspension of disbelief” by depicting a spaceship in high Earth orbit. When it comes to other audio and video equipment, that movie magic is organized in an equipment stack at the back of the room. Two smaller screens compliment the main screen up front. “It becomes a great sports bar during football season,” Winn says.

What’s really impressive is that the cost of the entire project, including props and equipment, came in at under $100,000. And if he gets tired of the creature features, the two additional screens below the main one provide a great sports theatre. His one regret that was beyond the scope of his budget? No stars in the ceiling. “We couldn’t recess the starports because the ceiling truss interfered with the light enclosures”.

Even without overhead luminaries, I applaud Dr. Winn on his creativity and ghoulish sense of design. (I especially liked the huge eyeball suspended from the ceiling.) But believe me, if I ever dared step foot into this ultimate man cave, I’d be bringing Officer Ripley with me.

Equipment List

• Denon AVR 4306 7.1 Receiver
• Microsoft XBox 360 (3)
• Monster Power HTS 3600
• Optoma DLP HD2+ Projector
• Polk Center-Channel Speaker
• Polk 6 Speakers
• Proficient S12 Subwoofer
• Sony PlayStation 3
• Toshiba HD DVD Player
• Yamaha MX55 4-Channel Amplifier
• Yamaha 400 watt amplifiers (3) for Side, Front & Center Speakers
• Ethernet Hub
• Laptop with 3Planesoft Screensaver System Design & Installation Escom Austin, TX

For the full article, visit Electronic House.

I came across some really cool setups out there, and of course, some that incorporate some fantastic Home Automation while they’re at it. Today’s Man Cave was a Home of the Year finalist in 2009, and sports a radical Indiana Jones-like “Temple” theme, complete with Mayan artifacts, an altar and throne, a treasure chest that puffs out hot air, secret passageways (and you know I love those!) plus ”crystals” embedded in the walls. And best of all, hidden among the temple treasures is an entire home theater system that requires you to  first head through a tunnel, remember a secret code and know precisely which rock to push just to get inside the room. How cool is that?

It was built out in Utah by Tom Comstock. Unfortunately (and surprisingly) I couldn’t locate any video, but here are some photos, and there’s a great slideshow in the original article on Electronic House that you can take a peek at.

The Comstocks did  a fabulous job here of hiding their TV using lift technology–and we’ve seen some pretty cool examples of that in previous posts. The left photo shows what it looks like when the TV is hidden. On the right, you can see that the TV pops up out of the cabinet.

The equipment list included:

Motorola cable box
Control4 HTC300
Control4 contact/relay extenders (2)
Microsoft Xbox
Yamaha YSP
Sony Pro Plasma
SnapAV LCD lift
Control4 dimmers (2)
Panasonic 531 IP camera

Tom Comstock talks about how his Raiders-of-the-Lost-Ark-type cave challenge works:

Your journey begins by sliding down a tube that’s built into the side of a hill. This is no ride for sissies. It will make you scream…at least the Comstocks hope it does. When sensors inside the tube hear noise, a series of built-in colored lights activate. When the screaming stops the lights fade out. The slide leads to a waterfall which you’ll need to sidestep to get to the entrance of cave. You’re not home-free yet. Well hidden within the rock on the exterior is a cave is a keypad. Only when the correct sequence of numbers is entered will the door to the theater unlatch. Stepping on a strategically placed rock near the threshold swings the door open wide.

Once inside, a Control4 handheld remote (the only electronic device that’s easy to detect) holds the secret to the rest of the cave’s magic. A button on the clicker commands a 40-inch Marantz plasma TV and Yamaha soundbar-style speaker to lift up from the altar. Another button press activates whatever source the user wants, be it a DVD player, cable box or Xbox 360. These components are tucked out of sight underneath a bench near the back of the cave

Top notch, Tom! For all of the information and even more photos, check out the full article here.

Have you created something as insanely awesome as this? Let me know, would love to hear about it!

So earlier this week, I shared a video about Chives, a DIY robotic butler (and have any of you created yours yet? I’m still working on mine, lol). I was so fascinated with this topic, I did a little more research and came across some other pretty impressive and innovative ways that geeks are creating their own robots–and many of them with Kinect hacks, which you know I love.

Here’s a video of a Kinect Robot Hack, where MIT student Phillip Robbel controls and directs a Roomba robot using natural gestures, as well as having it map an entire room.

Here’s another crazy concept, where Taylor Veltrop uses a Kinect controlled treadmill to perform Robot teleoperation with  a NAO robot. I’d never heard of a NAO robot before, and this is what I found out about it from Wikipedia:

Nao (pronounced “now”) is an autonomous, programmable, medium-sized humanoid robot, developed by Aldebaran Robotics, a French startup company headquartered in Paris. Project Nao was launched in 2004. On August 15, 2007, Nao replaced Sony‘s robot dog Aibo as the robot used in the Robot Soccer World Cup (Robocup) Standard Platform League (SPL), an international robotics competition.^[1] The Nao was used in RoboCup 2008 and 2009, and the NaoV3R was chosen as the platform for the SPL at RoboCup 2010.^[2]

The Nao Academics Edition is available for universities and laboratories for research and education purposes, and is projected for public distribution by 2011. In October 2010, the University of Tokyo purchased 30 Nao robots for their Nakamura Lab, with hopes of developing the robots into active lab assistants.

The actual use of a treadmill to control the NAO seems a bit cumbersome, honestly, but was pretty insane how he made this happen.  He explains in the video that the reason for doing this, is that teleoperation of the robot was previously limited by the size and configuration of the room. So using the treadmill solves that problem.

And now that I’ve seen the Nao…lol…Chives seems incredibly archaic and well…less than sophisticated. Bbut then again, Chives IS a DIY…and I doubt that a Nao robot’s price tag is anywhere near building your own butler!

And this last video…well there’s no hacking involved, no Kinect, no robot except a Roomba…and one very amused cat. I just thought it was hilarious and had to share. Enjoy!

Stay tuned for more awesome hacks and geek innovations next week!

 Anthony Out.

Batman had Alfred, Richie Rich had Cadbury and Inspector Clouseau and the Green Hornet both had Katos…and if you’ve always wanted a butler of your own to manage your household and…well, be at your beck and call, today’s post will show you can finally make that dream come true.

Check out Chives, a robotic “butler” that user Eric Forkosh, an engineer at Narobo.com created. Chives (wordplay on Jeeves, perhaps?) talks, drives, pours drinks and more…watch the video to see him in action. He’s not the prettiest butler in town, but he gets the job done.

According to the video, here are some of Chive’s components:

• Wheelchair motor base
• A laptop processor as “brains”
• Voice-controlled functionality
• Text-to-speech replies
• Cool sound effects
• A built-in mini fridge (I must admit, I like this feature!)
• Two robotic arms that pour drinks and grip objects
• Webcam image processing
• Web server remote control
• Inputs for sensors such as sonar sensors

Another awesome capability is to control Chives via your Smartphone…much less cumbersome than having to be near a laptop!

So what can you do with your new Robot Butler? Here’s a list of what Chives can do. 

• Voice Commands for weather, time, and temperature (he’s linked to Weather.com)
• Pour a drink bottle into a cup
• Manual control with a joystick
• Cool soda cans in a mini fridge
• Face recognition and greet people by their names
• Follow a person wearing a certain color shirt
• Avoid obstacles
• Automatically dock to a charger (similar to a Roomba)
• Sweep the floor
• Wireless control over the internet
• Wireless Remote Control from iPod Touch or SmartPhone

And if you want to know how to build your own butler, Eric can show you how over at Instructables.com. Or maybe you’re way ahead of us and have already built your own? If so, I’m dying to hear about it.  Give me a shout out below.

Happy New Year everyone! Hope your holidays were awesome.

With a new year upon us, it got me thinking about how to be more productive for the coming year. And of course, streamlining the finances are always top on the list of resolutions (along with exercising, eating right, etc etc).

Well, today’s peek at what you can do with home automation won’t give you a ripped 6-pack–but it can help you rise and shine more easily (so you can get up for those early morning workouts!) and it can also increase your home’s energy efficiency by automating the opening and closing of your window blinds. This can help you keep the heat in or out during the day (depending on where you live and what time of year it is) which in turn can save you some green. And it can even assist with privacy and safety issues by using a timer or light sensor to control your blinds when you’re not home.

In this first short clip, I love what this guy did by setting up his blinds to open or close with his alarm clock.  (Coming from someone who is dependent on light to wake up, this is a fantastic solution to get up and at ‘em!)

In this video, we see how to use a simple Ikea blind with a timer. Not as sophisticated as some of the other setups we’ll see in a minute, but still innovative.

Now, getting a bit fancier, Randy Crowell demonstrates how to set up a microprocessor-based motorized window blind controller.  He designed and built this window blinds controller to automatically open his blinds in the morning and close them in the evening. Best part? He says the entire project can be built for less than $15.00.  He also included  an option to open and close the blinds using a TV remote control. Sweet!

And of course, you can even control your blinds from your computer…the mastermind on this project used 433 mhz transmitters and receivers from Sparkfun to control window blinds from his Mac, and then from his home with Insteon and Indigo/Serial Bridge. (Score another one for Insteon, whoop whoop!) Be sure to check out the full details on how he set this up at Instructables.com.

Have you done any DIY for your windows? As always, would love for you to share with the rest of us geeks! And stay tuned for even more home automation in 2012…

To continue my salute to those Home Automation Warriors who have dedicated so much time and effort to decorating this holiday season, here’s another extreme Christmas light display–and one I especially couldn’t resist, since the owner set up the lights to dance to the Star Trek Voyager Theme!

 Ironically, (and completely by coincidence!) this setup is also located in South Florida–in Margate, to be exact.  This house calls themselves “Lauderdale Christmas” and boasts 26,200 holiday lights display with 80 channels from 5 computerized lighting controllers.

Here’s the basic process they used: they import an MP3 from a CD and use software to orchestrate the lights, indicating when to turn on or off, fade, twinkle, etc. An MP3 player inside the controller plays the music and controls the lights according to their programmed orchestration. Here’s a nice added touch: They also transmit it to people’s cars via an unused radio station frequency. Nice!

Here’s some more technical info from their website, LauderdaleChristmas.com:

We use 8 different 16-channel lighting controllers from Light-O-Rama, with 128 channels of lighting. We read in a song off a CD and use sequencing software to orchestrate a sequence file like old player piano rolls, from scratch creating a symphony of lights. This tedious process takes 7 hours per minute of music. One complex sequence, David Foster’s Carol of the Bells, took 30 hours over 5 days. The software allows me to simulate how my lights will look before I load sequences into lighting controllers in my yard. My sequences are stored on a tiny SD card with MP3 files for the songs. The main controller tells all light channels every 1/10 of a second whether a channel is on, off, twinkling, fading, etc. I also transmit the music to your car radio on FM 100.9.

And here’s how they get the music to transmit to people’s car radio: 
Inside the main lighting controller is an MP3 card playing the songs that Christmas lights are sequenced to. That audio output is fed up to the roof where I have a Ramsey FM30 low power transmitter, which transmits the audio to a car radio on an unused FM station, in this case 100.9 FM. The FCC allows this as long as you transmit on an unused radio station. The transmitter works up to the stop sign 200 hundred feet up the street.

And contrary to what folks might think, their electric bill didn’t go through the roof. Here’s what they had to say about the cost:

LED Christmas lights use 20% of the power of regular incandescent lights. Also, with my lights synchronized to music, at any instant in time half my Chris tmas lights are off. The average power over the evening is that of only half the lights! We expect our bill to go up no more than $100 over November.

Hats off to Lauderdale Christmas for their holiday spirit, home automation innovation and fantastic light display! And a special two-Geek thumbs up to orchestrating to the Star Trek theme.

For more information, check out their website at www.LauderdaleChristmas.com.