WK 3 - IN - Digital Picture Frames

I have always thought it would be great to have digital picture frames since I walked through the Disney Dream Home at Innoventions. What I hadn't realized and that many of the small HP Digital Picture frames were specially created for the house, and the very large ones were HP monitors built into the wall and frames put over them to give the illusion of a very large picture frame.

My biggest complaint when looking around at Digital Picture Frames was that nearly all of them has the frame built into the technology, meaning you couldn't change it. Then after a long search I found the Kodak Easyshare D825.
http://store.kodak.com/store/ekconsus/en_US/pd/ThemeID.3925700/D825_Digital_Frame/baseProductID.169531300/productID.169552200

It allows you to use over the counter frames. I only have one so far but it was a great purchase. It is easy to operate and the colors look great and its Energy Star qualified. That a big thing because as I purchase more technology I want to try reducing the amount of energy the devices I get require. I have also started getting the Energy Star Flood Light Bulbs for my living room. Thats a great trade off. I use the same amount of electricity with nearly four of the Energy Start Flood Light Bulbs as I would have with just one of the old ones.

WK 3 - IN - Media Server

Every-time I go to Disneyland I walk through the aging Disney Dream Home for possible ideas to help make my girlfriend and I's life easier but making our home are Smart House. The first thing I needed to try was replicating a Media Server that stores all of my photos, movies, etc..... In the Smart House they use an HP Mediasmart Server EX495, for my build I decided to use a Mid 2010 Apple Mac-Mini Server.

The specs on HP Mediasmart Server EX495 were:
2.5 GHz Processor with 2GB RAM and a 1.5 TB Hard drive

The specs of my Mac Mini Server are:
2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4GB RAM and a 1 TB Hard drive
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP586

After I got my server setup I needed a way that I could stream my content to anywhere in the house and to any of my iOS devices. At our house we have two iPhone 4's, an iPod 1, and a Second Generation Apple TV in the bedroom. After doing a lot of research it seemed the best option was Plex. Plex takes all of my content and I can stream it from any of my devices anywhere over Wi-Fi or our Unlimited Data Plans on our phones.

For more information check out Plex:
http://www.plexapp.com/

Since my server is running 24/7 I also have it plugged into an APC Power-Saving Black UPS Pro 1300
http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BR1300G

This way if the power ever goes out my server will stay running and I can either turn it off manually or remotely from one of my iOS devices using Splashtop:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/splashtop-remote-desktop-for/id382509315?mt=8

The next thing I wanted to get rid of was the gigantic ugly Comcast box. I purchased the Elegato EyeTV Hybrid HD which allows me to take the Comcast digital cable connection into a device the size of a flash/thumb drive into the back of the Mac Mini Server. This allows us to watch TV through the server and DVR whatever we want which then in turn is read with Plex allowing us to stream it from anywhere.

For more information on the Elgato EyeTV
http://www.elgato.com/elgato/na/mainmenu/products/EyeTV-Hybrid-10/product1.en.html

The final part of my current Media Server Setup is my router. The Comcast router hooks into my AirPort Extreme which is duel band so all my devices go as fast as they can without slowing any part of my network down. You can see more information on that: http://www.apple.com/airportextreme/

The only other piece of technology I have plugged into the setup right now is my original white Wii Gaming Console and I use an Apple SuperDrive when I need to put in a CD or DVD to my Server. The server is plugged into our 42" TV which is also plugged into the APC. I use the Apple Bluetooth Keyboard and Magic Trackpad to control the Server.

So thats a rough idea of how I am starting the media center in our home.

WK 2 - HM & IN - Columns 2

After thinking a great deal more I also think two other columns would be fun to prepare:

Haunted Mansion (HM) - Covering all aspects of my favorite ride from the haunts to the ride to the merchandise.

Innoventions (IN) - Although Innoventions may be getting a little dated in Disneyland, and with the new Green Home coming to WDW, this blog is not just about the attraction but my attempts to turn our home into a little inspirited Innoventions smart house.

Looking forward to writing more.