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A Groundbreaking Day for AAAD - Construction Begins!

We started the primary phase of our AAAD home remodeling projects today! The first crew is working on hardscaping at both our front and back entrances. Not a project that has a lot to do with AAAD, but necessary nonetheless. The second crew is working on rough-in for the basement - and that DOES have some home-automation aspects.

DirecTV Genie HR34 Runs Slow - But Won't Be Upgraded

We've had our HR34 Genie since 2012. It's been great. But the latest software updates have slowed it down immensely. And according to DirecTV, there's nothing we can do about it.

Review: Apple TV (4th Generation) - No More Walled Garden

I've never been a huge fan of jailbreaking iOS devices. And with the 4th Generation AppleTV, there is no longer a need to do so.

It's New Apple TV Day!

It's also Halloween Friday, and my costume isn't done yet. But that just means I'm making TWO stops on the way home tonight - it's Apple TV Day! Finally, Apple is giving us what we wanted - essentially, a more-powerful set-top box with the capacity to run games and apps.

400,000 visits to AAAD

Well, that happened more quickly than expected. (It was actually a few weeks ago.) Passing 300,000 and 400,000 in the same year is a pretty cool milestone. I expect that 2016 will be a bigger year for AAAD. We'll be taking on the DIY basement remodel AND our ethernet project simultaneously. And Apple will (probably) get HomeKit out of the theoretical and into the real-world. Thanks again to everyone who has stumbled across this website - it's fun to see how our house, and Apple, have changed over the years.

WOW! Internet Just Got A Lot Faster

If you're a WOW! Internet subscriber, like me, you probably got some welcome news recently. They were increasing our internet speed! I was skeptical. But they really came through.

So... many.... projects....

It's been slow-ish around AAAD lately - I apologize for that. As summer winds to a close, we've been moving full speed ahead on projects both inside and outside of our home. Not a whole lot of changes on the Apple front, however - but we're excited to get the new AppleTV on its release date during the week of October 26 .

Jailbreaking an AppleTV 2

The AppleTV 4 will be released soon, and with it, we'll finally have the AppleTV SDK and App Store that we've been hoping for. This means that there will be 3rd party applications - and that means that we'll have far less interest in jailbreaking the AppleTV 2 to run applications like Kodi. But.... I recently happened across an AppleTV 2, and since jailbroken devices seem to sell for more on eBay, I gave it a shot. Here's how it works.

Liftmaster Laser Parking Assist - Garage Goes High-Tech!

For whatever reason, the garage has been a focal point for gadgets over the last couple of years.  And as of this weekend, we'll have LASER BEAMS guiding us to the perfect parking spot!  Talk about high-tech!  Over the last year, we've turned our existing "dumb" garage door into a fully-integrated garage door system.  And we aren't done yet!

HomeKit - The Waiting is the Hardest Part

It has been YEARS since Apple announced their HomeKit home automation protocol . And, unfortunately, as of September 2015, HomeKit remains, for the most part, vaporware. Best-case, Apple is taking their time to make sure that HomeKit is perfect before it hits the market. But this delay comes at a price - not only for Apple and HomeKit, but for home automation in general.

Siri and Sonos - Apple Music's Killer Feature

I've written about Sonos quite a bit around here . Paired with Spotify, it's close to perfect.  In fact, Sonos is SO good that Apple Music is a non-starter for me - no Sonos compatibility yet.  But it's coming, and when it does.... look out Spotify.  Because if Spotify and Sonos are great, Siri and Sonos will be amazing. 

Using a Mac Mini as a Home Server

The iMac is the center of our Apple system at home - it stores all of our music and photo libraries. When we're using Sonos, the music is controlled by the iPhone, and comes out of the Sonos speakers. So why does the iMac need to be involved? It's just a desktop computer in the office. Well, maybe it doesn't. We've been looking at home server options, and I think that the simplest answer may be the best - A Mac Mini.

Apple Music and Sonos - A Dealbreaker, for Now

I really want to like Apple Music. But I haven't even started the free trial yet. I'm not even sure if I'll GET a free trial later, and I don't care. Apple Music doesn't work with Sonos, so Apple Music is a non-starter. But that may change soon.

Harry's Razors Review - Are the Savings Worth The Hassle?

In a recent AAAD post, we discussed the virtues of Harry's vs. Dollar Shave Club . Ultimately, I went with Harry's. And now.... I think I'm headed back to Gillette Fusion, even though they're three times the cost. Here's why. Design Harry's makes beautiful razors. There's no doubt about that. (I bought a "Winston", which is shiny, slick, chrome.) But there is a limit to the virtue of form over function. Especially when that function is as critical as swiping a razor blade over your face. The Harry's blade is, basically, a prettied up Gillette Mach 3. That blade was a game-changer - it looked different, it packed multiple blades, However, like the Mach 3, the Harry's Winston has a LOT of room between the top of the cartridge and the first blade. That's where the moisturizer strip goes. It makes things go smoothly! It also makes it difficult to, for instance, shave directly under your nose. The Fusion addressed thi

Project Updates - Summer 2015

Even though there haven't been many AAAD updates, there have been all kinds of fun things happening in the AAAD household lately.