Here are some candid words that have been said:
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.... I have been running XTension for my home now for that past 4
months with a Centris 650 and it blows away the Enerlogic that I had been
using in every respect... speed, reliability, and programmability. We will
eventually be converting all our Enerlogic clients (about 12-15) over to
Mac/XTension when we get some time.
Thanks for a great product and all the support.
(12/98)
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There was an attempted break in of our detached garage last night at
about 1:30 AM. The household awoke to a screaming siren. The security
system was installed by the previous owners of the house (not X10) and
proved its worth by scaring off the thief. I knew it was the garage door
that was opened but what really made us nervous was not knowing if there
was anyone inside the garage. I didn't venture in, I left that honour to
the Police who responded very quickly. Nobody was in there but it would
have been nice to know before going in to check.
What's been a cute automation hobby so far with an old Mac,a few lamp and
appliance modules, and some light switches put together for simple
lifestyle enjoyment quickly turns to a more serious security project
after an event like last night.
What I really like about XTension and X10 is the low cost way of adding
motion detectors in the garage and around the house to bolster security
and get feedback. I know there are some of you who have very elegant
situations set up but up to now, around my place, home automation has
been "Dad's" hobby that the other members of the household tolerate.
There's a lot more home automation fans in the house tonight.
(5/98)
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What can I say ?? U simply blow me away.
I am doing MIS support in an advertising agency and I do use a lot of
Macs and I have come across some pretty fantastic tech support; (from others) but you simply, simply blow them away!
I have never, never had a web page amended just because of questions I
asked and in such a record time too!!
(Singapore)
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I am designing a house for my family and I and I want to
include some Home Automation capability. I found your website
through a topic search. Your explanation of the technical
issues and the interface to Macs, etc. is outstanding. I
appreciate the work you put into educating the public about
this technology. Certainly you are selling the software
product, but your efforts at explaining how it works are
refreshing. Its what commerce on the web should be - more than
just pushing the product. Thanks for your educational and
well-executed website.
(DGR 11/97)
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XTension is useable enough out of the box that I started making things right
away. In the process I saw that I was operating at a superficial level (which
is fine but I wanted more!). So I read the manual, gathered info from your
website, absorbed the discussions on the mail list, tried new things, failed at
some, suceeded at others. Since the parts of XTension all fit together and make
sense, it has been very rewarding. The reason for the failures become obvious
as the system is reexamined. The sucesses are rewarding because for one, things
work, and for another, they work because I figured it out. I'm having a blast!
The frustration level is fairly low because the system does what it says it
does. There are few dead ends, wrong road signs, or things that just don't
work.
So, thanks for getting the Mac back on top with XTension. I await your future
developments. Now I justs need to get everything working and get my regular
life back!!!
(RL 5/97)
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I researched for over a month on newsgroups, the web and catalogs before
deciding. There's nothing close to XTension. In the Mac world there's a
few other things to look at, but nothing as solid and advanced.
.... It even seems better than the X10 protocol it is living on top
of. It's as if it breathes new life into something that is from the
seventies. It's like Erasure doing Abba songs.
(CS 5/97)
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I am pretty happy with it in spite of the few bugs I have found. I
never mind finding bugs in a product as long as the developer is willing
to work on them and feed me fixes. No programmer is infallible.
(CR 5/97)
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My wife and I recently spent a weekend away from home..it was nice to
receive an occasional page from XTension letting us know that the house
was o.k. and that the tool-borrowers weren't into the garage!
(JA 4/97)
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Need I say much more? Thanx a million for getting me upgraded. You
folks are certainly the most responsive I've dealt with in ages. I hope
my customers feel half as supported.
(KK 4/97)
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Not only will I be using XTension for home
automation, but I plan to press it into service for an elaborate neighborhood
Halloween production that we do every year for free. The emphasis of this
production is illusion and technology. In the production, my PowerMac will be
controlling everything. Stage lighting dimming in and out, lighting effects
and lasers, digital video (Quicktime) being pumped to different locations for
effects, 16 bit - 44 KHz soundtracks, fog machines, seat vibration
transducers, and computer voice synthesis. It is pretty much a year-round
preparation. X10 technology has helped us in the past but we are hoping to
automate the production as much as possible to increase efficiency and reduce
the time that people wait in line. This is where XTension fits in. We have
built-up quite a reputation and enjoy hoards of people (several hundred last
year) coming on Halloween.
(MC 3/97)
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I've just started using XTension for the Mac, with the Activehome
controller, and thus far, I'm impressed! In particular, Sand Hill
Engineering, maker of XTension, has truly astounding tech support,
IMHO. I was getting my (in retrospect quite stupid) questions answered
pronto, thoughtfully, and in one case by e-mail sent at 11:47 p.m. the
same day!
(DG 8/97)
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The XTension software from Sandhill Engineering is an
incredibly easy, yet powerful piece of home automation software. It
supports the major X10 computer interfaces, can manage all sorts of timed
events and complex collections of devices, and most importantly is
completely scriptable. That means you don't have to rely on some hokie
scripting language built into the software (like some of the Unix tools),
rigid user interfaces (like all the Win95 products I tried), and you can
EASILY integrate it with any other Mac application using scripting tools
like AppleScript, Frontier, HyperCard, or even FileMaker. Floorplans,
custom lists, and remote control from any Mac on your net are just a few
of the features.
(CS 8/97)
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I've gotten my first description of our Home Automation system up on my
website, and thought I'd offer you the URL if you would like to link to
it : http://www.techconsulting.com/sean/Essays/hasys.html
I'll be editing this page as time goes on to include the new features I
implement.
(SM 8/97)
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Copyright 2007, Sand Hill Engineering Inc. All rights reserved.
Last modified: April 29, 2007
Michael Ferguson, webmaster@shed.com
