I’m not a homeowner myself, but something tells me that when I do buy a house, I’m going to want something like the TaHomA home automation system to ensure that I can be as lazy as possible.
Developed by a company called Somfy, the TaHomA allows you to remotely control multiple supported products throughout the house, from motorized awnings and blinds to lights and thermostats.
Oh, and did I mention you can do it all from your iPad?
In fairness, the TaHomA has a pretty robust web interface too, and can run on just about anything that supports Flash. Obviously, since iPads and iPhones can’t handle Flash, they had to make do with a native app that does all the heavy lifting.
Aside from the iOS-friendly dashboard, the TaHomA system itself consists of a host of components. The most important bit is the TaHomA controller, a thin glossy black box that runs into your home wireless router, and coordinates a series of small wireless receivers through a ZWave mesh network. From there, those receivers communicate with all the Somfy-supported goodies in your house, like your motorized shutters (you do have those, right?).
Once all the pieces are in place, you’re ready to fire up the dashboard. Here, homeowners can fiddle with things independently, or create special presets called “scenes.” If you’re like me and just can’t get up in the morning, why not create a scene that cranks up your lights and turns down your thermostat? Users can create as many scenes and control as many rooms as they like, so fiddling is definitely encouraged.
Note that installing the TaHomA definitely isn’t going to be a fun DIY project. Somfy actually trains and certifies installers to make sure that new and existing homeowners wind up with a solid installation experience, so don’t go expecting to buy the components and throw them together over the weekend.
Creating a product like the TaHomA is a pretty bold for a company like Somfy, who have spent the last 40 years making motors. The end result is surprisingly polished for a first-time effort: the web interface is smartly laid out and easy to understand, and the experience scales down nicely to both iPads and iPhones.
The TaHomA is set to debut on November 1, but the pricing entirely depends on how far you want to trick out your house. The ability to control 11 devices within your home will set you back a cool $2500 before installation, but it could be a small price to pay to control your house while on the run.