Re: Home Intranets - was MP3 Whole House Audio

[Keith Doxey <keith.doxey@xxxxxxx>]

Hi Ray,

I was mentioning my web databases to someone at work and when I mentioned a
"Recipe" database I was told I was a sad person :-((

Admittedly the CD and Video databases are a higher priority, as is getting
some the material that I frequently use for reference scanned into
electronic format and searchable.

As you have said, it increases the wife acceptance factor if there is
something to make her life easier. We have loads of cookery books in the
cupboard but there are only a few recipies in each one that ever get used,
and the one you want is always the last one you find. My wife also cuts
articles out of magazines and puts them into a folder as well as looking at
recipies on teletext. Using a TV card I can get the text straight off
teletext with no typing ;-))

Once entered into a database with certain keywords in the relevant fields
you can look in the freezer or cupboard, find some ingredients and search
for a recipe that fits the bill. You can also search for a particular type
of cuisine etc.

I havent done too much with Javascript yet but you can probably build a
timer into a web page as well so that as you read the recipe and get to the
stage of "put in oven for 30 minutes" you click the button and 30
minutes
later a wav file plays to let you know the food is cooked and if you dont
cancel the timer then 15 minutes later.....

J:/JukeboxM/Move/Fire_Brigade.MP3
or
J:/JukeboxD/Deep_Purple/Smoke_On_The_Water.MP3

...starts to play over all the speakers in the house :-))

Could possibly also be done with Active X to send Com Port messages to
Homevision or whatever your HA system is built around.

Add an address book database with all the details you would ever need,
birthdays, anniversaries etc.

Have your browser set up for your local intranet as the homepage with icons
for
Home Control, Music, Video, Recipies, Addresses, Favourite Web Sites etc.

The biggest problem with a home intranet is the display used to show the
pages. If using a TV as the display medium 640x480 is best as this is
approximately the same as a TV picture although a good TV might manage
800x600. By choosing a suitable size font for YOUR INTRANET pages most of
the problems associated with using VGA to PAL converters can be overcome.
The full screen mode of Internet Explorer 5 is also a bonus as it maximises
the viewing area of the screen. Most windows programs these days seem to
take about 50% of a VGA screen just for the toolbars and stuff :-((

This whole Automation/Intranet thing has so many possibilities, I just wish
I could spend a lot more time experimenting. As you said in your message,
maybe a modular HA/Intranet system could be developed by some of the people
on this list. Many of us have specialised skills in one or more of the
required areas, hardware, software, design etc.

Looking forward to hopefully meeting some of you soon

Keith

Keith Doxey
http://www.btinternet.com/~krazy.keith
Krazy Keith's World of DIY Home Automation

I'm a keen full
time VB/Access/SQL server developer whose only problem with doing this
sort of thing is time. I've not written any 'proper' web
interfaces/applications yet but I'm keen to learn, and I believe
VB/Access/ASP makes this easy.

I can sell the idea to Kate (wife) if I incorporate recipe functionality
in the system too - we had the idea a while ago that if you could
download loyalty card information detailing what you had bought, a web
browser in the kitchen could suggest recipes... I've not kept up with
Tescos, but I know that someone is doing something along similar lines
using PalmPilots and barcode scanners.

Maybe this would be a good topic for discussion at a mini-meeting - the
project is potentially large enough in scope to justify being a modular
ASP/Access development that a number of people could contribute to? A
deadline in the form of a meeting might help focus my development
efforts too...



------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click Here to apply for a NextCard Internet Visa and start earning
FREE travel in HALF the time with the NextCard Rew@rds Program.
http://clickhere.egroups.com/click/449



eGroups.com home: http://www.egroups.com/group/ukha_d
http://www.egroups.com - Simplifying
group communications