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Recently we were faced with situation where radio interference made it all but impossible to deliver a remote control that would provide a good customer experience. All our usual remotes simply refused to work reliably all the time.

The home had some older Crestron wireless remotes that did work well, but these remotes operate on a different frequency than current models. I had heard that RTI remotes operate on this different frequency, so I decided to try one out for this customer. In short, the results have been very good.

We installed a T2B and found that it can be programmed to work much like a Crestron ML-600. As a result, the learning curve was minimal. The T2B also offers some nice features such as a long lasting battery with a charging station, and motion sensitive backlighting.

Although we always recommend Crestron remotes and we truly deplore "hack" solutions, the T2B or a similar RTI remote may be a good low cost option for anyone looking to replace an older ST-1500 or 1550C in certain situations.

This year's lightning season has kept us busy the last month or so and has caused the most equipment damage of any season so far. The main victims have been audio amplifiers tied to landscape speakers.

Landscape speakers generally survive nearby strikes, but the surge travels along the speaker cable to the amplifier and causes damage to at least the amp, but often to other equipment as well. Fortunately we have found a new surge suppressor from Total Protection Solutions designed specifically for this problem and would suggest anyone with landscape speakers add these. At about $200 plus installation per pair of speakers, they are not inexpensive, but should help prevent down time during the months when you want to use your outdoor speakers.

Other common victims are cable TV receivers, automatic gates, pool controllers, and landscape lighting systems. Generally we design in protection for these if they are part of a system, so we don't have a lot of problems. Occasionally we will replace surge suppressors that fail due to a surge, but these suppressors are designed to fail when protecting your other equipment from particularly bad surges.
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Before I get into my beef with Windows Mobile 6, some history is in order. I was a Palm user for many years before going to WM6. My first combined mobile phone PDA was a Treo using the Palm OS. When the Treo went to WM6, I migrated. The Treo was a horrible device due to its small screen, poor performance, and most importantly, lousy radio.

A year ago I switched to a Samsung SCH-i760. For a short time I liked this device as a substantial improvement over the Treo, but it has plenty of problems of its own. Over time I realized that the primary problem with this device is WM6. The device itself suffers from a lack of processing power and memory (or WM6 is just a hog?), and the placement of buttons is not well thought-out. I can't tell you how many times I have actually hung up a call accidentally.

WM6 actually works about as well as any Windows product, but it has major usability problems that kill productivity.
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The long awaited Crestron touchpanel app for the iPhone and iTouch is now available on the iTunes App Store. You can find it in the Lifestyle section, called Crestron Mobile.

This new app turns your iPhone or iTouch into a touchpanel capable of controlling your Crestron automation system.

As with all Crestron touchpanel products, this new app is just the container. You will need your touchpanel programmer to develop functionality customized to your system.

Crestron has the full article.