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1 3 Friday, Septem ber 2, 2011 O A K V ILLE B EA V ER w w w .in sid eH A LTO N .co m 905.844.7600 85 Navy Street, Oakville, Ontario, Canada L6J 2Z2 Appointments recommended www.canadiansound.com Smart Whole Home Solutions rf om Canadian Sound exclusive dealers of Control your home with MyHome Now its easy to control virtually anything in the home from any screen. 1870? Been there. A Blundstone boot isnt a trend. Its a tradition. Its pull-on, kick-off comfort with no darn laces. Its water-shedding leather moulded seamlessly into surface gripping soles. Its a cushioned walk thats easy on bones and joints. Survival? Done that. Foot Solutions has helped hundreds of customers achieve a desired level of comfort. Let us help you! 231 Lakeshore Road East Downtown Oakville (905) 339-Foot (3668) OPEN: Tuesday-Sunday CLOSED: Mondaywww.footsolutions.com/oakville fHow my ather-in-laws home automation saved me a long boring drive, gas, money and a summer afternoon By Greg Niblett Audio Engineer, Client Services for Canadian Sound, Oakville Here it is, the last long week- end of the summer, and I got to thinking: Who hasnt ever gone away from home on a weekend trip or vacation, or even to the supermarket, and suddenly won- dered, while far from home, Did I forget to turn off the lights and close the garage door? On the Canada Day long week- end, my father-in-law called to thank me, after he had gone off to his summer cottage near Peterborough for a week, and had left his garage door open at his Oakville house. Actually, he was calling to thank me for the smart home automation system which we had installed at his house, and which both alerted him that the garage door was d ll d hi l iopen an a owe m to c ose t remotely, from hundreds of kilo- metres away. No, I said, thank you, for not having to ask me to go over and close it. Although our hous- es are only a few hundred metres apart, when he called that after- noon I was actually working at a customers house, 60km away from home myself, and it would have taken me close to two hours round trip to close that door. My father-in-law used his iPhone to close the door, but any cellular smartphone or device, which can browse the Internet, like a Blackberry or Android, could do it. They can communi- cate with the automatic garage door sensor, which we installed, just as they can override the automatic thermostat and auto- matic lighting control. He could even lock the front door to his h if h h d f douse, e a orgotten to o that. The combination of a smart home automation system and a smartphone have recently given a remote control power over their residence to average homeown- ers, a power which is both beyond science fiction of just a few years ago, and quite affordable. Now normally, the thermostat, lighting control, and security systems dont need any adjust- ments. They just quietly do their thing offering convenience and peace of mind, and saving money on energy costs. Internal clocks and calendars know exactly the time of sunset and sunrise on any day at any location, so lights are turned on and off only as needed. Temperature sensors will keep the heating-cooling system working efficiently and economically, lowering the blinds, for instance, instead of i h i di i if hrunn ng t e a r con t oner t at is all that is needed. Vacation mode will optimize the efficiency and economy of the heating- cooling system, as well as con- trol lighting to give your house that lived-in look. The smart home system could be hooked to a sensor to detect water leakage in your basement, and pro- grammed to simultaneously alert you and a plumber. But sometimes, you will want to, say, look at the view from a specific security camera, so you just use your web browsing phone to do so. On occasion, you may want to take action on info the system supplies through your smartphone. For instance, I have a client who is automatically sent a message by his elderly fathers smart home system, which indi- cates whether or not his dad has opened the medicine cabinet that morning. If not, he can call to remind his dad to take his medi- cation. You could also get a smart-home automated system to send your smartphone a mes- sage that it has sensed that your children are home from school. Of course, most people find their own little pet uses for their smart phones and smart home automation systems. My father- in-law, for example, uses his smartphone and system to dim the lights when he wants to watch TV. But I think that its favourite function for him is replacing four separate clunky remote controls, which never seemed to be alto- gether when he needed them. Life is too short to spend any part of it hunting for a remote control. And summer is too short to drive back from anywhere to close a garage door. Ad i lvertor a Ten years have passed since the tragic events of Sept. 11 unfolded in New York City. On the anniversary of 9/11, the Interfaith Council of Halton will be hosting its Tenth Anniversary Interfaith Commemoration from 2 -2:45 p.m. at the Oakville Towne Square. There will be a parade of emer- gency service personnel, including members of the Halton Regional Police Service, the Halton Emergency Medical Service (EMS) and the Oakville Fire Department. There will also be a ringing of the fire bells and a flag raising ceremony. Along with local digni- taries in attendance, each faith representative will deliver an inter- faith prayer, followed by commu- nal singing. The Interfaith Council is com- prised of leaders from Haltons diverse faith communities, who gather to dialogue and build mutu- ally supportive relationships based on understanding. fIt formed in the aftermath o Sept. 11, 2001, started by A. Q. Mufti of the Al-Falah Islamic Center and the Reverend Dr. Morar Murray-Hayes of the Maple Grove United Church and later joined by Rabbi Paul Sidlofski of the Shaari- Beth El Congregation. Since then, the council has grown to include representatives of the Buddhist faith, Sikhs, Hindus, Zoroastrians and Bahais. Oakville Towne Square is locat- ed in downtown Oakville, at the corner of Lakeshore Road East and George Street. 9/11 tenth anniversary ceremony in Towne Square