Nintendo's Wii gets into the home automation game

For those of you who've just unboxed (or already snagged) a Nintendo Wii, and are more interested in casing out the innards or hacking it up, we've got yet another challenge for you and your console. While we've seen how to control the functions of your home with a PSP, there's just something special about flinging your Wiimote up and down to lower and raise the lighting conditions around your crib. Aside from a Wii, Wiimote, and a good bit of spare time, you'll also need the Smarthome Insteon lights w/ ControlLinc, an Aurora Multimedia WACI NX, a Linux-based PC, and if you wish, an optional AXIS PTZ IP Security Camera and Proliphix IP Thermostat. Once you've got your hardware in order, you'll need to get your palms on a PHP script that directs the IP traffic and forwards the appropriate information. This home automation mod has the potential to control "lights, thermostat, cameras, jukeboxes, DVRs, TiVos," and basically anything you can dictate via IP information. So if you're looking for a great way to spend your hours off, and don't mind getting dirty with a little coding, be sure to hit the read link for the full rundown, and click on through for a YouTube demonstration.

[Via Digg, thanks Nate]

[Warren Frenkel @ Dec 27th 2006 5:53PM]

First Post.

[Zhiminzou @ Dec 25th 2006 7:32PM]

Imagine if u get hacked.

[Noa @ Dec 25th 2006 7:43PM]

that was one well made video

[DD @ Dec 25th 2006 11:18PM]

Okay, now I find that very tempting to do with my Wii...but I just don't like having the idea of having everything in my house being accessed on the public internet. Sure it's convenient..but as Zhiminzou said "Imagine if u get hacked."

[andars @ Dec 26th 2006 1:56AM]

Thats pretty cool. Hacking shouldn't be an issue if you set it up locally and access it through a local IP. What song is that? I'm liking it.

[ConceptVBS @ Dec 27th 2006 11:41AM]

Whats the worst hackers can do? Up your house termostat to 140 deg F, turn on all your lights in the house at 3:00AM in the morning, record multiple prOn channels on your Tivo and schedule its playback during primetime when all the kids (plus wife) are on the sofa watching TV, and start your Roomba robot vacuum cleaner to pulverize your hamster? Yeah, that sounds like a pretty scary scenario.

[AndrewG @ Dec 26th 2006 3:04PM]

Aside from being able to use the stock $250 piece of hardware to do it, what's so special about that?

The interesting stuff has nothing to do with the Wii. If it's all controlled with any device that can browse the internet then I could have my cellphone do it, or possibly even my PS2.

It's kind of interesting to see, but wording the title so it sounds like the Wii is actually doing something out of the ordinary is pretty stupid.

[Tink @ Jan 9th 2007 1:51PM]

Very impressive, but way too complicated to get there via this way. I have been working with a product that allows all of this for years, without having to be a programmer. HomeSeer by HomeSeer Technologies runs on a Windows PC and it has a built in web server. Through plug-ins, interfaces are built for Windows Media Center, touchscreen computers, micro-browsers like the web browser on cell phones and PDAs, and there is even an interface for a TiVo box if it has the Home Media Option. The Wii with a web browser makes controlling everything in the home via HomeSeer is easy.
My hat's off to you for putting all of that together via Flash, AJAX, PHP via Linux, etc. but I prefer an easy-to-use off-the-shelf solution. Home Automation rules!