News

The latest release version of the program is Version 2.0, Build 192, compiled on 9/29/2010.

The latest web site changes (besides this page) were made on 1/8/2012.

News

1/30/2016 - Fading fast, but not gone yet... As you can probably tell by the fact that it's been four years since this page has been updated, development on Home Domination has been at a standstill. Home Domination has always been fueled by midnight oil while my day job funded my day-to-day expenses. Unfortunately my supply of midnight oil ran dry. I held out hope that I might refresh the supply, however it has become clear that it's a precious commodity that seems to be more readily available to younger folks. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm not as young as I used to be.

Since Home Domination is no longer being developed, it will now be free. So try it out and if it works for you, great! If it doesn't, well, that's a bummer. There won't be any more changes, and limited support. There is context sensitive help in the program (just hit F1 from wherever you are), and there are quite a few helpful tidbits on the website. If you need to email support, I'll do my best to help out, but don't expect a quick response, and there's a possibility I won't be able to give you a suitable answer since it's been so long since Iv'e delved into the guts of the program.

The following purchase code will give you free unlimited access to all the features of Home Domination:

5FT1VMBBNB6KNRP5N23FMV47XJD6P6J75010SCAB339AC5EASAYNPJM

To use the code, run Home Domination, then click "Enter Code" on the demo window that appears when first starting the program. If the demo window no longer appears, click Version Info, and then click Registration, then enter the code in the bottom of the registration window and click OK.

To prevent carpal tunnel syndrome and a lot of frustration, highlight the code and copy it (CTRL-C), and then click on the authorization code field in Home Domination and paste it there (CTRL-V).

At some point in the future, this website may vanish completely. So if you do try it and love it, make sure you make a backup copy of the program and the authorization code.

It was fun making this program and I appreciate all of you who have supported this product over the years.

Harry Strand

1/8/2012 - Build 192 finally got that promotion it has long deserved! It should have been promoted long ago, but it's patience was finally rewarded. Also, build 193 (alpha version yet) has a small change that fixed a problem with the XBT-232. This is a device that can be used as a CM11A, however it has a stronger signal and deals with collisions better than the CM11A did. And, it's not discontinued like the CM11A! This is sold by JV Digital Engineering.

3/2/2010 - Yet another new version! Build 186 is now released. Why so soon, you ask? Well, it turns out that a problem slipped into the last version where the program could crash if you try to add a temperature sensor. This is a new bug that was introduced in build 184, so...not good. But build 186 makes this right, and also fixes another potential crashing problem that I found right after that, where if a log message is really long, it can cause the program to crash while trying to read the log file.

In case you've switched to Windows 7, there is a problem I ran into where communication with serial ports doesn't work properly (like for the CM11A or W800RF32A). It turns out this is a Windows 7 bug (Readfile always blocks under Windows 7), but there is an alpha version available here that compensates for that. This is a new fix, and it was a little bit involved, so I'm not going to declare it ready for prime time just yet, but feel free to give it a try. Just make sure you make a copy of your control file (.xic) just in case you need to go back to a previous version.

2/14/2010 - NEW VERSION RELEASED! Build 184 is released, just in time to give to that special someone! And while I'm sure you're seeing this way past Valentines day, you know that special someone will always love getting the gift of fine home automation software, no matter what time of year it is. Nothing says love like home automation!

OK, enough of this nonsense and on to the details...

Home Domination now supports two new hardware products. One is a motion sensor called a USB-PIR motion detector and another is a U451 relay board. They are both available at https://www.homedomination.com/buy_now_order.php. The price of the other USBmicro products is now significantly lower now as well!

USB-PIR The USB-PIR is a USB motion sensor. It is auto detected as a U421 (a U421 is actually part of it). Since there is no way for it to automatically tell at this time that it is a motion sensor, you need to go into Setup / Device Setup, find the device in the list and double click on it to change, then check the box for USBPIR. Then it will automatically initialize it as necessary, and you can add a sensor and choose to use that device.

U451 The U451 is a relay board that has two relays that can immediately be used to control devices. It also has 6 pins that are ready to be attached to more relays. And thereâs 8 pins that can be used for input. You can see the pin outs on the page that describes how to set up temperature sensors. At some point Iâll create a page that is dedicated to this nifty device.

And in case you donât care for your electronics to be sitting around all naked, you can also order a plastic box thatâs just about the right size for these buggers.

Main Enhancements:

A change was made to preserve the state of USBmicro output pins rather than resetting all the values on startup. If you need it to behave as it did before, youâll need to add a startup macro that initializes the switch values using switching actions. But now it wonât automatically do this whether you want it to or not.
It now attempts to restore a USBmicro controller if it loses connection.
The W800RF32A has long supported X10 security codes, however if a device sends out a low battery signal, that caused the signal to no longer be received. Now it will strip off the low battery part of the signal so it can continue to trigger macros, and it will send a low battery status separately, which can be used to trigger macros that remind you to change the batteries.

Main Bug Fixes:

There was a resizing problem that happened when split screen was not checked, and that is now fixed.
There were a couple rare problems that could cause the program to crash on startup. These are now fixed.
The Update Now button in the Version Info window now works again, although youâll need to install it from the web this time since you wonât be running the build that has the fix until you do.

Download it now:

For the full list of changes, see the release notes after release 175. Go to the download page to download the latest and greatest.

1/30/2010 - NEW USBmicro Products! I've added some new products from USBmicro to the Buy Now page! One of them is a USB PIR Motion Detector, and another is a U451 Relay board. Both are supported by the alpha and beta versions which you can download here. I expect the beta version to be released in a week or two if I don't hear about any big problems.

Also, in case you don't like your electronics to be sitting around the house naked, I've added a couple plastic boxes that are a good size for dressing up any of the USBmicro gismos! But wait, there's more! Now the prices on all the other USBmicro products have been reduced by 30-35%! So go check out the Buy Now page already!

8/31/2008 - NEW VERSION RELEASED! It's been a long time in the works, and includes changes from 9 different releases (build 167 through build 175). There are a few new features and a lot of bug fixes. Most importantly, this version works with Vista! Vista support has been around in the Alpha and Beta versions for a long time, but it's just now available as a release version.

Here are a few of the features that have been added:

- Added the ability to use SSL when sending emails, which allows you to use Gmail.
- Added the ability to more easily send the latest snapshots as email attachments, and also to generate a report and send it as an email attachment.
- Made a CONCISE option for email commands where response files will be made as short as possible (to help with email commands sent from cell phones). Use an exclamation point ("!") at the start of the command message to trigger that.

For a complete list of changes, look at the release notes for version 167 through 175.

Don't forget to check out the new "Vista Survival Guide" page which tells you how to work around a couple issues with using Home Domination with Vista. Also, please note that the best way to contact us is to use the Contact Us page. Because of all the spam, the email addresses previously published on this site are spam filtered, and also require you to reply to an auto generated message before your message will be delivered to us. The Contact Us page will bypass that and get straight to us.

8/19/2008 - If no news is good news, then there's been a whole lot of good news on this page lately! But the truth is, it's more than a little sad. What's the dealio, you may ask? Well, a little bit of Vista headaches, followed by a little bit of burn-out, followed by a severe lack of ambition hasn't made for a good situation. But there has been some progress despite the fact that it hasn't shown up on this page in over a year. There's been 9 other versions that have been produced, fixing various bugs and even adding some new features. There just hasn't been the ambition to see the process through all the way to release.

The latest Beta and Alpha versions work with Vista. There are still some problems with Vista that I was hoping to get around before making it a release version, but I finally broke down and added a "Vista Survival Guide" page to tell you how to work around a couple issues. I also revised the Download page to make it easier to use. At this point, the Beta and Alpha versions could probably be considered "Release" versions, but I plan to go through the process one more time before making it official.

There's also been a bit of progress making a new .NET version of Home Domination. There's a long way to go, but it should be really cool when it's done.

5/13/2007 - New Release Version! - Version 2.01, Build 166, is now released! The main control window has changed a bit, where some of the informational fields were moved to the bottom and a couple check boxes were added that will show or hide that information. This gives you more screen real-estate for the tabs. Also, a dawn / dusk time field is added to the informational fields at the bottom of the main control window. Numerous bugs were addressed with this version as well, including some problems with the W800RF32A. I also changed the install so if Home Domination is running, it will know that and wait to continue until you shut it down.

To see the complete list of changes and bug fixes, see the release notes from build 164-166. To download the latest version, go to the download page and install it, or if you are already running Home Domination, you can click Version Info, then click Update Now.

4/10/2007 - The U421-SC3, which can be used to monitor temperature sensors or control low voltage wiring now comes with a FREE DS1822 temperature sensor! This version is exclusive to StrandControl and includes a screw terminal to make installing temperature sensors easy. Click Buy Now to order! For more information on the U421-SC3 and DS1822 temperature sensor, click here.

3/22/2007 - VERSION 2.0 IS FINALLY RELEASED! - It's about time. In case you haven't been keeping up with the alpha and beta builds, here's a summary of some of the major (or nifty) features that have been added for version 2.0:

Video Related Features:

Added a feature where the video preview can be put in its own window. It can be shown at any size, be made to show on top of other windows, and can even be shown as full screen.

Added the ability to use the Ninja pan and tilt using the CM19A.

Made it so you can take a snapshot simply by clicking on the preview window.

It can now do video clips. It doesn't do compression on the video clips, so until I figure that out, you may want to keep them short and not too frequent.

Macro Related Features:

Added a Mode feature. A mode is a general state that can be set up, and numerous macros can choose to either be active only when certain modes are active, or only when certain modes are inactive, or it can ignore modes altogether (which is what it will do until you set one up in a macro). This is a very powerful feature that lets you create very elaborate scenes with ease.

Added a Reports button under Setup where you can choose from 4 pre-defined reports, and you can create custom reports, picking the fields you want, column widths, choosing the sort order, and more. The FTP action has also been updated so it can generate and copy a report to a web site.

Other:

Added support for the W800RF32A which is an RF code receiver which can receive codes from regular X10 devices and from the X10 security system devices. The codes are received directly by the computer, which reduces collisions on the wires thereby increasing the reliability of your system. The fact that it receives security codes gives you a lot more options with macros.

Improved switching performance

When loading the program for the first time, it will ask you if you want to load the sample control file, making it easier to figure out how to do things and making the power of Home Domination more obvious.

This release has a ton of other minor features and bug fixes. To see the complete list, look at the release notes for all the builds marked Ver 2.0. If you don't feel like looking there, download the latest version and see if you can figure out for yourself what cool new things have been added.

Some of you may have tried the demo but did not purchase. In that case, your demo period has probably expired. Just email to request a demo mode extension and we'll send you a code that will extend your demo period for another 30 days.

From now on, I plan to release versions as soon as they've had enough time with the alpha and beta testers to ensure they're stable, but I won't wait for a large number of new features to be added before releasing a new version. This one was much too long in coming.

3/16/2007 - Moving right along - Build 163, with the daylight savings time fix, seems to be working and has now been promoted to beta. It appears that the mysterious problem with some new help items has also corrected itself in this build. Barring any serious problems, this version will probably become the new release version. New versions will keep coming though, and I'll keep the stable versions moving through to release from now on, even ones with minor changes.

3/14/2007 - First Y2K, now this! - Update for the new daylight savings time. You ever see one of those headlines where you just have to laugh because they make it sound so much worse than it really is? One of those I saw was "Daylight Savings Time Change Threatens Computers!" I had a good laugh about that one, figuring it would be as big of a non-event as Y2K, never once thinking Home Domination would be affected by it. Well, guess what? "Home Domination is threatened by daylight savings time change!!!" If you have any macros that are set to only trigger at night or only trigger during the day, or have a recurring time trigger, it could be triggering an hour earlier than it should. Fortunately though, there's a fix available for download. The new alpha version, build 163, is available on the download page. Make sure you scroll down a little and choose the Main Program (Alpha Version) link. You can install right over the top of your current version without affecting your control file or having to re-enter your authorization code. If you would rather not load the alpha version, the problem will correct itself in 3 weeks. Of course you'll want to upgrade eventually or you'll end up with the same problem in the fall. I'll probably have one or two more builds and then I'll have a new release version available.

I've also promoted build 162 to be the new beta version. So let's give old build 162 a hand! It was doing a fine job, so it was about time it got the job. This contains a long list of bug fixes, and the new customized reporting feature and ability to FTP a report to a web site is also there. Be sure to check the release notes if you're curious about the details of other changes.

2/28/2007 - There are new Alpha and Beta versions available, and this time Build 162 is not stopping until it's released! Build 161 has been moved up to Beta (long overdue) and build 162 is now the new alpha version. Build 162 is now what I would consider a Release Candidate! So unless problems are found, it will keep marching on until it becomes the new release version. That's pretty significant considering it's been way too long since I've had a release build. Way too long!

Build 161, whose main features were the new date range trigger, automatic reconnect of video sources, a field in the sensor tab that shows the last time a sensor changed, etc., has been very stable, so it really should have moved up to beta before now, but better late than never.

Build 162 has taken me way longer than I planned, mainly because of the new reporting features that were added. Now you can edit the reports and create custom reports and also generate and copy these reports up to a web site using a macro. You can choose which fields will show on the reports, and in what order, and you can choose how the data will be sorted. I plan to also add the ability to filter and also add in a log file report and probably add mode and video source reports, but right now it's more important that I get this long overdue release out the door, so I'm going to focus on that right now. I've also updated the sample.xic file with a macro that shows how to generate a sensor report every 5 minutes and copy it up to a web site.

Another thing was added that should make things much handier for new users. When you run it for the first time, it will ask you if you want to load the sample.xic file. This is a file with a bunch of macros that show you a lot of what Home Domination can do for you. So you should be able to figure out how to do things simply by examining the macros.

Unfortunately there were some features I had hoped to get in there that didn't work out for now, but I plan to start working on the next version soon, and I'll get as many new features as I can in later versions. I think I'll keep those versions moving to release though, as long as they're stable, so I don't have this long of a dry spell again.

1/13/2007 - Build 160 Beta and Build 161 Alpha - Build 160, which allows the W800RF32A to detect and use security codes is now in beta. It seems to be quite reliable although a number of things have been fixed in build 161.

The main new feature for Build 161 is a date range trigger that can be used with other triggers to make sure that a macro is only active during a certain date range (like during the Christmas season). Also, it will try to automatically restore video about once per minute if a video source is disconnected. A couple other minor features were also added and a number of minor bugs were fixed in this version as well. The sample.xic file has been updated too, so you can see an example of how to use some of the newer features.

The format of the control file has been changing periodically, which means if you change a control file in a newer version, you may not be able to load it again in an older version. So you should always make a backup of your control file before using a new version, just in case you have a need to go back to an earlier version.

I think a release version will be on its way fairly soon. It's been delayed quite a bit by feature creep and also by my lack of time to work on it, so it's been quite a while since I've had a new release version. Too long. So even though there are more features I would have liked to get into Version 2.0, I think I'm going to have to draw the line soon and get it out the door. But I'll start working on version 2.1 right after that. There are several changes that I feel are "must have's" for the release version, so I will continue to put out only alpha and beta versions until those are complete, but I'm hoping that won't be more than a month or two. Those items include finishing half finished features, updating the help, fixing a couple reliability issues that pop up occasionally, and making it easier for new users to know what Home Domination can do and how to do it by leading them to the sample.xic file and doing some special processing with that file. There may be other items that will pop up. I love to add features. But I'll try to draw the line somewhere and get the bugger out! Until then, please volunteer to become an alpha or beta tester! There's a check box for this when you download (after you click the link to download a version).

11/26/2006 - Build 159 is now in beta. There was one report of the program terminating when receiving certain codes via a W800RF32A, possibly just dimming codes, but I have not been able to reproduce this problem. Please let me know if you have this problem (email).

In build 160, which is now the latest alpha version, the W800RF32A can now be used to receive codes from the X10 security system, and trigger macros. If you already downloaded the alpha version and added a W800RF32A device, you may have to delete that device and re-add it under device setup for it to work properly. This may not be necessary, but try this first if you have problems.

To download the latest alpha or beta versions, go to the download page to review the release notes and download it (the link marked "Main Program (Alpha Version)" or "Main Program (Beta Version)".

11/1/2006 - Support for the W800RF32A and a reporting feature is now in the alpha version! The W800 is also supported, however it is currently untested. It will be tested before it moves to Beta however. The reports can be run under Setup / Reports. Currently, there is a summary and detailed macro report plus a sensor and a switch report. Eventually the ability to customize the fields on the report and the sorting will be added. To download the latest alpha version, click here or go to the download page to review the release notes and download it (the link marked "Main Program (Alpha Version)".

8/20/2006 - Version 2.0 is released as a beta version! See the 7/23/06 post for more information about what that includes. Go to the download page now to download it. You'll have to scroll down a bit to get to the beta and alpha download links. There is a new alpha version, build 158, that fixes a couple problems with recording video via a macro, and although it hasn't been tested long, it should be pretty safe since not much changed since the beta version. So feel free to download that if you would rather. Make sure you make a copy of your control file before using the alpha or beta version, just in case, because files created or modified with that may not be able to be loaded in the 1.4 release version.

Even though this is released as beta, there are more features to come before it will make it to the release version. When you download, check the box indicating you want to be a beta or alpha tester and you'll get a code that will enable you to get 30% off. If you've downloaded before and you need to have your demo period extended so you can check out the new features, or if you've ordered a product but want to extend the demo period on features you didn't purchase, please email and we'll give you a code that will let you check out the cool new features.

7/23/2006 - News!!! Version 2.0 is on the way! And it has lots of new features! There's an alpha version on the download page now (near the bottom of it), and anyone is welcome to try it out. If you want to sign up as an alpha or beta tester, you'll be put on a mailing list keeping you up to date with progress and you'll get 30% off on any software purchases. All we ask is for you to tell us if you find something that's not quite right. To sign up as an alpha or beta tester, just click the appropriate check boxes when you download the program. If you have any questions, just email.

Here's a list of the major new features that are in the 2.0 alpha version (as of build 154):

Video Preview In Separate Window: Now the video preview window can be displayed in a separate window which can be resized, and can even be set to use the full screen.
Ninja Pan and Tilt: Added the ability to use the Ninja pan and tilt device using the CM19A and the CM15A.
Video Clips: You can now record video clips as an AVI file. AVI is uncompressed and therefore huge, so I'm still working on writing it as a compressed format. It also takes a couple seconds to switch from the snapshot mode to the video mode, and I'm pretty sure there's a way to do this on the fly.
Modes: Added a "Mode" feature which allows greater control of groups of macros by allowing them to check a general mode to see if it is active or not. Some examples of modes include "Away mode", "Party mode", "Sleep mode" or whatever you can dream up. You can set up some macros may be disabled when a mode is active, and others will only work when that mode is active. If a macro doesn't list any modes that it is active or inactive for, then it acts as normal regardless of the state of any modes. Modes can be set by macros or manually on the modes tab, so you can have a sensor or time trigger that starts and stops a mode, or you can manually control the state of the mode.
Improved CM11A communication: The CM11A communication is now a little faster, a little more reliable, and it works properly with European versions of the CM11A.

Development of 2.0 is going to happen a little differently. New features will continue to be added for a while before it is released. So new versions will be available as an alpha version first and then the alpha testers will be notified. If there are no major bugs found, then it will progress to beta, otherwise a new alpha version will be created instead. So far, this is how we normally do our releases. However the beta version will not be feature complete for quite a while. The beta version should be safe to use and the basic functionality should work well, but it may occasionally have some incomplete features or there may be minor bugs with the new features. At some point, the feature set will be locked in and the beta version will eventually make it to release.

Please let us know about any problems you find, and let us know what features you would find most helpful or what changes you would like to see by emailing. Some features we'll be putting in if we can figure them out include live video preview on the network client, using video motion as a trigger, and adding tabs on the macro window to organize things better and make it less scary looking.

You can always switch between the release, beta or alpha versions. If you have purchased Home Domination, you can switch between versions without having to re-enter your purchase code. The only thing to remember is that you cannot always load a control file in an early version that was create with a later version, so you should make a backup copy of your control file just in case you want to go back to using an older version.

4/09/2006 - Build 152 has been released. This is primarily a bug fix version. Most of the bugs fixed involved video in some way, but there were a few other things fixed as well. To see what has changed since the last release version (build 148), check out the release notes.

Work is currently underway for some new video features. If anyone has any suggestions for things they would like to see regarding video or any other feature, please let us know (email).

1/07/2006 - A new product has been added to the Buy Now page! This is a 3-Pack of DS1822 temperature sensors. These can be used directly with any of the USBmicro controllers. Click here for more information on how to install them and use them with Home Domination. These temperature sensors are accurate to +- 2 degrees Celsius and report temperature changes in 16th of a degree Celsius (roughly 1/10th degree Fahrenheit). Temperature sensors can be used with macros too, so you can trigger macros when the temperature exceeds or drops below an amount you specify, so your macro can control heating devices, email you about trouble, or whatever else your imagination can dream up!

Also, Version 1.4, Build 148 is released! This version has many improvements for temperature sensors, makes it easier to access your computer remotely, with the "Get IP" email command, and fixed a few bugs, and did several other improvements. See the release notes for more info.

12/21/2005 - HO, HO, HO! Build 147 was promoted to the new release version and build 148 was moved up the ranks to beta! See the note on 12/11/05 for the details of each.

Also, there are two new web pages on this site. One is a description of how to install temperature sensors and use them in Home Domination (http://www.homedomination.com/temperature_setup.html). The other describes how to use the U4x1 devices from USBmicro for low voltage wiring applications using Home Domination (http://www.homedomination.com/using_usbmicro_devices.html). Check it out if you're interested in either of those. These documents assume you are using build 148 or above, which is available as the beta and alpha versions near the bottom of the the download page.

12/11/2005 - Build 147 was moved up to the beta version (long overdue), and build 148 is now available as an alpha version. Build 147 now tells you on the Version Info window exactly what features you've purchased, whether you are a beta tester or not, and if you're running a demo it will tell you when it expires. You have 30 days to demo each feature, so it will also let you know how many days you have left for each of them. There were a few bugs that were also fixed with build 147.

Build 148 (Version 1.4) is the one with the meat and potatoes. It was released as the new alpha version. I'll try to speed this one to release for all of you who were really hoping to give build 148 to their loved ones for Christmas. For any of you who are offended by the word "Christmas", replace that with "Retail-mas", "Buy-me-stuff-mas" or "Me-no-work-mas".

Temperature Sensors: Multiple temperature sensors can now be attached to a single wire, and there's much better info available about how to set it up. It's much easier to do this now too and several bugs were fixed regarding temperature sensors. It now supports a newer firmware version of USBmicro devices that will be coming soon where you'll be able to see the ids of all 1-Wire devices that are attached to a data pin.

Email Commands: A "Get IP" email command was added, so if you you have email monitoring enabled, you can send a command email with "Get IP" in the message, and it will reply with the IP number and port number to use with the Home Domination Remote Network Client. Several things with email commands were cleaned up as well. It won't clutter up the reply email with the status of the switches or sensors now unless you add "Send Status" to your email commands. Also, the "Send Reply to Command Messages" check box had no affect before and now if it is not checked, it won't send a reply email unless an email command implies that a reply should be sent. Both of these should improve things for people to use their mobile phones to control their homes.

Outgoing Mail (SMTP) Authentication: There is now support for outgoing email servers that require authentication. You can set it to use the same user and password as the incoming email server or choose a different one.

Macros: It now will warn you if you create a macro that will trigger continuously and offer suggestions for how to correct it.

Randomness: The Randomness feature on Time Triggers is now finished. This was started but not finished and was overlooked on previous versions.

11/11/2005 - There have been routing problems involving this site since about 11/8/05. As a result, for some people, the web site was completely inaccessible, and for others, it may not have worked properly at times. If you submitted an order during this time, it may have been lost. If so, your credit card was not billed, so please just enter your order again. We make sure no orders are duplicated. It's also very possible that some email messages sent to any @homedomination.com address also could have been lost, so if you haven't received a response, please email again.

Sorry for the inconvenience. We have been working with our web hosting service and believe the problem is resolved now. Please email if you have any questions.

10/28/2005 - Build 146 has now been promoted to the release version. Some of the new features added since the previous release build include a date and time stamp feature on video snapshots, an FTP macro action that lets you copy video snapshots and other files to a web site, and a start/stop macro action that lets you start macros from other macros. There were numerous minor bug fixes as well. Check the release notes for more details about what changed since build 143.

A new alpha version is also available--build 147. A new list box was added to the version info window which gives you a complete status of the main product and all the add-ons, including whether or not you are a beta tester, whether you've purchased the main product or a feature, and how much longer your demo period is for any features that you haven't yet purchased. Several more minor bugs were fixed too. Download this version near the bottom of http://www.homedomination.com/download.html and see the release notes there for more detail about what changed.

The beta tester program has been resurrected and will continue on an ongoing basis. In exchange for signing up for the beta tester mailing list and agreeing to test new beta or alpha versions as you're able to, you'll be given a code that will make you eligible for a 30% beta tester discount. This does not count toward hardware purchases or a CD and cannot be used with in combination with other discounts.

10/20/2005 - The main page has a new look now, and it points to some new content as well. More changes will be coming too, including more information about home automation.

10/09/2005 - Build 143 has now been promoted to the released version. The most notable thing added to this release is the ability to rearrange the actions in a macro without having to delete and re-add them. There were some minor bug fixes as well.

Also, version 1.3 (build 145) is now in beta. This has several cool features added. Two new macro actions were added (under Advanced); one for starting and stopping another macro from a macro and an FTP action. The Start / Terminate Macro action to allows you to make general macros that can be triggered in numerous ways. The FTP action makes it easy to publish snapshots or other files to a web site or FTP site. Also, it now has the ability to put a date / time stamp on snapshots. Go to download page to download this version.

The format of the log file has also been documented on the bottom of the help topic for Log File Setup. So if you're a programmer and interested in doing some extra processing of this file, this should make it easier.

9/07/2005 - StrandControl, LLC is now reselling products from USBmicro! This includes the U401, U421 and U421-SC3 USB interfaces. The U421-SC3 has been made available exclusively through StrandControl, LLC, so at least for now, you can only get it here! These devices let you add temperature sensors to Home Domination, and even let you control other devices directly if you have a background in electronics. Eventually I'll have a how to page on how to use this very reliable device, so check back occasionally. Check out the buy now page and buy now!

Also, build 142 is now the release version. Now that I'm past some of my goofy headaches, I plan to get back to a more regular release schedule like I used to do. There may be a day where I make a radical change again where the old release pipeline will clog up again, but with any luck, it will keep flowing smoothly for a while. Build 143 is also available as a beta. There weren't any risky changes made to that, so it went straight to beta and skipped the alpha stage. A few problems were fixed and a new feature was added where you can now change the order of actions in a macro by moving them up and down in the list. If anyone notices any problems, please let me know (email).

8/22/2005 - Build 142 has been running great on my machine, and I haven't had any complaints yet. A beta build is WAY overdue, so I copied it up there as a beta tonight. If anyone finds any problems, please let me know (email). I'm hoping this one might make it all the way to release finally! If I can figure out the last goofy problem with the CM15A, I'll fix that and move that version up through the ranks instead. Otherwise, it will be released with this little warning for the folks who want to use it with the CM15A.

8/18/2005 - Build 142 is out as an alpha and will hopefully be upgraded to beta soon. The CM15A and CM19A support is not ideal, but it is workable. Click here for more information on that. But they should be at least somewhat workable on all machines that use Windows 2000 or above now. If you would like to try it out, go to the download page and click on Main Program (Alpha Version) on the bottom right side of the page. Please email if you run into any problems. Please note too that if you need to go back to the release version, the file format may no longer be compatible, so make sure you save your control file before using build 142.

8/15/2005 - The CM15A and CM19A support continues to be a challenge. Home Domination stops the service that ActiveHome Pro installs because it interfered with the direct access that it does. However on some machines it seems like it has to be running or it cannot recognize the device. Build 141 now will detect that situation and restart the service if it is necessary. This enables you to control switches, however the service intercepts anything that is sent by the device, so you won't be able to monitor codes. Similarly, machines that have this problem also may not be able to use the CM19A unless Firecracker is running. Fortunately, Firecracker doesn't intercept messages from the device, so that seems to receive data from the device without a problem. One difference I noticed between two machines of mine is that the computer that works without the service enabled doesn't have any users so it is just the user called "Administrator". The one that doesn't work unless the service is enabled has several users. The user name I used has administrator access, yet I noticed the program is not able to copy over the LibUSB-Win32 files that are in the Windows system directory, even though the user has full administrator rights. I suspect this may have something to do with the problem. If anyone can give me any feedback that either supports or disproves this theory, please email and let me know.

7/29/2005 - OK, it's about time for some news! This page has been stagnant for too long. That's because I've been busy working on support for the CM15A and CM19A. Initially it looked like that was going to be a simple task, and my preliminary results seemed to indicate that was true. But once I got it out there for people to use (the alpha version on the bottom right side of the download page), lots of little problems and several major problems came to light, and the method I was using for communicating with the USB devices was initially the biggest source of grief. I eventually got that resolved, but there's been lots of reliability issues that I've been working feverishly to solve, particularly with the CM15A. So that means I've had a really crappy couple of months, but it also means that except for the adventurous people who tried the alpha version, I've spared you this pain. I think it's getting there now though. It's still an alpha version and will be until I'm pretty certain that it's reliable. But I've been using the CM15A on my system lately, and I think the latest alpha version (build 140) looks pretty good, and with any luck might be elevated to beta status soon.

In other news, I just ordered an Insteon SDK, and I'm pretty motivated to get that going (despite being really sick of dealing with hardware). In case you're not familiar with that, it's a new protocol that's supposed to be much faster than the X10 protocol, but it can support the old X10 protocol anyway. That means you can still use your existing investment in X10 and be able to buy some Insteon products for those places where you want better speed and reliability. I don't have first hand experience with Insteon just yet, but I'll definitely let you know how it works when I do get it going.

Besides Insteon, I've got a W800RF324 here, ready to be implemented, and a CM17A. I shouldn't encounter the same problems that I did with the CM15A and the CM19A, but keep your fingers crossed anyway.

The alpha version also has several new features including the ability to control it from other programs using a command file, and you can use macros to start other programs. You can even start other programs on a remote network client and send command files from a remote network client! I've also added a feature that allows you to automatically repeat any X10 commands that are sent once no codes have been received for a few seconds (wait for things to quiet down a bit so it's more likely to be heard--it's pretty hard to hear when everyone's shouting all at once). This is a very handy feature for reliability in homes that have lots of X10 codes flying around and frequently have errors due to collisions.

4/12/2005 - It's official! Home Domination is released! So download the free demo and then click Buy Now to get an authorization code that will turn it into the real thing!

No software is perfect, and Home Domination is no exception, however it has been in beta testing for almost a year, and the number of bugs reported lately have been few and relatively minor. So it is quite stable. The one possible exception to this is for the European versions of the CM11. If you want to use it with one of these, please download the free demo and make sure it works on your system before purchasing it. Please let us know (email) if it works or not and what specific device you're trying to use.

Despite the release, development will continue. The release version will not be updated as often, however the alpha and beta versions will continue to be updated frequently (more frequently than they have been in the last couple months). Go to our download page to download the latest release, beta or alpha versions.

The discount for beta testers will no longer be offered to any new beta testers for the currently released product, however if you would like to sign up as a beta tester, you'll be added to a beta tester mailing list so you can be kept up to date with any changes that have been made, and you'll be eligible for 50% off of any new add-on feature that we come up with. Just email if you would like to become a beta tester.

If you are already a beta tester and would like to purchase Home Domination and use your beta tester discount, you will first need to upgrade to build 134 either by downloading it from this site or by clicking Update Now from the Version Info window. Then run Home Domination, and click the Buy Now button that appears on the demo mode window. That will automatically take you to our Buy Now page and fill in the Product Code that indicates that you're a beta tester. If the computer with Home Domination does not have access to the Internet, you can also run Home Domination, click the Version Info button, and write down the Product Info field. Then, on a computer that has Internet access, go to the Buy Now page and fill in the Product Code field, then hit Recalculate. If you have any problems getting your beta tester discount to show up, please email.

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