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View Full Version : Home Automation of ... Halloween Display .. with webcams! ;-)

hulkster
10-17-2006, 01:12 AM
Three webcams and X10 power controls allow you to turn the 7,000 lights on & off, plus inflate/deflate the giant Pumpkin, Frankenstein, and Homer Simpson - D'OH!

Surf on by and check out the halloween decorations webcams ... ;-) (http://www.komar.org/cgi-bin/halloween_webcam)
Jessie Brooks
10-17-2006, 09:15 AM
LOL, i like your welcome message!
Al
10-17-2006, 10:08 AM
haha very funny Alek, yet again you seem to of surpassed your previous years decorations. Lets see if you get dugg or dotted again.
hulkster
10-17-2006, 04:08 PM
Thanx Al - I tossed into DIGG last night, but didn't "make it" - oh well.

Glad you like the popup Jessie - Al did a funny interview with me last year (http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/20051031/an-interview-with-alek-about-his-halloween-lights/) so I thought that was appropriate.
keith
10-17-2006, 09:17 PM
Thanx Al - I tossed into DIGG last night, but didn't "make it" - oh well.

Glad you like the popup Jessie - Al did a funny interview with me last year (http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/20051031/an-interview-with-alek-about-his-halloween-lights/) so I thought that was appropriate.

Better luck next time :) should have announced about it prior to release to Digg :D
micsaund
10-18-2006, 05:25 AM
Wow man - that's pretty cool!

At first, when I saw the site, I had incredible flash-backs of the early days of the internet with the things following the cursor, blinking stuff, etc.

However, I persisted and saw that when I clicked to deflate Homer, he actually deflated. When I clicked the lights, they came-on. I think that this is the first time since I've been using the internet (probably 1993 or so) that I've been to a site that let me control things and I actually could see that I was controlling things!!!

Very cool. However, I think that you should consider dropping the Frank/Homer cursor thing just to make it less annoying and then you'd probably get more interest on Digg/etc. Of course, if you have 5,000 nerds all clicking buttons at the same time, you won't be able to see that you're actually controlling things (the problem I've always had) so maybe it's best to leave it pristine for us C-G readers :D

Mike
karenlyn
10-18-2006, 01:05 PM
lol... very cool. I especially like Frank.

I can't believe you have snow already. Though I guess I should believe it. It's almost the end of October.
hulkster
10-19-2006, 01:09 AM
Yea miscaund it's just a wheeee bit over the top. Mixed feelings on the cursor - I kinda like it, but I know that someone people think it's annoying ... which it is! ;-)

Here's a picture of what Hulk looked like this morning -I took a lot more "first snow" pictures (http://www.komar.org/halloween/2006/cool_pictures/first-colorado-snow/) plus time-lapse video. As typical in sunny Colorado, it melts fairly quickly as can be seen in the live webcam view. (http://www.komar.org/cgi-bin/halloween_webcam)

http://www.komar.org/halloween/2006/cool_pictures/2006_10_18_hulk-snow.jpg
micsaund
10-19-2006, 02:07 AM
hahaha I didn't know you are in CO. I'm in Fort Collins. Are you up this way close enough that I should keep an eye out for the inflatable hulk on my daily travels? :D

Mike
hulkster
10-23-2006, 05:12 AM
The Incredible HULK (http://www.komar.org/hulk/) gets out quite a bit, but has never been that far North.

BTW, I noticed your signature, I have been up in your neck of the woods for Dave Mercer's pinball open houses (http://www.foramusementonly.to/) - he puts on a great show - more info on those with pictures on my Pinbot page. (http://www.komar.org/pinball/)
micsaund
10-23-2006, 08:23 AM
Yep, I've been to a few of Dave's events, but it's been a year or two since I last went. He has impeccable timing when it comes to choosing Open-House dates that coincide with my vacations ;) His pinball open-houses are a good time and visiting his house makes me feel like mine isn't as nerdy as everyone else thinks it is :D

Mike
hulkster
10-23-2006, 04:02 PM
Just some background for others (and assuming DaveM has the same house) - I'd guess it is about a 1,500 square foot split level house - i.e. not that big. I recall he has a kitchen table upstairs, a sofa downstairs ... and 30+ pinball machines! The various pinball links/picures at bottom of this page (http://www.komar.org/pinball/) don't do it justice.

DaveM is a great guy, but yea, arguably a bit nerdy ... but that is a compliment coming from a dude with Internet controllable halloween decorations (http://www.komar.org/cgi-bin/halloween_webcam) ... and yes, you'll be able to do it at Christmas too. (http://www.komar.org/cgi-bin/christmas_webcam)

Speaking of that, I know that a number of Coolest Gadget's readers are across the pond, and since I got a bunch of requests from overseas surfers to turn the X10 controls on early, I'm doing that tonight - swing by 8 hours from now ... or since we switch over to Standard Time next Sunday, they'll go on earlier then too.
Al
10-23-2006, 07:26 PM
Speaking of that, I know that a number of Coolest Gadget's readers are across the pond, and since I got a bunch of requests from overseas surfers to turn the X10 controls on early, I'm doing that tonight - swing by 8 hours from now ... or since we switch over to Standard Time next Sunday, they'll go on earlier then too.

Thanks Alek, I'll check them out tonight.
hulkster
10-23-2006, 07:40 PM
Thanks Alek, I'll check them out tonight.BTW, two of the three webcams are live 7x24 ... but be forewarned that the geeky looking dude on webcam3 picks his nose from time to time ... ;-)