Got a Cingular 8125 PDA/cellphone today with the unlimited PDA data plan [ie, blackberry plan equivalent]. This is mostly for work purposes, but wife also wants a way to monitor house/CCTV away from home, probably to make sure I didn't screw up the Elk security panel install.
I was researching ways to connect to my CQC instance [ie, logmein] when their CEO reminded me that the CQC DotNetViewer uses XML to communicate with the server, meaning that I can just port-forward the CQC XML server to my external IP address, and hit it directly [ie, no 3rd party sofware]. Plus, I can use DDNS via dyndns.com so that I can use an english name that'll follow my external IP if my router resets.
In laymans terms, I told the CQC PDA viewer to hit Viveks_House.dyndns.org:12345 [not the real name I picked, and 12345 isn't really my CQC server].
I created some regular 320x240 interfaces, and loaded some new fonts on the cellphone so I could use cooler fonts than what came with it. I think I used too many pics, cuz performance is a little slow, but that could be my plaster/lathe house too. I get really horrid service in my house. I'll try again tomorrow from my office in downtown SF, which obviously has fantastic coverage.
I can now do the following thing from any location my phone gets service:
- Check status of Elk, arm&disarm if need be.
- Check motion sensors
- Check HVAC, turn heat/fan up or down!! [that's really cool]
I still have to do some more testing, also still have to create some more interfaces, but not bad for 1.5 hours of work. In theory, I could use this to control anything in my house that's hooked up to the network, ie receiver/TV/DVD/... Honestly, i'm strongly contemplating doing just that so that when the grandparents come over to babysit, they can call me and i'll start a DVD for them.
Check it out. Looks pretty decent.
I was researching ways to connect to my CQC instance [ie, logmein] when their CEO reminded me that the CQC DotNetViewer uses XML to communicate with the server, meaning that I can just port-forward the CQC XML server to my external IP address, and hit it directly [ie, no 3rd party sofware]. Plus, I can use DDNS via dyndns.com so that I can use an english name that'll follow my external IP if my router resets.
In laymans terms, I told the CQC PDA viewer to hit Viveks_House.dyndns.org:12345 [not the real name I picked, and 12345 isn't really my CQC server].
I created some regular 320x240 interfaces, and loaded some new fonts on the cellphone so I could use cooler fonts than what came with it. I think I used too many pics, cuz performance is a little slow, but that could be my plaster/lathe house too. I get really horrid service in my house. I'll try again tomorrow from my office in downtown SF, which obviously has fantastic coverage.
I can now do the following thing from any location my phone gets service:
- Check status of Elk, arm&disarm if need be.
- Check motion sensors
- Check HVAC, turn heat/fan up or down!! [that's really cool]
I still have to do some more testing, also still have to create some more interfaces, but not bad for 1.5 hours of work. In theory, I could use this to control anything in my house that's hooked up to the network, ie receiver/TV/DVD/... Honestly, i'm strongly contemplating doing just that so that when the grandparents come over to babysit, they can call me and i'll start a DVD for them.
Check it out. Looks pretty decent.
