One Wii to control the entire house

by Ross Miller { Dec 23rd 2006 at 10:45PM }

We're very impressed by LiquidIce's listings of Wii hacks, but his contribution tops them all. With Wiimote in hand, the hacker managed to control his house: "Lights, Thermostat, Security Camera, Music Playback, Cable DVR, and more."

The Wiihacks website has all the details of the project so that you can emulate the project (assuming you have some technical prowess). The true mastermind here is the WACI NX control server that sets everything up, and the entire Wii interface can be emulated with a Nokia 770, as shown. The amount of convergence, and the merit of using the Wiimote as a remote controller, is very clever.

Video showcase embedded after the break.

Tags: smart home, SmartHome

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

unosturgis @ Dec 23rd 2006 10:55PM

holy hell, that's sweet!

bearattack79 @ Dec 23rd 2006 11:02PM

This is cool.

Nintendo will make a fire fighter game where the Wiimote is actually the fire hose!!! MY idea... you will see it in the next few years trust me.

If not Im starting a huge internet rumor.

a robot @ Dec 23rd 2006 11:26PM

He has a security camera for his house?

OTAM @ Dec 23rd 2006 11:35PM

This man is my hero.

seamonkey420 @ Dec 23rd 2006 11:38PM

yea, ever since seeing his winamp control guide i've been using that hack in all of my devices..

did it w/my wii too.. hehe.. peace
seamonkey420

James @ Dec 23rd 2006 11:57PM

Impressive. But I won't be satisfied until I can control everything in my home with spoken commands.

mocax @ Dec 24th 2006 12:00AM

so the next craze is console hacks?

PS3 got linux, Wii got the bluetooth remote, Xbox360 got something I dunno about....

Even handhelds got a bunch of homebrews.

BTW, why's the TV flickering so badly? That's gotta be teh mostest sux0rz flatscreen TV ever.

makesevenupyours @ Dec 24th 2006 12:03AM

that is really bitchin.

Vince @ Dec 24th 2006 12:23AM

@8 the tv is "flickering" because of the video camera's refresh rate. its not actually flickering in real life.

driven2sin @ Dec 24th 2006 1:06AM

@ 10 yes it is flickering in real life... take a lot of speed or acid and you will level up to witness it...

Kevin @ Dec 24th 2006 1:11AM

Has anyone read the comments on his blog? So many people cannot be satisfied and have to whine about everything. "It's much faster just to get off your ass and turn off the lights yourself!"

DUH, the man is just showing what can be done. This is very amazing.

UpIrons @ Dec 24th 2006 2:22AM

This isn't really a Wii hack at all. It even says that in the credits that this is just an interface he created and now he just runs it on his Wii because the browser is working on the Wii now.

Don't get me wrong, this is still a very impressive interface but hardly a hack.

LiquidIce @ Dec 24th 2006 2:49AM

The hack is using the wii in conjunction with the TV to get a useable side by side interface (controls and media browsing on one side, and full window video playback on the other).

Everything else is just standard flash and ajax. The only thing that the wii brings to the table is a nice on-screen pointing interface.

I have also played with the idea of some special A/V gear that will do transparency or window overlays. So I can have a Wii that is always turned on and within the control webpage and overlay that on top of a regular tv show. When flash detects mouse movement from the wiimote, it would bring the wii webpage into focus. when the mouse stops moving, it fades back to the tv show. All of this would be controlled using IR or serial commands to the A/V gear.
Does anyone know if an inexpensive device like this exists?

Metasheep @ Dec 24th 2006 2:55AM

@ 8
The 360 has XNA. Homebrew without hacks and actual documentation.

Draco @ Dec 24th 2006 3:24AM

I imagine you could do that with any mouse compatible device like a PC, or PS3. it wouldnt take nearly as long to load using a PS3 I wouldn think either.

LiquidIce @ Dec 24th 2006 3:31AM

ut oh here come the fanboys...

Hey, can someone with XNA tell me if it is possible to do an HTTP post from within the game? Maybe 360 Home Control is next?

Although Life|ware already kinda does it with XPMCE + 360.

blubb @ Dec 24th 2006 6:21AM

anyone know the song which is played?

Nate @ Dec 24th 2006 10:37AM

fake...when hes lighting the tree with it, you see that the television frame is lighter because of the trees light, well when it zooms in to the television and shows you the interface at a closer look, the television isnt being illuminated at all...

Ridv @ Dec 24th 2006 11:50AM

One Wii to rule them all...

Kaemon @ Dec 24th 2006 12:26PM

"18. fake...when hes lighting the tree with it, you see that the television frame is lighter because of the trees light, well when it zooms in to the television and shows you the interface at a closer look, the television isnt being illuminated at all..."

Umm, no. It looked like that because when you have the camera focused on it, it tends to focus on the light source, or anything emitting light, and dim everything else out. And obviously things took place at different times, the video skipped around a bit to show different things. So even if its the case he had then turned the lights out... it was just because he DID turn the lights out.

Mr. Khan @ Dec 24th 2006 12:51PM

Still waiting for the Opera Browser compatible website that allows you to download ROMs directly to your Wii (just like shop channel but free, it would be fairly easy at this point, with a bit of technical knowhow)

The Wii hacks (or quasi-hacks in this case) just keep rolling out

On the 12th Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
12 360 Fans a cooling ($10*12=$120)
http://baysoftgames.stores.yahoo.net/flcofanforxb.html
11 BRDs a playing ($275)
10 Gfx Cards a threading ($3000)
9 Styluses a drawing ($21)
8 Wiimotes a flying ($320)
7 SIXAXIS Tilting ($350)
6 360 Movies Downloading ($36)
5 Mod Chips ($500)
4 Alienwares ($9600)
3 SEGA Games ($160)
2 CELL Processors ($1200)
And 1 Nintendo Wii ($250)

Altogether my true love spent, hmm... $15,832

bitchin'