Home Automation Books

That science and technology are accepted as forces that improve life is a central precept of American culture but in Forces of Production, Noble argues against the notion of technological determinism as a bell weather of progress. Noble's is a Marxist critique: if workers see progress as inevitable and automatic, it "absolves...[them] of responsibility to change it and weds them instead to the technological projections of those in command."(xiii) Unless control is redirect away from "technical enthusiasts" and "neo-progressive politicians,"(353), he is skeptical of what the second industrial revolution portends for society and what advantage technology holds for the future. In making his point Noble analyzes the development of numerically controlled (N/C) machine tools in the post WWII era.

Wartime necessity and the subsequent Cold War centralized research and development into what became known as the military-industrial complex. In Part I of his volume, titled "Command and Control," Noble argues that scientists lost their sense of independence and came to "resemble closely their military and corporate brethren."(20) Labor, as a component of the production matrix, was changed as well by a defense establishment which emphasized performance over cost to counter the (Noble would say perceived) Soviet threat. Increased union membership during the war augmented labor's power and heightened labor/management conflict on the machine shop floor.

Who controlled the shop; who controlled the pace of production? Automation, on the one hand, seemed to offer management a means of maintaining control, but labor saw this as a threat to their jobs. Scientist and engineers, more closely allied with those having social power, were predisposed to adhere to the wishes of their patrons, rather than shop stewards, to help make the automatic factory possible.

Noble presents various methods of N/C and explains how the "Darwinian" potential of N/C was stymied when John T. Parson's N/C project was co-opted by MIT in close alliance with the Air Force. The record-playback (R/P) option may have been easier to program and more accurate in that it captured a machinists skill, but it would have "lent itself to programming on the shop floor, and worker and/or union control of the process."(151) This was unacceptable to managers who wanted to maintain control and keep decision making off the floor. The prevailing cultural thus had more influence in developing N/C than did technical or economic needs. The Automatically Programmed Tools (APT) system that was developed, while sophisticated was expensive. None-the-less it became the industry standard.

Noble challenges the ideology of technology as the key to social and human progress. Instead he sees a system of political, moral, and cultural "domination which masks as progress."(351). Indeed, it is Noble's social interpretation of technology that is the major contribution of the book. Unfortunately what also is apparent is his omission of any comparison to the Soviet system and thus his argument is degraded as more of an attack on capitalism than a sincere effort to clarify the role of society in technology. Regardless of this shortcoming, by questioning the relationship of society to technology, Forces of Production challenges the idea of technological determinism in defining the meaning of progress.

I read this book as part for a course in "Philosophy and Technology" when I was an undergraduate. It is a detailed exposition of how the technologies we adopt are not inevitable, but are instead the consequence of specific choices made by specific people in power (or seeking to be in power). One of the books that fundamentally changed my worldview. Together with his "America By Design," a dull but exacting analysis of engineering education in the U.S., this book should be read as a cautionary tale for the course higher education is taking in its current romance with corporate sponsorship and collaboration. . .

The infantilism of American culture that started with Reagan appears in many guises. For example, Ron Grossman in the Chicago Tribune pointed out last Sunday that the United States Postal Service has a stamp for Bugs Bunny but none for John Brown, the rebel of Harper's Ferry.

The Smithsonian Institution recently thought fit to exhibit Daisy's shortened Levi's from the 1970s television series The Dukes of Hazzard.

The infantilism is that the author of Forces of Production, David Noble, was a serious and pro-labor voice who worked at the Smithsonian in the 1970s and was forced out under Reagan...in favor of Daisy's shorts, it appears.

The subject of Forces of Production may seem to be specialized for overtly it is on numerically-controlled machine tools, nowadays a very small application of computers. Nonetheless this book can be read in the context, not only of machine tools but also of computerization in general.

Noble's book is an account of management folly. Machine tool automation was implemented to eliminate not the unskilled but men like my great-grandfather: machinists who had the nerve to set their own pace, and to design as they saw fit tools to accomplish their job.

The machinist occupies in the world of physical tools somewhat the same space as is occupied by the advanced programmer since the machinist has the choice, in a well-run shop, of deciding not to fashion the part that management wants, but instead to fashion a tool that will in turn make the part that management wants...faster, more accurately and in the long and short run cheaper.

Like Harry Braverman's Labor and Monopoly Capital, Noble shows how this economic rationality was subverted by the high priests of economic rationality: the CEOs.

Ultimately preferring control over profits, the managers of machine shops imported programmatic numerical control NOT to make the skilled machinist's life easier but instead to eliminate the skilled union men.

Noble shows how a rough compromise was hammered out because the unskilled machinists, and the alienated skilled machinists, stood by (under management's direction) as the improperly programmed machine tools produced "scrap at high speeds."

Union negotiation then restored the skilled men to their positions to get the technology under control.

There is a striking parallel here with the situation in white-collar computer programming, for it has been the consistent discovery of skilled programmers that the computer itself can be used, NOT to "focus on the bottom line goals of management" (as goes the management songbook) but instead to fashion tools...that accomplish, in a laughing and almost scornful way, the goals of the management.

For example, in 1974 I was confronted in a computer center with 50 different programs to scan and to print mailing lists. Being a lazy hippie I suggested to my boss that I write ONE program that would read and parse the format and the logic rules. My manager approved and as a result I implemented a form of "data base."

Of course, management does see the wisdom of this move, but typically (as related in the case of machine tools by David Noble) management prefers to alienate the programmers from the tools, which are bought from third parties. While this makes sense in many environments it has also produced unrecognized disasters...especially where the programmers know or believe they could do a better job.

For example, the state of Virginia recently wasted five years and millions of dollars in trying to use a generalized solution from Peoplesoft to automate human resources. A new manager walked in and had one or two good programmers code, in-house, the most needed routines on the Web.

Reading Noble's important work teaches us how to avoid Luddism (and Luddism itself may have a bad name for certain historians have shown that the Luddite textile weavers of the early 19th century were critics, not of technology itself, but of its use to downsize and to degrade.) It gives the ordinary person who wants at one and the same time to be successful at his profession and to have time for his family an informed way of criticising "scrap at high speeds."

I certainly wouldn't have heard of this book if it weren't for Noam Chomsky citing it. David Noble dared to break ranks and suggest that maybe all was not right with machine tool automation. My favorite chapter,entitled "Who's running the shop" describes GE's aircraft division's "Pilot Project" in the 60's. It is first of all a damn good tale--rivaling the arabian nights as a never ending fascinating tale. Secondly, it is a sobering tale of labor-management relations. One suspects that GE management would rather the incident was forgotten. Here is a rough summary: The Air Force gave GE super-expensive numerically controlled (i.e. computerized) machining tools and local GE managers used these as a weapon to deskill workers and lower their pay, but it backfired because without the good will and understanding of the workers it produced only scrap metal at a fantastic rate. The "Pilot Project" was a compromise that enabled the incompetant management to save face, and the workers and union essentially ran the shop during this time. Understandably the union and workers wanted the pilot project to go on forever, and equally understandably the higher corporate management wanted this example of worker control to end as soon as possible even though it worked extremely well.

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A wonderful help for a remodeler. We have used this manual as a bible for our kitchen & bath designs. A easy to read and use book.

We have a complete Litetouch System in our home. VanLaarhoven's book has proved invaluable to us when we need answers in a hurry. His trouble shooting techniques have shown us the way every time. We are so happy to have found his comprehensive, easy-to-read and understand manual.

This book is mainly geared toward the 2000 and the 5000LC LiteTouch Automation Systems. The content covers practical installation and troubleshooting, but also includes an automation component section that gives specifications along with some practical tips. The goal of the book is to break-down the technology into separate events that will allow the technician/electrician and homeowner a way to comfortably deal with LiteTouch and Home Automation as a whole. The book includes experiences from other technicians, homeowners and myself that will hopefully make your home automation project more enjoyable.

A while ago I found myself having to purchase my 7th computer in 14 years. An initial casual interest had turned into a daily necessity for personal business, business-business, communication and fun.

The 6th computer had crashed - fine one moment, gone the next (luckily a conversation with a friend had prompted me to buy a zip drive and do a full backup only two weeks before.)

I realized I needed to know much more about the options before I purchased, that my peripheral hardware and software needs were steadily increasing, and there were so many terms I just didn't really understand.

I found the Home Office Handbook - thank goodness. Rapidly the mysteries became comprehendible. The guides helped me immensely to intelligently determine what I did and did not need - even to predict which future additions would be compatible. Quick tips and a dose of humor kept it from being a chore.

I know I saved both time and money (and much frustration.) Thank you, Barbara Butler.

Home Office Handbook is great! It tells you what to do with technology in the home office and not just how to decorate the office. And I needed help. I manage a group of apartment buildings at a univerity town and have an office in one of the buildings and another in my home. This book was a major help in figuring out wht I needed in each office and how to connect the offices. It also helped the technician that was working with me.

The Virtual Workplace was carefully reviewed and compiled by the editors. It discusses a wide range of topics on the virtual workforce. It provides a source of ideas through analytical, empirical, and case-based studies and helps in advancing the understanding of "the virtual workplace in relationship to the new computer and communication information technologies, people and organizations in the world" (preface). The text will undoubtedly provide discussion for professionals and students in business management and sociology.

Human aspects from both employee and managerial viewpoints, economic issues, and settings including academic teleworkers and teams are all included.

I've lived in Orlando for three years now and have been out to Xanadu several times. I finally picked this book up and was really pleased by the vision of Xanadu it portrays: Women in space-age skirts, Will Robinson looking men taking time out to relax in front of a psychedelic light show, in the privacy of their own homes no less. It saddens me greatly to se Xanadu rotting out there on Highway 192.

This fine book is an invitation to dream about a New World, a peace time, with concerns only to better living standards, healthy leisure, a home for a higher level of humankind.
It is now only a dream, since this amazing project was abandoned and is empty now, like all those dreams of a better, safer, nicier World. We awakened in mid of today's World nightmares, and we must exchange the electronic glass doors of Xanadu for iron-gates, and change our mood to live in fear of the future once again. Sour time ours... when I watch the "Teletubbies" I remember how nice Xanadu was, because I'm sure the Teletubbies' house was inspired by this genial ideal, the plastic-bubbles-house called XANADU!

This book helps you to define and set up a complete home automation system. It is obviously based on the Linux operating system, and presumes that you have at least some idea about getting a Linus distribution, getting it installed and have a few development tools. The applications he discusses fit into several different categories: Entertainment, X10 controller, Weather, and of course in today's world - security.

There is a CD included with the book. It does not contain a Linux distribution, but instead several shareware programs that the home automater should find useful. These applications are all designed around Linux of course. If you should choose to automate your house using that other operating system, you don't want to use this book but instead 'Smart Homes For Dummies.'

Setting up a home system like this one is just about the ultimate in geek-dom, and very educational. Have Fun!

Rale it's agood book ther are alot of exambel exblein practicl life, it's lunguge cler.

I don't have kids, but, if I did this would be the first book I bought to teach them about the fascinating world of robotics!

For me the most fun came with building Project 7 - The Robot Arm, I had hours of enjoyment experimenting with my LEGO Mindstorms set and using the graphical programming language to control the arm. After that I interfaced the Robot Arm to my Commodore 128 computer. (Yes, you read that right! LOL, I still use my trusty old C128!) contact me for a link to the webpage with pictures of my project.

I also enjoyed the introductory chapter "A World of Robots". The author gives a bit of history on robotics and he also discusses Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, which if you know anything at all about robotics you have undoubtedly heard of Asimov's classic laws.

Also Project 5 (Combat On The Computer Screen) is another great project to do. You can download software that allows you to build virtual combat robots on your computer screen and then turn them loose to rip each other apart. It's the cyber version of the TV show Battlebots. I guarantee you will have fun with this.

This book contains something for everyone; you will not be disappointed with your purchase!

This product is amazing. It definately keeps you on track with your exercise and nutrition goals. I am a student of Health and Exercise sciences and have had to use several other diet anaylsis programs before but none compare to the advanced and easy to use technology incorporated in the balance log software. For any one looking to lose weight or maintain a healthy life style, this product is a sure fire way to stay on track!