James Marshall of Crestron

Another of our neighbours is James Marshall, a regional rep for Crestron Electronics, a company I hadn't heard of until James explained what he did for a living.

Crestron is the world's leading manufacturer of advanced control and automation systems, innovating technology and reinventing the way people live and work. Offering integrated solutions to control audio, video, computer, IP and environmental systems.

It was started in 1975 in New jersey and its current sales are around $500m.

Here's what they do with Mac products:

"Crestron integration with Apple is the perfect marriage of content and technology to create the perfect home entertainment system. Control audio, video, lights, shades and thermostats directly from your iPhone® or Mac. Connect your iPod to the home network for a seamless, elegant solution to manage your iTunes® library and enjoy music and more throughout the home.

"Crestron Software Development Kits (SDKs) provide a world of possibilities for GUI design and control. Create cool Flash animated interfaces, and enjoy the power of whole house network control from any Mac

"Crestron Mobile™ harnesses the power of 3G and Edge networks to stay connected to the home or office when you’re on the go. View alarm status, adjust lights and room temperature while lying on the beach or sitting in traffic. Crestron Mobile Pro™ provides even greater power and flexibility to control your whole house, including pre-set audio and lighting scenes, home entertainment and more. Both apps are compatible with the original iPhone, iPhone 3G and iPod touch®.

"Crestron CEN-IDOCV (-DSW) provides full iPod functionality, allowing users to do everything that they can do from their iPod and more from a whole house audio system via a Crestron touchpanel or APAD wall mount controller. IDOCV is a PoE network device that enables family members to dock personal iPods throughout the home for convenient charging, automatic syncing with iTunes and playing content. Desktop and in-wall models are available in black or white.

" Multiple "Product of the Year" award-winning Crestron iServer is the only audio server that uses an iPod as its internal hard drive. Exclusive built-in technology transmits USB communication over Ethernet, enabling iServer to seamlessly connect to the home computer network and automatically synchronize with the iTunes library whenever new content is added or playlists are created.