Affordably Automate Your Home
Home automation has yet to really take off in this country as it has in other areas of the world. In Japan, for instance, you can do pretty much everything around your house using your mobile – turning the lights on and off, filling the bath, starting the dishwasher, and letting the cat in (probably, anyway).
For the gadget freaks among us (that’s you, by the way), surely there can be nothing greater than having your entire house hardwired to a Logitech type remote control. Thanks to B&Q (I don’t say that very often) you can get up and running with a simple automation system comprising of one light switch, two plugs, and a remote for under £100.
There’s just something about the term starter kit that makes me want to find more. Fortunately, in the Ultimate Range, I’ve found more.
The Ultimate Range is where you will find beauties like the SMS Base Station that enables you to text commands to your automated home so you can perform simple operations like turn the lights on and off. Please ignore the potential lack of use of actually turning your lights on when you’re thousands of miles away, it was just a poorly thought out example.
Other Ultimate Range additions include a heating control (it controls your heating) and a door release (it allows you to remotely open, close, lock, and unlock your door – I told you, you could let the cat in didn’t I?). As yet, the whole automation thing is far from being that cheap to start off with but you can continue to add new bits and pieces as you go and it is most definitely (probably) the way of the future.
