Home Automation Made Easy
It is technology that has been around for years. X10 sends signals through the electrical wiring in your home to control modules for lights, appliances, stereo systems, you name it. And it becomes even more powerful when you combine the X10 technology with your computer. Alex Peder is with a web site called x10.com, that through the end of this month is offering a free kit called FireCracker, to let you give the technology a try...
"The FireCracker kit essentially is a starter kit that we are giving away for simply the cost of post and packing at five dollars and ninety cents. It retails normally on X10.com for seventy three dollars."
The kit includes a small transmitter that plugs into the serial port of your PC, a wireless receiver that plugs into any outlet, a module that you can use to control an incandescent lamp and a hand held remote that can control up to sixteen lights and appliances. It works and it is fun. Some people really go nuts with this stuff...
"We get reports routinely from people that have just a few modules all the way up to hundreds of modules in their homes, including many of the Hollywood stars."
One of the great things about the technology is X10 is a standard, so products from different manufacturers will work together.