Our friends over at ZDNet.co.uk have launched the Homebrew Challenge, a search to find the top home tech project in the UK - "Tell us about your spare-time project, and you could win a Toyota Prius hybrid car worth £20,000.  To enter, all people need to do is go to the competition page and tell us about their project in 450 words or less. Then, if you want to share more detail and really show off your work, go to the Homebrew Blog and tell us more—the history, the challenges, the successes. You can even post images to let people see your handiwork...

With just days to go before the UK launch of the iPhone (Friday 9th November 2007), O2 have decided to drop the 200 megabyte “Fair Use” download limit.  This is good news for anyone considering an iPhone, and good sense from O2.  A few minutes ago T3 Magazine uploaded their un-boxing video showing the UK iPhone for the first time, complete with its new V1.1.2 firmware. 

UPDATE - We've just received the following official quote from Sally Cowdry, O2 UK's marketing director: on the change to the data plan conditions....

RemoteCentral.com have released their latest video, this time from the CEDIA Expo - "This year’s report is an information-packed thirteen and three-quarter minutes covering more than 15 new remote controls. We have interviews with representatives from 5 manufacturers, you’ll get to go to the annual Remote Central / Universal Remote Control Inc. CEDIA party, and you’ll even have a front row seat for the ever-popular amp toss...

We are delighted to welcome Keene Electronics as the new Sponsor of the Automated Home Wiring Guide .  Keene have been featured here many times already, with their huge range of products for the Smart Home enthusiast.  For example Keene now stock over 20 different AV wall outlet plates and have many solutions for AV and IR distribution over CAT5.  Read on for the link to get your own free Catalogue from Keene...

Here's LagoTeks new 6 minute video overview of their home automation system.  Covering home control from their touchscreen controller for Entertainment systems, Intercom, HVAC, Irrigation, Security and Home Modes...

Well, it looks like Apple are set to make the UK iPhone announcement tomorrow in their Regent Street store in London.  I was lucky enough to play with the iPhone for a couple of hours on the day after its launch back in June in the US as I was there on holiday at the time.  While there are still well documented issues with the device, I have to admit to being completely blown away with it and so I’ll probably be buying one.  But what’s the iPhone got interest the Home Automator…

An article in the New Scientist offers an innovative alternative to an on-going problem for home automations systems - occupancy detection.  Reliably sensing if a room is occupied, or trying to locate which room a particular person is in, is invaluable information for a Smart Home system. While this new approach is interesting, we don't think it’s quite accurate enough to be the answer...

The UK iTunes store is now selling TV shows!  The service launches with 28 titles and single episodes of shows like Lost and Desperate Housewives are priced at £1.89 (considerably more than the US equivelent)...