Do you NEED to be able to connect to the net always?  Do you feel funny when you aren’t near a wi-fi hotspot?  Are you outside the range of traditional ADSL and cable but have 3G cellular cover? Does your home or office need a backup broadband service for those frustrating outages?  If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions then the new Vodafone USB Stick 3G Modem may be for you.  Read on for our video, photos and full review of this mini marvel…

This morning I was primed to settle down to a normal day's work when Chaos on the UK Home Automation IRC Channel mentioned something about "B&Qs HomeEasy automation stuff", and that pretty much put paid to the rest of the morning. We turfed up the website but there was precious little information on there besides the usual marketing guff. So, time for an in-depth review for Automated Home.  Is this the successor to X10 I've been looking for?  Read on to find out and check out the rest of the photos and the video...

Submission by Marcus Warrington - A few weeks ago, on the UKHA email list , we were discussing the X10^2  Micromodules that are available from Kevin Lo in Hong Kong (via eBay). There was some discussion over their ability to be used with latched and momentary switches, with the outcome being that they did work with momentary switches...

Back in January we reported on the new Bye Bye Standby units form Domia. Now Martyn Henderson has reviewed the units that are designed to save the earth...

I'm just back from the Formula 1 Grand Prix at Monaco.  It was a once in a lifetime trip for me, and something I'd been hoping to do for the last 25 years.  Wanting to maximise the experience, I was very interested to hear about the new Kangaroo TV (now called FanVision) system.  However I couldn't find anything in the way of an F1 spectators review before booking unit so I thought I would provide a record of our experience with it here to hopefully benefit some others.  While not related to Home Automation, It’s an interesting gadget none-the-less.

I've just returned from the Smart Home Show (22-25 March 2007) and in this, its third incarnation at the NEC in Birmingham, the public was treated to the best show yet! In a first for Automated Home, we have videos (youtube.com/automatedhome) from the show which should give a good taste of the event for those that couldn't make it and hopefully show some items that you may have missed even if you did visit...

Here's a nice blog review of Vista Media Center. Worth a read if you are considering the upgrade from XP MCE.

"Media center is ready for the big time, and I highly recommend it become the central entertainment hub of your home. With extenders in any of your major entertainment areas, you now have access to everything. All your music, all your TV, pictures, even video library is now available everywhere from a centralized location...