Submission By: Marcus Warrington - Like almost all the currently available UK X10 modules, the LD11 does NOT support status response. This coupled with the fact that X10 commands can sometimes "go astray" and seemingly disappear into the electrical ether before reaching the chosen device, means that the tracking of the current status of a device is very error prone...

Smarthome enthusiasts love to control and monitor their homes remotely. I've found nothing is as well suited to this as a Smartphone. Whether you communicate with your house via SMS text messages or email, or view your CCTV cameras remotely, nothing beats the screen size, data connectivity and portability of a Smartphone...

Submission by Andrew Hempsall and Colin Price

Located in a quiet Derbyshire village, this cottage had been uninhabited for more than 20 years and was virtually derelict when the current owners decided to buy it. The oldest part of the cottage was originally built in 1799 as a single dwelling, and the original parchment title deeds show that the house, garden and orchard were bought for the princely sum of £60.

Before renovation work began, the ground floor consisted of four very dark rooms. Now the house includes two bright reception rooms, a conservatory and three bedrooms. The house boasts a new oak staircase, along with oak internal doors and floorboards, giving a feel of the traditional, but that belies the secret - all the lighting, heating, air conditioning, audio and security are controlled by an EIB/ KNX system that is anything but old cottage. The system's finish has been carefully selected to bring modern life choices to perfect 'olde worlde' surroundings...

Submission by Steve Edwards - Over the last few years I have built up a fairly large collection of X10 equipment, this being one of the main things I like about X10, you can start with a very simple set up and add to it later. My own X10 system started with a mini timer and a couple of plug in modules.

My old style mini timer has worked flawlessly since I have had it and it is still in daily use but, to be honest, it's not the prettiest thing in the world and so when I came across it's replacement on my weekly tour of the Lets Automate website I was immediately interested...

What is a NAS? NAS stands for Network-Attached Storage. Basically just a box with a hard drive (or multiple drives) which plugs into your LAN to provide additional storage which can be accessed by users on the network. Read the full Wikipedia definition...

Submission by: Philip Coombes - Here's one of the first mini-reviews of the UK SlingBox, the device which can stream your TV over your home LAN and the Internet! Complete with photos, it shows the unit setup with the Sky+ system...

"I picked one up yesterday from PC World (£179.99), which hadn't been showing any stock all of last week but suddenly got some in and now everywhere seems to have them...

Submission by James Clabon - Out of the box the ZWave ZIR010 PIR Motion Sensor seem to be well manufactured. They have a quality feel about them. Compared to X10's MS13's they are slightly larger in all dimensions.

I guess looks are down to personal taste but I think these look cool. They look modern and seem to blend into their surroundings thanks to their rounded edges. Also no logo on the front and no aerial sticking out makes them more attractive than the X10 counterpart...

Submission by Balraj Jassal - If you're not familiar with X10 technology, you must have been living on planet Ga-Ga or have just discovered this website. For over a decade, X10 has reigned as the king of the Home Automation entry-level market. In its basic form X10 allows you to assign a unique 'address' to a home appliance allowing it to be switched on or off using a controller such as a remote control. Although many other Home Automation protocols and devices exist, X10 has been a success due to its comparatively low price and its ability to harness your home's existing electrical wiring. And the market continues to grow - with a rich range of modules, a growing base of software controllers and now what is titled as the 2nd generation of modules...