First you’ll need to hook up the TouchLinc to your PC to program it. When you’ve finished, simply tap in a room name, and all its available options pop up. You can even create macros of X-10 commands that work together. For example, a Bedtime command could turn down the heat, switch off the home-theater system, and activate the outdoor motion detectors.

The most basic HNCC costs $650. That’s peanuts for providing telephone and cable TV distribution throughout the house. And you’ll love all the options you can choose from, including shared broadband network access for all your PCs, closed-circuit television, and heating and cooling control.

You don’t need to dig a moat around your house to feel safe. In the 21st-century home, high security is part of high living. See who’s ringing the doorbell from your TV, or keep intruders at bay with digital guard dogs. Best of all, you can finally ditch that pocketful of keys.

Talk about outdated. The ancient Egyptians used pin-and-tumbler locks like the one in your front door. To bring your home into the next millennium, it’s time to replace this old-fashioned security system with something more high-tech.

Creative Control Concepts has just the solution. Instead of carrying around a noisy, unwieldy ring of keys—each for a specific door—you need only tote a small Digilock personal identification button. The size of a large watch battery, the Digilock easily attaches to a key chain or a wallet. To open a Digilock-secured door, press your button up against a small sensor attached to the door. The sensor reads the button and opens the electronic lock—no keys to fumble with or codes to memorize. The Digilock can even record a log file on compatible home automation systems so you know exactly who entered the house and when—great for finding out when kids are out past their curfew. And you can set it up to be either unlocked or locked if the power fails (which is safer unless you need to get out because of a fire or other emergency).

Setting up the Digilock requires some electrical and mechanical know-how. But even if you have to hire a locksmith to install it, the $75 Digilock is still a bargain.

If you don’t like the idea of carrying around even the Digilock button, install a password entry system. InteLock’s keyless electronic locks and dead bolts (starting at $119) require you to enter to open the door. You do this by twisting the doorknob a certain amount of times in either direction; the numbers you enter are displayed on an LED screen. Thankfully, InteLock gives you an emergency backup key in case you forget your code. The InteLock system is easy to set up because it relies on built-in batteries and doesn’t require you to run any extra wiring. For more information go to www.intelock.com.

You want to see who’s at your door without leaving the couch.
Surveillance cameras have been around for years, but setting them up has always been a bear, requiring you to run cables and power supplies throughout your house. And wireless video cameras, which used to cost hundreds of dollars, were too expensive for the average do-it-yourselfer. Now X10’s wireless $170 Xcam Anywhere lets you put an electronic eyeball wherever you choose.

The Xcam Anywhere consists of a small, waterproof color camera (about 1.5 inches in diameter) connected by a thin 12-inch cable to a 2.4GHz transmitter. Hide this setup near your front door, and the transmitter will beam video and audio to an indoor base unit. Hook up the base unit, which has a 100-foot range, to your PC, VCR, or TV set. Now you can see what the camera does. 

Don’t expect the same video quality you get from your camcorder, however, especially at the end of the system’s range. And a nearby microwave oven can cause serious interference when it’s in use. But the pictures are more than adequate for screening for door-to-door salesmen or checking on the children in another room. For the best setup, hook up the Xcam’s receiver to one of the spare inputs on your TV set, and you can switch between viewing the big game and your front door with the push of a button.

Monitoring the outside of your house is one thing, but you’re more concerned with keeping intruders at bay.
Crime rates may be on the decline, but that doesn’t mean it’s safe to be careless. You—and your house—need protection. Good locks can keep you only so secure (it doesn’t take much effort to smash a window, after all). An alarm system is a better option, but expect to pay thousands to install one. A big, mean guard dog can do the trick too, but pups need kibble and lots of walks to keep them from getting cranky and eating the couch. The clever Robo-Dog ($80), however, never eats, sleeps, or ruins the furniture.

Robo-Dog (available from smarthome.com) is an amplified speaker, a digital recording of a big angry dog, and a wireless remote control. If you think you hear an intruder nearby, press the button on the remote to set off a furious round of barking that’s sure to have an unwanted visitor make a quick exit. You can also program the Robo-Dog to sound off automatically when it detects an intruder. Best of all, the Robo-Dog hooks up to all kinds of X-10–compatible transmitters, such as motion detectors, lights, and window sensors, to create an automated security system with serious attitude.

If you don’t think a barking box is enough of a deterrent, you can buy an antitheft gizmo straight out of a James Bond movie. With Concept Smoke Screen’s indoor fogger, thieves won’t be able to see anything to steal. When the system detects an intruder, it releases a dense cloud of room-filling fog that lasts several hours. Intruders will be lucky to find the exit. Once the fog evaporates, it leaves no trace. Currently the Concept Smoke Screen is available only in Britain; the company says it will be available in the United States soon. For more details check out www.smoke-screen.co.uk.

You’re not worried about valuables; you want to make sure nobody’s logging onto your PC.
Sure, a password can protect your sensitive computer files. But we have a tendency to use easily guessed words—or worse, to write the critical code down so we don’t forget it. But with SAC Technologies’ SACcat, hackers, family members, and nosy guests won’t be able to get to your files unless they’ve found a way to steal your fingerprints.

SACcat is a small box that connects to your computer’s parallel port and uses fingerprint biometrics to control access to your PC. To log into the system, simply place your finger on the reader. If it doesn’t match one of the approved prints in its database, you can’t log on. When you step away from your PC, SACcat’s screen-saver lock hides your work until you return. Best of all, at $199 it’s a relatively inexpensive way to protect your PC. (And it looks cool.)

If you don’t want to deal with fingerprint recognition, Visionics FaceIt NT grants log-on and file access based on your face. The software (for Windows NT systems only) works with your desktop video camera. If your mug matches an approved one in the software’s database, you’re in. One feature you’re sure to appreciate is how FaceIt NT takes snapshots of all the people who unsuccessfully try to get into your system. You’ll not only know that your data is safe, but you’ll also know who’s trying to sneak a peek. (For more on biometrics, see “How It Works,” page 222.)

Editor's Project:
Light Show

>A run-of-the-mill motion-detecting floodlight will light your way when you take out the garbage. But an X-10–compatible floodlight can double as a home security device.

The $50 X-10 floodlight (available from smarthome.com) does all the standard stuff—it turns itself on at dusk and has an adjustable range of up to 40 feet. But it can also automatically control up to eight other X-10 devices.

Take advantage of that capability by adding another basic X-10 module to the mix, say one that turns on the porch light every time the motion detector goes off. Now you’ll know when someone gets too close.

Section III: Gadget Lust

For the ultimate 21st-century home, why not add some jaw-dropping high-tech toys. Whether it's an air conditioner that responds to your voice or a fridge that orders the groceries, here's a look at what's in store. We want it yesterday -- so will you.

The most popular room in the house? The kitchen, of course. Want to usher it into the new millennium? ICL and Electrolux recently teamed up to build the Net Fridge, a classy-looking refrigerator-freezer that hooks up to the Internet. You can get your e-mail, surf the Web, and watch TV from the fridge’s door-mounted color touch screen. But the real advantage is its built-in bar-code scanner. When you run low on eggs, simply scan the carton’s bar code to add it to your personal shopping list. The Net Fridge then sends your list to an online food delivery service. Grocery shopping doesn’t get any easier. Another perk? Scan in perishable products when you first get them; the Net Fridge will alert you when your milk has gone bad. 

If you’re the type of person who spends more time in front of the microwave than the fridge, you can furnish your kitchen with NCR’s Microwave Bank. Like the Net Fridge, this Web-connected food nuker has a touch screen and a bar-code scanner, so you’ll always know when you’re running out of frozen dinners and microwave popcorn. And the Microwave Bank uses voice recognition to let you record memos and issue terse commands about how you want your casserole cooked.

Unfortunately, you can’t go to Sears to buy one of these connected kitchen appliances just yet. But according to ICL, the Net Fridge could go into production later this year.

What you can get today is Internet grocery shopping. HomeGrocer, Peapod and Webvan all let you shop from your PC and will deliver the goods right to your door. You can even build personalized shopping lists that make quick work of selecting your favorite munchies. None of the services operate nationwide yet; check their Web sites to see if they deliver in your area.

You like to talk; you want a home that will listen to—and obey—you.
Ever wish you could stumble through the front door after a long day and say, “Turn on the TV and start dinner!” Unless you have a particularly servile spouse, that tactic is unlikely to get you anything but silence—or nasty glares. The Home Automated Living HAL2000 speech-recognition system can bring you closer to that vision.

HAL2000 combines speech-recognition software from Lernout & Hauspie with home automation technology to let you control your home by voice through your PC. Install the software on your Windows PC (which also needs a modem, a sound card, and a microphone), plug an interface module into a serial port, and set up the software to recognize your previously configured X-10 devices. With the included configuration wizard, it’s easy to create commands such as “Turn on the bedroom lights at 9 p.m.”

Best of all, you can use your phone to control HAL2000 remotely. Forgot to turn down the heat before you left for a business trip? Call your house, enter your secret code, and tell the system what to do. HAL2000 will then confirm your commands over the phone using canned voice phrases.

The $400 HAL2000 can also control your house right from the computer if you’re working and don’t feel like barking commands. Or let the software act as your personal voice-mail system. It can take messages and even recognize caller ID numbers and respond with a personalized answer (“Hi Mom!”).

On the downside, your PC has to be on all the time, and you need to be within range of your PC’s microphone for it to work. You also may have to buy a compatible modem, such as the Creative Modem Blaster Flash 56K.

Your home is wired with the latest digital entertainment, but your couch potato existence is adding inches to your midsection.
With the Web, you can travel around the world in minutes and never burn more than a fistful of calories. And with all those other high-tech toys, who has time to hit the gym anymore? Netpulse has the answer with a new service that lets health clubs, corporate fitness centers, and hotels hook up Internet terminals to stationary bikes, stair steppers, and climbing machines. Get on the machine and log in with your Netpulse ID on the touch screen, and you can cruise the Web, swap e-mail, or listen to CDs while you sweat. Netpulse can even track your workout or offer special promotions, like frequent-flier miles for every mile you work out.

Netpulse isn’t cheap, however. Each station costs $2,000, and the system requires a DSL or a T1 connection. The company isn’t targeting homes yet, so if you want it in your den you’ll have to pony up even more cash. Of course, if your local health club has it (more than 400 do), it might be an incentive for you to leave your 21st-century home for a couple of hours.

Unfortunately, if you don’t already own an Aibo, you may have trouble getting one. Sony released only a few thousand of the not-so-cuddly puppies and hasn’t committed to making more. But there’s hope: They regularly show up for auction on eBay (www.ebay.com), but expect to pay much more than the original $2,500 price.

Sidebar:
Twist-and-Shout TV
Talk about being a slave to the machine. Whenever you want to watch the tube, you have to haul yourself over to the couch and plop down in front of the TV. No longer.

Eizo’s FlexView turns the tables and brings the TV to you. The 8.4-inch color flat panel attaches to an adjustable arm, which you can mount on everything from your bed’s headboard to your kitchen countertop. Now no matter where you are, you’ll always be able to get the best view. You can hook up the FlexView to your VCR, and an upcoming model will also double as a PC monitor.