The windows
next to your bed rattle with the force of the wind, and you burrow deeper underneath the
covers.
But that strange scratching sound coming from outside pricks your ears again, and you
open one eye. Your sleeping wife shifts next to you, and visions of murderous bandits
begin to vandalize your imagination. Paranoid, cold and tired, the last thing you feel
like doing is getting out of bed to face the source of the scratching, whether it’s a
masked man or a pile of leaves.
Luckily, you have RoboDog! With a satisfied smile, you reach for your handy remote
control, and with a press of the button unleash the simulated fury of a ferocious
100-pound Rottweiler.
Ahh…the simple joys of modern technology.
Though this cute little scenario never happened, it could have. Home automation, the
industry that brings you products like the RoboDog, appears to be catching on. According
to the Home Automation Association long-range forecast project an average 29 percent
growth per year through the year 2005.
And x10.com, a site designed like a visual monster truck show, is ready for your
business.
The question is, are you ready for X10?
For a less-than-full-alert user, logging on to the site is like waking up and finding
yourself the star of a photo shoot. Users are warned not try it without sunglasses. That
said, this site has plenty to offer and even more to sell.
And it’s not as complicated as you might think. X10 uses your home’s existing
power lines to send one-way commands from your PC to remote modules to control the desired
devices. The technology was designed 20 years ago by Pico Electronics Ltd., a small
engineering firm in Glenrothes, Scotland owned by the privately-held company X10.Ltd.
But like all vitally necessary home enhancers (remember the clapper?), home automation
is not free. In order to get the faux baking started, your music pumping, or your lights
turned on, you’ve got to buy something called ActiveHome for $49.99.
After that, it’s easy street. The system controller stores directions you create
using X10 software, so your PC doesn’t even have to be on for the system to work. If
your PC is actually a Mac, be prepared to spend more for software and cables.
And if your PC doesn’t actually exist?
Too bad.
Buy a real Rottweiler.
