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On Wed, 19 Feb 2014 13:02:48 +0000, Rob Beard <rob@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: >A while ago in PC World I found they were selling a new bit of kit >from Belkin called the WeMo (http://tinyurl.com/belkinwemouk) which >you could remotely turn appliances on and off from your phone. > >... > >Does anyone on here have experience of X10 kit or know of anything >that might do the job? > I don´t know anything about the WeMo but have used X10 kit extensively in the past and in a previous house had all my lights and some appliances connected via X10. I used to have a central server with a Perl CGI application that could control everything via a web interface. It was okay, but at the time (about 10 years ago) the server interface hardware couldn´t query client device states so you never knew for sure if that light had turned on/off. It was also quite laggy taking a second or two to switch devices which wasn´t ideal. Maybe it has improved now? There are a whole bunch of X10 like protocols, ZigBee, Insteon and Z-Wave being ones that people might know nowadays. Google just bought Nest who make the flashy (and expensive) web-controlled thermostats and smoke alarms so if you find Google creepy now then just wait until they know a lot more about you than just what you do online ;) Kevin -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq