Actually, that’s not a lie. With today’s technology you can have as much (or as little) control as you want. Now it is even possible to control any electrical equipment in your home, from anywhere, all by using your smart phone. I kid you not. Total home automation from anywhere you happen to be.

OK, so there is a little work to do, you need to by a device to connect all your equipment together, and you need Wi-Fi, but once that’s done, the world is your remote controlled oyster! Turn lights on and off remotely, turn on the coffee percolator as you leave the office… the choice is yours.

Take a look at our X10 Home Automation system, for example. A simple plug and play device that can have you up and running in no time. Download an app from the Apple Store or Google Play and you can manage the whole system from your phone! From lights through automated curtains to televisions and other media. All can be connected quickly and easily, and all without any additional extra wiring.

As I’ve already said, the possibilities are endless. Let’s look at media, since that is how most of us spend our leisure time now. Even carrying an Ipod around the house, with its attendant speakers, is painful, and keeping the thing connected just by earphones means that you can’t have your bad singing drowned out by the music! The solution is simple, a Marmitek Wireless speaker for any Apple or Bluetooth enabled device.

Now all you need to hear your music anywhere in your house without the need to be chained to your device, is turn on the speakers! Simple, as someone said once.

Since X10 is an international standard for automated communications systems, the apps are simple and straightforward to use. Take iHome Touch by 1 Jump 2, for example. This simple and easy to use app is extremely intuitive. Select the room in your house, and then the device you want to control – job done!

Another simple to use and equally intuitive app is the X10 Commander by Melloware. Again, you have device by device control. Open the garage doors as you come down the street, turn on the garage lights and the external lights on your house, switch on the lights in the hall, turn on the kettle… Honestly, the sky is not even the limit here.

What about buying a domestic robot for carpet and floor cleaning and even to mow the lawn. You could manage them from your chair in the pub. Now that is control!