This diagram gives some idea of the applications you can put home automation to. The rest, as they say in the classics, are limited only by your imagination. (Courtesy of EON3).

Just the other day, I was reading a newspaper article which said that home automation would never catch on in Australia because no-one could agree on a standard - sort of the old VHS vs Beta or Windows Vs Mac thing again.

I reckon the writer was half right - but for totally the wrong reason. Home Automation equipment has been around for a while but by and large, it has certainly been the light hidden under the bushel. And it's all been too mysterious, too hard.

Perhaps the writer had also never heard of X10 - the technology which has arguably already become the de-facto standard, with a whole lot of equipment available right now to automate your home as much (or as little) as you want.

Sure, there are plenty of other "standards" being espoused by their various manufacturers. Some use variations of X10, others are orphans of their manufacturer's making.

But worldwide, the one that seems to have caught on is X10.

X10 is actually a technical standard which specifies how digital control signals are superimposed onto your existing house (mains) wiring. Manufacturers and suppliers marketing equipment which operate to this standard simply call them X10 devices.