'Smart' phones to help with domestic security?

A new generation phone

Tech-savvy home owners are using now ubiquitous handheld devices, from Google's Android phone to Apple's iPad, to control virtually every corner of the house, from the lighting and heating systems to home CCTV cameras

Consumers now have the power in their hands to control and monitor their homes from anywhere in the world," says Nicholas Ayre, director of London-based buying agent Home Fusion, who says that the advent of web-enabled gadgets has given home technology an increasing mass-market appeal.

"Using a smartphone or any Internet-enabled device, consumers can manage energy consumption and even home security, whether it's switching your boiler off remotely or watching your CCTV," explains Mr Ayres, adding that applications "have moved on considerably from multimedia rooms or plasma screens that come out of your bed to exciting new applications such as intelligent energy management.

"Web-enabled cameras can now stream content to an Android phone or an iPhone, and people can see live what's going on anywhere there's an Internet connection," Mr. Ayre says, adding that although CCTV systems aren't new, the speed at which they can be set up and the ubiquitous access they provide is.

Read the rest of this item from the Wall Street Journal here

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