I have a mission for you.

That’s right. You. Time to get up and take a challenge.

Are you up for it?

I have a feeling that you’re the type of person who knows exactly what you want.

And once you decide on it, there’s nothing that will stop you. You use everything in your power to make it happen. Whether it’s a caffeine-induced coding session at 4AM, or setting your garage up *just* the right way, you get it done.

But when it comes to geeking out your home, you’re stuck.

• You know that you can do really fun things with your home.
• You’ve always dreamed about making your home the Star Trek Enterprise since you were a kid.
• And you’ve always wanted a secret doorway, not for any particular reason, but just because.
• You admire the true DIY-ers out there who create their own hacks, instead of taking the retail shortcut.
• And you’ve certainly wished that your home could support positive habit changes like waking up earlier, not just in you, but in your kids too.

You’ve got all these great ideas, and yet, here you are. I hate to break it to you, but you have a pretty average home. You read about great hacks in Make Magazine, Nuts & Bolts, Lifehacker, or Instructables, but you rarely ever act on them.Many of you have emailed me with crazy ideas and projects that you’ve been wanting to start.

So many great ideas, so little progress. This isn’t like you at all. I know you’re no average Joe. You already know what your mission is. But you’re not taking it on. Something’s wrong.

And you know what? I know what the issue is.

You’ve been held back.

In fact, through the dozens of responses I’ve received to the survey at the end of this page, YOU’VE told me exactly what is holding you back. (if you haven’t chipped in yet, now’s your chance to make your voice heard)

• “There are too many options out there, I don’t even know where to start.”
• “It’s too complicated.”
• “I don’t know what to do”
• “What if it goes obsolete right after I buy it?”
• “I’m afraid I’ll make the wrong choice and end up with an expensive paperweight”
• “I think I’ll just stay on the fence for now and see how things develop”

I hear you. Loud and clear.

Everything you’ve been telling me is a manifestation of what I call the “Q Syndrome.”

Q: "I know exactly what you need, and I can tell you how to use it in about 30 seconds"

What is the Q Syndrome, you ask? As I explain in this article, James Bond has at his disposal all the toys, tools and weapons he could ever wish for. Thousands of them piled up in MI6′s secret facilities. But sifting through these mountains of gadgets is not Bond’s speciality — he has women to seduce and bad guys to kill.

Enter Q, the Quartermaster. His role is to curate the gadgetry and outfit Bond with the right tools for the mission. He tells Bond exactly what he needs, when to use it, and how to use it. Imagine the burden that takes off the field agent.

For the massive arsenal the home automation industry has built up, there is no Quartermaster to clean it up and tell us what to use and how the hell to use it.

That’s the Q Syndrome: of course you don’t know where to start when you’re paralyzed by the sea of options!

It’s time for someone to step up and take up the role of Home Automation Quartermaster. It’s something I’ve been reluctant to do up until now, but if you know anything about me, you know that there’s nothing that pisses me off like inefficiency and lost opportunity.

This needs to be done. When I see all the unnecessary complication in home automation, I develop this massive urge to stamp it all out. Nobody should have to put up with all that bullshit.

So here’s your mission …

No, this mission does not involve defusing bombs.

YOUR mission is to modify and enhance your home exactly the way you’ve dreamed about. No compromises. No excuses. You’ll have the tools laid out right in front of you.

Through a series of mini-missions, I’ll lay out the road map for you, one step at a time. I’ll tell you what you need, what to avoid, and what tricks I’ve learned.

And together, we’ll walk the path to achieving exactly what you want. Every mission will include:

• A set of objectives for the mission
• A list of required equipment (and where you can get them). Rest assured, everything I recommend will be compatible and scalable for future applications.
• Instructions for how to put everything together

I’ll see you on the other side.

What did you do this weekend? I sure hope it was productive, because you’ll have to make up for me. I “wasted” basically all of Saturday watching James Bond movies. Such classics. Sadly, I haven’t developed any super-spy abilities, or even a British accent. But as I drifted asleep that evening, a thought popped into my head.

James Bond has something that the home automation industry DESPERATELY needs.

No, I’m not talking about Bond girls (although I certainly wouldn’t protest if they started showing up with my Insteon shipments). And I’m not talking about his impressive arsenal of weapons and gadgets, even though I find myself drooling over the MI6 R&D department.

Nope – it’s none of that. James Bond has something absolutely crucial that all of us need — he has Q.

Q, or Quartermaster, is responsible for managing and developing the British Secret Service’s arsenal of high-tech gadgets, and ultimately ensuring that Bond has the right equipment for the mission.

Here’s a sample of Q in action: [click here for video]

He might not get a lot of screentime, but Q plays a major role in Agent 007′s success as a spy. Q carefully develops and curates the weapons and ultimately distills the virtually unlimited arsenal into a handful of items for Bond to actually take into the field. He explains how each item works, and explanations are typically accompanied by a demonstration.

Do you think James Bond sifts through the thousands of MI6 gadgets at his disposal before embarking on a mission? Do you think he sits and reads user manuals for hours to figure out how everything works?

Absofuckinglutely not.

In fact, Bond shows us what he thinks of user manuals in the last 30 seconds of the clip …

(If you didn’t watch the video, Bond tosses the giant encyclopedia of a manual in front of the auto-focus turrets mounted on his Aston Martin. The manual explodes into a million little shreds).

If the metaphor-crunching part of your brain has been active, you know where I’m going with this.

James Bond's disregard for the user manual results in an explosion (Die Another Day)

The home automation industry is impressive. Collectively, many millions (if not billions) of dollars have poured into R&D to create thousands and thousands of products. There’s no problem at all with the arsenal itself.

But there’s no Quartermaster. As things are now, if you want to get involved with home automation, you have to sift through everything yourself. That means reading through countless forums, manuals, and being overwhelmed with the relentless torrent of options. Nobody will hand-pick and curate the selection for you. And forget about asking anyone to help you piece it together.

From my perspective, it’s downright stupid and short-sighted that the home automation companies out there don’t do more to show us how to use their products. After all, nobody’s going to shell out good money to buy a paperweight (unless you’re actually looking for a paperweight).

It isn’t just hurting the home automation companies themselves. If it were just that I wouldn’t be so steamed about this. It’s hurting the people who want to get started with home automation. The learning curve is so great, the barrier so high that it drives away all but the most determined geeks (and sometimes we have to wonder why we spent so much time looking into it in the first place).

I’ve mentioned this elsewhere on the site before, but it’s a damn crime this is happening. As you know, I’ve been trying to remedy this injustice with Home Automation Geek, but after my 007 marathon this weekend, I realized that more needs to be done.

So what am I going to do about it? I’m about to take it to the next level.

Stay tuned til next time …

UPDATE: Click HERE for the next installment. You definitely don’t want to miss this.

Disclaimer: I am NOT paid or compensated in any way for any of the endorsements/statements that I make below. In fact, I stand to make substantially LESS in commissions for taking this stance. But I feel that it’s the right thing to do, and you deserve much better than a decision based on money.

I’ve received a lot of questions emailed to me over the past few months, and I’m starting to detect patterns. Today I’m going to lay to rest any and all speculation around the #1 asked question I receive – once and for all.

“Should I use X10 or Insteon? X10 is cheaper so it’d be probably better to start off with, right?”

WRONG.

Absolutely, positively, supercalifragilisticexpialidociousally dead wrong.

Back in 2008, I wrote at length about the Pros and Cons of X10 and Insteon. Even then, the only drawback I could think of for Insteon was price.

Okay, I’ll be honest. For many of the same reasons why you’re considering X10 (mostly cost), I started out with X10. What a rookie mistake. Halfway into building out my X10 network, I scrapped the entire thing and laid out for Insteon. So much for cost savings… boy did I regret that move.

Look – unless you’re seriously on a shoestring budget, I wouldn’t touch X10 with a 40-foot long pole. Yes, X10 has survived 40 years in the technology world, and it’s done so for good reason, but there are a lot of really good (better) reasons why Insteon was created as a successor.

If I were you, I would start my system right the first time around. Hopefully by sharing my experience, I can save you a lot of time, aggravation and money.

Here are my top reasons why you should invest in Insteon from the get-go.

Insteon is reliable. X10 is not.

X10′s most notorious and pervasive problem is its reliability. Sure, you can tell your X10 lamp to turn off, but you don’t know for sure if it actually happened. Even if it works properly most of the time, turning on the microwave, dishwasher, or even your computer could put the entire system in a fritz.

I don’t know about you, but if I had a security feature that I was depending on to work 100% of the time, I wouldn’t count on a buggy technology with 85% reliability. Even if I wasn’t relying on security, I’d be pissed if my lights turned on and off randomly when I was trying to do my laundry.

Worse yet – I ended up having to buy phase couplers and line noise filters to keep the damn system working, and that cost a small fortune. Completely defeated the point of buying cheap equipment in the first place.

Insteon can talk back to you. X10 can’t.

That sounds a little weird, I know, but hear me out. Insteon is capable of two-way communication, so your lights can tell you whether they’re actually on or off. This means you can reliably monitor the system remotely. And in the case that a signal failed, the system would know, and continue re-transmitting until it’s confirmed.

On the other hand, an X10 software could tell you that it turned a light on, but because the lamp module isn’t capable of talking back, you don’t really know if it is. Yes, I’m still harping on the relability issue – it’s important and worth mentioning again.

Plain and simple: Insteon can do a LOT more shit.

That two-way communication thing doesn’t just have to do with reliability. It lends itself to a lot more powerful programming capabilities. A motion sensor can tell you the lumens it’s picking up, and you can build entire programs around this.

Also, programming for X10 seems to have halted in the 90s. The software available is extremely clunky and limited. Insteon central control is considerably more powerful and streamlined.

Insteon is scalable. X10 is not.

First off – X10 is limited to 256 addresses. That might sound like a lot when you’re first starting out, but it’s a really awkward system where you only get 16 addresses to go with each housecode. (If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you can check out how X10 works). Trust me – once you start adding to your system, you run out really fast.

Insteon doesn’t have this problen – in theory an Insteon network is unlimited (in reality, depending on your master controller, you’re talking between 1024 devices to several thousand more).

Second – remember that reliability problem? When X10 systems get bigger, their signals start running into each other and messing around, and network reliability drops even more. Insteon networks actually get STRONGER when the system grows, because there are more modules for the message to bounce around. (Not sure what I’m going on about? Check out How Insteon Works.)

Third – Insteon is cross-compatible with a lot of other systems like Z-Wave and Zigbee. So if sometime in the future one of those protocols become the dominant technology, your Insteon system can be easily bridged. On the other hand, well…

X10 IS FORTY FREAKING YEARS OLD.

It was a genius stroke for Insteon’s creators to make it compatible to encourage adoption. But really, if you buy X10 today, you’re buying obsolete paperweights.

Last point: X10 is fugly. Need I say more?

X10 Security Module (left) and Insteon Security Module (right)

Okay, I think I’ve gone on long enough. But just in case, if you haven’t gotten the point yet, here’s one last chance:

INSTEON > X10.

There. I said it.

Yes, I have beef with Insteon about their price point. But at the end of the day, I’d much rather put up with that than with X10′s serious flaws and inefficiencies.

I seriously regret going X10 first. I know it’s tempting to do it because it’s so cheap, but I’ll leave you with one last thought… doesn’t it make you suspicious that it’s so cheap in the first place??

An important question for you

Okay, I’ve gone on at length about a purchase I regret. I’m curious – what’s one time you regretted something you bought? Let me know in the comments below. If there are enough examples here, I’ll put together a post about my fool-proof method for avoiding purchases I regret. I might even feature some of the best examples

Well, yesterday was Halloween. It’s the day when kids dress up, adults dress down, and the doorbell rings every ten seconds (the candy bowl with the “please take ONE” sign never works).

This year, as I manned the front door, I was reminded of my childhood. No, this isn’t about the time in fourth grade when I dressed up as Batman and got made fun of because Batman was SO last year (apparently Spiderman was the rage). I’m talking about Scooby Doo.

As a kid, my parents limited the amount of TV I could watch (yes, I hated them for it, and yes, I think it was a good idea in the long run). So I grew up watching restricted quantities of Cartoon Network.

Before I even knew what a hippie was, the one show I always watched was Scooby Doo, partially because it was always on when I came home from school. Every episode followed the same, satisfying pattern. The crew drives around minding their own business, but they stumble on some funny supernatural business going on in a creepy town. So the meddling kids investigate, get chased around by some ghosts and ghouls, slip into secret doorways and passageways, crack a couple corny jokes, and ultimately set up a trap and unmask the culprit who was faking the whole thing.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you need to see this:

One of the silliest (and at the time, scariest) things that happens in every episode is when the team splits up to investigate, and then get picked off one by one. Seriously, when do they ever learn? Splitting up in a haunted house is probably the worst investigation protocol ever invented.

Three simple rules the Scooby crew should have followed:

• Never, ever split up. The next time someone says “Let’s split up,” kick them.
• Don’t give Scooby his Scooby Snacks. He needs to check into rehab and get off the crack. (No, please don’t equate Scooby Snacks to Popeye’s spinach. They’re not the same thing.)
•  Don’t lean on anything. That bookcase is a hidden trap door, and the candlestick you just pulled triggered it.

Secret doorways aren’t just for cartoons and James Bond, though. They’ve made it into real life. In fact, there are actually companies that cater specifically to making secret doorways.

Here’s a particularly polished one:

I really liked this next one. It looks like a DIY project (you know how I love those), and unlike the first one, it actually has a unlocking mechanism that is triggered by pulling back on a book. Pretty frickin awesome.

Secret doors are pretty cool,but you know what my dream has always been, since childhood? Secret doorways aren’t quite enough … I want a whole underground complex, kind of like this:

Did you grow up watching Cartoon Network? What’s your favorite show? And if you could make any modification to your house like on TV or in the movies, what would it be?

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(Note: If you’ve been following me on Facebook, then you might know that I’ve started a 30-day trial of waking up at 6am every morning. I’ve been running a separate mini-blog about it, which you can find at http://thirtydaytrials.tumblr.com. I was originally going to put this post there, but it started getting so geeky (and awesome) that I figured I’d put it here instead.)

The science of sleep has always fascinated me, and so has the science of waking up. Throughout my school years, I struggled with maintaining a steady sleep schedule. Now that I have a greater degree of control over my life, I figured it was finally time to instill some habit. The overwhelming chorus I’ve noticed in the personal development world is that “you change your habits by changing your environment to support your new habit.” Since I’m such a geek and a gadget freak, I figured I’d play to my strengths when applying that mentality =)

Based on the initial response to the first few days of my trial (it’s been either “you’re crazy” or “you’re awesome, tell me more”), I thought you might benefit from seeing the method behind my madness. So without further ado, here are the geeky toys tools I’ve been using to wake up early every morning.

1. Home Automation

Seriously, this was a no-brainer. If you’ve read just the first few paragraphs of my about page, you know that my very first home automation project was rigging up a system to get my snoozaholic roommate out of bed. So it was only too easy to apply the same system to myself.

(It’s a pretty hilarious story – click here if you haven’t seen it yet)

This is the simplest part – I just scheduled the lights in my bedroom to automatically turn on at 6:10. (Read on for why it’s not at 6:00 sharp.)

Investment: $0, since I already have the infrastructure set up. Anywhere between $15 (X10) and $50+ (Insteon) for the automated light switch, and around $99 for the scheduler/controller.

2. Philips Wake-Up Light

This is a pretty nifty alarm clock. Basically, about a half hour before the alarm goes off, a lamp gradually turns on to simulate the sun rising. This is extra-helpful as the days get shorter and the mornings colder. I don’t know about you, but it’s awfully hard to get out of bed when it’s pitch black and freezing cold.
So at about 5:30, my body starts getting “sunlight”, which means that it has enough time to start whatever biochemical wake-up sequence it needs so that I can be alert when the alarm goes off. (And I wouldn’t really call it an alarm either, it’s more like a crescendo of singing bowls).

Does it work? At first I was skeptical. But trust me – it’s made waking up before the sun comes up SO much easier.

Not convinced? This is a pretty neat video where they use the simulated sunrise to trick a rooster to start crowing well before the sun comes up.

Investment: $89.99 (pretty steep for an alarm clock, I know… but I happened to have $75 in Amazon gift cards to subsidize it.)

Get it here: Philips Wake-Up Light (Amazon)
Or get its bigger, badder brother, which also helps you fall asleep  ($169.99): Philips Wake-Up Light Plus (Amazon)

3. WakeMate

This is by far the geekiest part of this three-part suite, and my favorite.

The Wakemate is a Bluetooth-enabled wristband equipped with an accelerometer that you wear to sleep. As you sleep, it keeps track of your movements, so it knows whether you are in a deep sleep cycle (very little movement) or light (more movement).

And that’s where the magic begins. With that information, it wakes you up anywhere within a 20-minute range where it senses you coming into a light sleep stage. This is awesome because it’s completely eliminated those rough mornings where no amount of caffeine can get me out of zombie-mode.

Even more importantly, the Wakemate doubles as a data-collection device. At the end of each night, it uploads the sleep data via your smartphone to its “Wakelytics” center, where you can actually chart your sleep. And if you’re a nerd like me, you can tag your nights so that later you can export the data and run statistical tests to see what factors in your day positively or negatively impact your sleep, and by how much. (Oh yes, I’m loving it.)

Investment: $59.99. Requires a smartphone (works with iOS, Android and Blackberry; syncs with a free app). Worth every penny, in my opinion.

Get it here: WakeMate.com

Putting the system together

So how do I use these tools in tandem to make waking up at 6am easier?

Wakemate – I set the alarm to go off between 5:50 and 6:10, so that on average, I’m waking up at around 6.

Philips Wake-Up Light - I set the alarm to go off at 6 (and turn the sound off) so that the light starts coming on at 5:30, well ahead of the actual alarm time.

Home Automation – The room lights come on at full power at 6:10, to further nudge me out if I’m not already up.

This is actually a really simple system that requires very little setup. That’s why I wanted to share it with you, so you can start hacking your own sleep =)

Do you have any tricks you use for hacking your sleep, or any other area of your life? Share them below in the comments!

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Having a monitored home security system can give you peace of mind, but the monthly costs can really pile up. Fortunately, if you have homeowner’s insurance, chances are good that you can get them to subsidize the cost of your security system.

I found a great article on familyhomesecurity.com that describes exactly how to do that. I’ve put an excerpt of it below:

Home Security Systems and Insurance Discounts

How Can a Security System Save Money?

Besides being a cost-effective way to help prevent property loss due to burglary, many homeowner’s insurance policies offer a substantial discount for homes that are protected by a security system. This is one of the best benefits of having a home security system, and one that many people aren’t aware that they may take advantage of.

How Much Money Will I Save on Insurance?

Depending on your security system, the amount you may save can vary from 5% to up to 20%. For security systems without monitoring, or the simple installation of deadbolt locks on your doors, you will probably save around 5%. However, with a verified home security system that has been properly installed, and that includes monthly monitoring, you will most likely save closer to 20%. Here’s an example of how much you could save with a monitored home security system:

Yearly Homeowner’s Insurance: $1,500
20% Savings: - $300

As you can see, a monitored home security system can save you a substantial amount of money. To look at it with a slightly different viewpoint, in this example, the 20% savings would equate out to a $25 per month savings. For a monitored home security system, your monthly cost (average) would usually be from $30 to $50, for basic monitoring. With the $25 per month discount that you are receiving for having your system, your home security monitoring is actually only costing you from $5 – $25 per month.

What Do I Need to Do?

1. Call Your Insurance Company.
   Different companies have different policies regarding what they require from you in order to grant you a home security system discount. This may include verified installation, verifying your home security system or verifying that your system has monthly monitoring.
2. Call Your Home Security Company.
   Many home security companies will offer “insurance certificates” upon request. Most companies will accept an insurance certificate from a highly rated home security company. Be sure to obtain a list of approved companies from your homeowner’s insurance company.
3. A Note About Installation
   Depending on your insurance company, it may be required that your security system be installed by a trained professional. It’s extremely important that you gain this information before installing your system.

Read more: Home Security Systems and Insurance Discounts

I’m really not sure if I should find this amusing or not.

If you’ve ever had the urge to sleep on all of your valuable possessions (or guns), then look no further. The Bed Bunker is a safe that sits under your bed, and you actually put your mattress on it.

And here’s the best part: it’s actually for sale! (Not one of those crazy concept things you read about but doesn’t actually exist in-market). Here are the specs on smarthome:

Total hidden protection for valuables is now a reality, using this 1450 lb secure 10 gauge steel strongbox fitted with ¼” thick steel 140 lb. hinged doors. The Bed Bunker King Double Bed Safe can fit with a single safe with two adjoining storage supports on either side for complete concealment from all angles. The King Double Bed Safe comes with four high security Mul-T-Lock locks, and is guaranteed for life.

• Fireproof Bed Safe
• Large Capacity for Storage
• 4 HigH security Mul-T-Lock Locks
• Hidden Protection Bed

If nothing else, you gotta LOVE local news networks.

Stay safe,
- Anthony

Hey team,

I often get questions about what kind of cameras I recommend for home automation security purposes. For most people, the choice boils down to CCTV (Closed Circuit TV) cameras and spy cameras hidden throughout the house.

Think of it this way – your video system will follow the needs of your home and your budget.

Michael Houser from Custom Home Security Systems wrote up a great article about the difference… I’ve reposted part of it here for you.

There are numerous forms of video surveillance systems. Two of the most popular solutions are closed circuit tv (CCTV) systems and spy cameras. A homeowner wants to make a decision if they want video surveillance and what sort of surveillance they have to have.

The most highly-priced selection is a CCTV method. It is frequently applied in public locations or by commercial institutions such as banks, but is also on the market for homeowners who are concerned with critical household security. These systems demand a camera (or cameras), a monitor, and a recording device. It might possibly be attainable to combine the monitor and recording device or use a laptop or computer for this function. Cameras of numerous qualities can be chosen black and white cameras function superior outside in the dark, other people deliver bigger or smaller viewable images. Unless a person is monitoring the method 24/7, the recording device is referred to if one thing occurs. This is a skilled method and should certainly frequently be installed by security pros. In spite of this, this method might possibly expense about $1000 per camera, producing it an excessive addition for most homeowners.

Spy cameras tend to be a lot smaller and deliver a much less detailed image, in particular over a bigger location. They are quite often wireless and transmit their feed to a monitor or a laptop or computer screen. This can be either be viewed in genuine time or recorded. Stereotypically named the nanny cam, these systems are quite often applied by homeowners who do not want other people to know they are getting recorded, as these cameras are a great deal smaller and quite often disguised as one thing else. The lower excellent makes them a a great deal less costly selection but they are also much less dependable and cannot cover the similar location.

Homeowners have to have to assess how beneficial video surveillance will be as portion of their own household security method. If there is a have to have or desire to monitor the exterior of the property 24/7, possibly to identify any individual that passes by way of, a CCTV method is great. A spy camera might possibly be beneficial for a person attempting to monitor a specific location in the household. For most homeowners that basically want to avoid break-ins, a fine burglar alarm is alot more than sufficient. Some homeowners even spot dummy cameras outside to make it appear like the property is watched and scare off prospective thieves.

For most, the spy camera does just fine. But for a few of you, you’ll want to splurge on the CCTV system.

Where do you fall?

Hey there,

I’ve mostly been showing you home automation that is useful, practical and (for the most part) well within reason.

But … I’ve been neglecting a side of home improvement that deserves some special attention. I’m talking about just-for-fun home improvement. And not just any plain old “just for fun” project (although those certainly have a place in my heart too, if you couldn’t already tell).

I’m talking about the projects that are so over-the-top you who was crazy enough to think up that idea. And who was crazier still to buy it and install it in their home?

And then a few seconds later … you want one for yourself.

Since it’s almost the end of summer, here are some of the most fun and extreme swimming pool systems that I could find. And don’t worry, there’s plenty of automation going on here.

Extreme Pool #1 – Hydrofloors

If you’ve ever dreamed of dancing on a hydraulic floor, you’ll want this. This pool system, conceived by Belgium-based HydroFloors, lets you convert your swimming pool into a dance floor, and vice versa. Pretty nifty.

Extreme Pool #2 – MUNTANDOR

This bad boy, created by Extreme Exclusive transforms your outdoor pool and patio into an indoor pool and patio.

Extreme Pool #3 – Last but not least…

This last one … well … just for kicks and giggles

We’ve seen a lot of amazing home automation using your phone over the years, and it just keeps getting better. And the inventors keep getting younger! I came across this video/article about a 13-year-old boy from south London who has invented a doorbell that will actually call the owner if no one answers the door.  How’s that for smart–and practical?

The inventor, Laurence Rook, said he came up with his idea after his mother missed several deliveries.

It’s a great concept–the doorbell has a built-in Sim card and an intercom, and will phone  the house owner if no-one answers the door within eight seconds–and via the intercom, it allows your visitor to speak directly to the owner.

Even more incredible? 13-year-old Laurence has already received orders worth up to £250,000 for the product.  A pretty amazing adventure for someone who’s not even in high school yet!

Here’s a link to the article and video for more info–you can see the Smart Doorbell in action:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-13683578

Have you created any DIY home automation using your phone? Would love to hear about it!