Smart, yet silly

Smart, yet silly

July 29, 2007 11:00 by Louis

Dubai has one of the largest and most aggressive property ambitions in the world. Every residents are invited to marvel at yet another tower, or swathe of villas that seemingly ‘appeared’ over night. The introduction of such a robust property market and the creation of the residential real estate sector in particular, have witnessed the growth of countless related industries, one of which is home automation.

Until very recently, many people in this region vaguely understood the notion of home automation and when asked about it extreme examples would spring to mind. The ability to start running your bath via your mobile phone or having access to a fleet of voice activated ‘in house’ robots. In the last few months the growing use of phrases such as ‘smart’, and or ‘intelligent’ homes has accelerated dramatically and the average customer may becoming more aware of the realistic opportunities such technology can present for his or her home.

So what is smart home, what does it mean and how far does it go? There are many examples of such technology. To give one, Opus Technologies manufactures multi room entertainment systems; these provide high performance audio and video throughout the home. Control is at your fingertips via stylish wall mounted keypads and hand held remotes located in each room. Essentially the system allows control over all your audio and video devices (satellite, DVD, Radio, CD, iPod