2 Real Estate Lifestyle �
A Teletask energy-monitoring and control display on a touch screen.
systems such as Daikin Airconditioning and Mitsubishi Electric.
Graham Gunn, U. K. distributor for manufacturer Teletask, says his clients are increasingly using Apple and other tablet technologies as interfaces to monitor their homes remotely. Other sought-after providers of smart home-control systems include Creston and AMX.
Roarie Scarisbrick from U. K.-based realestate agent Property Vision says demand for these kinds of products has spiked considerably in recent months. " People are spending a lot on extraordinary remote systems that control everything in the house and allow you to control it from abroad or wherever you are through a simple browser in your phone," he says. " If you are a businessman coming from Heathrow and want to set up your air conditioning at 22 degrees Celsius before you get home, you can do it from your computer."
Though convenience is a deciding factor for most homeowners, Robert Hallam, the U. K. chairman of trade group Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association( Cedia), says a rise in energy prices is pushing demand as well. " Regardless of your income, the cost benefit of installing these devices in the home to control the lighting and heating has been an important driver [ for sales ]," he says. " In large homes you need to heat the swimming pool, or there are large parts of the house that need less lighting and these systems will cut costs."
Safety first
Handheld devices with web browsers have also triggered developments in homesecurity systems, allowing homeowners to monitor their houses any time, anywhere from the palms of their hands.
" 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.
Devices are also becoming more sophisticated, giving home security a James Bond feel. Charles Smith, managing director of U. K. Sotheby ' s International Realty, says he has noticed an increase in fingerprint recognition in homes.
" It adds another level of security and there ' s been an uptake in the last five years," he says. " This is a type of technology we hadn ' t seen very often, but gradually homeowners with, say, a wine cellar are using it to help them to reduce the premium on their insurance."
Entertainment at your fingertips
Another significant change underway is the way we store entertainment. " We have moved very quickly from storing content on a disk or on a hard drive to storing it using cloud-based entertainment services provided by the likes of Amazon," Mr. Hallam says.
Earlier this year, the Seattle-based company launched a service that lets users access their music files from any computer, freeing up physical space in the house. Users are also able to upload photo and video files, and access them through a browser on virtually any computer. Similarly, movie server Kaleidescape allows users to store and manage their films, and makes them available to watch through a TV screen in any part of the house.
" We will see more people able to organize their entertainment content in a more coherent way and it will promote the use of more table-type computers in the house as people stream content in these devices," Mr. Hallam says.
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We will see more people able to organize their entertainment content in a more coherent way and it will promote the use of more table-type computers in the house as people stream content in these devices
32 DORCHESTER December 2012