用手机来监控自己的家

Before leaving work, Steve Lee likes to use his cell phone to turn on his heat and air condition system at home.So by the time he gets through traffic into his front door,the tempreture inside is perfect. And wait till you see what a so-called smart home can do inside.

"And you can now view cameras,you can control lights."

Lee works for a company called Smarthome.com, testing and living with many of his company's home automation gadgets, like this multi-function touch screen that controls devices around the house and even connects to Internet traffic cameras to check the commute.

"I have cameras, that follow all the way down the freeway to work."

Curious what's going on at home when you are away? No problem,install some wireless cameras and controllers and from any computer in the world with an Internet connection.

"You can check on the house, I can look at the tempreture. If I want to turn lights on ahead that time, I can."

We sat in Steve's California kitchen and with the right password, turned on the kitchen counter lights at his boss's house in Wisconsin.Steve did have permission to log on.

" If you do know the password and you want to play  trick on your wife or vice versa? You could turn lights on and off remotely."

Best part,this new technology, which can automatically turn on water sprinklers when humidity is low, or turn off a pool pump when not in use，is no longer expensive. Several hundred bucks for a basic system and not hard to install.

"A lot of times the remote controll of lights and other devices could be achieved by simply changing off the switch."

Sure the convenience is nice but many like the security advantages like making sure kids are safe with the help of camera monitors and bedside alerts.

"To have notification that maybe one of my children woke up in the middle of the night, turned the light switch on."

What a smart home can't do is get you a snack.You have to leave the couch for that.

Mark Marlo,for ABC News,Los Angeles.