Photos: A peek inside the automated home

A chic loft apartment in New York City’s Flatiron District was outfitted on Tuesday with a whole slew of new gadgets designed to put around-the-house routines at one’s fingertips. The setup was centered around the Z-Wave open wireless standard, which was developed by Zensys for home appliance networking and automation.

\r\n\r\nThe apartment was “furnished” by the Z-Wave Alliance, a group of manufacturers–many of them competitors–who have teamed up to promote the home networking standard.

\r\n\r\nThis might look like a normal (albeit upscale) living room, but everything from the lights to the window shades to the thermostat to the meditative water fountain in the corner are synched to a Z-Wave controller manufactured by Intermatic. The Z-Wave devices are barely visible.

This Intermatic HomeSettings Master Controller is in charge of controlling the windows, lights, thermostat, and fountain shown in the previous photo. When Z-Wave-compatible light dimmers, plugs, and modules are connected to various appliances, the Master Controller can give easy access to them simultaneously and at a distance.

The TV in this impressive home entertainment center is equipped with BuLogics’ BaseCamp, a Z-Wave-based system that is centered around the television set. BaseCamp uses a souped-up remote control to dim and brighten lighting, schedule appliances like coffee makers, and control room temperature.

A Z-Wave Alliance representative demonstrates Intermatic’s HomeSettings ThinkEssentials software, a part of its ControlThink line. On the screen, a house floor plan is displayed so that the user has drag-and-drop access to Z-Wave home control functions. It’s conducted over broadband in addition to Z-Wave, so a ThinkEssentials user can be on vacation in Italy and still control the lawn irrigation for his house back in the States.