Home Automation Comes of Age - WSJ

For a less optimistic state-of-the-art snapshot, see Why Is My Smart Home So F***ing Dumb? (Gizmodo)

"The prototype kitchen by the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly known as Virginia Tech, includes numerous networked appliances and fixtures. Each can be controlled by voice commands or gestures, the homeowner’s smartphone or through touch screens such as the 55-inch screen embedded in the kitchen’s island countertop.

Whether consumers will use such applications, and whether builders will need to incorporate them in the future, remains a focus of experimentation and research. “It’s more or less filtering of what is useful and what isn’t,” said Joseph Wheeler, coordinator of Virginia Tech’s Center for Design Research."

Home Automation Comes of Age - WSJ