Instructables: The Lights Are On, But Ain't Nobody Home.

There's a scene in Iron Man, where a woman wakes up at Tony Stark's house and the windows automatically lighten from a nighttime tint to bright, glorious sunshine. And it's all done via computer.

You too can control your home electronics from your computer by following the instructions in a step-by-step project from Instructables. This project helps you to control any AC device from lights, televisions, to a fan or even the vacuum cleaner... all through your personal computer. You can view the entire how-to by clicking here.

Crime prevention sites always talk about leaving a light or two on in the house when you go on vacation. Not that it's terribly wasteful, but wouldn't it be nice to be able to remotely turn on and off the lights from your computer? Or what about switching the television on for a couple of hours?

Or, how about having some fun with the babysitter? Tell him/her you're going on a date at night. Then, when she sits down to watch some television, you remotely shut it off. Maybe turn on the vacuum cleaner for fun. On second thought you might have to find a new babysitter after that and when he or she tells the neighborhood your house is haunted, you may never be able to hire another babysitter again.

And what about coming home when the weather outside has turned your house into a sweat lodge? It would be pretty nice if you could turn on the plug in air-conditioning unit and perhaps a few house fans mere hours before you arrived. And you can do it from your computer, half a world away.

Creating an AC switch that can be controlled by a personal computer is fairly simple technology and the how-to article offers step-by-step instructions with visuals to explain the process. You can take it as far as the author does, or use it as a building block for a far greater innovation. You're only limited by your own imagination.

Computer Control of AC Devices by Indestructable