RFID-Enable Your Home

Published: April 1, 2005

It’s a geek’s dream come true: an RFID kit that lets you automate your home. The HomeSeer RFID Starter Kit, which costs $478, includes a long-range reader and software that can be configured to trigger a number of tasks: It could send you an e-mail at work when your child gets home from school, open your garage door and turn on the TV when it detects the presence of your car, or open the other garage door and turn on the CD player when your spouse gets home.




The kit is sold through iAutomate.com. You can buy basic tags for $20 and add-ons such as a second reader ($299), short-range antenna ($27), tags for metallic assets ($33 to $65) and a key chain fob ($60). Peter Monahan, who developed the system after his son nearly drowned in the family pool, is working on a waterproof tag that, when submerged, would send out an alarm.