By using your smartphone, tablet or laptop , you can monitor everything in your home from lighting and heating to cleaning and security - and save money in the process

Wifi-enabled bulbs may sound like complete overkill, but in reality, they are useful to have around. Philips has developed some wireless bulbs that not only allow you to remotely control the lights, but also to change their colour.

The Philips Hue starter pack comes with a wireless bridge, which plugs into your modem, and three bulbs. The whole thing is controlled via an app on your smartphone, or through an online portal.

It means you can turn on and off the lights in your home no matter where you are. The advantage over timer switches is that it's less likely to notify people that you are out of the house - lights turning on at the same time every day is usually a dead giveaway - and you if you are in any way obsessive about checking lights in the house, a quick glance at the app will tell you what lights are on around the home.

'Night ' mode

The LED bulbs are also fairly energy efficient compared with your standard incandescent bulb.

At the International CES last month, GreenWave Reality won an innovation award for its Connected Lighting Solution. This includes some LED bulbs, a hand-held remote controller, and an optional gateway to remotely control the lighting system.

The remote control allows you to switch light s on and off within the home without the need to access any cloud-based services. So you can select the "night" mode, which turns off all the connected bulbs in the house, meaning no more roaming from room to room to turn off individual lights.

Or you can create some custom controls which can be configured to turn lights on automatically once it begins to get dark, or hook them up to motion sensors.

LIFX, which describes itself as "The lightbulb, reinvented", is another up-and-coming project .If you want to keep an eye on your home while you are away, it's never been easier. There are plenty of devices out there that will allow you to log in remotely and view what is going on in your home through some well-placed security cameras.

Philips offers In.Sight, a home security system that detects motion and sound, streaming video to your mobile device from the wall mounted cameras. The app for iPhone is free.

Motion alerts

Up to 16 cameras can be linked together, so you get a good view of what is going on in your home.

If you are looking for something a little less full on, the iZon 2.0 also uses wifi to monitor a room. It provides noise and motion alerts direct to your mobile device, and can be controlled via apps. It will also record your video to a private YouTube account if you choose. It comes with a magnetic base, rather than the wall mounts, but it can be changed to hundreds of different positions.

It's one thing to have your central heating system timed to turn on at certain times - cold mornings, chilly evenings - but if you aren't there, it's a waste of fuel and money.

Climote, which is made by the company of the same name, allows you to remotely manage your heating from outside the house. That means you can set timers, switch it on or off immediately or set it to holiday mode, deactivating all your heating settings unless the temperature falls below a certain point in the house.

It replaces the existing timer for your central heating system, and works with oil-fired systems, gas, and with a bit of extra installation, even some storage heaters.

Advantage

You don't even need a smartphone to use it. Although there is an app that works with iOS and Android, the system uses its own sim card, so you can simply text commands to the number to activate the heating.You can log in to the portal through a web browser too.

This system has the distinct advantage of not relying on wifi either, so Climote can be installed in areas where wifi is not available, and it means you don't have to keep a modem switched on all the time.

It costs €299 to install, with a small monthly service charge applied after the first two years.

Climote is not your only option though. Galway-based firm Radeco offers its own take on remote heating. The Radeco Home Multi-Zone Heating Control System is a bit more expensive than the Climote, but it qualifies for the SEAI grant.

At its most basic, Radeco's multi-zone home heating control system consists of wireless motorised valves fitted to every radiator in your home, a central control unit and a boiler control unit.

Communicate

The valves have a built-in thermostat and keep watch on each room's temperature. These communicate with the central control unit, noting when the temperature drops below a set level. Radiators are controlled independently of each other.

The boiler control unit, as you'd expect, kicks your oil or gas boiler into action when needed. The control unit also stores your preset programmes.

A few extras make this system a bit more useful. There's a hot water control, which is fitted to the cylinder flow pipe. And the most important part is the GSM controller that allows remote communications, with users able to control the programmes through mobile phones, smartphones and online through a web application.

Vacuuming is right up there on the list of things most people hate to do. But unlike the ironing, it's something that you can use technology to almost eliminate your involvement.

Robot vacuum cleaners have been around for some time, but major manufacturers are starting to get involved. Samsung, for example, unveiled its first Navibot in 2010, and has updated the line since then to make the cleaners quieter than before.

The idea with the robot cleaner is that you can set it to clean on schedule - it could clean while you were out of the house, for example - and to operate in certain rooms.

Recharging quietly

You set its perimeter, so it won't wander off into rooms that you aren't interested in keeping spick and span, and sensors mean it won't bump into furniture or mislaid glasses.

When the battery needs to be recharged, the device will scoot back to its base, recharge quietly and is ready to go again when it's needed.

However, they have a few drawbacks. Forget tackling crevices, for example; most of these vacuum cleaners won't have the dexterity to get right in there. And while we're on the subject of their manoeuvrability, stairs are also a no-go.

Along the same lines as the robot vacuum, there are also robot lawnmowers that will just get on with it while you sit back and watch.

Some support multiple zones, like their household brethren, which means if your garden is separated by a driveway or path, you can still get the lawnmower to recognise the other areas of your garden.

Ambrogio robot lawnmowers

have a mowing time of anything from two to eight hours, and have models with extras such as rain sensors (handy in this country) to anti-tip wheels.

Husqvarna also offers some robust models that will not only tackle rougher terrain, but if something interrupts its scheduled mowing time, it will send a text alert to a predetermined mobile phone number.

When it comes to versatile, Belkin's WeMo certainly fits the bill. The name itself doesn't give much away, but in reality, this small device is incredibly versatile.

It connects to almost anything you have in your home to turn it on or off - if it plugs in, WeMo can control it. That means lamps, heaters, radios and so on can all be remotely accessed and turned on or off.

Motion sensing

You can schedule certain events too, so if you want lights to turn on at a certain time, all you have to do is programme the WeMo. Team it with the motion sensing switch and you can set electronics to turn on when someone walks into a room.

It's modular, so you can keep adding switches, and it uses your wifi network, so no additional equipment is needed.

The International CES is always a showcase for some of the best future technology that is set to hit the market in the coming months.

LG Smart Oven & Fridge

They aren't available in Ireland just yet, but LG's smart appliances may make life a little bit easier for consumers in the future. The smart oven allows you to control its operation via an app, so you can set a specific cooking mode or search for recipes. It can even diagnose problems. Plus it has a handy link in with the smart fridge to share recipes. The fridge itself comes with an integrated LCD screen, which can tell you what's in your fridge and what's going to expire - provided you were organised enough to input the latest batch of grocery shopping.

Tethercell

Battery-operated devices have an annoying habit of dying without too much warning. But a new device shown at CES may help with that problem, while also giving you a bit of remote control too. Tethercell's adapter turns a AAA battery into a Bluetooth AA power cell. You can use an app on your smartphone to switch battery-powered devices on or off, set schedules for them to run, or keep a close eye on how much battery power is left. It currently only supports iOS.

Almond+

This could be the future controller of your connected home. The Almond+ is currently a project on Kickstarter, but was demoed at CES. At its most basic, it's a wifi-enabled router with a touchscreen that builds in a home controller. It currently supports technology developed by ZigBee and Z-Wave, so there are hundreds of sensors already on the market that will work with this device. So with the right sensors installed in your home you could control lighting, heat or security, all through a single interface.