Have you ever left home in a hurry, in order to get to work or to an important meeting, and then spent the whole day (or meeting) worried because you couldn't remember whether you turned off the lights, closed the window or left the water running?

Well, I do believe that we've all gone through such a situation at least once or twice in our lifetime, but now there's a technological solution that takes care of such problems, namely the Home Heartbeat System, developed by the Eaton company.

Home Heartbeat System is a very complex system of sensors which monitors all those parameters the users considers being significant. The system can be installed very easily, and allows the remote monitoring of almost all the devices in a house, depending on the users' preferences.

It is composed of three main elements: a base station, which actually represents the heart of the system, a network of sensors (for water taps, open/closed, power sensors, warning sensors, reminders, etc.) and the Home Key, a mobile device which the user can take along with him, and which receives and displays the information regarding the state of the house, also alerting through vibrations, beeps or turning on and off LEDs regarding any possible problems.

Even if the Home Key device works just on an area of about 28 meters around the base station, the users can set up the system so that it will alert them if some unexpected event occurs by sending an e-mail or SMS message on their mobile phone. So, practically, they can be informed regarding any problems that occur back home, wherever they might be at that moment. The product's price is not displayed on the manufacturer's website (www.homeheartbeat.com), but it probably won't be too low, especially considering the functions it offers. If you want to keep a close watch on your home though, even when you're away, you'll probably cough up the money.

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