And if I can let you try it out for free (okay, for $5.90, as you will read below), then I like it even more.

As of today, AnchorDesk is expanding its coverage to include the field of home automation -- also known as home control, smart homes, digital homes, wired homes, and so on.

Now be careful -- I'm not talking about home networking, the process of linking multiple computers. That area is still fraught with confusion. Click for more. I'm talking about the ability to tame and train electrical and electronic devices.

HOME CONTROL MYTHS
If you haven't seen what's happening in home automation lately, then you probably believe home control is:

1. Just for operating lamps. In fact, you can use it to turn on the hot tub, water the lawn, draw the drapes, arm the security system and much more.

2. Just for turning things on and off. Send movies and audio wirelessly around the house, monitor cameras, adjust thermostats, even get your security system to phone you if it senses a break-in.

3. Just for new homes. It can operate over existing power lines, so you don't need special cabling.

4. Bulky and clunky. Ten years ago, lamp modules were the size of a James Michener novel. Today, they are one-third that size. You can even get home control electronics built into standard light switches and wall outlets.

5. Expensive. Yes, the total can add up. But prices have dropped. And wireless options (such as wireless motion detectors and wireless security cameras) avoid the need for expensive rewiring.

6. Hard to operate. You can run your system with your PC, with remote control pads or even with (my favorite) a tiny keychain remote.

HOME CONTROL CAUTIONS
Home automation still requires up-front effort, especially if you want to program special tricks. But even that part has gotten easier, thanks to software for PC and Mac.

However, this market is the source of fierce vendor feuding. The CEBus consortium has its Home Plug & Play specification. Sun wants to subsume home devices in its Jini technology. Microsoft hopes to assimilate them into its Universal Plug and Play initiative. Motorola is backing DigitalDNA for next-generation smart appliances. And so on. The one constant is the venerable X10 spec, which has been around for years. My advice: Stick to X10 compatible devices until the standards wars play out.

SEE FOR YOURSELF
An X10 home automation vendor has offered to give a starter kit worth $73 to 13,699 AnchorDesk readers. No charge, just the price of shipping ($5.90). To make sure this deal was on the up and up, I asked Jon DeKeles, WCTD (World's Crankiest Technical Director) to take a look. I've linked you to his report below.

I'll be back in the months to come to tell you about more home control innovations. About new voice activated systems. About refrigerators that know what you put inside and washing machines that can sense which setting to use. All of it stuff you'll be able to buy within the next year.

Meanwhile, click the link below to see if you can get one of the free starter kits. And use the TalkBack link at the bottom to share your home automation experiences and suggestions.

GO HERE NEXT
Jon's "Smarten Up Your Home" story.

Unless it's about where online shopping is heading next. Because we're about to witness a war between the "mediaries," as more and more Web companies try to insert themselves between vendors and customers.

Basically, an intermediary acts as a go-between, brokering a relationship between customers and vendors. Grocery stores are intermediaries. They gather goods together so you don't have to go to each supplier separately.

As online shopping sites evolve, they are pioneering new ways to broker the relationship, some of which are difficult or impossible in the real world. Here are seven key developments:

Separate sites: Soon, any business of any size or importance will sell its goods directly over the Internet. Example: Gap. Click for more.

Intermediaries: Also called "aggregators," these sites pull together goods and services from many individual companies. Example: Catalog City (click for more), the Yahoo Shopping Channel. Click for more.

Supermediaries: An online superstore that gathers together virtually every product in a given category. Example: CDNow. Click for more.

Metamediaries: Form "metamarkets" -- markets that cannot be created in the real world. For instance, the act of buying a home is actually a series of transactions -- securing the help of an agent, shopping for a mortgage, choosing a neighborhood, getting a home inspection, buying the home itself, moving furniture, buying home furnishing, etc. In the real world, you must do each in turn, separately. In cyberspace, all those services can be brought together into one convenient metamarketplace. Example: Microsoft's Home Advisor. Click for more.

Indimediaries: The previous examples create "one-to-many" markets. Indimediaries facilitate "one-to-one" commerce. They connect two individuals, one who wants to sell and the other who wants to buy. Then they take a small fee for the service. Online auctions and classifieds are examples. Example: ZDNet Auctions

Communimediaries: Also called "experience communities," these sites let people combine their know-how and/or their buying power. The customers run the show, trading information on which products to buy and what prices to pay. Example: portions of Motley Fool. Click for more.

Infomediaries: These sites store information about buyers and their preferences. Then they match buyers to products -- without revealing the buyers' identities. It's the commercial equivalent of a dating service. Example: DoubleClick (click for more), Lumeria (click for more)

Experts estimate the average family will save $1,100 a year thanks to these Web middlemen. Not too shabby, considering I've estimated it costs me twice that a year in lost time facilitating arguments between Jon and Annette.

What's your take on mediaries? Hit the TalkBack button below and tell me. I'll post responses beneath this article. Or hop over to my Berst Alerts Forum where a discussion is already underway.

If AnchorDesk had the latest biometric technology, I wouldn't ask for ID. I'd have voice-authentication software to compare Jon's voice against an earlier voice-capture. Or I'd put him in front of a camera lens to scan his iris and match it against iris codes in the database. The rapidly evolving science of biometrics uses unique physical attributes -- voice, fingerprint, iris -- to identify users. Biometric security products exist now. But it will be another year at least before we start realizing their full potential. Here's a look at where the biometric roadmap will take us:

WHERE WE ARE
Biometrics have been around for decades. The public sector -- particularly military and law enforcement -- were the early adopters. Today public agencies use biometrics for such things as preventing welfare fraud and determining eligibility for health care benefits. But usage outside of government remains spotty, particularly in the enterprise, for several reasons:

Steep prices. Costs range from less than $100 for a basic reading device to thousands for a fully integrated access system. But Gartner Group research director Jackie Fenn says costs are dropping dramatically. That will be key to widespread adoption.

Lack of standards. Integrating biometric systems with mainstream PC technology is a headache IT execs don't need. But there's movement toward standards among consortiums such as BioAPI. (See link below.)

Early failures. Vendors admit fingerprint sensor tools introduced last year weren't as robust as they needed to be -- a black mark on a fledgling industry.

WHERE WE'RE GOING
Government will continue to be a hot market for biometric security, but experts see huge potential in the financial community and the medical industry. The security issues that haunt corporate IT and ecommerce make them obvious markets for biometrics too. (For some fascinating biometric applications, see today's Special Report.) Here's how the Gartner Group predicts the biometric emergence will happen:

• 2000: Full-scale rollout of iris recognition for bank tellers and ATMs
• 2001: Fingerprint recognition becomes the remote access tool of choice for corporations that adopt biometrics
• 2002: Iris recognition gains lead over fingerprints for installations serving many users

What's your take on biometrics? Does the technology look like a long-term answer to our security woes? Use TalkBack to tell me what you think. Or jump to my Berst Alert forum and hash it out with other readers.

Too bad it's such a slow road to mainstream biometrics. Because some days I really do think AnchorDesk has been possessed. No sooner had Jon offered to buy everyone lunch, then our GenX associate editor Nicci Noteboom asked if I wanted her to stay late and help me with a project.

Seeing so many bad offline storage methods strikes me as odd when there are so many good electronic storage options. And they're getting better all the time. That's great news, because buying a PC with lots of storage or upgrading an existing PC can make a huge improvement in your computing experience. That's why I created this storage update with tips on finding the option that makes sense for you.

Here's a snapshot of five major storage categories:

Desktop: Capacity is the issue and "more" is where it's at. Two years ago, a 2 GB hard disk was standard on a business machine; today it's 8 or 10 GB. At Comdex last month, the buzz was new hard drives with huge amounts of storage plus serious speed. Example: Seagate debuted the 50 GB Barracuda which spins at 7200 RPM and claims a sustained throughput of 25.7 MB per second. Whoa!
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Network: All those files, databases and apps passed around your network need a home base that's affordable and secure. But if your office is like most, you keep nearly every scrap of data -- soon filling even the largest RAID system to capacity. If that's the case, experts at PC Magazine suggest a Hierarchical Storage Management System, which is a tiered storage schematic designed to reduce costs and keep data within reach. The trend: Most large companies will eventually have many layers of shared storage -- from file servers to Internet backup.
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Gadgets: Today's handhelds and digital cameras (DCs) are a disappointment in the storage arena. But that's changing. Sony is coming out with a Memory Stick available in 4 MB and 8 MB densities, with 16- and 32 MB sticks to follow; they'll eventually be used in all Sony gear -- digital cameras, desktop PCs, notebooks and photo printers. This summer IBM will deliver MicroDrive, a miniature half-ounce hard disk with up to 340 MB capacity for DCs and palmtops.

Online: If you simply want to store documents for archival purposes, or have access to them from the road, you can use the Internet for storage. As I've mentioned before, however, this route isn't for everyone.
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Ecommerce storage: With 24/7 e-businesses setting a frenetic pace, traditional off-line storage backup and servicing become an issue. Downtime caused by storage failures, meantime, can be costly. So ecommerce is driving a new way of thinking about storage -- keying on availability, scalability, performance and reliability. Click for more.

What's your storage dilemma -- and how did you solve it? Use the TalkBack button to tell me. Or jump to my Berst Alert forum to talk storage with other readers.

Just don't get too comfortable with the storage solutions listed here. The technology is changing rapidly. Unlike the AnchorDesk office, where I've given up on the idea things will change. Getting Annette to adopt a hierarchical storage system won't happen in my lifetime.

By the year 2005, the worldwide number of people using the Internet will double to 300 million, according to Datamonitor. But before you invest your career and every last cent in the Net, consider the barriers the tech industry faces. How we overcome them will present challenges -- and opportunities.

Whenever I need a glimpse into the future, I summon the spirit of Swami Berstananda, a 4,000-year-old wise man. I started my talk with the Swami by asking if he'd seen Star Wars: Episode 1. "Of course," he snapped, "but I enjoyed episode three in 2005 a whole lot better."

Small talk over, I launched my agenda. "What are the greatest barriers the wired world faces?" I asked. Here are his answers, for which the Swami owes thanks to fellow future-gazer John Gantz, Senior Vice President, Personal Systems and Services Research, at research firm IDC:

BANDWIDTH: OK, we all knew this one. But how do we bring fast access to every home in America, not just to pockets of affluence? And then how do we do it with wireless?

What's Needed: Usual suspects: standards, technology. Click for more.

INFOGLUT: The amount of data available on the Net redefines "overwhelming." How are we going to find the stuff we want?

What's Needed: Smarter search technology. Today's search engines won't cut it. Click for more.

ISLANDS OF COMPUTING: There are millions of computers and computing appliances out there -- and millions and millions more to come. But not all of them are talking with each other.

What's Needed: A way to connect every device to the network. From refrigerators to cars to handheld PCs. We currently have competing standards, such as JINI and Universal Plug and Play, which don't fulfill their promises. Click for more.

PRIVACY INVASIONS: The world's Web sites are assembling enormous dossiers of personal information -- of everything we do online. Which they're going to match up with our offline activities.

What's Needed: Political leadership. Society needs to define the limits of privacy and the penalties for breaking them. We also need technology breakthroughs that will automate the sharing of information, while obeying the established rules. Click for more.

DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE: It's like the world's biggest city without a phone book. We need a single "address" book for all the people and devices hooked up to the Net. Today's LDAP-based, lowest common denominator directories aren't powerful enough.

What's Needed: A simple, scaleable, standardized directory structure. The best on the market now is NDS, short for Novell Directory Services. NDS is downright awful, but better than any other current option. Click for more.

As Gantz often says, we're moving from an old paradigm to a new paradigm and, as expected, chaos will arise during the transition. By the end of the next decade, we'll be firmly entrenched in the new digital world. And we must navigate shrewdly if we want that new world to meet our high expectations.

But I have the Swami's word that we'll achieve the extraordinary. What do you think are the biggest challenges -- and pending breakthroughs? Use the TalkBack button below to send me your ideas. I'll post responses beneath this column. Or go to my Berst Alerts forum.

Dell Precision WorkStation 610
The Dell Precision WorkStation 610 ($7,999) was the least expensive of four similarly configured dual 500 MHz Pentium III Xeon workstations recently tested at PC Magazine Labs. Add a case design with excellent serviceability and access, as well as Dell's topnotch service and support, and you have a winner. This is the kind of system you’d use for running high-end, 3D graphics-intensive applications such as mechanical computer-aided design, 3D modeling and other digital content creation applications. It includes a powerful OpenGL graphic card that has a 3D accelerator chip and a sophisticated on-board geometry processor designed to tackle high-end 3D graphics. It's about as powerful as a desktop computer gets.
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AAA Map’n’Go
Getting ready to load up the SUV for the family’s summer vacation? The latest version of DeLorme's AAA Map'n'Go ($30) has more than a million miles of road maps, customized routing options, 66,000 AAA-rated listings of places to stay and visit and multimedia previews of more than 1,300 points of interest. You’ll also find GPS Voice Navigation for laptops linked to any National Marine Electronics Association. Map'n'Go's maps and turn-by-turn routing directions are easy to access. And you can spice up the maps using drawing tools that let you insert text boxes, draw and add symbols. The only thing missing: Links to the Web sites of the hotels and sights the program lists.
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NeaTSuite
Trend Micro's NeaTSuite ($1,145 for 25 users) will keep those pesky viruses off your network. It includes programs that not only protect your servers but also scan incoming email for threats. Designed to manage and control the network clients, the suite lets you use a standard Web browser to deploy virus definitions, set scanning policies and control the user's ability to make changes to the software. All the basic virus scanning methods are included (real-time, on-demand and scheduled). If the program detects a virus, it can delete the file, disinfect the file or notify the administrator. In the case of polymorphic viruses, NeaTSuite sends the file to a "safe location" where NeaTSuite can open, inspect and attempt to clean it. The Melissa virus showed us how damaging a virus can be to corporate systems. This is one solution to such problems.
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