Embedded Automation has released a beta plugin for their budget home automation software that lets you control your lights, home security system, and personal video recorder all at once. The company's mControl software is basically a cheap version of the Life|ware software from Exceptional Innovation. While EI charges thousands of dollars for their software, you can get mControl for under $100.

So what exactly does the new mControl Vista Media Center Controller driver do? It lets you send and receive messages to your Windows Vista Media Center machine. That means you can have your TV playback pause any time the phone or doorbell rings. Or if you leave the lights on in another room, you can have a message pop up periodically reminding you to turn them off.

Currently it doesn't look like you can use the software to automatically dim your lights when you're watching a video and bring them back up when you hit pause. But that sort of functionality should be available in a future release.

[via EngadgetHD]

A few months back we caught wind of a new $20,000 home theater system in a box from startup SE2 Labs. Yesterday we got to take a look at it. And well, it's a $20,000 home theater system in a box.

Believe it or not, some of the cheapest components in the ITC One are things like a Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, and HD-DVD drive. The serious high end stuff in here are the bits you never notice until you listen to your friends' crappy stereo system. SE2 Labs president Michael Pyle points out that the ITC One includes a video scaler that normally sells for $6500, a surround sound processor that goes for $6,000 and amplifiers that cost $5,000.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Pyle says you'd spend closer to $60,000 if you bought all of the components in the ITC One separately. The company keeps the price down by buying just the circuit boards, not the finished products. And the advantage of buying an ITC one is that everything is designed to work together from the home automation system to the video game consoles.

The company plans to ship the ITC One within a month, and will show an updated version at CES with wireless HDMI and wireless powered speakers.