Ever since we were cave dwellers, we’ve searched for cool ways to show off. The guy who invented the wheel? He was just trying to get out of the washing up and demonstrate his superior mobility. The brothers who took the first flight? An excuse for some serious bragging rights later that night.

So it is too with home automation. We think it’s about controlling our appliances, but in reality it’s all about showing the other occupants just who’s boss. You want that light on, son? Come ask me nicely. So power hungry home owners everywhere should be grateful that this new Vector Smart Button kit has arrived to deliver some good old home automation at a good old price.

The kit comprises a central power block controller with four sockets and a connector to your WiFi router. Power it up and you can instantly access it over WiFi with your smartphone, and switch the power on and off to the four sockets. The unit has a wireless range of 50 meters and can cope with appliances such as door locks, air conditioners, sprinkler system, TV, front gates…you get the picture.

There are free apps on the Android Play market and for iPhone on iTunes which you can use as the universal remote controllers. All in all a pretty nice bargain for just $80.00 plus shipping. You can find out more information here.