Developers at Stony Brook University, on the other hand, came up with an entirely different question, and one that took a lot of creativity, time and money to answer – "Can My Living Room Be Transformed Into An IMAX Theater?"

The Reality Deck is a 33-by-19-by-10 foot room that features 416, high-resolution displays that combine to produce one image, giving viewers a totally immersive experience. And when we say "high-resolution," it's actually the highest, at 1.5 billion pixels – researchers say no other display in the world tops that mark. So how long before someone wants this for their home?

Away from Reality Deck and back to reality

Now, on the off-chance you don't have access to a 1.5-billion pixel, total immersive viewing experience, you may need to settle for a more earthly TV of 42 inches or more.

That Times piece we mentioned earlier has some helpful advice for homeowners, particularly with how the size of a screen affects viewing distance:

• 42-inch display: 5 feet, 3 inches
• 60-inch display: 7 feet, 6 inches
• 70-inch display: 8 feet, 9 inches

You should also remember that with a larger screen, you'll need to mount the television lower on the wall, so that your guests don't have to crane their necks to see the display.

"When it's at a lower height, a big screen won't overpower the viewer," Dan Levine, the founder and CEO of CytexOne, a New York-based home automation service, told The Times. "It's far more comfortable."

While video games won't be quite as enjoyable on one screen as it would on 416 of them – that was Motherboard blogger Derek Mead's first thought upon hearing about Reality Deck – you should be able to keep yourself (comfortably) entertained for some time with your new TV.

Here is how clueless they are: If I hit the remote for the Bose CD player in the living room, the Bose iPod dock 10 feet away turns itself on. The DVD player, VCR and cable all have their own remotes, which refuse to communicate with one another. The radiator and air-conditioning units must be adjusted with a lever, and they have only three settings: Comfortable, until you get into bed; Too Hot or Too Cold, as you are falling asleep; and Shoveling Coal on the Titanic, at 3 in the morning. And while I have never left the house with the gas on — a fear that apparently is passed down genetically — I worry, as I grow older, that this might happen.

There have been lots of articles about smart homes, but few that apply to someone who lives in a 970-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment in New York City.

Computer-activated radiant heating to melt snow on the driveway? I don’t have a driveway.

A system that checks the weather report and, learning that rain is predicted, turns off the sprinkler system? I don’t have a lawn.

A foolproof late-night security system? That would be the doorman, and his name is Freddy.

But there are certainly things in my apartment that could be smarter. And so, after a talk with a representative of the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association, I consult the group’s Web site (cedia.net) to find a local expert. I am curious about what is available at three price points: $2,500 or less, $7,500 and You Just Won the Lottery. I identify myself to all the experts as a reporter and tell them that my mission is strictly theoretical.

I decide to make CytexOne, founded five years ago by Dan Levine, Andy Slezak and Tom Garriton my money-is-of-no-concern provider. A visit to the company’s brick-walled TriBeCa loft, with techies in jeans and stacks of black-box computer brains, tells me I’ve come to the right outfit. They are working on a million-dollar system for a financier’s home that includes, Mr. Levine says, “every video game in the world” and karaoke accessible from every room, including the bathrooms.

CytexOne has no minimum fee but, in general, its fee for installing an audio-video system and wirelessly connecting it to an “environment” (lighting, heating, motorized blinds and security system) is $25,000 to $75,000. For the technologically savvy do-it-yourselfer, there is a CytexOne unit called the Element that starts at $10,000 and can control two televisions, up to four rooms of audio, and lighting and temperature.

Mr. Levine has an inventor’s soul. He is also working on a program that would scan the bar code on an empty container near the garbage pail — a milk carton, for example — and then add that item to a grocery list on a client’s computer.

His spiel is one I already recognize as fitting the smart-house template: Tell me what you want and I will make all the pieces of the puzzle fit. Or, in other words, I am prepared to be the tech-savvy husband you never had; not the one who worked for a newspaper and could not find the fuse box, but the one who worked for Google and is 30 years your junior. And a reliable one, for CytexOne offers 24-hour-a-day monitoring services, in which problems are often solved remotely, for a monthly fee of $49 to $299, depending on the system.

Hearing about my primary problem, the radiator that drags me out of bed at night, Mr. Levine tells me that it is easy enough to adapt it so that it can be controlled by a remote — something that usually costs from $1,000 to $1,500 a radiator.

He is also committed to understanding my electronic needs. I am somewhat smart-house ready, as I already have Wi-Fi. Mr. Levine runs through his questionnaire like a doctor taking a history, although in some cases, this is clearly mere courtesy: Do I play video games? No. Do I need video conferencing? Unnecessary. Nanny cams, remote monitoring? No, mine is a child-free space.

On the speakerphone, Marty Roseman, the CytexOne marketing man, occasionally chimes in, which seems appropriate: a remote salesman. “Would you like to draw a bath to a certain temperature before you get home?” he asks.

Actually, no — though I would like to be able to listen to music in the bathroom without making it so loud in the living room that my neighbors want to kill me.

In this world, it is no longer enough to have a house that is smart and socially evolved enough to lower the blinds on a hot day or allow you to control your music and video with a single remote — it has to be able to control every aspect of your environment: heat, light, locks, security alerts, music and video, on one centralized system.

In order that I might better appreciate the possibilities, Mr. Levine plays a video, which is seductive, especially the part in which the lady of the house goes into a modern bathroom and touches a wall panel, making the lights dim and the room fill with music. She can also use a remote to change the music. I anticipate trouble: What if you drop the remote into the tub?

“You take the battery out and put the remote in a bowl filled with rice,” Mr. Levine says. “Rice absorbs water. Leave it for a day.”

Such pragmatism is impressive. But an on-site visit is required. Mr. Levine and his automation systems director, Andrew Southern, agree to come to my apartment a couple of days later.

My open shelves, filled with DVD and VCR players, cable and Internet boxes, make them shudder. Integrators who hide components in closets regard visible equipment the way food critics regard American cheese.

They are enthusiastic about the electronic-key system, which, with the use of an iPhoneapp, would enable me to let in a repair person with a code that would work only for a few hours; it would also send a message once the person left.

What about the dreaded Call from the Purse, in which you accidentally dial someone’s number? Couldn’t you accidentally open your door?

“Couldn’t happen,” Mr. Levine says — you’d have to hit a series of keys.

We decide to go with the keys, then cycle through 24 hours of my life. Do I wake up in the middle of the night because the room is too hot? I can adjust the radiator with a remote. Use the bathroom in the middle of the night? A wireless motion sensor could be programmed to turn on the lights — at 40 percent brightness, so that I am not blinded — whenever I get up.

In the morning, as I awake to WINS, the lights in the bedroom could be programmed to turn on gradually, and the motorized blackout shades could open. Blackout shades could also be installed in the living room, for optimum TV viewing.

Since I tend to forget about things on the stove, CytexOne would install smoke detectors, which, besides emitting the traditional beep, would send recorded messages to me, the doorman and the fire department, along with an electronic key code so they don’t have to break down my door.

Filling the tub by remote control at a predetermined temperature is an option that begins at $10,000 and is ridiculous, so we forgo it. But since I love old movies, they would amp up my movie access with a Blu-ray DVD player that could give me instant access toNetflix as well. They would also put a 46-inch wall-mounted flat-panel television in the bedroom and speakers in every room, including the kitchen and the bathroom, where they would be recessed into the wall. I toy with the idea of having a small TV embedded in the bathroom mirror, so I might have the pleasure of seeing how badly film stars have aged as I put on mascara, but quickly discard it. A nice saving, as mirror TV’s start at about $5,000.

One-touch commands tailored to my needs — which would allow me to lower the blackout shades, dim the lights and roll the movie — would be programmed into the system. I would also be able to activate those commands outside the apartment, using an iPhone or a computer. This is intriguing. So if I’m at dinner with someone and feel like closing the deal, I could send a message home to lower the lights and turn on the Sinatra?

“It’s called a scene — it’s an environmental shift,” Mr. Levine says. “We could set up a preset romantic scene that can start music, raise the heat in the house, get the shades down for privacy, get the fireplace going on …”

They have done this?

“Many, many times,” he says. “We gave somebody a Jimmy Buffett button: the lights would change, ‘Margaritaville’ would come on and the blender would be turned on … ”

This was romantic?

“More of an upbeat party thing,” Mr. Southern says. “I think they wanted it as a joke.”

The estimated cost of all this, when the proposal arrives a week later, is $53,500.

IT’S time to investigate the smart apartment on a budget. I consult another member of the custom electronic design association, Jack Borenstein, the 58-year-old president of Ultimate Sound and Installations, which is based in Long Island City and does installations across the country. Ultimate Sound has been in business for 25 years; it listsNicolas Cage as one of its clients (“Probably why he has no more money,” Mr. Borenstein jokes), as well as a fellow Mr. Borenstein coyly refers to as “the mayor of a large metropolitan city.”

But the firm has no minimum fee, does not charge for consultations and often does small apartments. Mr. Borenstein is confident that I can smarten up my place for $7,500. Crestron, a well-known home automation company, has introduced a pared-down wireless integration system, he says, and he is offering 10 percent off its products.

Still, $7,500 is very different from the sky’s the limit, and when Mr. Borenstein and Anthony Benjamin, one of his system installers, visit my apartment, it soon becomes clear that some features are out of my reach. Motorized blackout shades — which Mr. Borenstein estimates would cost a minimum of $1,000 for each window, plus installation fees — are scrapped. Retrofitting the radiators so they can be controlled by remote, which Mr. Borenstein has never done, is not an option, either.

“I tell clients I make a living on what couldn’t be done,” he says, but adds that he also asks them, “Is it sensible cost-wise?”

He does do a lot of home security, which includes monitoring gas and other leaks. “When you fill a tub, ever forget about it and have it flow over?” he asks. “We just had a job in West Palm Beach. A lot of refrigerators have water dispensers and, as luck would have it, these people were seldom there. The water was just gushing for weeks and months. They found out when the mailman came to the door and water was seeping out of the house.”

I had a similar problem years ago: an overflowing radiator pan, which the couple to whom I had sublet the apartment didn’t notice until the ceiling below was raining and the neighbors pounded on their door. Mr. Borenstein would prevent such a deluge by installing a small flood detector as part of a security system that would also include smoke detection.

Mr. Borenstein and Mr. Benjamin, like CytexOne, suggested replacing my light switches with a smart dimmer that could be controlled by remote, and investing in a Blu-ray player. Their system would play audio from a variety of sources — FM, satellite radio and whatever music was stored on my computer — and could be controlled from outside the apartment, with an iPhone, using the Crestron Mobile Pro App.

Because I am now on a budget, we lose a lot of the audio-video elements, including the speakers and control panels in the bathroom and kitchen and the TV in the bedroom. With the computer brains in place, those features could easily be added later, Mr. Borenstein says, at a small additional cost. Installing a wireless keypad and two Yamaha speakers in the bathroom, for instance, would be about $850.

The whole system, including the Crestron Mobile Pro App, which is $99 and has to be bought directly from Apple, comes to $8,485. And that doesn’t include the monthly fee ($49) paid to a security monitoring service.

WHAT could I do with a maximum of $2,500? It’s over to Best Buy, on Union Square, to talk with Sy Paulson, 23, a customer solutions manager. He has never heard of the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association and does not make house calls, but in an hour he gives me a plan.

To control all my electronic devices, Mr. Paulson suggests the Logitech Harmony 1100 Advanced Universal Remote, which sells for about $400 and can communicate with any electronic device that has its own remote control. When it comes to older heating and air-conditioning systems like mine, of course, it is worthless.

For movies, he recommends what appears to be the tech geek’s new best friend, an Insignia Blu-ray player with built-in Wi-Fi, for $180. It not only streams movies Mr. Paulson says, but can connect to the Internet and get content from the Web.

Why would anyone want that?

“You could follow the news,” he says. “Or see who’s following you on Twitter or listen to whatever music is in your iPod.”

To provide music in the bathroom, he suggests the Rocketfish Wireless Indoor/Outdoor Speaker, at $179.

The total cost is $749, definitely within my budget. Does Mr. Paulson use that Logitechremote at his place?

“I don’t,” he says. “I’m O.K. with using the remotes for all the different products, and it does take some time to set up.”

Right, but could the average human being actually figure it out?

“It’s difficult,” he concedes. “But we have Geek Squad, our exclusive in-home service provider.”

The cost of an in-house Geek Squad consultation is $99, and fees for installation start at $100. I see a lot of movies in my future, even if I have to get up and close the blinds myself.

NYTimes Correction Below

They’re not. Upon closer examination, it’s not a well-worn novel you see in their hands but an iPad, BlackBerry, or iPhone. And what is it they’re reading? The latest Bloomberg feeds, of course. A morning stroll before the US stock markets open at 9:30 am is the ideal moment to catch up on financial news and prepare for a day of trading—by the pool. Dan Levine, CEO of CytexOne, a top technology company with headquarters in Manhattan that caters to a broad range of customers, including NYC-based bankers and Hollywood stars with Hamptons homes, says technology is now so effective that a banker could, on occasion, go missing from the office for a week and no one would notice. “You can now transfer work calls from your mobile using the office system,” he says. “Your PA might never figure out that you were on the beach.”

The last few summer seasons, Levine has been busy setting up East End homes with wireless technology, so that traders can continue to work unencumbered from the comfort of a deck chair. CytexOne can link buildings up to 10 miles away, using WiFi Bridge and Mesh technologies for estates. After a swim, East End traders can immerse themselves more fully in market maneuvers from the comfort of their decked-out home offices where a Bloomberg terminal, typically equipped with four screens—one for the American markets, another for the Asian exchanges, a third for news, and one for watching sports when bored—will have as much pride of placehttp://automation.cytexone.com/wp-admin/post-new.php as the latest Elizabeth Peyton. A home office can even offer all the bells and whistles of a big-bank video-conference room with floor-to-ceiling Prysm screens and surround-sound speakerphones. And for traders who can’t bear to miss a moment of the action, trading systems can be integrated into the entire house, so that “market news can show up on any television, even in the bathroom mirrors,” says Levine. “Now if someone wants to trade sugar or short Greece, he or she can do it in the bath, as well as the beach.”

Considering the flexibility such setups provide, the cost of the servicelevel support agreement on these services—which, according to Levine, can start at $500 and go into the thousands per month for a total managed and monitored remote and on-site support system—is considered a bargain. “It’s a drop in the bucket for Wall Street senior bankers,” says Levine. “In many cases, their offices pay for it.”

Wall Street “in betweenies” (those who spend at least four days in the Hamptons), a rapidly growing group of people who divide their time equally between the city and the Hamptons (because they can), have taken over from weekenders. Mind you, the four-day weekend is not about leisure: It’s about location. With a volatile, uncertain global economy, no one can afford to stay away from any screen for very long. But where you log on is now increasingly your choice. According to Domenic Maida, Bloomberg Professional services global head of sales and product development, more than 200,000 of his company’s existing clients (which total more than 310,000 around the world) now have remote access to the platform via a subscription to Bloomberg Anywhere (part of a package that costs $20,000 per year). They can price complex derivative instruments and monitor portfolio performance at East Hampton’s Starbucks as long as they have a B-Unit (a security device the size of a credit card that provides access to your account, which runs on biometric [finger] authentication).

It’s only the minions who still have to clock in on Monday morning (and can’t take the chopper back to Manhattan on Tuesday instead). “We don’t see many bosses around on a Friday,” says a research analyst in a New York City private equity firm. “Nearly everyone in finance has a home office in the Hamptons. As long as people like me are in the office, they don’t have to be.”

Although it’s possible to work anywhere, it’s not always practical. A disgruntled venture capital CEO (who would rather not be identified) set up an elaborate home office in a former pool house on his Bridgehampton estate. He installed several Bloomberg terminals as well as a supersize TV plasma screen to watch the news—he even invested in a vintage reclining Eames chair to catch up on back issues of The Wall Street Journal, along with a fridge. He subscribed to Bloomberg Anywhere for those stolen moments on the beach, but then found his house phone was ringing incessantly. “I have 160 people working for me, of which at least three are arguing with one another at any time requiring a referee,” he says.

But if increasingly long hours mean that work happens all the time and everywhere, it might as well be in a nice place like the Hamptons. It used to be that traders more or less adapted their schedules to the New York Stock Exchange’s opening and closing bells. Today, they set their alarm apps to 2:30 AM to monitor the equities exchange in Asia and the Spanish bailout situation. Then they take a dip in the pool.

This summer’s favorite beach sport, according to one Italian private hedge-fund owner renting for the first time in Montauk (who carries his iPad with him at all times) is “shorting European and increasingly American banks. The Libor fixing scandal and the London whale trading losses have given everyone a very good reason to doubt the future of banking,” he says.

Eric E. Roche of Sotheby’s International Realty in New York says his Hampton clients who are looking to build the equivalent of a small investment bank at home want large extra rooms that are airy and light. “They spend so much time there that they often take over the nicest spaces [for work],” he notes. “Summer Fridays have definitely returned.”

While those “betweening” from June to September want their home offices to function like trading exchanges, they hardly want these rooms to look like corporate outposts. Sandra Nunnerley, a top New York– based interior designer, has recently created two home offices in the Hamptons for financial moguls. “We’re finding our bankers and financial industry clients really need to work on weekends, so we’re definitely accommodating spaces in beach houses that formerly would have been reserved entirely for leisure,” she says.

Nunnerley recently finished a Hamptons house for a trader where she created a space off the master bedroom, which serves as a library and home office. “We installed the Bloomberg terminal and, in order to hide all the wiring behind it, designed a folding screen to wrap around the back of the station in bleached cerused oak, the same wood used for the desk,” she says. “The room also has comfortable seating and a large-screen TV for when the trader wants to take a break. The lines between work and relaxation have absolutely been blurred.”

The future, says Levine, is one where everyone, not only Wall Streeters, will work all the time in every situation (car, bath, beach, plane, rocket…). What will be obsolete in the future is the OFF switch.

Find this article at:  Hamptons Magazine

The smart home office revolution is being led by CytexOne, a leading technology automation company based in New York. As the Hamptons Magazine reported in 2009, CytexOne's client base, in this case bankers and brokers in particular, wants the work-life flexibility that automation technology provides. They need the competitive edge, being able to work from anywhere, at any time.

"Market news can show up on any television, even in the bathroom mirrors," CytexOne CEO Dan Levine told the magazine. "Now if someone wants to trade sugar or short Greece, he or she can do it in the bath, as well as the beach." Being able to react to world news at any moment, anywhere, is what keeps executive at the top of their games. 

Since that article was published four years ago, the suite of offerings available to those interested in home automation technology has expanded quite a bit. The "televisions in mirrors" option is of course still available, but now you can work outside, right next to the pool, from a glare free tablet or notebook synced to a home office.

As careers continue to needle their way into our personal lives, let's make ourselves comfortable with home automation technology. In recent years, tablets and notebooks have made the home office a portable office.  With technology always changing, more offices depend on CytexOne to keep you updated with home and portable office advancements.

In 2010, when the New York Times' Joyce Wadler profiled CytexOne as part of a hypothetical exercise of transforming her 970-square-foot apartment into a living space that would be just a little more intelligent, through a home automation system, she couldn't have imagined where the smart home would soon go.

She did however recognize the "inventor's soul" of CytexOne CEO Dan Levine.

"His spiel is one I already recognize as fitting the smart-house template: Tell me what you want and I will make all the pieces of the puzzle fit," she wrote. These are the words that excite and inspire homeowners and theirs designers alike. It's this creative spirit that continues to bring some of the country's top designers and architects to CytexOne.

Homeowners with design and automation desires can be innovators. They don't want to hear about the limitations of their home technology and creative makeovers. CytexOne doesn't try to reign in that creativity, but rather, encourage it further and find ways to bring those possibilities into reality.

Without that level of creativity, some of the world's most luxurious automated homes would not exist. Gadget Review published a rundown of some of the most technologically advanced homes in the world (the pictures are can't-miss) including:

• A Plano, Texas home with a theater whose roof features twinkling LEDs resembling stars
• The Washington home of Bill and Melinda Gates, which has heated floors and driveways
• A Colorado home with a "CIA level" security system

Sound complicated?

Installing home automation systems requires a level of expertise that few, if any, homeowners possess. As the Gadget Review pictures show, the smart homes of tomorrow are here today, but without specialists to help you purchase and install these systems, you won't be able to even come close to what those homeowners have accomplished.

Smart homes promote luxury, yes, but they also promote easier living, and that’s why they have become so popular among a demographic that needs simplicity in their daily lives perhaps more than any other group – veterans.

Actor Gary Sinise has long been an advocate for America’s veterans. He plays up to 50 concerts annually on military bases and is also the spokesman for the Disabled American Veterans. His partnership with that organization began after his acclaimed role of disabled Vietnam War veteran Lieutenant Dan Taylor in 1994′s “Forrest Gump.”

He also is one of the driving forces behind the Building for America’s Bravest Program, which provides smart homes to severely wounded veterans. This year, 12 recipients will receive custom homes through the program. Each will be outfitted with automated lighting and HVAC, intercoms and other improvements that are needed by veterans.

On top of that, Sinise, a renowned bass guitarist, and the Lt. Dan Band will play a benefit concert for each honoree.

While Sinise has identified an altruistic use of home automation, there’s no question that adoption of these platforms will spread quickly in coming years. Still, home automation is not a “do-it-yourself” industry – professional consultants should be contacted by homeowners to help them design and implement these systems.

As home automation technology becomes more prominent in different aspects of residences – sound systems, televisions, lighting and even shades – one might assume that wires would multiply and become more conspicuous as well.

It doesn't have to be that way though – simplicity and a clean design of a space can be achieved simultaneously with easier living.

"Today, a luxury personal or corporate space is not complete without a technology design,"  said CytexOne CEO Dan Levine. "No one wants a sea of wires, multiple remote clutter, or to disturb the aesthetic while accommodating growing numbers of components."

Levine's perspective is reinforced by a recent article in New York Magazine that profiled a $17-million apartment in West Village. The attractive space comes complete with some of the most advanced home automation technology money can buy, along with a minimalist design that is "deceptively high-tech."

"The six-level residence is equipped with high-tech lighting, multiple entertainment systems, and more security than Rikers – a top-to-bottom gadgetization that, all told, cost him nearly half a million dollars," according to the story.

To achieve this type of "best of both worlds" design, developers require professional consultation from home automation experts. The expertise required to do home automation – and do it right – should never be ignored in favor of a do-it-yourself project. Anyone can probably follow directions and install their own home automation systems, but why run the risk of ruining your living space in the process?

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