You'll need an Arduino along with a bunch of various sensors to get the project rolling, and once it's all set up you'll have a simple, but cheap system to monitor your home.

In this case, [Vivek] is experimenting with the idea of a smoke alarm that can be silenced through your home automation system in the event of a false alarm.

The Arduino Smoke Detector, a wireless device that sends text messages and automated phone calls to users when a smoke sensor is triggered, won the Hacker's Choice Award at last weekend's ...