BOOK: PROGRAMMING YOUR HOME

“Programming Your Home,” by Mike Riley, $33 from Pragmatic Bookshelf at pragprog.com.

If you’re a techie, this book could launch a new business in home automation. The author starts by telling us of his parents’ simple joy with their Mr. Coffee machine back in the 1970s. They could lie in bed knowing a cup of coffee was waiting for them, brewed at just the time they set. It combined an alarm clock with a coffeemaker. Things have moved along since then.

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