A cheap serial Bluetooth modem from eBay lets him connect to his phone. An Arduino ... of all IR-compatible home entertainment devices. You just need a tool to discover the remote control codes.

Soon, you could make everything in your life smartphone-app-controllable—or at least the things that have wires. A California-based inventor has taken to Kickstarter to fund the launch of the ...

And although you can dream up just about anything and create it with Arduino, the organization’s website also includes a list of ways to use the bundle to create home automation options.