The hi-tech Tudor cottage that Twitters!

LONDON - A cottage on an English island may have become the most envied house after its owner converted it into one of the most hi-tech homes in the world by connecting it to popular internet messaging service Twitter.

IBM head of invention Andy Stanford-Clark installed his home with hundreds of sensors that inform him when his dinner is ready, if someone is at the door or when a mouse has been caught in a trap.

The Tudor cottage on the Isle of Wight automatically sends a Tweet or message to the 43-year-old engineer if energy usage level is higher than normal or if he has left a light on or a tap running.

The house also alerts about things ranging from the burglar alarm to be relayed by the blogging website.

“Monitoring things such as how much power our house is using can give us valuable insights into the cost of various appliances in the home,” the Telegraph quoted him as saying at the British Science Festival.

“Recently I was out and got a tweet saying water usage was higher than normal. I phoned home and my wife looked out of the window to see the garden hose had been left on.

“This can help us take steps to reduce our carbon footprint and reduce energy bills. Mine has dropped by a third in the last year. These systems are also relatively inexpensive to set up - a basic set-up would cost around 150 pounds,” he added.

Stanford-Clark also said: “It is impossible to know if traps have been triggered without constantly checking. So I developed a Twitter mousetrap which sends me a message when it is triggered.” (ANI)