No self-respecting consumer electronics exhibition is complete without a home of the future. A place where "resting actors" touting all manner of hi-tech devices explain how, in a few years time, we will be able to use mobile phones to program the temperature of our bath water.

It is all tremendous fun and sure to fire the imagination of those who see it. But is this really what awaits the nation's semis? The organisers of Live 2000, opening at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London today, certainly believe so. They have developed a Smart Home to show how products can talk to each other intelligently and be programmed via the internet or by a mobile phone.

Live's visitors can explore four rooms bristling with screens, keypads and gadgets. And, as all the electrical devices are linked, users can control them via a keypad, or remotely using a mobile phone. Among the hi-tech conjuring tricks the system will perform is the ability to operate curtains, blinds and lighting. There is also the option of switching the oven on remotely, or the chance for family members to play PC games against each other while in different rooms.

But while tomorrow's smart homes will control everything from your PC to your toaster via an advanced "webpad" remote control (or, eventually, a third generation mobile phone), today things are rather different.

Most of the devices in your home can't even talk to each other yet, let alone respond to the instructions of our keypad toting cyber-dad.

So for the concept of the smart home to develop, household items must first learn to talk to each other and operate together, preferably using IP (internet protocol).

Until a few years ago all that household electrical items had in common was a mains plug. More recently both consumer electronics and PC manufacturers have woken up to the fact that communication between household devices would simplify consumers' lives.

The first inter-device communication standards have begun to appear. Until now they have nearly always been "wired" and usually limited to other products of a similar type. For example, printers, digital cameras and computers typically communicate via USB (universal serial bus) cables, while audio visual equipment relies increasingly on the latest IEEE1394 technology, which Sony and its licencees call iLink and Apple, the original developer, calls FireWire.

In some quarters, iLink has been touted as the key to home automation. In some ways it has been extremely successful having been incorporated into 50 million VCRs, camcorders, audio systems and even PCs to enable high-speed operations between various devices.

Among its champions is Eddie Odjik, Philips' consumer electronics vice president of system architectures. He says: "iLink is the only technology around today that allows jitterless video connectivity between devices. It already offers 100Mbps data transfer, fast enough for around 20 MPEG2 digital video streams."

The format's one weakness is that it doesn't yet support multi-room operation. The current iLink standard works only over distances up to 4.5m (14.6ft) - which is nowhere near enough if, for example, you want to run a lead between the lounge and the bedroom.

An enhanced iLink specification, capable of operating over distances of up to 100m, will be available, but possibly not until 2002. By then it may have been overtaken, certainly in the home automation field, by wireless technologies.

In fact, most industry commentators seem to agree that wireless connection is the way forward (who wants to spend hours installing wires around the home?). But which system? Several formats are battling it out for a slice of what is becoming an increasingly lucrative market.

Emerging as front runners are two wireless RF (radio frequency) standards, Wireless LAN - versions of the high-speed Ethernet local area network, also known as IEEE802.11) -and the slower, more imaginatively named Bluetooth technology.

In the US, many Apple iMacs and PCs are now shipped with wireless LAN technology for connecting them together and to broadband internet services.

Visitors to Live will see a prototype version of Sony's Bluetooth VAIO computer and a Bluetooth mobile phone and headset from Ericsson, both scheduled for release in 2001. From this month, Toshiba in the US will also start selling a Bluetooth card for its notebook PCs capable of communicating with Bluetooth devices once they are launched in 2001.

Initially, both wireless formats will be targeted at computer users seeking a more robust alternative to infrared connection for transferring data to and from their notebook computers/PDAs and desktop PCs.

For example, a person working on a laptop in the living room could print out a document on a printer in the upstairs study.

However, this represents only a small part of what wireless will be able to offer. Boasting a range of 10m, which can be extended to 100m, Bluetooth is expected to herald the home network revolution in the UK, enabling the connection any IP-enabled device - whether a fridge or a VCR - to a central PC or home server. Combine this with a Wap or third generation UMTS (universal mobile telephone system) mobile phone and it will even be possible to control Bluetooth-enabled devices from outside the home.

Using an internet compatible mobile phone, for example, you will one day be able to program the VCR remotely. You could even develop a series of macros to announce your arrival home. So with one flick of a switch the house lights and heating will be turned on, the kettle set to boil, your robot dog will hit over-excitement mode, and the hi-fi system will launch into a suitably regal fanfare.

Earlier this year, Nokia predicted that future generations of its multimedia terminal set-top boxes (the industry jargon for the latest digital TV decoders) would feature a mobile phone -interface, even allowing the possibility of a Wap-controlled sauna. Andy Baker, the chairman of home automation trade organisation Cedia (Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association), says: "Today we can automate just about any process, money permitting. But with the arrival of the internet-based solutions, home automation will become much more affordable and common place."

While the idea of a remote-controlled sauna, let alone a fully automated home, may seem a little way off, a new breed of intelligent "home server" - blending the traditional PC with audio visual functionality in one box - is slowly beginning to emerge.

Last month, Imerge of Cambridge launched a home audio server that can stream up to 16 different audio tracks to different rooms in the home from a built-in hard drive.

Next month also sees the arrival of the first intelligent home video server from Sky/TiVo. And although the first generation set-top box will not offer wireless multi-room facilities, it will feature a 30 gigabyte hard disk drive for capturing programmes according to the user's chosen preferences and viewing patterns, as well as making it possible to pause and rewind live programmes.

Next year, the Sky proposition will be enhanced when Pace, a British company, produces its first personal television recorder in conjunction with the satellite broadcaster. Not only will this feature two integrated digital satellite tuners (so that viewers can, for the first time, watch one Sky digital channel while recording another), it will also incorporate a 40GB hard disk recording system.

Sky's arch-rival ONdigital has begun to offer full internet access via its decoder. Although the digital terrestrial broadcaster insists it has no plans to launch a personal video recorder, the inclusion of a hard disk drive in its next generation of decoders is considered by many to be a must.

With the gradual emergence of broadband ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) internet connections and digital fibre optic cable systems, many of the smart home concepts will become a reality.

Kingston Interactive Television in Hull and Home Choice in London already use ADSL for video on demand (VOD) and high speed internet access, and last month, BT launched its Openworld high speed internet service in some parts of the UK.

But these services represent just a tiny part of what the broadband home can offer. Set-top box manufacturers such as Philips, Pace, Nokia and Pioneer are now working on "home gateway" devices that could soon form the hub of a home networking system.

Today, it is usually just the PC that is connected to the telephone line. In the broadband home, all IP-compatible products, from the toaster to the fridge, will use RF wireless technologies such as Bluetooth for hooking up to the home gateway server.

In France, Pioneer is working with Canal Plus, a European broadcaster, to develop an MP3-based audio on demand service where tracks can be distributed from the home gateway to portable audio devices around the home.

In the UK, Pace is working on a product called the Shopping Mate. This will let users scan the groceries they need into a handheld device, and transfer the information to the supermarket via their home gateway set-top box.

Two years ago, Nokia unveiled a prototype of its Mediascreen, a handheld device that can be carried around the house so that users can watch digital TV, or surf the net, wherever they are in the home.

All three products are expected to go on sale within the next two years. So while it is not worth putting your order in for one of Live's Smart Homes just yet, you probably haven't got too many years to wait.

One question remains: Do we really need all this interconnectivity?

Earlier this year, LG paraded its first internet fridge. The cool-box was stacked with intelligent features. It not only enabled users to log what foods were in the fridge, but also made suggestions as to what kind of dish they could rustle up using them. You could also use the fridge to surf the net, play MP3s and email digital camera images.

There's no denying that technologically the fridge is very impressive. But back in the real world, is anyone really going to want to check out the latest financial news via their cool-box?

The last couple of decades have been littered with technologically impressive ideas that failed because they sported just a few too many buttons. Perhaps the Smart Home may prove to be a little too intelligent to really transform our lives.

How does Bluetooth work?

Imagine being able to send music files to your MP3 player, then playing them on your headphones, without any wires connecting the three devices. With Bluetooth, that's exactly what you could be doing in about a year's time. Named after 10th century ruler King Harald II of Denmark, who apparently had a bad tooth, Bluetooth uses the 2.4GHz frequency band to connect various digital devices wirelessly.

Digital cameras, printers, PCs, personal organisers and mobile phones are just some of the peripherals that could easily be linked together. It may even be possible to use a Bluetooth-enabled credit card device to pay for products in shops without even going to a cash desk. Backed by several leading companies, including IBM, Intel, Ericsson, Toshiba and Nokia, Bluetooth allows wireless data transfer between various products at speeds of up to 1Mbps. That is considerably faster than today's 56kbps dial-up modems, though still not fast enough for full-screen MPEG2 digital video. Another drawback is that range is currently limited to around 10m making the technology only suitable for connecting up products in the same building.