“Ah yes, phones have become so much more than just a bar of plastic that you talk into. NTT-Neomeit announced an inexpensive service that lets you control home devices with cellphones. The service is called “U-Consento” and it’s scheduled for availability this September (in Japan at least). They plan to rent out the home remote control system starting at around 500 yen ($4 USD) a month.
According to Pink Tentacle, the “service is designed to be compatible with a wide range of existing home appliances, so users do not need to purchase new devices or perform extensive home rewiring.” Imagine being able to adjust temperature, control audio and television, while monitoring the status of each.”

thanks (again!) to Ministry of Tech