Do you want a "smart house"?

I watch "This Old House" and do appreciate how they do this or that. There have been more and more inclusions of smart features. the main one being if a brand new home, adding the cabling, etc., to get it connected. then with the use of your internet or wifi capable smart phone or laptop are able to control your house from a remote location. Of course what they don't tell you that's service or to get the most, have a service attached/connected. -OR- going through a portal have access to your home like a security setup. All this makes sense but it becomes a utility cost one has to bear. There are stand-alone setup but then usually these are after the fact, like in older homes, especially owner installed security. It all certainly looks good or sounds good, but being an old tech expect problems do arise. since, it maybe a whole home setup, it would need a trained tech to get into it all. Maybe a remote connection to correct it. The I just wanted to throw the ? at you, do you think its worth it?

http://www.lowes.com/cd_Products_1337707661000_?cm_mmc=COOP_IRIS-_-Smart%20Home%20Products%20and%20Systems-_-Smart%20Home%20Control%20&%20System-_-smart%20home%20systems

Simple setups are more located in one area, but the more whole home setup I'm sure can have problems. What about battery back-ups to keep it gooign at least for awhile. Oh heck...just wondering -----Willy