Yesterday saw the launch of a new partnership designed to kickstart the housing sector into ushering in the era of the intelligent home.

The Connected Housing Consortium has been founded by Matt Leach , Richard Sage and Matthew Fox - with help from renowned digital enthusiast Nick Atkin.

We asked Lab Coach, Paul, to report back on his Top Five Takeaways..

All the talk about connected homes is , to paraphrase Dan Ariely, a bit like teenage sex. Everyone is talking about it - but very few of us are actually doing anything (other than a quick fumble maybe).

The launch of the Connected Homes Consortium was an opportunity to hear from those who have dived straight in - and now want to tell us all about it. That included industry innovators like Microsoft and IBM , British Gas with their Hive Active Heating, and upstart tech entrepreneurs like 365 Agile. Additionally the ever ahead-of-the-curve Halton Housing gave a view from a #ukhousing perspective.

Here's my pick of the Top 20 Tweets:

The Connected Home Consortium is now open for membership - details in the link below.