title: programmatically controlling power sockets in the UK
body: <p>It's very simple.</p>
  <p>I want to plug a lamp into the UK mains supply.</p>
  <p>I want to be able to power it on and off from software - say from serial port commands, or by running a command-line or something I can get to from ruby or Java.</p>
  <p>I see lots written about how to do this with X10 with American power systems - but <strong>has anybody actually tried doing this in the UK?</strong></p>
  <p>If you got this working:</p>
  <p><strong>1) Exactly what hardware did you use?</strong></p>
  <p><strong>2) How do you control it from software?</strong></p>