Grown-up boys who already have everything are being offered a dream Christmas toy by a new Oxford company -- the ultimate remote control.

Darryl Mattocks

Simply Automate, based at Oxford Science Park, Sandford, is the seventh business to be started by serial entrepreneur Darryl Mattocks, founder of the UK's first Internet bookshop.

He said: "With the Harmony system on your computer, you can turn the lights and heating on before you get home, and switch the television on to a particular channel so that it is all working when you walk in the door.

"If you are away from home, you can programme it to open the curtains at a certain time and turn the lights on and off to deter burglars. The system is also pretty good if you are disabled or elderly."

Mr Mattocks added: "We group together a lot of things that are on the market already. Our software adds a bit of intelligence. You don't need any special wiring, just an adaptor for each appliance."

The system costs £149.99, plus about £20 for each adaptor.

He agreed that buyers were mostly young men but said: "We have actually sold to two female customers, but 99.9 per cent are male.

"They tend to be happy with technology -- the kind of people who like computers and hi-fi. You can do what you want with the Harmony system. Some people connect it to security cameras so that they can see who is outside, or you can use it to dim the lights if you have mood lighting.

"One guy said on the phone that he lived in a converted barn and wanted to connect it to the lights above his pool table and his bar."

Mr Mattocks's business career started when he was 15, when he wrote a computer game called Hoppit for the Commodore, which was bundled with every computer sold.

Following a computer systems degree at York University, he set up "four or five failed one-man businesses".

He struck lucky with the Internet Bookshop, based in Oxford, which built up a huge customer base.

He sold it to WH Smith for £9.8m in June 1998.