While more and more of our homes are connected to the mainland of internet, the rooms in our homes (with their various devices) remain the world's largest archipelago. Millions of rooms, hundreds of millions of devices that can't talk, won't talk with each other-- and remain like islands without digital bridges to one another.

So many companies, so many groups, so many associations have tried and failed to integrate home appliances via a home network...

Now Google wants its turn as bridge-maker: The masters of Android will offer open source libraries that will enable developers to build apps that can discover, connect and communicate with devices and appliances in the home.

Google announced its new platform in a keynote address at Google I/O 2011: Android@Home will be a system for connecting home devices via Google protocols and APIs.

"We want to think of every device in your home as a connection to Android apps," says Hugo Barra, product management director for Google, in the keynote. (Remember Barra from the IFA keynote where he promised you smartphones would be supercomputers?)

In the past, many companies designed protocols and integrated the technology on the appliance side, leaving client-side software and devices to integrate as they chose. Android@Home works the other way around... and appliances will have to catch up.

There are over 100 million Android phones activated worldwide across 36 phone makers, 215 carriers, and 450,000 Android developers. Over 400,000 Android devices are activated every day, and there are more than 310 Android devices across 12 countries.

There are over 200,000 apps available in the Android Market and there have been 4.5 billion app installs.

If you think about it, this strategy will attempt to force the untamed home networks into capitulation by launching an overwhelming outside force. As an example of this outside force, imagine a fleet of thousands of ships (devices), powered by Android OS simultaneously hitting the shoreline of each and every island.

Google did not say what OS Android@Home will use: presumably it could be the new Ice Cream Sandwich (launches in Q4) that unites Android for both the tablet and the phone.

But no matter which OS, Android@Home will connect a user's Android device to other appliances in the home via a suite of new services (released date unknown but it sounds like Q4).

Examples shown at Google I/O 2011 include Lighting Science who will launch wireless lighting products to support Android@Home.  They plan to ship by end of year at least  five products, including internal lamps and external lighting fixtures that use the technology. One external lighting fixture features an attached security camera.

According to Lighting Science, Android@Home will use a new version of a wireless network developed by Google.This wireless network will be designed to allow for enough bandwidth to transfer video. Lighting Science says the network itself will consume "negligible power" compared to the 12 watts of power a typical lamp consumes.

Google says it will be low cost and they also apply Android@Home to smart-grid applications.

Another examples shown at Google I/O 2011 was Project Tungsten.  A Tungsten device runs the Android OS and the Android@Home framework.  It drives a whole-house wireless speaker system (that can be synced via Android), wireless light switches (that can be synced via Android) and other appliances (that can be synced via Android).

Google TV will be upgraded to Android 3.1 this summer and Google dives once more into the battle for content, launching a music service, Music Beta by Google. Users can upload their music to the cloud both on the web and on a mobile device.

Google also announced Android Open Accessory, where Android device builders can build an accessory and integrate into any Android phone. One example included an exercise bike that connected to a phone via a charging plug that also launched a cardio app. If everything, even home exercise equipment depends on Google apps and runs on Android, can the homes really resist this "Android-vasion"?

Google, the Great Disruptor, is sailing home and if Android-enabled devices are like the launch of a Thousand Ships, then the larger force of independent Android app developers are more like an irrestible tide, an enormous wave of applications...

Companies like Sonos, associations like ZigBee, DNLA and many others stand now in a new position where they must decide to either ignore or embrace this giant tide of apps developers...a mile-high tsunami of developers that promises to not just wash up on shore but to wash away many of the familiar landmarks in residential.

Go Google I/O