Filed under: HouseholdWhile we have interns to switch off the lights and regulate Engadget HQ temperature, plenty of folks rely on the the Z-Wave standard for home automation. Unlucky for them, most Z-Wave adapters need to be replaced every year or so to support new protocol features, so ControlThink built what it's billing as the "industry's first upgradeable Z-Wave USB Adapter." The cute little USB dongle goes for $40, and runs at 4x (40kbps) speeds, but is backwards compatible with 1x devices. We know, you can hardly contain your excitement.