iRobot ConnectR combines the latest Internet communications with robot technology, providing you with a virtual opportunity to visit with loved ones, relatives and pets anytime you wish – seeing, hearing and interacting with them in their home as if you were there in person.

ConnectR enables real-time virtual visits over the Internet. Equipped with high-quality audio and a video camera, the robot is located on-site in the home of the “host” party. Using a computer keyboard, mouse or joystick, the remote (“visiting”) party can drive the robot around and interact with those on-site, virtually participating in activities at home or wherever the device is located (for example, in the home of your grandchildren). The on-site host party can also direct the robot’s movements with a remote control.

The user-friendly interface lets you connect to and control the robot from any Windows XP-enabled PC. Using a computer keyboard, mouse or joystick, you can drive ConnectR around in any direction to see, hear and interact with whomever you want. The people at home can also use the included remote control to “call” out and connect to you while you are away so that you are always in the loop.

I can’t wait to get mine!

ConnectR Pilot Program
A very limited number of ConnectR robots will be available in 2008 directly from iRobot as part of a special Pilot Program. Due to the overwhelming response we have received, we are currently at maximum capacity for the Pilot Program. If you are interested in receiving regular updates about ConnectR, visit iRobot to sign up.

iRobot Value Pack Offer: Buy a Scooba and Roomba and get a Dirt Dog Free! Expires 12.31.08

Or you can protect yourself, your family, and most important, your STUFF! with the Smart Autocloser. The Smart Autocloser ensures that your garage door will be closed, even if you left it open!

Here’s how it works. The Autocloser – Garage Door Timed Closer uses the latest micro-controller technology, infrared light sensors and advanced software algorithms to deliver a safe and reliable product. It installs safely onto most garage door openers in minutes! You even get a disable button in case you really do want to keep the garage door open.

The Smart Autocloser senses that the garage door has been open for a set period of time (you select: 2, 5, 10, 15 and 20 minutes) the garage door will close automatically. The automatic closer does this by connecting to the terminals on the garage door opener wall button, thus simulating the press of a button.

You can install the Autocloser in about 20 minutes using most basic hand tools (like a drill, screwdriver, adjustable wrench, and a wire cutter/stripper). You can download an installation manual complete with detailed installation procedures and operation information.

How much would you pay for peace of mind? Protect yourself and your home with a Smart Autocloser for just $69.99. Not bad for a little peace of mind!

Don’t forget to close the garage door!

Besides offering a Grade 1 Security Deadbolt, Smartkey offers you the ability to rekey your Smartkey locks anytime you want – as often as you like. No locksmith required (yeah!) How many times have you loaned out a house key that was never returned? How many times have one of your kids or yourself lost a key? Where are your house keys? You never know. Re-keying a lock provides an extra security measure for you and your family.

Kwikset came up with a new side locking bar technology that replaces your traditional pin and tumbler lock. Now, let’s review why Smartkey is so cool:

• Prohibits lock bumping (lock bumping? what the heck is that? An attack on traditional door lock cylinders!)
• Pick resistant (lock picking has gone on since the beginning of locks.)
• Change your key as often as you like (locksmiths get expensive!)

If you are concerned about having the best looking deadbolt lock on the block, put your worries aside because Kwikset thought of everything. The Smartkey makes three fashionable statements in Deadbolts, Knobs, and Levers. Each comes in a variety of finishes.

With Smartkey, you will find it very easy to rekey your own lock. Here goes:

1. Insert current functioning key.
2. Turn 1/4 clockwise.
3. Insert learning tool.
4. Remove existing key.
5. Insert new key. Turn 1/4 counter clockwise and remove new key.

One key (no pun intended) thing to remember is that you must have the current functioning key in order to rekey the lock. If not, you’ll have to go through a lot of trouble to remove the lock from the door, and remove the cylinder from the lock.

Smartkey dead bolts, lever locks, and knob locks will set you back about $30 and handleset locks about $120. Additional keys cost about $1.70; rekey sets from KwikSet include six keys for about $10.

Don’t lose your house key.

Check out Smartkey and the entire Smart series at Kwikset. Or step right this way to view the cool Smartkey lock designs.

Think about it. Let’s say you spend a couple of hours each week cutting the lawn. Fast forward one year and you are down 104 hours of your life spent cutting the grass. There are better things to do!

Lawnbott not only saves you time, but emits zero pollution and zero emissions. I haven’t even mentioned the money you’ll save on gas and oil that you currently spend on your “old fashioned” lawnmower. If you use a 5.5 HP gas powered grass mower, over a year you are spending about $112. on gas alone, especially with the high prices of gas these days! $3.00 per gallon is not cheap.

Let’s add a few more things to the laundry list of lawn mowing. How about the yard waste pickup service and the expense of that old fashioned lawn mower? Well, you get the picture! Not only does it cost you money, but your own precious time.

Lawnbott can pay for itself within a couple of years, give or take a few weeks. And this robot can easily maintain a three quarter acre lawn and navigate slopes up to 27 degrees. Can you do that consistently over the long haul?

How Does Lawnbott Work?

This robot lawn mower works automatically (duh, it’s a robot), through its intelligent computer and a perimeter cable. Lawnbott can move freely within an enclosed area, detecting the faint signal transmitted by the perimeter cable located on the ground, defining the areas to be mowed; it can also work without a perimeter cable as working area is enclosed by a fence or small border at least 4 inches tall.

When Lawn Bott begins its work cycle, it leaves its docking station and starts mowing your yard in a random direction. It will mow in a straight line until it bumps into an obstacle, such as a tree or flower pot, or until it runs over its perimeter cable, then it stops, backs up, turns and takes off again. LawnBott has a smart spiral function where if the computer senses thicker or taller grass, it will begin to spiral outward from that area to even out the grass height. This added feature helps to eliminate any missed areas.

When the batteries start running low, or at the end of its cutting cycle, the mower will search out the perimeter cable and follow it back to its docking station to recharge. After charging, it heads back out on its own!

That’s not all. An on-board alarm system sound when an unauthorized user picks up the Lawnbott – that will teach your nosey neighbors!

The most valuable thing Lawnbott gives you is one less thing to worry about.

With the Sensor Dispenser, you can put your germophobic worries to rest. This ultra-sanitary soap dispensor will dispense soap and you never have to touch the dispensor. Now you can rid your hands of those nasty germs and bacteria the safe way.

The built-in motion detector senses when your hands are in front of it and voila! The right amount of soap drops onto your hands and you can wash those germs away.

Put your favorite liquid soap in the dispenser and adjust the wheel at the back of the dispenser to determine how much soap is dispensed each time.

At this point, you probably have a question or two … like is the Sensor Dispenser drip free? Yes it is! You will also need three AAA batteries to keep it running.

Afraid to touch the soap at the homes of family or friends? The Sensor Dispenser makes a great gift too.

The thought of coming home to a flooded house again makes me cringe! This Washing Machine Valve Shutoff Kit is well worth it. It is a safety system that averts costly damage stemming from your washing machine, a common source of ruptured hoses, connection seepage and other water-related catastrophes. The very moment the system detects a leak, it responds by automatically shutting off the water source — before the real damage starts. Uses AC power supply (included).

Installation of the Washing Machine Valve Shutoff Kit is fast and easy for anyone with even the most basic do-it-yourself skills (like me) — no plumber is necessary (good!). You’ll need a screwdriver to connect the valves to the existing hot and cold water faucets, mount the control unit, place the water sensor on the floor, plug a cable into a receptacle and plug in the power supply. That’s it! 

No more flooding. No more costly repairs (believe me, it is COSTLY!). Best of all, no more worries or being paranoid about  the hose ruptures.

Find out more about the Washing Machine Valve Shutoff Kit
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How about calling your combination oven / refridgerator with your cell phone to get dinner started? Better yet, you can connect to MyOven over the Internet to adjust the oven temperature in seconds.

You can get all this and more from TMIO, the maker of this truly intelligent oven.  This intelligent oven features both a professional cooking system and advanced refrigeration system, all in the same unit. The unit sports a beautiful finish that looks good in any kitchen and your preference of dual or single refrigerated wall oven.

Consider this scenario: Before leaving for work in the morning, place your prepared food in the oven and use the cool-looking touch screen panel to turn on the refridgeration, keeping the food fresh all day.  An hour before leaving work for the day, dial up your Intelligent Oven and turn up the temperature –   a delicious, (hopefully healthy) hot meal will await when you get home. No more rushing to get something started the minutes you walk in the door! Instead, you can arrive home to the heavenly aroma of your cooked meal.

Head over to TMIO and find out even more about this time-saving smart appliance that incorporates NASA space technology. One of these will set you back a few thousand dollars, $5,896.00 to be exact, for the Intelligent Oven Single Refrigerated.

This is one practical smart appliance that gets a big thumbs up from Smart Home Gadgets!

What will you do with the new extra time in your life?

There are many items in our homes that make our lives as easy as possible. For instance:

• Cable TV allows you to watch broadcast television as well as order movies – all at the click of a button! Suddenly, you’ve saved your self a trip to the local movie rental store and also saved the gasoline in you car.
• Voice mail systems have made it easy for people to listen and pick up their messages from anywhere, and at anytime. Say hello to convenience, and goodbye to old busy signals! Voice messages can be received through your e-mail box and then listened to, just by using your computer.
• Automatic garage doors, are a home automation tool that has helped to take us further into the automated world, via a wireless remote.
• Can you even remember the last time you had to adjust the temperature on your preprogrammed home thermostat? These thermostats let you set your heat to fit your lifestyle; warmer when you’re home, and lower while you’re at work. The tiny plastic box, located on the wall, utilizes a solid-state microcomputer that enables your unit to provide flexibility in controlling the temperature.
• No one can live without the miracle of a microwave. Right? Once the microwave became widely available, cooking became easier and much faster. However, microwaves weren’t always included as an essential part of our lives. Even though microwaves were actually invented in 1946, sometimes taking up a full room, they were much to large for the home kitchen to accommodate. By 1967, they were scaled down to fit the home environment. It wasn’t long before the microwave could be found in most homes across America.

Smart technology is smoothly blended into the home, reducing the amount of time spent on everyday household tasks, and increasing the fun you can have.

Some gadgets in your home are so commonplace that they do not strike you as being automation. They’re just normal, everyday items. Technology is constantly improving; with new inventions ready to show up in your home!

We can’t even imagine, all of the new and exciting gadgets that will be made available, to make our homes more automated and more comfortable. You can integrate as much or as little smart technology into your home, as you want. It really only depends on your budget.

• Generally a lot of time is spent in the kitchen by everyone, usually in cleaning or cooking. Traditionally, the height of cabinets and sinks in kitchens were not designed for individuals, but for one preset height. In the new intelligent kitchens, cabinets and sinks can be adjusted to your preferred height, with the simple touch of a button. This machine not only allows family members of varying heights to use the kitchen with equal ease, but also can assist people in wheelchairs.
• If you hate carrying those heavy pots of water from the sink to the stove, then you’ll be a big fan of the all-in-one-sink. Integrating the stove top into the sink unit, provides extra convenience, especially when doing your cooking. With its built-in drainage, you no longer have to worry about boiling water spilling over.
• Have you ever pondered who invented the peephole. A tiny hole is almost impossible to see through, even if your vision is flawless. A new innovation, great for safety as well as convenience, some door surfaces can change from opaque to transparent.
• If you need more laundry room space, the combination ventless tumble dryer and washer will be a favorite choice. Since it washes and dries your clothing in the same machine, it takes up less space than you would expect. With its high power efficiency rating, you will save on power consumer, which justifies it’s higher purchase price.
• Even if your current refrigerator still works fine, you may wish to replace it with a newer model, with many improved features. An intelligent refrigerator gives you the ability to check your email, assemble a to-do list, re-order groceries via the internet, and even watch TV on its screen. This is all brought to you by a high-speed connection, high-tech tracking database, and a high price.

New inventions are coming in the future, like: appliances that communicate with each other, self cleaning showers, intelligent cooking devices downloading recipes from the internet, fog proof mirrors, and so forth.

In simple terms, PRO CookCenters feature a cooking vessel in conjunction with a kitchen sink, while PRO CookSinks feature a standalone vessel ideally positioned near a stovetop. The 8-quart cylindrical, 18-gauge stainless steel cooking vessel resides beneath the counter with its opening flush to counter level. A 240-volt power circuit and a standard base cabinet are the only requirements for easy installation, while counter top temperature and drainage controls promote ease of use.

With effortless, push-of-a-button drainage of cooking water – improved kitchen workspace – healthy, water-based cooking – stack cooking to increase cooking efficiency – the functional versatility of Kohler’s PRO CookCenters and PRO CookSinks will change the way residential kitchens are designed while evolving the traditional role of the kitchen sink.

Adding to the unique nature of this collection are the accessories and cookware included with its purchase. Kohler, in conjunction with a major cookware manufacturer, have produced exclusively designed stack cookware to maximize product versatility and satisfaction, including a stainless steel 8-quart colander, 4-quart steamer and 4-quart double boiler with glass lid. The quality cookware was designed specifically for use with the PRO Cook line, but can also be used separately as an addition to your everyday collection.

Now, that’s what’s I’m talking about! That would tempt me to cook more!

The LG Electronics 24 Washer/Dryer Combo is EnergyStar rated and achieved CEE Tier 3B for energy efficiency! This unit is particularly notable for its energy and water efficiency. Also, because it is EnergyStar rated, it may be eligible for rebates from your local utility companies. Check with your local water and power companies for more details.

This unit offers a 2.44 Capacity, direct drive drum which minimizes the noise and vibration that other washer dryer combos can produce. This unit also comes with an internal water heater. Unlike most washer dryers, which require you to guess how much drying is needed, the LG WM3431HW combo washer dryer has a sensor that monitors the dryness of your clothes. When your clothes are bone-dry, the cycle stops- and the cool down mode tumbles your clothes without heat for hours after the cycle is over to prevent wrinkles from setting in!