This helpful bit of software isn’t exactly a gadget, but more of a gadget controller. The Home Control Assistant gives you the ability to control many devices in your home such as lighting and appliances through one easy to use application.

Very simply, the software communicates with items in your house that are plugged into receivers that are compatible with the software. The receivers are then plugged into a normal wall plug. The software requires your computer to be integrated with your home’s wiring, and thus can control any item that is attached to a receiver.
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This gadget would be perfect for anyone taking a trip or is just forgetful and owns a pet. The Automatic Pet Feeder is programmable to certain times so your pet can be automatically fed when you choose.

There are 8 compartments in the circular device, each able to hold about 96 ounces of food. This is perfect for setting 8 days of feeding times or more than once a day for a number of days.

You don’t have to worry about the type of food you’re serving either. Beneath the food tray there is another tray for ice packs so you can feed your pets wet food without letting it go bad.
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Too lazy to take the time to vacuum your house, or just want to confuse your pet? Dyson’s robotic vacuum just might be the thing for you.

Featuring more than 70 sensory devices and three on board computers, this machine is only 5% vacuum, and 95% robotic intelligence. It requires no human input or training to completely clean an entire area. It learns the layout of a room and uses all of its sensors with incredible accuracy to cover every inch of a room without ever repeating a section to ensure that no power is wasted and it doesn’t annoy you, zipping around the house for too long. In fact, it makes 10 decisions per second!
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The shining promise of robotics is that it will eventually free us from all forms of drudgery. It only follows that as technology progresses our definition of what drudgery is will become a sliding scale, a moving target. Have we come so far already as to define the noble pursuit of tending bar “drudgery?” The RoboBar from the Motoman company answers this question with an emphatic “Yes!”
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It only seems like yesterday when reported on the remote control umbrella that you could open and close via a flick of a switch. Well that remote controlled umbrella has been well and truly put in the shade by this one.

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White Box Robotics is gearing up for their first production run of
“personal computer robots.” They have neatly sidestepped the inevitable
question associated with home robots. No matter how cute the gyrations
or how engaging the “blips” and “bleeps” comes that dreaded pause, and
then:

“So, what does it do?”
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There’s nothing that new about solar powered lights in the garden but I thought these ones were different enough to be worth a mention, they look like good old fashioned candle lanterns and even have a realistic looking flicker.

As you’d expect the lights are powered by LEDs, a days worth of sunlight will power the light at night for up to 10 hours (all automatic of course). I reckon the flicker will give the lantern a cool look and have your neighbours wondering how you light them every night (okay that might work that one out after the first day).

Available for $29.99 each from Smart Home
.

My living room is full of electrical equipment, the mandatory wide-screen, DVD player, PS2, cable TV box, PC, etc. Many of essential devices are controlled via remote, which causes a bit of a problem when it’s behind a cabinet door.
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