From there, its petals open at dawn, rotate to follow the Sun and clean themselves at night. It’ll even fold away to protect the panels on windy days. Don’t be fooled by the scale of our picture, though: you’ll need at least 25m2 of space to set it up.
smartflower.com, price TBC
2) Bruno Smartcan
Kitchen bins were the last thing we thought needed the ‘smart’ treatment. How wrong we were! Bruno the bin is fitted with a small vacuum cleaner at its base, and when a sensor spots your broom brushing against the bin’s base, it sucks up all the dirt nearby directly into its rubbish bag. Bruno will even tell you when you’re running low on bags, and text you when it’s time to take the bins out.
brunosmartcan.com, $179 (£114)
3) DJI Phantom 3
From landing on the White House lawn to flying over volcanoes, DJI Phantoms are the drones in the news. The new Phantom 3 focuses on ease of flying. There’s now an ultrasound sensor in the base that measures altitude, allowing it to hover effortlessly, and a Launch button that sends the drone leaping into the air. Phantoms also now come with the option to film in 4K (four times HD resolution).
dji.com, from £899
4) Amazon Dash Button
Death and taxes aren’t the only constants in life. There’s also buying loo roll, toothpaste, washing powder and other sundries. The Dash button wants to free you from this drudgery. You simply order a button for one of your favourite products (bourbon biscuits, say), and each time you hit it, Amazon will deliver them to your door. Actually, for your waistline’s sake it’s probably best not to make a biscuit button…
amazon.com, free
5) Vizio P-Series TV
4K TV is four times sharper than Full HD, or 1080p. There’s no rush to upgrade your TV just yet, as no broadcasters are currently offering programmes at this quality. But with Netflix already committed to streaming 4K shows and Sky promising a 4K box later in the year, it might be time to invest soon. Luckily, Vizio is here to spare your wallet: it’s the first TV maker to offer 4K sets for under £1,000.
vizio.com, from $749.99 (£476)
6) Celluon PicoPro
Everything is better with lasers, and that includes projectors. Normally projectors suffer when they’re shrunk: the light bulbs are too small, and the resulting picture is soft and difficult to see. By using lasers instead, the PicoPro projector has been shrunk to the size of an iPhone 6 without scrimping on the image quality. Plus, unlike traditional projectors, the laser system won’t need focusing and can work at short range.
celluon.com, $359.99 (£229)
