Back in May, my wife and I spent 10 days in Japan with our friends. Every day, multiple times a day, in hotels, restaurants, trains we got to experience what such a mundane thing is like in a technologically advanced society.

When we returned, the withdrawal started. I had to have a Toto Washlet in my bathroom. 

What is this you are talking about Omar? Well, you see, in Japan they have these toilets called washlets. They have heated seats, they clean you when you are done doing your business with a hot jet of water, and some of then even auto flush and open / close the seat automatically.

The highest end of these devices detect your arrival, and raise the lid. If you don’t sit down right away, they will also raise the seat. They clean you, dry you, and then flush away the stuff, clean the toilet and close the lid. The latest toilets do all this with a single gallon of water to flush. It’s simply amazing.

In some cases all of this is 100% automated. High end models even have lighting so that you don’t need to illuminate the bathroom in the middle of the night.

You may have seen my review on the original Amazon Echo (Alexa). Everyone I know that has an Amazon Echo loves it. There are so many things it is useful for. In our Kitchen we use it to tell us the News, turn lights on and off "Alexa turn off all the lights", ordering stuff from Amazon and streaming Spotify.

In general, there is always a product out there to replace something you have. I'm always looking for things that change the status quo. In this case, the hair dryer (not even a product I use). Every day I listen to the hair dryer as my wife is using it, and let me tell you... those things are noisy (and ugly). Try and buy a new one. It's a rather miserable set of choices. That's why when Dyson announced they were making a hair dryer long ago, I put this on my research list. A few weeks ago, I aquired a white Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer from Sephora as a gift for Lora, and I have to say, it's an engineering marvel, and a thing of beauty. Rather than tell you what I like about it, I decided to interview Lora.

The Logitech POP is an exceptional addition to the smart home. The POP is a programmable button that you can configure to do a number of useful things in any smart home. They have a removable adhesive that you can attach to a wall or table.

Every once and a while you encounter a device that delivers on the "plug and play" promise. Circle is a parental control device that requires no changes to your network. You plug it in to power, ethernet and install a mobile app and you are on your way to protecting your children and gaining insight into their device usage.