Sound canbe piped into the bathroom to help keep your showersinging on key

Tag : Bath Toilet Appliances
The wireless technology is cheaper than hard-wired systems - about$10,000 (U.S.) for Lagotek's software compared with up to $100,000or more for hard-wired systems - and allows consumers to take theirsystems with them if they move.
When it comes to smart homes, clever products and systems areavailable for every room, says Ron Zimmer, president and chiefexecutive of Continental Automated Buildings Association, a tradegroup that represents the home and commercial automation industry.
Kitchen
LG Electronics offers its TV refrigerator with HD-ready LCD TV and"weather and info centre," which features a built-in television,electronic cookbook and weather channel. It retails at about$4,000.
Other refrigerators have advanced climate control and can trackfood expiration dates, while some large appliance makers offerappliances that run self-diagnostic tests and alert you whensomething's awry before disaster occurs. All of these can run$3,000 and up.
Bathroom
Watch the morning news while shaving or putting on mascara. Thereare now mirrors designed with an LCD television behind them - tothe tune of $3,200. "When the TV's turned off, it looks like aregular mirror. No one is the wiser," Mr. Zimmer says.
Sound can also be piped into the bathroom to help keep your showersinging on key.
Japanese company Toto offers the "Intelligence Toilet" system thatmeasures sugar levels in urine, blood pressure, body fat andweight. The results are automatically analyzed on a home computernetwork and can be sent to a doctor's office over the Internet.It's price tag: $3,700.
Temperature control also is a big deal in the bathroom. Some showerand bath valves allow for multiple water temperature settings, so abather doesn't have to adjust the faucets. This also helps to keepchildren and elderly from scalding themselves. Prices start around$200, with models from Kohler, Moen and Grohe.
Some tubs and showers developed by MTI Whirlpools come with radiantheating systems. The shower's floor and seat, or areas on the tub'sback and bottom, are heated for comfortable entry. The system canbe installed in freestanding tubs for $999.
On the horizon
As boomers age, home medical testing devices seem the most logicalventures for some manufacturers. Farrar-Wegener says companies areworking on devices that can monitor insulin levels, blood pressureor embedded medical devices such as pacemakers.
"Just plug yourself in and send your report to your physician," sheexplains.
Other manufacturers are working on a so-called projection kitchencounter, she says, that will read microchips on ingredients andcome up with a recipe using just those ingredients.