What sparked my thoughts about this was the fact that my juicer stopped working, and I asked the husband to get me a new one while he was out shopping, which in itself was a rarity. ‘Get a decent one’ I said, and I suggested a particular brand that I knew had a good reputation. He finally reappeared with an all-singing, all-dancing device that does everything but make juice. It will slice, grind, shred, grate, cut veggies into twirls, make nectar – but doesn’t make juice. To be fair, it doesn’t say it makes juice, so it is no fault of the device.

I thought I would take a look at some other strange gadgets around. One I discovered was an Led colour-change showerhead, where the water pressure changes the colour of the showerhead (and the colour of the water too, by the look of the sales picture). I can't think why anyone would want this, unless to encourage the kids to shower.

How about goggles to wear while cutting onions! Nobody likes sobbing while chopping onions after all. But wouldn’t swimming goggles do the trick?

Electric salad spinner (€89!) – Automatically spins every drop of water out of your salad leaves, a great idea, but I have visions of taking the lid off too soon and papering the walls with bits of (hopefully dry) Romaine or Iceberg.

A set of 45 kitchen utensils – knives not included - just spatulas, spoons, and various other stirring and poking tools. Surely even Chef Ramsey doesn’t have that many.

Electric Fully Automatic Black Garlic Fermenter – (€179) – Is black garlic an actual thing I wondered? (Apparently it is, I looked it up. It has high antioxidant levels, and can help to regulate blood sugar levels which can help prevent serious health issues, such as diabetes symptoms, kidney dysfunction, etc.) There are even recipes for it.

Smart hairbrush – A beauty product company has launched a ‘smart’ internet-connected hairbrush that analyses users’ hair type and recommends products accordingly. Sensors on the hairbrush count strokes, determine whether the hair is dry or wet and analyzes the force used when brushing. It even includes a microphone that listens to the sound of hair brushing, to provide insights into manageability, frizziness, dryness, split ends and breakage. Well, I must get one of these.

USB mouse with a built-in scale and a digital readout. Umm…why?

Stainless steel oyster shucker set (€85 no less). Just the thing for speeding up that romantic dining experience.

Now for one I really liked. An automatic waste bin, with automatic seal and bin bag change. With a 3 second push button on the front of the bin, this intelligent waste bin automatically seals the bin liner in the bin using thermoplastic sealing technology. In addition, the bin liner is replaced with a new one! How cool is that? It has sensors so it can detect whether the bag is full. It even has non-contact opening - simply hold your hand over the sensor - it detects movement and the lid opens automatically, meaning that the bin can be opened without any contact whatsoever. No more foot pedals or sticky fingers on the lid. With the smart waste bin, changing bin bags is a thing of the past. But sadly it doesn’t take the full bags to the roadside too – if someone can crack that one, I will be first in the queue!


Author

Marilyn writes regularly for The Portugal News, and has lived in the Algarve for some years. A dog-lover, she has lived in Ireland, UK, Bermuda and the Isle of Man. 

Marilyn Sheridan