iRobot Roomba 780 ($599)

Who doesn’t like a freshly swept floor, or a just-vacuumed carpet? Well, meet Roomba, the floor-sweeping and carpet-vacuuming robot who has nothing but time to scoot around your house, sucking up dust, dirt, grime and even pet hair. The programmable Roomba (read my review) will navigate its way around your furniture while avoiding tumbles down stairs, and it comes with both a charging dock and a remote.

Mint Cleaner ($199)

No, it doesn’t do carpets, but the Mint Clearer is an ace at sweeping hard-wood floors. Just give it a Swiffer cloth, place the “indoor GPS” navigation cubes at strategic locations around your house, and let the Mint (check out my hands-on impressions) work its magic.

iZon Remote Room Monitor ($130)

Want to keep tabs on the nursery, your home office, or even the babysitter? Just put the iZon Remote Room Monitor in the room you want to keep an eye on, then watch a live video feed on your iPhone or iPad. The free iZon app can also alert you whenever the remote camera detects sound or movement—and yes, it works anywhere in the world, so long as you’re in range of a Wi-Fi or 3G signal.

Belkin iPad Chef Stand ($40)

Want to pull up recipes on your iPad without mucking it up with messy hands? Say hellow to Belkin and its clever iPad chef stand, which comes with a “non-slip” base and a touchscreen-friendly stylus that you can clean in the sink.

Philips GoLite Blu Light Therapy Device ($199)

Here’s the perfect antidote for anyone with the winter blues. Armed with “Bluewave” technology that mimics the light of a clear, blue sky, the GoLite Blu Plus promises to give you a daily boost after just minutes of use. Just turn it on, put it at arm’s length, set the timer, and (supposedly, anyway) you should start feeling better within 15 minutes or so.

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Slated to land in stores this October for $130, the short, stubby camera sits on a swiveling, built-in base and connects to your home Wi-Fi network.

Just plug it in to a standard wall socket, strategically place it in your nursery, home office, or any other room you’d like to keep an eye on.

Once that’s done, you can take a peek at whatever the camera sees by pulling up the free iZon app on your iPhone or iPad.

The app also lets you record video clips, which you can save on your phone or on YouTube (you can keep those YouTube clips private or share them with the world, your choice), while the camera itself will send an alert to your iPhone or iPad if it detects movement or sound.

The iZon iPhone app works over both Wi-Fi and cellular 3G networks, meaning you can keep tabs on your iZon camera wherever there’s 3G coverage. The app will also connect to multiple iZon cameras at once—say, one in the den, another in the living room, and a third in the garage.

So, that’s what the iZon camera does … but what will you use it for? Personally, I can see using the iZon as a baby cam, although it also might come in handy for monitoring your house while you’re off globetrotting.

And yes, you could keep taps on your kids or the babysitter—although whether that counts as being prudent or merely creepy is pretty much up to you.

Looking for more iPhone tips and how-tos? Click here!

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