Try to look past the “terribly clichéd name”: The iKettle can be helpful, if you let it be. Because it can be operated via smartphone, you can ask it to start heating water wherever you are, and to the temperature of your choice. When the water’s ready, there’s no “ear-piercing whistle”: The iKettle texts you instead. “Last but not least,” it knows when you arrive home because it detects when your phone reconnects to your Wi-Fi network. The kettle then sends another text, asking if you want water started—“like a personal butler who really has only one skill.”
$161, firebox.com
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