the contenders

Ring video doorbell

Who’d have thought your doorbell could be smart? Well, the Ring is more than just a bell; it enables you to monitor who’s at your door – and even talk to them – using your smartphone. Are you in the garden? Just tell the postie you’re around the back. At the office? Tell that courier to deliver next door. Unwanted callers? See who they are before you get badgered. Oh, and it detects motion, too, meaning you can get notifications if anyone’s approaching the house.

Alph a 1S

The Alpha 1S, which stands 398mm (15.3 inches) tall, is a humanoid creation that enables you to control it by writing different movement commands. And that movement is more than just a shuddering gait – the Alpha 1S has 16 servo joints offering a wide variety of movement combinations, and even comes boxed with a set of bespoke gamepads for a quick game of gladiator football! The robots are taking over!

Withings Body Cardio

Oi, fatty! Yes, you! It’s time to start getting in shape and seeing what’s really under your skin. And what better way than by using the Withings Body Cardio smart scale. It’ll not only give you your weight (of course!), but also accurate BMI readings, body-fat percentage, water percentage, muscle and bone mass. Last but not least, it’ll give you your standing heart rate and enable you to asses your overall cardiovascular health.

Au dio-Tech nica AT -LP60BT

Vinyl is back and in a big way. But in a world dominated by multi-room and Bluetooth speakers, it doesn’t always fit in with your home audio set-up. The Audio-Technica AT -LP60BT goes a long way towards bridging that gap, enabling you to stream your copy of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon on vinyl directly, via Bluetooth, to a wireless speaker system. At £100, you can’t really go wrong.