Homes and Gardens

This is a column fan described as a ‘Mini 15ʺ Desk Fan’ but it also works just as well on the floor, any fan is likely to disturb papers and while this at lower levels did not do this the rotating action of the unit is likely to catch the eye when on a desk.

For those who already have a coffee machine of choice this unit can give you the froth you sometimes want to get the perfect Latte or Cappuccino or even should you want it - cold frothed milk - it is quick and easy to use and works even with semi-skimmed milk.

This is a multi-functional pressure cooker as not only can it work as a conventional pressure cooker but also has the ability to be a slow cooker – there’s an oxymoron – cook from frozen ‘to sear’ and according to the book even prepare desserts.

While I must confess to already being a convert to Nest as I have their Smoke Alarm/Carbon Monoxide detector their Indoor Camera was new to me having been brought to my attention by an on the ball PR person trawling through previous reviews.

A new name to me but I got up at the crack of dawn – or what is the crack of dawn to me at my age – and travelled through the London rush hour for a briefing held at a house in the Kings Cross area of London to get to know their products, I liked what I saw and in time you should hear about three of the items I saw, first an overview of their whole range.

A lot of homes will have a Dimplex radiator, they are ideal for an extra splurge of heat. The latest offering does exactly that and a bit more for a start it can be remotely controlled by Bluetooth and an App but while earlier offering had a thermostat not much else, with this you can set in advance the times to go on/off automatically and still have a manual override.

Watching an expect demonstrator can persuade a lot of people to buy things. I saw one sharpening with this product all kinds of knifes with edges - even serrated examples – then for effect - I am sure - an old axe was produced and this too was sharpened and then a soft tomato was sliced up thinly with it, everyone was suitable hooked.

Currently there are a range of four products that has their own ‘V’ by Vodafone SIM that keeps you connected to your Pet, Car, Bag or the device here I have been looking at a Arlo Go camera that sends information to your phone of any movements detected wherever you have placed the Arlo Go camera.

My two favourite things are ‘food and drink’ and ‘music’ both recorded and even better when live. Here I get a chance to try good quality coffee in my home and even listen to my music while relaxing with a great cup of coffee.

Over time descriptive terms can come to have different meanings. I am thinking in particular of “smart home”. While my parents would have taken “smart home” to mean a place that was neat and tidy without needing any decorating, you and I, as member of the current generation, would use the term when describing the plethora of interlinked devices within the modern home.

While the sound quality of the two previous Cello units have been good there is little any normal TV speaker can do about the terrible sound quality on recent films even those made by people like the BBC are now falling into the choice of hearing speech and being deafened by the music or hearing music at the normal level and lip reading speech, however help is available with a quality sound bar.

Coffee machines are always a hit especially ones which you can approach and know your coffee is ready to pour. Of course that often means the coffee may not be freshly ground unless of course you live in your local coffee shop.

In the weather that prevailed just before Christmas fixing a new door bell was not the most pressing thing on my mind, or course once fitted the various groups of carol singers that seem to materialise can safely be ignored from your indoor comfort.

An alternative to a standard light fitment fitted with a bulb for special effects like colours or moods is to have something like this offering from ‘jedi lighting’ which provides the whole gamut of colours, shades and effects in a single clip on fitment.

Prime membership from Amazon brings certain benefits including guaranteed one day delivery and extra substantial reductions on certain items; this coffee machine from Nespresso was £30 cheaper as a Prime member than for everyone else.

The Supra KeySafe C500 is a secure key box that, when installed outside a house, provides a safe and secure means of holding keys and yet making them accessible to authorised people.

Moods can come and go, often influenced by outside conditions such as lighting.

One of the stranger items that was in the bag from Amazon at their Christmas In July event - and checking round this is the last item yet to be reviewed - or those received. While it is rather late to start planting for cropping this year everything apart from gloves are supplied in this kit.

This is much smaller than the original version I reviewed some years ago. The basic shape is the same but the heating element inside is humped which should mean the heat is better distributed amongst whatever is being cooked.

A Nespresso coffee machine called ‘Expert’ & milk. So if you like black coffee there are cheaper options, but even if you only like a frothy coffee once in a while then this offering from Magimix could well be just the thing.

Just occasionally I get an email from Hoover about new offerings, one such arrived last week and I selected what seemed an interesting offering asking if one was available for delivery four days later just in time for my weekend cleaning blitz.

While the most popular buy is a fridge/freezer combo, a lot of people still prefer a stand along freezer especially if this is going to live somewhere other than in the kitchen. This offering from Fridgemaster seems to be an excellent buy.

The Air Chef is the second of my three choices from the Birmingham based company that I came across by accident during a visit to the Exclusively Housewares show in London early in the summer, the first was the Home Baker already reviewed.

Certainly not my favourite job and one that only gets done when things get really bad or as in this case when I am sent a tool to take the hard work out of cleaning windows and best of all remove the mess so all you see is clean windows.

Unlike the recent pod machine I reviewed from Lavazza this unit requires a single power lead as the creamer unit takes power from the coffee machine as is integral on its right side. The last two months have taught me one thing my top of the range instant coffee is not a match for quality coffee pods.

This is an external light and a camera and it runs on a standard power lead so if you already have an external light – with or without a sensor – you can just replace it and this will come on when something is sensed and it also records automatically.

This is the latest – and certainly the best – Nest indoor security camera that I have seen, the information about when and what was seen along with the video quality makes this a wow product for any internal security purpose you may have.

As my trips to various venues around London for Xmas in July comes to an end I smell the inviting coffee from Lavazza and here in the form of a tiny machine for your Expresso or other black offering as well as a separate machine for those who prefer their coffee white with a coffee shop head.

Often things arrive at totally the wrong time of year, sometimes however they arrive exactly when you can get the best from an item, here one of the latter category a column fan during the hottest part of the year and over the next few weeks it got lots of use in both my office, lounge and bedroom, in the case of the last mentioned because it was nearly silent.

When I went to a recent Bosch event that featured items like fridges that were connected the one item that seemed out of place was a tiny chain saw, ideal for use in the home or even the garden but it works in the same way as it would on a tree branch but for smaller items.