No multiple Google calendars in the Metro Calendar app, which meant I initially had to run my calendar in a mouse-demanding Chrome window.

ENGADGET: Windows 8 upgrade diary: multiple monitors make my mouse mad

On the software side of things, Samsung is taking advantage of its mobile devices' processing power to layer premium features on top of Android, such as the ability to run two apps at once in a split screen or separate window.

CNN: How Samsung is out-innovating Apple

The controller looked like a window-mounted air conditioner and could be programmed to run machines in different sequences without rewiring all those cabinets, a huge time-saver.

FORBES: Choreographer of the Assembly Line

Steven Burt, G24's chief financial officer, talks of light-bulb-powered TV remote controls, smoke detectors and computer keyboards. (A non-removable internal battery would store charge for use when the lights are off.) The company already offers prototypes of bags and jackets with photosensitive panels woven in, designed to charge digital cameras and mobile phones, and a hotel in Las Vegas is using G24's products to run its electric window-blinds.

ECONOMIST: A new type of cell may bring ��solar�� energy indoors

She looked out of the window just in time to see Suzie run out of the garden gate and straight in front of a car.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Scotland | 'His anger killed my dog'