With the spread of technology, companies are exploring the ways household chores can be made more bearable. Amazon is appealing to grocery-hating mothers everywhere with Amazon Dash – the kitchen assistant intended to do for the shopping list what Kindle did for the e-book.

As you leave for work, you yell “lock” and “camera on” to keep the house secure, before telling your vacuum to clean the bedroom carpet while you're out. It's not a sci-fi film - the technology is available now. But do we really want our homes to be controlled by technology?

Foursquare has launched an app called Swarm, aiming to revitalise the feature that made it popular at the start – checking in. It's part of a shift in how brands are streamlining their services - from complex, all-in-one packages to simple apps focused on individual components.

A new wave of technological advancements is making it easier than ever to plug into a techno-utopian automated lifestyle, as people increasingly expect to exchange minimum input for maximum output.