mySimon Home and Garden Shopping Picks

According to the Circulon website, it takes almost 10 minutes to boil 2 quarts of water on an electric coil stove, but less than 5 minutes if you use an induction cooktop, because with induction cooking, 90% of the energy generated goes directly to the pot or pan. So dinner gets cooked faster and energy bills are lower. Unfortunately, induction stoves are still really expensive. But you can get this portable Circulon induction cooktop for less than $300. It has adjustable power levels with 7 preset cooking temperatures (from 150 to 430 degrees), a timer (for slow cooking), cooks safely (no open heat source), and cleans up easily with a damp sponge.

Remember those Kohler WaterTiles from a couple years ago? They're panels for the sides of your shower, so water sprays at you from all directions like a human car wash. Kohler has taken showering to the next level with SoundTiles, matching speakers that stream your favorite music and Internet radio right into your shower. Kohler worked with Polk Audio to create these waterproof, coaxial, 4" x 4" speakers, which are controlled by the Kohler DTV II or any stand-alone home audio system. We hope for your spouse's/roommate's sake you have a good singing voice.

Bed Bath & Beyond should have had us on the payroll the other night. We spent more than an hour vacuuming their floors as we tried out various uprights to replace our old Dirt Devil, which finally gave up the ghost (and stank up our apartment as it burned through yet another rubber belt thing). Now, we'd been hearing multiple people at the office rave about their Dy$on vacuums, but the full-size ones are just ginormous, and the new compact DC24 couldn't seem to pick up a simple ball of hair on the carpet. So when we heard this Miele Powerhouse eagerly sucking up all the nasty stuff BB&B customers had left on the floors; saw its $100-cheaper-than-the-little-Dyson price tag; and learned about its lifetime warranty (we can take it back if we decide it - pardon the pun - sucks), we brought it home. Yay for clean carpets!

As seen in the September issue of Better Homes and Gardens: Photo wall clocks from Target. Instead of numbers, there are circles where you can insert your own photos. A perfect gift for grandmothers or people with large families. Plus it's probably fun to say things like "It's Mike after Mark." Preorder now for delivery in a few weeks. See also: Target's "splat" wall clocks.

The worst thing about cooking is cleaning the pots and pans afterwards. Not anymore (at least, not if you have a dishwasher), because Calphalon's new Infinite Circulon collection of hard-anodized, non-stick pots, pans, and skillets is completely dishwasher-safe! Plus the bottoms are made from stainless steel and aluminum (safe for glass and induction cooktops) and the stainless steel handles are oven-safe to 500 degrees. But if $300 for the 10-piece set is a little out of your price range, the good news is you can buy individual items separately. See all Calphalon cookware.

One day - we hope - all our portable gadgets won't need cords; they'll recharge magically without wires. Until then, we're stuck with a drawer full of chargers and a tangled mess of cords coming out of various outlets around the house. Which is why we want this lacquer docking station from West Elm (the hipper, cheaper, little sister of Pottery Barn). Available in white, mushroom, or espresso, this attractive, space-saving box is a centralized place for charging your phone, camera, iPod, etc. while simultaneously hiding their cords. There's a surge protector on the back and a big drawer for storing other desktop clutter.

Help your dog stay cool outside with a Coolaroo dog bed. Designed for the outdoors, Coolaroo is a knit fabric with millions of tiny spaces that let air flow freely through it. When the fabric is stretched over an aluminum frame, like on these dog beds, the result is a cool and comfortable (and clean!) place for your pooch to lie down. The fabric resists mold and mildew, and can be cleaned with a basic garden hose. Choose from three sizes.

What's even better than the Boyfriend pillow? The Snoogle body pillow. Not just for pregnant women, the Snoogle is a 5-foot-long pillow that conforms to your body and has a removable, washable cover. Depending on how you bend it, you can use the Snoogle to support your back, align your hips/neck/spine/legs, elevate parts of your body, use it to support your neck or back while reading, and more. Just looking at it makes us sleepy. More body pillows.

Keep your favorite books organized with these upturned hand bookends. Made from weighted resin, they're a great way to store books, magazines, CDs, or DVDs. Or forget the books, etc. altogether and display them with the palms facing outward, as if they're saying "halt!" or "hi there!" Pick up a pair for yourself and a pair for your favorite book club member. $32 at Chiasso. More bookends.

Get hot coffee whenever you want it with the Hamilton Beach BrewStation. It brews up to 12 cups internally - no carafe to clean (or break), no coffee getting cold or burned, no waste. The one-handed dispensing function lets one hand fill your thermos as the other reaches for your keys on the way out the door. The BrewStation also has a programmable clock and timer, so you can wake up to the smell of your favorite coffee. More coffee makers.

How cool - or hot - is this LED shower light? It's an attachment for your shower head. When you turn the water on, the light shines blue. Once the water gets up to 89 degrees, the light turns red. All you need now is a disco ball. Anyway, the light doesn't require any special tools to install, fits a standard shower pipe, and might just make you want to take showers in the dark.

We're only 3 weeks into summer, but stores are already getting ready for back-to-school shopping. This supercool fridge from PBTeen (a younger, hipper, more affordable version of Pottery Barn) just made Oprah's "O" list, because you can also use it as a minibar in your office or bedroom. The fridge comes in several sizes and colors, and looks a lot nicer than those compact fridges you rent from the guy with the truck outside the dorm. More compact refrigerators.

The last time we tried to serve fresh pineapple, it was a total disaster. (We tried to "shave" off the outside of the pineapple using an electric carving knife. Then we couldn't hold on to the slippery beast long enough to cut it up into pieces. Did you know that pineapples bounce?) If only we had known about these pineapple slicers. Think of them as corkscrews that both core and slice pineapples into pretty little rings - in about 30 seconds - leaving the shell intact. And saving you quite of bit of effort and frustration.

Our graphic designer has a black lab named Xena (less warrior than princess). The other night Xena cut her leg open on something in the park. So the good people at Pets Unlimited stitched Xena up and put one of those hard plastic "Elizabethan collar" lamp shade things on her. But that lamp shade is making the (already anxious) dog miserable, because it's so uncomfortable and makes it hard to navigate doorways. So we're getting Xena a Comfy Cone. It's made out of nylon and foam, not plastic, so it's much more comfortable for dogs (not to mention the backs of people's knees), but still prevents dogs from interfering with healing wounds.

You can't take your dog to see Sex and the City, but you can give your dog this Sarah Jessica Barker toy. Made by Haute Diggity Dog, the company behind the iPaw and Jimmy Chew toys, it's a great gift for dog owners and/or SATC fans. See all Haute Diggity Dog toys and supplies, including Angelina Growlie, Rosie O'Doggel, and Clint Eastwoof. More Sex and the City shopping.

New from Simplehuman: The Sensor Soap Pump, a 14-ounce touch-free soap dispenser, designed for germaphobes but also quite useful for cooks, children, doctors, and anyone else whose hands might be covered in grime or slime. Just hold your hands under the sensor and soap (or lotion) comes out. The amount of soap is determined by the 4 volume settings. There's even an optional LED light timer that will blink for 20 seconds (that's how long you're supposed to lather for germ-free hands). More Simplehuman products.

One of the best things about summer is corn on the cob. But for people with dentures or sensitive teeth (or people too lazy to eat with their hands), the cob can be problematic. Enter the OXO corn stripper. It's a fast, easy, no-mess way to get the kernels off the cob. Just grab hold of the non-slip grip, drag it down the cob, and the kernels pop right off - into the half-cup container, not all over your kitchen counter. The blade will never rust or dull, and all parts are dishwasher-safe. More OXO kitchen gadgets.

It's not much to look at, but in this heat who cares, right? The important things about this GE air conditioner are that it's got 8,000 glorious BTUs, a slide-out chassis (so it can fit most windows), an exterior support bracket, an energy saving mode, and a built-in timer. And Consumer Reports calls it a "Best Buy" for midsize window units. Like all good appliances these days, the GE comes with a remote control, but we think that takes the fun out of standing directly over the A/C vents on a 95-degree day. More air conditioners.

Here's one interesting way of protecting yourself from bugs this summer: A bug zapper that looks like a tennis racket. Instead of coating yourself and half the yard in chemicals, you can go after bugs the old fashioned way. With electricity. The racket electrocutes small, flying, West Nile virus-carrying objects both indoors and out, leaving no splats or smears to clean up. It supposedly won't hurt humans or pets, but it's probably still a good idea to look both ways before you start swinging.