It's one of the major uses of technology. You look at a lot of the stuff we invent and it's designed to save time, make things easier etc etc.
That's why there is something particularly funny about when it does the total opposite. Like Denis and his "smart lights" basically coming and off at the wrong time and him being unable to override it. Also, there are certain things that you can't cram any more convenience into, i don't really know (or care) what a smart corkscrew does, but I am pretty certain it is totally unnecessary.
My dad used to be a real "early adopter" type cos he worked in technology and he liked to get all these gadgets. But the problem with getting the first of everything is that the first one is normally shit, the problems have not been identified and so on. So he was the first person I knew with a beeper and then a mobile phone and so on and they were usually greatly flawed. In the 90s or something he had a mobile phone stuck on the dashboard of his car and it was, in theory at least, voice activated, but the recognition thing was really bad and so it never did the right thing,
Dad would pick me up from somewhere and it would always lead to a conversation between the phone and dad which would go something like
Dad: Hi Rich, how are you?
Phone: Voice activated, awaiting command
Dad: No... Off!
Phone: Contacts selected, say a Contact name to make call
Dad: No, don't call anyone, turn off. OFF!
Phone: Phoning Gwyneth
Dad: No... no!