It's a low-risk way to dip your foot into smart home waters, and if you like it, finding compatible gadgets that make it even smarter isn't difficult at all.
For now, my pick is the Belkin WeMo Mini, which offers a mature, well-developed system, tons of use scenarios, fairly wide third-party compatibility, and best of all, a price point of just $35. It's a low-risk way to dip your foot into smart home waters, and if you like it, finding compatible gadgets that make it even smarter isn't difficult at all.