Arnold Goetzke has a simple idea. And if you pause long enough to talk to him, he'll tell you about it. The idea is this: an extension cord you can control from your phone. Simple as that. Maybe you're sitting in your chair and you want to impress your girlfriend: out comes your phone and on comes the mood lighting. Or you've got it hooked up to your Christmas tree and you let your kids press the button that makes it all light up.

But it's not just expensive smartphones. It's any phone. Universal. All you need is Bluetooth. There are apps available for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry. But even if you don't have one of those, the system's so simple – it's just a sound file, and you can download that from the website. It's just a toggle, on/off. We call it "The World's Simplest APP."

So the whole thing's called the Smart Cord™. It's patent-pending. It'll be available in February for $39.95.

Sure, there's an outdoor version in the works, in case you want to hook it up to a fountain or an outdoor Christmas tree. Yeah, a dimmer – that's a cool idea, too. We're working on that, along with a Smart Switch™ that'll bring the same functionality to a wall switch.

What's the range? Oh, the standard Bluetooth, so about 30 feet.

Why not use Wi-Fi? Well...