Smartphones are becoming a "remote control" for life

 It can talk to your car, your refrigerator, water your plants and help you stay fit and healthy: the smartphone is become the consumer's remote control for life. 
That was the message delivered by dozens of firms at the International Consumer Electronics Show, where terms like "appification" were tossed around freely.

The hundreds of thousands of "apps" developed for mobile platforms such as Apple's iOS, Google's Android and Microsoft's Windows Phone and showcased at the Las Vegas tech gathering are quickly taking a lot of functions that people or different devices used to do.

Nowhere was this more evident in the "connected home" zone of the world's biggest technology show.

Samsung, the South Korean tech giant, showed a connected refrigerator which can stream music from a smartphone, while US appliance maker Dacor unveiled what it called the "first Android oven," with a panel to check emails and the Web.