Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?

Panasonic’s augmented reality mirror can’t tell you that – but what it can tell you is whether you’re suffering from any skin conditions like eczema or acne. It’s less sexy, but way more useful.

The smart mirror, once commercially available, could be a commonplace item in the smart home, that is, a house in which everything from chairs to kettles are connected to the internet. In the smart home, many items will be self-automated, and many will be able to perform a multitude of clever new functions to make your life easier. That means that there’s an entirely new breed of laziness on the horizon. Household chores will be a thing of the past. Goodbye lawn-mowing; hello checking on your phone to see if anyone’s currently sat in that comfy chair downstairs. We’d all find a place for these gadgets in our dream sci-fi home.

Perhaps one of the most common sights in any sci-fi film, from Minority Report to Avatar, is the gleaming holographic screen which the user can flick effortlessly through – and the smart mirror resembles this more closely than any technology I’ve seen that isn’t virtual reality. Complete with an embedded camera and face-tracking software, the mirror conducts a live video analysis of your face and then presents you with a run-down of its findings.

Pointing out your skin conditions may sound like a bit of a dick move on the smart mirror’s part. But it means well, as it then offers treatments to help restore a glowing complexion. It can even suggest a change in your diet based on the contents in your fridge. It’s slightly unnerving, but the omniscience of technology is the kind of thing that will probably become routine in the smart home.

The mirror also has some fantastic procrastination opportunities to offer. Once it’s registered your face, it can then apply digital makeup and recommend hairstyles for you to sample. This enables you to try out a look without making any drastic alterations and finding out halfway through that your eyebrows were actually fine before and you loathe every aspect of what you’ve just done. There’s also a setting for trying on beards. I could write my essay, or I could see how I’d look with a handlebar moustache.

Harmless fun, or kind of unsettling? Soon, even our own mirrors could be putting us under harsh scrutiny. Waking up and looking into something that immediately registers the minute physical flaws that no else cares about might improve your skin regime, but it might also start to wear you down after a while. A few too many comments about the dark circles under your eyes and you may be tempted to smash the mirror in (don’t, though, they’re really expensive.)

But the smart mirror’s uses aren’t purely skin-deep. By analysing your skin, the mirrors could prove useful in detecting early signs of disease. The condition of your skin is a useful indicator of your cholesterol level and the blood oxygenation, and as a result some of the mirrors currently being developed by scientists could help diagnose heart disease or diabetes.

A smart mirror could one day save your life. In fact, lots of household items are becoming smart. Burglar alarms can now send you a text in the event of a break-in at home.

Weirdly, it seems many are finding it easy to get overly sentimental towards their smart tech. A story recently emerged of people taking their automated vacuum cleaners with them on holiday, not for the purpose of cleaning up, but simply out of fondness for the helpful little critters. It does make you wonder if we’re emotionally mature enough to handle these new gadgets.