It may be called the “Consumer” Electronics Show, but we always discover plenty of items that are introduced at the annual “CES” in Las Vegas each January that can be helpful also to a small business or in the home office of an independent contractor.

We’ll be sharing more items throughout the week, but here’s an early example:

The Roost Smart Battery packages a lithium battery and wifi into what looks like a regular 9 volt battery. But it’s not just any battery. It’s designed to be a replacement battery for your existing smoke or carbon monoxide detector — but includes three very  smart features.

First smart feature: The battery life lasts more than 5 years.

Second smart feature: It comes with a smartphone app (iOS and Android) that uses the battery’s built in wifi (which is the third and most incredible smart feature) to notify you when the smoke alarm activates, no matter where you are. The app is also notified near the end of the battery’s life so you won’t have a client conference call ever interrupted again by a chirping conventional fire alarm.

If you think that’s smart, just wait until you see some more gizmos from CES 2015.