Another IFA has come and gone in Berlin, and I've spent my morning with a cup of coffee and the New York Post's roundup of the show's best tech. For those who don't follow these things, IFA is the big European consumer tech show. It's the kind of place where the odd, the practical, and the occasionally ridiculous all share a convention hall floor. I wouldn't have it any other way.

The detail I can verify, and the one the Post confirms outright, is that a device the outlet's own headline calls a smart "skylight" took home Best in Home and Entertainment at the IFA Innovation Awards. Now the full specs haven't landed in my inbox yet, so I won't pretend to know exactly how the thing works or what it's made of. But a gadget calling itself a skylight gets my imagination going, and let me tell you why.

My sister used to live in a basement apartment with one sad window that faced a brick wall. She used to joke she hadn't seen the sun since 1994. Any product that promises to bring something like daylight into a home that doesn't have much of it is aiming at a real problem, not a made-up one. That matters to me. Technology should work for you and solve actual problems, and an award winner in the home category suggests the judges at IFA agree.

What I'll be watching for is the substance behind the clever name. Award trophies have a way of outlasting the products they honor, and after four decades of watching tech revolutions come and go I can tell you the winners are never the ones with the longest spec sheet. They're the ones my neighbors end up actually using five years later. My granddaughter Jess teased me recently that I say "does it actually help you?" about every gadget she shows me, and you know what? I stand by it.

So consider this my official note-to-self: I want a closer look at that skylight before the holidays. If it works the way a winner should, I know at least three people in my family who'd love one. I'll report back when I've seen the full details.