We've reported on iRobot's Roombas before. But, today the 560 Roomba arrives on Amazon. The sleek black and silver model has a number of enhanced features: new extension brushes, better filters, increased suction power.

The 560 Roomba also boasts "anti-tangle technology." Whoa! that's a new term I've just added to my "writer's block" notebook. Anti-tangle technology is in fact a very fancy way of explaining that this new Roomba can tell when it runs into a cord or carpet fringe -- it backs up in the opposite direction to move around and away from the hazard.

Like previous models, 560 Roomba uses built-in cliff sensors to avoid stairs and other treacherous drop-offs. There's also the added benefit of its Virtual Wall Lighthouse system (two included with the unit), which allows the user to set up invisible barriers with infrared beams. The unit detects the beam and will not cross it. Good Roomba.