Touring Target's Open House for smart home tech

Welcome to Target's new Open House. Designed to showcase how smart home tech works together, the retail giant's newly opened space in San Francisco is a place to learn about both new and up-and-coming connected gadgets.

The "Open House" is split into three main spaces:

-The Forum offers a space in which to peruse and buy more than 50 retail-ready products.

-The Dream Home showcases the tech in a futuristic setting so you can see how devices will apply to your life.

-The Garage is a space where startups can show off their up-and-coming products.

Here's the Forum -- where tried and tested products live.

In the Forum, you can browse various products, and buy any that appeal to you. If you're not ready to buy, you can "Like" a product so that Target knows you're interested.

Each product is linked to a monitor that walks you through its features. This rubber ducky sits in the bathtub and lets you know how hot the water is.

For the bigger products on the walls, you tap the small circles (like the one on the right) to pull up the large circle of info.

We saw lots of familiar gadgets in the Forum, including the Anova sous vide cooker.

Here's the Cinder -- a cooker that promises the precision of sous vide without the water.

On your way out of the Forum, you can snap a quick selfie. Your picture then pulls up on the screen. So the phrase "It's all about..." ends up meaning you.

A more conceptual space than the Forum, the Dream Home showcases connected tech working together in a futuristic setup.

The Dream Home has three sections: the living room, the bedroom and the kitchen.

Here's the living room. The Dream Home is made of acrylic and I must say, it's beautiful.

The big screen in the living room changes to fit different themes.

You can also see products like the Roomba robotic vacuum at work.

Here's the Dream Home bedroom.

Finally, the Garage lets startups show their tech and get feedback directly from customers. You can head here to see gadgets still being developed -- a glimpse into the future.

Right now, the Garage features 16 products.

The Garage products aren't for sale yet. You can still "Like" the products with interactive displays and give feedback to Target's reps.

One of the products on display in the Garage, the Brilliant Control replaces a standard light switch. You can then use the touchscreen to control your smart home gear. It even works with Amazon's digital assistant Alexa.

Motiv titanium rings check your heart rate and monitor your sleep. They say that "steps" are a thing of the past.

Here's the Motiv app.

This is actually Target's second such installation. The first Target Open House was similarly themed, but both the Garage and the Dream Home are brand-new. Above this Open House is a Target retail branch, and surely Target would love nothing more than for a product to get positive feedback in the Garage, move to the Dream Home and the Forum, and finally earn its way onto the shelves of Target stores.