Nest Learning Thermostat: temperature control for the iPhone crowd
If the iPhone were round, wall-mounted and able to control the temperature of your house, it would look something like this.
The Nest Learning Thermostat, a slick, energy-saving thermostat for the era of big data and green everything, was released for the first time last year.
Tuesday, the Palo Alto, California-based Nest company released an updated version of the space-age thermostat that promises to be compatible with 95 percent of low voltage heating and cooling systems.
This isn鈥檛 your grandfather鈥檚 thermostat. Nest takes the notion of a 鈥減rogrammable鈥� heating and cooling system and launches it firmly into the 21st century. The silver and black hockey puck-shaped device functions like most thermostats鈥攜ou turn it up when you鈥檙e cold and down when you鈥檙e hot鈥攂ut it also 鈥渓earns.鈥� By tracking when and by how much you adjust the temperature, the Nest builds a customized, highly optimized schedule for you, according to its makers.
Orwellian? Maybe. But certainly convenient.
And what modern device would be complete without a handsomely designed, flashy online portal that delivers monthly reports with personalized energy-saving tips? Nest has that too.聽
What about an app that lets you control the thermostat from your smartphone? Nest鈥檚 got it.
But are all these bells and whistles really necessary for something as mundane and ubiquitous as a thermostat?
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 think thermostats mattered either,鈥� the company鈥檚 website reads. 鈥淯ntil we found out they control half of your home鈥檚 energy. That鈥檚 more than appliances, lighting, TVs, computers and stereos combined.鈥�
The fancy technology behind the simple, user-friendly facade is designed to reduce your energy consumption and save you money鈥攗p to 20 percent on your heating and cooling bills, according to the makers.
While people may not be lining up out the door days in advance of Nest鈥檚 release just yet, the thermostat looks poised to capture the hearts of the iPhone generation when (or if) they start settling down and buying houses.
The Nest doesn鈥檛 start shipping until October 15, but for $249 you can preorder it at nest.com/store. The thermostat will also be available at Lowe鈥檚, Amazon and, appropriately, the Apple Store.
