Fancy new thermostat
 

My brother, a silicon valley tech guy who has moved from one cutting edge company to another, joined a new company about a year and a half ago. He wouldn't tell us what he was working on then, just that the company was headed by the inventor/designer of the ipod/iphone and that the new product was an every day item with a twist. This new company's version would save a tremendous amount of energy across the country and revolutionize the market.

So over the summer, I saw him and actually got to see this new product, but still wasn't allowed to tell anyone about it. Now the secret is out, because the head of the company, this ipod guy, went public.

It's a thermostat. And I've seen this thing first hand, and played with it, and can tell you that it's the coolest thermostat I've ever seen. It's visually very striking. Looks a lot like an iPod, except it's totally different looking. Basically just looks like a shiny hockey puck. You can twist it and push on it to control it. That's it. Very simple and elegant looking. No crazy system of switches and buttons like the programmable thermostat I own now. You can access it remotely from any computer or your smart phone to program it. I love this idea, because there have been many times that I've gone on vacation in the summer time, turned off the AC for the two weeks I was gone, and wished I could turn it back on several hours before I expected to come back so the house would be cool upon my return.

It's supposed to learn your behavior and respond based on how you interact with it. It appears to be turned off when you aren't using it, but when you walk up to it, it senses your proximity and lights up for you. If it's located in a hallway, that might get annoying, lighting up every time you walk by, so it somehow senses whether you are just walking by or are walking up to it on purpose.

Basically it's just a sexy looking new programmable web accessible thermostat. There are others out there, but they look like hell and are very complicated to use and program. This is extremely easy to use.

No idea what it will cost when it reaches market or if I'll buy one. I'm stingy. But maybe I will.

pretty cool.

Does it have that feature where when person A walks into the room it adjusts itself to A's preferences but when another person who outranks A comes in it defers to that person's prefs?

Gates had something like that in one of his mansions IIRC, it would change the music or the digital art display based on who was in the room and their preferences and social ranking.

the cellar has that. when I read a post by you it turns blue, but red when it's a lesser being. or maybe it's because it's cold enough to drink.....

I think it actually does. If it learns that when it gets cranked up to 85 in the winter, and about 15 minutes later it gets turned back down to 62 again, it's gonna start doing that automatically.

I should ask my brother, because they actually put a lot of thought into that.

So when you first install it, does that mean you have to take a week or two to train it, where you have to remember to turn it down every time you leave the house so it can figure out your schedule?

The whole thermostat is a big dial/push button. And you can use the dial like the dial on an older iPod to run through menus and then push the face to select what you want. So you can program it when you first install it. Or you can let it learn over time. Or you can do a little of both. Plus it has a motion detector, so if the house is unoccupied for a while it can adjust the temperature.

And I recently found out it will cost $250. Ouch. But for a wifi enabled programmable thermostat, that's not so outrageous. Plus, it's pretty and easy to use.

Do you need one in each room, or can you link other motion detectors to it?

Probably neither. But I'm sure you can set the motion detector interval and/or turn it off.

Glatt, I'm sorry to say I don't think it's going to take off at that price.

I generally only interact with my thermostat twice a year, when we switch on the heat in the fall, and when we turn on the AC in the summer. It's a pain in the ass to program, but I only do it twice a year.

If this was priced just a little higher than other programmable thermostats, it might make it, but not at this price.

It's interesting what some people won't pay more for. I won't pay more than $20 for a bottle of wine, or $100 for a cell phone. I can see this getting thrown in for a new construction, but I wouldn't go out and buy it to replace a thermostat that is functioning.

It is interesting. If this thermostat can save 5% off your heating/cooling bill, it will pay for itself in a few years. And it probably can do that. (YMMV and all that) It depends on what you have now, how you live now, and what you are paying for heating and cooling.

I wonder if this will come down in price the way all other portable consumer electronics come down in price. I don't see how it can be improved each year with a new model the way everything else can. It's not like you can go from 3G to 4G or fit more songs on it. It controls the temperature. Period. It's $250 now. Will it be $129 in three years?

Part of the package is that you get an account with this company so you can access it through the web. They aren't going to web host your home thermostat forever for free if this becomes a bargain basement item. That actually makes me wonder how they are going to handle the accounts. TIVO charges a small monthly fee after you buy their box. I wonder if these guys will too?

Yes, it will, because it will be bootlegged and made in China, unfortunatley.

That is definitely a cool aspect. He should try to bundle in with the new ADT packages that allow you all kinds of off-site features.

Oops, ADT Pulse let's you do that already.

I didn't spend a lot of time at that website, but on the front page they offer a coupon for $250 off, so it must cost significantly more than this thermostat.