Nest may be better known as a company that offers the Learning Thermostat, a device that is touted as being a next-generation thermostat. This means easy installation, the ability to adjust the temperature based on your habits, the ability to control the thermostat from outside of the home and more. What some may not realize […]
Temperature is everything when it comes to fermenting beer. Thanks to a surprise heatwave, our last batch of homebrew went from lager to ale to horrible once we could finally taste it. If the BrewBit Model-T reaches its $80,000 Kickstarter goal, Inebriated Innovations could have the solution to hobby brewers’ wort woes come next March. Each black box has dual power outlets as well as two temperature probes, allowing for independent control of heating and cooling. If you’re so inclined, the open-source software and hardware means that you’ll have an easier time hacking it to suit your needs. As of now, the company is just over halfway to its funding target, with 15 days to go. The early backer donations have already been claimed, but you still have a couple of weeks to snag either the single probe ($160) or dual probe ($175) model. We recommend you save the waiting for your suds’ aging period.
Filed under: Household
Source: Kickstarter, BrewBit
Those who already own Google Glass are more likely than most to embrace new technologies like Nest’s thermostat, so it only makes sense that an especially eager adopter would find a way to combine the two. That would be James Rundquist and his new Glass Nest app: Glass owners now just have to announce that they’re coming home (or heading out) to make their Nest units change the climate. More exacting homeowners can fine-tune the temperature, too. While the utility is both unofficial and quite limited at this stage, Rundquist has posted source code that lets anyone expand on the project. If you’re in the rare position of owning both gadgets, we’d suggest giving Glass Nest and its code at least a cursory look.
Filed under: Household, Wearables, Google
Via: Slashgear, SelfScreens
Source: Glass Nest, GitHub
Nest, maker of the award-winning Learning Thermostat, announced today that it’s acquired MyEnergy, an online service that lets you consolidate energy bills and share them with friends and family. Until recently, Nest’s intelligence was limited to the confines of your home. This changed last month when the company launched Energy Services, which lets the thermostat communicate with participating utilities, making it aware of peak pricing and energy crunches. By acquiring MyEnergy, Nest will be able to help its customers manage energy more efficiently through better energy analysis tools. It also gives Nest another way to share information with utilities by tapping into MyEnergy’s user base, which covers 1500 territories in 50 states, including areas without smart meters. Full PR after the break.
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The Nest Learning Thermostat was first announced a couple of years back, sometime in the last quarter of 2011, but this does not mean that the Nest Learning Thermostat’s journey ended back then, as Nest Labs has stepped forward to announce that they will be offering a version 3.5 update to those who own the Nest Learning Thermostat, and this will happen at 9PM Eastern later today, so you might want to set your clocks right and look forward with anticipation to the software update after a particularly hard day at work.
Just what will this upgrade bring to the table? For starters, it will feature a couple of new modes, with Cool to Dry being one of them that will be able to turn on air conditioning in order to reduce humidity. There is also a “sunblock” setting which ought to prevent the thermostat from turning on unnecessarily whenever there is the presence of direct sunlight shining on the Nest’s sensor. With improved fan scheduling options thrown into the mix, folks would be able to better dictate which which particular hours should a fan come on, in addition to the length of time where it needs to remain on. Your Nest Learning Thermostat needs an active Wi-Fi connection in order to pick up the new firmware.
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Nest Labs isn’t counting solely on the allure of discounts from power companies to reel us in this spring. It’s pushing out a 3.5 update to all versions of the Nest Learning Thermostat that should be make it smarter about saving money — even if it means spending a little up front. Along with the utility tie-ins from last week, the upgrade adds a Cool to Dry mode that invokes air conditioning when it’s too humid, raising the energy bill slightly to avoid a costlier mold outbreak. The thermostat also won’t be easily duped by the sun: a new Sunblock setting prevents unnecessary cooling whenever direct sunlight affects the temperature reading. Homeowners who just want more precision, meanwhile, may be happy with both refined fan scheduling (shown above) as well as mobile app updates that introduce alert messages and a more thermostat-like interface. Those with Nest units connected to WiFi should see version 3.5, and hopefully its intended savings, by 9PM Eastern tonight.
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Source: Nest, App Store, Google Play
Chances are if you’ve bought a $250 thermostat you aren’t going to immediately rip it apart to see what makes it tick. Thankfully, there are folks like iFixit that do these sorts of things for us, and they’ve now finally done the honors with Nest’s second-generation unit. As with the original model, there’s an ARM Cortex A8 CPU powering things inside, and iFixit is especially impressed with the ease of access to the replaceable battery and other components; only some adhesive holding the front assembly together proved a tad difficult, which it says could complicate matters if you need to replace the screen or front glass. If you do take it off, though, iFixit notes that the curved glass can also double as a handy magnifying glass. Hit the source link below for the full step-by-step account.
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Source: iFixit
The smart thermostat from Nest just got a little smarter: by teaming up with utility providers, the device can now predict when power will be in high demand and price, and tweak your heating accordingly. More »
As clever as the Nest Learning Thermostat can be, its intelligence only extends as far as the front door: it hasn’t really been aware of how neighbors or the seasons affect our power bills. Nest Labs is improving that connection to the outside world through Nest Energy Services, a new program that links its device to the collective, cloud-based knowledge of utility companies. When owners are with an Energy Services-aware provider, the thermostat will know when to brace for an energy “rush hour” and automatically limit its cooling during peak (read: expensive) periods. It also gives a heads-up for seasonal discounts that fine-tune the temperature schedule over the course of a few weeks. Unlike previous utility-guided approaches, Nest users can always retake control if they genuinely can’t stand the heat.
Only Austin Energy, Green Mountain Energy, Reliant and Southern California Edison have lined up for the synced climate control so far, although Nest is sweetening the deal by expanding utility-based discounts for the thermostat itself. Customers of National Grid can get an immediate $100 rebate through Nest, while those who sign up with Reliant can still receive their thermostats for free with certain plans. The deals are calculated tradeoffs for companies likely to recoup their investment down the road, but they could represent big wins for homeowners still jittery about paying up front to save money later.
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I don’t think anybody really gave their thermostat much thought before Nest unveiled its cool little round Wi-Fi programmable unit. That Nest thermostat really kicked off a market for cool programmable thermostat that you to connect to them using your mobile device or computer. Honeywell has now announced a new Wi-Fi programmable thermostat that aims to compete with the Nest offering.
The thermostat is called the Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat and it uses a design that allows homeowners to customize the thermostat to match their home decor. The bezel of the thermostat appears to be metallic silver. The customization comes in being able to choose from a number of colors and patterns for the background of the LCD screen.
The device has a touchscreen and is able to send mobile and e-mail alerts to notify you if the home is too hot or too cold or if the humidity level gets too high or too low. The thermostat can also send you messages to let you know when it’s time to change the filter or if the power at your house goes out. Alerts are also built-in to notify you if you lose Internet connectivity at home.
The thermostat also has Smart Response technology allowing it to learn how long it takes to heat and cool a home allowing it to maintain the temperature homeowners want all the time. What that means is if the thermostat knows you leave home at 7:30 each day, it can turn off the air conditioning to save you money. The device will also know that it takes three hours to cool your home back down to the comfortable 72° you prefer and if you get home at 6:00, it will begin to cool your home down at 3:00. The thermostat interfaces with a free smartphone app available in the iTunes Store and Google Play. The Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat will be available across the country in May for $249.
[via Honeywell]
Honeywell shows off new Wi-Fi Programmable Thermostat is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
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