Hasta La Gadget!

Over the years, we’ve searched high and low for the craziest tech to sate your gear-craving jones. We call it “the Relentless Pursuit of Awesomeness.” Today, I call your attention to Honeywell and the Prestige, a thermostat so technically advanced that it just slapped your thermostat in the face. For starters, it has a full color, high definition, touch-screen interface that just screams expensive. It’s also programmable, and you can control it wirelessly (using Honeywell’s RedLink technology).

But what the company’s really stoked about is the interview-based set-up technology: Once installed in your wall and hooked into your home heating, cooling, and dehumidifying (is that a word?) systems, the Prestige’s patented interface will program itself after walking you through a series of preference questions. “You like it hot? How’s that? You want maybe some cool air in the bedroom?” It goes almost without saying that it can display outdoor temperature information, allows for different thermal zones, and can be scheduled to turn on and off. Did I mention that this thing speaks three different languages as well? It makes human beings look bad.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Honeywell thinks the Prestige will actually save you money too. According to the product brochure, “On average, heating and cooling costs make up 50% of your utility bill, and we all know that energy costs keep skyrocketing. Because the Prestige Comfort System automatically manages your home’s temperature to maximize savings, you can cut your annual heating and cooling costs by up to 33% – or by $200 or more each year.”

The Palm Pre and iPhone are sucking all of the air out of the smart phone world, but that doesn’t mean everyone else has gone on vacation. At a press event yesterday, AT&T showed off two of their new smart phones, the Samsung Jack – the latest in Samsung’s Blackjack line – and the BlackBerry 8900.

The Jack looks like it’ll be a great Windows Mobile phone for messaging and Microsoft Exchange syncing. It’s comfortable and well designed, feeling quite similar to the BlackBerry Bold or 8900. There’s a 3.2-megapixel camera on the back, and the phone has both 3G and Wi-Fi. The keys are large enough, and feel good under your thumb. The Jack doesn’t have a touch screen, which makes it feel a little faster than other Windows Mobile devices; as I clicked through the menus, it responded well thanks to the 528 Mhz processor. The phone runs Windows Mobile 6.1 right now, but AT&T reps said it will be upgradeable to Windows Mobile 6.5. For $99.99 with a two-year contract, you’re getting a great deal with this phone. That said, I still like the Nokia e71x a little more.

AT&T’s BlackBerry 8900 is very similar to T-Mobile’s model, which we reviewed and loved. The main difference is that the AT&T model doesn’t let you use voice over Wi-Fi, but does come with a subscription to AT&T’s network of Wi-Fi hotspots for data use only. Otherwise, this is a great device – terrific keyboard, sharp screen, and a $199.99 price that’s $100 below the BlackBerry Bold because the 8900 lacks 3G.

Both the Samsung Jack and the BlackBerry 8900 are available on AT&T right now.

Is Sprint already screwing up the Palm Pre launch? Or is this some sort of

attempt to manage high expectations? Sprint CEO Dan Hesse threw a big bucket of water over everyone’s expectations for June 6th at an investor conference today, when he said that Sprint won’t embark on a major advertising campaign for the Pre, and expects to run out of units.

“We don’t intend to advertise it heavily early on because we think we are going to have shortages for a while,” Hesse said according to Reuters. “We won’t be able to keep up with demand for the device in the early period of time.”

Sprint spokesman Mark Elliott added, “We expect this to be a popular device, high in demand and we’re very excited about the launch. There has been a lot of buzz built around this unique device from Palm and Sprint.”

Hesse’s downplaying goes against the signals I’ve been seeing from Sprint and Palm, but Hesse’s the CEO, so he probably knows best.

Sprint has been featuring the Pre in every ad they’ve run for weeks, they have a big Pre banner up on their Web site, and they’re introducing the phone at a wide range of retailers, which I would think would mean they have plenty of units to spread around. Also, this launch is the biggest thing either Sprint or Palm have seen in a while, so you’d think they’d want to have enough Pres for everyone.

We’ll see on June 6th, when the Pre hits the market for $199.99 after rebates.

Good news – well, sort of good news – for heavy data users. Verizon Wireless today lowered their rates for everyone using their broadband network with PCs, whether you’ve got a cellular modem, a MiFi or one of their new netbooks. (MiFi owners actually already got the lower rates.)

For folks on Verizon’s $59.99, 5 GB plan, they’ve cut the data overage fee from $250/GB to a mere $50/GB. That’s still fearsome, and it’ll prevent you from using your cellular line as a primary home connection, but at least it’s a fifth of what it used to be.

Verizon also now offers a $39.99 plan with 250 MB/month and a $100/GB overage fee.

If you want to use your phone as a modem, you can save $10 over having a dedicated PC modem. Verizon’s 5 GB Broadband Connect phone-as-modem plan costs $49.99 with a voice plan, though oddly it gets more expensive for smart phone users – if you have a $29.99 data plan, the modem feature costs $30, bringing your total price up to $59.99.

These high rates still prevent mobile broadband from penetrating to the masses, but that probably makes Verizon happy; wireless carriers are worried about the network overloads that would happen if too many people started streaming Hulu on their PCs over cellular connections at once.