Meet Nest, the world’s first Learning Thermostat. The brilliant new product comes from the mind of Tony Fadell, the creator of the Apple iPod. Fadell left Apple in March of 2010, telling the New York Times: “My primary focus will be helping the environment by working with consumer green-tech companies,” he said. “I’m determined to tell my kids and grandkids amazing stories beyond my iPod and iPhone ones.”
Keeping to that promise, Fadell has launched the company Nest, which is backed by Kleiner Perkins, Google Ventures, Insight Ventures, and Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management. He states on his blog that “Heating and cooling make up half your energy bill. Everyone’s thinking green, switching their light bulbs, but that’s a drop in the bucket compared to what your thermostat could save. And when you realize that over 10 million thermostats are sold each year in the U.S. alone…” The Nest thermostat learns from your temperature adjustments, programs itself to keep you comfortable, and guides you to energy savings. You can control the thermostat from anywhere using a smartphone, tablet or laptop, and Nest never stops learning, even as the seasons change. It is available for preorder at Best Buy and Nest.com, and will ship in November
