Can the father of the iPod make saving energy sexy?
Tony Fadell is the man who took the idea of the iPod to Steve Jobs, spawning a renaissance at the company and then overseeing successive products, including the first iPhones. He officially left the company last year (after a stint in a consulting role) to pursue green technologies, and today he’s ready with his first introduction.
Dubbed Nest Labs, his post-Apple debut is a home thermostat. Yes, a thermostat."
I’ve sent them a note to see if there’s a [Local, over Wifi] API available to talk to this thing for Home Automation integration. I’d need the API so I can hook it [through Vera] to the Alarm system for “real” presence detection (it will idle out if no-one walks by it often enough) - it’s not clear if they have an API, but they’re hiring testing engineers for an API, so one would guess they do…
I’ve read about what Nest does, but I’m still kinda confused as to how it is an improvement over the Trane thermostat outside of design and looks. I’m a huge Apple products fan, and I love good design when I see it, but having the thermostat learn our preferences rather than just telling it our preferences via MiOS seems like it might be a step backwards, no? If this thing can do one better than the typical z-wave thermostat, I’m all for it! Guess I am missing something when I read about this article though.
@peraevum,
I like autonomous devices - ones that [basically] operate themselves with periodic intervention from the Home Automation controller.
The Trane’s do a reasonable job of this, if you enable the traditional Schedule mode, but once I’ve set that up there’s little likelihood I’ll “tweak” it over time (esp as I usually have to manually sync the schedule between the two that I have) since it’s somewhat arduous.
So, if they provide the API, then I’ll roll the dice in order to try and get the following, in order to better the Trane’s:
a) Better UI, one that my Mrs is likely to use and/or set
b) WiFi, as part of my “use Z-Wave for Lights and Power management only” model I’ve heading towards
c) More Automatic, and adaptive, to our non-obvious living schedule
I want the API so it integrates with my HA Controller, for manual adjustments (etc), but also so I can influence it’s decisions on Home/Away modes using input from my Alarm System (multiple motion sensors, in the right rooms, along with a general Home/Away presence based upon Arming modes)
So whilst I could likely put some of this logic into Vera, at some point in the future, I could have it now, albeit at a premium $$ (and the experimentation risk
I ordered two immediately and glad I did since they appear to be sold out now through early 2012.
Vera had a great potential, but for me, it feels like a science experiment or beta project. I always have to come back on the forum trying to tweak this or that, or fix a problem that really shouldn’t be there. Being a UI designer, I think the Vera UI is also horribly ugly and confusing. It’s also slow and an ugly beige box.
I’m willing to pay a premium for things that just work and look great. Nest appears to be both and was created from a proven team.
