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Xaqtly
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2012-03-31, 15:02

I bought a Nest thermostat! In case people don't know who Nest is, it was created by iPod and iPhone designer/creator Tony Fadell after he left Apple. So what? Well Fadell did exactly what Apple does - he identified a market that desperately needed an overhaul, and created a solution. Exactly like both the iPod and the iPhone. Nest is basically what a thermostat would be if Apple designed one. It's beautiful, it's simple, it's massively functional, and it changes how you think about thermostats.

Why are thermostats so laborious to use? You can program one to have set temp changes across a week, but it involves going through a badly designed interface to set static times for each day of the week. You know what would be great? If you could just change your thermostat to the temp you want it, whenever you want it, and it would simply remember it and program itself. If your thermostat knew what day of the week it is, whether it's the weekend or not, knew if you were in the house or not, what the outside weather is like etc., and just took care of it for you. If you could check up on it via an iPhone app or through a web site, and make changes remotely.

Enter Nest. As stupid as it is to get excited about a thermostat, it's no less stupid than getting excited about the original iPod after getting your hands on one and realizing what a game changing device it was. Like Jobs and Ive, Fadell understands that simplicity is at the heart of a successful user interface, and Nest delivers in spades. It's simple to install, it's simple to set up, it's simple to use. At the same time, the interface is beautiful - absolutely Apple-like in its genius. They really thought about every aspect of this thing and it shows.

It even comes with a little screwdriver unit with 4 magnetic tips, perfect both for removing your existing thermostat and installing the Nest. It's so cool I'm going to keep it in my toolbox and keep using it. It's the sort of thing Nest could make money from if they sold it by itself. It's that "way above and beyond" attention to detail that has always been a part of Apple culture. Here are some pics of the install, which only took me maybe 30 mins.







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