The Nest Learning Thermostat: Sure It’s HOT, but Is there a Future there?

By Trish Holder

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, which is the fairest thermostat of them all?”

This question came to me a few days ago as I was searching for reviews on the new Nest™ Learning Thermostat™ – a product I encountered at the AHR Expo in Chicago a few weeks ago. Looks is what kept coming up as a positive for this new thermostat, an innovation developed by Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers, of Apple iPod and iPhone fame.

It is a pretty nifty look, I’ll admit. But it wasn’t the looks that impressed me so much when I sat down the with a company representative at AHR; it was the concept. You see, the Nest is marketed as aself-programming thermostat and to me (someone who has to ask the kids which buttons to push to record a TV show) that was exciting.  Mind you, Ihave programmable thermostats and in terms of ease-of-use have found them to be about as intuitive as a Rubik’s cube. I hate them.  Read more....