The Nest. A New Smart, Savvy, Sensing, Stylish Thermostat For The Home.

This modern looking, smart thermostat, the Nest, has been getting a lot of coverage on design blogs and in the news recently - and with good reason. In addition to being great looking, the technologically advanced thermostat saves energy, learns from your behavoir and is wi-fi connected so you can even program it from a downloadable mobile app when away from home.



NEST PROGRAMS ITSELF AND SAVES ENERGY
Nest is the first thermostat that learns from you. Stay comfortable when you’re home, save energy when you’re away.


Builds a schedule: Nest programs itself in about a week. It creates a personalized schedule based on the temperature changes you’ve made. This flexible schedule adapts to your changing life.


The Leaf: The Nest Leaf appears when you set a temperature that saves you energy–and money. The Leaf guides you in the right direction and helps you be energy-efficient.


Auto-Away: About two hours after you’ve left the house, Nest will sense you’ve gone and adjust the temperature to avoid heating or cooling an empty home.


Energy History: Nest shows you how much energy you’ve used and if your temperature adjustments, Auto-Away or the weather affected your energy use most.

NEST SENSES AND LEARNS FROM YOU
Nest SenseTM is a combination of sensors and algorithms that help Nest understand what’s happening around it. It’s all built in.



Activity sensors: Nest's activity sensors have a 150° wide-angle view so Nest knows when to set itself to Auto-Away.


Temperature sensors: Three temperature sensors track your home's heating and cooling. A one-degree difference can reduce energy use up to 5%, so precision is important.

Weather aware: Nest uses its Wi-Fi connection to keep an eye on current weather conditions and forecasts so it can understand how the outside temperature affects your energy use.

Senses your approach: Walk up to Nest and it'll light up, but not too brightly. Light sensors automatically set Nest's brightness so it won't blind you at night.

NEST KEEPS YOU CONNECTED


Real-time control: Control your home’s temperature from your laptop, smartphone or tablet. Make adjustments in real-time, miles from home.

Your Nest Account: Log in online or download the Nest Mobile app to your smartphone. You'll be able to see and adjust your schedule, change the temperature and check weather.

Automatic updates: Software updates will load automatically as long as Nest is connected to your Wi-Fi.

Secure, private & reliable: Nest is completely secure and uses public key cryptography. Its security features include HTTPS, SSL and 128-bit encryption.

NEST IS SIMPLE TO USE
Since Nest programs itself, your job is easy.



Just turn the ring: Turn the ring to your preferred temperature. Nest will learn what you like and build a personalized schedule.

Save energy all year: Teach Nest good habits in the first week and it'll keep them up all year long. Just turn Nest down at night or when you leave the house and don't turn the temperature up too high or down too low. After a week, Nest will remember you.

Basic Specs:
• The brushed stainless steel ring around the exterior reflects any surface so the Nest blends in with any wall style or color.

• A bright LCD screen has a 320 dpi display in a 1.75" diameter

• Built-in rechargeable Lithium ion battery

• The Nest measures 1.44" deep and 3.20" in diameter




Learn more here

New Sleek Cylindrical Media Speaker Stand MS430 For Sony Ericsson Phones.

The Sony Ericsson Media Speaker Stand MS430 is so small you might just miss it. But don't. The stylized and sleek portable speaker stand is little enough to fit in your pocket, but produces sound big enough to please.





Made of aluminum, the cylindrical MS430 has no cords. No charger. Just put in the three included AAA batteries. Plug your phone into its 3.5mm connector. And let the MS430 entertain you. Watch movies, videos or listen to music anywhere your heart desires.



Size:
110.25 x 31.0mm
4.3 x 1.2 inches

Not yet available in the online Sony store, you can buy it from Expansys at the link below:
Buy it here.

To see the list of compatible phones, go here.

The Wallee - A Colorful, Cool & Convenient Wall Mount Case For The Apple iPad.

The Wallee, designed in Melbourne, Australia, is a seamless, hard case and wall mounting system made especially for the iPad. Available in five cool colors, the nicely designed, low profile case allows you to easily mount your iPad horizontally or vertically just about anywhere that viewing it hands-free is convenient.



Keep it from getting wet while you're in the tub, follow along a recipe while you're cooking in the kitchen, mount it to the dash in your car or put above your desk to keep it clutter free.







The Wallee is comprised of two main parts; the hard shell case and the wall mounts.


When not docked, The Wallee does double duty acting as a durable, comfortable and sleek protective case for your iPad.




All of the physical buttons are left easily accessible and integrated thumb tabs means your iPad can be removed from the case quickly and easily.

The patented wall plate with integrated locking 'X' mechanism means your iPad mounts confidently to any surface, comfortable in both landscape and portrait orientations.



A simple turn and click & your iPad is locked into position, another turn and click and it is released together with its hard protective shell.

Wall plates can be purchased individually to provide mounting options wherever they are needed, whether around the house or at the office.

Dimensions:
Shell 9.75" w x 7.6" l x 0.75" d
Mount 2.75" dia x 0.70" d

$49.95 USD
Buy it here

Took Long Enough! A High Tech Lite Brite From Bandai: Luminodot

The japanese company Bandai has come out with a high tech HD led version of Hasbro's Lite Brite. The toy that lets you add clear colored pegs to a light box backing to create glowing pictures.


above: the original Lite Brite toy

Lite brite was one of my favorite toys as a kid and believe it or not, I still have my original. However, this new one by Bandai, the Luminodot, is sorely tempting me to purchase it. With 1600 colored pegs and a sleek screen, it retails for $179.00 USD.

Like the original, you can use templates to place on the light box under the perforated screen to follow as a guide or randomly create your own designs.






They have Disney licensed templates too:



a few examples of some of their downloadable templates.


They have several templates to choose from. see their downloadable templates here.

Features (as described by audio cubes):
Bandai's Luminodot is the Lite-Brite we always knew we wanted. This 70 by 50 pixelated board is supported by a bright LED backlight. With 1600 bulbs in 12 different colors, each dot is important to finish the master piece. Any type of images can be projected onto the Luminodot, from a simple 2D picture to perspective art works. Featuring a private software that helps the user to create and preview the image. Luminodot is designed with a removable front panel, which allows the user to place the printed image underneath. A one-of-a-kind interior decoration. Available only from Japan.

Specs:
Power: AC adapter
Accessories
1600 color bulbs

In Japan, buy it here.

In the US, buy it here.

Funky Find Of The Week: Lantic's Pure Gold Remote Control

This new remote control by Lantic Systems is made of pure gold. That's right, gold.
I dare you to call it 'the clicker'.

source-Lantic Systems' site:
Lantic Systems delivers the most expensive remote control in the world.
The Danish hi-tech manufacturer Lantic Systems, which is specialized in developing high end integrated entertainment systems, has designed a remote control in pure gold.

It is probably the world’s most expensive remote control on the market – at a price in excess of USD 30.000,- which compared to the standard remote control retailing from USD 1050,-

The new remote control – Gold RC1 – was presented Nov. 13th at the METS 2007 Exhibition in Amsterdam, Holland – the worlds biggest marine equipment trade show.

Lantic Systems is ready to deliver Gold RC1 from December 2007 and the first orders have already been received.

Modeled after the original RC1 from Lantic Systems, the Gold RC1 offers the same sleek form factor and cool metallic finish and ease of use that have made the RC1 one of the hottest remote controls on the market today.

The Gold RC1 is as well as in design as in function the centre of the Lantic Entertainment system which offers control over TV/video/dvd, music/CD, internet, e-mail, CCTV, burglary alarm, lights, curtains, air-conditioning and surveillance of navigation systems etc.

This is a unique technology which matches the other integrated state-of-the-art management and entertainment systems, which Lantic Systems is specialized in developing for the mega yachts and the exclusive homes worldwide.

To contact:

Lantic Systems A/S
Nordlandsvej 90
8240 Risskov
Denmark
E-mail: info@lantic-systems.com
Telephone: +45 8743 9090
Fax: +45 8743 9099
For more information, click here.