Thermostats... the furthest thing from sexy, right? Leave it to iPod creators to change that. Former Apple developers Tony Fedell and Matt Rogers came up with the Nest, the energy-saving thermostat that programs itself with a little help from you.
Here's how it works: For seven days, handle Nest like a regular thermostat. Change the temperature when you leave for work, go to bed, etc., and it will learn your patterns. If your schedule changes, no big deal. As long as you adjust the temperature, it will refine its schedule based on yours.
To encourage you to reduce your energy-consumption, the engineers have integrated a reward element into the device - a small green leaf lights up to signal you're saving energy. So, if you usually keep the AC at 72, the leaf will illuminate when you turn the dial up to 73.
That one degree can mean a lot both for our environment and your pockets. As Nest says, your thermostat controls half your energy bill, and the difference of a couple degrees can make a big difference on your statement.
Nest contains internal features that help shave dollars off your bill as well. Using its Auto-Away feature, Nest can detect activity in a house. If it thinks you're not around, it will kick into energy-saving mode. (If it's wrong and you are at home, you can politely correct it.)
You can adjust the temperature remotely using the iPhone app and connect it to your Wifi to control it from a device at home. All it takes is one week of giving Nest the attention it deserves - treating it like a normal thermostat - and from then on, it will do the thinking for you.