SmartThermostat
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Ecobee’s smart thermostat now supports Siri voice control
Ecobee is rolling out Siri to its SmartThermostat, giving you Apple-powered control over your home — if you have a HomePod.
Ecobee's eco+ update adds five cost-saving features (updated)
Smart thermostat maker Ecobee has just announced a new free update called eco+ that it claims will save you even more money when you use one of its devices. Ecobee is first rolling out eco+ to its latest product, the SmartThermostat. It'll push the update to its other thermostats -- including the Ecobee 4, Ecobee 3 and Ecobee 3 Lite -- starting in early 2020. To get the update, you'll need to download the latest version of the Ecobee mobile app.
Ecobee unveils its latest Alexa-powered smart thermostat
This morning, Ecobee released details on its latest voice-controlled smart thermostat. Rumors circulated last week when the device appeared briefly on the Lowe's website. Today, Ecobee made it official. Breaking away from its numbered naming scheme -- Ecobee 3, Ecobee 3 Lite and Ecobee 4 -- the company is calling this one, simply, the SmartThermostat. Ecobee says it's "packed with the power you would expect from a smartphone."
Ecobee smart thermostat with glass display pops up on Lowe's website
Ecobee is reportedly working on a new SmartThermostat and SmartSensors. The items haven't been announced yet, but they're listed on the Lowe's website. The specific product pages have been removed, but Zatz Not Funny managed to spot the details before they were scrubbed.
Engadget UK giveaway: Win a smart heating system courtesy of Tado
There's something ever so satisfying about milling around in your PJs at home when you need to wrap up like a mummy to set foot outside. But making repeated trips to the thermostat and fiddling around with the timer isn't quite so enjoyable. This week, we're giving away a package that'll vastly increase your boiler's IQ, thanks to our pals at Tado. In addition to many remote control and scheduling features, Tado's latest smart thermostat helps you manage your home's microclimate, considering factors like air quality, humidity and others. On top of a thermostat starter kit, one lucky winner will also receive two smart radiator valves for creating individual heating zones, and free installation for the whole shebang. To get involved, read the rules, enter via the Rafflecopter widget below, then cross your fingers.
Nest's simplified Thermostat E arrives in the UK for £199
Nest's Thermostat E arrived on the scene a little over a year ago, with its relatively simplistic, subtle design making it appear perhaps less prominent in your living space than other smart thermostats. Now, it's making its way to the UK. Pre-orders are open Tuesday, and the device will cost you £199, £20 less than the Nest Learning Thermostat. It will also be available at retailers from mid-October.
Nest will give away smart thermostats to low-income families
This Earth Day, Nest Labs, Inc. will launch a new initiative called The Power Project that will help get Nest E thermostats in the hands of lower-income Americans. It's a way to ensure that socioeconomic status isn't a bar to accessing the energy savings that Nest's smart thermostats can provide.
Netatmo's radiator valves take cues from its smart thermostat
It seems like it was only yesterday that most smart thermostat makers were content with their simple solutions, leaving the more complicated heating zone control systems to those with prior experience. Actually... that was only yesterday. Just a few short hours after Tado announced the addition of smart radiator valves to its product range, Netatmo has revealed it's doing exactly the same thing. You probably know the score by now: Replacing existing, dumb radiator valves with internet-connected ones allows you to remotely control the temperature of individual rooms.
Tado's new thermostat listens to Siri and Alexa
Tado is no doubt celebrating today after its thermostat was selected above all others for O2's new subscription-based smart home offering. That's by no means the only Tado news from this year's IFA, though, as the company today announced its third-generation smart thermostat. Pretty much nothing has changed from a hardware standpoint, with the main improvements being support for both Apple's HomeKit and Amazon's Echo platforms, allowing you to control your heating by talking to Siri or Alexa, respectively. IFTTT integration remains part of the feature set, and the new generation is also said to have improved energy efficiency algorithms.
British Gas' Boiler IQ will text you before it breaks down
While smart thermostats (supposedly) enable you to intelligently heat your homes and potentially save money, they only replace the dumb controls you had previously. Your boiler, the focal point of all the pipes that run across your home, hasn't really enjoyed the same level of innovation. British Gas, maker of the Hive thermostat and various smart home sensors, believes it can change that with the launch of "Boiler IQ," a new technology that can self-identify issues and alert engineers of a possible fault before things get really bad.
First Utility tempts new energy customers with free smart thermostat
There's a thin line between a flourishing product category and an oversaturated one. The smart thermostat racket is fast approaching critical mass, and energy providers across the UK have begun offering hi-tech heating controls to their customers through in-house products, rebrands and various partnerships. Today, it's First Utility's turn. The energy merchant will now give anyone signing up to its three-year, fixed-rate tariff a free Cosy smart thermostat plus installation. Born from a successful Kickstarter campaign, Cosy has a familiar feature set, with programmable schedules and remote heating and hot water control via smartphone apps. Obviously the cost of the tariff should be your primary concern, but if it makes sense, a free Cosy might be handy if you haven't already got five smart thermostats at home.
Surviving a British winter with a not-so-smart thermostat
Just under a year ago, I had British Gas' Hive smart thermostat bolted on to my home's existing aged central heating system. The easiest thing to do would have been to just review it there and then, but if I'm being honest, it makes more sense to talk about a device like this when you've used it through a rough British winter. Having now endured one in my drafty, freezing cold Victorian house, I think it's the perfect time to start discussing it.
Tado taps energy provider SSE to help push its smart thermostat
Not content with the retail partner Tado drafted in to help flog its smart thermostat last year, the company today announced yet another tie-in, this time with energy provider SSE. Any customer of SSE, or its other business guises Southern Electric, Scottish Hydro and SWALEC, can now buy a second-generation Tado thermostat directly from their energy merchant for £199. Until March 26th (or for the first 300 patrons), installation is free, though it'll set you back £90 after this promotional period. You can also rent one of the clever thermostats for £5 a month if you'd prefer, with installation costing £40 in this scenario. Tado will no doubt shift a couple more units with its new friend's help; but with so many competing products and similar alliances around, we reckon Tado having an official Windows Phone app probably does more for the company than any fresh partnership might.
Netatmo drafts in EDF Energy to help sell its smart thermostat
Brits who want their heating systems to be a little more high-tech are now officially spoilt for choice, with a bunch of smart thermostat options jostling for their attention. The makers of these devices are well aware of the competition they face, which is why most have courted retail partners to add some extra marketing muscle. The latest to establish such a relationship is Netatmo, and though the outfit is a bit late to the game given it only launched its smart thermostat in the UK in September, today it's announced its new high-profile BFF is EDF Energy. Under the partnership, the energy provider will sell and install the thermostat, as well as become the primary port of call for customer support. Unlike npower's tie-up with Nest, EDF is offering this service to anyone, not just its own customer base.
Tado adds physical controls to its second-gen smart thermostat
Smart thermostat maker Tado landed itself a new retail partner in the UK a little over a month ago, but with so much competition in the market, you need to keep on kicking if you want to stay above water. In an effort to do just that, Tado's ready to show off its second-generation connected thermostat, which adds physical controls to the main unit. Previously, the company's hardware has simply been about connecting heating and hot water systems to the internet, thus allowing users to issue commands from web-based and mobile apps. With this next iteration, however, the box that replaces your existing thermostat is no longer just a conduit. The addition of physical controls means you can now check the temperature, adjust it, and cycle through various operational modes on the unit itself -- making it more like, you know, an actual thermostat. You can control hot water from the new thermostat, too, should you have a compatible boiler setup.
npower now offering free Nest thermostats with its new energy tariff
And so the battle for smart thermostat supremacy wages on. No sooner have we welcomed another warrior to the battlefield than energy provider npower's decided to start giving Nest thermostats away for free. As you may remember, Nest struck up a partnership with npower earlier this year, getting a direct line to the latter's customer base in much the same way British Gas and Scottish Power are leveraging their own. Now, to get a Nest installed for free, you need to be an npower customer (duh). Not just any old customer, though, but one signed up to the new "Intelligent Control - October 2016" gas and electricity tariff. Basically, it's a "dual-fuel" plan that promises a fixed price until -- you guessed it -- October 2016. Deciding whether the tariff is right for you should obviously be your primary concern, but know there's a Nest thrown in to sweeten the deal. npower wasn't exactly ripping customers off with its previous offer of a Nest plus installation for £99 (on a different tariff), but hey, free's free.
Netatmo's smart thermostat joins the crowded UK market
Over the short space of a year, Brits have gone from fiddling with mechanical boiler dials to having a glut of smart thermostat options to choose from. Today we can add yet another to that list with the launch of the Netatmo Thermostat in the UK (and a couple other European markets). Better known for its connected weather station, Netatmo's Philippe Starck-designed thermostat boasts many features common to fancy, smart heating systems. You can control temperature using Android, iOS, Windows Phone and web apps, for example, as well as set up heating schedules with military precision.
Ecobee's smart thermostat knows conditions throughout your home
As clever as smart thermostats can be, they usually have only a limited sense of what's going on in your home. They may know that it's cool in the hallway, but not that it's roasting in the living room. Ecobee may have a better, more holistic approach with its third-generation climate controller, the Ecobee 3. Rather than gradually learn what conditions work best over time, it uses remote sensors to determine which rooms are occupied and whether or not they're at the right temperature. The more detectors you add, the more cozy you're likely to be -- you can have up to 32, if you're determined to warm up your mansion.
Tado hopes to put its smart thermostat in more homes with new retail partner
The smart thermostat space is plenty competitive nowadays, and securing an exclusive and high-profile retail partner seems the go-to sales strategy. Over the past few months, we've seen Nest buddy up with npower and Climote rebrand its thermostat for Scottish Power, not to mention British Gas plugs its own product. Now, thermostat-maker Tado's announced it's also found an advocate in new partner HomeServe, a specialist home insurance and repairs provider operating in the UK and other European countries. While teaming up with an energy supplier makes obvious sense, we don't see as clear a sales channel through HomeServe, unless one of its reps is round fixing the boiler. With five and a half million customers across Europe, however, we're sure the company will manage to flog a few Tado thermostats with location-based controls regardless.
Google reportedly testing smart thermostats in 'EnergySense' program
Google called it quits on a smart thermostat two years ago, but it looks like the company couldn't resist circling back to the idea. According to two of The Information's sources and a document reviewed by the outlet, Mountain View has been conducting a trial of Internet-connected thermostats to help users keep tabs on their energy use and adjust accordingly. As part of a project reportedly dubbed EnergySense, the hardware itself seems to be created by a third party such as Ecobee. While Ecobee CEO Stuart Lombard says the firm isn't working with Google, he adds the search giant could still be using its hardware. Page and Co.'s effort isn't intended to compete directly with Nest, according to one of the chatty people familiar with the matter. It's said that Google's goal is to toy with making the energy grid more efficient and build applications and services with the data it collects. Non-employees are apparently being enlisted as "Trusted Testers" to give the service a whirl in St. Louis, Missouri and potentially other areas. There's no scuttlebutt regarding when the pilot might make it to primetime, so a Nest will just have to do for now. [Original image credit: Stephanie Conrad, Flickr]
