But since that clearly isn’t happening any time soon, we’re happy to see that this year’s show brings some creative options for recharging on the go.

And, really, what better time to show off your goods than when a bunch of frazzled reporters and producers are scrambling to find power outlets? (We’re writing this from a well-powered press room right now, though just a couple hours ago, we were in separate Vegas casinos, each trying to charge our laptops without attracting hotel security.)

Fortunately, electronics makers are plugged in to our needs. (Get it?!)

While there are lots of options for those willing to tote around an external battery, one of the more intriguing new entries adds charging capability to something we are already carrying — a backpack. Made by RFA, the Powerbag series backpack carries along several hours’ worth of battery life, and the ability to charge up to four devices at once, using micro-USB, mini-USB, full-size USB and Apple’s 30-pin dock connector.

The bags are pretty well padded, too, and have water-resistant bottoms. The Powerbags aren’t cheap — they range from $139.99 to $249.99 — but they do look handy, and several models are already on the market.

Unfortunately, the backpacks don’t charge laptops. But for average consumers, as opposed to reporters filing stories, the included mobile chargers are probably much more useful.

SolarKindle from Solar Focus makes us think of a day at the beach, rather than five days at CES. But it packs two functions that could be useful into one Kindle case. The outside of the case has solar panels that power both an arm light on top of the Kindle screen and an extra battery that lives in the back of the case.

Because it uses comparatively little battery and lasts weeks at a time, the Kindle is a logical device for solar charging. Even hardcore geeks get at least one day of sun, right? However, the same logic suggests that Kindle owners can probably also find time to charge up, every month or so.

To that end, the Solar Focus device doesn’t work with the new Kindle Fire — as the company points out, the tablet has a backlit screen and doesn’t use E-ink, so the arm light isn’t needed — but it does work with a standard Kindle and Kindle Touch.

Still, the Solar Touch could make the Kindle a near-perfect choice for those asked to choose the one gadget they would want on a desert island.

So if you need to fire up your non-Kindle Fire, the SolarKindle launches midmonth, and will cost $79.99.

Lastly, if you really have run out of battery power options, and you’re desperate to write something on your iPad, Targus has partnered with iDevices to create a writing pen that transcribes what you write on plain paper directly to your iPad, using Bluetooth capabilities. Even better is that the pen, called the iNotebook, does have some memory built in and allows you to store your notes if your iPad is dead. Once it’s up and running again, the notes will automatically transfer over. A little bit more than a ballpoint pen, this device is going to cost $149.99.

Of course, plain old pen and paper also work without a battery and cost just a couple bucks. Heck, we each got a free pen and notepad with our Vegas hotel rooms. Although, don’t get us started on what those cost.

Lauren Goode

* * *

Nokia and Samsung are locked in a fierce battle.

No, not the race for the title of world’s largest cellphone maker, though that’s interesting, too. The pair are neck and neck in the battle for worst-kept secret in Vegas.

We’re not sure which unannounced announcement has been more clearly preannounced: Nokia’s LTE Windows Phone for AT&T, or the fact that Samsung’s 5-inch Galaxy Note tabletphone is also coming to AT&T.

Nokia isn’t commenting, but people familiar with the matter have been busy talking up the device, most recently to the New York Times. Coding in AT&T’s Web site also reveals a Nokia device is coming, we’re told.

Meanwhile, Samsung’s Note is also officially yet to be announced. But there are signs for it all over Vegas. Plus, accessory maker Anymode, closely tied to Samsung, announced a line of accessories for the device (an announcement that was also retracted, as if such a thing were possible.)

While Samsung is probably the leakiest of the two, Nokia’s product is a whole lot more important to that company than the Galaxy Note is to Samsung’s future.

For Nokia, the new AT&T device will be its flagship and the centerpiece of the company’s effort to get back into the U.S. smartphone game.

In Samsung’s case, the Galaxy Note just ensures that it has every screen size from 3 inches to 10 inches covered with an Android device of some shape. Dell didn’t find much love for its 5-inch Streak, but we’ll see if a stylus and some other features allow it to carve out a niche.

Ina Fried

* * *

We were going to do a whole big feature story on how smartphones were killing the market for GPS devices, MP3 players and point-and-shoot cameras, but NPD’s holiday sales figures say it all.

MP3 players are down 20.5 percent, point-and-shoot cameras down 20.8 percent and GPS units down 32.6 percent.

The only thing missing are some quotes. So here you go:

“Yup,” said the analyst.

“But just wait,” said the point-and-shoot camera maker. “Our new camera adds Wi-Fi.”

“We’re focusing on value added services,” said the GPS maker, while also asking bystanders for loose change.

“I’m sorry, I was listening to music on my phone,” said the MP3 maker.

Ina Fried

* * *

Our team is on the ground in Vegas looking for the really interesting stuff, the big trends and the fun things that make the long lines, long days and long speeches worth it. Check out the links below for all the latest from the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show.

MORE CES NEWS:

• Complete coverage
• HP’s Former CTO: Ultrabooks Are Nothing New, webOS Still Has Life Yet
• Walt Shows Off CES Gadgets for Fox Business News (Video)
• What Kind of Web Video Plans Does Sony Have? (Video)
• Fujitsu Seeking Way Into Crowded U.S. Smartphone Market
• Why Rhapsody Is (Probably) Bigger Than Spotify — In the U.S.
• Microsoft Beefing Up CeBit Presence Even as It Pulls Back on CES
• Inside the CES Lost & Found
• FCC Chairman Has New Tablet, but Same Script: More Spectrum!
• Verizon Wireless: We Want to Connect Five Devices for Every Subscriber
• Ultrabooks From HP and Lenovo That Are (Kinda, Sorta) Different
• Walt and Katie Take a Tour of CES (Video)
• Schmidt-Storm Alert: The Google Chairman Didn’t Like Your Question
• T-Mobile Expands Bobsled Messaging Service
• Intel Shows Just How It Plans to Get Into Phones (Video)
• Motorola CEO: We’re Going to Release Fewer Phones This Year
• Kinect Helps Keep Aging Xbox at the Top of Its Game
• More From T-Mobile CEO: On Pricing, LTE and That Ever-Elusive iPhone
• Exclusive: New Boss Acknowledges Windows Phone Still Has “Awareness Problem”
• And You Thought Jawbone UP Was Going to Miss the CES Party!
• Interview: T-Mobile CEO Says No Second AT&T Deal Out There
• Grover Is at CES and I Am Missing It
• BlueStacks Bringing Android Apps to Windows 8
• Why the Future of TV Won’t Be Here Soon
• Nvidia’s Tegra 3 Tries to Save Battery in All Sorts of Different Ways
• Dynamic Dual Coverage: Ballmer’s Last Act in Vegas and the BCS Championship in 3-D
• Microsoft Phoning In Its Last CES Keynote
• Myspace — Yes, Myspace — Says It’s Going to Sell You Web TV
• Samsung Unveils “Super” 55-Inch OLED TV
• Nokia Unveils That LTE Windows Phone It’s Been Dying to Share
• Steve Ballmer Gives Ralph De La Vega a Very … Vigorous Greeting (Video)
• Interview: AT&T’s De La Vega on LTE, Tablets and Life After T-Mobile
• AT&T’s De La Vega: Shared Data Plans Still in the Works
• LG: 55-Inch Glasses-Free 3-D Screen Is on the Way
• LG Pushes 4G Smartphone Through Verizon: The LG Spectrum
• Live: AT&T’s Vegas Act Stars LTE and, Making Her Return to the Stage, Nokia
• CES Notebook: The Constant Search for Power and Vegas’ Worst-kept Secret
• Belkin Bringing Mobile TV to Lots of Cellphones, Will Anyone Tune In?
• Acer Introduces “World’s Thinnest” Ultrabook and a “Me-Too” Cloud Service
• There Better Be Some Cool Stuff at CES, Because CE Holiday Sales Data Bytes!
• CES 2012: Snooki and Bieber Are In, Gaga Is Out!
• Coming to a Smartphone Near You: Gorilla Glass 2
• RIM Hopes Next PlayBook OS Will Impress at CES
• Ultrabooks, the Ultra-Fancy New Name for Laptops
• At CES, Expect More Gadgets Telling You to Get Off the Couch
• Intel to Detail Its Phone Plans at CES Next Month
• Microsoft Pulling Out of CES After Upcoming Show
• Intel to Detail Its Phone Plans at CES Next Month
• Dell Will Drop the Flashy Vegas Act for CES This Year
• Ultrabook Conga Line Preps for CES 2012

If this is the first you’ve heard the term, it refers to Windows PCs that resemble the MacBook Air — computers that are thin and light, use a flash drive rather than a traditional hard drive and can boot up rather quickly.

Intel plans to make sure that if you haven’t heard of Ultrabooks, you soon will. The chipmaker, which has trademarked the name, is pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into both the manufacturing and the marketing of Ultrabooks.

Well, I have another word for them. I call them laptops.

The fact of the matter is this is just the direction that laptops are going. They are getting thinner and lighter, faster and sleeker, and booting up quicker than they did before. And that DVD drive, it’s going away to save money and weight.

This isn’t a revolution, but rather the continued evolution of a product that once had floppy drives and modem ports.

Some companies’ devices have already hit the market, while others, including Dell, are expected to introduce models at next week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

In many ways, the Ultrabooks are the PCs belated answer to the MacBook Air.

While netbooks offered light computers at a low cost, their cramped keyboards and small displays made them no match for the Air. Traditional laptops, meanwhile, were slow and bulky and often delivered poor battery life.

The MacBook Air has seen its sales skyrocket while the overall PC market has gained just 2 percent worldwide. According to Gartner, MacBook Air sales from October 2010 to September 2011 were five times those from a year earlier as the product moved from a high-end niche to the mainstream of Apple’s laptop lineup. That laptop alone makes up nearly 2 percent of global PC sales.

It has also picked up many of the aspects that have made the iPad a hit, including easy access to apps, multitouch gestures and the ability to nearly instantly resume from sleep.

While once it was an oddity, the MacBook Air is no longer a separate category of Mac. In fact, many outsiders think it will someday soon be the only laptop Apple makes.

PCs will probably retain a bit more diversity. People like things bigger and smaller, cheaper and pricier. Plus, the Ultrabook doesn’t meet all needs. Those with big storage needs will likely want a bigger hard drive, for example, since flash drives get prohibitively expensive over 256 gigabytes.

That’s not to say there isn’t value in what Intel is doing. First of all, it will provide a badly needed marketing boost to the PC industry, which has suffered mightily in the prestige department.

Also, Intel has a history of speeding up transitions in the computing market. Today, it is almost impossible to find a PC that doesn’t have Wi-Fi built in. But that wasn’t the case before Intel started its massive marketing push behind Centrino — introducing the notion of Wi-Fi to the masses and providing a lift to computers that packed the technology inside.

The company has big plans for the segment; it has invested $300 million in a fund to help lower the cost of the components that go into making the thin laptops, and that is just the start.

It plans ads of its own and to help fund marketing campaigns with individual PC makers. Intel isn’t saying just yet how much it will spend on the Ultrabook endeavor, but it is believed to be far more than the company spent on Centrino. Intel may well put a dollar figure to all those hundreds of millions when it talks about its Ultrabook plans at a press conference at next week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

For all its efforts, Intel has predicted that, come December, Ultrabooks will make up 40 percent of all consumer laptops sold. Others are less bullish about the segment.

In a forecast released on Wednesday, NPD DisplaySearch predicts Ultrabooks will make up just 8 percent of all laptops sold next year and 14 percent of total notebook shipments in 2013.

While there will be much debate over how many Ultrabooks will be sold, I have a different set of questions.

I have no doubt the PC industry will reach this level at some point. The question for me is whether the arrival of Ultrabooks helps the Windows PC win back share against Apple or grow the PC market as a whole or offer the industry higher profit margins.

Unless the answer to one of those question is yes, then the Ultrabooks will have transformed the laptop without improving life for those that make the products.

MORE CES NEWS:

• Complete coverage
• HP’s Former CTO: Ultrabooks Are Nothing New, webOS Still Has Life Yet
• Walt Shows Off CES Gadgets for Fox Business News (Video)
• What Kind of Web Video Plans Does Sony Have? (Video)
• Fujitsu Seeking Way Into Crowded U.S. Smartphone Market
• Why Rhapsody Is (Probably) Bigger Than Spotify — In the U.S.
• Microsoft Beefing Up CeBit Presence Even as It Pulls Back on CES
• Inside the CES Lost & Found
• FCC Chairman Has New Tablet, but Same Script: More Spectrum!
• Verizon Wireless: We Want to Connect Five Devices for Every Subscriber
• Ultrabooks From HP and Lenovo That Are (Kinda, Sorta) Different
• Walt and Katie Take a Tour of CES (Video)
• Schmidt-Storm Alert: The Google Chairman Didn’t Like Your Question
• T-Mobile Expands Bobsled Messaging Service
• Intel Shows Just How It Plans to Get Into Phones (Video)
• Motorola CEO: We’re Going to Release Fewer Phones This Year
• Kinect Helps Keep Aging Xbox at the Top of Its Game
• More From T-Mobile CEO: On Pricing, LTE and That Ever-Elusive iPhone
• Exclusive: New Boss Acknowledges Windows Phone Still Has “Awareness Problem”
• And You Thought Jawbone UP Was Going to Miss the CES Party!
• Interview: T-Mobile CEO Says No Second AT&T Deal Out There
• Grover Is at CES and I Am Missing It
• BlueStacks Bringing Android Apps to Windows 8
• Why the Future of TV Won’t Be Here Soon
• Nvidia’s Tegra 3 Tries to Save Battery in All Sorts of Different Ways
• Dynamic Dual Coverage: Ballmer’s Last Act in Vegas and the BCS Championship in 3-D
• Microsoft Phoning In Its Last CES Keynote
• Myspace — Yes, Myspace — Says It’s Going to Sell You Web TV
• Samsung Unveils “Super” 55-Inch OLED TV
• Nokia Unveils That LTE Windows Phone It’s Been Dying to Share
• Steve Ballmer Gives Ralph De La Vega a Very … Vigorous Greeting (Video)
• Interview: AT&T’s De La Vega on LTE, Tablets and Life After T-Mobile
• AT&T’s De La Vega: Shared Data Plans Still in the Works
• LG: 55-Inch Glasses-Free 3-D Screen Is on the Way
• LG Pushes 4G Smartphone Through Verizon: The LG Spectrum
• Live: AT&T’s Vegas Act Stars LTE and, Making Her Return to the Stage, Nokia
• CES Notebook: The Constant Search for Power and Vegas’ Worst-kept Secret
• Belkin Bringing Mobile TV to Lots of Cellphones, Will Anyone Tune In?
• Acer Introduces “World’s Thinnest” Ultrabook and a “Me-Too” Cloud Service
• There Better Be Some Cool Stuff at CES, Because CE Holiday Sales Data Bytes!
• CES 2012: Snooki and Bieber Are In, Gaga Is Out!
• Coming to a Smartphone Near You: Gorilla Glass 2
• RIM Hopes Next PlayBook OS Will Impress at CES
• Ultrabooks, the Ultra-Fancy New Name for Laptops
• At CES, Expect More Gadgets Telling You to Get Off the Couch
• Intel to Detail Its Phone Plans at CES Next Month
• Microsoft Pulling Out of CES After Upcoming Show
• Intel to Detail Its Phone Plans at CES Next Month
• Dell Will Drop the Flashy Vegas Act for CES This Year
• Ultrabook Conga Line Preps for CES 2012

Republic’s thesis is that with Wi-Fi networks so plentiful, most people only occasionally need cellular networks, and can do most of their calling, texting and surfing over Wi-Fi. The carrier’s initial service plan promised unlimited calling and data use, but said that it was encouraging customers to use Wi-Fi for most of their needs and that those who exceeded certain usage could find themselves looking elsewhere for service.

Republic still wants its users to rely on Wi-Fi, but it is no longer threatening to cut them off if they use cellular networks too much.

“From today, republic wireless is all-in,” the company said in a blog post last week. “We’re eliminating all usage thresholds, and with them the concern some of you have expressed about losing your membership for maintaining too large a cellular footprint.”

Even with the move, Republic Wireless still probably isn’t for everyone. It offers a single basic Android phone, and users must pay for that phone upfront. The phone uses custom software on top of Android to route things over Wi-Fi whenever possible, and uses Sprint’s 3G network when cellular service is needed.

Republic also notes that the service remains in beta, promising that the service will remain unlimited during the beta phase.

“Everyone who has purchased or purchases a phone during beta will be guaranteed the opportunity to enjoy unlimited service, without fear of cancellation, until the end of beta,” Republic said. “We won’t end beta until we either achieve economic sustainability or become convinced that doing so is impossible. In the event that we end beta with a decision to abandon or change our unlimited offering, we’ll give you the option of canceling for a full refund for your device at that time.”

Republic will keep — at least for now — a tool that shows users how much of their data and voice use is on Wi-Fi versus cellular, relative to how others are using their devices. It also plans to keep a clause that could remove users for “unacceptable use” beyond what is appropriate for a personal smartphone, though it says it may revise its language on that term, as well.

“Leave the FCC the flexibility to make sure there is efficient use of spectrum, including unlicensed spectrum, so that we can adjust to the needs of the future,” Genachowski told AllThingsD in an interview. Genachowski was in town for an event announcing winners of a contest to develop community apps that make use of government data.

The House of Representatives has passed a bill that would include something the chairman badly wants: incentive auctions that would free up badly needed spectrum for wireless broadband. However, the bill also includes a provision that would limit the agency’s authority to manage unlicensed spectrum bands, something Genachowski opposes.

At one point during the event, held at the offices of Andreessen Horowitz, I asked for the password to the venture firm’s guest network.

“That’s why we need Wi-Fi,” Genachowski said, a reference to the fact that Wi-Fi is possible only because the FCC has been able to preserve and make available unlicensed bands of spectrum.

In a follow-up interview, he talked about the need for such spectrum.

“It takes spectrum that doesn’t lend itself for the same use (as that licensed to carriers and others) and says ‘Let’s put it out there as a platform for innovaton,’ not knowing exactly what will happen,” Genachowski said. “When the FCC first did this, no one knew that it would lead to Wi-Fi.”

Unlicensed spectrum has been used, he said, to help meet the challenges of lots of groups, including those faced by the wireless carriers that have licensed spectrum, Genachowski said.

“Wi-Fi itself has gone from something that was resisted by the licensed carriers to something that is now embraced because it is such an important part of addressing demands on spectrum. Wi-Fi offload is a critical part of the system.”

When Tony Fadell left Apple for good in March of last year, the man who has been dubbed the “father of the iPod” said in an interview that his “primary focus will be helping the environment by working with consumer green-tech companies.”

Fadell has kind of kept that promise with the recent launch of Nest, his new start-up that is focused on super-smart, well, thermostats.

Before you drift off to dreamland at the thought of being even slightly interested in the mundane household device that you fight over with your family (along with the remote), Nest is indeed in keeping with the idea of making the home more digitally aware.

With a wheel user interface, a Wi-Fi connection, sensors aplenty and an ability to learn your behavorial patterns, Nest is a temperature-taking version of an iPod.

And it’s also pretty, clad in simple brushed stainless steel, and pricey too. And, also like most Apple products, it is selling like hotcakes.

Here’s the always affable Fadell talking about why he moved in this unusual direction, although he gives up little info about Nest’s funding:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111129/from-ipods-to-thermostats-nest-ceo-and-founder-tony-fadell-speaks-video/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20111115/a-kindle-swipes-fine-but-still-hooked-on-a-nook/ http://allthingsd.com/20111115/a-kindle-swipes-fine-but-still-hooked-on-a-nook/#comments Tue, 15 Nov 2011 23:23:22 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=144519 Despite the advantages of full-featured touchscreen tablets like the iPad, plenty of people opt for e-readers like Amazon’s Kindle, finding them more comfortable in the hand and easier on the eyes.

This week, I tested the new Kindle Touch in a head-to-head comparison with Barnes & Noble’s Nook Simple Touch. The Kindle Touch includes several features that Kindle fans have been waiting for, particularly better navigation. The Nook Simple Touch, which came out last summer, dropped in price to $99 and received a software update last week.

Navigating these touchscreens is a breeze, and you’ll be happy reading with either the Kindle Touch or Nook Simple Touch. Both feature E-Ink, nonreflective screens without backlights—great for long stretches of reading. These smaller devices are also lighter than a tablet.

Overall, I prefer the Nook for its better price and usability.

The Nook

Each e-reader costs $99, but the Kindle Touch comes pre-loaded with so-called special offers—ads that take over the device’s screen when it’s in sleep mode and appear whenever you touch its Menu button. A Kindle Touch without on-screen ads is $139, or $40 more than the ad-free Nook. A Kindle Touch with a 3G Internet connection costs $149; Barnes & Noble doesn’t offer a 3G Nook Simple Touch.

Physically, the Kindle Touch is a bit taller, while the Nook is slightly wider with a contoured back that’s easier to hold. The Kindle Touch relies solely on tapping or swiping on the left or right of the device’s touchscreen to turn pages. Nook users can turn pages using these methods or physical buttons on the left and right sides of the screen.

I prefer the option of physical buttons so I can hold the device and not move my hand each time I want to turn the page. These buttons are also handy at times when touching the screen isn’t ideal, like after using suntan lotion at the beach.

Though the Kindle does a lot of the same things the Nook does, Amazon’s clever terms make these same actions sound more whimsical. When using the cloud to sync content and page location across devices, Amazon calls this Whispersync. Amazon’s community-generated encyclopedia is named Shelfari.

Three notable new features work with Amazon’s Kindle Touch.

X-Ray is a feature that displays book-report-like data points when someone taps the screen at any point while reading one of “thousands” (Amazon wouldn’t give a more specific number) of titles.

The Kindle

This could be a real boon for non-fiction readers, but since I don’t read a lot of non-fiction, X-Ray wasn’t too useful in my books. While reading John Grisham’s “The Litigators,” I used X-Ray to read Wikipedia descriptions of Chicago and Big Pharma. This data can also come from Shelfari.

The Kindle Owners’ Lending Library is available to Amazon Prime members—Prime costs $79 a year—and lets users borrow from over 5,000 titles. People who use this can borrow one book each month with no due date. I tried this and found books in the Kindle store listed with “borrow for free” icons where a price would normally display. I tapped this option beside “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins, and the book was sent to my Kindle. An on-screen message notified me that I couldn’t borrow again until Dec. 1.

Finally, Kindle users can borrow books from their public library via easy, wireless downloads, though these are bound by the same lending rules as physical library books. I borrowed a book from my Washington, D.C., public library by browsing available Kindle books on the library’s website and virtually checking out a book after entering my library card number. I followed a link from there to Amazon.com, where I selected the “Get Library Book” box, which appeared where “Add to Cart” is normally found. Your Kindle must be using a Wi-Fi connection—not 3G—to get these books.

The Nook can only load library books via a clumsy USB cord transferring process. A Barnes & Noble spokeswoman said the company plans to offer Wi-Fi downloading of library books early next year.

If you’d rather lend books to fellow e-reader users, Kindle and Nook can do this. Books can be lent to friends for 14 days, during which time the book’s owner can’t read them.

The latest Nook software update makes improvements like the ability to turn pages faster. Both devices enable highlighting passages, though the Nook doesn’t allow public highlighting like the Kindle, which shares highlights with other readers. Both can send book details to friends via Facebook and Twitter. Kindle offers a text-to-speech function for books, which Nook lacks.

The Kindle Touch is a huge improvement on Amazon’s last Kindle, but Barnes & Noble’s Nook Simple Touch maintains its lead in this category.

Write to Katie at katie.boehret@wsj.com.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111115/a-kindle-swipes-fine-but-still-hooked-on-a-nook/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20111025/a-gadget-for-the-home-learns-by-degrees/ http://allthingsd.com/20111025/a-gadget-for-the-home-learns-by-degrees/#comments Tue, 25 Oct 2011 17:40:44 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=136565 There are few technology products less inspiring than the thermostat. Yet for the past week, I’ve been more captivated by a thermostat than I ever thought possible.

It’s a thermostat called Nest from iPod inventor Tony Fadell’s new start-up, Nest Labs. And like Apple, Nest Labs has taken something you use every day and made it simple and delightful to use.

Nest operates with the same genius wheel user interface as the original iPod, with a digital screen in its center. It connects to your Wi-Fi network, allowing you to control it remotely via an iPhone app or the Web. And its stylish design made of brushed stainless steel is a showpiece.

What makes Nest stand out from other programmable thermostats is that it learns your behavioral patterns and creates a temperature-setting schedule from them. Nest has six sensors that can determine things like when you’re away from home.

Suddenly, I can’t imagine my house without a Nest.

Up front, it’ll cost you. Nest will be $249 when it’s available the week of Nov. 14. Installation costs $119 for the first unit and $25 for each additional unit. You can opt to install it yourself, but I strongly suggest ponying up for a professional installation unless you or someone you know has electrical expertise.

Installation took me an hour and a half, including removing my old unit and unplugging six wires, pushing anchors and screws into my wall, attaching the Nest base, clipping and stripping six wires to fit the new system, and using all manner of tools to fit the wires into the base. (Nest comes with four screwdrivers but no needle nose pliers, which are a big help.) After all this, my Nest didn’t run properly. The company sent someone to fix it, who discovered that only three of my system’s wires were attached, mimicking a working system without a fan.

The Nest thermostat.

Setting up Nest’s software was a breeze. Elegantly animated menus and instructions walked me through each step, including setting up my Wi-Fi network, setting my highest and lowest overall temperatures and entering my ZIP Code.

I entered data on my Nest by turning its outer ring left or right to skim through letters, numbers and symbols, and pushing in the center of the device to select each one. A gentle clicking sound — like the old iPod wheel — can be heard as you turn this ring and pass over each character.

At first, Nest doesn’t do much because it’s waiting for you to use it so it can learn your preferences. Turning the outer ring right or left adjusts the temperature. Cranking up the heat several degrees turned the Nest screen red; turning down the heat made the screen blue.

A little green leaf appears on the screen if an adjustment you make sets your system into energy-conserving mode relative to your normal behavior. This tiny symbol made me feel like I earned a gold star at school for good behavior.

Another way Nest teaches people is with on-screen messages that say how long it will take to get to a desired temperature. For example, if I turn my heat up two degrees from 72 degrees, a message on the screen may say, “In 30 minutes,” with a 74 below this message. This data is meant to deter people from making drastic temperature changes.

After two days of use, a message appeared on my Nest saying, “Initial heating schedule learning complete.” If the device’s sensors detect that no one has walked by the Nest in the past two hours, it goes into Away mode, automatically adjusting to the most energy-conserving temperature, set ahead of time.

Nest operates with the same genius wheel user interface as the original iPod, with a digital screen in its center.

If I didn’t agree with any of these learned behaviors, I could tweak the temperatures to my liking, and Nest adjusted to these corrections. After I adjusted the temperature two nights in a row so the house would be cooler when we were sleeping, Nest learned this and automatically adjusted temperatures around 11:30 p.m. We like heat in the morning, so Nest had the heat going when I hopped out of bed.

Nest.com, the website where people can control their device and review schedules and behavior, wasn’t yet live when I tested. The site shows a summary page of your Nest account, which reflects how much time your heat or air conditioning was used per day. A green leaf is awarded to the days on which the least energy was consumed.

To use the Nest app, you need only hold your iPhone in landscape view, and as long as it’s running on the same Wi-Fi network, the thermostat’s account is automatically set up on the iPhone. The iPhone app let me adjust temperatures from afar. One chilly day at work, I opened the Nest app and turned up my heat just before I went home.

People with more than one thermostat in one home can use more than one Nest, and they’ll all communicate with one another, though each can be adjusted to different temperatures. People with multiple homes can put all of their Nests on the same account.

Nest can get automatic software updates that the company says will let it do things in the future like adjusting temperatures according to current local weather and showing how much money temperature adjustments will save on utility bills.

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