Nest

Reading your smartphone without needing to look at it. Playing video games with your eyes. Pouring beer using your mind.

These were some of the technologies showcased during CNET's "The Next Interface: You" panel today. CNET editors Lindsey Turrentine and Brian Cooley led a discussion about how humans will interact with devices that use people's bodies instead of traditional input devices.

The discussion included the people behind some of the superstars of this new area of technology -- Fitbit CEO James Park, Nest founder and VP of engineering Matt Rogers, and Leap Motion Founder and CEO … Read more

LAS VEGAS--TVs you control by waving your hands, smartphones you talk to instead of touch, and glasses that track your eyes to move a cursor: these technologies used to be relegated to either very high-end industrial/military applications or very low-end junk that didn't really work. Now, body-controlled technology is showing up all over the broad middle of consumer electronics at CES 2013.

CNET will probe several of the sharpest minds developing these new ways of controlling our tech during "The Next Interface: You" panel on Wednesday at 3 p.m. PT on the CNET stage at … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Ever since the launch of the Nest in 2011, programmable thermostats have become one of the hottest in-home technologies.

With its Apple-inspired interface and design, Nest gets the lion's share of the attention, but new competitors are hoping to steal some of the thunder. At CES 2013 here, Austin, Texas-based Allure Energy is hoping to join the party with Eversense programmable thermostat.

Eversense, which works on iOS and Android, is meant to give users the ability to automatically control their thermostats, not based on learned behavior, but on what they're doing in real time. The idea, explained … Read more

At the Le Web conference in Paris in December, the theme was a phrase I wish I'd thought of: the Internet of Things. The show was all about our connected present and future, a world in which all our devices are connected to each other, to us, and to the great Data Cloud in the sky. I interviewed entrepreneurs, futurists, designers, and big company names about what that future will hold and when it might come about for a special Future Tech package in this episode.

The most interesting thing to come out of those interviews, to me, was … Read more

Still in its nascent stages, the trend toward home automation is slowly being realized with new products and services that allow people to control their lights, locks, music, TV, and heating systems with the touch of a button -- whether they're home or not.

The flagship product in the home automation field is still the Nest thermostat, the second generation of which was released this year. But it's hardly the only way consumers are able to monitor and control some of their homes' systems digitally.

Lowe's and AT&T both announced home-monitoring services. Sony and Control4 … Read more

PARIS -- It will take 10 years before the "Internet of things" catches on widely, said Nest Labs Chief Executive Tony Fadell, whose smart-thermostat startup embodies the technology.

"People think there's this Internet of all kinds of crazy devices that are going to talk to each other. It's going to take some time," Fadell said at the LeWeb show here. "Give it five or eight years and then you'll see machines talking to machines. Then it'll be commonplace in 10 years or so."

The Internet of things is the idea … Read more

It all started with Infinite Gangnam Style. For Music Hack Day Reykjavik, Paul Lamere, Director of Development Platform for the "music intelligence" company The Echo Nest, took Psy's "Gangnam Style" sensation to the next technological level. By breaking down the song into parts and matching similar parts in various patterns, he created a dynamic remix of the song that never ends. For Music Hack Day Boston last weekend, he modified and updated the musical algorithm to work with (nearly) any song, resulting in the webware app Infinite Jukebox, with the tagline "For when your … Read more

Instead of leaving your favorite snaps to languish virtually, the folks at Ghost Nest have created an interesting way to show off your prized images.

The Geode is basically an oddly shaped picture frame that illuminates specially printed versions of your chosen snapshots. Just send your images in and the company will print them for you. This unique picture frame comes with a rechargeable battery and will glow for up to 6 hours on a full charge. … Read more