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Apple now selling Nest Learning Thermostat

Apple is the latest vendor to sell the $250 thermostat, a gadget that can learn your temperature preferences.

Lance Whitney Contributing Writer
Lance Whitney is a freelance technology writer and trainer and a former IT professional. He's written for Time, CNET, PCMag, and several other publications. He's the author of two tech books--one on Windows and another on LinkedIn.
Lance Whitney
Screenshot by Lance Whitney/CNET

The Nest Learning Thermostat has found a new home with the folks at Apple.

The company better known for iPhones and iPads is now selling the high-tech thermostat in its online store for $249.95. But the Nest is unlike conventional thermostats.

As befits the term "learning," the Nest can learn and remember your preferred temperatures to automatically keep things cool or warm. It turns itself off when your house is empty. And it taps into the power of remote control, letting you change the temperature from anywhere via your iPhone, iPad, Android device, or Mac.

This is the second latest sales scoop for Nest. The company announced just yesterday that it's branching out into Canada. Customers can also buy the thermostat through Nest's online store.

But why Apple as a vendor?

The group that created the thermostat was led by Tony Fadell, one of the brains behind the original iPod and iPhone. The gadget itself incorporates much of the "DNA" found in Apple devices.

The company also recently hired Apple's former chief intellectual property officer, Richard Lutton Jr., a potentially savvy move because Nest is in the middle of a patent infringement suit filed against it by Honeywell.

Watch this: Nest Learning Thermostat hands-on video