Creator of the iPod hopes to change the world with a thermostat

Dani Fadell couldn't believe it, and the chatter from the water coolers of Silicon Valley were sure to echo that sentiment.

"You're going to build a what?" she asked, begging for clarification in a Wired.com story.

Dani's husband Tony—former Senior VP of the iPod Division at Apple Inc., designer of the iPod software and quite possibly the most sought-after tech talent in the world of gadgets—was planning a comeback. The venture in mind steered far away from the portable music player that made him famous, far enough to assume Tony was telling a joke.

But Tony wasn't joking. Having channeled the desire inherited from the late Steve Jobs, Tony was planning to change the world by building a thermostat.

After stepping down from his VP post in 2008, Tony and Dani took their young children overseas for a picturesque year in Paris, where Tony shared his grand concept with his wife.

Billions of dollars are spent every year as we wastefully pump incalculable amounts of carbon into the air, Tony explained, all because there isn't an easy, effective method of controlling temperature. If he could develop a smart, user friendly thermostat that saves both costs and energy, Tony could significantly improve one of the most important features of modern living.

At this point Dani got it, and investors were on board as well.

"In other green startups, ideas are incremental—we haven't found breakthrough ideas," said Randy Komisar, partner at Kleiner Perkins in the story. "But this breaks the mold."

Tony went on to launch Nest Labs, a tech startup with a dream team of Silicon Valley designers, engineers and computer scientists. Their first product: The Nest Learning Thermostat.

Steven Levy from Wired.com breaks it down:

"The Nest is the iPod of thermostats. A simple loop of brushed stainless steel encases a chassis of reflective polymer, which encircles a crisp color digital display. Artificial intelligence figures out when to turn down the heat and when to jack up the air conditioning, so that you don't waste money and perturb the ozone when no one is home, or when you're asleep upstairs. You can communicate with the Nest from your smartphone, tablet or web browser."

Promising that the Nest thermostat will save as mush as 30 per cent on your utility bill, Tony believes his potentially groundbreaking product will pay for itself in less than two years of use. And he's convinced people will grow fond of the thermostat's high-tech artistic display.

Can the overlooked and often disregarded thermostat become the next big thing? Is the Nest really going to save billions of dollars in buildings and homes around the world? Is it sure to spare our beloved Ozone of the endless carbon reportedly spilling into the air?

Tony Fadell will soon find out: The Nest Learning Thermostat has already hit the assembly lines and preorders at BestBuy.com are now available. Come November, you could be controlling the temperature of your home just as easily as you would select a playlist on your iPod.

Click here for more on Fadell and the Nest Learning Thermostat.

(Photos: Screengrabs Wired.com)