The Nest thermostat, a well-arranged assemblage of glass and aluminum, isn’t all that hard to copy — or at least approximate.
Just ask the team at Spark, which built its own, understandably less pretty version of Nest’s thermostat — as well as its underlying software — in less than a day.
The prototype features just about the same array of features as Nest’s thermostat, including sensors for temperature, humidity, and motion, the latter of which tells the device when its owner is home. There’s also a machine leaning component, which helps the device automatically adjust temperature based on user habits. (All of this syncs with the device’s web interface, which users can access from their phones.)
via Venture Beat
