Is This the Nest of Air Conditioners?

What's This?

By Alex Magdaleno2014-04-15 03:34:47 UTC

Summer in New York is pretty awful if you don't have air conditioning. Even if you do, your boxy window air conditioner might leave you wanting more.

Now a company called Quirky has teamed up with GE to make the Aros, a Nest-like smart AC for your window that lets you control your cooling via an app.

See also: Nest for Tesla: App Lets Model S Owners Heat Car Remotely

The Aros will cool a medium-sized studio apartment (around 350 square feet) and integrates with Wink — an iOS and Android app that lets you connect, control and update with all of Quirky+GE's smart home products.

With that technology, the Aros will record your GPS location and will enable and disable itself depending on when you arrive or leave. Additionally, the Aros tracks weather and usage information to provide a budgeted schedule and plan for use, optimizing an energy plan for your specific needs or location.

Garthen Leslie, a former worker at the Department of Energy, invented the Aros with the help of Quirky, a crowdsourcing and crowdfunding platform. Last November, GE gave with Quirky received $30 million in funding to develop the most promising consumer products using the Wink app. The Aros is one of the first results of the partnership.

The Aros will ship in early May and you can pre-order the Quirky Aros on Amazon for $300; most AC units on the site start at around $200.

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Topics: Gadgets, Home, home appliances, Lifestyle, Nest, smart home, window