Microsoft said we’d find Cortana in more places going forward and today we have a the second IoT device, known as GLAS, made by a Johnson Controls. The company is well known for making HVAC equipment and controllers, but this one is absolutely gorgeous and incredibly smart. On the back of the Cortana-powered Invoke by Harman/Kardon, Cortana will run on Windows 10 Core here and deliver a smart thermostat for homes and businesses that looks like the future.
The product works in much the same way as Nest’s thermostat by monitoring your lifestyle, adapting to how you life and work with presence detection, ensuring its the right temperature for you and your family. Its not just temperature though, it measures indoor and outdoor air quality and responds to an ever changing environment to ensure you stay comfortable. There’s a key focus on reducing energy bills with heating and cooling costs accounting for roughly 48% of the energy use in a typical U.S. home (probably higher in Australia right now). In the commercial building sector, the cost is approximately 40%.
Powered by Windows IoT Core, Cortana voice activation and Microsoft Azure, the thermostat is intelligent while also being gorgeous. Its transparent touchscreen thermostat is like an efficient version of Tony Starks transparent displays in Ironman. We’ve often dreamed about this technology arriving on our desks, but for now, on the wall, it looks futuristic with slick UI animations responding to inputs and delighting users.
YouTube comments are typically a cesspool of internet trolls hating the world, but take some time to look at the comments under this video, as they’re almost universally in love with this device. Its easy to see why. Next question, when can we get it and how much. Great question. For now, the details are very light on, but the company should be incredibly encouraged by the reaction online to the reveal video.
To be a seriously connected device you want in your home, you’ll want it to stretch further than the Microsoft ecosystem and support IFTTT to control the rest of your IoT devices using the touchscreen (integration / approval likely required) or by voice. As with many international product announcements, specifically things that integrate into utilities that rely on different power standards, we cross out fingers tightly that GLAS makes its way down under to Australia.