It’s a hot, new product that’s completely sold out until early 2012. The man who conceived the product was largely responsible for the design of the iPod. And just about every review of the product has been wildly positive.

Sounds great… except it’s a thermostat. That’s right. One of the most innovative of the current crop of consumer products is a rethink of the lowly wall-mounted thermostat.

The Nest Learning Thermostat is the brainchild of Tony Fadell, who created the iPod and spearheaded the original iPhone through its production process. With a team of former iPod and iPhone engineers, he has developed an intelligent thermostat that learns which temperatures you prefer and at what times you prefer to change them.

Modeled after the iconic Honeywell circular thermostat, the Nest is simple to operate. Turn the ring clockwise to lower the temperature. Or turn it counterclockwise to raise the temperature. Yet behind the familiar circular shell is a sophisticated array of sensors that measure temperature, humidity, light, and activity.

You connect to the Nest’s features over Wi-Fi using your computer, phone, or tablet. It’s designed to learn your habits automatically, so you can save money on your energy bills. If you turn the temperature down two nights in a row, the Nest will turn itself down for you on the third night. And when you’re away from your home, it will switch over to a more energy-efficient setting. It even tracks your energy consumption so that you can see how much money you’ve saved.

I haven’t had a chance to install a Nest in my home, but I hope to give it a try as soon as possible.

You’ve got umpteen remote controls in your living room, and you always seem to lose the one you need. Sound familiar?

We have this problem at our house, and while there are many solutions available that can consolidate your remote control codes into a single remote control, Griffin Technology showed a product at CES that may be the best so far. It works with an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.

The product is called the Beacon Universal Remote Control System. Yes, it’s a mouthful. And no, it doesn’t make a decent acronym — BURCS. It is, however, a well thought-through product.

Other remote control solutions attach directly to your iPhone, which makes the iPhone much heavier. And you have to remember to attach it each time. Or possibly even find it, like one of your remote controls.

The Beacon is an intermediary device that translates the signals between your iOS device and your various other devices. The intermediary device uses the customary IR (Infrared) technology to send the commands to the other devices, but uses Bluetooth to receive the commands from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.

You install Dijit’s Universal Remote app, a free download from the App Store, and use it to select the manufacturer-specific codes for your devices. Once that task is complete, you can configure control layouts for different functions, such as listening to music, playing a DVD, or watching a television channel.

One potential issue could be the placement of the Beacon. In theory, it would need to have a line-of-sight to all your IR-based devices. A coffee table in the middle of the room would be ideal.

I asked a Griffin rep how critical placement would be if you couldn’t place the Beacon into the middle of the room. I was told that the light signals tend to bounce off walls, so it shouldn’t be a problem. I wasn’t able to test the viability of the bouncing light waves in the CES booth, but suspect that placement may still be important for this type of product.

You know there’s a lot of interest in a new product when the company has to move its CES booth to a larger space at the last minute. That’s what happened this year with Orbotix when it introduced Sphero, a robotic ball.

It’s a baseball-sized plastic ball that you can control via Bluetooth using an iOS or Android device. You load the controller app onto your phone or tablet. Then you can roll the ball in any direction using the onscreen steering mechanism. It’s loads of fun, and Orbotix is hoping that developers will use it as a platform for all kinds of games. You might have it solve a maze by rolling around on the floor. Or you might have two players go head-to-head in a makeshift Sumo match. There’s a boost mode you could use to knock your opponent out of the ring.

There aren’t a lot of details available, but I was told at the booth that you can customize the RGB LED light to change color when you bump up against something. It also recharges using inductive technology, so when you set it down into the charger base, it will charge automatically.

The API for the device is open source, so the sky – or more precisely, the floor – is the limit for developers who want to dream up imaginative new activities for this cool, new tech toy.

You’ve probably seen Casio watches that can do this or that gee-whiz function. Very impressive, until you find out how those functions sap the battery life.

That’s about to change with the advent of Bluetooth Low Energy. The latest Bluetooth 3.0 spec introduces simple Bluetooth functions that require only tiny amounts of battery power. This will open up whole new categories of Bluetooth devices that could run for years on a single battery.

Casio hasn’t wasted any time in adopting the new Bluetooth standard. In fact, the Bluetooth profiles that Casio intends to use are just being ratified for some of these functions.

At the Consumer Electronics Show, Casio previewed a prototype watch, labeled accordingly as the Prototype Bluetooth Low Energy Watch.

So what will this future watch be able to do? It will primarily communicate with your Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone. The watch could let you know when you have an incoming call or e-mail message. It could provide a more accurate time by resetting itself to the time provided by the phone’s cellular network. It could pass along your phone’s alarms or vibration functions, such as a reminder for an important meeting. And you could set the watch to beep if you move more than a certain distance away from your phone. That could be handy if you tend to leave your phone behind when you’re in a hurry.

Casio could build these types of functions into a watch today, but they would severely impact the watch’s battery life. Using the new Bluetooth Low Energy profiles, Casio estimates that the watch battery will last approximately two years, even if you use the wireless communication features for 12 hours each day.

Look for this watch as early as the fourth quarter of this year. The Casio rep I spoke with said it could possibly slip into the first quarter of 2012.

Two days before the show doors open, CES provides a sneak peak for the press. The three-hour event is called CES Unveiled, and it’s a chance to get a first look at some of the products that will soon be on the show floor.

At this year’s CES Unveiled, there were two Bluetooth products designed specifically to communicate with the iPhone. This will likely to be a big trend at the show, given the ease of installing apps onto this popular mobile phone.

One of the products is O’Car from Oxygen Audio. It lets you control all the usual car stereo functions over Bluetooth using your iPhone’s touch screen. In addition to functioning as a high-end car radio, you can play your iTunes music library, listen to Internet radio stations, make hands-free calls and access your favorite iPhone apps for your car.

The second Bluetooth-to-iPhone product is the Smart Baby Monitor from Withings. The baby monitor part of the product includes a high-resolution 3-megapixel camera, extra-wide-angle lens and infrared LEDs for night vision. Using your iPhone, you can see and hear your baby, control the music that plays in the room, and receive alerts to your baby’s sleep disruptions as signaled by excessive movement or sound.

Another interesting Bluetooth product shown at CES Unveiled is designed to solve one of the biggest complaints with cell phones: missed calls. The pipSqueak from seekerpnd.com is a small device that notifies you by vibration or sound whenever your mobile phone receives a call. A screen on the pipSqueak shows the identity of the caller. If you need extra time to answer the call, you can tap a button on the pipSqueak, and a recorded voice will notify the caller that you will soon be answering the call. If you don’t want to take the call, you can press and hold the button to send the call directly to voicemail.

If you’re wondering why CES Unveiled is held two days before the show opens, you can understand why the press is so tired at the end of CES. For us, the four-day tradeshow is a six-day tradeshow, as we have two extra days of press events and press conferences as a build-up to the actual show.

Every year in early January, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) takes over Las Vegas. It’s the largest annual tradeshow in North America and the largest tradeshow anywhere devoted to consumer electronics. This year’s show should see the largest number—and widest range—of Bluetooth products ever assembled into one place.

As a member of the press, I’m inundated with CES-related emails and phone calls beginning in November. It reaches a fever pitch around the middle of December. Here are some of the Bluetooth products I’m looking forward to see at the upcoming CES, which runs January 6th through the 9th.

This is a small sampling because many of the manufacturers are waiting for the show to announce their products. That said, some are happy to provide a sneak peak, especially if it means they can quality for a 2011 CES Innovations Award. Two Bluetooth products won awards this year in the Wireless Handset Accessories category. The first is Jabra’s STONE2 headset, which has an unusual shape that wraps behind your ear. As a result, it doesn’t require the typical on-face microphone.

The second is ID8-Mobile’s MoGo Talk XD. It’s the first integrated Bluetooth headset and case that docks onto the back of an iPhone 4. Both products will be on display in the Grand Lobby of the Las Vegas Convention Center in a special section devoted to the Innovations Award winners.

I also plan to check out the Creative ZiiO tablet, which will be on display at the CSR (Cambridge Silicon Radio) booth in the North Hall. It’s the first tablet to feature CSR’s aptX codec for high-quality Bluetooth audio. At the same booth, I’ll be able to hear the Conran Audio Dock. It uses the aptX codec and can stream audio from Bluetooth A2DP-compatible media players, smartphones, laptops and tablets.

While in the North Hall, I’ll swing by the ZOMM booth to see the latest version of the ZOMM product. The company describes it as the first wireless leash for cell phones. Connected to your phone via Bluetooth, the keychain-sized ZOMM can flash, vibrate and even sound an alarm if you start to walk away from your phone. With the new version, you can adjust the ZOMM volume from your phone and select the distance at which the alarm will sound.

Other Bluetooth products I plan to check out at the show include Plantronics’ Voyager Pro UC headset. It uses capacitive sensors to know when you’re wearing it, so it can route your calls to the headset. iDevices will be showing iGrill, the first cooking thermometer you can control over Bluetooth using an iPhone or iPad app. IOGEAR will have solar-powered, hands-free Bluetooth car kits. And Orbotix will be rolling out the Sphero, a robotic ball you can control via Bluetooth using an iOS or Android device.

CES will have specialized TechZones throughout the various convention halls. I’m particularly interested in visiting the Digital Health TechZone, because I’m curious to see how many Low Energy Bluetooth health-related devices will be ready to ship in the first half of the year. The Bluetooth SIG will have a booth there. Continua Health Alliance will be there, as well. Continua Health Alliance helped develop some of the new Low Energy profiles.

I’ll have more to report once CES begins. It will be a long and hectic week, so I plan to bring comfortable shoes.

If you own the 3G version of the iPad, you already have the hardware for a first-class GPS navigator. The large touchscreen, built-in GPS, and instant-on capability are just waiting for the ideal turn-by-turn navigation app.

ALK Technologies’ CoPilot Live HD North America comes pretty close to fitting the bill for anyone who doesn’t have to depend absolutely on GPS navigation, such as an ambulance driver or police officer. While CoPilot Live HD does have its limitations, you would be hard pressed to find a better value given its rich set of features.

You do need to have the 3G version of the iPad in order to run CoPilot Live HD. The program takes up a considerable amount of space (1.34 gigabytes) to store all the needed maps, street names, and points of interest for North America. So why can’t you use the Wi-Fi version if the maps are preloaded? Only the 3G version has the GPS chip, and without the GPS chip, the iPad wouldn’t know where to place you on the map.

Because the maps are stored locally, and not downloaded on the fly, the onscreen views update smoothly as you travel by car. When driving alone, and unable to look at the screen, I was able to use the program’s voice directions for a satisfactory experience. You’ll be prompted well ahead of time with clear and concise directions. Another option: Have a second person watch the screen to help direct the turns. Or you could purchase a dashboard mount for your iPad.

The app has a wealth of features and settings, including the ability to enter multiple stops within a single trip. You can manually enter a street address or pull the information from a contact in the iPad’s address book. There are single-view and dual-view options with either a 3D or 2D map. And the supported live services include local weather, traffic, and fuel prices.

All this costs just $29.99. That’s a one-time fee that provides you with monthly map improvements and quarterly full-map updates for the U.S. and Canada. So what’s the downside?

Because CoPilot Live HD offers so many features, it can be difficult to maneuver (you may need a copilot for your CoPilot). The interface doesn’t help, as it isn’t logically arranged. Case in point, I found a cool feature where you could demo a trial run through a programmed trip, but I haven’t used it since, because I couldn’t find it again.

That may be nitpicking for a turn-by-turn app that costs only $29.99. CoPilot Live HD is an incredible bargain that requires a little extra effort to figure out how to get from here to there. All in all, that’s not a bad trade-off.

Do you fumble with your Bluetooth headset because you can’t remember how many times you’re supposed to press the tiny buttons? Or do you find yourself repeatedly taking the headset off your ear because you can’t distinguish the buttons just by touch?

Unfortunately, those are common complaints with Bluetooth headsets. BlueAnt’s Q1 headset promises to remedy those issues by making the commands almost entirely voice controlled.

I was highly dubious about this approach before I tried the Q1. What would I do in an exceptionally noisy environment if the Q1 couldn’t understand me? Would I miss the call? And how would I remember all the different voice commands, especially if I used the headset only occasionally?

BlueAnt has addressed the problem of exceptionally noisy environments — as well as situations where it may be awkward to speak out loud — by providing dual methods for dealing with incoming calls. Using the voice commands, you can say “answer” to accept the call or “ignore” to reject the call. Alternatively, you can press the Q1′s big button once to accept the call or twice to reject it. Both methods worked fine for me.

Remembering the commands hasn’t been an issue either. Hold that same button down until you hear the Q1 say, “Say a command.” Then if you ask “What can I say,” you’ll hear the available voice commands, which include tasks such as “call back,” redial,” “check battery,” and “settings menu.” “Teach me” initiates an audio tutorial. “Pair me” pairs the headset with your phone (it can handle two phones simultaneously and remember as many as eight different devices). “Call speed dial 3″ automatically dials one of your eight stored speed dial numbers.

The only times I ran into problems with the Q1 understanding me was when I was in an exceptionally noisy environment or when I didn’t have the headset positioned properly toward my mouth. You need to have the two microphones lined up for it to understand your voice commands or for the built-in noise suppression to function effectively. The detachable ear hook is handy for when you’re physically active, though I found the two different-sized ear tips did a pretty good job of holding the headset in place.

Most importantly, the audio clarity has been consistently top-notch for both ends of the conversation. If you don’t mind the price (it lists for $129), the Q1 is well worth considering.

If you travel a lot, you’ve probably encountered a hotel, convention center, or remote office that supplies an Ethernet jack rather than Wi-Fi. That’s generally not a problem. Most notebook computers can handle both types of Internet connections.

Sometimes, however, I prefer to connect over Wi-Fi. I might want to use my notebook away from the desk in the hotel room. Or I might want an Internet connection for my iPod Touch or BlackBerry Curve — both are Wi-Fi enabled.

Being able to connect a Wi-Fi enabled phone can be especially handy if you’re traveling outside the country, and your phone isn’t compatible with local cellular standards. With a Wi-Fi phone, you may be able to make and receive calls over Wi-Fi using your regular phone number and be charged as though you’re making a local phone call.

So how do you convert an Ethernet jack into a Wi-Fi access point? You can use D-Link’s DWL-G730AP Wireless Pocket Router. It sells for about $50, comes with a durable carrying case, and supports three wireless modes: Router, Access Point, and Wireless Client.

Set up can be a little tricky, as the documentation isn’t as clear as it should be, though once you have it configured with your Wi-Fi-enabled devices, you can just plug it in and connect. (For tips on configuring the DWL-G730AP, check the comments section for the product on Amazon.com. Here’s a link to the review there that helped me configure it as an access point. Unfortunately, I can’t offer advice beyond that.)

The DWL-G730AP can handle multiple connected devices at the same time, so you could provide Internet access for family, friends, or co-workers. WPA security is built-in, and you can hide the SSID as an additional safeguard. You could configure the SSID and password for your own devices before the trip, and then supply that information to others while traveling.

If you have a cellular data plan for your notebook or netbook computer, you may feel as though you’re paying a lot for very little flexibility. The plans tend to run about $60 a month, and the signal is tied to a specific data modem, whether it’s an internal or a USB-attached modem. Consequently, you can use only one device at a time, unless you take on significant security risks.

Too bad there’s no easy way to share your notebook’s cellular signal with your phone, media player, PDA, camera, or portable gaming system.

Help may be on the way. Novatel Wireless’ MiFi promises to create a “personal cloud of high-speed Internet connectivity.” Essentially, it replaces your internal or USB-attached cellular modem with a small external cellular modem that doubles as a wireless router. It can distribute the data connection to your notebook, your colleague’s notebook, and any other Wi-Fi-compatible device.

The MiFi is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. It operates for fours hours on a charge, has a standby time of 40 hours, and recharges in 2 1/2 hours. Look for it to be available sometime in the first half of the year.

Here’s the rub. You can theoretically connect as many as five devices at a time, but that number can be configured down to just one device by the carrier. Novatel Wireless doesn’t have any choice here, as the MiFi has to be approved by each carrier. If Verizon or Sprint decides your MiFi will connect with only one device, that’s how it will have to be.

There’s a lot of potential here. Unfortunately, the carriers may be so afraid that potential customers will use it for a free ride, they’ll miss out on the possibility that data sharing could attract even larger numbers of new customers. The airports are full of road warriors who travel with multiple Wi-Fi devices. A fully configured MiFi could encourage more of them to sign up for cellular data plans.