Every two weeks we have a company meeting to update the team on all things Riptide Games. At the end of each meeting we select one person to present something they’ve found interesting or worthwhile to share with the group.

This week’s presentation was from Bryan Dunlay, a contract Graphic Designer who works with us. This is what he shared with the team, along with a short explanation:

Nest Learning Thermostat

www.nest.com

Nest is a learning thermostat with one dial and a touchscreen that was designed by former Apple iPod and iPhone hardware developer Tony Fadell. He saw the thermostat as a piece of technology that is ugly, difficult to program and often overlooked but it does control about 50% of your energy bill.

Nest learns your habits in a week and adjusts to suit you. The screen turns red when it's heating and blue when it's cooling. It can even be controlled by your mobile device or online. Coming home a day early? Taking an extra day of vacation? No problem.

At a cost of $249USD, Nest claims that their thermostat will typically pay for itself well within two years since it should save you 20% of your energy bill. Pretty awesome!

The VIP (Very Important Pizza) Fridge Magnet

www.redtomato.biz/magnet

It's a fridge magnet that connects to a pizzeria (in Dubai) through the Bluetooth connection in your phone. When you open the pizza box shaped device and push it, your favourite pizza magically appears at your door! (And I thought ordering online was high tech.)

It's a pretty cool little device. So cool that the people at Red Tomato are having a very hard time keeping them in stock. What a great way to generate customer loyalty and to ultimately, sell more pizzas. What I find most compelling though, is the implications. What else could be done with this thing? Taxis? Groceries? Medicine?