‘Tis the season for CES announcements. With the mega-trade show just a few weeks away, manufacturers are getting giddy with delight—and already leaking new product info.

HAI will have a few interesting offerings, including a new communicating thermostat and also a program that allows remote control of various home systems.

The Omnistat2 is a 7-day programmable communicating thermostat designed to precisely control the temperature and humidity within the home. The company says that it will soon start to “learn” your home’s heating and cooling patterns, which is cool and creepy all at once. If it has the air conditioning cranking for me when I get home on a moist July afternoon, I can let the creepiness slide.

Like many other manufacturers, HAI is also boasting about the Omnistat2’s “green” attributes, but the crowing is actually justified. By learning a home’s temperature patterns, it could actually save some energy— as well as a few bucks on your electric bill.

HAI’s other announcement is the Snap-Link Mobile, which puts lighting, camera, and HVAC control into a Windows Mobile web-enabled cell phone. It even allows you to control the whole-house audio system, which could provide for hours of fun whenever your kids try to have parties when you’re out of town.

Pricing and release dates on both haven’t been announced yet.

Rachel Cericola - Contributing Writer

Over the past 15 years, Rachel Cericola has covered entertainment, web and technology trends. Check her out at www.rachelcericola.com.