Heating and cooling costs make up half of your average home's utility bills. A smarter thermostat, then, could save you big bucks, and so we're glad to see Texas utility company Oncor rolling out EcoFactor thermostats to subscribers. These units look straightforward enough, but connect to the interwebs to download weather reports, meaning they can anticipate heatwaves and cool spells and plan accordingly. They can also figure out just how long it takes to get your home to a certain temperature, so if you want it 74 degrees at your pad by the time you arrive from work at 5:30 this thing
