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For as long as I can remember Honeywell were the world's unchallenged leader in thermostats, however all that changed when Nest launched the first generation of their smart thermostat and they have rapidly closed the gap to the point where Nest are now outselling Honeywell's leading smart thermostat at online stores.

It might surprise you to learn that simply installing a programmable thermostat won't automatically lead to energy savings or reduced bills.

In fact, it can lead to increased energy consumption if used incorrectly!

One of my favorite homes on television was the one in which Mark Corrigan and Jeremy Usbourne lived.

There was nothing at all smart about this home - entirely the opposite in fact, but it sure was funny.

Thermostats aren't the only smart home devices, there are clever people everywhere these days who are coming up with interesting and creative ways of making their homes more intelligent.

Some of the things I've seen people writing about on their blogs include:

Heating your home in the winter months is essential to keep it comfortable, but it is very expensive. A room thermostat or thermostatically controlled radiators are one way of controlling the actual heat from your boiler and reducing your costs. These aren't the best way of controlling your heating though as they have no intelligence. A better solution would be to install a smart thermostat control. These offer a wide range of advantages over standard heating controls.

The leaders at Google have made it their mission to streamline as many processes as possible by linking everything together through Wi-Fi. They have had impressive success in their endeavor, making it so signing into our gmail accounts can automatically sync our preferences to whatever computer or device we are using. We can stream Google Chrome through our TVs with the new Chromecast and or track our kids in real-time through interconnected GPS devices.

Think you know all the ways in which you can put a WiFi enabled thermostat to good use?

Well you might not have thought of this one.

With people still trying to wrap their heads around Google's takeover of Nest and the implications that has for privacy, a new player has entered the space with a very different approach to Nest.

This new entrant is spark who specialize in producing technology for others to use to create WiFi enabled devices.

As you've probably heard by now, Google announced their $3.2 billion takeover of Nest on the 13th of January.

Much of the talk in the financial media has centered around whether or not this was a sound financial decision by Google, with many pointing out that the big G hasn't been particularly successful with their hardware company investments like Motorola.

So you've got your brand new WiFi thermostat, and you're wondering what to do with your old mercury thermostat you've just replaced.

In many states it is actually illegal to throw them in the trash due to the mercury which they contain - a highly toxic metal which can make its way into the food chain if it's not disposed of correctly.

Sales of smart thermostats are set to reach $600 million around the world by 2018 according to the latest research by a London based company.

ABI Research have reached this conclusion by projecting that the total number of units shipped will grow from 1.3 million this year, to 8 million world-wide in 2018 - this equates to a staggering compound annual growth rate of 43%.

Navigant Research, a company which performs market research about clean technology, has released their findings on the smart thermostat market.

So let's get right to the part you're probably most interested in...