The Ambi Climate Device and App Turn Any AC Unit into a Smart AC Unit Everything is getting connected these days, and smartphones are the new universal remotes. Developers are looking for ways to get phones interacting more and more with the world around them, and now Ambi Labs has created a Kickstarter campaign for a device called Ambi Climate, a smart remote whose purpose is to make air conditioning and household climate control as easy as changing the channel. The Kickstarter campaign, which reached its $25,000 goal, has funded a device that works in conjunction with an AC unit and a special Ambi Climate app. The device acts as a middleman, connecting the phone to the infrared-reading AC unit—but if that were the extent of its features, the app would be nothing more than a complicated remote. Instead, through the use of the app, location-tracking technology, Internet weather data, and a constantly growing database of user climate-setting preferences, the Ambi Climate system learns to automatically create a user’s optimal AC setting and then programs the AC unit to learn it as well.

This essentially gives users a smart AC system without the price tag, since it “pairs with existing air conditioners that use infrared remote-controls. That includes window, split, freestanding or central AC units,” according to 9to5Mac. While the device can learn to adapt to various climate settings on its own, the app allows the user to set more specific options. correct size ac unitThis includes a wake-up timer, a scheduling app that can arrange climate-control features and specifications down to the minute, and the option to override the registered settings and manually control the AC. where to buy window ac unitsThe app even knows when the user leaves the house and automatically adjusts climate settings to save power. problems with home ac unit

According to BGR, these pre-programmed settings “increase at-home air conditioning efficiency and reduce costs by up to 30%.” The device is expected to start shipping in June 2015. It will sell for about $150 when it releases, but early shopper options on the Kickstarter let users preorder the device—which will work with both Apple and Android phones—for as low as $49. Will you be getting the Ambi Climate device and app once they’re released? Image courtesy of Flickr [Your user agent does not support frames or is currently configured not to display frames. English Language & Usage As the title says, I've heard two possible meanings for turning down the air conditioning: It could mean set the target temperature lower (i.e. colder) or make it work less (i.e. warmer). Turning down the heat makes it colder, but both meanings are in agreement there. meaning word-usage usage phrasal-verbs It's common to use "turn down" for any variable device, to mean reduce it's power.

And with a dial like this: Then it would be easy to see "L" as down relative to "M", and so on. However, with a thermostat-based control like this: Then it would be easy to see "20°C" as down relative to "25°C", especially since the button you press to go from 25 to 20 is an arrow pointing down. However, if the air-conditioner was noisy, then you'd get a decrease in volume that would match the metaphor of down better than up. If you combine heating and air-conditioning in the same control, then it would be even easier to see it that way. However, some such controls (some on car air-cons) give a visually stronger impression at either extreme. Those with separate controls for degree of cooling (or heating when combined) and fan-speed would complicate this further, but the fan at least would probably be seen as up when blowing more air. So, in all, it would most often be taken that "turning down the air conditioning" makes it warmer, but you will not be guaranteed it is taken that way, especially with thermostat-based controls governing a quiet air-con unit.

In both cases up and down are metaphors in all such senses. They normally serve us well, and it's certainly easier to say "turn the volume up" than "adjust the television so that its amplification of the audio output is greater", or even "make the television louder". It's clear what we mean in "the temperature is well up into the 30s" (or if we don't the issue is with Celsius vs Fahrenheit, rather than up). Combining both will inevitably have some room for disagreement. When you say turn down the AC you are referring to the AC unit. In this context I think adjusting the power of the AC unit would be the scale. Thus turning the scale up, as in higher power, would be a lower temp. Because it is always ambiguous, you have to add context: It's (I'm) too cold! Turn down the A/C. (or turn off the A/C, meaning "make it stop blowing cold air on me—now!") It's (I'm) too hot! Turn down the A/C. (or turn on the A/C, meaning "make it start blowing cold air on me—now!)