Hooray for interoperability!
Chances are you’re already aware of Zigbee, the common language that binds many smart home devices together, but one of its problems is that there have been different “profiles” within Zigbee that can prevent some devices from working together properly. Enter Zigbee 3.0, the latest version of the standard, a unification that basically means more things work together smoothly. Anything with a Zigbee 3.0 label on it will be able to speak to all other Zigbee devices, no matter their “profile”.
And at the 2018 Connection conference in San Francisco, Lux showed off the first Zigbee 3.0 smart thermostat. Named the Konoz Smart Hub Thermostat, it’s almost identical to the company’s existing Kono thermostat (Lux seems to have come from the James Cameron Alien/Aliens school of sequel naming) with a few cosmetic tweaks, including interchangeable faceplates (phwoar).
Learn more: Demystifying Zigbee, the mesh behind your smart home
You can also set up multiple geofences for different members of the household, for when it’s detecting someone on the way home (this will be interesting to see, as geofencing features can be a bit iffy).

Having that Zigbee 3.0 label slapped on there – and being the first thermostat to have it – means this will be more interoperable with the Zigbee platform, and the smart home at large.
It also should be easy to install too, according to Lux. The thermostat will be available starting in the next few weeks, the company told us, for $149, the same price as the existing Kono.