SilverPac says its SilverStat 7 can replace standard household thermostats, and offers both seven-day programmability and the ability to talk to smart meters via its IEEE 802.15.4 (ZigBee) interface. According to the company, the device's seven-inch touchscreen display can illustrate the distribution of household energy, right down to individual appliances.

SilverPac's SilverStat 7

The SilverStat 7 also includes an 802.11g wireless interface, for connection to a home network and the Internet, plus a Z-Wave interface for RF-based remote control, the company says. As pictured above, the thermostat's display provides access to email, stock prices, real-time weather forecasting, plus billing and price schedules for energy providers, SilverPac adds.

The SilverStat 7 is apparently similar to previous SilverPac devices -- the evolution 5500 remote control and Advanced Digital Picture Frame (ADPF) -- in being able to display photos synced via Microsoft's Windows Live FrameIt service. On the previous devices, FrameIt was also touted as permitting retrieval of news, weather, and other information contained in RSS feeds, plus information from websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Picasa, and Photobucket.

We'd guess that, like the previous SilverPac products, the SilverStat7 is also designed to support Microsoft's SideShow technology, which made its debut with Windows Vista and is now part of the Windows 7 operating system. SideShow features mini-applications known as gadgets. The gadgets execute on the Windows 7/Vista PC, but the PC's control panel (shown below) can be used to send their output to external clients connected via USB, Bluetooth, TCP/IP, or other protocols. (Microsoft says that in addition to remote controls and digital picture frames, clients can include mobile phones, laptops, front-panel computer displays, or displays embedded in keyboards.)

Windows 7's SideShow control panel
According to SilverPac, users of the SilverStat 7 can browse and play media files stored on their PCs through the thermostat's built-in stereo speakers. The device also includes an FM receiver, for entertainment, news, and emergency information, the company adds.

SilverPac says the SilverStat 7 runs Windows CE 6.0 R3 on an unspecified Intel Atom processor (a interesting choice, since the company's above-mentioned predecessors employ ARM CPUs), equipped with 64MB or 128MB of RAM, and from 128MB to 1GB of flash storage. A standard A-type USB host port is also included, the company adds.

Availability

SilverPac did not cite pricing for the SilverStat 7, but says the device will be available in June 2010. More information may be found on the company's website, here.

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