• Google buys Nest for $3.2B
    43 replies, posted
[QUOTE=pentium;43527644]Honeywell has been making thermostats and temperature controls for over 75 years. They aren't rocket science to them. I don't think someone else invading the home market is going to hurt their bottom line that badly, especially when their product is cheaper per unit.[/QUOTE] theyve been buying up home-energy management companies left and right and have a massive lawsuit like the apple V samsung that has been dragged out for years now, so ya they are shitting bricks, also fun fact: honeywell does actually do rocket science they built the shuttle's first thrust control system and the thingy on nuclear bombs that tell them when to explode
[QUOTE=Snowmew;43525927]Except when your house has more than one detector. You don't need carbon monoxide detector in every room of your house; however, it is often required that smoke detectors are located in every room (with some exceptions, such as kitchens). So if you have a large home, you have to pay more for unnecessary CO detectors that must all be replaced. The Nest Protect also doesn't work with wired detector interconnection (the thing that makes all alarms trip when one alarm detects smoke in a building) so if you replace only some of your smoke alarms, you're now running on two separate systems that aren't connected at all. If, for example, you only replace one alarm in your living room and a fire happens there, the alarms in your bedrooms will not be tripped, and you may not hear the Nest Protect's alarm. So you have to replace all smoke detectors in your residence. In larger homes, that means 10 (or more) detectors, and then you have to repeat the process every 7 years. If you buy Nest Protects, that means $1300 for every 7 years - if you bought "traditional" equipment it would be $500 to install, then $250 every 7 years after that, for something which will probably not even be noticed more than once every few years for battery replacement (although the Nest Protect's battery-only model chews through the charge much more quickly). So, for 10 detectors, $12.50 a month. However, there is one little problem - Nest only allows for a maximum of 10 detectors per account. So, if you have more than 10 smoke detectors in your home, you can't actually use this system. (I'm one of those people, so another mark against Nest on that.) The Nest Protect, despite its price, is also technically [i]inferior[/i] to other detectors due to its use of exclusively optical detection instead of optical + ionization, which shows up in detectors as low as $30. Above all else, I would wait for gen 2 or later. The gen 1 users for the original Nest were basically guinea pigs and missed out on a lot of new features, and I wouldn't be surprised if Google gets Nest's ass in gear with the gen 2 Protect. Replaceable detector modules, combined ionization & optical detection, utilization of wired interconnect when available, motion detector information (if Nest were to develop a security system, this would be a huge plus), et cetera. Then, just maybe, I'd invest.[/QUOTE] listen to this man he KNOWS his shit also after 7 years a detector dying is kind of you know potentially DEADLY?
[QUOTE=J!NX;43529499]listen to this man he KNOWS his shit also after 7 years a detector dying is kind of you know potentially DEADLY?[/QUOTE] a smoke detector in every room seems ridiculous, they're pretty loud you really shouldn't need more then 4 at the most.
[QUOTE=J!NX;43529499]listen to this man he KNOWS his shit also after 7 years a detector dying is kind of you know potentially DEADLY?[/QUOTE] Most CO detectors die after around 10 years (which makes the 7 year limit comparatively shitty) because of the chemicals in the detection chamber. But to require replacement of an entire $129 detector (by far the most expensive common smoke/CO detector on the market) after such time, which means throwing a perfectly good smoke detector and wireless unit away, is fucking stupid. Not to mention you have to reconfigure everything since it's not a simple wired interconnection, like every other smoke detector on the market. First Alert has wireless detectors which integrate with wireless home automation equipment that operates much like the Nest, and each detector is only about $50. Plus, they're smoke-only (the CO models are separate) so you don't have to replace them every 10 years. If you are really obsessed over this kind of shit (like I am) you can just get some commercial detectors and wire them into a home PA system. That's probably cheaper anyway. [QUOTE=June;43529936]a smoke detector in every room seems ridiculous, they're pretty loud you really shouldn't need more then 4 at the most.[/QUOTE] Because smoke detectors detect sound.
[QUOTE=June;43529936]a smoke detector in every room seems ridiculous, they're pretty loud you really shouldn't need more then 4 at the most.[/QUOTE] yeah, but even then, CM detector is pretty vital
All Nest thermostats and other products will stop functioning on April 15, we thank you for using our products and look forward to building the future as a part of google.
[QUOTE=Sector 7;43527951]I would totally love the ability to adjust my thermostat from my phone, though[/QUOTE] One of my Skype friends argued that the wall-paper thing was awesome because he was always changing his thermostat, to which I replied "Quit being a woman and set it to a comfortable temperature and be done with it!". THEN he said the Wifi was great because he could change the temps from his phone. WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU CARE ABOUT WALL-PAPER ON YOUR THERMOSTAT IF YOU'RE JUST GOING TO CHANGE IT FROM YOUR FUCKING PHONE?! [QUOTE=CanadianBill;43528947]"Don't be evil" also I gladly accept our Google overlords [/QUOTE] I predict that in the end, all that will be left is Google, Wal-Mart, and Amazon, who will end up merging together to become "Buy-n-Large".
"Do you want to sign up for Google+? No? Increasing room temperature"
[QUOTE=PC_Paul;43528882]What is google planning... They bought that robotics company and now this?[/QUOTE] Global domination.
One of my friends works here and says that Google buying them is either one of the coolest things ever or one of the most terrifying things ever. If it does end up being the coolest thing ever, imagine all the possibilities with internet thermostats and smoke detectors and bullshit. Ten bucks that "smart house" will become the next big buzzword.
Google Now telling your thermostat to warm the house because it detects that you're coming home would be cool
[QUOTE=wickedplayer494;43526055]That would literally be disaster.[/QUOTE] The biggest disaster there would be the clash between the two userbases. [QUOTE=milkandcooki;43531556]Ten bucks that "smart house" will become the next big buzzword.[/QUOTE] Pretty damn sure it already is. Or maybe I'm biased since one of the biggest employers in my area is a company focused on home & office automation that's been going since the early 90's
[QUOTE=Tomthetechy;43531385]Global domination.[/QUOTE] An army of smoke detecting and beeping robots.
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