Don't Want Google In Your House? Here Are a Few Home-Tech Startups To Watch

curtwoodward writes: Google bought Nest. Then Nest bought Dropcam. Then Nest opened up its platform to tech partners, including... Google. This may not creep everyone out, but for those who don't like the idea of Google's all-seeing eye owning their smart-home devices, there are some small, independent companies developing alternatives. Maybe they'll survive long enough to get acquired by a company that doesn't make 90 percent of its money from advertising — right?

Comments

For Starters...

[Lab Rat Jason]

... how about a company that has a more lofty goal than "getting acquired" for once?

Re:For Starters...

[Lab Rat Jason]

There is plenty wrong with _just_ wanting to get acquired. Many times, acquisition is predatory, in the sense that a bigger company wants your tech, but not your people. So you stand on the backs of hard working people until you get your golden parachute, and leave them with nothing but unemployment when you go. Even if that ISN'T the case, if your goal is to be acquired, you make a product that is good enough to get you acquired, rather than building a product great enough to make your company a household name. You have perfectly illustrated one of the biggest problems in startup culture today... namely, sell out and coast because your name was the one on the door of the corner office.

Re:I don't want "smart-home"

[CanHasDIY]

So then don't buy and install these products.

Remember when people used to say that about GPS-enabled cell phones? "Well, if you don't want one, don't buy one."

Now every cell phone is GPS-enabled.

So much for that non-solution. Got any other ideas?

Home Brew

[SuperTechnoNerd]

I rather make my own devices and sensors. Much more fun and they will do exactly what you want them to do.

Re:I don't want "smart-home"

[mythosaz]

This is /.

Cue the NSA muh freedoms! posts.

Clearly the GPS can be turned on by any TLA that wants to track you. The slider is a placebo.

Re:I don't want "smart-home"

[Bing Tsher E]

GP probably knows quite well where he is. The point is it's nobody else's business where he is and just because there's a little clicky on a menu in the phone that says the GPS is disabled doesn't mean that it's the case in all circumstances. Nothing that the big telecom providers, and Google and the like have been doing recently inspires our confidence.

Soon there may be websites with information on how to disable features you don't like on your eDevices. With informative pages that feature nice illustrations showing were to drill with a #44 drill bit and how deeply, to disable the GPS and no other function on the phone.

The time is certainly right for sites like that to emerge.

But yeah, duh, we're all luddites if we don't bow and kiss the ring.

Why?

[rainmaestro]

Yeah, I'm eagerly awaiting the day when attackers are able to exploit my smart fridge to remotely unlock the smart lock on my smart door. And the inevitable automatic firmware update that bricks my smart air conditioner.

Why does everything need to be a web appliance? My crockpot should convert electricity into heat and produce delicious stews and roasts. It doesn't need to use my search history to suggest new recipes, I have a PC that can do that.

On the bright side, I'm looking forward to the instructions on how to run Debian on my blender.

Re:Why?

[neminem]

Presumably so you can run Blender on it, and make a Yo Dawg joke about it? I heard you like blending, so I installed Blender on your blender, so you can Blend while you blend!

Re:I don't want "smart-home"

[Lab Rat Jason]

I've got nothing but love for people who don't want a "smart home", and I respect anybody who wants the peace and quiet that comes with it. For myself though, I want a smart home that doesn't rat me out to every advertiser, as well as the cops. Google does both.

Think about this: a nest costs $200 according to the literature at my local hardware store, amazon.com shows about the same price. For that kind of scratch, I SHOULD be keeping my privacy.