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Nest Will Now Work With Your Door Locks, Light Bulbs and More

Posted by samzenpus on from the joining-the-party dept.

An anonymous reader writes with news about 15 new brand partnerships Nest announced today. "When Google purchased Nest Labs – the maker of Internet-connected thermostats and smoke detectors – the search engine giant saw the potential to create a software platform for controlling the myriad everyday devices and gadgets in consumers' homes, a central hub for the so-called "Internet of things." This vision took a major step towards becoming reality Monday morning, when Nest announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that 15 new partners were joining its "Works with Nest" developer program. Soon, everything from washing machines to light bulbs will be connected with the Nest platform."

9 of 163 comments (clear)

  1. Internet of Hype ... by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A bunch of people with money they need to part with. The rest of us will continue to not give a crap.

    I neither trust, nor do I want this ecosystem of interconnected crap which puts my house on the internet so that I can access it via my fscking cell phone.

    So, buy into this, suckers. Get your house hacked, or your personal habits sold, or whatever.

    I'm going to continue to assume that most of the vendors jumping on this are a) interested in the analytics data for advertising, and b) grossly incompetent/indifferent to security. I trust neither the intention nor the competence of these companies.

    Get off my damned lawn with your pointless gizmos. I have a key and a programmable thermostat which isn't connected to the interweb.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    1. Re:Internet of Hype ... by jklovanc · · Score: 4, Interesting

      But I don't see the door lock being one of those things due to the more significant security issue.

      Letting a repair people in remotely could be very convenient. That way you don't have to be at home to let them in.

    2. Re:Internet of Hype ... by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Hey, in all honesty, you are free to conclude I'm a crank. That's OK, my wife would agree with you.

      But after 20 years in the tech industry, and 30+ years playing with technology ... this is just another new bit of hype, which stands at least a 50/50 chance of utterly failing, and which provides little compelling need for 99% of us.

      Go ahead, fetishize technology, lament how we don't have flying cars, and walk around all pie eyed and dreamy about the awesome future. I've seen enough to assume it never turns out as rosy as promised, and comes with a new bag of shit most people didn't think of.

      I'm not saying "stop liking what I don't like", because I don't give a rats ass what you like.

      I am saying that, like Microsoft's Smart Home they've been hawking for 15-20 years ... this is overhyped technology which will never see the light of day for most people, and which is purely in the domain of people who have surplus money they wish to part with. It's the epitome of first world problems, and should be treated as such.

      For the most part, I consider most forms of futurists to be deluded people who think The Next Big Thing is going to change all of our lives. And in 20 years will be laughed at in by going through old issues of Popular Mechanics.

      Of course, these days, nobody will have a stack of old blogs, so they won't even remember it.

      Once you've seen a bunch of "Next Big Things" become last years "Dumb Fucking Idea", it becomes a default position. :-P

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  2. Is the NSA/FBI/Local Police on that partnership? by RingDev · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Nest Will Now Work With Your Door Locks, Light Bulbs and More"

    So anyone who can access your Nest network can now determine your living habits and unlock doors on demand?

    I'm not typically a paranoid libertarian, but really, there are some things I'm 100% fine with handling on a closed network or with my own two hands.

    -Rick

    --
    "Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
  3. Re:But... by wolrahnaes · · Score: 5, Interesting

    At least the first generation of Nest units have Zigbee radios, but they've never been enabled as far as I can find. I have no idea whether the second generation units kept the extra radio.

    --
    I used to get high on life, but I developed a tolerance. Now I need something stronger.
  4. Get ready... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "You will be able to unlock your front door after viewing this short ad."

  5. Backdoor.. by jppiiroinen · · Score: 5, Funny

    ..got just a new meaning.

  6. Re:Coming Soon! by Minwee · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Get murdered in your own house by -- you guessed it! -- the house itself!

    Doors... Locked. Check.

    Lights... Off. Check.

    Nest Protect(tm) Carbon Monoxide detector... Silenced. Check.

    Ventilation fans... Off. Check.

    Gas stove... On. Check.

    Now just wait six hours before undoing all of those, erase a few logs and then wonder how such a tragic accident could have taken place. And you didn't even need to call a SWAT team.

  7. Here's the insight by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It never ceases to amaze me how "stop liking what I don't like" posts get moderated to +5 Insightful.

    Where is the insight here? Other than the clear insight into the poster's fear of experimental, new technologies and applications.

    The insight is that this is a subscription model without subscription value. It's an MBA thing, and comes from studying the model without the context in which it is successful.

    Companies see the subscription model as a cash revenue source, and there are several successful examples currently working: NetFlix, iTunes, internet service, phone service, and so on. Get your customers to sign up and sit back and watch the money roll in.

    The problem is when the subscription model doesn't give ongoing service. Fitness monitors comes to mind - you purchase the unit to measure your daily activity level, but you *have* to use their online service to see your results. You can't [easily] download the data to your local computer, and the interface is obscured or encrypted to prevent the user from intercepting it.

    There's no reason for the online subscription, except that it makes money for the company. People eventually realize this and stop using the service and the devices fade into obscurity. See CueCat for an example: This *might* have been useful and *might* have defined a paradigm for website tie-ins in print media, except that the User has to register with zip code, gender, and E-mail address, and the vendor has to purchase a code. Little or no functionality and registration required.

    Companies are drooling over this IOT stuff because they see it as a subscription model and they can sell the user info for even more money, but they don't realize that there is no real value being given in exchange for the subscription. There's really little value in being able to turn your furnace up/down remotely, or unlock your door remotely, or start your dishwasher remotely... and absolutely no reason to do this under a subscription model.

    Joel Spolsky's term for this is "feeble business idea". The attractiveness of the model outweighs the impracticality of the solution.