Google's Nest is disabling some of its customers' old smart-home devices • Hacker News Board

Re: Google's Nest is disabling some of its customers' old smart-home devices

#261

Post by XJOKOLAT » Mon, Apr 04, 2016, 11:39 PM UTC

antiviral wrote: post #260

rconti wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know almost nothing about the inner workings of Google or the Nest team, and yet I regularly hear about Tony and what a piece of work he is. If someone like myself, only casually acquainted with the organization, hears so many bad things about Tony, how does he still have a job? Forget his apparent management incompetence, at this point it's just bad PR for Google.

>how does he still have a job Certain people are gifted with the ability to "kiss up and kick down" their team, i.e., kiss up to those they need to impress, and for anyone else that is less valuable, "kick them" or treat them with less regard. Here is a good Wikipedia article, with several case studies: John Bolton, Robert McNamara. Maybe someone can add his name to this list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiss_up_ki…

"Gifted"?

Re: Google's Nest is disabling some of its customers' old smart-home devices

#262

Post by outside1234 » Mon, Apr 04, 2016, 11:42 PM UTC

deelowe wrote: post #184

imaginenore wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody gives a crap about these semantic games. Nest is owned by Google. https://nest.com/about/

I'm trying to explain (perhaps poorly?) that the change is not simply semantic. No one who is part of Google proper has any say in what nest, glass or those other companies do at this point. None of the culture, support etc... transfers over. The CEOs of these new alphabet companies are free to do as they please. What you're seeing here is this in action. Saying Google are somehow accountable for nest or glass is lik…

If this is so true, then why don't the complete the task and spin the company off and hold a controlling share?

Re: Google's Nest is disabling some of its customers' old smart-home devices

#263

Post by maxerickson » Mon, Apr 04, 2016, 11:43 PM UTC

maxxxxx wrote: post #24

This is starting to be a real problem. What if Tesla decides to shut down their cars after 7 years or your phone stops working after 2 years? I bet somebody somebody will come up with an idea for a house that shuts down after a certain time. If you can't rely on ownership of something anymore we'll be in big trouble. Maybe there will be a countertrend where instead of relying on the cloud as storage/computing service…

We already have housing as a service (eviction is close enough to shutting down, so it has that to).

It's not so bad, people generally understand the implications of renting and there are laws protecting their rights.

I wonder if people were clearer that these gadgets were unlikely to stick around for 3 years if they would buy them at all.

Re: Google's Nest is disabling some of its customers' old smart-home devices

#264

Post by ocdtrekkie » Mon, Apr 04, 2016, 11:45 PM UTC

sokoloff wrote: post #247

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, unfortunately, there's a huge middle ground not being tackled. I use INSTEON devices, which are proprietary, but can only interface outside through my PC's serial adapter (or a cloud hub, which I obviously didn't buy). I want consumer-quality switches and such in my house, so this was the obvious choice. But then the open source hardware stuff is almost entirely limited to 'build it yourself' boards. And sure,…

I have ALC (On-Q/Legrand) switches for the same reason. Hard-wired control, but reasonably nice (at least not clown) looking and operating switches in manual mode.

That's a key thing too that things like Wi-Fi lightbulbs and crud can't offer: Your light switch should still ALWAYS work like an ordinary light switch!

Re: Google's Nest is disabling some of its customers' old smart-home devices

#265

Post by ocdtrekkie » Mon, Apr 04, 2016, 11:46 PM UTC

rubyfan wrote: post #257

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So did I. But I managed to re-sell my Nest to someone else shortly thereafter. :D

There's a sucker born every minute

I warned said user in advance, told them why I was selling it, etc. But they're a Google Developer Group leader and such, so they're kinda baked into the Google ecosystem. Who am I to argue? If he wants it, and I want to get rid of it, there's a deal!

Re: Google's Nest is disabling some of its customers' old smart-home devices

#266

Post by ocdtrekkie » Mon, Apr 04, 2016, 11:47 PM UTC

jpindar wrote: post #259

bitJericho wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've done such installations. The simple solution is to use Honeywell products. It's good stuff that works as intended. The downside is its not even in the same ballpark as modern google/amazon/startup type devices. The customer gets what the customer wants so if someone wants ultra modern then conservatively designed products don't fly. Best advice is to vote with your wallet and stop trusting google products.

Good point. My Hue lights work without an internet connection, and can be controlled from a device on my local network. And they are also made by an old-school company, Phillips.

There's ups and downs to Hue. If you recall earlier they tried axing out support for third party bulbs from their app. But they also deserve some kudos for basing their app and devices on a open platform to begin with.

Re: Google's Nest is disabling some of its customers' old smart-home devices

#267

Post by ocdtrekkie » Mon, Apr 04, 2016, 11:49 PM UTC

milesskorpen wrote: post #256

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google is incredibly good at their "PR releases disguised as interviews". Google senior employee puff pieces are pretty amazing. While such interviews aren't "paid" persay, you only get such interviews (and the clicks/ad-views they bring) if you portray those people in a positive light. Though if you scrape them for minor bits, you find some minor hints. For example, one of those fawning admiration posts about him, t…

This hardly seems like a huge stumble.

Depends how well converged OSes start to take the main stage. If Windows gets a lot of traction with it (more likely than Ubuntu, to be honest), it could be one of those things where Google being two years ahead of the game would've helped. I see what Microsoft is doing today, and thinking "THIS was why I was so excited about Android when 3.0/4.0/etc. came out."

And considering the stumbles the ad market, their primary business, is having, being a strong device platform provider, which they've already shown they can monetize (outside of ads, Android is probably their next most profitable space), is really key.

Re: Google's Nest is disabling some of its customers' old smart-home devices

#268

Post by schakrava » Mon, Apr 04, 2016, 11:52 PM UTC

zeveb wrote: post #56

I think what users actually need is a smart home computer: one device, for the entire family, which provides sits on the Internet and provides secure access to home-network devices (e.g. security cameras, media players) and which gives easier-to-use (albeit perhaps less-secure) access to those things on the LAN. It could use containers to run blobs of code from different vendors. Given modern computing resources, it…

We are headed that way with Rockstor open source project. It's an advanced NAS platform based on BTRFS features and also has docker based app framework built-in called Rock-ons. Shameless plug, but only because it's highly relevant.

More power on the edges of the internet please!!!

rockstor.com forum.rockstor.com

Re: Google's Nest is disabling some of its customers' old smart-home devices

#269

Post by chris_wot » Mon, Apr 04, 2016, 11:52 PM UTC

XJOKOLAT wrote: post #261

antiviral wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>how does he still have a job Certain people are gifted with the ability to "kiss up and kick down" their team, i.e., kiss up to those they need to impress, and for anyone else that is less valuable, "kick them" or treat them with less regard. Here is a good Wikipedia article, with several case studies: John Bolton, Robert McNamara. Maybe someone can add his name to this list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiss_up_ki…

"Gifted"?

Yes, normally a "gift" that keeps giving, even after that person leaves the company entirely.

Re: Google's Nest is disabling some of its customers' old smart-home devices

#270

Post by chris_wot » Mon, Apr 04, 2016, 11:53 PM UTC

Gustomaximus wrote: post #249

fludlight wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> how does he still have a job There is a lag between management incompetence and revenue.

Often these people are very personable when they want to be. They use this trait to manage up but only those below them, and without the power to make changes, see the real person. This is why and exectutive team needs to be themself spending time at the working level or have eyes/ears there.

That honestly sounds like psychopathic behaviour...