Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google Is Turning Off the Works-with-Nest API

nest.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

431–440 of 600 posts

Re: Google Is Turning Off the Works-with-Nest API

#431

Post by icebraining »

iknowordidthat wrote: post #223
driverdan wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HomeKit is not open and requires Apple devices.

That is not true. The HomeKit protocol is documented. There are at least a few open source projects that implement it both as accessories and hubs. Home Bridge being the best known one. If all the accessory vendors were to go under and Apple were to stop supporting HomeKit tomorrow, HomeKit accessories and hubs would still operate just fine and alternatives could be created. Even using Alexa or Google Nest for voice…

Being documented is not enough. Implementing a commercial device requires including an Authentication component (before it used to be an actual chip, now it seems it can be done in software), and that can be used to prevent devices from speaking to alternative control apps.

From what I can tell, Homebridge implements Homekit as a device, receiving commands. But can anyone build an app or device to send commands, outside of iOS?

The fact that I can't find an Homekit control app for Android strongly indicates this is not possible.

Re: Google Is Turning Off the Works-with-Nest API

#432

Post by gerbilly »

gergles wrote: post #22

> I’m a Works with Nest developer. Will I be able to access and control Nest devices moving forward? > No. The Actions on Google Smart Home platform does not provide open API access to Nest devices, so it cannot be used to access and control Nest devices. Instead, managing and controlling Google Home, Nest, and thousands of third-party smart home devices is done through the Google Home app and the Google Assistant. W…

Reminds me of this article by Courtney Love comparing the music industry to sharecropping: https://www.salon.com/2000/06/14/love_7/

Re: Google Is Turning Off the Works-with-Nest API

#433

Post by iask »

And there went my love for Nest. I’ve been one of the earliest adopters...love the product. After they got acquired by Google I’ve been expecting this, however, not so soon.

Time to start looking into an alternative - suggestions anyone?

Re: Google Is Turning Off the Works-with-Nest API

#435

Post by jonstewart »

I bought two Nest thermostats this winter because they worked with only R-W wires. I turned off the learning feature, as it was useless for my house with its combination of passive solar and radiant heat. However, the API is/was quite simple and I was looking forward to writing my own controller.

Still, I had this nagging feeling that I shouldn’t have bought them. Thanks for confirming my anxieties, Google! I can’t trust you, but I at least can trust you to be you.

Re: Google Is Turning Off the Works-with-Nest API

#436

Post by icebraining »

iknowordidthat wrote: post #273
asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hrm. How so? HomeKit does not allow third party devs to write apps to control HomeKit devices, AFAICT. So they never added the capability that Google is removing. People can still develop devices that are triggered by Nest and Google Home. They just can no longer write apps that themselves trigger or modify Nest devices. Or are you saying it's prescient because Apple saw that such capabilities were not economically v…

HomeBridge can control HomeKit accessories just fine.

Can you show an example of HomeBridge controlling an HomeKit accessory? The description of the project says the opposite: it allows the control of non-HomeKit accessories from HomeKit.

Re: Google Is Turning Off the Works-with-Nest API

#437

Post by Teledhil »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #361
dotBen wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, they just did a Twitter. I lived through the Twitter ecosystem collapse and now I'm a VC I worry about investing in startups that are built on any large ecosystem where there isn't an alignment of clear economic interest. Google of all people doing this just made it tougher for everyone else to maintain confidence in large vendor platforms.

Here's a note, straight from quotes file, I took around the original Twitter fiasco, and have since reposted or mentioned on HN a few times on occasions similar to this: * Sovereign from Mass Effect on using someone else's technology: "Your civilization is based on the technology of the mass relays, our technology. By using it, your society develops along the paths we desire. We impose order on the chaos of organic e…

Damn you, EA, I liked Mass Effect 1 so much.

Re: Google Is Turning Off the Works-with-Nest API

#438

Post by TheTruth1234 »

gergles wrote: post #22

> I’m a Works with Nest developer. Will I be able to access and control Nest devices moving forward? > No. The Actions on Google Smart Home platform does not provide open API access to Nest devices, so it cannot be used to access and control Nest devices. Instead, managing and controlling Google Home, Nest, and thousands of third-party smart home devices is done through the Google Home app and the Google Assistant. W…

What a joke ... f@ck Google. Seriously.

I'm not even a Nest developer, but everything Google touches now turns to sh!t.

Re: Google Is Turning Off the Works-with-Nest API

#439

Post by sokoloff »

loudmax wrote: post #430
sokoloff wrote: post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can build alongside someone else's long-term demonstrated strategy (developing Microsoft desktop software) much more securely than developing a feature in someone else's closed garden. You can also spread your footprint. As just an easy-to-discuss example, Facebook and Twitter develop for many different someone else's platforms, by supporting multiple browsers [who in turn support multiple OSs], multiple mobile p…

Developing Microsoft desktop software you're still building on someone else's platform and hoping they don't decide to alter the terms of the deal. Microsoft may be more forward thinking than Google, but companies change.

Absolutely. That risk is much lower than developing for the Alexa, Nest, Twitter, etc platforms. At some point, you’re forced to build on someone else’s platform(s), even if that platform is “Intel” or “AWS” as no one is doing the entire end-to-end value chain.

Re: Google Is Turning Off the Works-with-Nest API

#440

Post by cptskippy »

telltruth wrote: post #314
dehrmann wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My gripe is the design is nowhere near as good. It's like going from an iPhone to a feature phone. I wish there were an open-source Nest firmware, or at least an open-source backend. Google doesn't need to know when I'm home.

Nest is actually far from great thermostate, definitely not "iPhone" of thermostate. It doesn't allow lots of manual settings and it doesn't handle anything more than simple systems well. There is lot of marketing that is blinding but not much substance. You should check out thermostats like Ecobee instead.

Specifics? It does everything a basic programmable thermostat does in a simpler interface.
Post reply on HN