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Nest, the company, died at Google I/O 2019

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Re: Nest, the company, died at Google I/O 2019

#251

Post by weberc2 »

mixmastamyk wrote: post #249
secabeen wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The key is the voice control. Trying to do it via an app, a remote, or even remembering the switch UI isoften too heavy-weight. Being able to say just "Alexa, living room 50%" is very nice. Same thing with being able to turn off my bedroom ceiling lights without getting out of bed. Sure, is it required? No. Can I get up? Sure. Was it worth $50 for the smart switch? For me, yes.

I know not getting up sounds like a good thing, but the logical conclusion to that are the couch potatoes shown in the movie Wall-E.

If your only exercise is walking to the light switch you have bigger problems.

Re: Nest, the company, died at Google I/O 2019

#252

Post by fpgaminer »

wil421 wrote: post #87
samsolomon wrote: post #83

Curious, does anyone have a good manual thermostat that they like? Part of the reason Nest has done so well is most programmable thermostats are horrible to use. I'm a product designer and I don't understand how the scheduling works. Scheduling isn't something I really need for my studio. At night I turn the AC on, in the morning I turn it off. Don't really need to turn on the heat in the winter. I'd love is a qualit…

Get a cheap Ecobee lite or one of the many long established manufacturers like Honeywell. I really like Nest but after the Google acquisition I’m not confident in their products being supported. For me I don’t need smart scheduling. My wife works from home and I do a couple days a week. The Ecobee 4’s I have are great and come with a couple room sensors. Had them for a few weeks now. I’ve briefly looked into the API…

I have a Honeywell programmable/smart thermostat and am not particularly happy with it. The interface is confusing, and the smart functionality is limited and clunky.

Re: Nest, the company, died at Google I/O 2019

#253

Post by dx87 »

bradlys wrote: post #217
smbullet wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not all of us live in safe neighborhoods like yourself.

It's not even a matter of "safe". I live in a neighborhood that is seen as very safe. Yet, we had a burglary two houses down not too long ago. And they happen frequently enough to myself. I've had plenty stolen. Without a camera, there's ~0% chance of anyone being caught. I ended up buying a camera for peace of mind and for checking in on my place to see who's entering my residence area. Sometimes it's genuinely help…

If you're frequently having things stolen, you don't live in a "very safe" neighborhood. I've lived in working class neighborhoods most of my life, and the only thing I've ever had stolen from me was a bike that I left on my front porch when I was a kid. The only thing the people I know have had stolen is stuff like car stereos or GPS devices back before most people used their phones. Just small crime of opportunity stuff, no breaking into people's homes.

Re: Nest, the company, died at Google I/O 2019

#254

Post by TeMPOraL »

mschuster91 wrote: post #155
gambiting wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a sort of thing that you build when money is meaningless. And at that point you can still have very valid priorities - helping other people out, setting up charities, etc etc. Your house just happens to have a cinema room - it's no different "luxury" than having underfloor heating in your bathroom. It's comparably unnecessary, just on a different financial scale.

> it's no different "luxury" than having underfloor heating in your bathroom. It's comparably unnecessary, just on a different financial scale. Underfloor heating is not unnecessary, in fact it is about 10% more efficient in operating cost[1] as it can operate at lower inlet temperatures (30-35 °C, compared to 60+ °C for conventional radiators). In addition conventional radiators are often placed on the outside-facin…

And $100k home cinema is more efficient than having to go to actual cinema. Still, a luxury.

Re: Nest, the company, died at Google I/O 2019

#255

Post by spilk »

dustinmoris wrote: post #97

Smart people don't buy smart home devices. My relatively poor grandparents and my slightly less poor parents had a hard working life, but none of them had to sleep in a dark cold room because the switch to turn the lights on or the heating stopped working. Ever. This problem has been solved by other people many many years ago. Last month I watched a documentary where a billionaire was showing of his multi million man…

It's like you're purposely describing the least useful application of smarthome devices.

Setting up geofence triggers, time/event-based triggers, etc. is the real power of smart devices. I have automations set up so if I arrive home when it's dark, lights in my house turn on automatically so I don't have to fumble for light switches. I have motion sensors so if I walk into rooms, the lights turn on automatically and then turn off after I leave. I can set up schedules to turn lights on and off while I'm not at home so my house looks occupied.

Also, with Apple Homekit, there is a control center widget so you just swipe up, tap home and your "favorite" devices are very quickly accessible from anywhere in the world.

Re: Nest, the company, died at Google I/O 2019

#256

Post by rubicon33 »

iscrewyou wrote: post #205
rhacker wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the exact kind of comment that would make it to the top because it just empowered everyone that DOESN'T have one such system. It's filled with finger pointing. Most of the replies basically point out yeah, I hate IoT lights, but this use case is good... It's not genuine to dismiss the entire enchilada because YOU don't have it. In 5 years when all the crap is worked out and you eventually buy a system with ex…

I don't have a smart home device and I won't buy it in a few years. And the simple reason is that there is no regulation for bad behavior. These companies keep getting away with massive privacy violations. We can dig into the big companies but at this time, that point has been beaten to death. When there is better regulation and the software engineers are being jailed for violations of privacy, I will trust the syste…

> When there is better regulation and the software engineers are being jailed for violations of privacy,

Just like all those bankers who were jailed after the 2008 financial crisis that wrecked the lives of millions? Gimme a break.

Re: Nest, the company, died at Google I/O 2019

#257

Post by Zigurd »

The meta-observation based on comments here is that smart home technology has bad coupling between volume customers and early adopters, who may be opinion leaders.

"Broken smart home" describes every smart home ever. If you don't believe that I have some used X10 light switches to sell you.

Smart homes are a mug's game, but some smart home devices, like smart speakers, sell well because they do enough straight out of the box and the simplest level of integration with other devices is simple enough.

If the EOL of Works With Nest troubles you, you are not the mass market. The mass market is delighted by being able to shout "Hey Google, where's my phone?" and save a few minutes of searching, and is unconcerned if in two years their Google Home Mini stops working.

Re: Nest, the company, died at Google I/O 2019

#258

Post by Zigurd »

stirkac wrote: post #6

This is why I would never invest too much into Smart Home. While my phone may be expected to last for a few years only, I don't want my house deprecated because of a takeover/bankruptcy of a company.

That's correct. If you would be pissed if it stopped working, don't buy it. Same for other "smart" products like smart watches. They have to have plastic bodies because they have radios. Because they have plastic bodies, expensive materials in the bezel or band make no sense. Their electronics and displays will be out of date within 3-5 years even if the OS continues to be supported. If you can't treat it as disposable, it's not for you.

Re: Nest, the company, died at Google I/O 2019

#259

Post by pygy_ »

Bartweiss wrote: post #164
nine_k wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't help but quote: «“the "Internet of Things" won't work until the "Local Area Network of Things" works», seen here on HN [1]. There's significantly less money in it, though, and more hassle. It's not going to become popular enough until people get burned enough with vendors going out of business, or just stopping support, and making their convenient $199 gadgets obsolete. In a sense, a large company like Nest pul…

It's hard to decide which nickname is better between "the Internet of Things That Don't Work" and "the Internet of Someone Else's Things". I can see a half dozen solidly practical uses for a smart home setup, mostly scheduling tasks to be done while I'm sleeping or not at home. Beyond that, I'd have a lot of fun just building silly hobby projects with cheap sensors, wifi-controlled lighting, etc. But I'm not going to…

https://twitter.com/internetofshit ?

"the Internet of bricks" succintly conveys your first suggestion. "Internet of taps" for the second?

Re: Nest, the company, died at Google I/O 2019

#260

Post by chaostheory »

DannyBee wrote: post #132
tinus_hn wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suppose that’s why instead of showing examples you are making broad sweeping claims?

Airport stuff, Ping, Monster branded beats headphones, etc. You can get support for mac/etc stuff for 5 years after purchase (which admittedly is nice). However, before you decide that is awesome, things like the headphones were killed with no support regardless of purchase date. Apple also refuses to call anything it stopped manufacturing "canceled" at all. It deliberately tries to message this part, calling them "v…

Even if you count the iPod classic, that's not a lot of things Apple cancelled compared to Google.
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