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Google to Acquire Nest

investor.google.com

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Re: Google to Acquire Nest

#241

Post by bentcorner »

taylorwc wrote: post #106
Fasebook wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? $200 for a predictive thermostat, with a lame excuse to stream energy usage data and proximity data (Nest detects humans) out of your home? Id rather pay $99 to tell health insurance companies how often I exercise, live. You could get the same benefit from a device for $30 of electronics. It's an overpriced gimmick to justify another selling off of your personal data forever in exchange for nothing but some m…

Does that mean you place no value on aesthetics or industrial design of a beautiful device? Don't get me wrong, I agree that it's overpriced, but I do at least place some value on a well-made device.

I'd pay a few dollars more, maybe. At the end of the day as long as it isn't garishly awful I don't particularly care.

For example, this one does everything I need and costs 10% of a nest: http://amzn.com/B002RL9BIM

It actually has a backlight which is a step up from what I have today. It's just not important to me. Definitely not $250 important.

I could definitely use a smarter thermostat, but my vision of the future is a wireless dumb thermostat paired to a home PC that is connected to other sensors. While those dumb devices could be made to interoperate with a cloud service (this is probably where Google is playing), I'd rather keep that control in-house (haha).

Re: Google to Acquire Nest

#243

Post by mastermojo »

jader201 wrote: post #217
MartinCron wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see the YouTube acquisition as being harmful. Pixar is still making (some) good movies under Disney. I'm sure there are more examples.

I would say it's debatable as to whether YouTube has been harmful. I think many aren't a fan of the licensing changes and other experience elements, but maybe those would have happened anyway. I agree w/ Pixar to some extent, but it seems they have seen a slight decline in quality recently (Cars 2, Monsters University, Brave). I think particularly, they may be looking for more opportunities to exploit previous franch…

I think youtube wouldn't have managed to continue operations without a company like google stepping in. It was running massive bandwidth costs and did not have the ad network in place to monetize.

Re: Google to Acquire Nest

#244

Post by jt2190 »

psbp wrote: post #161
ececconi wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're being sarcastic right? Sorry if it's a dumb question.

Everything I just said is the exact opposite of reality, so yes.

Poe's law explains why sarcasm doesn't work on the internet:

  "Without a blatant display of humor, it is impossible to 
  create a parody of extremism or fundamentalism that 
  someone won't mistake for the real thing." [1]
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law

(edit: Poe's Law always reminds me of this SNL skit where Fred Armisen tells Jimmy Fallon that the right way to tell a joke is to use a "catch phrase": http://video.tvguide.com/Saturday+Night+Live/Weekend+Update+...)

Re: Google to Acquire Nest

#245

Post by acdha »

dangrossman wrote: post #50
ActVen wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have paying customers. It matters.

Nest has customers who have paid it, it does not have paying customers. There is no ongoing fee despite every device Nest sells being connected to its servers 24/7/365. It takes no more than ~3 seconds for any changes you make on their web/mobile apps to reach the thermostat, so it has to be at least checking in with a server constantly.

Google already has massive server deployment around the world – the incremental cost of keeping some sockets open seems unlikely to noticeably increase load when they already have Android, Chrome, Google Talk, etc.

Re: Google to Acquire Nest

#246

Post by caprad »

MartinCron wrote: post #174
jader201 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm trying to think of a tech acquisition that was favorable, or at the very least not unfavorable for the consumer. It seems like tech (maybe all ) acquisitions almost always favor the buyer and not the consumer. Does anybody have any good examples?

I don't see the YouTube acquisition as being harmful. Pixar is still making (some) good movies under Disney. I'm sure there are more examples.

> Pixar is still making (some) good movies under Disney.

Pixar movie quality seems to have dropped, while Disney's have gone up after the acquisition.

http://i.imgur.com/H2s4hVL.jpg

Cars 2 was clearly a release for money (they make more money of Cars merchandise than they do from films), but the other films?

Re: Google to Acquire Nest

#248

Post by aqme28 »

MartinCron wrote: post #174
jader201 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm trying to think of a tech acquisition that was favorable, or at the very least not unfavorable for the consumer. It seems like tech (maybe all ) acquisitions almost always favor the buyer and not the consumer. Does anybody have any good examples?

I don't see the YouTube acquisition as being harmful. Pixar is still making (some) good movies under Disney. I'm sure there are more examples.

Funny, I would have held Pixar and YouTube up as counterexamples.

Re: Google to Acquire Nest

#249

Post by MrZongle2 »

napoleond wrote: post #219
MrZongle2 wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm saying that if you're near the top of the food chain at Nest, 2014 is probably going to be the start of many good years financially. As for the product? Google's Reader product comes to mind.

I know everyone's still upset about Reader, but your post doesn't make any sense. Google didn't pay $3.2 billion dollars for a bunch of new employees.

Yes, it is doubtful that Google would up and kill a product they just paid $3.2B for.

But I'm human, and I was a heavy Reader user. That particular debacle -- along with the NSA revelations of last year -- have affected my perception of the company in a negative manner.

Re: Google to Acquire Nest

#250

Post by smackfu »

dangrossman wrote: post #50
ActVen wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have paying customers. It matters.

Nest has customers who have paid it, it does not have paying customers. There is no ongoing fee despite every device Nest sells being connected to its servers 24/7/365. It takes no more than ~3 seconds for any changes you make on their web/mobile apps to reach the thermostat, so it has to be at least checking in with a server constantly.

I do love their strategy where if you already own a Nest thermostat, buying the Nest Protect smoke detector makes your old product work better. Very clever.
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