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Google to Acquire Nest

investor.google.com

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Re: Google to Acquire Nest

#401

Post by dsl »

dangrossman wrote: post #329
matt-attack wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're certainly right that they kicked Honeywell in the rear. After years of making the same damned device, they finally released an actually nice thermostat. In fact, I was recently in the market for a new thermostat which I could control on my drive home, or from bed, or whatever. After researching thoroughly, and I opted for Honeywell's latest touchscreen device (over the Nest v2 which has apparently been having…

You're misinformed. Nest can hold a set temperature like any other thermostat. It'll do so better than any other thermostat, in fact, by learning the efficiency of your heater and A/C so that it doesn't overshoot your targets, and takes into account whether the thermostat is in direct sunlight part of the day, and airflow in your house. It can also be told to hold a temperature forever, to hold a threshold forever (c…

Using all sorts of fancy technology licensed from Honeywell.

Re: Google to Acquire Nest

#402

Post by mcintyre1994 »

frogpelt wrote: post #62
chrisrhoden wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about the ability to know when someone is in your home and when someone is not? If Google records that data (say, to be able to provide you with a handy chart of your energy use and some ways to improve it), the potential I am more worried about is the fact that the data exists makes it possible to subpoena.

This is already incredibly easy with Android in the fold. They know your WiFi passwords. Of course they know when you're home.

Android tracks your location for Google Now too. Actually they handily name your home location "home", and let you set it if they get it wrong. I've heard Apple do something similar now as well, so we can probably assume the average person's location history is easily subpoenable through Google or Apple.

Re: Google to Acquire Nest

#403

Post by Encosia »

njharman wrote: post #364
91bananas wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dead in the sense that there has not been feature addition one for several years, yes.

That is probably best acquisition outcome. Most companies buy something good then change it until it sucks.

The best acquisition outcome is something like Android or Kinect, definitely not watching GrandCentral stagnate for years after acquisition.

Re: Google to Acquire Nest

#404

Post by reinhardt »

vasilipupkin wrote: post #53
MrZongle2 wrote: post #11

Am I the only one who thought "well, good for the Nest guys" followed by "too bad, it looked like a good product"?

yeah, the last thing I need is my Nest thermostat and my Nest smoke alarm sending data about my house to Google / NSA

Is this about principle or you have actual privacy concerns about leaked thermostat / smoke alarm data? Maybe I am being unimaginative but I can't think of why I should care about the latter.

Re: Google to Acquire Nest

#405

Post by enraged_camel »

kibibu wrote: post #368
psbp wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, I thought for those in the know, every point would be remarkably false. 1) http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/11/19/hell-freezes-over-th... 2) http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/09/13/motorola-droid-razr-... 3) https://www.abiresearch.com/press/googlemotorola-mobilitys-m... 4) http://www.anandtech.com/show/7586/motorola-moto-g-review/8

Not everybody follows the details of OS version updates on Motorola phones.

Yep. I'll go even further: in this case, "not everybody" means "nobody."

Re: Google to Acquire Nest

#406

Post by BlackDeath3 »

sliverstorm wrote: post #60
cloudwalking wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt Google would shut down a $3,200,000,000.00 acquisition.

Please don't include decimals on that kind of number, it's intellectually dishonest.

Perhaps you should step away from your PC for a bit? Christ.

Arguing that somebody shouldn't expand a large number because you personally now perceive this number differently and therefore it is intellectually dishonest is a bit of a squirrely argument, don't you think?

We're all capable thinking humans here. That isn't to say that smart people cannot be swayed with rhetoric and such, but don't you think that the same argument you're making here could be made against compressing such large numbers? Maybe expanding that number isn't so much exaggerating its value as it is simply impressing upon us its true enormity.

$3.2B ($3,200,000,000.00) is a lot of fucking money, after all. For anybody.

Re: Google to Acquire Nest

#407

Post by enraged_camel »

Sanddancer wrote: post #365
nostromo wrote: post #93

I'm happy for Nest but sad for myself, given the smoke detector was my Christmas gift last year. Previously I would look to YouTube as an acquisition done right. But after the kerfuffle around G+ integration, I no longer feel that way. If I have to sign in with my G+ account to manage my smoke alarm, it's going directly into the rubbish bin. If Apple had bought Nest, on the other hand, I'd feel very differently.

Had Apple bought nest, you'd have to log into your icloud account to manage it, via your idevice, with no other management abilities available. Apple is absolutely horrible at playing well with others.

I like that we all have a wonderful opportunity to bash Google, and you turn this around and bash Apple instead. Tsk tsk...

Re: Google to Acquire Nest

#408

Post by rmrfrmrf »

mortenjorck wrote: post #129
jmduke wrote: post #12

The cynic in me shudders at the possibility of Google adding even more real-world data like temperature preference and lifestyle factors to their massive data portfolio. The idealist in me is incredibly excited at the possibility of Nest's fundamental strengths being bolstered by Google's coffers.

Google Analytics └ Audience └ Interests └ Other └ Ambient Temperature Preferences

Kind of makes me sick of my stomach.

Re: Google to Acquire Nest

#409

Post by maxerickson »

VLM wrote: post #290
acdha wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You could get the same benefit from a device for $30 of electronics. … in theory but there's no evidence that most people actually see those benefits: http://www.energystar.gov/ia/partners/prod_development/revis... I was going to say that you should start a company to produce that competitive $30 thermostat but then you confirmed that you have no idea what you're talking about: > The price doesn't justify the energ…

"but in much of the country people pay many hundreds of dollars every month during the winter or summer. If a smarter thermostat saves 10% of that" Not mathematically / thermodynamically possible, sorry. I live in a cooler area but not the real cold areas up north. During the recent polar vortex, which momentarily was centered over my house (and I'm not kidding) we got down to -15. (70 - -15) = delta t of 85 degrees.…

Lowering the thermostat during warm weather saves a larger portion of the energy for that period.

The polar vortex scenario is where a thermostat can help the least.

For instance, imagine a home that heats from 50 most of the time. Then it is (1-15/20)/100=25%.

Re: Google to Acquire Nest

#410

Post by ericcumbee »

On one hand google having more information is unsettling but at the same time it could lead to some interesting possibilities. In the summer my nest kicks the AC on at about 4:45 assuming that I will get home sometime around 5pm. But say I go afterwork to have a beer or drink coffee and stay out until 8pm. Nest knowing where my phone is means it could be smart enough to not turn my AC on until I am headed home.
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