"OK Google, flush the toliet."
Google to Acquire Nest
511–520 of 590 posts
Re: Google to Acquire Nest
#512Earlier quoted context omitted.
Here are just a few examples: - Keyhole (now Google Maps) - Android Inc. - Motorola Mobility - GrandCentral (now Google Voice) - NeXT - Siri In general, an acquired company initially became successful by bringing value to consumers. When that company is acquired, it gets more resources to bring more value to customers.
Google Voice is effectively a dead product, isn't it? Doesn't seem that favorable to me.
> Google Voice is effectively a dead product, isn't it?
Voice might be dead as a brand; Google's unification of communications trend might mean that the technology and functionality will eventually be merged into Hangouts.
Re: Google to Acquire Nest
#513Re: Google to Acquire Nest
#514Earlier quoted context omitted.
You missed my point. If apple controlled nest, you'd almost certainly only get notifications if you were using an idevice of some sort. Apple's terrible about working with others to create industry standards; the AppleTV for example would be a lot more useful if it used DLNA for streaming instead of Apple's proprietary format.
I think you're missing his/her point. The problem nostromo has is not proprietary formats but social networks. I think the worry is updates like "John Doe turned the temperature in his house to 75!" (and while that fear is overstated, it's not unreasonable to not want products that can detect the presence of humans in your bedroom connected to social networks).
Google+ doesn't really have to be a social network. There's nothing social about my use of G+, and I use it pretty frequently.
Re: Google to Acquire Nest
#515Earlier quoted context omitted.
$200 is simply a terrible price fit. The rich buy $10k+ systems, the poor buy $20 units at Home Depot. There is no middle class in america, only credit.
> There is no middle class in America ... said someone in a forum occupied mostly by middle class people from America.
American software engineers are absolutely not middle class:
Median household income, 2008-2012 $53,046
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html
If we're talking globally, software engineers are even further to the right end.
Re: Google to Acquire Nest
#516Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly. I don't care if the government knows when I'm home (they can already figure that out), but imagine if Google's database of Nest info got leaked. Burglars could look at the database and say "Oh hey, look, no one's home right now."
I guess that the threat of being abducted by aliens is higher than burglars successfully hacking Google to get information on when you are not at home.
Databases get leaked publicly all the time. Look at the recent instagram leak.
Re: Google to Acquire Nest
#517Earlier quoted context omitted.
I thought "Good for the Nest gu...HOLY CRAP GOOGLE PAID $3.2 BILLION FOR A THERMOSTAT COMPANY"
Actually believe it or not but this is a very very expensive acqu-hire. First engineer on the IPhone team? Father of the IPOD? given the size of the smartphone industry and given what apple has become because of the iphone one could argue that the dude is worth half a billion.
Could not agree more.
Re: Google to Acquire Nest
#518Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
With the exception of using iCloud, this is already how I manage my Nest. So?
Not everybody owns an idevice.
Re: Google to Acquire Nest
#519Earlier quoted context omitted.
Here are just a few examples: - Keyhole (now Google Maps) - Android Inc. - Motorola Mobility - GrandCentral (now Google Voice) - NeXT - Siri In general, an acquired company initially became successful by bringing value to consumers. When that company is acquired, it gets more resources to bring more value to customers.
Google Voice is effectively a dead product, isn't it? Doesn't seem that favorable to me.
Yes, Google Voice as a separate product is definitely going away. Its functionality will be subsumed by Hangouts, but nothing about that transition is clear to users.
Re: Google to Acquire Nest
#520Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would have much rather seen this as a technology/algorithm hire from a company like Honeywell or some other established HVAC company, which could have kept selling the Nest (and their new smoke detector, etc.) but also incorporated the technology into higher-tech commercial/industrial systems, where you some companies could probably save millions a year through more intelligent control and management systems.
Honestly, HVAC is a fantastic industry with plenty of room for innovation. This being said, there's far more accurate automation in industrial applications than around the home. A good example of this work is within airports and casinos. The new Vancouver Convention Centre is something worth reading up on too. For technically-inclined individuals, understanding how water, air and gas move is the ticket to a proper di…
On the contrary, get ready for the Google Home Security System!