Google to Acquire Nest • Hacker News Board

Re: Google to Acquire Nest

#571

Post by abvdasker » Tue, Jan 14, 2014, 3:42 PM UTC

I hate to be that guy, but I think if Google's plan really is to tackle tech in the home, it probably isn't going to work out. The attempt to better integrate technology with common household devices and appliances is nothing new [1]. Most of the previous attempts over the last 20 years have have been met with limited success.

The biggest obstacle is and has been that most of the utilitarian devices in homes already do their jobs pretty well. They're also inexpensive. What does Nest/Google have to offer that won't be more expensive and will present some life-changing advantage over a conventional stove/thermostat/garage door opener?

[1] http://www.internetnews.com/xSP/article.php/1489021

Re: Google to Acquire Nest

#572

Post by cleaver » Tue, Jan 14, 2014, 3:59 PM UTC

My thought on the topic, after being shocked at the price, was that Apple must have some home automation products as their next big thing.

3.2B to head off Apple from creating the "iPod of home automation" is still a bargain.

Re: Google to Acquire Nest

#573

Post by clarky07 » Tue, Jan 14, 2014, 4:09 PM UTC

VLM wrote: post #551

clarky07 wrote: post #458

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You act like products can only be purchased with a credit card. That is not in fact the case.

Actually no, I acted like at a zero percent interest rate / zero opportunity cost (which is a little weird) it would take about nine years, and at a typical 30% credit card for your average poor dude was infinity. Everyone will fit somewhere within those bounds. A reasonable opportunity cost might be 3%, I'm too lazy to bother figuring the time till profit because nine years at zero is already too long.

A few things. First, it costs 250, not 300. Second, an alternative would be much cheaper, but it is non zero. Third, it provides other benefits than just potentially saving money such as a great user interface and apps with which to control it remotely.

So say an alternative is 30, the cost is 220, not 300. That takes several years off your calculation. Then having the benefit of an improved interface is non zero. Even if it takes a long time to pay back I plan on living in my house for a long time, and I liked nice things.

Now if you want to argue about overpriced absurd things, go with their $130 smoke detector or whatever it is. No thanks.

Re: Google to Acquire Nest

#574

Post by ceejayoz » Tue, Jan 14, 2014, 4:11 PM UTC

mdda wrote: post #540

ceejayoz wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used that indirection to turn the heat up for my cat while on vacation, knowing that a big ice storm was coming. Couldn't do that if it only worked on the LAN.

Actually puzzled : Why would the cat need it warmer indoors if there's an ice storm? Isn't keeping it at the same temperature enough? Or is the problem because the heating switches off overnight, so you feel that it needs a boost during the day to compensate? Isn't that something that a smart thermostat should cope with?

Boosting it means if the power goes out for a few hours and the temperature drops 20 degrees in the house it goes from 70 to 50, not 50 to 30.

Protects the pipes, too.

Re: Google to Acquire Nest

#575

Post by LaGrange » Tue, Jan 14, 2014, 4:27 PM UTC

psbp wrote: post #267

pwnna wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I agree with the statement, lately Google's action has been concerning (with things like Reader, Google+ push, and what not). I just don't want to see Google dominating the world. Competition is nice.

Are you implying that google did a disservice to the competition by creating a desire for a product and then retiring it with months of warning for competitors to develop their product and attract google's large user base while allowing users to easily migrate their information to those services?

In the warsaw circle countries, we had a joke (and I say it as a fairly hardline socialist) that „communism heroically solves the problems it created”.

Sounds like the case.

Re: Google to Acquire Nest

#576

Post by ohsnapman » Tue, Jan 14, 2014, 4:32 PM UTC

ulfw wrote: post #567

arikrak wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, and like Android and Youtube. Sarcasm aside, Google has actually done pretty well with acquisitions compared to other companies. (Say ones that begin with "M" or "Y"). You can see the list in wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisition...

Yes and we can find tons of examples where they haven't done well, e.g. Jaiku which they pretty much threw away, Dodgeball which let the founders leave in anger and got them to found Foursquare outside of Google etc...

You're looking at this the wrong way. Google acquisitions tend to go two ways: talent acquisition, or hitting for homeruns. Is it worth it to Google if they buy a Jaiku and a Dodgeball and a bunch of other relatively small companies and essentially whiff, then knock it out of the park when they buy an Android or a YouTube? Short termers always back, but when you look back over the last five years the overall strategy has been sound.

With specific regards to Foursquare: note that the founder left to do Foursquare, and they're floundering right now. Maybe the vision was never sound to begin with.

Re: Google to Acquire Nest

#577

Post by reuven » Tue, Jan 14, 2014, 4:33 PM UTC

mrinterweb wrote: post #466

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.

I can see the google advertisements now. Spending too much on your heating/cooling? Save big at Acme heating & cooling.

Better yet, they could add a microphone to the thermostat and smoke detector, and then the content of your speech for analysis.. to be used in advertisements. Yes, I'm talking about AdWords for conversations!

Imagine your thermostat suddenly saying: "Excuse me, but I believe you've been speaking about ice cream. FYI, your local supermarket is running a special for the next 48 hours."

Re: Google to Acquire Nest

#578

Post by MartinCron » Tue, Jan 14, 2014, 4:34 PM UTC

uptown wrote: post #467

MartinCron wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even with a handful of merely good movies, we still have four outstanding Pixar films post-Disney. Also, I'm really enjoying the increase in quality of Disney movies post-Pixar. Just saw Frozen last week and loved it.

But given the timeline of producing those types of films, I wonder how much of those four was already in-motion prior to the deal closing?

I'm sure that all of them were, actually, which makes the post-purchase Pixar picture less pretty.

Re: Google to Acquire Nest

#579

Post by ssmoot » Tue, Jan 14, 2014, 4:40 PM UTC

Fasebook wrote: post #455

girvo wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay so, you're a troll. And one who doesn't understand what "value proposition" means.

I'm a troll because I pointed out how ridiculous his conceptualization of the price is? Ok, I am. With that kind of logic, you can justify spending $10,000,000 on a car because that's a fraction of the price of a manufacturing plant. That is not a "value proposition".

No. It's the opposite. You said I could duplicate the functionality for $30. I said that's only true if you believe the time you'd put into that exercise is worth less than $220.

I don't. But your circumstances may be different if you work for $1/day.

Re: Google to Acquire Nest

#580

Post by Houshalter » Tue, Jan 14, 2014, 5:16 PM UTC

benbojangles wrote: post #473

shitlord wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody, aside from the people on XDA and /r/Android. And maybe a few on HN.

If i'm not mistaken, Google has been dipping it's toes in home automation for some time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_PowerMeter http://mobilesyrup.com/2013/12/17/google-dipping-its-toe-int... To acquire home statistics. Can you imagine the personal data gathering? And the $ value attached to that data? All sweetened with sugar for you to buy the product, connect, and give your data for free. Oh how I would lo…

This is absurd. That data isn't worth anything, let alone to make up for the investment in these things. No one cares that you turn off your lights at 9:43, or that you are at slightly more risk for diabetes. At least not advertisers or the government. And the government isn't paying for this stuff anyways, they just get a court order to take it for free.

If you are so afraid of data gathering it's pretty much impossible to do a lot of technologies. I can understand being against centralization and sending that data over a network to third parties. But even that is necessary in order to improve the product. You want your self driving car to have billions of hours of experience behind it, right?