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Works With Nest

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Re: Works With Nest

#101

Post by mantraxC »

maxerickson wrote: post #97
mantraxC wrote: post #66

It'll be interesting to see how they plan to market this to people, because I have to tell you... "your thermostat integrates with your car, washer and jawbone bracelet" is damn confusing to me as a value proposition. Yeah I see the potential, but even though I'm a programmer, I see a lot of random shit put together, and no clear reason why I should go through the effort of building a mental model around it in order…

I expect they will market the dishwasher as saving a bit of money when you have the thermostat. Similar with vehicles, it's a feature to check off when you are at the dealer.

Those home automation products are marketed to the people who have the money to buy such fancy home automation widgets.

Those people also typically want to "save the environment", but I doubt they want to save it so much, that shaving a fiver off their power bill means they get a thermostat tell them when to wash their dishes and do their laundry.

Putting the dishes and clothes in and out is still a manual activity, so this makes absolutely no sense to be scheduled by a thermostat, unless you have waaaay too much free time on your hands.

Re: Works With Nest

#102

Post by brianmcc »

chaz wrote: post #58

Google's Nest seems to be setting out a home automation standard, partnering with Whirlpool, Mercedes-Benz, Jawbone, LIFX, IFTTT, Logitech, and Chamberlain. Over the weekend, Quirky announced its $79 Wink hub, partnering with Home Depot, Honeywell, GE, Rachio, and Philips. The two announcements were obviously timed against each other. It's hard to tell who is reacting to whom, but my bet is that Quirky is hurriedly r…

I really, really, wish we could skip the whole vhs/betamax stage for once :-( Not only is it tiresome, it inhibits adoption across the board, we've all been there too many times before.

Re: Works With Nest

#103

Post by maxerickson »

mantraxC wrote: post #101
maxerickson wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I expect they will market the dishwasher as saving a bit of money when you have the thermostat. Similar with vehicles, it's a feature to check off when you are at the dealer.

Those home automation products are marketed to the people who have the money to buy such fancy home automation widgets. Those people also typically want to "save the environment", but I doubt they want to save it so much, that shaving a fiver off their power bill means they get a thermostat tell them when to wash their dishes and do their laundry. Putting the dishes and clothes in and out is still a manual activity,…

Right. I'm saying that I expect the marketing to be at the point of sale of the dishwasher and to be rather mild, so that it mostly targets people that already own a compatible thermostat. Or in press releases and the like.

I think home automation is mostly composed of things that sound neat and provide modest utility; Nest might pay itself off faster, but most buildings would see more benefit from increased insulation. Something like programmable lighting is fantastic, but it probably isn't going to save much money or energy, and switches just aren't that burdensome. I'm glad there are people trying to figure it all out, at some point the cost might get low enough where "neat" is enough justification.

Re: Works With Nest

#105

Post by savrajsingh »

steven2012 wrote: post #93

I have a Nest. Nest doesn't allow you to access your own data that they are no doubt collecting, and their app only shows your energy use for the last 10 days. This makes it absolutely useless for trying to figure out how to optimize your energy usage on a month-to-month or season-by-season basis.

Have you tried Wattvision?

Re: Works With Nest

#106

Post by chadgeidel »

plg wrote: post #89

"your thermostat will start to heat up or cool down your home before you even step out of bed." umm in my house, in the winter, that would mean lying in bed awake for 30 min waiting for my house to heat up

Programmable thermostats (even before Nest) have long been able to set the house to the temperature you desire at the time you desire.

Re: Works With Nest

#107

Post by personZ »

crdoconnor wrote: post #74
cbeach wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given Google's fondness for shutting down APIs and services, I'd be very disappointed if they monopolised all of these markets. They'll be the Microsoft of home automation. Using it to trap people in their monolith (and Android is just a vehicle for them to deliver ads, folks), and then letting it stagnate or shutting it down if the ad delivery doesn't prove lucrative. I've been burnt so many times by Google I've los…

>and Android is just a vehicle for them to deliver ads, folks They are dealing with that 'problem' by steadily de-opensourcing all of the components. You don't use the email app, you use gmail. You don't use the camera any more, you use "google camera". You don't even use the keyboard any more, you use "google keyboard". A lot of the new android functionality is piled into 'google play services'. I don't think the da…

While cbeach's comment that you replied to is trollish nonsense, in response to your reply-

You don't use the camera any more, you use "google camera". You don't even use the keyboard any more, you use "google keyboard". A lot of the new android functionality is piled into 'google play services'.

Or you use other email clients, alternative cameras, or alternative keyboards. That's kind of the point of Android, and in splitting their own apps off Google is simultaneously making the platform better by opening the APIs required by them. For instance the camera API has gotten dramatically better - http://source.android.com/devices/camera/camera3_3Amodes.htm...

At that point they can start charging fees for android's use.

Google already charges partners for Google apps. Samsung is paying Google. This has always been the case with Google. Further most of those apps have been separate concerns since something like Android 1.5, and the platform is dramatically better for it (e.g. the whole fragmentation thing is far less of a concern, because the core platform shrinks to just core services, exactly as it should be).

Re: Works With Nest

#108

Post by chadgeidel »

jvanloov wrote: post #60
yitchelle wrote: post #8

I am a little bit unenthusiastic about Nest integration into the Mercedes Benz where it tells Nest to warm up the house prior to arrival. What a waste of energy! Is it so difficult for physical human body to endure some discomfort while the house warms up? Imagine thousands of household doing something similar. OK, there could be a use-case where the elderly is due to arrive home and needs the house to be at the righ…

We have a thermostat in our house that has a weekly programme: it turns the heat on in the morning, then off at 7:30 when everyone is at work/school, back on at 16:30 so that the house is heated when we get back home from work/school, and off again at 22:30 around bedtime. During weekends it heats during the day and is off during the night. There was never any question on using this system; everyone I know has this,…

I'm in the same boat as you (Western US here). I've had a programmable digital thermostat for at least 10 years, and many newer apartments have them already installed.

I can't believe more people don't know about these things. They predate the Nest by 5-10 years.

Re: Works With Nest

#109

Post by 31reasons »

chaz wrote: post #58

Google's Nest seems to be setting out a home automation standard, partnering with Whirlpool, Mercedes-Benz, Jawbone, LIFX, IFTTT, Logitech, and Chamberlain. Over the weekend, Quirky announced its $79 Wink hub, partnering with Home Depot, Honeywell, GE, Rachio, and Philips. The two announcements were obviously timed against each other. It's hard to tell who is reacting to whom, but my bet is that Quirky is hurriedly r…

Google or Apple will eat Quirky for breakfast.

Re: Works With Nest

#110

Post by pjc50 »

cbeach wrote: post #41
jpalomaki wrote: post #34

It gets pretty interesting when you connect all the pieces Google now has. You car has build in Android device. Your home is monitored and controlled with Nest devices. On your wrist you carry Android wearable. Google Glass tracks what you see. For online activities you use Google products (Chrome, Gmail, Calendar). You consume your media via Android table or Chromecast. Google knows about your your car. It knows how…

Given Google's fondness for shutting down APIs and services, I'd be very disappointed if they monopolised all of these markets. They'll be the Microsoft of home automation. Using it to trap people in their monolith (and Android is just a vehicle for them to deliver ads, folks), and then letting it stagnate or shutting it down if the ad delivery doesn't prove lucrative. I've been burnt so many times by Google I've los…

compete indepently using open standards

I don't think this can exist without at least some outside intervention. The monolith has lower coordination costs, potentially better usability (at least at first) and extra opportunities for profit by violating your privacy. So it's more likely to succeed in the market. And once it has dominant market power, we're back to "embrace, extend, extinguish".

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