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Works With Nest

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Re: Works With Nest

#111

Post by cobralibre »

aisenik wrote: post #7

"Interesting" that they're avoiding supporting HomeKit. But given that the majority of Nest owners own iOS devices, it sure feels like a slap in the face. Supporting HomeKit would allow Siri integration, but I suppose Google probably wants voice control to themselves.

Ars Technica is reporting that Nest is willing in principle to support HomeKit:

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/06/ok-google-crank-the-a...

Rogers also sees the Nest Developer Program as "complementary" to Apple's recently announced HomeKit project. While HomeKit is going to allow users to control smart home devices with their iPhones and will supposedly make it easier to connect those devices to your network and to each other, Nest's API focuses on making those devices work in tandem once connected.

...

"The home shouldn't be a platform war," Rogers said. "We're going to be neutral. Switzerland."

Re: Works With Nest

#112

Post by hyperbovine »

VLM wrote: post #88
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…

"announced its $79 Wink hub" I've been in this hobby for a long time (like since X-10 in the 80s, more Insteon now) and one unwanted trend I see is exploding prices. Inflation has pushed your stereotypical X-10 appliance module from $10 to currently $20. I've been mostly Insteon for a decade or so now, but the venerable X-10 appliance module is a good canary as its been around for decades unchanged. Anyway its off to…

Otoh, home automation might finally go from being a hobby to something normal people actually can use to make their lives easier. I also dabbled with X10 in the 90s and personally I can't wait for apple to come along and do it right. Needless to say, I completely disagree with your final observation.

Re: Works With Nest

#113

Post by smacktoward »

ghayes wrote: post #47
warcode wrote: post #31

If its "Your data. Your privacy. You’re in control.". Why won't they let me self-host? The two things don't add up.

My primary concern is my house becoming part of Google's walled garden. "Oh, my garage door doesn't work anymore as it is controlled exclusively by 'Works with Nest.'"

Or worse, someone hacks Nest and turns your garage door into an online game of Hungry Hungry Hippos.

Re: Works With Nest

#114

Post by tmuir »

Yet another hammer looking for a nail. There is no killer app in home automation. Hackers like this stuff, because we like technology for technology's sake. But everyone else has a higher standard for adopting new gadgetry. It has to actually solve a problem, or otherwise provide value. Even the best use cases are largely novelties that will get about two days use. Turning on lights remotely? How often do you need to turn on lights when you aren't physically in the space being lit. Starting a washer/dryer/oven/dishwasher remotely? How will you load/unload the clothes/food/dishes remotely? Unlocking your door with a phone instead of a key? It looks cool the first two times, but novelty isn't enough.

Everyone seems to be worried about the competing standards and walled gardens, which assumes that this space will take off to the point that it even matters.

Re: Works With Nest

#115

Post by mstachowiak »

parley wrote: post #85
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…

> A single, open, interoperable standard is coming Do you have some more info about that, or is it a gut feeling prediction?

There are standards for Home Automation communication out there - ZigBee and Z-Wave. These are the low power communication protocols that home automation devices can use to talk to each other (WiFi is too power hungry and heavy weight). If you take apart a Nest thermostat you can find an unadvertised ZigBee radio buried inside.

ZigBee is an open standard developed by an alliance of device manufacturers. Z-Wave is a proprietary standard developed by Sigma Designs. Both are able to create a low power mesh network for communication between home automation devices. These protocols have been around for a while and are supported by 100s of device manufacturers.

That said, I have no idea what Google/Nest or Apple plan to do. They may be creating their own standards for communication, or they may build a communication protocol on top of ZigBee or Z-Wave.

If you're interested in working with an interoperable standard now though, you can buy off the shelf ZigBee or Z-Wave radios, devices that speak ZigBee/Z-Wave, and build your own HA solution. However, I've found through personal experience that interoperability between devices using the same standard is not always perfect. I'm looking forward to the heavyweights getting into the ring and hopefully cleaning up the industry and making it more interoperable.

Re: Works With Nest

#116

Post by leviathant »

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.

https://developer.nest.com/documentation/api-reference

For a while, you could pull that data through a private JSON API, the same one the iPhone app used. I'm assuming something changed a few months ago though, because the application I wrote to chart out that information stopped receiving those data points. This was probably part of the transition to a public API.

Using the API, I was able to see that running just the fan in my house didn't appear to do anything for the temperature of the house, despite the temperature difference between the two floors. It was interesting charting internal temperature against outdoor temperature as well, giving me a visual reference on the efficiency of the system.

Re: Works With Nest

#117

Post by notatoad »

tmuir wrote: post #114

Yet another hammer looking for a nail. There is no killer app in home automation. Hackers like this stuff, because we like technology for technology's sake. But everyone else has a higher standard for adopting new gadgetry. It has to actually solve a problem, or otherwise provide value. Even the best use cases are largely novelties that will get about two days use. Turning on lights remotely? How often do you need to…

I'm optimistic about nest - they seem to understand this, their thermostat is a great user experience. You hook it up and use it just like you would use a normal thermostat, and it uses that info to make intelligent decisions to do actually useful things - like override the schedule and turn the heat up when you take a day off work, or turn the heat down when nobody is home, all with no user interaction.

Remote control isn't the killer app for home automation, no control is. I don't have a need to turn lights on in rooms I'm not in, but it would be nice if my house could turn the lights off for me when I forget to. Or if I drive off and leave the garage open, it could close it for me so I don't have to call a neighbor and ask them to check it.

Re: Works With Nest

#118

Post by modoc »

tmuir wrote: post #114

Yet another hammer looking for a nail. There is no killer app in home automation. Hackers like this stuff, because we like technology for technology's sake. But everyone else has a higher standard for adopting new gadgetry. It has to actually solve a problem, or otherwise provide value. Even the best use cases are largely novelties that will get about two days use. Turning on lights remotely? How often do you need to…

I'm JUST getting into a little home automation, and here are some great use cases that aren't just a novelty:

When my wife and I both leave the house, the front door locks itself. We never have to worry about if we locked the door or not. We can also leave and enter without having to carry keys, which is great. I can also unlock the door remotely when my in-laws stop by unexpectedly to drop something off.

I have a room in the basement where the light switch is on the far side of the room, so you previously had to traverse a pitch black and somewhat hazardous space to reach the light switch. Now it's all run on a motion detector that turns the light on and off as needed automatically.

And we just got a Nest. My wife, a non-tech person, loves the front door lock magic and the Nest. As more stuff comes out, and I add more stuff to the system, the utility will only increase.

I'm looking forward to things like smart security systems that know when I'm home, away, sleeping, awake, have company, etc... And interact with tokens (for instance if it's 2 AM and someone pulls into my driveway, I want to be woken up and alerted. If it's 2 AM and I'm pulling into my driveway I want my wife to be able to sleep). I'm looking forward to music that follows me through the house, and turns itself down when I get a phone call.

Re: Works With Nest

#119

Post by [deleted] »

brianmcc wrote: post #102
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.

[deleted]

Re: Works With Nest

#120

Post by lmm »

justincormack wrote: post #71
npinguy wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firstly, the premise of that scenario, is the house is cold while the person is gone. That means SAVING on energy costs by not heating the house unnecessarily while no one is inside, which is the current de facto standard. (Do you turn off the heat when you go to work? I certainly don't) Secondly, it's silly to object to innovation that allows humanity to be frivolous or wasteful according to their desires. Where do…

Yes I have the heating on a timer and its off when I am at work. I turn it on if its cold and I working from home or its the weekend. I believe this is normal...

It's not normal. The majority of people can't be bothered switching it on or off, so they just leave it on all the time.
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