Google to acquire Nest Labs for $3.2 billion in cash

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That really is a great vision Ether_Snake, and one I can get behind, but I guess I just can't figure out why there can't be a button on the appliances as well.

Like, how is the Nest inferior or held back by allowing me to grab it and twist to set the temperature? If I'm running over to the spare room to grab something quick, why shouldn't I be able to slap the wall as I enter to turn the light on? Why would I want to have to stop in the dark doorway, take my phone out, turn the screen on, put in my password, scroll to the app, activate it, select the lighting section, select "spare room," and then hit "on?"

You may always have your phone on, primed and ready in your hand, but I don't think most people do. I think we're going to have to just agree to disagree on this one.
 
Calamari41 said:
That really is a great vision, and one I can get behind, but I guess I just can't figure out why there can't be a button on the appliances as well.

Like, how is the Nest inferior or held back by allowing me to grab it and twist to set the temperature? If I'm running over to the spare room to grab something quick, why shouldn't I be able to slap the wall as I enter to turn the light on? Why would I want to have to stop in the dark doorway, take my phone out, turn the screen on, put in my password, scroll to the app, activate it, select the lighting section, select "spare room," and then hit "on?"

You may always haven your phone on, primed and ready in your hand, but I don't think most people do. I think we're going to have to just agree to disagree on this one.
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Your mobile won't be that complicated to access. No need to enter your password if it recognizes your voice. A small microphone in each room and all of a sudden all devices hear you (instead of a microphone on each device, since your voice is sent to your mobile and then the command to the device, not voice to each device, that would be dumb). Heck do you really need the password enabled when you're in your home? You turn off your alarm when you arrive home no?

Second, you could have a wrist band which is really the same kind of display I already described, so it does the same. And I'll be the first to say I hate wearing things like watches at home, I would take it off. Ok it's off, so? The lights turn on and off on voice command, or simply when I walk into the room.

There could be a light switch, sure. But it wouldn't have any wires going in the walls. A small touch display that only accepts binary commands (touch, touch twice, etc.). You configure it with your mobile with an app: you see your lamp, you see your binary-command device, you hook it virtually to the lamp, you put it on your wall wherever you want and it just sticks on it. There you go, you now have a light switch on your wall, but at least it didn't have to be built into the house with all the dumb wiring, and if you don't need it it's not there. And it's the same device you virtually connected to the ceiling fan. That one is three taps to turn on or off.
 
I see where you're coming from now and realize that we're talking about different things. You're dreaming big about the end-game years from now, as evidenced by the fact that your declarations are getting exponentially more grandiose with each post. Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course. I'm more thinking about what these guys are going to come up with next. The addition of voice control changes the feasibility of what you're saying, too.

But for safety reasons, certain appliances will always need a physical way to cut them off. Like the burners example from before, you said to just unplug it. Well, take a look at your stove top sometime. The only thing it's plugged into is the gas line. Anything that deals with flowing gas or flowing water will need a shutoff valve somewhere. It needs to be in an easy to reach spot, especially with gas. Nobody is going to buy a stove where you have to go under the counter to shut off the gas flow when there are stoves on the market that will let you shut the flow of gas right there on top with the standard knob.
 
Calamari41 said:
I see where you're coming from now and realize that were talking about different things. You're dreaming big about the end-game years from now. I'm more thinking about what these guys are going to come up with next. The addition of voice control changes the feasibility of what you're saying, too.

But for safety reasons, certain appliances will always need a physical way to cut them off. Like the burners example from before, you said to just unplug it. Well, take a look at your stove top sometime. The only thing it's plugged into is the gas line. Anything that deals with flowing gas or flowing water will need a shutoff valve somewhere. It needs to be in an easy to reach spot, especially with gas.
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Well I have no gas at home, only electricity.

And it's not far from now, except when multi-billion-dollar companies are too dumb to realize they are making dumb products. The Nest thermostat is dumb, because it should do a lot more than control heating, it should control every binary device in the house. Plug a lamp in an intermediary device, then plug that in the wall; you could turn it on and off with a mobile device already by communicating with the Nest device which would then toggle any of those intermediary devices as you command. Pretend you are home when you are not. All of a sudden it is a security device. Add a cheap webcam to it. It would be super cheap to make. If Google is going to put a PC in everything, it's dumb.

Rocket Scientist said:
Google Home, huh? Any chance they're going to be hiring architects in the near future? I need a job.
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Anyone will be able to make homes with Sketchup (or download them from Wikihome) and build them with a printer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yv-IWdSdns

kaepernickehs said:
They've been hugely successful in reimagining thermostats and smoke detectors.

That's valuable.
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There is an iphone app to read temperatures just by filming the hot material. People aren't thinking simple.
 
Ether_Snake said:
Well I have no gas at home, only electricity.

And it's not far from now, except when multi-billion-dollar companies are too dumb to realize they are making dumb products. The Nest thermostat is dumb, because it should do a lot more than control heating, it should control every binary device in the house. Plug a lamp in an intermediary device, then plug that in the wall; you could turn it on and off with a mobile device already by communicating with the Nest device which would then toggle any of those intermediary devices as you command. Pretend you are home when you are not. It would be super cheap to make. If Google is going to put a PC in everything, it's dumb.
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There are a ton of those on the market, actually. There are even actual wall switches that you can control from afar with your phone. Check out Belkin's Wemo line.

The Nest thermostat was them putting a new type of product out there. I'm sure they have all kinds of shit on the drawing board. The Nest thermostat isn't dumb because it doesn't turn your lights on and off for you. It is an individual component in an entire smart house system. They had to start somewhere.

The good news is, with Google cash and support, they can ramp up R&D without worrying about how they're going to pay the bills.
 
Calamari41 said:
There are a ton of those on the market, actually. There are even actual wall switches that you can control from afar with your phone. Check out Belkin's Wemo line.

The Nest thermostat was them putting a new type of product out there. I'm sure they have all kinds of shit on the drawing board. The Nest thermostat isn't dumb because it doesn't turn your lights on and off for you. It is an individual component in an entire smart house system. They had to start somewhere.

The good news is, with Google cash and support, they can ramp up R&D without worrying about how they're going to pay the bills.
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It will be fine if Google doesn't put a PC in everything. Look at the new trend now, "Internet of things", it's all about making everything smart, putting a PC in everything. I personally really don't see how Google could justify paying so much for this when they could logically do a lot better with a few people and much less money. We'll see what they'll do, but I really doubt they paid 3 billion dollars just to then make a disrupting technology that would have bankrupted that same company.
 
Ether_Snake said:
Anyone will be able to make homes with Sketchup (or download them from Wikihome) and build them with a printer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yv-IWdSdns
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Sure, but as with a lot of things, just because almost anyone can theoretically do it, doesn't mean everyone will start doing it. A lot of things can be done by ''anyone'' and yet there are people who do it professionally. Even when things become ridiculously easy to make thanks to 3D printing, there will be people who design/create. If your post was meant to inform me of the latest developments in my own field, I'm disappointed you would think I'm not aware of them :P
 
Rocket Scientist said:
Sure, but as with a lot of things, just because almost anyone can theoretically do it, doesn't mean everyone will start doing it. A lot of things can be done by ''anyone'' and yet there are people who do it professionally. Even when things become ridiculously easy to make thanks to 3D printing, there will be people who design/create. If your post was meant to inform me of the latest developments in my own field, I'm disappointed you would think I'm not aware of them :P
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Yeah it really just means it will be easier to make choices that we couldn't make before, so more opportunities will arise, which means it will create jobs but in a socio-economic environment where the rate of change will be faster than in the past. Fun stuff:)
 
kaepernickehs said:
They've been hugely successful in reimagining thermostats and smoke detectors.

That's valuable.
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Well I know it's valuable in it's own right. I've seen the products that Nest offers and have contemplated buying one of their thermostats I just didn't really see Google getting into that market. Strikes me as a bit out of left field is all.
 
The co-founder was the first engineer working on the iPhone, and is considered the father of the iPod.

This was an expensive acquihire with some applicable perks.
 
gutshot said:
"OK Google, it's cold in here."

*the heat turns on*
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*walks in door aafter coming home from work during a Minnesota Winter*

*mutters to self* "Shit it's cold out."

*Pot of soup automatically placed on stove, begins cooking*
 
Nest must have some insanely valuable patents.

Otherwise all they have is a thermostat and a smoke detector, and the tech for those are not even that crazy.

3.2 billion is mind boggling. That's two Youtubes.

Just wtf.
 
Korey said:
Nest must have some insanely valuable patents.

Otherwise all they have is a thermostat and a smoke detector, and the tech for those are not even that crazy.

3.2 billion is mind boggling. That's two Youtubes.

Just wtf.
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They wanted Fadell and his employees.
 
Maybe Google's just paying a premium for all those former Apple employees that supposedly work at Nest. Just last week there was a report that a Apple engineer who was part of their wearables team was now working at Nest. I remember comments questioning the guy's decision to leave Apple and go work for a thermostat company. Things change fast.

Still, 3.2B for a small thermostat company. Better have some big things in the pipeline. And be ready to handle retail yourself because Google doesn't have much of a retail presence.
 
Korey said:
Nest must have some insanely valuable patents.

Otherwise all they have is a thermostat and a smoke detector, and the tech for those are not even that crazy.

3.2 billion is mind boggling. That's two Youtubes.

Just wtf.
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Google was already heavily invested in/a major backer of Nest by way of Google Ventures.
 
Google has been talking about Google Home for years now, now they actually have a product line in that realm. I'd expect this to be the beginning of a home automaton move
 
Vyer said:
Google+ required to turn on heat.
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"Oh no! My fire alarm has ransom malware! Pay the pirates $1000 or the alarm won't go off!"

Malware on "the Internet of Things" (I immediately regret typing those words) would be the worst thing ever.
 
CrankyJay said:
I don't like this....I don't fucking want Google involved in every aspect of my life.
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Yeah, it's actually kind of scary.

- What I do in my home (Nest)
- My driving habits (Google Maps)
- My web viewing habits (Chrome & Google Search)
- Phone usage (Android)
- My friends (Google+)
- My music (Google Play)
- My personal files (Google Drive)
- What I watch on television or the Internet (Chromecast and YouTube)

What's the company's vision for of all this information?
 
tarius1210 said:
Yeah, it's actually kind of scary.

- What I do in my home (Nest)
- My driving habits (Google Maps)
- My web viewing habits (Chrome & Google Search)
- Phone usage (Android)
- My friends (Google+)
- My music (Google Play)
- My personal files (Google Drive)
- What I watch on television or the Internet (Chromecast and YouTube)

What's the company's vision for of all this information?
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Being able to charge its customers more to sell you hyper-specific ads. It's not nefarious.
 
snacknuts said:
Being able to charge it customers more to sell you hyper-specific ads. It's not nefarious.
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Yeah, in the short term, but what about 20 years down the road? Surely with all of that information they wouldn't be in the business of making money by selling ads anymore.
 
tarius1210 said:
Yeah, it's actually kind of scary.

- What I do in my home (Nest)
- My driving habits (Google Maps)
- My web viewing habits (Chrome & Google Search)
- Phone usage (Android)
- My friends (Google+)
- My music (Google Play)
- My personal files (Google Drive)
- What I watch on television or the Internet (Chromecast and YouTube)

What's the company's vision for of all this information?
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I would be more comfortable with this if we knew the information was safe from the government, hackers, there was a clear, very obvious method that users can select to force Google to permanently delete our data, and that there was some kind of law that Google cannot liquidate any of this data in the case of the company ever going bankrupt, or even being bought out. Obviously, that last one would do havoc to Google's balance sheet, but I'm sorry, this is people's personal information they're playing around with.
 
OriginalThinking said:
Then don't buy or use Google products? There's plenty of competition. You expect Google not to continue to diversify its interests?
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Easy to say when a lot of corporations are gunning for the same thing albeit at a slower pace.

A couple examples being Amazon and Apple.
 
I've also just noticed that a lot of their products are insanely cheap when compared to the competition. Is this their way of subsiding information (I think just made up a new phrase)? Pretty much making the products affordable so that the information they provide flow quicker & easier to the company?
 
tarius1210 said:
Yeah, in the short term, but what about 20 years down the road? Surely with all of that information they wouldn't be in the business of making money by selling ads anymore.
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I don't know what to tell you. I think all these comments about Google becoming Skynet or having ill intentions for my data profile are silly.
 
Does seem like they spend way too much for it.... something like vera would have been a much better buy and be far more comprehensive for getting their home project off the ground.
 
Mr. Wonderful said:
I would be more comfortable with this if we knew the information was safe from the government, hackers, there was a clear, very obvious method that users can select to force Google to permanently delete our data, and that there was some kind of law that Google cannot liquidate any of this data in the case of the company ever going bankrupt, or even being bought out. Obviously, that last one would do havoc to Google's balance sheet, but I'm sorry, this is people's personal information they're playing around with.
Click to expand...

So you don't trust the government with information, but you do trust a select few strangers that are supposed to be incentivized by money above everything else with it.


Makes sense
 
snacknuts said:
I don't know what to tell you. I think all these comments about Google becoming Skynet or having ill intentions for my data profile are silly.
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Well I wouldn't go that far (Skynet) but its just too much information for one corporation to have that's all.

I like Google.
 
tarius1210 said:
Well I wouldn't go that far (Skynet) but its just too much information for one corporation to have that's all.

I like Google.
Click to expand...

I suppose I understand the trepidation, but I like what Google is doing with my data. I wouldn't trust most other companies with it.
 
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