Google buys Nest for 3.2b

AlNipper49

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http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/13/google-just-bought-connected-device-company-nest-for-3-2b-in-cash/

The assimilation continues!
 

CoRP

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Thermostat company...$3.2 billion.  Jeez louise.
 
Don't get me wrong, it's a cool product, but I'd love to know what the multiple to sales is.
 

Bongorific

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CoRP said:
Thermostat company...$3.2 billion.  Jeez louise.
 
Don't get me wrong, it's a cool product, but I'd love to know what the multiple to sales is.
They're not buying it for the thermostat or the smoke/co2 detector. They're buying it for its sensors technology.
 

smastroyin

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And possibly design/UI/marketing since Nest is basically the only consumer good on the market that has been successful at getting people other than power users to buy into home automation.  Which then adds to the primary goal of assimilation since people will install even more stuff in their house and google can get even more info.
 
I believe Google also put in a significant amount of VC before this.
 

Saints Rest

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If I ran NEST, the next product I would be looking to make is remote door lock with video/audio feed to your phone. It would allow you to lock up from your phone, but also unlock remotely from your office (for example) if a plumber or other tradesman came a-knocking. It would allow you to see (perhaps even record) a stranger who rings the bell.
 

canderson

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Saints Rest said:
If I ran NEST, the next product I would be looking to make is remote door lock with video/audio feed to your phone. It would allow you to lock up from your phone, but also unlock remotely from your office (for example) if a plumber or other tradesman came a-knocking. It would allow you to see (perhaps even record) a stranger who rings the bell.
We have this and it's awesome, can man the alarm via the phone as well.

That said, I don't get nest. Our programmable thermostat with daily functions works and we haven't had to adjust it in years.
 

SumnerH

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canderson said:
We have this and it's awesome, can man the alarm via the phone as well.

That said, I don't get nest. Our programmable thermostat with daily functions works and we haven't had to adjust it in years.
Our IP-enabled thermostat is awesome--we work weird and erratic hours. I have our home and work PCs set up so they know when our cell phones are connected (turn on heat/cold) or not, and from work they'll tell the house to turn on the HVAC when we leave. If we're not home in 30 minutes it dials off again, but if we are it's pretty comfortable by the time we walk in the door. We can also explicitly ping it to turn on if we remember and are headed home.

I only wish I was friends with someone whose house we passed 10-15 minutes out on the way home. That would rock. In 5 years, GPS will enable it.

If you work steadier hours it's pretty pointless.
 

cgori

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They paid a lot for the team. It's basically a huge fraction of the original iPod team, which has to signal something about what Google might want to do in the future.
 

jercra

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SumnerH said:
I only wish I was friends with someone whose house we passed 10-15 minutes out on the way home. That would rock. In 5 years, GPS will enable it.
What do you use for a phone?  Seems like it should reasonable to trigger with something like Tasker or even on{X} though I admit to not being an expert on either.  on{x} certainly has lots of location aware examples in their recipes.
 
I installed my Nest before my other home automation and it's really not hard to get it's popularity.  There's basically no barrier to entry to for HA, unlike a full HA system that's both expensive and generally a giant PITA to get working.  My wife, who still does all of her notes and schedules in pen and paper, loves our Nest. 
 

leetinsley38

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Saints Rest said:
If I ran NEST, the next product I would be looking to make is remote door lock with video/audio feed to your phone. It would allow you to lock up from your phone, but also unlock remotely from your office (for example) if a plumber or other tradesman came a-knocking. It would allow you to see (perhaps even record) a stranger who rings the bell.
Yup DoorBot (getdoorbot.com) is a video doorbell. It's my buddie's company, they were just on Shark Tank. It works with Lockotron to unlock the door.
Get ready for a massive flood of VC $ into the "Internet of Things", home automation market.
 

jayhoz

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Jul 19, 2005
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You guys dabbling in home automation might be interested in this.  As the IOT proliferates, so does the amount of communication protocols and interfaces required to run them.  The Staples Connect is a hub with a bunch of different radios in it that can communicate with a slew of devices.  It also provides one app to run them all.
 

jayhoz

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smastroyin said:
One app to find them?
 
I'm not sure what you are asking.  
 
There is one app that you pull up to control all of your connected devices.  Instead of opening your Honeywell app for the thermostat and a D-Link app for the cameras and a Schlage app to unlock the door, you do all that from the Staples Connect app.  Individual devices are listed by device type or by the room they are located in.  The app also allows you to set up Activities.  One could be "Leave for Work".  It would turn off the lights, lock the door, and turn down the heat at a set time.
 

Rudi Fingers

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smastroyin said:
And possibly design/UI/marketing since Nest is basically the only consumer good on the market that has been successful at getting people other than power users to buy into home automation.  Which then adds to the primary goal of assimilation since people will install even more stuff in their house and google can get even more info.
 
I believe Google also put in a significant amount of VC before this.
 
They are also buying it for the creative team - having Fadell and Rogers on board means they now control the creator of the iPod and iPhone hardware and software...
 

zenter

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smastroyin said:
One app to find them?
 
And using passcodes, bind them...
 
 
 
As for NEST: between the sensor business, the UX, and the software (learning patterns and behaviors), it combines things previous home automation tools did not (but always promised). Given the learning/automation they're trying to bring to Androind, and the fact that NEST is a darling of technocrats, this is a big win for Google. 
 

JGray38

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Sensors, UX and software takes you way beyond home use, too. There's tons of industrial applications for something like this. Have a maintenance contract for some heavy equipment (factory robotics, mining equipment, whatever) in some far-away place? You can avoid downtime charges or negotiate really competitive SLAs by having the actual machine send out for replacement parts once they get near the end of their lifecycle or it detects a potential problem. How are people using the equipment and is that within the scope of your maintenance plan? All kinds of interesting stuff here.
 

smastroyin

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jayhoz said:
 
I'm not sure what you are asking.  
 
There is one app that you pull up to control all of your connected devices.  Instead of opening your Honeywell app for the thermostat and a D-Link app for the cameras and a Schlage app to unlock the door, you do all that from the Staples Connect app.  Individual devices are listed by device type or by the room they are located in.  The app also allows you to set up Activities.  One could be "Leave for Work".  It would turn off the lights, lock the door, and turn down the heat at a set time.
 
In case zenter's post doesn't give you the full story, it's a dorky Tolkein reference.
 

DukeSox

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CoRP said:
Thermostat company...$3.2 billion.  Jeez louise.
 
Don't get me wrong, it's a cool product, but I'd love to know what the multiple to sales is.
about 11x
 

jercra

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jayhoz said:
 
I'm not sure what you are asking.  
 
There is one app that you pull up to control all of your connected devices.  Instead of opening your Honeywell app for the thermostat and a D-Link app for the cameras and a Schlage app to unlock the door, you do all that from the Staples Connect app.  Individual devices are listed by device type or by the room they are located in.  The app also allows you to set up Activities.  One could be "Leave for Work".  It would turn off the lights, lock the door, and turn down the heat at a set time.
This is really just a rebranding and basic packaging of a whole bunch of existing Home Automation products.  It's a good idea.  I work in high tech and work on complex systems daily and home automation is still totally frustrating to me to along with a very high barrier to entry.  Traditional HA controllers require either a $500-ish controller or a PC and expensive software.  There are open source versions but they bring all of the joy of open source to the already murky world of HA.  Anything that moves us into the world of easy and ubiquitous HA is a good thing.  And they are not alone.
 

jayhoz

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jercra said:
This is really just a rebranding and basic packaging of a whole bunch of existing Home Automation products.  It's a good idea.  I work in high tech and work on complex systems daily and home automation is still totally frustrating to me to along with a very high barrier to entry.  Traditional HA controllers require either a $500-ish controller or a PC and expensive software.  There are open source versions but they bring all of the joy of open source to the already murky world of HA.  Anything that moves us into the world of easy and ubiquitous HA is a good thing.  And they are not alone.
 
I'd characterize a little differently.  The hub is,for the moment, unique in that it bundles a bunch of communications protocols into one unit.  That enables the homeowner to then purchase products from a host of vendors without having to pick which camp they want to support (Zigbee, Z-Wave, etc.).  So it really isn't a rebranding of the existing products, but rather an easy way to incorporate those products into a cohesive home automation system.
 

saintnick912

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Wish the Nest had temp/presence sensors in other rooms so it wouldn't set Away just because I'm not in the room it's in.  Had to shut off all their auto stuff.  I do like being able to adjust it remotely from my phone, but it's so much more rudimentary than it could be with a bit more intelligence.