It's a TV show on BBC that has been on for about a decade now. If you enjoy comedy and unusual facts you'll likely enjoy the show. I think most episodes are on YouTube.
Another overhead serve aces right past Apple. Thanks Tim.
Really? You think so? We are talking about a thermostat, right? We are talking about a company with two products right?
While Nest is a cool product, this sounds like a ridiculous buy at that price. Considering the belief that Google will use Nest as a means to gather more data on customers, you can count me out.
Really? You think so? We are talking about a thermostat, right? We are talking about a company with two products right?
While Nest is a cool product, this sounds like a ridiculous buy at that price. Considering the belief that Google will use Nest as a means to gather more data on customers, you can count me out.
I read they were to be valued at $2 billion after another $150 million influx that didn't happen due to this investment. Is 60% higher than a valuation for an acquisition unusually high? Considering what Google buys that sounds like Nest could have gotten more.
What amazes me about modern technology companies is how poor they are at copying market leaders. No, not just the products, but the methodology for success.
Witness Google’s recent acquisition of Nest Labs, makers of the so-called popular Learning Thermostat for the home or office. What’s the price tag for a company that everyone says Apple was not interested in? $3.2-Billion. Yes, that’s B as in billion dollars.
<span style="font-size:16px;line-height:1.4em;">Google also is now firmly in the internet of things / smart house game. They are making a bet that this is the next big thing. </span>
I was just reading today that Cisco did a study about the Internet of Everything. Their analysis indicates it will be worth $19 trillion to companies involved in the movement. Google is smart to get on board. Apple isn't interested because there is no "premium" or "high-end" to the Internet of Everything. This is not to say that Apple devices won't connect to the IoE - they surely will. Apple just doesn't want to make Internet connected trash cans or toasters.
Oh, I think Apple is interested...
The introduction of iBeacons, the acquisition of WiFiSlam, BLE in all new computers, AppleTV, iDevices, various electronic shopping patents over the years, Angela Ahrents...
Ha! When we moved to Tucson (circa 1991) we bought a 3-4 year old Del Web Townhouse. This was [mostly] well-built, well-insulated 2300 square 3 BR 3 Bath. It had solar water heating and instant hot water...
The solar never worked right (wrong size collector and poor installation). The worst, though, was the instant hot water -- it was the kind that used a small (efficient) pump to continuously recirculate the hot water to all the taps in the house. But they really dropped the ball -- the water was recirculated through uninsulated copper tubing embedded in the slab, We ran the system for a month and it cost about $50 (1991 dollars). Quickly turned that off...
The other thing was a no-no: You don't embed copper tubing in a concrete slab -- a chemical reaction will cause the copper to deteriorate.
On the other hand, an architect friend designed and built his own home with an [exposed, colored] insulated concrete slab with embedded plastic tubing for radiant heating -- done right, it was inexpensive and energy-efficient.
I may make the move to Colorado in 5 years or so and the lady and I have chatted about what we want in our home. Luckily she has family in the construction biz (GC) who are doing their home right now in Loveland CO I believe. We're hoping we can build new construction or heavily remodel with their help. We know we need a GC that will ensure the work is done correctly. I'm also reading up more about LEED construction. We want to be Green where it makes sense. Lighting and Networking is really important to me and heating/cooling is important to her.
Our Issaquah Town-home is going to be the testbed for now. I'm thinking of adding more Hue bulbs and testing out some cameras and sensors on windows and doors. Next home will probably have motorized shades, Solar panels, water treatment and more. 5 years from now the technology is going to make 2014 look like Playschool stuff and hopefully Apple will have some solid OS support.
A trusted GC is the way to go!
We looked into building our own -- and found some things that may be of use:
We were particularly impressed with the thought that went/goes into Southwestern architecture -- Adobe architecture, in particular:
thick walls (solid, straw or other insulation)
small windows (large windows are fine with today's technology)
high ceilings
strategic placement of walls to absorb the sun/heat during the day and disperse it at night
strategic placement of windows to gather light/heat during the day
strategic coloring of walls and floors to reflect or absorb heat
It may be worth a trip to Taos Pueblo to observe how these thousand-year-of houses provided comfort through the hot summers and cold winters:
If you have lots of glass, and travel -- you might want to consider external motorized shutters for security (similar to roll-up garage doors).
All this acquisition has really done is exposed how little many understand about HA and IoT.
Nest has an inactive Zigbee radio which is great but unfortunately the momentum right now is with
Z Wave.
Google really isn't that much closer to gaining a strong foothold in the home anymore than Apple is. Another
thing is the "sleight of hand" that goes on with technology. iBeacon is marketed as a technology that is going
to help me find groceries in the supermarket or get additional info in a retail store. Few people tend to inquire
any more about the technology because they had the lightbulb may come on. iBeacon is about hyper-location.
iBeacon can place your location down to just a couple of feet if not less. That's great accuracy from a low power
(Bluetooth LE) connection. It changes everything. While Nest will laud the magical algorithms that are employed
in Auto-Away features the smart money is with a low cost beacon that doesn't have to guess where you are. iBeacons
can trigger an action based on proximity and location.
Now couple that with their recent acquisition of PrimeSense. Yes this has gaming implications but it also has neatly
puts a reputable company and IP in Apple's controls in the burgeoning market of gesture based automation. So to recap
a bit Apple has WifiSlam, iBeacon, Siri for voice, PrimeSense for gestural input and more. The building blocks are
sitting there slowly coming together and 80% of the tech press is freaking clueless.
Yeah... I was playing around writing a trilateration app for some iBeacons (I have beacons from Estimote, StickNFind and TI). Overnight, one of the cats had gotten up on the desk and knocked off one of the StickNFind * beacons -- it rolled behind and was leaning on the desk leg... Out of sight...
I was swearing at the cat, crawling on the floor under the desk -- truing to find the beacon...
Er, Ahh... face turning red... I couldn't find my beacon... Well, Duh!
* StickNFind beacons have a LED and an audible alarm that you can trigger...
Thanks you for making my point, they just modernize what we already have on the wall. If you live in a house with multiply people, the NEST solution is no better than the honeywell solution. Yeah you can control temps from the phone, but someone in the house can walk up and turn the dial and set it to what they want. NEST could lock it out, you can do the same thing to the old Honeywell by putting a lock box over the unit, done ever day.
I think NEST is trying to use Steve's reality distortion field in to making people thing NEST is doing things that your thermostat is not already doing. All I can say it is not $3.4B idea that is for sure.
Thanks you for making my point, they just modernize what we already have on the wall. If you live in a house with multiply people, the NEST solution is no better than the honeywell solution. Yeah you can control temps from the phone, but someone in the house can walk up and turn the dial and set it to what they want. NEST could lock it out, you can do the same thing to the old Honeywell by putting a lock box over the unit, done ever day.
I think NEST is trying to use Steve's reality distortion field in to making people thing NEST is doing things that your thermostat is not already doing. All I can say it is not $3.4B idea that is for sure.
And Nest's sleek design actually comes from a 3rd party design firm. Apple's sleek designs are all in-house.
Thanks for that. I was trying to dig it up. I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere in the general media. While I think there was an overall vision that they had, it really does bring to light the fact that Tony and Matt aren't as all seeing as the mainstream media proclaims them to be. I think their general chops on getting a product together that has mainstream appeal plus the marketing that being an ex-Apple employee gets you, made them attractive.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rogifan
And Nest's sleek design actually comes from a 3rd party design firm. Apple's sleek designs are all in-house.
Thanks for that. I was trying to dig it up. I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere in the general media. While I think there was an overall vision that they had, it really does bring to light the fact that Tony and Matt aren't as all seeing as the mainstream media proclaims them to be. I think their general chops on getting a product together that has mainstream appeal plus the marketing that being an ex-Apple employee gets you, made them attractive.
if Nest products looked like typical thermostats and smoke detectors would they be as popular? A lot of people said Nest would be a good fit for Apple based on the fact that Nest products looked like something Apple would have designed. Can't be too difficult to hire a 3rd party ID consultancy and ask them to design something like Apple would. :rolleyes:
If Apple wants to get into this space I have no doubt they could design something as sleek as Bould design did for Nest. And the design would be in-house too.
Not sure but it could be like Samsung, they channels are stuffed but are people really buying. I see their product showing up in a number of places but do not actually seeing people walking up and buying them.
Comments
What's amazing is how they react to beer.
It's a TV show on BBC that has been on for about a decade now. If you enjoy comedy and unusual facts you'll likely enjoy the show. I think most episodes are on YouTube.
Yep! I'm fan of both .... thanks again.
Another overhead serve aces right past Apple. Thanks Tim.
Really? You think so? We are talking about a thermostat, right? We are talking about a company with two products right?
While Nest is a cool product, this sounds like a ridiculous buy at that price. Considering the belief that Google will use Nest as a means to gather more data on customers, you can count me out.
I read they were to be valued at $2 billion after another $150 million influx that didn't happen due to this investment. Is 60% higher than a valuation for an acquisition unusually high? Considering what Google buys that sounds like Nest could have gotten more.
First, Nest and now .... Introducing Google's next plan to rape our homes ....
P.S. In some parts of our universe, there are truly goofle's diehards! -> http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/googles-latest-trademark-bugaboo-14919/
Good commentary ...
How Google Tries And Fails To Be As Cool, Diverse, And Popular As Apple
Witness Google’s recent acquisition of Nest Labs, makers of the so-called popular Learning Thermostat for the home or office. What’s the price tag for a company that everyone says Apple was not interested in? $3.2-Billion. Yes, that’s B as in billion dollars.
If you like, read the rest here ... http://mac360.com/2014/01/how-google-tries-and-fails-to-be-as-cool-diverse-and-popular-as-apple/
Oh, I think Apple is interested...
The introduction of iBeacons, the acquisition of WiFiSlam, BLE in all new computers, AppleTV, iDevices, various electronic shopping patents over the years, Angela Ahrents...
A trusted GC is the way to go!
We looked into building our own -- and found some things that may be of use:
We were particularly impressed with the thought that went/goes into Southwestern architecture -- Adobe architecture, in particular:
It may be worth a trip to Taos Pueblo to observe how these thousand-year-of houses provided comfort through the hot summers and cold winters:
If you have lots of glass, and travel -- you might want to consider external motorized shutters for security (similar to roll-up garage doors).
All this acquisition has really done is exposed how little many understand about HA and IoT.
Nest has an inactive Zigbee radio which is great but unfortunately the momentum right now is with
Z Wave.
Google really isn't that much closer to gaining a strong foothold in the home anymore than Apple is. Another
thing is the "sleight of hand" that goes on with technology. iBeacon is marketed as a technology that is going
to help me find groceries in the supermarket or get additional info in a retail store. Few people tend to inquire
any more about the technology because they had the lightbulb may come on. iBeacon is about hyper-location.
iBeacon can place your location down to just a couple of feet if not less. That's great accuracy from a low power
(Bluetooth LE) connection. It changes everything. While Nest will laud the magical algorithms that are employed
in Auto-Away features the smart money is with a low cost beacon that doesn't have to guess where you are. iBeacons
can trigger an action based on proximity and location.
Now couple that with their recent acquisition of PrimeSense. Yes this has gaming implications but it also has neatly
puts a reputable company and IP in Apple's controls in the burgeoning market of gesture based automation. So to recap
a bit Apple has WifiSlam, iBeacon, Siri for voice, PrimeSense for gestural input and more. The building blocks are
sitting there slowly coming together and 80% of the tech press is freaking clueless.
Yeah... I was playing around writing a trilateration app for some iBeacons (I have beacons from Estimote, StickNFind and TI). Overnight, one of the cats had gotten up on the desk and knocked off one of the StickNFind * beacons -- it rolled behind and was leaning on the desk leg... Out of sight...
I was swearing at the cat, crawling on the floor under the desk -- truing to find the beacon...
Er, Ahh... face turning red... I couldn't find my beacon... Well, Duh!
* StickNFind beacons have a LED and an audible alarm that you can trigger...
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2012/02/honeywell_sues_nest_the_race_to_build_a_better_thermostat_.html
http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/11/nest-buys-protection-licenses-patents-from-intellectual-ventures-to-fight-honeywell-others/
Thanks you for making my point, they just modernize what we already have on the wall. If you live in a house with multiply people, the NEST solution is no better than the honeywell solution. Yeah you can control temps from the phone, but someone in the house can walk up and turn the dial and set it to what they want. NEST could lock it out, you can do the same thing to the old Honeywell by putting a lock box over the unit, done ever day.
I think NEST is trying to use Steve's reality distortion field in to making people thing NEST is doing things that your thermostat is not already doing. All I can say it is not $3.4B idea that is for sure.
And Nest's sleek design actually comes from a 3rd party design firm. Apple's sleek designs are all in-house.
Thanks for that. I was trying to dig it up. I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere in the general media. While I think there was an overall vision that they had, it really does bring to light the fact that Tony and Matt aren't as all seeing as the mainstream media proclaims them to be. I think their general chops on getting a product together that has mainstream appeal plus the marketing that being an ex-Apple employee gets you, made them attractive.
Quote:
And Nest's sleek design actually comes from a 3rd party design firm. Apple's sleek designs are all in-house.
If Apple wants to get into this space I have no doubt they could design something as sleek as Bould design did for Nest. And the design would be in-house too.
This is like saying the original iPhone was just another smartphone. If Nest is not-so-special, why are their sales taking off?
Are their sales taking off?
Are their sales taking off?
Not sure but it could be like Samsung, they channels are stuffed but are people really buying. I see their product showing up in a number of places but do not actually seeing people walking up and buying them.