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Software bug forced Nest thermostats offline
A Nest software update in December came with a hidden surprise: a bug that drains the thermostat's battery and ultimately deactivates the device. Users were caught by surprise, and in the case of The New York Times writer Nick Bilton, he woke up to a cold home when his Nest switched off in the middle of the night. The Google-owned company's co-founder, Matt Rogers, confirmed to NYT that the cause was a software glitch that didn't manifest itself until January. The complaints posted on Twitter and on Nest's own forum support that statement.
Chamberlain's garage door app now works with your Nest Cam
Things disappear out of garages. Especially when you accidentally leave them open. Chamberlain and LiftMaster's garage solutions not only open and close that giant door with the MyQ app, they also tell you when it's been left open. For even more peace of mind, the Chamberlain group announced today that its app is getting support for the Nest Cam. Now owners not only know when the door is ajar, but have instant access to video via the app.
Almond WiFi routers now control Nest gear in your home
Securifi's Almond routers just got much, much more useful if you use one of them as the center of your smart home. Both the base Almond and the Almond+ now talk directly to Nest's thermostat and Protect smoke detector, giving you network-savvy controls that Nest alone can't offer. Thanks to equally new WiFi triggers, you can have the thermostat adjust the temperature the moment your phone connects to your home network. The routers will even "broker" between two connected smartphones -- if you like it hot but your partner wants it cooler, you'll get a temperature in between the two.
Nest's latest thermostat comes to the UK with hot water controls
A month after its US launch, Nest's third-generation thermostat has arrived in Britain. The hardware might look familiar, but it has a few extra tricks that separate it from previous versions and even its counterpart across the pond. For starters, Nest has given the circular design a nice little spec bump; compared to its predecessor, the thermostat has a larger (2.08 inches), brighter and pixel-dense (229ppi) display, making it easier to scroll through the interface with sleep-deprived eyes. The device's entire body is also slightly thinner, meaning it should look just a smidge more attractive in a hallway or living room.
Nest is now selling its home surveillance cameras in discounted three-packs
If you're looking to create a low-level surveillance state within your own home, Nest has a bundle deal for you. Beginning this weekend, Nest will sell its WiFi camera in a three-pack for $497. That's $100 off if you were to purchase the Nest Cams individually for $199. So you can either outfit your house with multiple cameras or give them out as gifts while saving yourself some cash. The bundle is available online at Nest.com, Amazon and Apple.com and in brick and mortar Best Buys and Home Depots.
A month with Nest's latest smart thermostat
Nest's programmable thermostat has just turned four, and the company marked the anniversary with the debut of its third-generation device. Four years ago, thermostats were still boring blocks stuck to your wall and while programming them was already possible, it was always a painful process. Once you'd fixed your temperature schedule with an endless collection of up- and down-arrow keypresses for Sunday through Monday, that selection remained fixed, with the very thought of changing the schedule leading to cold sweats. Typical configurable settings included a schedule for cool, heat and occasionally vacation mode. I've lived with one for ages and it has run faithfully, always following the schedule I made when I first set it up many seasons ago. I've coveted the Nest thermostat since launch and so, when I was recently offered an opportunity to use the newest version at home I jumped at the chance to see if it would really make a noticeable impact on my world.
ComEd wants to put a million smart thermostats in Illinois homes
ComEd, the largest power provider in Illinois, wants to give its customers a hand in switching over to smart thermostats like those from Nest and Ecobee. The idea is to get a million of them installed within the next five years, according to The Washington Post. The utilities company is offering $120 rebates to its customers who buy the gizmos and the Environmental Protection Agency tells WaPo that it's the "largest effort of its kind" in the country. ComEd likens the push to switch to the connected thermostats to the not-that-long-ago transition to compact fluorescent bulbs in terms of energy savings. Should the program be a success, it could drop total carbon dioxide emissions in the state by 709,000 metric tons and save folks up to $131 per year on their gas and electricity bills.
Comcast's home automation app links with Nest, Lutron and more
Earlier this year Comcast said its Xfinity Home service would start connecting to more automation gadgets you probably already own, and now it does. Right now, its app (iOS, Android) connects to Nest thermostats, August Smart Locks, Chamberlain MyQ garage controllers, and Lutron's Caseta light controls. The plan is to eventually make all of these services controllable via the new X1 set-top boxes and voice remote controls (now available in Spanish), but that's not ready yet. Comcast is also bringing an SDK that should make it easier for other home automation platforms to build links to their own setups -- with Comcast's approval, of course. Is a cable set-top box really the right place to put the brains of your smart home? With the TV business rapidly becoming just another part of the internet, Comcast sure hopes so.
Kodak has a new surveillance camera to compete with Nest Cam
Google's Nest Cam, previously known as Dropcam, is without a doubt one of the most preferred home monitoring camera brands. But Kodak doesn't want to be left behind, and today it introduced an upgraded video surveillance camera as part of its CFH-V series. The new model, called the CFH-V20, features a 180-degree field of view, night vision and WiFi capabilities (including a built-in signal extender. It also comes with IFTTT integration, letting you pair the device with third-party automation apps and services, as well as lifetime one-day cloud storage that lets you watch any HD recording from the past 24 hours. Kodak's V20 is available now for $150, which is about $50 cheaper than the Nest Cam.
Recommended Reading: Microsoft's knack for predicting NFL games
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. How Microsoft Got So Good at Predicting Who Will Win NFL Games by Tim Stenovec Tech Insider Have you been using Bing's sports predictions to make "friendly wagers" and set your fantasy lineups this football season? Microsoft's Bing Predicts team has been picking winners for NFL games, other sporting events, reality shows and elections for a while now. As it turns out, the small group of researchers employ machine learning to make the predictions and they've gotten better at it over time.
Nest gets more smart home devices talking to each other
Getting your connected-home gear to actually connect with one another can be a pain. Nest is trying to alleviate at least some of that hassle by adding Weave, its ad-hoc networking system to Works with Nest, it's third party development platform. Weave lets items talk to each other without relying on a home network. The company is also introducing APIs for the Nest Cam with basic camera controls and access to motion and sound events. Plus, it launched a Works with Nest store with hardware that, well, work with Nest. Finally, it showed off a new lock from Yale that works with the fancy new features it just announced.
Nest Protect review (2015): Improved safety makes it easier to recommend
There's nothing cool about safety. Yes, safety is important, but it's very rarely cool. The stylish Nest Protect is, at its core, a smoke detector -- the least chic item in your home. Still, when the company that brought us the smart thermostat introduced a smoke alarm, it stood out from its rivals with swanky features like lighting your way in the dark and a companion app. Those were and still are nice, but it's the safety features that make the device a worthy addition to the home. In particular, Nest recently updated the Protect with more precise air detection. This is a welcome turn after the company's wave-to-silence feature in the last model ended up accidentally silencing the device. That experiment in parlor tricks led Nest to halt sales of the Protect, only to put it back on the market with the motion-control feature disabled. As before, the updated smoke/carbon monoxide detector uses a human voice to calmly warn you when the alarm is about to go off. Once again, too, the Protect reminds you that it's there thanks to a helpful night-light feature. At $99, it's more than double the price of other smoke alarms you'll find in your local hardware store. But, thanks to a companion app and its integration with the Nest Cam, Nest Thermostat and other Protects you may have installed, it's a solid investment for anyone who wants to constantly monitor their home, but more importantly, it's a safer solution than what you have on your ceiling right now.
Nest outage cuts remote users off from Dropcams, thermostats (update)
If you're trying to login to a Nest (or Dropcam) account at the moment, you probably can't. The company acknowledged a service problem with the mobile and web app on its Twitter account, but so far there are no details about what's behind the problem. Thermostat owners can still change their temperature the old-fashioned way, by walking up to it and fiddling with the device, but that's probably the kind of experience they were trying to get away from. The same probably goes for those with the Nest Protect smoke alarms, although we're hoping no one finds out for sure before things are back up and running. Dropcam users don't seem to have any kind of direct interface workaround for the time being, so they'll just have to wait until access via the cloud is restored. Update: As of midnight (ET), it appears service is back up, we're able to log in and many readers say it's working for them too. Nest tweeted that service is restored, if we hear anything about what caused things to go down for a few hours, we'll let you know. [Thanks, Michael]
Nest Thermostat gets a larger display that's easier to read
After updating its smoke detector and camera, Nest has finally decided to update the device that made the company famous; its Thermostat. The new smart controller has a slightly thinner profile, larger and higher-resolution display and will now alert users when their furnace is acting wonky. To make figuring out what's going on without walking across the room easier, the third-generation device will now display the target or current temperature or an analog or digital watch face on a larger display that's activated whenever someone walks into the room. The Thermostat now has a 480 x 480 (229 ppi) display. While the display got larger, the profile got smaller. The width of the device is now 1.21 inches instead of 1.26 inches. Not exactly a huge difference, but slimmer is slimmer. For furnace owners, the Furnace Heads-Up feature tracks shutoff patterns to see if there's a potential problem with the heater. This feature will be released for the first- and second-generation Thermostats later this year. The new third-generation Nest Thermostat is available now for $249.
Nest Cam review: a slightly better Dropcam
Keeping an eye on your family, pets, neighbors and maybe a thief or two is the pitch for the Nest Cam. The evolution of the Dropcam Pro WiFi camera isn't much more than a modest hardware upgrade with the Nest name now attached. And while the $199 device shoots higher-quality images and features a better stand, unlike the other two products in Nest's lineup, it doesn't work with anything else you might have in your connected home. Still, it's a great way to keep tabs on your abode while you're away.
Tony Fadell volunteered to rescue Google Glass
Google's decision to 'graduate' Glass from Google X in January was coupled with the announcement that the team would start reporting to Nest co-founder Tony Fadell. Glass was never a roaring success -- privacy concerns and the "Glasshole" label scuppered public adoption -- so some wondered whether the iPod designer had been saddled with the project. Apparently not so. In a BBC interview, Fadell has clarified that he actively asked for the role. "It wasn't handed to me and said, 'Tony, clean it up,'" he explained. "I offered and said, 'this is important.' I remember what it was like when we did the iPod and the iPhone. I think this can be that important, but it's going to take time to get it right."
ChargePoint wants to put a $500 electric car charger in your garage
If you have an electric car, you're probably familiar with ChargePoint: it's the largest electric vehicle charging network out there. It has chargers all over the world, and a lot of them are free to use. Later this summer, you'll be able to install one of the chargers in your own garage -- but that'll cost you $500.
Nest's home security camera comes to the UK
Last month, Nest unveiled two new products that could make your home a whole lot safer: a revamped Protect smoke alarm and a wireless Nest Cam security camera. Both quickly debuted in the US and now, they're available in the UK too. The new £159 Nest Cam is clearly inspired by Dropcam -- the startup that Nest acquired last year for $555 million. The hardware offers some useful improvements though, such as a magnetic base (with tripod mount) that can be easily attached to most home surfaces. It also shoots in 1080p and uses eight built-in infrared LEDs to record and detect motion after dark. You can check the camera's live feed from your phone and "soon" Nest will be launching its Aware cloud backup service (£8 per month) so you can review anything from the last 30 days.
Nest's smart thermostat will warn if your pipes are going to freeze
Nest didn't just show off its first self-branded home monitoring camera and a revamped smoke detector at its big event. The home automation firm also gave its Learning Thermostat an update that, if you like, will warn you if the temperature falls outside of a preferred range. You'll know if it gets so cold that the pipes are likely to freeze, or if it's scorching enough that your pet will pass out. The climate controller also works in closer harmony with the Protect. It'll show carbon dioxide and smoke alarms that you might otherwise miss, and can shut off your air conditioning or heating to prevent smoke from spreading. It'll take about two weeks for Nest to push the thermostat upgrade to your home, but you can grab the necessary mobile app revamp (which unifies control for Nest's devices) as of today.
Nest's second-gen Protect is better at detecting fires
Nest's Protect smart smoke and CO alarm has been getting better with age thanks to software updates, but now it's time for a hardware upgrade. Nest has just announced a brand new Nest Protect, with improvements in both the hardware and software department. For starters, it's loaded with what Nest call a "split-spectrum sensor," which is said to be better at detecting both fast-burning and slow-spreading fires than the photoelectric smoke detector the first-gen Protect uses. A new smoke chamber also greatly reduces the chance of false-positive alerts due to dust or bugs. Also, you can now test the device's speaker, horn and its sensors from within the companion app, as well as silence the smart smoke detector's screams from your smartphone when you burn your dinner.
