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Nest will begin curating its Works With Nest products online
Home automation producer Nest wants to make things easier for you when it comes to building your connected home. That's why it will soon curate select items that work with your Nest products so you can buy them directly from its online storefront.
Nest can slash people's energy use during peak prices
In California, energy companies have to switch all customers to Time of Use (TOU) rate plans by 2019. Under TOU, energy prices change throughout the day -- it won't be easy to monitor rates and adjust cooling and heating manually every hour or so. To help users stick to their budget, Nest is introducing a new feature called "Time of Savings." The service shares customers' TOU rate info with Nest, which then auto-adjusts itself to reduce energy consumption during the most expensive periods. Nest will only change the temperature by a degree or two, though, and users will have to tweak it themselves if they want to save more money.
Nest is reportedly working on an outdoor security camera
In a letter to employees posted by The Verge yesterday, new Nest CEO Marwan Fawaz reassured employees that the company wasn't for sale and stated that the focus should be on delivering new products currently in the works. Although a specific reference to a new gadget was redacted in the letter, Tech Insider reports that one of the new items mentioned is an outdoor version of the Nest Cam.
Nest co-founder and CEO Tony Fadell steps down
The CEO of Google's home automation company, Nest, is leaving. Tony Fadell made the announcement today in a blog post, saying he will remain as an advisor to Alphabet and CEO Larry Page. Marwan Fawaz, a former exec with Adelphia, Charter and Motorola Mobility and chairman of CableLabs, will step in as the new CEO. Fadell is most well known for leading the engineering team that developed the iPod, before he left Apple to co-found Nest with Matt Rogers in 2010, which focused on home devices like its connected thermostat. Google bought the company in 2014 for $3.2 billion before Nest itself acquired Dropcam a few months later.
Nest's co-founder is releasing a smart go-kart for kids
Nest co-creator Tony Fadell isn't focused solely on making intelligent thermostats and smoke detectors. He recently unveiled Actev Motors, a company whose inaugural Arrow Smart-Kart promises to give kids a taste of what smart cars are like. The electric go-kart includes GPS, a and WiFi to keep junior drivers safe. Parents using a mobile app can geofence the kart's driving area, limit the top speed or hit a stop button in an emergency. In other words, even younger kids (5- to 9-year-olds are the main targets) can motor around without getting in over their heads. There's also a proximity sensor to automatically prevent accidents.
NYT: Google's Echo competitor is called 'Home'
Google's answer to the Amazon Echo is named Google Home, according to The New York Times. Google Home, which was developed under the codename "Chirp," is a voice-powered assistant that can answer basic questions as you bustle around the house. The device should hit stores in the fall and Google is set to unveil the device during its big I/O conference tomorrow, NYT reports.
Nest's thermostat now talks to WeMo smart home switches
Want Nest's smart thermostat to do a lot more than change the temperature when you're out? Belkin is about to make your day. The gadget maker has introduced Works with Nest support to its WeMo switches and the WeMo Maker, giving you an easy way to toggle devices when you're home or away. You can switch on the lights when you get home, for example, or turn on a fan to cool down your home while you're out. The WeMo app has control over the Nest thermostat's target temperature, too, in case you'd rather not switch apps. All the integration support will be live the moment the latest WeMo app update arrives (no later than 3PM today, the 17th), so you don't have to wait long to automate more of your household.
Google's own interpretation of Amazon's Echo is coming soon
All of a sudden, it's as if everyone is working on voice-controlled personal assistants, and reports suggest that Google's version of something similar to Amazon's Echo could land as soon as the Google I/O event next week -- which would make sense. According to sources at Recode, it's currently being developed under the codename, Chirp.
Nest opens the networking code for its smart home devices
Nest already has a bunch of companies lined up to use its Thread network protocol in their devices (over 30 submitted right now), but it's not content with what's on deck. The Alphabet-owned company has created an open source version, OpenThread, that lets anyone implement the smart home-oriented technology in their connected gadgets. In theory, it doesn't take much work -- Thread is already an IPv6 protocol, so any device that handles the 802.15.4 standard (used for low-rate personal networks) should only need a few tweaks to play nicely.
Apple hires Google X co-founder and Nest's ex-head of tech
Robotics professor Yoky Matsuoka is lending Apple her expertise, according to Fortune. Matsuoka co-founded X Labs, Google's secretive research facility that developed Glass and the company's self-driving car. She also used to be Nest's head of technology before she left for a VP position at Twitter. The former University of Washington professor ended up dropping that gig before she even started after being diagnosed with a life-threatening illness.
Schaft's latest robot looks positively interstellar
Alphabet's intent to get rid of Boston Dynamics hasn't affected its other robotics programs, from the looks of it. On Japan's New Economic Summit stage, the Alphabet X lab (formerly Google X) subsidiary SCHAFT unveiled a new bipedal unit that's capable of climbing stairs, carrying a loaded barbell on its "head" unit, laterally stepping through a row of seats at a soccer stadium and even maintaining balance when a section of pipe is placed under its feel. IEEE Spectrum writes that this was part of former Google exec Andy Rubin's keynote at the event, but that the debut wasn't part of a product announcement or "indication of a specific product roadmap."
Nest has 'case-by-case' help for abandoned Revolv owners
Next month Nest shutting is down its service that powers Revolv smart home hubs, and now the Google-owned company says it's trying to help owners of the devices. Nest bought Revolv back in 2014 but no longer sells the hardware, and yesterday word came of the impending shutdown. Today Nest Support tweeted that it's "here to help," encouraging Revolv users to email support for help.
Engadget giveaway: Win a trio of Nest products courtesy of Bitdefender!
With more internet-facing smart devices in homes than ever before, it's wise to consider securing that digital portal. The Bitdefender Box connects to your home router, providing an easy-to-setup shield for all the data flowing through it. It scans for malware and adds a layer of protection to help keep your data and IoT devices safe from prying eyes. That security can also extend to your Mac, PC and mobile devices (iOS and Android) when you're away from home by using Bitdefender's Private Line feature. For a limited time, Box is available for just $99, which is half off its regular price and includes one year of the company's subscription service. To help promote this deal, the company is providing one lucky reader with a Bitdefender Box and Nest's lineup of IoT products including the Protect, Thermostat and Cam. All you need to do is head to the Rafflecopter widget below for up to three chances at winning this smart and secure home combo! Winner: Congratulations to Charlie P. of Boise, ID!
Nest kills integration with Revolv's smart devices
Google-owned Nest has announced that it will shut down all support for the Revolv smart home hub in May and many customers are up in arms over the news. That's because, come middle of next month, Revolv's $300 smart hubs will stop functioning completely. It's not just that their API will no longer operate, the physical devices themselves will brick, according to a report from Business Insider.
Amazon's Alexa controls Nest thermostats
Beginning today Amazon's digital assistant Alexa can control Nest thermostats. If you're home is too warm or too cold, just shout at the voice-activated helper and it'll adjust the temperature. It's going to be incredibly helpful on those summer days when it's too hot to move.
Google is reportedly working on an Amazon Echo rival
Nest might not be building a challenger to the Amazon Echo, but that doesn't mean its sister company Google is standing idle. The Information's sources claim that Google is building its own voice-controlled "personal assistant device" to beat Amazon at its own game. Just how it would work isn't clear (though it would likely rely on Google's existing voice search tech), but the search giant is believed to be working alone -- unlike Google's OnHub line, you won't find any hints of Nest technology inside.
Nest devices get better at knowing when you're home
If you're a Nest owner, you've probably experienced the company's thermostat flipping itself to Away mode while you were still home. Most likely, that's because someone didn't walk past the motion sensor on the tech in a timely fashion. Thankfully, Nest announced two new features that will improve the the gadgets' ability to tell when someone's home. First, there's a new Home/Away Assist that uses your phone's location in addition to the motion sensors and software algorithms inside the household gear.
Privacy concerns kept Nest from making an Echo-like assistant (updated)
With the announcement of two new Echo speakers, Amazon also revealed that those voice-controlled devices (and the Fire TV) now play nice with Nest thermostats. According to Recode, the Google-owned connected home company thought about making an Echo-like of its own, but scrapped the idea due to concerns over privacy. Nest thought that consumers wouldn't think too highly of a device with a virtual assistant that was tied directly to Google. Of course, there's no telling how far along those plans were. What's more, the company's CEO Tony Fadell addressed privacy concerns when Mountain View bought Nest, explaining that the smart home outfit would remain a separate entity.
ICYMI: Quick launch UAV box, dog translation collar and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-878392{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-878392, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-878392{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-878392").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: A new crowdfunded collar for dogs purports to translate activity levels and temperature into how the animal is feeling, then let you know. The KYON collar is basically the dog from the Pixar movie Up in beta version. A nesting box for storing and charging UAVs between flights aims to get surveillance states a drone on standby. And the Emi by Moodbox wants to be the Amazon Echo-like device you turn to for music selections, since its AI is designed to learn your song preferences and curate according to your mood.
Princeton researchers find security flaws in IoT devices
One of the main concerns about the so-called Internet of Things is security, and the recent findings of researchers at Princeton won't help ease the anxiety. Researchers at the university's Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP) took a close look at how information is transmitted between the connected devices in your home and the cloud to gauge just how secure they really are. The list of devices researched included the Belkin WeMo Switch, Nest Thermostat, Ubi Smart Speaker, Sharx Security Camera, PixStar Digital Photoframe and a SmartThings Hub. As it turns out, a few gadgets the group examined sent information out in the open.
