
Google Plans to Show Ads Through Your Thermostat and Car - eplanit
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/21/google-plans-to-deliver-ads-through-your-thermostat-and-car/?_php=true&_type=blogs&partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0
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Kylekramer
Selective quoting at work: Google telling the SEC "For example, a few years
from now, we and other companies could be serving ads and other content on
refrigerators, car dashboards, thermostats, glasses, and watches, to name just
a few possibilities" to avoid having to disclose specific revenue sources
became "Google hopes to put ads 'on refrigerators, car dashboards,
thermostats, glasses, and watches, to name just a few possibilities'" very
quickly.

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bhartzer
Google "pinkie swears" they won't show any ads on Nest.
[http://venturebeat.com/2014/05/21/google-pinkie-swears-no-
ad...](http://venturebeat.com/2014/05/21/google-pinkie-swears-no-ads-are-
coming-to-nest/)

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amirmc
How often does anyone look at their thermostat? Showing ads there seems like a
waste of effort. Far more valuable to mine the data and show even more
'relevant' ads when you next go online.

~~~
GregBuchholz
...well if the thermostat was nefariously set to a few degrees below the
displayed setpoint in the middle of winter, then I suppose people would be
making more trips to look at the thermostat to see why they are colder than
they expected...

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bignaj
I know some people say they've lost the "Don't be evil" mojo for quite some
time now, but this would finally do it for me. It's a wonder that they're able
to avoid making you feel like you're the product (advertising audience) in so
many of their products, but now this feeling seems to be changing and many
people I know are more acutely aware of the reality.

~~~
trhway
>they're able to avoid making you feel like you're the product (advertising
audience)

instead they are making you feel like a well informed consumer and voter :)

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sp332
_We_ [Google] _are in contact with the SEC to clarify the language in this
2013 filing, which does not reflect Google’s product roadmap. Nest, which we
acquired after this filing was made, does not have an ads-based model and has
never had any such plans._

[http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/21/google-ads-odd-
places/](http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/21/google-ads-odd-places/)

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morbius
Fairly link-baity title, but honestly even if Google ends up doing this it's
not surprising. They don't make money from devices or software; their primary
revenue stream stems from advertising. They are, first and foremost, an
advertising company that likes to do cool things with technology.

And that's fine, because in a free-market economy we will always have
alternatives. Also important to note: nowhere in the filing does Google ever
mention _how_ this will pan out. The only reason this alarmist behavior is
occurring is due to the Nest acquisition. I personally believe there's no
reason to worry.

With apologies to Bill Gates, "We always overestimate the change that will
occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in
the next ten."

~~~
objclxt
> _And that 's fine, because in a free-market economy we will always have
> alternatives_

You seem to believe that a free-market economy offers alternatives to those
who'd don't want to see advertising, but that simply isn't true. Go outside in
any major urban area and you'll see advertising all around you, and the "free-
market economy" isn't giving you an alternative (go live in the middle of
nowhere?)

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chrismcb
About 10 years ago I interviewed with a small company (not nest) that was
building thermostats, primarily for hotels. They had a proprietary method to
raise and lower the temp based on if there were people in the room. They had a
lot of grandiose plans, one of which was the possibility of ads on the
thermostat. I can sort of see it, I would suspect people look at the
thermostat more often in a hotel room. But the goal of Nest is you STOP
looking at the thermostat. Theoretically once it learns about you, you
shouldn't really have to look at it again. As for ads elsewhere, as long as I
get something free in return. And, yeah, more than one sci fi author has
forseen a future like that.

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codyb
I feel like that would be atrocious. I would certainly pay more for the ad
free version. Such a shame that folks who couldn't pay as much would go home
to be bombarded with advertisements from their appliances. Obviously it
wouldn't stop at the thermostat and the car.

The data collected on the other hand, as much as I'd hate to be a part of the
collection process, that would be an amazing data set to tackle. An
information stream with things like locations, speeds, temperatures, and more.

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higherpurpose
Let's see how Nest keeps its privacy promises:

[http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/01/nest-ceo-promises-
op...](http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/01/nest-ceo-promises-opt-ins-for-
data-policy-changes-even-under-google/)

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click170
I'm seeing a market for an Adblock Plus appliance that sites in-line with your
router. For those who don't run Tomato or equivalent to achieve similar
functionality.

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smsm42
Adblock already has proxy (that's how Adblock for Android works, for example).
Making it into a device would not be hard.

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us0r
And in other news the DEA and FBI no longer need to break into homes to bug
them as they have compelled Google to just insert a listener into your
thermostat and refrigerator.

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mpg33
I could see the car dashboard as a viable place...and MAYBE a fridge
advertising food sales from local supermarkets even restaurants...but
thermostat?

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mratzloff
Now we're going to have to jailbreak our "refrigerators, car dashboards,
thermostats, glasses, and watches" in addition to our phones.

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smsm42
If it's a free car, I'm ok with seeing ads. Otherwise, no.

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qwerta
why not. If they provide fridge for free and pay electricity...

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hellbreakslose
Time for me to start writting adblock for my thermostat and my car ?:D

~~~
jmpe
You joke, but people need to start thinking about how to translate adblock to
the up and coming IoT ecosystem.

~~~
maxerickson
I'd rather see effort put into decentralized versions of stuff. Access to your
home devices as a service is an annoying arrangement.

(It's hard to be too worried, internet itself and internet in your pocket are
a lot more compelling than internet [for reasons we haven't figured out yet]
on your fridge)

