
Google to Acquire Nest - coloneltcb
http://investor.google.com/releases/2014/0113.html
======
MrZongle2
Am I the only one who thought "well, good for the Nest guys" followed by "too
bad, it looked like a good product"?

~~~
psbp
Yeah, motorola products have completely gone down the toilet after that
acquisition. They were so great before with fast updates and a wonderful skin
of android, and now they're either non-innovative or way too overpriced for
the value.

~~~
arikrak
Yeah, and like Android and Youtube. Sarcasm aside, Google has actually done
pretty well with acquisitions compared to other companies. (Say ones that
begin with "M" or "Y").

You can see the list in wikipedia:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisition...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Google)

~~~
Steko
YouTube was fine when Google wrote checks and got out of the way. Now Larry
and co. have their hands all over it and YT is slowly going to shit... from
the G+ spam to the annotation spam and of course you need to sign in to keep
them turned off (lol maybe!), to "hey let's make you rebuffer the whole video
you just watched" to just horrid performance drops in general to "hey we found
a way to make YT comments even worse".

I can't feel that we'd be much better off if MS had decided to lose billions
on YouTube along with Bing and Google had pressed ahead with Google Video as a
legitimate competitor.

~~~
teh_klev
"hey we found a way to make YT comments even worse"

Could they get any worse? Seriously does any normal thinking person really
participate and contribute comments in that quagmire? I sometimes I thank
Google and Yahoo for creating those honey pots for the internet brain-dead to
vent their steam and vitriol, keeping them well away from stuff I like to
constructively participate in.

~~~
snogglethorpe
Actually the comment quality on the videos I watch seems to have improved
markedly since the G+ integration...

Coincidence? No clue... Still, all the "OMG G+ will destroy youtube!1!"
whining is looking pretty stupid...

~~~
jsight
I agree... it is still horrible, but it seems to be slightly less horrible
now.

------
tghw
Given Google's history with acquisitions, as a Nest owner, I'm not thrilled to
hear this. Hopefully they let it run as independently as possible.

~~~
VLM
Google always shuts stuff down. Which is just a big laugh when its an internet
application, but not so funny when its your thermostat. Anyone know what
happens when GOOG shuts off the Nest system? Hopefully the thermostat reverts
to at least a simple dumb mode rather than shutting everything off?

~~~
cloudwalking
I doubt Google would shut down a $3,200,000,000.00 acquisition.

~~~
sliverstorm
Please don't include decimals on that kind of number, it's intellectually
dishonest.

~~~
Karunamon
? Only if you're incapable of telling the difference between commas and
periods, I suppose.

~~~
sliverstorm
It isn't _factually_ dishonest, because it is an accurate number, and anyone
can make sense of it.

I say it is _intellectually_ dishonest because it reads to me as a clear
attempt to make the number appear more impressive.

Borrowing from Wikipedia, "intellectual honesty":

    
    
       Facts are presented in an unbiased manner, and not twisted to give misleading impressions
    

It would still be accurate to say it was a $3,200,000,000.000,000,000,000
valuation, but I hope you will agree this is misrepresenting information.

~~~
Karunamon
Eh, guess we're going to agree to disagree there. Dollar figures having two
decimal places at the end is pretty much a standard. If they included 3, yeah,
that would reek of shiftiness. On top of that, all of the press releases I see
don't even include the full amount written out, just "$3.2B".

------
nostromo
I'm happy for Nest but sad for myself, given the smoke detector was my
Christmas gift last year.

Previously I would look to YouTube as an acquisition done right. But after the
kerfuffle around G+ integration, I no longer feel that way.

If I have to sign in with my G+ account to manage my smoke alarm, it's going
directly into the rubbish bin.

If Apple had bought Nest, on the other hand, I'd feel very differently.

~~~
Sanddancer
Had Apple bought nest, you'd have to log into your icloud account to manage
it, via your idevice, with no other management abilities available. Apple is
absolutely horrible at playing well with others.

~~~
nostromo
I'm ok with that. My issue with Google isn't Single-Sign-On, it's forcing
every product into a social-network mold.

Although I'm a happy user of Facebook and Twitter, I think SV's social
obsession has largely been fruitless. Social does not improve most products
and can actually harm them.

And now I'm worrying about how "social" is going to be slapped on to my fire
alarm.

~~~
Sanddancer
You missed my point. If apple controlled nest, you'd almost certainly only get
notifications if you were using an idevice of some sort. Apple's terrible
about working with others to create industry standards; the AppleTV for
example would be a lot more useful if it used DLNA for streaming instead of
Apple's proprietary format.

~~~
ilyanep
I think you're missing his/her point. The problem nostromo has is not
proprietary formats but social networks. I think the worry is updates like
"John Doe turned the temperature in his house to 75!" (and while that fear is
overstated, it's not unreasonable to not want products that can detect the
presence of humans in your bedroom connected to social networks).

~~~
psbp
Google+ doesn't really have to be a social network. There's nothing social
about my use of G+, and I use it pretty frequently.

------
jmduke
The cynic in me shudders at the possibility of Google adding even more real-
world data like temperature preference and lifestyle factors to their massive
data portfolio.

The idealist in me is incredibly excited at the possibility of Nest's
fundamental strengths being bolstered by Google's coffers.

~~~
Karunamon
Am I the only one that doesn't get chills up their spine whenever Google
breaks into some new market? I see very little possible misuse of temperature
preference (of all things...) and very great possible gains.

The more intimately a service knows you, the more personalized and relevant
data it can bring.

And another thing, I am really sick and tired of tempering or being told to
temper my enthusiasm for some new technology or some novel use of existing
technology just because it might be misused. Just about every technology
that's wide-reaching enough has abuse potential. That is not an excuse for
ludditism! Deal with the abuse instead of hamstringing the tech.

~~~
chrisrhoden
What about the ability to know when someone is in your home and when someone
is not?

If Google records that data (say, to be able to provide you with a handy chart
of your energy use and some ways to improve it), the potential I am more
worried about is the fact that the data exists makes it possible to subpoena.

~~~
wyager
Exactly. I don't care if the government knows when I'm home (they can already
figure that out), but imagine if Google's database of Nest info got leaked.

Burglars could look at the database and say "Oh hey, look, no one's home right
now."

~~~
vdaniuk
Do you really think burglars could not get their hands on leaked government
agency database?

This is just another excuse to throw feces at Google, and HN commenters just
don't miss any possible opportunity to do that.

~~~
diydsp
strawman and goalposts. PP said google's database, not government databases.

google data breach in last 30 days:
[http://money.cnn.com/2013/12/04/technology/security/password...](http://money.cnn.com/2013/12/04/technology/security/passwords-
stolen/)

inside job at home security company in last year:
[http://www.wbng.com/news/state/198129651.html](http://www.wbng.com/news/state/198129651.html)

~~~
sneaky_ruds
Calling that a Google data breach is a pretty big misrepresentation;
keyloggers installed on user machines collected passwords typed into a number
of websites, including Google's.

(disclaimer: I work for Google, have no special knowledge of the incident in
question)

------
minimax
"Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) announced today that it has entered into an
agreement to buy Nest Labs, Inc. for $3.2 billion in cash."

Can that be right? $3.2 billion? That's a crazy huge sum.

~~~
ActVen
They have paying customers. It matters.

~~~
dangrossman
Nest has customers who have paid it, it does not have paying customers. There
is no ongoing fee despite every device Nest sells being connected to its
servers 24/7/365\. It takes no more than ~3 seconds for any changes you make
on their web/mobile apps to reach the thermostat, so it has to be at least
checking in with a server constantly.

~~~
nknighthb
Surely the updates are sent via some form of push. Polling on that scale would
be obscene.

~~~
dangrossman
Yet that's what I believe it does. Every few seconds, Nest sends an HTTP POST
to their servers with its serial number. If there are any commands waiting for
that thermostat (change temperature initiated from an app for example), they
get sent in response, otherwise the connection is closed.

~~~
cbr
That's the client pulling, not the server pushing. Pushing would be "when the
owner makes a change on the website, notify the appropriate thermostat to
change its settings". This would be way more efficient, but too many Nests
aren't going to have suitable internet connections.

~~~
dangrossman
Perhaps you misread "yet" as "yes". I'm curious if there's a power issue as
well. I don't know how fast wifi can turn on/off and reconnect to a network.
Nest has to be low-power as its only power source is one of the tiny wires
from the HVAC system and that doesn't supply enough to run the device offline,
let alone online. It uses that wire to charge an internal battery instead.

~~~
cbr
I did make exactly that misreading; sorry!

------
k-mcgrady
Very surprised Apple didn't purchase this. Headed by Tony Fadell, brilliant
design, I thought it would fit and be a nice diversification for them. However
it will be very interesting to see what Google does with this. If I put away
the cynic in me for a moment: the more data Google has on me the better their
services are for me. I could imagine the Nest thermostat integrating with
Google Now and the location data Google has on me for example to better now my
comings and going.

~~~
crucifiction
Perhaps Google bought them because Apple did try to make a bid. Hence the
inflated price...

~~~
easyfrag
Apparently Google was the only serious bidder and Apple was not in the mix.
Source: [http://recode.net/2014/01/13/google-acquires-nest-
for-3-2b/](http://recode.net/2014/01/13/google-acquires-nest-for-3-2b/)

------
bradly
Seriously not trying to troll, but could someone help explain where Google
might see 3.2 billion dollars of value in a company that pretty much just
sells a successful thermostat?

~~~
ctdonath
Google's core competency: know everything. Look at anything Google does from
that perspective.

Each Nest will feed data (anonymized, of course / _cough_ /) back to Google so
they'll know home heating patterns, heck, home usage patterns (it watches
activity and proactively & predictively adjusts for when people are/aren't
around). Feed vast amounts of that data into the cumulatively large (no
adjective does it justice) data mining process and they'll know that much more
about [m|b]illions of people & locations.

US$3.2B? In the USA alone that works out to $0.003 per person per day over 10
years (assuming everyone has a Nest device in the long run; optimistic
calculation, but sets the ballpark values).

~~~
Daishiman
Integration with Google Now would seem like the logical next step.

------
toddmorey
Please, please Google... don't spam me about starting a Google+ account when
I'm just trying to turn the temp down a few degrees. I beg you.

~~~
patrickaljord
And I beg all HN users to stop doing Google+ jokes as they're just as unfunny
as they're unoriginal.

~~~
ilyanep
I'm not convinced they're as much jokes as real concerns by people who have
already been burned by this (see: YouTube -- I'm not going to argue about
whether or not G+ integration has made these products better, but it's not
unreasonable to not want your real-name associated with comments you made
under a pseudonym, and to be so annoyingly pestered to do so!)

~~~
aniket_ray
Google+ is Google's social layer. Commenting is an inherently social activity
and it makes sense to have a common layer i.e. G+ here to handle them.
Changing the temperature is not a social activity.

So no the jokes are not real concerns and are mostly silly intellectually lazy
exaggerations.

~~~
taybin
God forbid

------
callmeed
FYI Google Ventures participated in 2 of Nest's funding rounds, including
leading their series C last year.

I can't say exactly if/how this affects the acquisition but it does feel like
some of the money is just traveling in a circle.

------
uptown
Smart buy in my opinion. The connected home has enormous untapped growth
potential, and they just acquired a company that managed to take something as
mundane as a thermostat and make it cool.

~~~
robg
At least there's a cost savings angle to an intelligent thermostat.

The connected smoke alarm as a cool object really amazed me - it's where new
business models are made.

~~~
smackfu
Exactly. Walk the aisles at your local home improvement store. Find every
product that you interact with that is under $20. You can probably make that
amazing for $50-100. And what's that in terms of how much people spend on
houses?

~~~
robg
It would be a fun list. Humidifiers have always annoyed me.

------
badclient
Someone at google is thinking of ways to use Google Plus to fuck up Nest.

~~~
caprad
Has google hired a lot of MBA's recently, because it look an awful lot like
they are trying to cross-pollinate their main business lines, to improve
vertical integration and uptake.

~~~
iamjustin
It sure does. Hopefully they can find a way to optimize the backwards overflow
which is sure accompany these changes.

------
agperson
Argh, I was just about to buy some Nest Protects, but I don't want Google
sensors built into my house.

~~~
mikeg8
Agree. sometimes it feels there is no escaping google's watch

------
ChuckMcM
It's awesome for the folks at Nest, but the first thought through my head was
this : I am so starting a smart lawn sprinkler controller company!

~~~
interpol_p
Oh please do. Irrigation systems have the clunkiest, most error prone
interfaces I have ever used.

------
mikegreen
$3.2b makes me think there has to be some awesome technology that they own or
pipeline, as I can't get excited about the thermostat. It is a great idea, and
played with one a bit, but it isn't solving any large HVAC issues - the
thermostat is simply an on/off switch for the real working hardware in your
basement/outside.

So, what else do they do that makes Google want to pay $3+ billion (pinkie to
lip) for Nest?

~~~
maxerickson
They have figured out how to do marketable home automation devices and how to
navigate getting them certified by UL and the like.

------
jffry
Coming soon: audio ads, broadcast throughout your home via your Nest Protect.
Since it knows if you're moving, it can wait and play the ad when it knows
you're there, allowing Google to charge a higher cost per impression.

~~~
smackfu
Sounds silly, but people pay Tivo a subscription fee every month and they pack
that thing full of ads.

~~~
Karunamon
The only ads on Tivo that I can remember is a single line item on the home
screen, and this was almost always for some VOD service.

There was also the thumb integration (you could thumbs-up some ads from either
live tv or your recordings, which would pull up a new page with info about
whatever was being advertised, occasionally a video), but this is about as
unintrusive as it gets (a small icon on the top right whenever a compatible ad
is played).

Has this changed in the newer revs? I'm honestly curious.

~~~
smackfu
Yep. Here's the ad sales page which goes through all the various options,
including showing ads on the pause screen and including ads when you delete a
show and in the menu that lists your episodes of a show. It's gross.

[http://www.tivo.com/tivoadvertising/](http://www.tivo.com/tivoadvertising/)

(Your ad blocker may stop that page from working properly.)

~~~
Karunamon
Auugh.. thanks for the heads up. I can cross a new Tivo off the list of things
I want, then. Part of the reason I bought that device was to _skip_ ads...

------
hoopism
The Nest UI (web and mobile) is laughable horrible. Only has about 2 weeks
historical data. Doesn't record what means a temp was adjusted (web? Phone?
Nest?). Doesn't do any sort of trending long term or historical analysis.
Charts overlay clicking points so you can see some data. Doing my own analysis
it ended up using more energy than my manual changes. So I don't even use
autoschedule.

------
loganu
It's not a talent acquisition. It's not a move towards more government
monitoring. It's not meant to increase G+ sign-ups or sell ads for more
efficient furnaces.

It's a play into the growing "connected product" / smart home segment. When
you combine google's resources, their current software and hardware products,
and the type of products Nest is likely to move on to, you get some strong
synergies that Google would be dumb to ignore. A little more discussion on
where things could go from here (that doesn't touch on the NSA or government
subpoenas) would be really refreshing.

------
molecule
Coming Soon: Google+ Integration w/ Your Nest Thermostat

~~~
badclient
No heat for you if you don't upload a profile pic. That will drive up
engagement I bet.

~~~
sliverstorm
_I 'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that. Only users who use their real
name on G+ are allowed to change the temperature_

------
mesozoic
The real winners are DST Global and the others who bought round D and got what
looks like a 50% return on $150 million in about 2 weeks.

------
ThomPete
For once I can understand the pricing and think its in fact cheap.

1) Nest has a realistic potential to be in "every" home if not the actual
hardware then the underlying intelligence.

2) Nest has a business model that works. People are paing for it and they love
it.

3) Combining Google data with Nest access points I can only imagine the
awesome things they can come up with and improve. Perhaps the first glimpse at
an intelligent grid system.

4) 3.2 is a steal and given that its cash its a good sale.

~~~
notacoward
The only way Nest will have on in every home is by aggressively enforcing
bogus patents against everyone who makes anything even remotely similar. We
should cheer for that?

~~~
ThomPete
I think you are missing the bigger picture here.

It's not about the thermostat its about the ecosystem its part of.

And I did write "every" :)

------
nodata
Oh come on this has to stop. How much would it have cost Google to build Nest
from scratch? Not 3.2 billion dollars.

~~~
angersock
It's not the tech, it's the install/customer base.

~~~
pgrote
How large is the installed base? It appears to be small for smart thermostats
and even smaller for Nest.

[http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/11/02/2877211/smart-
th...](http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/11/02/2877211/smart-thermostats-
poised-major-market-growth/)

------
outside1234
I'm really surprised. I thought Nest was Tony Fadell's vehicle to make it back
into Apple.

I am going to sit here with a bemused expression on my face thinking of Tony
Fadell at data driven Google. I put it 6 months before he is out of there.

------
figital
There's been a product on the market for several years called "TED" ...
something seemed fishy when Google killed the data monitoring service ...
[http://www.google.com/powermeter/](http://www.google.com/powermeter/). Still
... you have the power (so to speak) to meter your own appliances. Yes you.

Mine is still in the box :(.

------
belgianguy
smart phone > smart car > smart house > ... ? ... > smart human

I for one see great areas of improvement and possibilities inside the common
house. Not that I'd wire up _every_ appliance with a Wi-Fi sensor, but some
data _can_ be useful, if only for safety (falling asleep with the oven on:
here a sensor could cut the power at a certain condition, or trigger the fire
alarm, or ring up the firefighters).

Or you left the house and realise you left some of the lights on, just tell
the in-car console to open the domotics app, and tell it to shut the lights
off.

And the smart fridge, if RFIDs or its successor ever become cheap enough to be
able to be printed on a milk carton, you could have your fridge's contents
with you wherever you go, just open the app, look what's about to go off, or
have it remind you to get extra supplies when you're near a point of interest.

If they'll let me I'll hook up a Nagios server to my coffee machine.

~~~
MartinCron
I know this makes me sound like a terrible luddite or hipster or both, but
I've been thinking about all of these smart devices and services and how they
may have a somewhat infantalizing impact on people.

I recently met with some people behind a startup built entirely around
generating meal plans for you. I understand that it's a useful service (for
some types of people). But I worry about the implication that we are now a
species that _can 't even figure out what to eat_ for ourselves.

~~~
pgcosta
We can figure out what to eat. But it takes time. Imagine that you want to
personalize your diet. Take certain ammounts of protein, calories, fat, etc...
It would take lots of time if you would prepare a weekly plan for yourself.
Thats a good Idea.

But I do feel what you'r expressing, like we need an app to do everything.

But I much rather live with these little apps and have lots of good
information than to live completly oblivious to everything like my grandads
(kind'of. I still have my hippie moments).

~~~
MartinCron
I don't know, it might be nudging you to being oblivious in a different
direction. Encapsulation is generally about ignorance, and if you have a robot
designing your macro-nutrient intake for you, then you can wind up oblivious
to what is actually in your food.

------
jcampbell1
The only possible way this acquisition make sense is that Nest has some truly
amazing product in the pipeline. It is impossible to justify 3.2 Billion for a
team or thermostats. My guess is they wanted to get acquired because some
future product make sense to have Google's brand and go to market ability.

~~~
venomsnake
A friend is currently working for an intrusive home management solution that
certain telecoms are to unleash on the unsuspecting Germans. All internet of
things stuff, all remote. It will be sold with internet subscription. The root
capabilities will be in telco and not the home owner.

I am willing to bet a lot that Nest have either something similar or that
google wants to spearhead this market and are scrambling with whatever the
cost the know how.

------
wil421
So will they shut it down like they did when bought sparrow or bump?

I thought sparrow was great for iOS and OS X. Googles gmail app is not as
stable.

Lately I've been concerned about google and privacy this make make me change
my mind and just buy a competitors version of a "nest". The price is what has
been keeping me away.

------
throwaway420
I wish we lived in a world where Google can be trusted with all of this
personal data because they could do lots of interesting things to make lives
easier and create more wealth for everybody.

But I have every expectation that this data, if not right away, could someday
be sent to the criminal gangs that wear suits and ties that are looking for
new targets to loot and plunder.

Just knowing the temperature in your house, cross-referenced with other data
about you as well as electricity bills, could be enough for a future police
agency to argue probable cause that you're running a drug growing operation
and have them do all kinds of raids and intrusive searches and harassment.

This shouldn't be an issue, but Google has earned absolutely zero trust with
its obvious non-denials of NSA activity and other negative conduct.

------
dengar007
Now you can +1 your temperature!

~~~
mikeg8
oh jesus

------
ehfeng
Google should have negotiated for a $3.141 billion price.

~~~
YokoZar
The 60 million dollar joke.

------
lowlevel
I have a feeling I'll be ripping the Nest off of my wall in no time.

------
angersock
"We've noticed that you're currently freezing your toes off...would you like
to search instead for 'HVAC'?"

Fucking creepy.

~~~
sixothree
I find this creepy as well. The fact I was considering purchasing one gives me
an ill feeling now.

------
jusben1369
I think folks are too focused here on Google caring about the temperature in
your house. I suspect Nest's hw/sw/design chops will come in very handy when
putting together say the experience of a self driving car?

------
matmann2001
Great. Now I'll have to listen to an ad before my fire alarm goes off.

------
ck2
Do they own patents or something?

Because with a $10 android chip, any Chinese plant could churn out Nest clones
in a few months.

~~~
smackfu
The tricky part is getting it on the shelves at Home Depot or Lowes.

Nest threw a lot of money at Home Depot, if the dedicated end caps I've seen
for the last couple of years are any indication.

~~~
tanzam75
Home Depot and Lowes both sell private-label home automation products. They
could buy the equipment from the Chinese and slap their own brands on it.

------
14th
... I'm glad I haven't bought one yet. Now I need to figure out how to build
an open source one.

------
badman_ting
Google offers you 3 billi, you take it. That's what I always say.

~~~
evanmoran
You wouldn't take 3 billion from someone else?=)

------
Fogest
Nest has a post on their blog about this as well if you're interested:
[https://nest.com/blog/2014/01/13/nest-google-and-
you/](https://nest.com/blog/2014/01/13/nest-google-and-you/)

I am not sure why people always say Google makes companies suck. This may be
the case sometimes, but it is that way for most companies who buy things if
they try to make changes. Just look at YouTube. It has become quite
successful, despite some poor decisions.

------
FiddlerClamp
I'm relieved that Apple didn't buy them. In that case, they'd have certainly
either a) discontinued the Android version, or b) created a cross-platform app
like iTunes.

------
cmos
Nest has built an expensive thermostat that is engaging. It certainly doesn't
take $80 Million to do that. So perhaps they also spent their money developing
a cheaper version after proving that people like it and more importantly
proving it can save money and eventually pay for itself.

I would spend a ton of money putting everything on one chip, getting the cost
down to $5 or $10 for the same user experience. Maybe put in a cheaper display
if needed. Now this wireless device in the house can pay itself off in very
short amount of time, making it a super easy decision for consumers. The
current offerings of thermostats are clunky and have horrible user interfaces
that require modes and buttons and such to program.. forget about daylight
savings time!

If people can buy Nest functionality for $50 then google will have a solid
foothold in people's homes. From that they can sell camera's that show up
through your google TV device and get into the security market.

The dial on Nest is a universal interface, as the original ipod has shown us,
perfect for scrolling through menu's and long lists and for changing volume or
choosing music. Might as well put a microphone in so people can ask the
internet things.

Still not quite sure it's worth $3.2Billion.. perhaps there was a bidding war?

------
bluthru
Ugh, our industry needs more owners, not less.

------
smackfu
Well, that should resolve their patent issues.

~~~
callmeed
Elaborate?

~~~
smackfu
Honeywell sued them. Google must have enough defensive patents to use against
Honeywell to make them go away. Terrible, of course, but that's the way the
world works.

------
suprgeek
$3.2 BILLION All-Cash offer.

Is that Color-level valuation for a Thermostat company?

Or more like Instagram-level... Holy Moly!

~~~
cududa
Nest has great hardware designers (which Google lacks) and engineers. Nest
first built a hardware/ software platform that enables them to in the future
build other smart appliances and home automation tools. The thermostat was
simply the first product.

------
pessimizer
I don't know a lot about Nest, but I understand that requests to the
thermostat are made from the phone app indirectly through a central server?

What possible consumer benefit could that indirection have?

edit: The reason I ask is that I'm trying to figure out why an exact copy of
Nest except that it didn't leak data and didn't require other people's servers
to work wouldn't eat Nest's lunch.

~~~
ceejayoz
I used that indirection to turn the heat up for my cat while on vacation,
knowing that a big ice storm was coming. Couldn't do that if it only worked on
the LAN.

~~~
mdda
Actually puzzled : Why would the cat need it warmer indoors if there's an ice
storm? Isn't keeping it at the same temperature enough? Or is the problem
because the heating switches off overnight, so you feel that it needs a boost
during the day to compensate? Isn't that something that a smart thermostat
should cope with?

~~~
ceejayoz
Boosting it means if the power goes out for a few hours and the temperature
drops 20 degrees in the house it goes from 70 to 50, not 50 to 30.

Protects the pipes, too.

------
pinaceae
well, stick in a fork in Nest then.

wonder how bad their financials were when they're already selling.

fucking SnapChat refused a FB offer, but Nest just rolls over and dies.

~~~
clarky07
What you meant to say was that nest isn't run by idiots that are stupid enough
to turn down a 3 billion dollar offer.

~~~
pinaceae
well, but for a moment it seemed that fadell really wanted to build something
great and lasting, building his own vision.

turns out it's just another boring let's get rich story.

------
achy
This might be a minority opinion, but I think more than home data collection
(which they probably have a lot of already from phone / computer usage), that
this is about acquiring a company that has cache and a 'cool' factor within
both the design world and more importantly the market sector of young tech
inclined home owners - a hugely lucrative market.

------
ivv
Theoretically, Google could now be remotely adjusting your room temperature to
maximize (or minimize) the effectiveness of advertising. [1]

[1]
[http://anzmac.info/conference/2013/bestpapers/anzmac2013-364...](http://anzmac.info/conference/2013/bestpapers/anzmac2013-364.pdf)

------
abvdasker
I hate to be that guy, but I think if Google's plan really is to tackle tech
in the home, it probably isn't going to work out. The attempt to better
integrate technology with common household devices and appliances is nothing
new [1]. Most of the previous attempts over the last 20 years have have been
met with limited success.

The biggest obstacle is and has been that most of the utilitarian devices in
homes already do their jobs pretty well. They're also inexpensive. What does
Nest/Google have to offer that won't be more expensive and will present some
life-changing advantage over a conventional stove/thermostat/garage door
opener?

[1]
[http://www.internetnews.com/xSP/article.php/1489021](http://www.internetnews.com/xSP/article.php/1489021)

------
sdoowpilihp
This will give Google access to a very idiosyncratic data set no other major
tech company has. It will be interesting to watch how they influence the
product line over the coming years, as well as what they do in terms of
integration with other google services.

------
noonespecial
In a not-so-strange way this fits well with their recent robotics
acquisitions. It really feels like lightning could strike a second time for
google so long as they don't middle manage themselves out of it.

------
andrewhillman
Wow. This weekend I was talking about Nest with my dad and I said Google will
end up buying them. Interesting to see that it's an all cash transaction. I
guess all cash makes the deal cheaper for Google.

------
dorfsmay
So that means you'll have to have a google plus account, older than 13, and
use an interface that use a protocol that replaces snmp but that is
propriwtary to google, just to change the twmperature?

------
deeviant
So perhaps being able to dissect nearly every aspect of a users online life is
not enough for Google, now they want to offer a range of devices that can
start recording the minucia of everyday home life.

------
lauradhamilton
As a Nest owner this creeps me out.

Google should NOT have always-on sensors of any type.

------
keithg
Finally a tech company with enough good sense to realize that if you get a
buyout offer that starts will "b" and ends with "illions", you take the money!

------
ericcumbee
On one hand google having more information is unsettling but at the same time
it could lead to some interesting possibilities. In the summer my nest kicks
the AC on at about 4:45 assuming that I will get home sometime around 5pm. But
say I go afterwork to have a beer or drink coffee and stay out until 8pm. Nest
knowing where my phone is means it could be smart enough to not turn my AC on
until I am headed home.

------
cocoflunchy
$3.2 billion?

~~~
samsnelling
Yep. Think of it as 3.2 instagrams.

~~~
bandris
Or 2 youtubes.

------
jmuguy
Hmm, I wonder if this will make a security system (like canary
[http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/canary-the-first-smart-
hom...](http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/canary-the-first-smart-home-
security-device-for-everyone)) more or less likely. I assumed that would be
the next product from Nest.

------
BIair
On the face, appears to be a huge valuation for an overpriced thermostat and
smoke alarm. But combined with their recent robotic acquisitions I wonder if
this signals a move beyond the smart phone, and smart car, to the smart home?
If Google engineers want to build the Star Trek computer, surely they want to
build the Jetsons home.

------
granttimmerman
Well, I guess that's one reason/excuse why Nest turned me down a summer
internship when I applied last November.

------
outside1234
When do we start getting ads on the Thermostat? Or ads on our browser asking
us why we are spending so much time at home?

------
jerdavis
This doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Besides the fact that Nest is a
great product (But so are Triscuits), why would Google buy them? The Nest
_does_ know when you are home. If Google starts to use Nest data to target
adds at me, I'm going to rip it out, set it on fire, and mail it to Larry.

------
HorizonXP
All I can say is that KPo is a beast, and he's totally why Google paid such a
large sum of money for Nest.

------
callahad
Time to add thermostats and smoke detectors to all those blog posts about "de-
Googling" your life...

------
fudgy73
$3.2 BILLION?! Was Nest Labs making a profit? Seemed to me like they made cool
devices that no one bought.

~~~
dangrossman
They were shipping 50k thermostats a month over a year ago. Combine a heat-up
in home automation interest this year with some very fancy endcaps they've
placed in Home Depot (the thermostat and smoke detector, with interactive demo
videos), they're probably selling much better today.

------
protomyth
I was hoping Honeywell would buy them an experience a bit (at the division
level) of a NeXT-Apple replay. I really am not sure about buying one given the
implications of the data from this device being given to advertisers or used
in advertising analytics.

------
mikeg8
"To change the temperature of your master bedroom, please create a google+
account."

------
Cub3
Maybe we'll finally see Android @ Home become a reality

[http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/24/what-happened-to-android-
at...](http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/24/what-happened-to-android-at-home/)

------
Luke-Jr
Maybe Google will push Nest to comply with the GPL terms? They're currently
missing the (required by GPLv2) build/install stuff from their source code
releases... I've been unable to get root on mine so far :(

------
bitwize
Oh great.

You have set a temperature of 65°F. Share your climate preferences your
Google+ circles?

------
cleaver
My thought on the topic, after being shocked at the price, was that Apple must
have some home automation products as their next big thing.

3.2B to head off Apple from creating the "iPod of home automation" is still a
bargain.

------
tsenkov
Was there anything similar (as an amount of cash in the deal) in the last 10
years? Probably Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia's phone division? Is there a
list somewhere, that would be interesting to see.

------
eyeareque
"It smells like you've burned your dinner. Would you like to order Dominos for
delivery?"

I love my nest. I hope they do good things with the brand. I'll admit.. I am
fearful for what they'll do with it.

------
rhythmvs
Well, then we should have a better look at
[http://www.loxone.com/](http://www.loxone.com/) and maybe so keep our actual
real-life data out of black box data centers.

------
vikas5678
With all the data google already has on me, as a new homeowner, I think I'm
terrified of buying this product. What kind of profile would this allow Google
to build on individuals?

------
blueskin_
Suddenly I no longer want one. I loved the idea when it was a simple way to
save on power bills, but I wouldn't have google spy on me even if I was paid
money to use it.

------
subndes
Google now able to collect more data points about your home too!

------
abhi3188
After a look at Google's smart house experiment in London, I think it's safe
to say, their next lot of acquisition targets will be home automation
companies.

------
dpeck
Woohoo, I look forward to it disheartening into Mountain View and only being
used to control the HVAC at HQ and be shown off to board members on their
quarterly tours.

------
jyz
3.2 billion is an insanely large number. But then when you step back and see
Snapchat being offered the similar amount, you kind of feel sorry for Nest for
selling.

------
spiderPig
Nice acquisition, but $3.2 bn?? Really? Just unbelievable.

------
WWKong
This proves that the market for "better mouse trap" is huge. Look around the
house. Pick something. Anything. Create a better version.

------
jd007
what a great way to force g+ on users even more. "too cold and want to
increase your temperature? add 3 friends to your circles!"

------
baweaver
So YouTube didn't work as a G+ promoter, so now we'll have to log into our
houses with it. Well played Google, well played.

------
benwerd
Do other large tech companies not realize what Google's up to, are they unable
to try to compete, or do they just not care?

------
pgcosta
I understand why this is a good aquisition, but still 3.2B... The valuation
was 'only' 2B. That escaleted a lot!

------
pirateking
I look forward to well designed Nest competitors that support connections and
logging to user specified endpoints.

------
elwell
"OK Google, flush the toliet."

------
kgarten
I guess in future I'll need a google+ account to adjust the temperature in my
house ... :)

------
regnum
Good thing the Google founders have grown up and don't need adult supervision
anymore.

------
oscargrouch
a sign that google is horny for the "internet of things" :)

------
andyman1080
Is it known how much equity Faddell had? Is he a billionaire now?

------
sushirain
Google + Nest + Boston Dynamics + Ray Kurzweil = Domestic Robot?

------
baweaver
So will I need to sign into my house with a Google+ account now?

------
sidcool
Isn't Google trying to spread too thin? I feel so.

------
jpswade
Great.

Now there's another Google product that will never hit the UK.

------
forgotAgain
Google with (new) data sources in my house: hmm.

------
aaronpeck
Remember Sparrow?

~~~
everydaypanos
sure

------
michalu
Yes, now we can have even more relevant ads!!

------
ffrryuu
Bailing out the VC already?

------
skizm
You must now login with your G+ account to turn on your thermostat or smoke
detector.

------
jgalt212
oh, no. there's definitely no bubble.

------
mmuro
Bummer.

