Not So Empty Nest

As I noted in my CES overview the other week, the Smart (or connected) Home has been around for a few years, where you can control devices in house with an app on your Smartphone.  The technology is growing, and this all took a more attention-getting turn last week when Google purchased the company Nest for over $3 billion.

As it happened, shortly after writing that -- last Thursday, in fact, I was having lunch with a friend who recently had his home outfitted with one of those Smart Home devices Nest.  In his case, it was for thermostat control, which is important where he lives.  And he was ecstatic about it, not the least important because he's a technical Luddite.  (That's not an exaggeration.  Years ago, he asked me a question about using a stapler.  Honest.)

As coincidences piled themselves on one another, the next day CNET had a detailed article about Google's purchase of...Nest.  If you have the product, or are thinking about it, or intrigued by the concept, the article worth taking a look at.

The core of the article is the future -- Google's plans and the top mistakes they could make.  This center on pricing of devices, whether they keep it proprietary to Android only, and perhaps most notably privacy.  There is a great deal of data collected by the technology -- when you sleep, when you go out and lock up your home -- and selling data is the lifeblood of its existence.  Not to mention protecting it.

If you're interested, click here for the whole article.