1 00:00:04,320 --> 00:00:07,280 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tex Stuff from how 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:15,600 Speaker 1: stuff dot com. Hei everyone, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:19,520 Speaker 1: I'm Jonathan Strickland and I'm Lauren, And you know, I 4 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:23,200 Speaker 1: just want to build a nice little comfy section in 5 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:26,279 Speaker 1: this room, just a little a little comfy area that 6 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:28,520 Speaker 1: I can just snuggle up in and go to sleep. 7 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:31,760 Speaker 1: I'm going to cull it my nest. And then we 8 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:35,800 Speaker 1: got some requests for people that they wanted me to 9 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:39,040 Speaker 1: cover the nest technology. It's really just a bunch of 10 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:42,360 Speaker 1: pillows and blankets. I don't know what the big deal is. Well, 11 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:46,080 Speaker 1: it's really pretty advanced. It's true what it is, it's true. 12 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:48,280 Speaker 1: It's true. Not structurally speaking, it is not the most 13 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:52,920 Speaker 1: sound of actual buildings. And we have had a collapse, 14 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:59,360 Speaker 1: but fortunately everyone was just cuddled, so it's perfectly Oh wait, yeah, 15 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:03,000 Speaker 1: there's there's an other nest, right, there's there's We're on 16 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:05,560 Speaker 1: the show called text Stuff. That's why there was all 17 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:08,720 Speaker 1: that stuff on Twitter. Right. Yeah, Google has not actually 18 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:11,680 Speaker 1: offered to buy your pillow fort for three point two 19 00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:17,240 Speaker 1: billion dollars. I need to retract an email I just sent. Alright, uh, yeah, 20 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:21,160 Speaker 1: so we're gonna talk today about the Nest Labs company 21 00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:24,840 Speaker 1: and uh and the products they make, And I, like 22 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:28,360 Speaker 1: Lauren was saying, Google has made a really incredible move 23 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:33,200 Speaker 1: in offering to purchase Nest for a what some might 24 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:36,600 Speaker 1: call a ridiculous sum of money. I think that three 25 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:40,240 Speaker 1: point two billion accounts as pretty ridiculous. I mean, I mean, 26 00:01:40,240 --> 00:01:43,040 Speaker 1: it's a company that makes two things so far. Yes, 27 00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:47,440 Speaker 1: and it's only existed since yea, and they've only been 28 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:50,720 Speaker 1: having stuff that they could sell since eleven. So anyway, 29 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:53,320 Speaker 1: let's let's talk about this. If you had told me 30 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:56,360 Speaker 1: ten years ago that I'd be sitting down and talking 31 00:01:56,720 --> 00:02:00,960 Speaker 1: into a microphone to record a show about a company 32 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:05,440 Speaker 1: that's big product is a thermostat, first I would say 33 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:07,840 Speaker 1: who are you and why are you in this consulting firm, 34 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:10,120 Speaker 1: because that's where I was ten years ago. But moreover 35 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:12,400 Speaker 1: I just said no, I wouldn't who who would want 36 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:14,920 Speaker 1: to listen to that? Well? Okay, that there has been 37 00:02:14,919 --> 00:02:17,040 Speaker 1: a lot of buzz about Nest over the past couple 38 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:20,080 Speaker 1: of years that it has existed, because they make these 39 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:25,480 Speaker 1: these smart devices, smart thermostats and smart smoke detectors, carbon 40 00:02:25,480 --> 00:02:29,280 Speaker 1: monoxide exactly. Um, and and you know, with the Internet 41 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:32,640 Speaker 1: of things becoming more of a real thing people have 42 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:35,680 Speaker 1: been excited about. This is one of the leading companies 43 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:38,359 Speaker 1: that's creating the kind of hardware that you can use 44 00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:41,680 Speaker 1: to to make your home and Internet of things. Yeah, 45 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:46,840 Speaker 1: and also the design aesthetic right, gorgeous it is and 46 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:49,320 Speaker 1: and and it works with your smartphone and that's all terrific. 47 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:51,760 Speaker 1: And I did want to mention that for the record, 48 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:54,440 Speaker 1: thermostats are kind of a big business. There's some ten 49 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:57,720 Speaker 1: million sold in the US every year, and they control 50 00:02:57,880 --> 00:03:00,840 Speaker 1: some half of the energy used in US homes, right, 51 00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:03,880 Speaker 1: so this is not insignificant. Yeah. If you talk, if 52 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:06,760 Speaker 1: you look at your energy bill and you divide it 53 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:10,160 Speaker 1: by two, that amount of money is going straight to 54 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:16,120 Speaker 1: your Yeah. So if you are able to make an 55 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:19,680 Speaker 1: impact on that, it will reflect in the amount of 56 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:21,760 Speaker 1: money you have to spend on energy bills, particularly if 57 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 1: you live in a place where you have a fairly 58 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:26,760 Speaker 1: extreme climate, so that your HVAC system has to work 59 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:29,560 Speaker 1: extra hard to make sure your living space is a 60 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:33,359 Speaker 1: comfortable one. And uh, and in fact, what this all 61 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:37,600 Speaker 1: comes back to a guy named Tony Fidel, who once 62 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: upon a time worked for a little company called Apple. Yeah. 63 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 1: By work, do we mean that he kind of lad 64 00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:47,280 Speaker 1: the iPod and kind of that the iPhone teams for 65 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:50,640 Speaker 1: a while, for multiple generations for iPod and I think 66 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:53,760 Speaker 1: three generations of iPhone he was overseeing that. He was 67 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:57,839 Speaker 1: senior vice president of those departments and uh. And so yeah, 68 00:03:57,880 --> 00:04:01,800 Speaker 1: we're talking about someone who definitely you about designing for 69 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:05,400 Speaker 1: a particular aesthetic, uh, and to create something that is 70 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:10,200 Speaker 1: attractive for consumers. Because it's easy for us to forget this, 71 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:12,200 Speaker 1: and I know we say it on tech stuff all 72 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:13,680 Speaker 1: the time, so maybe it's not easy for you to 73 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:17,799 Speaker 1: forget because we say it so frequently. But before the iPod, 74 00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:22,520 Speaker 1: you know, MP three players existed, there were, but no 75 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:26,440 Speaker 1: one had really designed one that really caught the public's 76 00:04:26,440 --> 00:04:28,440 Speaker 1: attention like there were there was no one that was 77 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:32,120 Speaker 1: a dominant player at the time. And then the iPods 78 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:35,960 Speaker 1: design really started to kind of dominate to the point 79 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:41,040 Speaker 1: where you started seeing other companies designs look more iPod ish. 80 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:44,479 Speaker 1: Not to try and stir up any patent you know, 81 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:48,760 Speaker 1: wars again, but but people realized that, I mean, previous 82 00:04:48,839 --> 00:04:51,480 Speaker 1: to that, I think that most MP three players looked 83 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:55,560 Speaker 1: like they were functional, Yeah, like bricks. I had one, 84 00:04:55,600 --> 00:04:58,080 Speaker 1: I mean I had one that I loved because it 85 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:01,560 Speaker 1: was probably about eight percent the price of an iPod, 86 00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:04,560 Speaker 1: but it had twice the capacity. But it looked like 87 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:07,400 Speaker 1: a brick and it felt like one too. It was heavy. 88 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:10,400 Speaker 1: But the uh, you know, and the iPhone another great example. 89 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:13,240 Speaker 1: We've talked about that before too, about how in the 90 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:17,960 Speaker 1: United States smartphones were pretty much the realm of executives, 91 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:21,360 Speaker 1: right like BlackBerry was king in the US. Now in 92 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:23,440 Speaker 1: Europe and in Japan that was a different story, but 93 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:25,960 Speaker 1: not here in the US. It wasn't until the iPhone 94 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:28,320 Speaker 1: came out that you started seeing the consumer market move 95 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:30,040 Speaker 1: toward it. So this is a guy who was right 96 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:32,880 Speaker 1: there on the forefront. He knew a thing or two about, 97 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:35,800 Speaker 1: you know, making sure you had an attractive product. But 98 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:39,280 Speaker 1: that's not exactly what got him excited about this. First 99 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:42,000 Speaker 1: of all, he retired. He retired in two thousand eight 100 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:44,080 Speaker 1: from Apple. He was he was like, okay, I have 101 00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:49,120 Speaker 1: made my mark. I I have helped bring to really 102 00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:55,480 Speaker 1: influential products to the market. I may rest, but apparently 103 00:05:55,520 --> 00:05:58,080 Speaker 1: things just weren't always you know, the most comfortable temperature 104 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:01,000 Speaker 1: at the Fidel house. Maybe he just got up to 105 00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:04,880 Speaker 1: change the thermostat one too many times, And he started 106 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:08,800 Speaker 1: thinking about this fact, the fact that half of your 107 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:12,279 Speaker 1: energy is spent controlling the climate of your home, and that, 108 00:06:12,440 --> 00:06:15,520 Speaker 1: according to at least some study that he was aware of, 109 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:19,000 Speaker 1: because it's in a blog post on the nest uh 110 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:23,160 Speaker 1: web page, that the average person adjusts his or her 111 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:28,320 Speaker 1: thermostat hundred times a year, and so and and and furthermore, 112 00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:31,080 Speaker 1: he was, you know, he was trying to update his 113 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:34,000 Speaker 1: home to he he was like, we've got these gorgeous 114 00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:38,560 Speaker 1: products for our music and for communication. Why can't we 115 00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:41,440 Speaker 1: have that kind of thing for everything at our house? 116 00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:45,479 Speaker 1: Why does why does this control for my climate where 117 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:48,680 Speaker 1: apparently I'm getting up to do it multiple times a day? 118 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:50,880 Speaker 1: Because if it's fift hundred times a year, that's you know, 119 00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:55,159 Speaker 1: that's a bunch. Why is it so boxy and ugly? 120 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:58,960 Speaker 1: And because the almost thermostats not really aesthetically pleasing, they're 121 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:02,720 Speaker 1: they're functional. So that's yeah. Yeah, According to another guy 122 00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:04,120 Speaker 1: that we're going to be talking about in just a 123 00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:07,320 Speaker 1: couple of seconds, the design, the basic design on thermostats 124 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:11,240 Speaker 1: has not really changed since the n Yeah, you either 125 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:13,280 Speaker 1: have the digital kind or you have the old kind 126 00:07:13,280 --> 00:07:16,800 Speaker 1: that has sort of a coiled thermometer in it. If 127 00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:18,680 Speaker 1: you want to know more, you can actually go back. 128 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:21,200 Speaker 1: We did a tech Stuff episode about how thermostats work 129 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:23,920 Speaker 1: back in the day where we talk about the actual 130 00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:28,120 Speaker 1: the actual mechanics of a thermostat, both the I think 131 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:32,040 Speaker 1: we mainly focused on the old the old mercury switch kind, 132 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:34,480 Speaker 1: but there are various other types as well. Um And 133 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:36,760 Speaker 1: another thing that Fiddel was thinking about was the fact 134 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:39,720 Speaker 1: that he, you know, we we live in the incredible future. 135 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:43,080 Speaker 1: Why can't I control my thermostat from my smartphone? Right? 136 00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:45,960 Speaker 1: And and and there were some products out there that 137 00:07:45,960 --> 00:07:47,600 Speaker 1: would let you do that, but they cost like five 138 00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:50,640 Speaker 1: dollars a unit, right and you had to you know, 139 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:52,800 Speaker 1: you you essentially had to go to some sort of 140 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:56,920 Speaker 1: home automation specialist and then have that installed for them. 141 00:07:56,920 --> 00:07:59,000 Speaker 1: Wire why are these things in for you? It wasn't 142 00:07:59,040 --> 00:08:01,720 Speaker 1: like something where you could go to a warehouse in 143 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:06,960 Speaker 1: or or is some major store people are alows or 144 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:10,400 Speaker 1: something like that and say show me where the automated 145 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:15,040 Speaker 1: or the remote thermostats are, because it was all packages 146 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:17,800 Speaker 1: that you had to go through contractors to get. So 147 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:21,239 Speaker 1: not the not the most accessible, certainly. And he also 148 00:08:21,320 --> 00:08:23,880 Speaker 1: realized that we were getting to a point as far 149 00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:26,840 Speaker 1: as computer software is concerned, where you could create very 150 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:32,640 Speaker 1: sophisticated algorithms that could have quote unquote learning behavior right. 151 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:35,960 Speaker 1: They could start to recognize patterns and then respond to 152 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:39,920 Speaker 1: those patterns in a predetermined way. So the big example 153 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:42,679 Speaker 1: that we would have with NEST is that if no 154 00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:45,280 Speaker 1: one's in the house, there's no need to have the 155 00:08:45,280 --> 00:08:48,800 Speaker 1: heat cranked up or the a C cranked up to 156 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:52,679 Speaker 1: keep the house at the regular comfortable temperature. And if 157 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:55,600 Speaker 1: you know when people are coming home, all right, if 158 00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:57,800 Speaker 1: it notices that you come home at six thirty every night, 159 00:08:57,840 --> 00:09:00,360 Speaker 1: then it can start working the house to words that 160 00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:03,560 Speaker 1: temperature whenever it needs to in order to have it 161 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:05,320 Speaker 1: ready for you to get home. Yeah, so when you 162 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:07,520 Speaker 1: walk through the door, it feels as if your house 163 00:09:07,559 --> 00:09:10,680 Speaker 1: has stayed that temperature all day long, whereas the reality 164 00:09:10,840 --> 00:09:14,520 Speaker 1: is between the hours of whatever and whatever, it was 165 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:18,000 Speaker 1: not you know, either the system wasn't working at all, 166 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:20,800 Speaker 1: or it wasn't working nearly yet full capacity. It was 167 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:24,160 Speaker 1: working enough so that it wouldn't take too much work. Yeah, yeah, 168 00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:26,120 Speaker 1: you don't want to I mean, obviously you don't want 169 00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:28,640 Speaker 1: to shut everything down like, if it's if it's the 170 00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:32,520 Speaker 1: the what was what do they call it the polar vortex? When? Uh, 171 00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:34,200 Speaker 1: it was when I was at ce S, so I 172 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:37,240 Speaker 1: missed it. I wasn't here in Atlanta. That's what they 173 00:09:37,320 --> 00:09:40,160 Speaker 1: call nine degrees here. There's some kind of science about 174 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:42,640 Speaker 1: it that I think that we have actually written stuff 175 00:09:42,640 --> 00:09:44,400 Speaker 1: about on how stuff works at this point, But I 176 00:09:44,559 --> 00:09:47,800 Speaker 1: have no idea. I just saw tweets that said polar vortitext. 177 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:49,880 Speaker 1: I was like, I don't know what it is. It 178 00:09:49,960 --> 00:09:52,400 Speaker 1: the day after tomorrow back in Atlanta, I don't know 179 00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:56,000 Speaker 1: nine degrees. It was basically, yeah, in that case, you 180 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:57,920 Speaker 1: wouldn't want the house to get all the way down 181 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:01,160 Speaker 1: to you know, below freezing. Obviously may not, but at 182 00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:03,280 Speaker 1: the same time, you wouldn't want it to be at 183 00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:05,840 Speaker 1: you know, seventy five degrees because you'd be using a 184 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:08,640 Speaker 1: lot of energy while you're not actually there. So it 185 00:10:08,679 --> 00:10:11,920 Speaker 1: needed He saw the problem that it was an engineering problem. 186 00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:15,480 Speaker 1: You had to build a device that could monitor the temperature, 187 00:10:15,640 --> 00:10:19,200 Speaker 1: keep it within a certain range, and then be flexible 188 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:22,480 Speaker 1: enough so that that range changes based upon the parameters 189 00:10:22,520 --> 00:10:26,040 Speaker 1: that are present. And also if you happen to like it, 190 00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:29,720 Speaker 1: warm in the morning but cold at night. Then if 191 00:10:29,760 --> 00:10:32,000 Speaker 1: you had a thermostat that could learn these patterns, it 192 00:10:32,080 --> 00:10:35,319 Speaker 1: could start to anticipate it and change them for you proactively, 193 00:10:35,679 --> 00:10:37,040 Speaker 1: so you don't have to be the one to go 194 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:39,320 Speaker 1: up there and say like, oh, you know, I like 195 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:41,160 Speaker 1: it cold when I go to bed, but when I 196 00:10:41,160 --> 00:10:43,800 Speaker 1: wake up it's it's my body temperature so low. I 197 00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:45,679 Speaker 1: need to get my temperature up. I need it to 198 00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:50,640 Speaker 1: be warmer. So this was a great opportunity he saw. 199 00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:53,880 Speaker 1: So he ended up contacting a couple of other folks 200 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:58,600 Speaker 1: and uh working on an idea for a learning thermostat. Yeah, 201 00:10:58,679 --> 00:11:01,760 Speaker 1: and these were mostly other ex Apple folks or perhaps 202 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:04,400 Speaker 1: folks that were maybe at the time still working for Apple. 203 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:08,280 Speaker 1: Exactly the date lines of these they're certainly ex Apple 204 00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:12,440 Speaker 1: folks now yes, um and and one of them, Mr 205 00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:16,920 Speaker 1: Matt Rogers, he would wind up co founding this company, 206 00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:23,040 Speaker 1: Nest with yep so t is when Nest Labs officially 207 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:28,640 Speaker 1: forms may specifically, and they their strategy was to be 208 00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:31,240 Speaker 1: kind of quiet about what they were doing. They didn't 209 00:11:31,600 --> 00:11:33,840 Speaker 1: talk about their products, they didn't talk about their lines 210 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:36,240 Speaker 1: of research really, and so it kind of took the 211 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:41,080 Speaker 1: world by surprise when in October of twenty eleven, Fidel 212 00:11:41,280 --> 00:11:44,000 Speaker 1: essentially announces, Hey, here's this thing we've been working on. 213 00:11:44,400 --> 00:11:48,320 Speaker 1: It's this little, round, gorgeous looking device. It's actually a 214 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:52,080 Speaker 1: thermostat and it's smart and it can connect to WiFi 215 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:54,480 Speaker 1: and you can adjust it with your phone and it 216 00:11:54,559 --> 00:11:57,520 Speaker 1: learns what you like. And people were just thinking you 217 00:11:57,600 --> 00:11:59,800 Speaker 1: are saying too many things, Mr Man, I don't know 218 00:11:59,840 --> 00:12:02,720 Speaker 1: what you what's going on. I think they owe so 219 00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:07,400 Speaker 1: much of their um, just general corporate feel from Apple. Uh. 220 00:12:07,480 --> 00:12:09,839 Speaker 1: You know, Matt Matt Rogers strikes me as kind of 221 00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:13,080 Speaker 1: an Apple fanboy who who became eventually one of the 222 00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:16,640 Speaker 1: iPod software developers there. Um, but he has said that 223 00:12:16,679 --> 00:12:18,640 Speaker 1: his first computer when he was like three years old 224 00:12:18,679 --> 00:12:22,120 Speaker 1: was a Macintosh Plus and that, um, a lot of 225 00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:25,400 Speaker 1: the you know, design, sensibility and just just concepts of 226 00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:28,240 Speaker 1: how to run a business are definitely deeply owed to 227 00:12:28,679 --> 00:12:32,160 Speaker 1: Apple in general and Steve Jobs very particularly sure, and 228 00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:35,720 Speaker 1: you can certainly see elements of that when you look 229 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:41,079 Speaker 1: at both the company and its products. So Fidel wrote 230 00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:43,880 Speaker 1: a blog post that went up on the Nest website 231 00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:49,439 Speaker 1: on October and kind of explained why a thermostat because 232 00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:51,559 Speaker 1: that was you know that that you had two big 233 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:54,400 Speaker 1: reactions from people when this was first announced. People would 234 00:12:54,400 --> 00:12:58,080 Speaker 1: say uh huh, like what what's what's your game? Why 235 00:12:58,160 --> 00:13:00,760 Speaker 1: would you even do this? And the other where like 236 00:13:00,800 --> 00:13:02,679 Speaker 1: where when and where can I buy one of these? 237 00:13:02,679 --> 00:13:05,640 Speaker 1: Because it looks beautiful? And I mean, I remember when 238 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:07,440 Speaker 1: this came out because I remember, you know, I was 239 00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:10,199 Speaker 1: a big fan of shows like c Nets buzz Out Loud, 240 00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:14,320 Speaker 1: and I remember people like Tom Merritt and Molly would going, uh, 241 00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:16,400 Speaker 1: you know, kind of bonkers over this thing. They were 242 00:13:16,440 --> 00:13:20,000 Speaker 1: they were like this, yeah. And at the same time 243 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:21,559 Speaker 1: when I started looking into it and like, gosh, I 244 00:13:21,640 --> 00:13:23,840 Speaker 1: kind of want one of those two. Well, he in 245 00:13:23,920 --> 00:13:26,720 Speaker 1: that blog post laid out what it was they wanted 246 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:28,440 Speaker 1: the thermostat to be able to do. He said he 247 00:13:28,520 --> 00:13:32,000 Speaker 1: wanted to design the thermostat to learn your preferred temperature 248 00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:35,960 Speaker 1: and schedule since when you left the house or when 249 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:39,160 Speaker 1: you came home, to give you tips and feedback on 250 00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:41,920 Speaker 1: your energy use. To be able to connect to WiFi 251 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:44,520 Speaker 1: so you could control it from anywhere, for it to 252 00:13:44,600 --> 00:13:48,200 Speaker 1: look beautiful, and for you to feel proud to actually 253 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:50,680 Speaker 1: be an owner of it, which it's very Steve jobs 254 00:13:50,760 --> 00:13:53,360 Speaker 1: ish kind of thing, right, and also to have a 255 00:13:53,440 --> 00:13:56,960 Speaker 1: positive impact on the world. And you know, I honestly 256 00:13:57,040 --> 00:14:00,000 Speaker 1: think based upon the work that this company has done, 257 00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:03,840 Speaker 1: they're being they're being sincere about that. It's not that, 258 00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:06,959 Speaker 1: you know, it's obviously it's a business, but it's not 259 00:14:07,120 --> 00:14:09,480 Speaker 1: something where I don't think that's just lip service, like 260 00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:11,600 Speaker 1: let's make the world a better place. I haven't heard 261 00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:14,800 Speaker 1: any numbers from outside sources, but according to the company 262 00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:19,320 Speaker 1: UM as of as of only February often they had 263 00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:22,440 Speaker 1: already helped UM energy efficiency to the tune of saving 264 00:14:22,520 --> 00:14:25,560 Speaker 1: like two five million kill a lot hours of energy, 265 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:28,760 Speaker 1: so I'm like twenty nine million dollars worth and in 266 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:32,360 Speaker 1: US yeah, conversion, So you're saving money and you're also 267 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:35,840 Speaker 1: by by taking down some of that demand, we don't 268 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:38,400 Speaker 1: have to produce as much energy. We're not wasting it 269 00:14:38,520 --> 00:14:41,680 Speaker 1: on on heating an empty house, or we're not burning 270 00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:44,480 Speaker 1: we're not burning even more coal or or using up 271 00:14:44,480 --> 00:14:47,320 Speaker 1: more natural gas or whatever it happens to be that 272 00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:51,440 Speaker 1: has provided the heat and or a c for those homes. 273 00:14:51,960 --> 00:14:55,240 Speaker 1: And UM it's interesting they started taking pre orders for 274 00:14:55,280 --> 00:14:58,320 Speaker 1: the Nest thermostat and I think that was at a 275 00:14:58,760 --> 00:15:02,040 Speaker 1: price point of two, which I believe is what still 276 00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:05,960 Speaker 1: is today. So you know, not a small amount of 277 00:15:05,960 --> 00:15:08,720 Speaker 1: money for something like that, but still cheaper than any 278 00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:12,040 Speaker 1: of I mean by half, cheaper than any relatively similar 279 00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:15,480 Speaker 1: products in the market. Yeah. Yeah, and also it would 280 00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:19,320 Speaker 1: ultimately save you money, assuming that you're using it properly. 281 00:15:19,400 --> 00:15:24,880 Speaker 1: So pre orders within three days of of them talking 282 00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:27,400 Speaker 1: about this, that within that blog post going up, they 283 00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:30,160 Speaker 1: had sold out of all of their stock that they 284 00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:33,280 Speaker 1: had planned on producing in the short term. So after 285 00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:35,840 Speaker 1: three days of the store being opened, they shut it. 286 00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:38,600 Speaker 1: They closed the store after three days with the explanation 287 00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:41,960 Speaker 1: of guys, this had way more of a demand than 288 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:45,000 Speaker 1: we had anticipated. We knew that we had something potentially 289 00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:47,240 Speaker 1: big on our hands, we didn't know that all of 290 00:15:47,280 --> 00:15:50,360 Speaker 1: you would agree with us. And so they closed the 291 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:54,000 Speaker 1: store and they started working very hard on meeting the 292 00:15:54,040 --> 00:15:57,400 Speaker 1: demands of the initial pre orders as well as figuring 293 00:15:57,400 --> 00:16:00,600 Speaker 1: out how were they going to meet the expan into demand. 294 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:05,120 Speaker 1: And it wouldn't be until uh later in uh I 295 00:16:05,160 --> 00:16:08,560 Speaker 1: think it was March two thousand twelve. So they shut 296 00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:11,360 Speaker 1: the store down November two thousand eleven. It's not until 297 00:16:11,400 --> 00:16:13,440 Speaker 1: March two thousand twelve that they're able to open the 298 00:16:13,440 --> 00:16:15,800 Speaker 1: store back up again. I'm sure that most of that 299 00:16:15,880 --> 00:16:19,160 Speaker 1: time was devoted to um to investment related issues and 300 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:23,840 Speaker 1: sure and maybe like uh, streamlining manufacturing processes, getting the 301 00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:26,520 Speaker 1: supply chain in order, you know, lots of stuff that 302 00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:30,240 Speaker 1: the background staff. Yeah, that's not terribly exciting to talk about. 303 00:16:31,200 --> 00:16:33,880 Speaker 1: It's very important. It turns out that that's a big deal. 304 00:16:34,360 --> 00:16:36,800 Speaker 1: And so, starting in May two thou twelve, the Nest 305 00:16:36,800 --> 00:16:40,520 Speaker 1: Thermostatic became available in other places besides their online store. 306 00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:43,440 Speaker 1: You could get it at Lowe's hardware stores by June, 307 00:16:43,480 --> 00:16:46,320 Speaker 1: you could get it on Amazon. By a little bit 308 00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:48,640 Speaker 1: later in the year, I think by October that year, 309 00:16:48,680 --> 00:16:50,480 Speaker 1: you could get it Best Buy. You can even get 310 00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:55,800 Speaker 1: it at the Apple online store. Yeah, so you know, 311 00:16:55,920 --> 00:16:59,120 Speaker 1: there's obviously the relation. I don't know, I'll be right now, 312 00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:01,200 Speaker 1: I don't know if that's to be the same now 313 00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:04,080 Speaker 1: that Google has is acquiring Nest. Yeah, that's a compution. 314 00:17:04,359 --> 00:17:07,240 Speaker 1: They have affirmed that they are going to um continue 315 00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:11,040 Speaker 1: supporting ii OS product exactly. Yeah, It's not gonna be 316 00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:14,520 Speaker 1: like suddenly your iPhone is unable to adjust the temperature 317 00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:16,080 Speaker 1: of your home, right, that would be that would be 318 00:17:16,119 --> 00:17:18,720 Speaker 1: a pretty ridiculously poor business decision. And I think I 319 00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:20,720 Speaker 1: think the Google and Apple have both learned their lesson 320 00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:22,679 Speaker 1: on that kind of I mean, you even had for 321 00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:24,960 Speaker 1: a while, you had one person like you had the 322 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:27,439 Speaker 1: CEO of Google sitting on the board of directors of 323 00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:30,080 Speaker 1: Apple for a while. Uh, that was Eric Schmidt. That 324 00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:32,840 Speaker 1: that didn't last forever. He did a step down for 325 00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:36,000 Speaker 1: the board of directors eventually. But the relationship between Google 326 00:17:36,040 --> 00:17:38,640 Speaker 1: and Apple is not always contentious, even though they are 327 00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:42,240 Speaker 1: direct competitors, at least in the mobile space and arguably 328 00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:44,400 Speaker 1: in the computer space. But I don't think chromebooks are 329 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:48,720 Speaker 1: really that big of a competitor against at any rate. Yeah, 330 00:17:48,800 --> 00:17:53,000 Speaker 1: at any rate. Getting back to Nest, So by October, 331 00:17:54,080 --> 00:17:56,920 Speaker 1: remember this is just one year, not even a full 332 00:17:57,040 --> 00:17:59,680 Speaker 1: year since they had announced it, because they they announced 333 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:03,200 Speaker 1: it lay in October two eleven. But in October twelve, 334 00:18:03,320 --> 00:18:07,199 Speaker 1: the second generation of Nest Thermostat debuted and um, this 335 00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:10,879 Speaker 1: one was you know, a little sexier, even it was thinner, 336 00:18:11,119 --> 00:18:14,720 Speaker 1: so they were able to miniaturize some of the components 337 00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:17,600 Speaker 1: make it even more compact, which is kind of astounding 338 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:22,480 Speaker 1: because they even increased the capabilities of the second generation. 339 00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:25,679 Speaker 1: So the first generation worked with oh, I don't know, 340 00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:28,760 Speaker 1: it was something like fIF HVAC systems out there, UH, 341 00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:31,240 Speaker 1: and you had to check to make sure before you know, 342 00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:33,720 Speaker 1: they stressed check to make sure that the one that 343 00:18:33,800 --> 00:18:37,920 Speaker 1: you have, the system you have is UH is compatible 344 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:41,040 Speaker 1: with the system. UH. Well, they they were able to 345 00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:45,080 Speaker 1: open that up to a much larger percentage of the 346 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:49,240 Speaker 1: the market. UH. They also were able to create a 347 00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:52,760 Speaker 1: device that could work with UH HVAC systems that had 348 00:18:52,880 --> 00:18:55,600 Speaker 1: two different capacities for cooling down your house. So some 349 00:18:55,640 --> 00:18:58,800 Speaker 1: of them would work at a sometime and then knock 350 00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:03,200 Speaker 1: it down to UH for just maintaining a temperature, or 351 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:05,240 Speaker 1: if it didn't need to, like if you're getting starting 352 00:19:05,240 --> 00:19:09,000 Speaker 1: to approach the typerature, then it might might power down 353 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:12,040 Speaker 1: a little bit, but not turn all the way off. Well, 354 00:19:12,720 --> 00:19:15,560 Speaker 1: those systems have two dedicated wires for that. There's one 355 00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:19,840 Speaker 1: dedicated for there's one dedicate And the original nest did 356 00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:22,960 Speaker 1: not have the capability to work. Yeah, you couldn't. It 357 00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:24,679 Speaker 1: didn't have a place to plug both of those in 358 00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:27,800 Speaker 1: the second nest did so you could do that. It 359 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:30,280 Speaker 1: also works with multi stage heating systems that works with 360 00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:34,480 Speaker 1: systems that have humidifiers or de humidifiers and and across 361 00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:37,159 Speaker 1: all energy modes, I mean if you've got gas or 362 00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:42,199 Speaker 1: propane or electricity or yeah. So it definitely opened up 363 00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:44,960 Speaker 1: the market a lot wider than the initial Nest did. 364 00:19:45,080 --> 00:19:48,439 Speaker 1: And again it was smaller too, so um or at 365 00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:50,840 Speaker 1: least it was thinner. It didn't project out as far 366 00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:56,960 Speaker 1: from the wall. So yeah. They say that three out 367 00:19:56,960 --> 00:20:02,160 Speaker 1: of four of their Nest customers opt to install it themselves, 368 00:20:02,560 --> 00:20:04,560 Speaker 1: and that it can be installed within thirty minutes. They 369 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:07,680 Speaker 1: also have the Nest Concierge service, So if you feel 370 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:10,680 Speaker 1: like you are one of those one of who would 371 00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:15,280 Speaker 1: uh likely electrocute him or herself were you to attempt 372 00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:18,640 Speaker 1: to install it, such as, I don't know yours truly, 373 00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:21,240 Speaker 1: uh not that I haven't Nest, but if I did, 374 00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:24,760 Speaker 1: I would totally. I'm tech savvy, which means I also 375 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:29,200 Speaker 1: know it can kill me. Um. But yeah, you can 376 00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:33,879 Speaker 1: actually uh opt for an additional fee to have someone 377 00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:36,960 Speaker 1: come out and help you. So. Then in May two 378 00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:40,480 Speaker 1: thousand thirteen, Nest made its first acquisition. It was a 379 00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:44,560 Speaker 1: company called my Energy, which specifically builds products that let 380 00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:48,360 Speaker 1: users track energy usage and savings. So the ideas by 381 00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:52,679 Speaker 1: getting some more analytic data and some more collective uh products, 382 00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:55,680 Speaker 1: they can make the NEST even more effective and make 383 00:20:56,160 --> 00:20:59,199 Speaker 1: products further down the line that are able to incorporate 384 00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:03,000 Speaker 1: some of this analysis so that you get an even 385 00:21:03,359 --> 00:21:06,320 Speaker 1: more granular idea of what's going on and how you 386 00:21:06,359 --> 00:21:10,199 Speaker 1: can save energy. Now, as we've seen in the past, 387 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:14,879 Speaker 1: there's a huge market for stuff that collects data and 388 00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:17,320 Speaker 1: then analyzes it and presents it to you in an 389 00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:20,560 Speaker 1: understandable way. Oh sure, and and basically any time that 390 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:23,840 Speaker 1: you allow these days, um, you know nerds, which are 391 00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:26,879 Speaker 1: most of us, let's be honest and um to to 392 00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:31,960 Speaker 1: min max their surroundings. Yeah. Fitness trackers perfect example, right, 393 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:33,920 Speaker 1: being able to sit there and say, like, now I'm 394 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:37,560 Speaker 1: able to track every single calorie that I intake and burn. 395 00:21:37,760 --> 00:21:40,120 Speaker 1: I don't mean to make you check your force while 396 00:21:40,119 --> 00:21:42,359 Speaker 1: you're doing that, but it's a little bit over a 397 00:21:42,359 --> 00:21:46,000 Speaker 1: thousand today, I'm gonna work out. Okay, that's good. So yeah, 398 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:49,399 Speaker 1: I don't. I'm not wearing any of my accouchermal today, 399 00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:52,560 Speaker 1: not even my pebble. I feel a little lost without it, 400 00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:57,120 Speaker 1: to be honest, But anyway, so clearly there's a market there, 401 00:21:57,240 --> 00:21:59,920 Speaker 1: so it makes sense to bring that in and incore 402 00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:03,399 Speaker 1: braid that in the Nest family. But then, uh, you know, 403 00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:06,199 Speaker 1: we get over. Towards the end of two thirteen, they 404 00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:10,160 Speaker 1: also introduced a brand new product, and that's the Nest Protect. 405 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:14,560 Speaker 1: That's their smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector. Now this 406 00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:17,760 Speaker 1: was obviously a departure, and some people again we're thinking, 407 00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:21,080 Speaker 1: why why would you? Why would I need one of 408 00:22:21,119 --> 00:22:23,840 Speaker 1: those to be smart? Doesn't the thing on the ceiling 409 00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:26,479 Speaker 1: that beeps do just as well. But this one, again 410 00:22:26,840 --> 00:22:30,480 Speaker 1: is WiFi enabled. It can connect to an app so 411 00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:32,320 Speaker 1: that that way you can get an alert on your 412 00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:34,880 Speaker 1: phone if your smoke detector goes off, which obviously could 413 00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:37,440 Speaker 1: be you know, that could be monumentally important. Oh sure, 414 00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:41,520 Speaker 1: sure it can. It will wirelessly connect to other smoke 415 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:43,840 Speaker 1: detectors in your house, so that if, for example, there's 416 00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:47,040 Speaker 1: a fire in the kitchen, then all of them when 417 00:22:47,080 --> 00:22:48,800 Speaker 1: they go off, can say, hey, there's a fire in 418 00:22:48,840 --> 00:22:51,720 Speaker 1: the kitchen. Right it can specifically tell you where the 419 00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:55,200 Speaker 1: alarm was triggered. A lot of smoke detector systems are 420 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:58,280 Speaker 1: wired together so that if one alarm is triggered trip. 421 00:22:58,359 --> 00:23:00,920 Speaker 1: They all yeah, they all beep, but don't tell you 422 00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:04,080 Speaker 1: which one it was that was set off. Right, So 423 00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:07,480 Speaker 1: you have the information that you need in order to 424 00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:09,840 Speaker 1: get out, but you might not have the information you 425 00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:13,199 Speaker 1: need to maybe very safely, or or to or to 426 00:23:13,480 --> 00:23:17,520 Speaker 1: actually diffuse a situation before it gets you know, unmanageable, 427 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:19,480 Speaker 1: because it may be that there's something smoking that you 428 00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:22,960 Speaker 1: can actually take care of and minimize the damage. But 429 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:25,040 Speaker 1: if you don't know where in the house that's singing place, 430 00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:27,680 Speaker 1: obviously the most important thing for you to do is 431 00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:30,879 Speaker 1: to get out safely, right clearly. So this would give 432 00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:33,000 Speaker 1: you more information about that. It also had, of course, 433 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:36,240 Speaker 1: the carbon monoxide monitor, which is also very important. Um. 434 00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:40,360 Speaker 1: It also will work wirelessly with Nest thermostats, so if 435 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:46,000 Speaker 1: the carbon monoxide A sensor picks up a concentration, it'll 436 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:48,879 Speaker 1: send a message to the Nest thermostat to say, hey, 437 00:23:49,119 --> 00:23:52,040 Speaker 1: shut off the furnace because we have a leak somewhere 438 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:55,040 Speaker 1: or something's going on. Yeah, it really need stuff and 439 00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:59,240 Speaker 1: um these are less expensive than the Nest thermostats. The 440 00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:02,600 Speaker 1: thermostats are to you fifty The smoke detectors are about 441 00:24:02,680 --> 00:24:05,200 Speaker 1: I think one thirty to one fifty. As I recall, 442 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:06,480 Speaker 1: I didn't write it down in front of me, but 443 00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:07,840 Speaker 1: I know it's right in that range because I was 444 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:12,440 Speaker 1: actually looking at it to um possibly replace my smoke detectors. 445 00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:14,480 Speaker 1: But if I do that, I will have to buy 446 00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:17,240 Speaker 1: five of them, because I have five smoke detectors in 447 00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:20,040 Speaker 1: my house. Anyone who follows me on Twitter saw that 448 00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:22,760 Speaker 1: that terrible day when I got home and one of 449 00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:24,760 Speaker 1: them was chirping, and the way my house is laid out, 450 00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:27,000 Speaker 1: I could not tell which one it was. So I 451 00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:29,480 Speaker 1: had to go out and get new batteries for all 452 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:32,320 Speaker 1: of my smoke detectors. But you should do anyway, But well, yeah, yeah, 453 00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:35,119 Speaker 1: but this would actually tell me what's going on. Also, 454 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:40,920 Speaker 1: it's designed to be very uh very careful with power 455 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:43,600 Speaker 1: consumption and and the and it even says you wouldn't 456 00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:46,240 Speaker 1: have to replace the batteries every single year, but it 457 00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:48,240 Speaker 1: would give you an alert when it has to. In fact, 458 00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:50,840 Speaker 1: it would send you a message on your phone so 459 00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:52,639 Speaker 1: that you wouldn't have to sit there and listen to 460 00:24:53,040 --> 00:24:56,000 Speaker 1: that chirp forever trying to figure out right, And if 461 00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:58,560 Speaker 1: you're away from your house and you get that message, 462 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:00,320 Speaker 1: then you actually have the opportunity to go and buy 463 00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:02,840 Speaker 1: a battery before you get back and realize that you 464 00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:07,000 Speaker 1: need to go back out again. So very clever. And uh, yeah, 465 00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:09,919 Speaker 1: it's it looks like it's a pretty neat product. You 466 00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:13,239 Speaker 1: do have to replace it every seven years or so, 467 00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:15,840 Speaker 1: bad because the detectors will eventually wear out. It's a 468 00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:20,080 Speaker 1: chemical based thing. I specifically the carbon monoxide sensors in particular, 469 00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:22,240 Speaker 1: and that's that's that's typical. By the way, if you 470 00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:24,800 Speaker 1: think that that's unusual, No, that's not unusual for carbon 471 00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:29,040 Speaker 1: monoxide detectors. You do have to replace those regularly because 472 00:25:29,359 --> 00:25:32,840 Speaker 1: the sensors do wear out over time. Um. Smoke detectors 473 00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:36,159 Speaker 1: didn't last a little bit longer, but carbon monoxide. And 474 00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:38,920 Speaker 1: I think it's still recommended to replace your your smoke 475 00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:41,800 Speaker 1: detectors once every ten years or so. Yeah, I'm I 476 00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:43,080 Speaker 1: don't have the number in front of me, but I 477 00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:46,520 Speaker 1: feel I think you're right. Um. And all of these devices, 478 00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:49,320 Speaker 1: by the way, do have activity detection, like like motion 479 00:25:49,359 --> 00:25:51,160 Speaker 1: and light sensors on them so that they know when 480 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:55,159 Speaker 1: you're coming to and fro rooms, UM, so that they 481 00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:58,560 Speaker 1: can all link up and decide, you know, figure out 482 00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:00,399 Speaker 1: when someone is in there and whether or not they 483 00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:03,280 Speaker 1: need to be activated for for the for the thermstat's sake, 484 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:07,480 Speaker 1: although the carbon monoxide and smoke detectors work together with 485 00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:10,320 Speaker 1: the thermstats to help them cover more area, And they 486 00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:13,240 Speaker 1: also have lights in them and will light up if 487 00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:15,800 Speaker 1: you want them to so that when you you can 488 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:17,720 Speaker 1: set it so like if it's in bedroom mode, it 489 00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:19,520 Speaker 1: won't do that. So if it detects motion, it won't 490 00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:21,200 Speaker 1: light up and wake you up. But if it's in 491 00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:23,159 Speaker 1: a hallway and you walk out, it will end up 492 00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:25,920 Speaker 1: acting like a little nightlight, which I thought was kind 493 00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:28,879 Speaker 1: of cute too. And and the light changes color and 494 00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:31,200 Speaker 1: we'll give you a warning. This is probably the thing 495 00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:34,120 Speaker 1: I like the most about the smoke detector. So let's 496 00:26:34,119 --> 00:26:36,399 Speaker 1: say it starts detecting a little bit of smoke and 497 00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:38,600 Speaker 1: it's not enough for it to trigger a full warning yet, 498 00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:40,760 Speaker 1: but it wants to alert you to this fact. It 499 00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:46,080 Speaker 1: will give you an actual human voice, uh warning saying 500 00:26:46,119 --> 00:26:49,119 Speaker 1: that there is detecting some smoke, and the little blue 501 00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:52,040 Speaker 1: ring of light on the device will turn to yellow. 502 00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:54,879 Speaker 1: And then if you go to it, and let's say 503 00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:57,920 Speaker 1: you are like me and you're attempting to roast some 504 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:00,359 Speaker 1: veggies and you did not realize that you had a 505 00:27:00,359 --> 00:27:02,679 Speaker 1: little bit of minced garlic on the burner or whatever. 506 00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:05,560 Speaker 1: And that's the only reason there's any smoke at all. 507 00:27:06,040 --> 00:27:10,720 Speaker 1: Uh you can wave physically at the smoke detector and 508 00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:13,160 Speaker 1: it will say, oh, false alarm. Well then never mind, 509 00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:15,960 Speaker 1: it'll shut it self off. It'll never do the full 510 00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:21,480 Speaker 1: blast alarm. So my dog would be so excited about that. Yes, yes, 511 00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:24,800 Speaker 1: my dog too. Yeah. So the idea of being able 512 00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:29,639 Speaker 1: to uh not have the typical response in the Strickland 513 00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:34,000 Speaker 1: household where the alarm goes off and then the other 514 00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:38,280 Speaker 1: person in the house helpfully chimes out, dinner must be ready. 515 00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:42,080 Speaker 1: That would be nice. That's my life, all right. So 516 00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:44,160 Speaker 1: we've got a lot more to talk about with Nest, 517 00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:47,719 Speaker 1: including of course, the big story with Google. But before 518 00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:50,520 Speaker 1: we get into all of that, let's take a quick 519 00:27:50,560 --> 00:27:55,480 Speaker 1: break to thank our sponsor. Okay, So it's and uh 520 00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:59,560 Speaker 1: in there was some really big news, especially like we're 521 00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:04,680 Speaker 1: recording this podcast on January, it was not very long 522 00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:08,880 Speaker 1: ago at all when we heard the news that Google 523 00:28:09,119 --> 00:28:13,040 Speaker 1: was acquiring Nest for the some of a round three 524 00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:16,640 Speaker 1: depends upon who you ask some say three point two billions, 525 00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:18,840 Speaker 1: some say three point one, some say three point five. 526 00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:23,199 Speaker 1: But in excess of right, Yeah, and I think that 527 00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:27,000 Speaker 1: the official news might have broken on the thirteenth of 528 00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:31,919 Speaker 1: January's um yeah, not long at all. Right, And and 529 00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:34,040 Speaker 1: the thing is, the thing is that Fidel had had 530 00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:36,879 Speaker 1: a meeting with them before Nest even launched. Um and 531 00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:41,840 Speaker 1: then at the eleven TED conference, Uh, he and Sir 532 00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:46,120 Speaker 1: Gay Bryan had a big pow wow and they showed 533 00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:48,760 Speaker 1: him a video and a prototype of the Nest and 534 00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:51,680 Speaker 1: kind of got them pretty excited about it, like excited 535 00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:54,160 Speaker 1: enough that in May of that year, Google led their 536 00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:56,400 Speaker 1: first round of financing. I guess it was their second 537 00:28:56,480 --> 00:28:59,680 Speaker 1: round of financing, but um and And would also lead 538 00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:02,920 Speaker 1: their next round of financing the next year. So Google 539 00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:06,000 Speaker 1: was involved early on and making sure that this company 540 00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:08,080 Speaker 1: was going to get the funding it needed to do 541 00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:10,320 Speaker 1: the work they were doing. And I mean, if you 542 00:29:10,360 --> 00:29:12,800 Speaker 1: look at some of Google's other stuff that they're doing 543 00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:17,040 Speaker 1: with like the automas driving is probably the easiest example, right, 544 00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:19,920 Speaker 1: you can you can see that this sort of these 545 00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:23,880 Speaker 1: algorithms and these products fit very well into this kind 546 00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:29,480 Speaker 1: of integrated uh you know, using information in an actual, 547 00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:32,920 Speaker 1: real world, physical way. Yeah. And and it's been such 548 00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:35,560 Speaker 1: a big year for Google in terms of hardware. Um, 549 00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:38,320 Speaker 1: you know they they acquired Motorola for what like twelve 550 00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:41,560 Speaker 1: point five billion dollars. Uh. They've been working so much 551 00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:45,680 Speaker 1: with Chromebook. Uh. They they've been working with glass. They've 552 00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:48,920 Speaker 1: got a rumored smart watch project that that could be 553 00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:52,360 Speaker 1: coming out this year. But although although rumored smart watch 554 00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:56,320 Speaker 1: projects are pretty bountiful, I've got three more watches on 555 00:29:56,360 --> 00:30:00,240 Speaker 1: the way to me, so I'll get excited abou out that. 556 00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:03,760 Speaker 1: When I see a picture, I've got to watch problem, Okay, 557 00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:06,960 Speaker 1: I And I imagine that CS did not help that 558 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:10,080 Speaker 1: at all. It was okay, Yeah, yeah, I saw a 559 00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:11,880 Speaker 1: lot of watches, but I thought, no, I think I've 560 00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:14,600 Speaker 1: got that one covered with one exception. But we'll talk 561 00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:16,680 Speaker 1: about that and to see it. Well, we have already 562 00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:19,320 Speaker 1: talked about that the ce S podcast. We just haven't 563 00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:23,040 Speaker 1: recorded yet. Yes, they're publishing in opposite order. I think. 564 00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:26,240 Speaker 1: So you guys out there have already heard me talk 565 00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:29,440 Speaker 1: about it, but I have not will have already talked 566 00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:33,200 Speaker 1: about it yet. I think I need a diagram that 567 00:30:33,280 --> 00:30:37,000 Speaker 1: sentence go on? Yes, Um, okay, and so so both 568 00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:39,600 Speaker 1: Google and Nest have have indicated that Nest is going 569 00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:42,240 Speaker 1: to remain its own sort of independent thing, which you 570 00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:44,680 Speaker 1: know that was that was one of the big concerns, 571 00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:47,440 Speaker 1: right people where those knee jerk reactions as Google is 572 00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:50,760 Speaker 1: going to purchase this company that does smoke detectors, does 573 00:30:50,800 --> 00:30:53,720 Speaker 1: that mean that Google is going to change it in 574 00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:55,800 Speaker 1: some way? Like is it going to no longer be 575 00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:58,280 Speaker 1: the thing that we got excited about, right or are 576 00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:01,240 Speaker 1: they going to make them work on some other projects 577 00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:04,200 Speaker 1: instead of what they were originally created for? And they've 578 00:31:04,200 --> 00:31:06,760 Speaker 1: said nope, that Google is mostly going to be providing 579 00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:09,120 Speaker 1: you know, the kind of money and infrastructure and marketing 580 00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:12,240 Speaker 1: teams and tech resources that will let Nest be more 581 00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:15,800 Speaker 1: themselves than they ever have been before. And other concerns 582 00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:18,840 Speaker 1: like the other big one is that you could conceive 583 00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:24,560 Speaker 1: of Nest devices gathering lots of different information like well, 584 00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:27,120 Speaker 1: I mean they do gather lots of different information, um 585 00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:28,920 Speaker 1: and how that is going to be put to use 586 00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:31,560 Speaker 1: is a pretty big and pretty fair, I think concern 587 00:31:31,640 --> 00:31:33,560 Speaker 1: from a lot of sectors right now. And Nest has 588 00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:35,640 Speaker 1: already come out and said that they don't they don't 589 00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:40,440 Speaker 1: plan on changing their privacy uh statements. Well, they said, 590 00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:44,200 Speaker 1: and I quote from their blog, our privacy policy clearly 591 00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:47,960 Speaker 1: limits the use of customer information to providing and improving 592 00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:52,360 Speaker 1: nests products and services. We've always taken privacy seriously and 593 00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:55,360 Speaker 1: this will not change. Right, So the fact that they 594 00:31:55,360 --> 00:31:58,200 Speaker 1: take privacy seriously won't change. They haven't said that their 595 00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:02,080 Speaker 1: privacy policies won't change. K fair enough if you're going 596 00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:05,080 Speaker 1: to parse it to that level. But I think I 597 00:32:05,120 --> 00:32:07,440 Speaker 1: think the main concern people had was, all right, so 598 00:32:07,440 --> 00:32:09,640 Speaker 1: does this mean You're gonna send Google all this information 599 00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:11,800 Speaker 1: about when I'm home, when I'm not home, how active 600 00:32:11,840 --> 00:32:14,480 Speaker 1: I am, what I you know, whether or not you 601 00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:16,040 Speaker 1: know how many people tend to be in my house 602 00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:18,400 Speaker 1: and rooms I spend the most time in. It's all 603 00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:19,760 Speaker 1: the information is going to go to Google, and then 604 00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:23,080 Speaker 1: I'm going to get directed advertising or worse because of this. 605 00:32:23,480 --> 00:32:26,120 Speaker 1: And I think that was them saying like, that's not 606 00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:28,520 Speaker 1: gonna happen. You're not gonna You're not gonna have your 607 00:32:28,680 --> 00:32:32,680 Speaker 1: your smoke detector and your thermostat tattling on you. Well, 608 00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:34,840 Speaker 1: I mean, you know, I could I could certainly see 609 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:36,880 Speaker 1: one of the concerns that I that I've read about 610 00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:40,160 Speaker 1: was that, um, Google could sell your your energy usage 611 00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:44,520 Speaker 1: data to providers to let them advertise to you more sadly. Um. 612 00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:49,960 Speaker 1: And I can totally picture Google doing that. I mean maybe, yeah, 613 00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:53,360 Speaker 1: kind of, I can see it happening. I mean, if 614 00:32:53,560 --> 00:32:55,239 Speaker 1: let me put it to you this way, if that 615 00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:57,040 Speaker 1: would mean at the end of the day that I 616 00:32:57,120 --> 00:33:02,840 Speaker 1: actually had the opportunity to take advantage of genuinely good deals, 617 00:33:02,880 --> 00:33:05,520 Speaker 1: I wouldn't necessarily be upset about that. Yeah. And and 618 00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:08,000 Speaker 1: to be fair, and Nest already does have partnerships with 619 00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:11,640 Speaker 1: energy providers. Um, I mean they are opt in, and 620 00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:14,520 Speaker 1: but it's for you know, either free or discounted equipment 621 00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:17,360 Speaker 1: or rates on energies. And I would hope they would 622 00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:20,520 Speaker 1: remain an opt in approach, that would I always prefer 623 00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:23,960 Speaker 1: opt in to opt out, because when you know that 624 00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:26,360 Speaker 1: you can take advantage of the stuff, but you don't 625 00:33:26,400 --> 00:33:29,880 Speaker 1: feel like that's appropriate, then you don't have to do anything. 626 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:33,240 Speaker 1: I hate systems where it just assumes that you are 627 00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:36,200 Speaker 1: in whole hog and then you have to hunt through 628 00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:40,080 Speaker 1: this Labrenthian system to find the one checkbox two un 629 00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:43,360 Speaker 1: check so that you are looking at you Facebook, so 630 00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:46,080 Speaker 1: that you can so that you can get out of 631 00:33:46,120 --> 00:33:48,600 Speaker 1: that system. So as long as it remains opt in, 632 00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:50,640 Speaker 1: and of course that's a big if, right, I mean 633 00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:53,600 Speaker 1: that's I like to wear rose colored glasses for this 634 00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:56,600 Speaker 1: sort of stuff. But I am aware that sometimes companies 635 00:33:56,680 --> 00:33:58,600 Speaker 1: make these changes. But as long as it remains opt in, 636 00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:01,800 Speaker 1: I'm perfectly fine with this, sure, sure. But at any rate, 637 00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:03,800 Speaker 1: any time you're talking about any kind of ice, it's 638 00:34:03,840 --> 00:34:07,200 Speaker 1: collecting information in one way or another, how that data 639 00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:11,560 Speaker 1: could eventually be used is always going to be a concern, exactly. Yeah. Um. 640 00:34:11,760 --> 00:34:16,600 Speaker 1: One one other Google's Sway kind of concern is that 641 00:34:17,320 --> 00:34:20,560 Speaker 1: it's going to is that it may become difficult to 642 00:34:20,600 --> 00:34:22,799 Speaker 1: not have a Nest installed in your house if they 643 00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:27,680 Speaker 1: get enough contracts with enough HVAC providers and which you 644 00:34:27,719 --> 00:34:29,920 Speaker 1: know they certainly have the the money and the marketing 645 00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:34,520 Speaker 1: power to do. Then um, you know, having having these providers, say, 646 00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:36,279 Speaker 1: because you can buy a nest retail, but you can 647 00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:39,120 Speaker 1: also get it through whatever company you use to to 648 00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:43,160 Speaker 1: heat and cool your home. And so people have expressed 649 00:34:43,160 --> 00:34:47,880 Speaker 1: a concern that that it will be harder and harder 650 00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:52,160 Speaker 1: to have a non smart thermostat in your house once 651 00:34:52,640 --> 00:34:55,000 Speaker 1: these things really catch on and people figure out how 652 00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:58,520 Speaker 1: much money and equipment wear and tear can be saved 653 00:34:58,560 --> 00:35:00,960 Speaker 1: by installing them. Sure, if you have a system that 654 00:35:01,080 --> 00:35:03,839 Speaker 1: is dependent upon Nest thermostat. Not that there are such 655 00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:08,239 Speaker 1: systems right now, because right now Nest is designed to 656 00:35:07,600 --> 00:35:11,000 Speaker 1: work with the pre existing systems. But down the line, 657 00:35:11,080 --> 00:35:13,640 Speaker 1: let's say we go down five ten years, I could 658 00:35:13,640 --> 00:35:16,440 Speaker 1: see that being a real issue, especially you're talking several 659 00:35:16,440 --> 00:35:19,960 Speaker 1: generations down in the Nest product line. You could end 660 00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:22,640 Speaker 1: up with a system that was optimized for Nest and 661 00:35:22,680 --> 00:35:26,800 Speaker 1: then yeah, you know, you might in theory, be able 662 00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:30,319 Speaker 1: to disconnect it and then put in a generic thermostat, 663 00:35:30,760 --> 00:35:33,520 Speaker 1: but it might not work very well, kind of like 664 00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:37,960 Speaker 1: the way Nest wasn't always compatible with everything that existed. 665 00:35:38,040 --> 00:35:41,920 Speaker 1: Pregeneration too. And yeah, I think that that's another another 666 00:35:42,400 --> 00:35:44,160 Speaker 1: area where people are like, well, what if I don't 667 00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:46,480 Speaker 1: want that much data collected about me? And what if 668 00:35:46,520 --> 00:35:49,879 Speaker 1: I want a dumb thermostat? And and and I don't 669 00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:52,120 Speaker 1: think that. I mean, I think it's going to be 670 00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:55,120 Speaker 1: at least a couple of minutes before anyone is forcing 671 00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:58,400 Speaker 1: us all to have smart thermostats. But that when the 672 00:35:58,480 --> 00:36:00,759 Speaker 1: day comes you'll be used to it, so don't worry 673 00:36:00,760 --> 00:36:03,399 Speaker 1: about it. And by then all of your data will 674 00:36:03,440 --> 00:36:06,600 Speaker 1: be out already from everything else that we interact with, 675 00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:09,000 Speaker 1: so our thermostat will be it will mean nothing but that. 676 00:36:09,680 --> 00:36:11,560 Speaker 1: Um So let's talk a little bit about what actually 677 00:36:11,600 --> 00:36:14,799 Speaker 1: makes it tick, not that they take, they don't tick. 678 00:36:15,239 --> 00:36:17,359 Speaker 1: If your nest is ticking, you might want to have 679 00:36:17,400 --> 00:36:21,280 Speaker 1: that checked out. Now. The nest thermostat has multiple temperature 680 00:36:21,320 --> 00:36:23,640 Speaker 1: sensors inside of it, and this is the idea of 681 00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:25,839 Speaker 1: the multiple sensors is in order to get the most 682 00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:29,920 Speaker 1: accurate reading on the temperature of the room, right. So 683 00:36:30,400 --> 00:36:34,560 Speaker 1: these sensors are are designed so that they can very 684 00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:39,040 Speaker 1: carefully calibrate the climate system so it meets exactly what 685 00:36:39,080 --> 00:36:43,040 Speaker 1: it is that the thermostat has learned you like. So 686 00:36:43,120 --> 00:36:45,960 Speaker 1: if it knows that I like the temperature of my house, 687 00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:50,760 Speaker 1: especially say my bedroom to be right around seventy degrees 688 00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:54,320 Speaker 1: when I go to bed, it can uh start that 689 00:36:54,400 --> 00:36:56,520 Speaker 1: up when it gets close to bedtime, and the rest 690 00:36:56,520 --> 00:36:58,160 Speaker 1: of the time it may just be you know, kind 691 00:36:58,160 --> 00:37:01,440 Speaker 1: of a warmer temperature or colder depending upon what time 692 00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:06,120 Speaker 1: of year it is. Um And then uh so that's 693 00:37:06,120 --> 00:37:09,040 Speaker 1: the main sensor obviously for heat, but it also contains 694 00:37:09,120 --> 00:37:12,319 Speaker 1: motion and light sensors so it can detect when people 695 00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:15,080 Speaker 1: are home, because if no one's home, then it can 696 00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:19,120 Speaker 1: go into away mode right and Ottawa Way, I think 697 00:37:19,120 --> 00:37:21,480 Speaker 1: it's what they call it. But anyway, the the idea 698 00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:25,840 Speaker 1: is that it can then start to ramp down the 699 00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:28,400 Speaker 1: UH the system so they're not putting out some not 700 00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:31,440 Speaker 1: consuming so much energy. And it used to be that 701 00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:34,600 Speaker 1: it would wait I think it was it was more 702 00:37:34,640 --> 00:37:38,840 Speaker 1: than an hour or an hour plus something to before 703 00:37:38,840 --> 00:37:42,000 Speaker 1: it would go into Attawa Way. Now it's half an hour. Um, 704 00:37:42,040 --> 00:37:44,680 Speaker 1: they did a software update, so I think even generation 705 00:37:44,719 --> 00:37:46,319 Speaker 1: one will do it in half an hour now. So 706 00:37:46,360 --> 00:37:49,640 Speaker 1: if it doesn't detect any movement, and if especially if 707 00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:52,640 Speaker 1: you have a pattern of leaving at around a certain 708 00:37:52,640 --> 00:37:55,400 Speaker 1: time each day, it will go ahead and get and 709 00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:58,920 Speaker 1: go into that away mode so that it doesn't waste energy. 710 00:37:59,760 --> 00:38:02,480 Speaker 1: And in UH, there are all these algorithms that has. 711 00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:05,720 Speaker 1: It uses an onboard computer. It's actually got a microprocessor. 712 00:38:06,000 --> 00:38:08,800 Speaker 1: It's an arm based microprocessor, so similar to what you 713 00:38:08,800 --> 00:38:11,600 Speaker 1: would find in a mobile phone or a tablet UH, 714 00:38:11,640 --> 00:38:15,160 Speaker 1: and it would run those algorithms to create those those 715 00:38:15,320 --> 00:38:18,000 Speaker 1: patterns and the responses to the patterns, so that it 716 00:38:18,040 --> 00:38:20,319 Speaker 1: would start to control the system and make sure it 717 00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:23,320 Speaker 1: was the most comfortable whenever you happen to be coming home, um, 718 00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:25,879 Speaker 1: and that would be And that's that learning behavior kind 719 00:38:25,880 --> 00:38:28,759 Speaker 1: of thing that that that proactive change. And it has 720 00:38:28,760 --> 00:38:30,960 Speaker 1: both RAM and ROM, so I mean it's it is 721 00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:33,680 Speaker 1: like a little computer. It's like it's a tiny well 722 00:38:33,719 --> 00:38:36,839 Speaker 1: mounted computer that knows what temperature you want it to be. Yep. 723 00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:39,080 Speaker 1: It's got the Wi Fi chip obviously that allows it 724 00:38:39,120 --> 00:38:41,480 Speaker 1: to connect to your home network. This is what allows 725 00:38:41,480 --> 00:38:44,399 Speaker 1: you to operate it via an app right, although they 726 00:38:44,480 --> 00:38:47,799 Speaker 1: also can connect wirelessly directly to each other without going 727 00:38:47,800 --> 00:38:50,040 Speaker 1: through your home networks, so that if your power goes out, 728 00:38:50,080 --> 00:38:52,720 Speaker 1: they can still talk to each other. Yeah, they're not obviously, 729 00:38:52,760 --> 00:38:55,000 Speaker 1: if your power goes out, they are not going to 730 00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:59,920 Speaker 1: be able to but it means that in the intern 731 00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:02,480 Speaker 1: is at the carbon monoxide and smell detectors that they 732 00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:05,919 Speaker 1: will still operate. Yes, exactly. Uh. One of the cool 733 00:39:05,960 --> 00:39:09,680 Speaker 1: things I actually looked at tear down of a Nest thermostat, 734 00:39:10,080 --> 00:39:13,440 Speaker 1: and there was they showed the battery inside the thermostat 735 00:39:13,520 --> 00:39:15,840 Speaker 1: and a couple of cool things about it. One, the 736 00:39:15,840 --> 00:39:18,040 Speaker 1: battery is there sort of to act kind of in 737 00:39:18,080 --> 00:39:20,560 Speaker 1: the place of a capacitor. Now, a capacitor is designed 738 00:39:20,560 --> 00:39:22,440 Speaker 1: to store up energy and then release it all at once. 739 00:39:22,800 --> 00:39:24,759 Speaker 1: The battery is not releasing it all at once. What's 740 00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:27,680 Speaker 1: there to do is to supplement the electricity that the 741 00:39:27,719 --> 00:39:30,640 Speaker 1: Nest thermostat gets from your home. So you hardwire it 742 00:39:30,640 --> 00:39:33,879 Speaker 1: to your home, right, so it's connected to your HVAC 743 00:39:33,920 --> 00:39:36,360 Speaker 1: system that way, and it draws power that way. But 744 00:39:36,440 --> 00:39:38,400 Speaker 1: that power is not sufficient enough for it to do 745 00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:41,000 Speaker 1: some of the ultra cool things the Nest does, like 746 00:39:41,200 --> 00:39:45,319 Speaker 1: broadcast over WiFi or have that beautiful LCD screen which 747 00:39:45,400 --> 00:39:48,160 Speaker 1: is I think four bit and three twenty by three 748 00:39:48,160 --> 00:39:52,239 Speaker 1: twenty resolution. So you know, most thermostats don't have that, 749 00:39:52,280 --> 00:39:54,359 Speaker 1: they don't need that much power, but this one does, 750 00:39:54,400 --> 00:39:56,880 Speaker 1: so the battery provides that extra power. The cool thing 751 00:39:56,920 --> 00:39:59,360 Speaker 1: about the tear down was they showed that not only 752 00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:03,040 Speaker 1: is it a replaceable battery, but the directions on how 753 00:40:03,080 --> 00:40:06,279 Speaker 1: to replace it are actually on the various cables that 754 00:40:06,320 --> 00:40:10,200 Speaker 1: attached to the battery itself. It says pull this, push this, 755 00:40:10,360 --> 00:40:13,600 Speaker 1: and so uh they they it was, I fix it. 756 00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:16,160 Speaker 1: That's a great website for anyone who likes tear downs, 757 00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:19,080 Speaker 1: you should go check that out, but specifically to show 758 00:40:19,320 --> 00:40:22,200 Speaker 1: how easy or difficult it is to take apart various 759 00:40:22,239 --> 00:40:25,320 Speaker 1: pieces of equipment if you ever have to repair it. 760 00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:27,799 Speaker 1: So it's really meant for repair folks. You know, it's 761 00:40:27,800 --> 00:40:30,239 Speaker 1: not necessarily meant for the average person. But they said 762 00:40:30,280 --> 00:40:32,560 Speaker 1: this is remarkable because not only is it easy to do, 763 00:40:32,600 --> 00:40:34,560 Speaker 1: but they even include instructions on how to do it. 764 00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:38,200 Speaker 1: It's very it's very repair friendly, which if you think 765 00:40:38,239 --> 00:40:41,239 Speaker 1: back to the fact this guy's from Apple might shock you. 766 00:40:42,880 --> 00:40:46,480 Speaker 1: That's some commentary. But they also have sensors that are 767 00:40:46,600 --> 00:40:49,680 Speaker 1: humidity sensors, so that it can control a humidifier or 768 00:40:49,760 --> 00:40:52,520 Speaker 1: de humidifier if that's part of your climate control system. 769 00:40:52,560 --> 00:40:55,759 Speaker 1: I do not have one of those. Um Also, it 770 00:40:55,800 --> 00:40:58,360 Speaker 1: can work with you know, have you ever seen the 771 00:40:58,440 --> 00:41:03,520 Speaker 1: systems that have UH heating elements underneath floors, so it 772 00:41:03,600 --> 00:41:05,719 Speaker 1: can actually do radiant heating. It will heat the floor 773 00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:08,480 Speaker 1: system they have. They will work with the nest too. 774 00:41:08,560 --> 00:41:12,160 Speaker 1: They have sensors that will work with that as well. Yes, 775 00:41:12,880 --> 00:41:16,080 Speaker 1: it's pretty awesome and UH and it's also important because 776 00:41:16,160 --> 00:41:19,440 Speaker 1: one of the drawbacks to those those systems. One thing 777 00:41:19,480 --> 00:41:21,880 Speaker 1: is that they are really efficient and they're very quiet, 778 00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:25,759 Speaker 1: but it takes a while for it to warm up 779 00:41:25,760 --> 00:41:29,239 Speaker 1: a room, and they tend to kind of muck with 780 00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:33,320 Speaker 1: regular thermostats. Thermostats really have trouble being able to detect 781 00:41:33,320 --> 00:41:36,080 Speaker 1: when a room is a comfortable temperature using this radiant 782 00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:39,480 Speaker 1: heat technology. But the Nest one has a mode in 783 00:41:39,520 --> 00:41:41,160 Speaker 1: it when you if you have that kind of system 784 00:41:41,160 --> 00:41:43,040 Speaker 1: and you hook it up into the Nest, it can 785 00:41:43,080 --> 00:41:46,319 Speaker 1: take that into consideration and thus not be confused, so 786 00:41:46,400 --> 00:41:48,319 Speaker 1: you don't end up with floors that are too warm 787 00:41:48,400 --> 00:41:51,000 Speaker 1: to walk on, which would be bad. The floor is 788 00:41:51,080 --> 00:41:57,160 Speaker 1: literally lava. Yeah, so it also is you know, it's 789 00:41:57,200 --> 00:41:59,880 Speaker 1: it's got all the elements of your basic computer. Is 790 00:42:00,080 --> 00:42:02,520 Speaker 1: really what is it? And it's a circular circuit board. 791 00:42:02,760 --> 00:42:04,759 Speaker 1: So if you look at those tear downs, it is 792 00:42:04,760 --> 00:42:06,440 Speaker 1: a thing of beauty. And in fact, I think on 793 00:42:06,480 --> 00:42:08,560 Speaker 1: the I fix at one in particular, they say, you 794 00:42:08,600 --> 00:42:11,920 Speaker 1: don't seem any circular circuit boards. This is pretty cool. 795 00:42:12,360 --> 00:42:14,839 Speaker 1: That's that's really cute. That's that I mean, it's it's 796 00:42:14,840 --> 00:42:17,680 Speaker 1: an optimization of the space, which is wonderful, But just 797 00:42:18,040 --> 00:42:21,080 Speaker 1: that kind of design detail is wonderful. Yep, yep. So 798 00:42:21,239 --> 00:42:24,839 Speaker 1: it's really an interesting product. It's one of those things 799 00:42:24,840 --> 00:42:29,000 Speaker 1: where maybe eventually I will I will go whole hog 800 00:42:29,120 --> 00:42:33,399 Speaker 1: and and save up the money to refit my house 801 00:42:33,440 --> 00:42:35,440 Speaker 1: because I would need to share, I would need it's 802 00:42:35,480 --> 00:42:37,600 Speaker 1: it would be a significant investment. You know, you're talking 803 00:42:37,640 --> 00:42:41,840 Speaker 1: at that point for for me to replace the thermostats 804 00:42:41,880 --> 00:42:44,319 Speaker 1: and the smoke detectors in my house. We're talking more 805 00:42:44,320 --> 00:42:46,760 Speaker 1: than a thousand dollars. So that's not a small amount 806 00:42:46,760 --> 00:42:49,239 Speaker 1: of money. It's certainly not. But um, you know, some 807 00:42:49,280 --> 00:42:51,319 Speaker 1: of the cool stuff I talked about what some of 808 00:42:51,320 --> 00:42:54,439 Speaker 1: those naysayers are talking about with with this entire Google deal, 809 00:42:54,480 --> 00:42:55,880 Speaker 1: But some of the cool stuff that could go on, 810 00:42:56,040 --> 00:42:59,040 Speaker 1: you know, uh, nest could potentially collaborate with your Google 811 00:42:59,080 --> 00:43:03,319 Speaker 1: apps to automatically detect when you're on vacation or how 812 00:43:03,360 --> 00:43:05,760 Speaker 1: long it takes you to get home from work and 813 00:43:06,040 --> 00:43:09,040 Speaker 1: uh and an update its temperature preferences based on that, 814 00:43:09,120 --> 00:43:12,080 Speaker 1: and it's temperature warm up and cool down. Yeah. I 815 00:43:12,080 --> 00:43:15,359 Speaker 1: didn't even mention that the WiFi connectivity allows it to 816 00:43:15,520 --> 00:43:18,760 Speaker 1: even figure out what the temperature is in your region, 817 00:43:19,239 --> 00:43:22,759 Speaker 1: so that it can anticipate how hard it's going to 818 00:43:22,840 --> 00:43:25,399 Speaker 1: have to work, or how hard your HVAC system will 819 00:43:25,400 --> 00:43:28,920 Speaker 1: have to work to camera act whatever the outside temperature 820 00:43:28,960 --> 00:43:31,880 Speaker 1: happens to be so here in Atlanta, for example, and 821 00:43:32,120 --> 00:43:34,920 Speaker 1: say I don't know July, it would know that the 822 00:43:34,920 --> 00:43:38,680 Speaker 1: temperature outside is surface of the sun. And therefore, if 823 00:43:38,760 --> 00:43:41,120 Speaker 1: you are going to be home in forty five minutes, 824 00:43:41,200 --> 00:43:43,040 Speaker 1: it might as well start cranking up the A C now, 825 00:43:43,040 --> 00:43:44,759 Speaker 1: because that's how long it's going to take it for 826 00:43:44,840 --> 00:43:47,200 Speaker 1: your house to be habitable by the time you get there. 827 00:43:48,280 --> 00:43:54,520 Speaker 1: Also some commentary um Also, Nest employees could potentially start 828 00:43:54,520 --> 00:43:57,879 Speaker 1: collaborating with with other Google departments and and working on 829 00:43:58,280 --> 00:44:01,120 Speaker 1: on hardware, maybe maybe that elusive smart watch that we've 830 00:44:01,160 --> 00:44:03,640 Speaker 1: been hearing about, or some of those automated cars or 831 00:44:03,680 --> 00:44:06,960 Speaker 1: our personal robots that Google X has been talking. If 832 00:44:06,960 --> 00:44:11,319 Speaker 1: I find out that the Google automated car gets a 833 00:44:11,400 --> 00:44:14,120 Speaker 1: Nest climate control system in it, I'm just like, just 834 00:44:14,120 --> 00:44:17,160 Speaker 1: just just sell it, just let me buy one, or 835 00:44:17,480 --> 00:44:20,399 Speaker 1: not even climate control. I mean, these are clearly incredibly 836 00:44:20,680 --> 00:44:24,200 Speaker 1: um smart savvy people who are working for Nest. They 837 00:44:24,239 --> 00:44:26,520 Speaker 1: could they could work on any number of projects, and 838 00:44:26,560 --> 00:44:28,359 Speaker 1: they could they could be I mean, like could Nest 839 00:44:28,440 --> 00:44:31,640 Speaker 1: be Google's new smart home division. Yeah, no, it totally 840 00:44:31,719 --> 00:44:34,200 Speaker 1: could be that. Now, you know, before we get all 841 00:44:34,200 --> 00:44:36,799 Speaker 1: excited about that, let's keep in mind that Motorola has 842 00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:41,040 Speaker 1: not exactly become Google's you know, mobile division. And in fact, 843 00:44:41,120 --> 00:44:45,040 Speaker 1: there's some talk of Motorola spinning off and becoming its own, uh, 844 00:44:45,080 --> 00:44:50,040 Speaker 1: independent subcompany again, so you know, there's we're not we're 845 00:44:50,080 --> 00:44:53,400 Speaker 1: not ready to prognosticate fully yet. It's too bad. I 846 00:44:53,440 --> 00:44:55,800 Speaker 1: didn't make this one of my two thousand fourteen predictions 847 00:44:55,800 --> 00:44:58,080 Speaker 1: that Google was going to buy Nest. I did not 848 00:44:58,239 --> 00:45:00,799 Speaker 1: see that coming, and I don't think anybody saw this 849 00:45:00,840 --> 00:45:08,200 Speaker 1: one coming, aside from maybe like Larry Page. And yeah, 850 00:45:08,239 --> 00:45:11,160 Speaker 1: I did make the joke on Twitter that if Google wanted, 851 00:45:11,200 --> 00:45:13,160 Speaker 1: they could pay me three point one billion and I'd 852 00:45:13,160 --> 00:45:16,280 Speaker 1: be happy to manually change everyone's thermostatic for them whenever 853 00:45:16,360 --> 00:45:19,839 Speaker 1: they liked. But they did not take me up on that, 854 00:45:21,239 --> 00:45:22,840 Speaker 1: which is too bad because then I could have afforded 855 00:45:22,880 --> 00:45:27,720 Speaker 1: to get the Nest once put in my house. All right, Well, anyway, 856 00:45:27,800 --> 00:45:31,240 Speaker 1: that wraps up our our discussion about Nest the company, 857 00:45:31,320 --> 00:45:34,839 Speaker 1: the fact that it has entered into this new era. Uh. 858 00:45:34,880 --> 00:45:37,480 Speaker 1: And you know, we don't really know what that means yet. 859 00:45:37,520 --> 00:45:40,160 Speaker 1: It could very well mean that we're going into an 860 00:45:40,239 --> 00:45:43,799 Speaker 1: era where privacy becomes even a larger concern and that 861 00:45:43,920 --> 00:45:46,279 Speaker 1: you know this, this could mean some dark stuff in 862 00:45:46,320 --> 00:45:48,839 Speaker 1: the future. I'm hoping that that's not the case. I'm 863 00:45:49,000 --> 00:45:52,120 Speaker 1: cautiously optimistic that we're going to see some really cool 864 00:45:52,440 --> 00:45:55,600 Speaker 1: collaborations between Nest and Google come out of this, and 865 00:45:55,640 --> 00:45:59,359 Speaker 1: hopefully the kind that will benefit us as consumers more 866 00:45:59,440 --> 00:46:02,239 Speaker 1: so than say, any kind of advertiser. I mean, that 867 00:46:02,360 --> 00:46:05,800 Speaker 1: might be a little you know, the pie in the sky, 868 00:46:05,920 --> 00:46:08,319 Speaker 1: but I'm still hoping. I think it could benefit all 869 00:46:08,360 --> 00:46:11,480 Speaker 1: of us equally. All Right, there we go. Everyone can 870 00:46:11,480 --> 00:46:15,200 Speaker 1: give everyone else a hug, so a giant pillow forth hug. 871 00:46:16,040 --> 00:46:18,200 Speaker 1: You know it's it looks it looks so comfy. I'm 872 00:46:18,239 --> 00:46:19,759 Speaker 1: gonna go right back over there in a second. So 873 00:46:19,920 --> 00:46:22,279 Speaker 1: let me wrap this up. Guys, if you have any 874 00:46:22,320 --> 00:46:26,200 Speaker 1: suggestions for future topics of tech stuff, here is what 875 00:46:26,239 --> 00:46:28,000 Speaker 1: I would like you to do. I would like you 876 00:46:28,040 --> 00:46:31,880 Speaker 1: to send an email Text stuff at Discovery dot com, 877 00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:34,520 Speaker 1: or you can drop us a line on Facebook, Twitter 878 00:46:34,640 --> 00:46:36,759 Speaker 1: or Tumbler. You can find us there. We have the 879 00:46:36,800 --> 00:46:40,319 Speaker 1: handle text stuff HS w and Lauren and I will 880 00:46:40,320 --> 00:46:46,200 Speaker 1: talk to you again really soon for more on this 881 00:46:46,440 --> 00:46:48,879 Speaker 1: and bathands of other topics because it has staff works 882 00:46:48,920 --> 00:46:52,799 Speaker 1: dot com