Google buys Nest: An Operating System for the Home or Robots

3 thoughts on “Google buys Nest: An Operating System for the Home or Robots”

1. Hi Thomas, great post. here is the brillant side of this acquisition. What about the dark side and the issues regarding security and and personal information managed by Google ?

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   1. Tnx Jacques,
      That’s the dealbreaker of course.
      Companies should be fined for data breaches, which would encourage companies to design data protection into their products from the beginning.
      As for personal information Nest has declared the following:

      Will Nest customer data be shared with Google?
      Our privacy policy clearly limits the use of customer information to providing and improving Nest’s products and services. We’ve always taken privacy seriously and this will not change.

      So your question is certainly on point. The answer however is not. But Google has a history of privacy breaches of course, as usual the trade-off need to be sufficient.

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2. The security will probably be left as it is for a while, but when the company is well integrated with Google and they have replaced most of their services they will probably ‘introduce some privacy changes’ regarding devices.
   It is interesting to see that Google as an internet company starts to sell more products (beginning with Nexus). And is now integrating more and more into our houses. Still their focus is on using and selling their internet services on these devices. ‘Google Now’ is a very powerful example. With the Nest thermostat they could make it even more powerful.
   “We suggest to leave from work if you want to skip traffic jams. Can we already turn on your heating?”
   Or maybe show you some new furniture websites for when your house is on fire when using the Nest smoke sensor?

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