7 ms·
Nest is launching an API
- johns 13y agoInteresting that they choose the Firebase protocol.
- 650REDHAIR 13y agoLikewise! Looking forward to more API documentation from Nest. Also, nice work guys! This is a great step forward for Firebase.
- feralmoan 13y agoDefinitely a lot of overhead keeping sockets alive for this when deltas must be few+far between. Wonder why they eschewed mqtt or rest... ? I imagine a lot of integrators are going WTF to a Firebase approach for a thermostat.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- joeblau 13y agoI think it's a pretty good choice. I've been using it for almost a year and a half and I visited their office when they were 4 people. It really makes sense for a real-time system if you don't want to build your own real-time message bus.
- matthew-wegner 13y agoObligatory link to a Python script you can use today: https://github.com/smbaker/pynest https://github.com/smbaker/pynest I use this to turn my Nest's away mode on and off when my iPhone leaves my home wifi (I live alone, and in Phoenix, so this helps my power bill quite a bit).
- cauterize 13y agoSounds very cool. Willing to share that?
- rdeboo 13y agoMay I ask how you detect that your iPhone leaves the wifi network?
- matthew-wegner 13y agoI just ping it continuously. If it doesn't respond inside of some threshold--I think 5 minutes?--I assume I'm out of the house. On battery, the iPhone checks wifi pretty regularly, and actually holds a wifi connection when plugged in.
- userbinator 13y agoLet's hope their security is good... or we may see headlines like this in the future: "Hackers gain control of networked thermostats, thousands hospitalised and injured"
- thirsteh 13y agoI may be cynical, but I think we're only just now entering a world of hurt where home automation system providers learn about information security the hard way. Also, pretty funny: http://i.imgur.com/ouoxxoZ.png http://i.imgur.com/ouoxxoZ.png
- rossng 13y agoNest, being owned by Google, probably have the best chance of running a secure infrastructure. The other companies involved in home automation? Not so much. The kit will probably be about as secure as most SCADA systems - and that's going to have some serious consequences one day.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- maxerickson 13y agoFurnaces usually have thermal cut off systems. Not as an input to the thermostat, as part of an independent control loop that the thermostat asks for heating. I guess smarter thermostats make it tempting to centralize that functionality, but keeping the thermal safety systems separate from any networked functionality seems like a nice, clear and sensible design principle.
- userbinator 13y agoThe thermal limit switches in a furnace are usually there to prevent fire, and won't trip unless something is seriously wrong with the furnace. The furnace running within design temperatures is still enough to make your house extremely hot.
- benbojangles 13y agoIt's because the DIY hobbyist is catching up: http://dalybulge.blogspot.co.uk/ http://dalybulge.blogspot.co.uk/
- granttimmerman 13y agoTop of hackernews: * How not to write an API * Nest is launching an API Kidding aside, I'm excited to see interesting uses of Nest's API in the near future.
- vicaya 13y agoI personally will never buy a Nest or any home automation devices that _require_ any external service(s) to control and function. OTOH, I'm probably not part of the target market, as I'm perfectly happy futzing around with Vera* and VLAN/VPN/SSH tunnels.
- mrb 13y agoNest does not require Internet connectivity. It is optional. http://support.nest.com/article/Do-I-need-Wi-Fi-to-use-Nest http://support.nest.com/article/Do-I-need-Wi-Fi-to-use-Nest
- cbhl 13y agoBut you do need the Nest service for the "home automation" part, such as changing the temperature. (i.e. They're worried that if Nest gets shut down by Google, then it will stop working since the API isn't self-hosted by the thermostat itself.)
- vicaya 13y agoIf you actually read the link you mentioned, Internet connectivity to Nest (Google) service _is_ required to make any changes (control) remotely. Why would people buy a $250 to use as a regular thermostat? I'm not opposed to Internet connectivity per se but the external (Nest/Firebase/Google) services requirement for remotely controlling and/or automation of the devices. The only appeal of Nest to a hacker is its industrial design, IMO. Apparently its UX is not that great (humidity display fail) either, while an $80 z-wave thermostat is much more usable/flexible.
- blueskin_ 13y ago>Why would people buy a $250 to use as a regular thermostat? I guess, because the learning feature is still nice. Myself, I wanted a Nest up until google bought them... no way I'm giving them sensors in my home.
- TheCraiggers 13y ago
- nostromo 13y agoApp idea for someone: make a simple alarm. I have a few Nest devices, and they all do motion detection. If I'm away for a few days, I'd love an alert if my Nests detect someone in the house. It could alert me to check a security camera, and then to call the police. It could do fancy stuff, like only alert me if I'm not at home by checking my phone's location. Or perhaps you could set off the fire alarm to try and ward off intruders. I imagine alarm systems are on Nest's roadmap. I'd be worried if I was ADT.
- vicaya 13y agoNest is reinventing home automation badly, IMO. You can already do all that and more with plethora of Z-Wave devices with Vera* without any external services.
- dangrossman 13y agoOne z-wave motion sensor and the cheapest Vera hub would cost $200-250. Getting more out of the Nest he already owns costs $0.
- vicaya 13y agoA motion/temperature sensor from Monoprice: $30. A VeraLite-G (eBay make an offer): $135. A Z-Wave thermostat (2-gig CT100 that can display humidity on the main display): $80 (I got a couple for $62 on sale) No dependency on Google to control your home: priceless. Disclosure: I use MasterCard sometimes.
- watty 13y agoAre you trying to say that those parts are equivalent to a Nest? That's like saying some wheels, an engine, 4 doors == BMW.
- joezydeco 13y agoHe's saying it's functionally equivalent. engine + 4 doors + wheels = working car. I owned a BMW once and you literally could not tinker with the car yourself. The engine was a sealed black box. Kind of like the Nest.
- sirkneeland 13y agoKnow that I went out for a run (fusion of location and biometrics data). Turn the a/c on before I get back. Handy.
- danmatan 13y agoYep, this is the kind of thing I want too. A few scenarios (assuming that one person is living in a particular place): I want the thermostat (with knowledge of outside temperature and winds) to know that my HVAC can increase the temperature by, say, 1C every 30 minutes. Based on what it knows about my location and biometrics, it can drop to the minimum to prevent the pipes from freezing or other problems when I'm gone, and know when my classes/work ends and commute time to turn on the system at just the right time to be pleasant for my arrival. Maybe detect/realize that I'm in a, or will be in a, traffic jam, and hold off accordingly. Integrate it with my alarm clock to cool the bedroom by a few C overnight, but warm the place up so I'm not chilled when I get out from under the blankets. Detect that I've gotten out of bed in the middle of the night, and start blasting heat into the bathroom.
- vicaya 13y agoTrivial and cheaper (for more thermostats/sensors) to do with $80 z-wave thermostats and one Vera* controller with no external service dependency. Nest is $250 each. Ouch.
- dangrossman 13y agoThe dozens of hours of programming involved in replicating what Nest does to address his desires would not be "trivial and cheap". Your suggested substitute does not learn the heating/cooling efficiency curves of your HVAC system, does not automatically change the temperature when you go to sleep and before you wake on an adaptive schedule just by (re-)training it a few times, and does not turn on the heat when it detects motion. Even manual scheduling doesn't replicate what Nest does for you there; since Nest learns the efficiency of your system, it can calculate the number of minutes it must run to produce the desired temperature change, and turn on the system at the exact right time before you wake up to reach that temperature on time. Nest can do all that out of the box, and it doesn't cost $250 for a new one on eBay, where you're quoting the rest of your prices from. They're $185-200 there BIN, and regularly on Amazon from the Amazon Warehouse Deals seller, which makes your z-wave stuff the "ouch" purchase. Whatever your opinion on having the API hosted externally, the product itself has some smart stuff built in. Looks pretty snazzy too. For the record, I have a VeraLite and some z-wave stuff too. I'm not a huge fan. I don't care that Google hosts the API for my thermostat. I do care that if I'm standing outside my front door and want to open the deadbolt over z-wave, it takes 15-30 seconds, with a 50% success rate of the command getting through at all.
- NPC82 13y agoMy roommate bought a Nest about 6 months ago and I haven't seen any real potential or usefulness out of it. It doesn't actually add functionality to my HVAC system, just more ways to complete what simple function my old thermostat could do -- with more points of failure.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- dangrossman 13y agoThis page has been up for a few months I think. Nest has always had an API, it's just been unofficial. There's plugins to hook it into all the major home automation hubs/systems, and open source packages for integrating it into your own code. I used it to make mine voice controlled and to put this together on a touchscreen -- http://i.imgur.com/C9yNLkP.jpg http://i.imgur.com/C9yNLkP.jpg
- panacea 13y agoNo thanks. Promising company sold out to Google.
- AaronBBrown 13y agoI went with ecobee thermostats (ecobee.com) because it already has a rich API. It doesn't have motion detection like Nest, but it does have a very useful web interface and a decent app for iPhone and Android. Since I work from home and have a stay at home wife with two young children, the motion detection was not a selling point for me. I wanted something a bit more Cisco router and less Apple Airport Extreme. I've been very happy with the 3 that I have in my house. My only complaint (and this is true of all connected thermostats) is that it relies on the company's infrastructure. If ecobee goes out of business, I lose much of the utility of the devices, though they don't turn into bricks.
- zippergz 13y agoThis was announced in September: https://nest.com/blog/2013/09/25/calling-all-developers/ https://nest.com/blog/2013/09/25/calling-all-developers/ When that happened, I immediately filled out the form asking for more information. And I have heard not a single peep since then. I've actually been assuming that since the Google acquisition, this project may have been shelved. Is there actually a sign of life? The submitted link doesn't seem to have any new information.
- outside1234 13y agoShameless plug: I'm building an open platform to enable you to build amazing devices without Google in the middle. If you are interested, you can learn more about it at nitrogen.io or https://github.com/nitrogenjs/service https://github.com/nitrogenjs/service
- sprobertson 13y agoNice work. I've been hacking something similar together to get my Raspberry Pis talking, but this seems much more cohesive. Copy advice: ditch the superlatives in the introduction ("amazing devices") to make some room for a more pithy description.