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I'm optimistic about nest - they seem to understand this, their thermostat is a great user experience. You hook it up and use it just like you would use a norm

I'm optimistic about nest - they seem to understand this, their thermostat is a great user experience. You hook it up and use it just like you would use a normal thermostat, and it uses that info to make intelligent decisions to do actually useful things - like override the schedule and turn the heat up when you take a day off work, or turn the heat down when nobody is home, all with no user interaction. Remote control isn't the killer app for home automation, no control is. I don't have a need to turn lights on in rooms I'm not in, but it would be nice if my house could turn the lights off for me when I forget to. Or if I drive off and leave the garage open, it could close it for me so I don't have to call a neighbor and ask them to check it.

potatolicious 12y ago
> "like override the schedule and turn the heat up when you take a day off work, or turn the heat down when nobody is home, all with no user interaction." Useful sure, but is it that useful? Which is to say, will people choose it over walking over and twisting a knob? The same argument can be made for motorized blinds. Sure, yeah, it'd be kind of cool for your blinds to raise and lower themselves with the day/night cycle. Or I can just yank that cord over there. Ditto the garage door thing. It'd be nice to have a system that just closes the door for me, but I'd call my neighbor, what, once a year to check on my garage? Worth a $100 system + installation + integration into some larger, overarching home automation network? That's the problem with home automation, it's a bunch of janky, expensive, high-maintenance tech that solves a "problem" that nobody was really that bothered by. It's an incredibly minor incremental improvement that solves a pain that was never actually painful, and it has historically required a lot of infrastructure/installation in the home. The new stuff is lowering a lot of the installation/infrastructure pain, but it's still relatively expensive, and for the most part their improvements are so minor, and the original problem so inconsequential, that I don't think they'll see mainstream market success. IMO none of this will take off until they find the "Killer App", the one that solves a problem that really bothers people.
- notatoad 12y ago
  I don't know how everybody else gets their nests, but I pay flat rate for power and my power company gives them out for free because it works out cheaper for them in the long run. So no, I probably wouldn't pay extra for a nest thermostat and the small amount of convenience it offers, but I like having it.
  - joezydeco 12y ago
    Once the Nest API gets more mature, watch power companies give these out with the ability to remotely turn your A/C up if the power grid starts to sag (that whole "rush hour" concept they're pushing).
dionidium 12y ago
Remote control isn't the killer app for home automation, no control is. I think you've got this exactly backward, at least as it applies to the Nest thermostat. I find the automation aspects to be pretty gimmicky, but turning the A/C down before I head home from work or turning it off completely just before I leave town on an airplane are killer features.

potatolicious 12y ago

> "like override the schedule and turn the heat up when you take a day off work, or turn the heat down when nobody is home, all with no user interaction." Useful sure, but is it that useful? Which is to say, will people choose it over walking over and twisting a knob? The same argument can be made for motorized blinds. Sure, yeah, it'd be kind of cool for your blinds to raise and lower themselves with the day/night cycle. Or I can just yank that cord over there. Ditto the garage door thing. It'd be nice to have a system that just closes the door for me, but I'd call my neighbor, what, once a year to check on my garage? Worth a $100 system + installation + integration into some larger, overarching home automation network? That's the problem with home automation, it's a bunch of janky, expensive, high-maintenance tech that solves a "problem" that nobody was really that bothered by. It's an incredibly minor incremental improvement that solves a pain that was never actually painful, and it has historically required a lot of infrastructure/installation in the home. The new stuff is lowering a lot of the installation/infrastructure pain, but it's still relatively expensive, and for the most part their improvements are so minor, and the original problem so inconsequential, that I don't think they'll see mainstream market success. IMO none of this will take off until they find the "Killer App", the one that solves a problem that really bothers people.

notatoad 12y ago
I don't know how everybody else gets their nests, but I pay flat rate for power and my power company gives them out for free because it works out cheaper for them in the long run. So no, I probably wouldn't pay extra for a nest thermostat and the small amount of convenience it offers, but I like having it.
- joezydeco 12y ago
  Once the Nest API gets more mature, watch power companies give these out with the ability to remotely turn your A/C up if the power grid starts to sag (that whole "rush hour" concept they're pushing).

dionidium 12y ago

Remote control isn't the killer app for home automation, no control is. I think you've got this exactly backward, at least as it applies to the Nest thermostat. I find the automation aspects to be pretty gimmicky, but turning the A/C down before I head home from work or turning it off completely just before I leave town on an airplane are killer features.