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Nest Debuts New Nest Protect Smoke Detector, Nest Cam Security Camera
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I recommend the Samsung smartcam (or any good IP cam) and Security Spy software running on a Mac (bypassing Samsung's cloud based smartcam software)
Yes, the difference is that Apple charges you for the services. You are the customer. They monetize it by charging you, the customer. Apple has no interest in storing the data besides what you pay them for.
Google doesn't charge you for their services. You are not the customer. They monetize it by charging advertisers, their customers, for your data.
The original Nest was, in my opinion, a defective and dangerous product - I returned all four of my Nests after repeated false alarms that taught my kids to ignore the smoke alarm. Despite cleaning my smoke detectors monthly (something I never had to do with my old ones) they kept going off in the middle of the night. I wasn't alone and since Nest gave me my money back 2 years after the purchase, they clearly knew it was an issue.
Check out the closed discussion on the nest site.
https://community.nest.com/thread/3851?start=195&tstart=0
Check out the closed discussion on the nest site.
https://community.nest.com/thread/3851?start=195&tstart=0
This sounds not so much "really great" as "very, very creepy."
I have no problem with google owning them but I agree. They would have been a good fit with Apple in my opinion.
Nest Cam works with a Nest cloud subscription service called Nest Aware, with pricing that starts at $10 per
What exactly do you get for $10?
totally fine by me. got any recommendations for cameras to do that with? ive already got a home server and every other part of it set up. ive even got a POE-capable switch. what i dont have are any recommendations for cameras or camera interface systems that have decent features and a reasonable cost.
First time ever I have ever opened a thread to read the top voted comments on Macrumors where I knew almost exactly what the first reply would be and that it would have the most up votes. Second up, a thread about Samsung appealing a copyright infringement...
Thankfully Macrumors keep posting up stuff like sticker fitting guides, so some original, funny comments do still pop up.
Been waiting for their announcement to make a decision on a new camera for my place, I have the Dropcam Pro but the geofencing on it is a nightmare, all it ever does is notify you to let you know it did not work properly.
After talking to Nest it seems the new one does not solve the problem so will be picking up a Canary camera from Best Buy I think.
After talking to Nest it seems the new one does not solve the problem so will be picking up a Canary camera from Best Buy I think.
The forum attached to an article about a Google product is not the place to discuss that Google product?
I appreciate that MacRumors has articles about more than just Apple products (otherwise we'd only have a few articles a day). NEST makes great products, they have long contributed to Apple's ecosystem, their apps work great on iOS, and the company was even founded by ex-Apple employees. They were even a rumored Apple acquisition target (boy, they missed out to Google on that one).
I'm no fan of Google, and I really dislike how they rely solely on a cloud-based subscription model for video history vs letting you store video on a local server. I'm probably not going to be a buyer of either product, but the article didn't bother me.
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I think at one point Nest was allowing people to return their version 1 alarms, and perhaps now would offer the option to replace them with version 2 (or just provide money back).
Maybe because the company (Nest) seem clueless about the market they are in?
We purchased a home a few months back, and I really wanted to implement some 'smart home' stuff in our re-model. However, after actually digging into how some of these devices work, I stuck with 'dumb' stuff.
The Nest thermostat was especially bad, tending to fail due to use of a FET instead of a relay. Just Google Nest and cycling, or fail, or firmware update problems, etc. Basically, there are any number of reasons a Nest can fail and ruin your HVAC system, or worse. If you live outside Silicon Valley, that can be a problem (a really, really BIG problem) in the middle of winter! And, as far as I could tell, you don't really save much more money over just using a tried-and-true basic programable thermostat.
I looked at their smoke & CO detectors as well. Aside from the 'wave' issue (why not just a button on it?), I read that they were prone to false alarms (I suppose better than the opposite?), but that one had to rip them down and disassemble them to get them to turn off. And, if you use more than one, they all go off (thanks to being networked)... so you have to excruciatingly disable them one-by-one. No thanks.
I even looked at electronic door-locks. They all had really obvious flaws. The best seemed to be the Kevo, but even it wasn't connected to the network (seriously?), so you're dealing with everyone having to have an iPhone or fob-distribution (same as you'd have with physical keys). I'd still like to just touch my lock to open when my arms are fully of groceries... but not $250+ worth. This category, however, would be my next investment when the cost drops a bit, or they work the design-blunders out a bit.
So, it will be interesting to see where Apple actually goes with this. If I could mix and match the best of each category through my Apple TV, I'd *vastly* prefer that to trying to use one company's botched design attempts. So, I'm really glad Apple didn't buy Nest!
The problem is that Apple likely does/will too. They don't have to tell us. It's lots of money for them and the govt indemnifies them.
That said, online privacy is kind of a joke at this point anyway. Unless you use a totally separate computer on a VPN, pretty much everything you're doing online is being tracked and associated with you. And who knows how much of the actual data-transmission is being stored up.
Heh... it's all about the bling.
Actually, given the massive numbers of typical consumers now buying Apple products, it kind of makes sense to incorporate a lot of 'pop' stuff into their services. So, while I think it's pretty silly, and bemoan their seeming lack of interest in pro stuff or their former strengths... it probably is better for their current profit margins... at least until neglecting the pros comes back to bite them long-term.
...but it used to be about the bling and great products behind the bling.Heh... it's all about the bling.
Actually, given the massive numbers of typical consumers now buying Apple products, it kind of makes sense to incorporate a lot of 'pop' stuff into their services. So, while I think it's pretty silly, and bemoan their seeming lack of interest in pro stuff or their former strengths... it probably is better for their current profit margins... at least until neglecting the pros comes back to bite them long-term.
It shocks me how many moves Apple has made that contradict why I started using Apple. I started building hackintoshes when windows vista was released (since Vista was pure garbage), if Vista was MS's future I needed other options. I ended up liking OSX enough to pay the premium and buy the full product many times since. Now it seems like MS is starting to get back on track and making the right moves while Apple seems to be making stupid ones, makes me kinda sad. They still have a ton of perks over their competitors but they are not the same company that won me over.
I disagree about 'bling' in the past. The definition of bling has a connotation of 'characterized by vulgar or pretentious display.' While Apple users were often accused of such motivation, I don't think it was for most folks. We saw great design for reasonable prices considering the quality and productivity. I suppose there was a bit of appreciation of the good design, but I'd not call that bling. I suppose it's debatable, but I'd not consider a Porsche bling. I suppose it could be taken that way, depending on the context, but at some point it becomes obvious. IMO, Apple has crossed that line over the last few years.
Otherwise, I agree. I've been an Apple user for over 25 years now... including a long stretch when it was incredibly unpopular (and even somewhat difficult) to do so. I did it because, on balance, I saw a net productivity gain that made it worth it. And, I appreciated what they stood for in contrast to the competition.
I'm still there for that latter point, for the most part (I still think Apple, on the whole, is trying to do the right thing). I also think I'm still more productive on their systems. But, it's not like it was, or at least where it seems headed. It's more a case of... the competition is just so bad than that Apple is really excelling. Apple, IMO, seems to be slipping.
Now, if you searched me out on the Internet (blogs, forums, etc.) you'll see that even considering this, I'd still recommend them as a company for a number of years to come. They simply have that much momentum. I'm just concerned over their long-term future, and as a result, what I'll have to switch to if that day comes. Unless Microsoft really improves... it's going to be more a matter of begrudgingly switching from horrible to slightly less horrible. I don't want that!
The big changes, as I've seen them, are:
1) In the switch to chase the consumer dollar (something they've done REALLY well), they are forgetting and neglecting their roots. This, IMO, is a huge mistake that will come back to bite them.
2) They are getting incredibly sloppy. Apple has always been excellent at the hardware and kind of iffy on applications... especially how they go about implementing core features (they kind of do it at their pace, not according to user need). And, while they've had rocky times with their OSs in the past, they've done an especially bad job in the last 5 to 10 years on the new-feature vs quality ratio. While I do like some of the new features, I'd rather have quality and stability if I have to pick. I'm happy to hear about the direction of iOS 9 and OS X 10.11. I guess we'll have to wait and see if they really follow through on it, or if it's mostly talk.
3) Forgetting their UI history. Apple once invested huge effort into learning about UI. While I still see some of that in play in physical design of their products and core UI aspects (i.e.: the core interaction of iOS on phones and tablets), they seem to be forgetting it in many aspects of app operation, especially on OS X.
4) While their customer service is excellent... it's better to fix stuff before release, than try to keep the customer happy after the sale. Again, major kudos to Apple in how they treat customers after the sale, but they really need to put more focus on getting it right before the sale. The release of iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite were pretty bad... probably the worst I can remember in 25 years.
5) Selling under-capable models. While Apple has always had models which were a bit anemic in terms of RAM, storage, etc., and then made really good profit off the up-sells... in the past, most of the stuff could be upgraded. So, if the customer didn't think it through well enough on the initial sale, they could fix the problem later. Apple now sells most of their products which aren't upgradable... yet, they push the boundaries with selling models which are pretty much obsolete when sold. That's a huge user experience problem, and something they should address. A bad user experience isn't worth a few dollars, or even a few hundred dollars, on the profit spreadsheet. (My gosh, they *just* discontinued the original iPad mini... I just saw a Best Buy Father's Day sale ad for them. If anyone buys an original mini and puts iOS 8 on it... it's probably the last Apple product they'll ever buy. That's either just plain dumb, or Apple is really confident iOS 9 will fix the problem, assuming those people stick around that long. I'm sure *hoping* it's the latter!)
6) Vision. Tim Cook is an excellent operations guy. He's running the company as well as just about any CEO out there could. But, I'm not sure Cook has the vision Steve Jobs did... and I do worry if enough of it is baked into the company in the long-run without such leadership. And, given the way I see the product lines headed... it really makes me worry about that. Cook seems to be more concerned with partying with the stars (i.e. bling), than about the products at points. And, that's scary... because while they have to pay attention to 'pop' culture to market to the masses... being driven by 'pop' culture is a road to disaster! Job's genius was in creating aspects of pop culture... and using it as a tool to pull in customers... not chasing it.