Now, we learn today (via Fortune) that Tony Fadell, Nest’s CEO, has had a little passion project going on in the background. Co-founded with its CEO Dave Bell, Actev Motors makes the Arrow Smart-Kart, a smart first of its kind electric go-kart with app controls and a $600 price tag…
According to a new report from Re/code, Alphabet-owned Nest is under-performing and its future at Google could be in jeopardy. The report, citing three people with knowledge of the matter, says that Nest generated $340 million in sales last year and while that’s solid for a company focused mainly on Internet-connected thermostats, it’s not as strong as what Google hoped initially.
In The Information‘s recent article about Nest and continued strife within the Alphabet subsidiary following a struggle-filled acquisition of Dropcam, Tony Fadell was dismissive of any blame for the departure of more than 50 Dropcam employees and their leader, Greg Duffy. “A lot of the employees were not as good as we hoped,” he said. He went on, saying Dropcam was “a very small team and unfortunately it wasn’t a very experienced team.”
Obviously this didn’t sit well with the former CEO of the San Francisco-based security cam company, who left Nest after a feud with the father-of-the-iPod over his brash ‘tyrant bureaucrat’ leadership style. And he took to his Medium blog this morning to chime in…
A new report (paywalled) from The Information today told us that Google is working on a competitor to the Amazon Echo, but it also detailed in-depth Nest’s struggle as an Alphabet subsidiary and the apparent horror that was its acquisition of smart home security camera company Dropcam. Before eventually ending his time at the Alphabet company, Dropcam co-founder Greg Duffy apparently told Nest CEO Tony Fadell that he runs the company like a “tyrant bureaucrat”…
We told you Wednesday that Nest has some new hardware in the works (likely to be announced at its upcoming June 17th event), and now droid-life has come out with press images of the new Nest Cam—an update to the hardware and branding of the current Dropcam Pro. We also mentioned yesterday that Nest has a new app in the works that will work with all of Nest’s hardware, and it looks like we get to take an early peek at that too… Expand Expanding Close
Nest has a press conference planned for June 17th, but Tony Fadell and company haven’t mentioned—nor hinted—up to this point what they might be working on. Possibilities range from a refreshed Nest Thermostat, to new hardware for the company’s Protect CO2 and smoke alarm, to new Dropcam hardware, to a sweet new smart mailbox (maybe based on Google’s April Fools joke from earlier this year?).
Reports have claimed that the Google-owned company has an entire lineup of new hardware in the works, including new versions of all of these products (sans the mailbox, of course). We can corroborate this information, as we’ve also heard from people familiar with the products in testing that Nest does indeed have new hardware being trialled in small groups, along with a brand new app that will tie everything together… Expand Expanding Close
Nest sent out press invitations last week to an event on June 17th, and we speculated that it might mean that the company is ready to announce its first Dropcam successor since being acquired by Google in June of 2014. Now, thanks to an FCC filing that we’ve uncovered (published to the FCC website on May 28th), it seems more likely that the company is getting ready to announce the next generation of its security camera… Expand Expanding Close
Nest hasn’t made any substantial announcements since the company was acquired by Google last year, but it looks like that might change soon. In a press invite that’s very short on details, the company asks a select few publications to join for “a Nest press conference” scheduled to take place Wednesday, June 17th, in San Francisco… Expand Expanding Close
Two Nest executives have flown the coop, The Verge reported today. Dropcam co-founder Greg Duffy has decided to leave the company, according to sources at the comany cited by the Verge. Yoky Matsuoka, vice president of technology for Nest, has also decided to bow out after what the report describes as a “culture clash” between the two companies threatened to drain Dropcam of its creative spirit.
Matsuoka, who helped create Google’s X division, will reportedly be heading to Twitter, though it’s not clear what role she will play. Duffy joined forces with Google when Dropcam was purchased by Nest last year for $555 million. Nest, of course, was already owned by Google at that point. Where Duffy will go next is unknown.
Prior to becoming a Nest-owned company, Dropcam released Dropcam Pro as its flagship camera in October 2013. At that time the regular Dropcam remained available at a $50 discount to its new counterpart.
Fast forward to today, Dropcam has announced that it will discontinue support for all models other than the Pro version as of April 15th. But instead of leaving its first customers out in the cold, Dropcam has announced a free upgrade program for the original Dropcam and Dropcam Echo. Expand Expanding Close
The Nest Learning Thermostat remembers what temperatures you like, turns itself down when you’re away and can be controlled from your smartphone, tablet or laptop
Auto-Schedule creates a personalized schedule for your home by remembering when you adjust the temperature
Auto-Away automatically turns Nest thermostat down when there’s nobody home so you don’t waste energy heating or cooling an empty house
Remote control Nest thermostat over Wi-Fi from your smartphone, tablet or laptop
Energy History shows you how much energy you’ve used and what affects your energy use most
The Dropcam Wireless HD Video Monitoring Camera can be found for $99.99 with free shipping. That’s $50 below list and the lowest price we have ever seen on this cloud-based camera/recording system.
Nest recently rolled out a barrage of new commercials to promote its collection of home automation gadgets and we have to say they’re pretty entertaining. The Google-owned company has produced four adverts: one for its smart thermostat, two for Dropcam and a single piece for its swanky smoke alarm.
Your Nest smart thermostat should get a little smarter at some point over the next week as the company rolls out version 4.3 of the software, providing improved auto-scheduling and faster access to info at-a-glance.
A single push of the ring displays the information shown above, which includes weather, outdoor temperature and humidity. This has, says Nest, been the biggest customer request, allowing them to check what they should wear before heading out in the morning. Getting access to additional information, like yesterday’s energy usage or tomorrow’s schedule, is now available simply by turning the ring left or right … Expand Expanding Close
Nest, makers of smart thermostats and smoke detectors, announced today that it is expanding its platform to be compatible with even more hardware and third-party home automation software. Namely, the company’s “Works with Nest” program has been announced to now include Dropcam—the Nest-owned home security camera—and the company also says that its products will now work great with a variety of home automation systems including those from URC, RTI, Crestron and Control4.
Now we’ve added Dropcam to Works with Nest. When your Nest Protect alarm goes off, Dropcam records a clip of the smoke or carbon monoxide event and saves it for you, regardless of whether you pay for Cloud Recording. And when you set your Nest Thermostat to Away and walk out the door, Dropcam automatically turns on motion alerts so you’ll know if anyone’s in the house.
While integration with Dropcam seems handy, the announcement of Nest’s devices now working with other home automation software is equally as important. These pre-existing systems control a wide variety of aspects of home automation including lighting, music, and more—and now you can add Nest to the list. Additionally, LiftMaster’s MyQ technology was announced yesterday to also be joining the ranks among hardware that works with Nest.
The official Dropcam companion app has been updated with an all-new activity feed, customizable activity categories and alerts, and fast mobile setup. Dropcam users can now view and filter recorded video based on activities, manage labels and alerts for activity categories, and setup Dropcam Pro wirelessly using an Android device.
Devices supporting wireless mobile setup are the Nexus 5 and all Samsung devices running Android 4.3 or later. The new version of the Dropcam app also has a more polished design, performance improvements and bug fixes. The update is available now through the Google Play Store.
What’s New
In addition to a more polished design, performance improvements and bug fixes, this version features:
– An All-New Activity Feed:
View and filter recorded video by the activities you care about
– Customizable Activity Categories and Alerts:
Manage labels, colors and alerts for all of your activity categories
– Fast Mobile Setup: Set up Dropcam Pro wirelessly using your Android device.*
* Devices that support wireless mobile setup: Nexus 5 and all Samsung devices running Android 4.3 or later
Google CEO Larry Page (centre) with Nest co-founders Matt Rogers amd Tony Fadell (photo: technologyreview.com)
Google and Nest have big plans for their partnership, the Wall Street Journal reports. The two companies plan to team up to offer a development platform around the Nest learning thermostat and Nest Protect smoke/CO detector in what appears to be the next step in Google’s connected home efforts following the Mountain View company’s $555 million acquisition of Dropcam a few days ago.
The system as it is currently said to exist allows users to issue voice commands to a smartphone to change settings on the Nest lineup or change a house’s temperature based on the owner’s proximity (so the air comes on when you’re almost home). However, the “Works with Nest” program will soon be expanded to support third-party remotes and appliances.
Earlier this year Google acquired smart-thermostat company Nest, and according to a new report out of The Information, the company is not planning on stopping its quest to enter the home automation and security market. The report claims that Google has “considered” acquiring Dropcam, the makers of a system that streams live footage directly to phones and computers.
The report goes on to say that the status of talks and negotiations between the two companies is unclear at this point and that spokespeople for both companies did not reply to requests for comment.
Dropcam has been around since 2009, but only truly became a player in the app-enabled home security space early last year with the release of the Dropcam HD Wi-Fi video monitoring system. It separated itself from the normal cast of IP video cameras by offering an insanely easy setup process, beautiful software, and effortless mobile device integration (iOS/Android). These wireless cameras have become so popular that Dropcam is now processing more video than YouTube on a daily basis.
Building on the success of the Dropcam HD, the San Francisco-based startup is now launching the Dropcam Pro. It will not be replacing the HD, but rather joining it as ‘step-up’ version for users who want to get the absolute most out of their video monitoring setup. The Dropcam HD will now be known simply as “Dropcam.” We had the opportunity to spend an entire week with the Dropcam Pro. Keep reading to find out if it lives up to the high expectations set by its predecessor.
