In a couple of respects this was a rather disappointing week in the smart home. On one hand we had been looking forward to a press conference from Nest. The company has been awfully quiet since being acquired by Google in February of 2014 for whopping $3.2 billion. At the time of that blockbuster deal it was only natural to assume that, given this sort of brand-power and funding, Nest would be moving quick with further ventures into the smart home. Cue the crickets...
Hence it was with great anticipation that we were looking forward to Nest's June 17th press conference. As it turns out there wasn't a whole lot of meat on the bone. For all the pomp and circumstance what we essentially got was some minor updates to the Nest Protect smoke alarm, and a DropCam with a fancier stand. Tune into this episode to get our full take on the event.
While we were on the topic of disappointments we figured it was no brainer to discuss the latest in a long line of tough news for the folks at Wink. The home automation hub, spun off from the so-called online "invention platform" Quirky, has faced tough sledding from the get go. First in a series of scathing reviews from consumers and tech-press alike, then in the form of a security debacle we discussed on a previous episode. The product, which has consistently failed to meet expectations, now looks like it's heading for the selling block. Join us for a conversation about what this news means for the company, consumers, and the smart home market at large.
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See you next week!
Show Notes
- Infocomm 2015
- Just Add Power 2G+4+ Tiling Receiver
- Savant SmartView
- Nest reveals new Nest Cam, 2nd generation Nest Protect, updated iOS app
- Nest Cam (Dropcam v2)
- Nest Protect Recall
- Nest Protect Going Crazy (video)
- Meet the new Nest Protect
- Nest Thoughtful Things
- Big Ass Fans - Haiku
- Quirky may sell off Wink
- Gizmodo - Say Goodbye to Quirky (sort of)
- Colorado Vnet