Beware The Internet of Things

Guardian ^ | 1/26/2014 | Guardian

[Valpal1]

Good read and good warning. SkyNet will be created by consumer electronics, not the military.

[alloysteel]

Dang, we don’t even have the Flux Capacitor, yet.

Let alone driving the whole thing with steam power.

And the flying cars? Or the split-second weather prediction? or the anti-gravity skateboards (but they may never solve the capability to using them over water), and the Mr. Fusion power generators?

[Diana in Wisconsin]

[nascarnation]

Didn't the Google boys just pay $3.5 bil for the outfit that makes wifi connected home thermostats?

[Carriage Hill]

The NEST Thermostat...

https://nest.com/thermostat/life-with-nest-thermostat/

[nascarnation]

Not to be totally cynical, but I can see some hacker in Iran turning every one of these to “off” during a cold weather outbreak (like tomorrow).

[cynwoody]

Nest CEO interviewed here: Why We Sold to Google for $3 Billion.

This is known as a "good payday".

[nascarnation]

Thanks. Seems like huge dollars for a relatively mundane device. Of course there may be things in their product pipeline that we don’t know about.

[Farmer Dean]

Most people are too stupid to drive a car safely,much less operate a plane/flying anything.If flying cars become a reality,we will all need to live in bunkers.

[Carriage Hill]

If it's WiFi, it can be hacked just as anything on the Net can. As our national power grid probably can be. I have the old-fashioned, hard-wired, First Alert Smoke & CO₂ Detector w/ battery back-up.

[Inyo-Mono]

Bookmarked.

[ClearCase_guy]

Oh, and no more DeLoreans.

Deloreans went back into (limited) production in 2008. I've seen one in PA and one in MA. Can't really miss 'em.

[cynwoody]

Seems like huge dollars for a relatively mundane device. Of course there may be things in their product pipeline that we don’t know about.

Nest Labs has an extensive patent portfolio. They've been granted 40 and have filed for 200 more.

That's probably part of the reason for the acquisition. Google has been relatively weak on patents, and that needs to change as they get into more hardware-based areas.

They closed that linked interview by asking the CEO what he thought would be the Next Big Thing. His answer was vehicle automation, meaning assisted driving, not the Google fully self-driving car, which he implied is still in the indefinite future. But he thinks assisted driving is going to come in big in the next three to five years.

[nascarnation]

Very interesting.
Yes you can see the vehicle features popping up already with radar assisted speed control, automatic braking, lane departure warning, etc.

[Valpal1]

I had the nest on my mental wish list until I read this article.

Suddenly realized that maybe uber-convenience in electronics is not the droid I'm looking for.

In the year 5555 Your arms hangin' limp at your sides Your legs got nothin' to do Some machine's doin' that for you

[bert]

Do they make the wifi devices used to connect the ubiquitous wifi cameras used everywhere by business nd industry and stalk the interstates?

[nascarnation]

Not sure. But I’ll bet there are smart FReepers who will tell us.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

Exactly. As it is, whenever I drive, there’s a moron in front of me going too slowly, an idiot behind me following too close, bozos to the right, clowns to the left. The last thing I want is to have to worry about any of them overhead.