OK Google, Crank the A/C: Nest Announces New Smart Home API
Google officially closed a deal to buy Nest Labs for $3.2 billion back in February of 2014. Since then, both companies have been mostly quiet about their plans other than to respond to questions about privacy matters and butt into the related business of home security by buying Dropcam for $555 million. Today, in advance of Google I/O, Nest has officially announced a new developer program and API that will allow other companies’ smart devices to communicate with Nest’s Protect smoke alarm and Learning Thermostat.
Among the companies that Nest is partnering with for this initial publicity push are IFTTT, Jawbone, LIFX, Logitech, Mercedes-Benz, Whirlpool, Chamberlain, and Google itself—the latter two companies will release Nest-compatible features this fall, while the others are all available today.
All of the companies’ “Works with Nest experiences” focus on making Nest devices more useful when used together with other smart home gadgets—if the Nest Protect smoke alarm goes off, than LIFX’s lights can flash red to make it more obvious to the hearing impaired. A Chamberlain garage door opener can tell the Nest thermostat to enter and leave Away mode depending on whether the owner is entering or leaving the garage. And Google Now will let users control their thermostats with their voices and set proximity-based rules that will adjust their thermostats before they get home.
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