Did you know that you can now create a nest smart home with Google products?
Yep, the global search giant now has a smart home offering!
If there’s a potential for smart technology standards to go to war in the home, a wireless sensor won’t communicate with an appliance, for example, then Google is the peacemaker, a balancing force negotiating a digital treaty.
The evidence supporting this claim was recently put on display during Google’s I/O conference.
The annual event took the opportunity to show off solutions for seamlessly consolidating smart home technology under one banner.
Check out the January acquisition of Nest Labs, the smart thermostat manufacturer, and the more recent buyout of Dropcam to get an idea of the direction Google is moving toward in their vision of the ideal future home.
The resolving outline is one of streamlined smart home management, saving energy while keeping a wary eye on property security.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT GOOGLE’S SMART HOME?
The strategic purchase of these two companies gifts Google with the capacity to create automated comfort and security in the home.
The canny relationship likely heralds Google’s move to dominate the home in much the same way the company influences the internet and the mobile sector.
Google is already marketing certain consumer-ready devices, smart thermostats created by Nest, a company with enough savvy to outwit traditional thermostat makers, and there’s much more to come.
The Dropcam cameras support this comfort with the second half of the equation, security, creating the ideal home environment.
Dropcam cameras record video and sound, allowing consumers to drop in on a household conversation or check on a security system. Consumers can recruit the handy cloud recording feature to capture video streams for the entire duration of a lengthy vacation.
WHERE DO PEOPLE START?
A kit is how we’ll begin our cautious dip into the realm of the Google smart home.
A consumer can buy a number of thermostats, fitting them onto a wall without concern over wiring pathways, before configuring the components to talk to the home network.
This versatile installation and setup procedure is easily extendable for the everyday homeowner. Want to add another thermostat to a hallway or a child’s bedroom? Simply purchase another thermostat or move an existing one from another location.
The strategy feels much like a confident first stage in the unification of the digital home.
It’s accompanied by Apps to communicate with the home network, Apps that download and compile graphical charts and reports so that the homeowner or property manager can spot energy consumption trends.
Add smoke detectors and alarms to the scenario, and constantly monitor each room for carbon monoxide and smoke.
The gadgets are smart enough to locate the source of the poor air quality and relay the information to an App as a notification, setting off an alarm if the issue isn’t corrected.
Again, the fundamental principle is to hook these systems together under one umbrella of software, a single language where all the parts are eager to update each other. The Nest smoke detector can easily talk to the Nest thermostat and turn of the furnace until the air quality issue is tracked down and fixed.
GOOGLE’S NEST SMART HOME CERTIFIED PRODUCTS
Google’s smart home strategy is centered on one word: compatibility.
Google, and in turn, Nest, must ensure a seamless connection exists between thermostats and air conditioners, between smoke detectors and home networks.
Even car manufacturers are getting in on the game.
Mercedes Benz cars is introducing Google compatible smart tech, a mobile software platform designed to send a message to the home from blocks away so that the home can turn on heating and lighting, creating a warm welcome.
It’s the end of fragmentation, and we can be sure software developers and App designers will take advantage of the emerging NEST smart home platform to ensure even the humblest appliance integrates into the Google ecosystem without a hitch.
USEFUL NEST SMART HOME APPLICATIONS
Here are some important Smart Home NEST applications that you could use to improve your families security, safety, convenience and enjoyment levels:
#1:Monitor Your Home with a Smartphone!
Smart cameras are the best way to monitor your home from afar! Modern smart cameras allow you to do lots of things, including:
- View live video images on your smartphone.
- Record live video when an alarm is detected.
- If on occasions you get enter ‘concerned parent’ mode of operation then an IP camera allows you to check in on a sleeping child while at work.
- Send you a text message and email alert if an intruder breaks into your home.
What Shall I Do Next?
Here is what you need to do:
- Buy a Dropcam Pro – This adds high-quality viewing, night vision, remote monitoring and a 130° field of view to your home.
- Install the Camera – Your new Dropcam WiFi connected camera typically sticks to your wall or sits on flat surfaces.
#2:Make Your Home & Family More Secure!
Ensuring that your home is safe, especially when crime rates are rising during these recessionary times is extremely important to most of us. Recent data shows that a robbery takes place every 15 seconds in the USA!
The repercussions of a break-in can be enormous. In addition to the damage and loss of personal items, people can often experience emotional trauma for months or indeed years after a house burglary.
In my mind burglary protection is one of the most important components of a smart home automation system. With this functionality, a criminal is less likely to break into your home and steal your prized possessions.
A fully installed NEST smart alarm system is a great way of providing us with some peace of mind when away from home.
What Shall I Do Next?
Here is what you need to do:
- Buy a Dropcam Pro.
- Buy Dropcam Tabs – These little sensors are barely 2-inches on a side. They act as Bluetooth-based location monitors.
- Install and configure your spanking new Dropcam Pro and associated Tabs correctly. Place a few on doors and windows, on suitcases and valuable items. Whenever the sensor detects movement, a smart alert pops up on your smartphone display with details of the event.
Once your Dropcam pro and tabs are installed, make sure that you optimized to protect your home and family.
#3:Reduce the Costs of Heating and Cooling Your Home
According to industry analysts, heating our homes can account for between 40% and 50% of our electricity; this percentage is higher if you live in a warm country, as you also require cooling functionality.
In view of the emphasis nowadays on energy conservation in households around the world, consideration should be given to adding control of the boiler (furnace) or indeed ventilation systems to your smartphone or tablet App – doing so provides the following benefits:
- The system will be able to turn off automatically both the heating and the hot water when you leave the house.
- It also lets you turn on the heating and the hot water via your smartphone to create a comfortable climate, when arriving home from work in the evening.
- Smartphone connectivity allows you to harness the power of Apps to chart trends, thereby spotting energy losses and reducing utility bills.
A smart learning thermostat is typically used to add intelligence to your home heating and cooling systems.
What Shall I Do Next?
Here is what you need to do:
- Buy a Spanking new NEST Learning Thermostat – Nest devices learn heating and cooling preferences from each occupant within the home.
- Install and connect to your home network (Note, my advice is to get a heating professional to at least take care of the physical element of the install, you should be fine with connecting the NEST to your smartphone app etc….)
#4: Protect Your Family Against Fire
Smart Homes are synonymous with entertainment and increasing your security levels, but did you know that can they make life safer at home?
Smart homes add an extra layer of safety for families through their support for smoke alarm systems that are used to detect fire and alert the occupants of the house immediately.
A smart smoke alarm lies at the heart of this smart home safety system and makes a loud noise once the fire is detected. Other features of Smart Smoke Detectors include:
- Smart Smoke Alarms Send out Advanced Alerts Once Your Battery Starts to Degrade.
- Smart Smoke Alarms Interface with your Smartphone.
- Smart Smoke Detectors Send Out an Early Warning Signal.
- Supports a Combination of Sensors.
- Integrate into Smart Home Scenes.
The installation of smoke alarms increases your families’ safety levels by providing you with an early warning of fire.
What Shall I Do Next?
Here is what you need to do:
- Buy a NEST Protect – The Nest smoke detector uses the same model of wireless efficiency to deliver peace of mind, quickly relaying detected hazard warnings to you families smartphones and home alarm systems. Notifications precisely locate and chart the presence of carbon monoxide and smoke.
- Install correctly and Buy Multiple Units if appropriate to local safety standards in your area.
FINAL THOUGHTS ON GOOGLE SMART HOME
All of this technology would seem to equal more complexity in life, but the Google promise is one of configuring each part, each Google smart thermostat, and certified product, to work seamlessly with the Google Smart Home network so that it can be forgotten.
Otherwise, the automation component of Home Automation would be worthless and this revolution would be consigned to obscurity just like some transient novelty.
It’s through the introduction of smart home automation extensions in Google’s next release of Android and the search giants expensive acquisition of home comfort and security companies that we realize that the Google Smart Home is here to stay.