{"id":14432,"date":"2024-07-08T10:03:27","date_gmt":"2024-07-08T17:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/?p=14432"},"modified":"2025-02-03T08:30:26","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T16:30:26","slug":"i-really-used-to-like-nest-products-then-came-the-google","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/2024\/07\/08\/i-really-used-to-like-nest-products-then-came-the-google\/","title":{"rendered":"I really used to like Nest Products. Then came the Google…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NestGoogle I might add hasn\u2019t substantially changed, improved, or added, to the Nest line of products since they took over.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Google has however used the Nest products that I own as a gateway to insinuating themselves into my life. (For my own good, of course\u2026)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been hotter than Hell up in my little mountain town for the past week or so, and it will continue to be hotter than Hell for the next week or so. This heat wave isn\u2019t abnormal except that it\u2019s about 2 months early.<\/p>\n

This means that I\u2019m running the A\/C and while I hate to use A\/C I\u2019m not opposed to turning it on when we get above 90\u00b0<\/p>\n

\"GoogleEvery single year, when I start running the A\/C and again when I start running the Heat, Google in their infinite wisdom dicks with my settings.<\/p>\n

For example, this morning as the temperature crossed the 80\u00b0 mark, I closed the doors and windows to the house and set the thermostat to \u201cCool\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Thermostat responded by telling me \u201cCooling set to 82\u00b0\u201d uh nope! That\u2019s not what you\u2019re set to do They\/Them Thermostat. (I figured I\u2019d have some fun since my thermostat is now behaving like an asshole.<\/em>) You\u2019re set to Cool the house to 79\u00b0 regardless of time, or day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I know this because I personally lobotomized your schedules the last time we did this dance, and I turned off your settings to accept changes to my<\/i><\/b> schedules from Google.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So I try to get to www.nest.com to verify that the web hasn\u2019t pushed some kind of software change to the thermostat. Oh, but that URL now redirects me to a google shopping site and logs me in using a google account created to use Google voice, and does not present me with the website that allowed me to inspect and modify the schedules using a full screen and real keyboard.<\/p>\n

Instead I\u2019m presented with all the various google products that I can purchase, however Nest products are not listed prominently. They\u2019re buried under smart home and because Google has logged me in using the Voice account, and I haven\u2019t wanted to link, or create, or whatever other bullshit Google wanted me to do with my nice functional Nest.com login I can\u2019t get to the UI that I want to get to.<\/p>\n

One of the reasons I freaking HATE GOOGLE! I swear these people could Un-fuck a wet dream (yeah, think about that one\u2026)<\/p>\n

I shift over to the Nest app running on my phone. I\u2019m able to see the schedule and indeed Google, in some software update, reset the switch that tells the thermostat \u201cDO NOT ACCEPT GOOGLE INPUT\u201d for schedules back to \u201coff”.<\/p>\n

Of course I want a multibillion dollar company monitoring my coming and going and controlling how I choose to spend my money on my local environment in my own home.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll tell you what Google, when you start writing the checks for the mortgage and the utilities then you\u2019ll have some input. Until then, in the words of Elon Musk, \u201cGo Fuck Yourself!<\/em>“<\/p>\n

After another frustrating half hour undoing their scheduling via the phone app, where at least 1\/2 the buttons don\u2019t work as expected and none of them light up, change color or give any indication that they\u2019ve been pressed. Plus because the app is running on an iPhone instead of an android phone, Google refuses to have all of the controls on the visible screen.<\/p>\n

Which is why I use, or rather, used to use, the nest.com interface.<\/p>\n

\"OldThe dog, sensing my frustration sat next to me and gently made me lower the arm I was holding the phone with. It was, in his opinion time for me to look up, and he was right.<\/p>\n

5 or 10 minutes of cuddling and his laughing face did wonders for my outlook.<\/p>\n

During the playtime I realized, this is probably the last time I\u2019ll have to fight with Google altering the temperature schedule in my house.<\/p>\n

This is a true statement because regardless of my keeping or selling this house the nest devices are due for replacement and they will not<\/u><\/strong> be replaced with more nest devices.<\/p>\n

The nest protects will reach end of life next year and if I replace them with another manufacturers products there will be no need to keep the Nest Thermostat either.<\/p>\n

\"Intelligent<\/p>\n

Before Google bought Nest. I\u2019d standardized on the Thermostat and Protect fire alarms because in the event of fire, the Protects can shut the air handler down via the thermostat to prevent the system from spreading smoke throughout the house.<\/p>\n

I also like that the Protects have a nightlight feature and use color coded light signals to indicate their operational status. Mostly, I liked being able to shut them up if they warned they were about to go \u00a0off because of smoke from the kitchen.<\/p>\n

Then Google bought Nest and honestly\u2026 they haven\u2019t done shit to enhance the products.<\/p>\n

I look forward to the day when I can reset the Nest Products and delete the Nest app from my phone. On that day I\u2019ll delete any remaining Google logins and do my level best to never use their crap again.<\/p>\n

\"\"Heck, I might go find myself an old Honeywell lever thermostat with mercury bulbs inside, and eschew all this smart home nonsense entirely.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve tried it, I\u2019ve got the T-Shirt and while there are a lot of aspects I really like, the level of complexity and flaky behavior might just outweigh the benefits.<\/p>\n

I suspect if\/when I sell this house, and while I\u2019m living someplace I\u2019m renting that I\u2019ll be able to make a reasonable evaluation on the benefits of smart home versus dumb home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maybe I\u2019ll choose a \u201cLow IQ\u201d home. Where nothing important can be controlled by any outside force.<\/p>\n

(Then my home and I would match. I\u2019m apparently a Low IQ voter, since I didn\u2019t vote for Hillary. I\u2019ll probably be living in a flyover state too. From a marketing perspective, political parties, and in particular, the Democrat party really need to re-evaluate their merchandising to the masses. Just saying…<\/em>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Google I might add hasn\u2019t substantially changed, improved, or added, to the Nest line of products since they took over.\u00a0 Google has however used the Nest products that I own as a gateway to insinuating themselves into my life. (For my own good, of course\u2026) It\u2019s been hotter than Hell up in my little mountain … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “I really used to like Nest Products. Then came the Google…”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,9],"tags":[173,174],"class_list":["post-14432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-modern-problems","category-technology","tag-modern-problems","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14432"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14436,"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14432\/revisions\/14436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}