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Comment by vicaya | Hacker News Reader

If you actually read the link you mentioned, Internet connectivity to Nest (Google) service _is_ required to make any changes (control) remotely. Why would people buy a $250 to use as a regular thermostat?

I'm not opposed to Internet connectivity per se but the external (Nest/Firebase/Google) services requirement for remotely controlling and/or automation of the devices.

The only appeal of Nest to a hacker is its industrial design, IMO. Apparently its UX is not that great (humidity display fail) either, while an $80 z-wave thermostat is much more usable/flexible.

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>Why would people buy a $250 to use as a regular thermostat?

I guess, because the learning feature is still nice.

Myself, I wanted a Nest up until google bought them... no way I'm giving them sensors in my home.

>Myself, I wanted a Nest up until google bought them... no way I'm giving them sensors in my home.

Do you have a smartphone that has anything made by Google installed on it? If so, they already have lots of sensors in your home. Some of which they haven't tapped into yet, some they have.

If not, do you ever use any of their services from home? What about all the sites that use Google Analytics? Even with just that, they know where you live and could easily compile a set of times you're at home, which is just about the only thing that Nest data gives them. (I personally don't view the humidity at my home that revealing, privacy-wise.)

I want to stress that I'm not trying to antagonize you or belittle your stance- I feel privacy is very important, and it makes me happy when others feel the same. I'm just trying to show you that unless you've taken (what some would say) extraordinary measures, Google already knows more about you than what Nest is going to give them.

I don't run all the spyware services like Google Now, and use CM with Privacy Guard (considering moving over to XPrivacy though). I block ads and scripts such as GA.

There's a gap between "not using the internet" and "not at home", which can't be gained from GA, but can from a motion/temperature sensor.

The truth is, I do consider the measures I take to protect my privacy as being, while not extraordinary in the common sense, certainly more than perhaps 96-98% of people. There is a tradeoff between privacy and functionality in many things, but a hacker can always take what they need from the anti-privacy side while maintaining far more privacy than other people.

The Nest does learning, auto-away, detects sunlight and adjusts, runs air through the cold metal ducts for a while after AC runs to reduce energy usage, etc.

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