Your life is about to get a whole lot easier! If you haven’t embraced the smart home revolution maybe it’s time to dip your toe in the world of home automation.
With gadgets like the Roomba (robot hoover) celebrating over 16 years on the market, home technology is advancing faster than ever, devices such as Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri are introducing us to a whole new world of automation.
Founded in 2010, Nest was the brainchild of two former Apple engineers, Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers. Fadell, one of the creators of the first iPod was frustrated about the limitations of thermostats as he built his energy-efficient home in California. In May 2010 Fadell and Rogers co-founded Nest Labs and began prototyping the first smart thermostats.
By 25th October 2011 Nest had launched to the public and the first Nest thermostat hit the market. Over the last seven years three generations of thermostat have been released, growing smarter with every evolution.
Nest Thermostat: A ‘Learning’ Thermostat
Whereas most thermostats rely on you to set the temperature, the Nest Learning Thermostat aims to set it for you. This device goes beyond simple temperature detection and learns your behaviour patterns and desired settings. Nest starts learning from you straightaway using sensors and advanced algorithms to create a custom temperature schedule that saves energy and keep you comfortable. Built around an operating system that is very similar to the Apple products we all know and love Nest allows interactions with the Nest thermostat via spinning and clicking of its control wheel. Users can also access the Nest thermostat controls via the app when you don’t want to leave the sofa. To date Nest has allowed users to save over 8 billion kWh in electricity across 190 countries, averaging a 10% saving on customers heating bills.
Nest Protect carbon monoxide and smoke detector
In October 2013 Nest launched its second product the Nest Protect – a smoke and carbon monoxide detector. Available in both black and white, this product can be both mains and battery powered. The Nest Protect features a multi-coloured light ring which is colour coded to indicate each operation. For example, yellow would indicate an early warning whereas it would flash red if the alarm was sounding. The ring also comes with motion detection to provide illumination should someone pass underneath. It is the first smoke alarm to bring Split-Spectrum Sensor in to the home. This commercial grade photoelectric sensor uses two wavelengths of light to spot different types of smoke and therefore catching slow and fast burning fires. A feature called App Silence allows you to silence the alarm in the event of a false alarm or some burnt toast. Another clever feature is the ‘self test’, the smoke detector will use a built in microphone to test itself when you’re out of the house.
Other Nest products include the camera range and the Nest Hello – a hardwired smart video doorbell with facial recognition and with 300 patents to the company’s name we’re excited to see what Nest comes up with next. Contact us to find out more about Nest and how we can get it working for you.
