Google-owned Nest Labs, which is their smart-home automation company, has just announced Nest Cam.
Nest Labs has been working hard on improving their already released products to better suite smart-home dwellers, and in addition to that, the company just announced their new home-monitoring camera. It has a microphone, speakers, motion-sensors, and night-vision – to ensure that everything is safe 24/7.
The Nest Cam was built-upon Dropcam’s highly applauded top-quality camera – a company which Nest Labs acquired last Summer for the sum of $555 million.
It shoots 1080p video with the help of a wide-angled lens, and a three megapixel sensor. If you’re having problems with your storage capacity, Nest Labs offers a new cloud service that will be fully integrated with their Nest Cam. It’s called Nest Aware and it will cost you an additional monthly subscription – $15 to $45 depending on what plan you may choose.
Considering the fact that the Nest Cam retails at $310, I say that it comes down to the almost expensive kind. Sure, there are a ton of other high-definition cameras available, but how many of them are going to help smart-home owners?
The Google-owned company also announced a new addition to their fire safety product line – a redesigned version of their Protect line includes sensors that can detect fire, smoke, and CO2 emissions.
Also the company has announced that major improvements were made regarding their software. Nest’s 2011 original thermostat software received an upgrade. Nest also notes that the company’s mobile app has been updated to the 5.0 version – improvements have been made, and now a smart-home owner can control and interact with Net’s suite of products more easily.
“At Nest, we always wanted to build more than a thermostat. Our vision was to create a thoughtful home, a home that takes care of itself and the people in it. Five years later, all the pieces are in place.” said Tony Fadell, now the chief executive of Nest, and one of the co-founders, along with Matt Rogers. They launched the company in 2010, and last year it was acquired by Google for $3 billion.
” We have three products today, they work well on their own, they work better together, and they work great with third-party products.” noted Lionel Paillet, Nest’s general manager for Europe.
The Internet of Things has seen a major growth in the past year, and more and more manufacturers are working towards developing internet-connected devices.
The key players still remain Google, and Apple. Both recently announcing improvements in the area – Google launched Brillo, which is an operating system designed for connected devices, and Apple detailing their HomeKit framework designed for communicating, and controlling connected accessories.