Nest
and by extension Google, harbor ambitions of going into the Home and Personal
Security business it would seem.
This
as Nest, Google’s most recent acquisition, has purchased Dropcam for US$555
million as reported in “Google's
Nest Labs acquires Dropcam for $555M”, published June 20, 2014 5:28 PM PDT
by Nick Statt, CNET News and “Google’s
Nest Buys Dropcam for $555 Million”, published June 20, 2014, 5:00 PM PDT
By Liz Gannes, Recode.
Acquired
by Google in January 2014 for approximately US$3.2 billion as I’d reported in my
blog article
entitled “Google
purchased Nest for US$3.2 billion - The Internet of Things just got Googled as
Android tries to rule them all”, they’ve been allowed to make decisions
autonomously for the most part. This decision to purchase Dropcam is an
indication that Google may be, without their formal consent, be dragged into
the DIY side of Home and Personal Security.
In
effect, Google, which gave no clear indication that it was heading into the
home automation space, may find that indirectly, Google Android may end up
being a platform for Nest-owned Dropcam.
Dropcam purchase by
Nest – DIY Home Security just got Googled
Dropcam
is the brainchild of Engineers Greg Duffy and Aamir Virani, who in 2009,
defected from Swedish firm AXIS and designed their own line of Wi-Fi, enabled Cameras.
They've thus far raised some US$47.8 million in venture capital fund and were
on an expansion run when Nest acquired them.
Nest's
ambitions, interestingly, align perfectly with Google's plans to invade the
Home Automation market which Apple has already shown an interest in going into
as stated in “Here’s
what's new at Google I/O 2014”, published June 25, 2014 2:04 PM PDT by Nate
Ralph, CNET News and “Everything You Need to
Know About Google’s I/O Keynote”, published 06.25.14 12:20 pm By Mat Honan,
Wired.
Dropcam's
Wi-Fi connected products offer a level of personal protection which is
equivalent to any CCTV Camera System that allows Remote Viewing. The difference
here is just like the Nest Protect Smoke Alarm as described in my blog article
entitled “Nest
markets a Wi-Fi connected Smoke Detector, the Nest Protect, for US$129 - Nest
stirs up the Smoke Detector Business in yet another smartphone connected device”,
it appeals to the DIY (Do It Yourself) segment of the Home and Personal
Security.
Their
range of products is basically a DIY Security Kits that's totally Wireless,
communicating over Wi-Fi:
1.
$149 Dropcam
2.
$199 Dropcam Pro
3.
$29 Dropcam Tab
All
three products can be installed by the customer themselves, with the Dropcam
Tab being a Wireless sensor that you can place at windows and doors to detect
when these parts of the house are accessed. Most likely too, the Kit may have a
DVR (Digital Video Recorder), albeit now that Google has purchased them that
may soon be replaced with a Cloud Storage option, with Video, Audio and other
activity detected at your home being backed up in the Cloud.
Its
main claim to fame is really Remote Viewing along with Remote Sensing using
built in Motion Detectors, something that's also de riguer for most CCTV Camera systems. Its Dropcam Pro Cameras
also have built in Microphones and also Speakers, allowing the viewer to make
their presence felt, especially to unruly children or even the family Dog
before he decides to damage your furniture – again.
DIY Cameras with Google
Home – Google Android @Home via Nest’s Dropcam
Where
it becomes competitive is in the fact that this is a Wireless IPTV Camera
System that imposes no limits on how many Cameras you can add to your system.
So just like a traditional CCTV Camera System, you can have:
1.
4 Channel System
2.
8 Channel System
3.
16 Channel System
Note
here the term ‘Channel’ refers to each link, be it Wired or Wireless being
connected to a single Camera. Being as it’s a DIY Kit like the Nest Protect
Smoke Alarm, it's priced competitively cheaper than paying hundreds or
thousands of US$ to get a licensed CCTV Camera Installation company to install
a Camera System plus provide monitoring of your home and Armed Response in case
your home gets robbed.
With
Dropcam, you're basically going it alone, Commando Style, by monitoring your
home with this Wireless DIY Camera, Motion Detector and Window/Door open Sensor
Kit. If something happens at your home, you now have a record of the events
backed up on your DVR which the Kit came with as well as on Google's Cloud
Drive, which most likely would be more than a 1TB of Cloud Space.
This
most likely would be an expensive add-on that you'd have to pay for when you
bought the Dropcam. And at that point Google’s Android would start to creep
into your home, pun unintended. Currently, users of Dropcam can monitor their
homes on any smartphone, be it Apple iPhone or a smartphone running Google
Android.
With
Google now going into Home Entertainment, based on the latest coming out of
their three (3) day Google I/O Conference held on Wednesday 25th
June 2014 to Friday 27th June 2014 as stated in “MISSED GOOGLE
I/O? HERE ARE 5 BIG THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW”, published June 29, 2014 By
Joshua Sherman, DigitalTrends, a
push into Home Automation wouldn’t seem unlikely.
After
all, Google has harboured this ambition as far back as Google I/O 2011, when
they’d demoed their idea of Google @Home integration into Home Appliances,
Entertainment and Automobiles to begin in 2015 as explained in my Geezam blog article entitled “Apple’s
Revolution: Android @ Home and IceCream Sandwich in 2015AD”.
With
2015 now around the corner, Google seems to be on track with this prediction.
Already they have self-driving Cars, also slated to debut in 2015 as stated in my
blog article
entitled “Google
100 strong Fully Autonomous All-Electric Vehicles launched – 25 mph Limit on AI
Chauffeur in 2015 with Black Boxes makes Crashes like aeroplanes”.
Soon,
we’ll have Automated Homes, with Dropcam keeping track of our every move and
intelligent AI making decisions based on a Cloud Based Android powered System. Please
stop me when this begins to start sound like what happened on Superman’s home
Planet Krypton with Brainiac, the AI that basically ran the Planet.
Will
this be the long term fate of the US of A? More on this as Google’s Ambition to
Rule the World expands.
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