Google just bought Nest Labs for $3.2 billion in cash. Nest Labs is the company that makes smart thermostats for your house.
Nest's beautifully designed thermostat sells for $250. It can be controlled remotely through your smartphone. It also learns your behavior and adjusts the temperature automatically over time.
Everyone on Twitter has been reacting to the acquisition with the usual banter that comes along with stories like this one.
But the idea that Google now will have that much more access into our daily lives may be less of a joke than we think, even though Nest has said explicitly that it won't be sharing the data it collects with Google.
It hasn't stopped the jokes from rolling in:
— Ryan Block (@ryan) January 13, 2014
Emily Dreyfuss at CNet pointed out that Google could run targeted ads based on your Nest usage:
— Emily Dreyfuss (@EmilyDreyfuss) January 13, 2014
While Valleywag's Sam Biddle cracked a joke about Google + giving out your gmail address:
— Sam Faulkner Biddle (@samfbiddle) January 13, 2014
Dan Seifert at The Verge:
— dankey kang (@dcseifert) January 13, 2014
Michael Roston at The New York Times pointed out that Nest could know pretty much everything about us:
— Michael Roston (@michaelroston) January 13, 2014
And Mike Isaac reminds us how bad the jokes could have really been:
— ಠ_ಠ (@MikeIsaac) January 13, 2014