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Google buys Nest for 3.2B$

technologyEdward Kiledjian
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In December, I wrote an article (link) about Google working on a smart thermostat as a play for the connected home.

A couple of days ago, we learned that Google has acquired the 800-lb gorilla in smart thermostat technologies, Nest Labs. 

Nest is the first company to successfully break into the home automation mass market with its smart internet connected thermostat and fire detector. It brought the promise of long term energy savings through intelligent automatic temperature control and the ability to control it via your Android or IOS smartphone.

For now, Nest will continue to operate independently within Google (similar to how Motorola is being run) but you have to imagine that Google will eventually integrate Nest's technologies into the Google ecosystem. 

The Nest Protect fire detectors have built in motion sensors that already talk to the Nest Thermostat to ensure the temperature is kept comfortable when you are at home. Its easy to see how this type of information could be valuable to Google. They can integrate this knowledge into their Google Now product and offer more appropriate cards when you need them.

The main question is how will the market react. If history plays out, there will be small pockets of users that will be outraged at how Google will data-mine their private data but most consumers will gladly accept their new master in exchange for convenience.

I think Google could really shift the market if it can use its cash and clout to significantly drop the price of the Nest products. Imagine the Nest Thermostat at $99 or the Fire detector at $79. This could lead to a huge increase in market demand. 

 

Cuba may have turned on it's first underwater internet connection

technologyEdward Kiledjian
Canadians travelling to CUBA for rest and relaxation often complain about excruciatingly slow internet connectivity. The reason internet in Cuba is so slow is that all traffic goes through an aging satellite infrastructure. 
Imagine my surprise when traffic monitoring company, Renesys, said it believes Cuba turned on it's underwater Internet connection (via Venezuela) for the first time. It detection an internet connection between the Spanish ISP Telefonica and the national Cuban telecom company (state owned of course).
Analysts don't believe this connection is being used by regular citizens yet and it seems to be unidirectional inbound only (which may be a misconfiguration or a special setup). The unidirectional traffic means traffic can flow inbound over the faster cable but must leave Cuba via the satellite system. 
Could this be a show of oneness by the Cuban government? Could they be preparing to slowly open up the internet for the average Cuban? Only time will tell.