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Nest

Dropcam vulnerable to hackers

technologyEdward Kiledjian

Dropcam (Now a Google Nest company) took the remote internet connected video world by storm by allowing anyone to remotely monitor their homes or business' cheaply and without being a technical genius. There are countless media articles about business and homeowners using it to catch thieves, but now we learn that it can be exploited by cybercriminals against you. 

Two researchers from Synack (Patrick Wardle and Colby Moore) discovered vulnerabilities in Dropcam which they will demonstrate at Defcon 22 in Las Vegas next month.

Like a bad hacker movie, the researchers claim to have discovered that it is possible to hack the system to watch videos remotely, turn on the microphone (hot mic), inject fake video into the stream (to cover tracks) and even to use the Dropcam to compromise your network. 

"If someone has physical access [to a DropCam device], it's pretty much game over," says Wardle, who is director of research at Synack. "People need to be aware that these devices can be accessed by hackers or adversaries, and they should be scrutinized in the way people protect their laptops," for instance. [source DarkReading]

It seems the software running on the Dropcam is also old and unsupported which may explain why it is also vulnerable to Heartbleed.

All in all a pretty bad situation that should serve as a wake up call to everyone that we need to pay more attention to the Internet of Things. Too many small companies are trying to seel sensors, cameras and mic to consumers without paying enough attention to protecting their devices (and therefore my privacy). hopefully Google and Apple will force more secure standards to bring these small players in line.

Could Google brings ads to your car, fridge or thermostat?

technologyEdward Kiledjian

In a December letter to the SEC (recently made public), Google makes some interesting predictions about the future of advertising.

“For example, a few years from now, we and other companies could be serving ads and other content on refrigerators, car dashboards, thermostats, glasses, and watches, to name just a few possibilities.”
— Google letter to SEC

Another interesting statement reads:

“It is increasingly challenging to define what exactly a “mobile” platform is from period to period — and what it will be going forward. For example, initially, most industry observers would have included tablets (in addition to handsets) in their definition of “mobile”. This was consistent with our internal view, as evidenced by the fact that the mobile revenue run-rates we released in the third quarters of 2011 and 2012 included both handset and tablet revenue. However, as tablets gained momentum in the market, it became clear to us that their usage had much more in common with desktops than with handsets.”

The shifting nature of mobile may be why Google is throwing so many darts at the board (think wearables like watches, glasses, etc). Clearly Google is struggling to  find the next category of mobile devices that will help drive its advertising revenue. It understands that missing the boat could be a catastrophic misstep for the search giant. 

Nest recalling thousands of smoke detectors due to safety concerns

technologyEdward Kiledjian
Image by Steve Jurvetson under Creative Commons License

Image by Steve Jurvetson under Creative Commons License

Everyone knows a smoke detector is a critical installation of every house. It can mean the difference between life and death. So when a company recalls nearly half a million smoke detectors (aka NEST) because of an issue, you have to stand up and take notice.

In this case the Nest Protect Smoke + CO system has an alarm muting feature that is activated by waving your arms within view of the sensor. It seems that in some circumstances, during a fire, NEST could interpret your waving panicking arms as the signal to turn off the alarm (even if it is a real fire).  NEST has a temporary software fix that will automatically be downloaded to your WIFI connected PROTECT that will disable this feature while they work on a permanent fix. Just make sure your don't burn your toast because you won't have a way to silence the NEST PROTECT until the permanent fix is pushed out. 

If you have this device, make sure it is connected to your WIFI and linked to your NEST account to the temporary fix is automatically pushed. You can also call NEST Labs support at (800) 249-4280 or click on the special information webpage (link).

Google buys Nest for 3.2B$

technologyEdward Kiledjian
nest.png

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. 

 

A Google Thermostat coming to a house near you

technologyEdward Kiledjian
BbtMo4xCUAAcKIq.png

This is an interesting development that no one was expecting. TheInformation.com and EVLeaks have confirmed that Google is working on an internet connected thermostat (similar to the Nest). 

The current rumour says Google is developing the software and backend controls but the actual device will be developed by a third party. It is also expected to work on Android and IOS. 

It is exciting to think of what Google may be able to do combining a WIFI thermostat with their huge cloud number crunching AI.

Source: TheInformation