A few weeks ago, I first heard about the Nest thermostat a few weeks ago. It is slick to say the least. Nest has brought sex appeal to the thermostat. Wifi, web programmable, updatable firmware, intelligence to learn how to best heat and cool your house – it’s sweet.
Being a security guy, I started wondering how hackable they are… Can I go driving around and penetrate the Nest devices and have a giant bot net of spamming, DDOSing thermostats? While interesting, that’s passe. I’m sure we’ll get into the habit of rebooting our thermostats on patch Tuesday. Maybe there will be a new industry of A/V for such things as well.
What intrigues me more is that the thermostat is not just a thermostat any more. Previously just a box on the wall that would likely serve reliably for decades, the unassuming thermostat is being replaced with a miniature computer, who’s software, hardware and protocols will become obsolete with time. We are signing up to add another device to the growing mountain of disposable devices – our phones, our PC’s, our TV’s, DVD players, ipods, ipads all desire to be replaced on short intervals, but those are entertainment devices. We’re now adding a key infrastructure element of our house to that list.
Don’t misunderstand – I am going to be forking out some serious money when they are available to order again, but it’s depressing to know that I’ll be eagerly looking to replace them in 3 years with the latest model that has some new killer application.