Oh. Neat. Literal planned obsolesce.

We desperately need laws for stuff like this.

Why not force companies open source the server code when they kill an online only service?

This will affect IoT, cars, video games, toys and a whole bunch of other devices in the future.

Yay. Can’t wait for my car systems to go obsolete because of some arbitrary manufacturer standard.

Edit: it should be a rule that when manufacturers stop supporting something they should also publish the design documents. Better yet, open source it so some enterprising person can take over the reins.

Nest released the original Learning Thermostat to almost universal praise in 2011, with the sequel arriving a year later. Google’s second-gen Euro unit launched in 2014. Since launch, all these devices have been getting regular software updates and have migrated across multiple app redesigns. However, all good things must come to an end.

As Google points out, these products have had a long life

14 years for a thermostat that still works? What has really changed in that time that the servers can’t support sending commands to them anymore. Seems like this is just part of the switch to Gemini and planned obsolescence to get people to buy new devices with terrible Gemini features that will stop working in 5 years, and result in more e-waste.

I don’t really mind when a cloud-connected device gracefully falls back to an offline-only device. It seems like it retains all of the non-cloud functionality: reading and setting temps, including on a schedule.

It’d be nicer if they gave the option to let people run their own servers for the the networked functionality, but it doesn’t seem like they’ve reduced or otherwise held back on the offline functionality one would expect from a thermostat.

I wonder if HomeBridge will still allow for remote control despite local only mode without Google Cloud.

Glad I bought an alternative when that one came out. As far as I know they never really updated it, or their lineup since. Just additional compatible radiator valves and such.

Almost bought one of these years ago. Glad I didn’t!

nests are so dumb for a smart thermostat. why does it seem like a smart thermostat is so hard for companies to make? I got a levoit one after ebaying my nest and its a ton better but still not as good as I would imagine they can be.

I’m done with Google.

They ruin everything good they create, like Google Music, in the name of profits.

Putting GrapheneOS on my phone this weekend. I already started migrating all my files to Proton.

In Google’s defense, my Nest outlasted two three! AC units. I’ll upgrade to a gen 4 because it’s a well made device and the people who worked on it deserve the credit