Microsoft and Johnson controls show off GLAS smart thermostat

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Translucent device runs Windows IoT Core and can work via touch or Cortana inputs.

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Read more.

Neat enough looking, I guess.

But at rusk of sounding like a broken record, the first thing I note is the big "You are home/away) setting, the use of Cortana and "cloud intelligence" detecting my presence. Until and unless there's FAR more control (by me) of my personal data and far, FAR stronger regulatory control of such data, then in my home it's no. Just no. No way. Ain't happening. And if I move and find this in my new home, it IS coming out. On day one. Even if it means reprogramming it with a sledgehammer,

I use the NEST, but I found the home/away detection unreliable - however as a remotely controlled thermostat its pretty useful. Being able to turn on the heating when I know Ill be home (rather than estimating with a manual programmer is a plus.

(But looking at the photos, you would have thought they would have doe the basics like tidying up the pointing or plastering the wall before shelling out on a (bound to be) very expensive thermostat :))

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Originally Posted by Saracen

But at rusk of sounding like a broken record, the first thing I note is the big "You are home/away) setting, the use of Cortana and "cloud intelligence" detecting my presence. Until and unless there's FAR more control (by me) of my personal data and far, FAR stronger regulatory control of such data, then in my home it's no. Just no. No way. Ain't happening. And if I move and find this in my new home, it IS coming out. On day one. Even if it means reprogramming it with a sledgehammer,

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I think you just need this in a signature or at least a generic paragraph in a permanent Copy+Paste buffer :P

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Originally Posted by Tabbykatze

I think you just need this in a signature or at least a generic paragraph in a permanent Copy+Paste buffer :P

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Perhaps, but data privacy is not the only issue. Another is longevity. Let's hope neither Google or any future buyer of Nest Labs treat Nest users the way Nest treated Revolv users .... I.e. just deciding to shut down the servers the devices relied on, leaving users with an expensive piece of useless junk hanging on their walls.

Couldn't happen? Already did, once.

We really do need a newer data protection act.

I've just moved to android sadly, and it's frankly terrifying the stuff they demand to know about me to have a usable smart phone. I'm making a big gamble that they are always acting in a manner that doesn't inconvenience me too much.

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Originally Posted by TheAnimus

We really do need a newer data protection act.

I've just moved to android sadly, and it's frankly terrifying the stuff they demand to know about me to have a usable smart phone. I'm making a big gamble that they are always acting in a manner that doesn't inconvenience me too much.

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Again, for broken record mode .... it's a large part of why I won't have a smartphone, which in turn limits the benefit I'd get from smartphone devices.

Android, IMHO, is going in the wrong direction, I want to see MUCH more granular permissions, but each successive generation is more Googlified, and gives users less and less ability to restrict access, to the point we're now at, where either you let an app know everything about you, or you don't use the app. There are exceptions, but fewer and fewer.

I have two android tablets (one was a gift, and to date, hasn't been used), and I go to considerable trouble restricting what I use them, and how I use them, precisely to avoid giving awsy any data. For instance, I use the one that's active through an anonymising VPN service that masks my IP, and never has any personal data on it. Not even an email address. And it was bought for cash, so not even the seller knows my identity.

Of course, that's viable for a tablet with minimal usage, but not for a phone where it's hard to avoid for a phone whuch, at a minimum, has a major data reference for the owner (phone number) and the names and numbers of contacts. Which is why I just barely put up with an android tablet, but won't use a smartphone.

And without a smartphone, smart home devices are of limited use when away, and when I'm home, I don't need or want smarthome devices.

Sorry, this may seem like a silly question, but...... What is a thermostat?
All I know is that if it's chilly in my house, I put on a jumper and if it's really cold, I light the fire. If it's too warm, I open the window. Seems to work fine...

Seriously, though?
We need Microsoft to decide what our homes need in order to optimise our environmental conditioning is going online to The Cloud and asking the Internet?

Of course, pressing a button is far too inconvenient and time-consuming, compared to spoken commands;
"OK Google/Hey Cortana, please auto-optimise the balance of my heating and air humidity factors to maintain the spatial environmental conditioning to an exact 22.4 degrees Celcius.... Hey Cortana..... Cortana? ....HEY CORTANA...... OII BINT!!! Ya know what, never mind, I'll get up and do it myself......"!!

Does this mean I could one day have 8-Pack fully optimise my GLAS with water-cooling?

Just what i always wanted, a devise linked to an American multinational company that's always listening to what's going on and can tell when I'm at home. /sarcasm.