Google Will Shut Down Dropcam and Nest Secure in 2024 (theverge.com) 39
Google is ending support for the Dropcam and the Nest Secure home security system in one year, on April 8th, 2024. From a report: They are among the few remaining Nest products that haven't been brought over to Google Home, and their demise hints that the new Google Home app might almost be here. At least, no more than a year away. Surely. Google is also winding down the last few legacy Works with Nest connections, but not 'til September 29th. Existing Dropcam cameras will keep working until April 8th, 2024, after which you won't be able to access them from the Nest app. To soften the blow, Google's offering a free indoor wired Nest Cam to Dropcam owners who subscribe to Nest Aware. Nonsubscribers will get a 50 percent-off coupon. The promotion runs until May 7, 2024, so you can keep using your Dropcam until it stops working.
NEST (Score:4, Insightful)
Don't you just love companies that sell you the hardware, and then "we don't want to do this anymore" ?
Re:NEST (Score:4, Informative)
Every cloud connected device ever, you mean.
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IYR: Internet of Yanked Rugs
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You can get Awair air quality monitors very cheaply now, because Awair ditched one of the most compelling cloud features. You can use it as a stand-alone monitor, or Awair have released firmware that lets you use it on a local network with open source software like Home Assistant.
Obviously it sucks if you bought it for the original features that they removed, but it does mean you can now pick them up very lightly used for less than you can DIY your own version.
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Expiration dates are a thing that didn't come with these devices.
Yes they did. The only thing amazing here is that these devices are still running.
If you bought a high tech electronic gadget with a view for it to run forever I have some very tragic news for you.
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lolz who wouldn’t wanna do this every couplea years
Spotted the disenfranchised GenZ who is renting. I've got bad news for you. If you ever do get a chance to own a house, it comes with this requirement called "maintenance". If you think anything works forever then you're in for a very bad shock when you grow up.
That will help.. (Score:3)
Hey, want to buy into Google Home? We know we screwed over all the customers of two similar offerings that we made, but this time will be different. Just look at how committed we are to all our other projects that never get cancelled...
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If anything, this is just one more proof that we need Thread/Matter more than ever, to be able to disconnect us from such problems.
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So you think the guys behind Matter (Google) are going to do a better job than Google's Nest ?? What's the definition of insanity again?
Besides there's this standard thing called Z-Wave or even Zigbee if you care less about security. They've been around a long time and does everything Matter want's to do but with actual security features that does not require a data center connection to operate or a subscription.
No need to re-invent the wheel every decade. Matter is just going to lock you into IoT always
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Matter allows devices using Z-Wave and Zigbee to adopt a standard protocol via their routers or the devices themselves, meaning they are easier to integrate. Right now you need special code that can talk to each router and interpret device data, if say you want to connect them to Home Assistant.
The whole point of Matter is to not keep re-inventing the wheel for every random manufacturer that wants to make smart products.
It's not just Google that created it, and in fact the Zigbee guys were involved in the p
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I don't know where you read that Matter was a Google-only development, because it's not. [wikipedia.org]
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This is why I saw google is not a reliable hardware company. It is simply too flaky on support. If a pro duct is no longer contributing to its corporate culture, the product does not r its anymore.
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Generally not a reliable company for hardware or software.
Even putting business case aside, sounds like they also struggle with infighting. When one team 'wins' over another offering, they never make effort to extend the other offering, but always throw it all out and start over without regard for any compatibility.
So sure, good search, good email, and it's been long enough I can tolerate Google office document management, though it still isn't great. Any other google service? Yeah, not going to trust it.
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Google Maps?
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Well sure, though that ventures into another territory: Things that are ok to use even if afraid it evaporates one day. If google maps shut down tomorrow, I wouldn't suffer any ill-effects from 'lockin', as starting fresh with a competitor isn't too much worse than preserving data from google maps.
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Other than the fact that it has historically been free, why would you think that it "should" be free? It wasn't free to make, and it's not free to maintain. It isn't a simple repackaging of publicly available data.
Re: That will help.. (Score:2)
I believe the term is "loss leader" or, you could go with the idea that it gets their name onto more brains. There's more to income than dollars and cents...at least that's the reality, mind you big business would certainly tell you differently. Link tax anyone? I want to get paid so I can get paid again for doing more nothing!
Simple question to ask about hardware (Score:5, Insightful)
If you're ever tempted to buy a device, ask yourself this one simple question:
Does the continued operation of this device depend on the company that made it still being in business?
If the answer is no, then you don't own the device. You use it at the pleasure of its manufacturer, which can be revoked at any time.
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Honestly if you have a Dropcam still in operation you should ask yourself a different question, namely what kind of magic blessing from God did you receive that you have 14 year long support for a cloud connected piece of IoT tech.
I get what you're trying to say but really the value proposition here doesn't favour your argument.
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I have a security camera that's 10 years old. It doesn't rely on any cloud service at all. Assuming the hardware lasts (and there's no reason it should break down) I will be able to use it indefinitely. That's the value proposition.
IoT devices are all traps. You don't really own them if they need a cloud connection for normal operation.
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IoT devices are all traps. You don't really own them if they need a cloud connection for normal operation.
Maybe. It won't surprise me if Google offers a way to make dropcam cameras usable. They did it with Stadia controllers, for example, providing updated firmware that made them usable with standard Bluetooth protocols.
It's also possible that they won't, of course. But Google has a pretty solid track record of treating customers of paid products well. On free products, well, they're free, what do you expect?
Re: Simple question to ask about hardware (Score:2)
I still think it's amazing that people pay for the privilege of possessing an object that they only "own" in the most vanishing sense. It's like businesses realized that you can sell something only once...you can RENT something to someone forever while getting WAY more money out of the deal. Hello subscription based life!
I hope my medical subscription doesn't expire! I know from Shadownrun what happens when that's the case. Wait, wasn't that supposed to be set in a DYSTOPIAN future? Hmmmmm......
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I still think it's amazing that people pay for the privilege of possessing an object that they only "own" in the most vanishing sense.
Really? People do it all the time and have forever. You never rented an apartment or a house? You never leased a car? Or rented one? Like anything else it's a question of price and value.
I hope my medical subscription doesn't expire!
You mean your healthcare insurance? If you don't pay the premium, it will expire.
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I still think it's amazing that people pay for the privilege of possessing an object that they only "own" in the most vanishing sense.
The overwhelming majority of your money goes into things you "own" only for them to vanish. The bizarre thing is that you insist that ownership is part of the value proposition. The only question is: Am I getting something of value for my money over its life. Whether I own it is completely irrelevant. I get value out of going to the cinema, I get value out of renting a car, I get value out of taking the train to work.
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Maybe. It won't surprise me if Google offers a way to make dropcam cameras usable.
They won't. They're already offering vouchers for replacement.
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Maybe. It won't surprise me if Google offers a way to make dropcam cameras usable.
They won't. They're already offering vouchers for replacement.
Partial replacement -- up to two replacement cameras. I already ordered my two. The two moves aren't mutually exclusive, though, they could do both.
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I have a security camera that's 10 years old.
So do I. It's in my spare parts bin because it broke. That's typically what happens to electronics over time. Especially old outdated electronics that provide shithouse image quality even if they still work.
Electronics do not last forever, despite what good lucky you may have had so far.
IoT devices are all traps. You don't really own them
There's no need to own them. The question is do they over their life meet the value proposition. If your security system is 10 years old then the answer is absolutely yes, regardless if it died from some electrical fault lik
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what kind of magic blessing from God did you receive that you have 14 year long support for a cloud connected piece of IoT tech.
Standardized protocols.
It's still possible to take an analog black-and-white security camera from the 1980's and plug it into the RCA/Composite port of pretty much anything that takes an NTSC composite signal and get a picture out of it. I have no idea why anyone would want to do this, but if someone had such a device, manufactured by a company that went out of business during the Clinton administration, it would still be perfectly serviceable.
If you have a digital security camera from the mid-2000s that se
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Anti-Consumer (Score:2)
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What do you consider "premature" for dropping product support? If you mean "ever", then use that word.
Wired doorbell still not available in EU (Score:2)
Their new wired doorbell is still not available in the EU, so they are still only selling the Nest one which requires the Nest subscription.
Graveyard (Score:1)
Video after the crime's committed (Score:2)