Google's Nest Thermostat talks to your car, washing machine
Tech Industry
In the future, our 3-D printed robot pets will take control of the AC system.
I'm Bridget Carey and this is your C/net update.
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If you want to cool the temperature of your home air conditioner, just ask Google to do it for you.
The Nest Smart Home Thermostat is evolving to automate your home in new ways.
It will be able to communicate with various other appliances and apps.
Google is the parent company of nest.
So, for starters, you'll be able to use Google Now voice commands on your smart phone to change the thermostat settings.
But, the nest will work with more than just Google.
The device can talk to Whirlpool laundry machines to activate energy saving modes.
And, certain Mercedes Benz models can be programmed to tell the Nest to set the temperature when the car is heading back home.
And, if the Nest Protect detects smoke, well, the Life X color changing LED lightbulb will turn red and start flashing.
Now, of this connectivity and shared data has you on red alert, Nest says it's aware of possible security concerns.
It programmed in some safeguards, and it will not share emails, names, or home addresses with other companies.
Now, if you want to truly live in the home of the future, you're gonna need a robot.
But, don't worry.
It's really easy and affordable to print and program your own robot buddy, thanks to Intel.
This is the Jimmy the Robot.
He's an open sourced walking, talking machine that anyone can program and build, starting at $1600.
His plastic body design is printed from a 3D printer, but you don't need to have a printer at home.
Intel can mail you the pieces to snap together.
You don't need a college degree to program Jimmy.
There will be apps to make it easy to give the robot different commands.
The goal has always been to get him into schools.
We've really been talking with makers and roboticists who will go and build it themselves.
But, really the goal is to get as many kids imagining designing, and building robots as possible.
You don't have to have a phd you don't have to learn artificial intelligence.
You just download apps.
Go to the app store and download apps, so your robot will do whatever you want it to.
Jimmy is powered by Intel's Edison ship, which is the same processor that Intel is using for small wearable devices.
The goal is to have him and other designs available for purchase in September.
Now, Intel has a few other innovations coming out this year.
It created a camera for laptops and tablets that can understand distance.
You can have a conference call on Skype, that crops out the background, so it only shows you on the screen.
And then, you can back away, to disappear.
The camera also can create a 3D image of anything, to be turned into plastic on a 3D printer.
I think I'll need to use this to scan my space so that I can replace Jimmy the Robot's head with my head, and I shall create a robo-Bridget.
That's your tech news update from our studios in New York, I'm Bridget Carey.
