Jordan O'BrienNest’s Learning Thermostat is great for saving users money, but controlling it via the App or physical device is cumbersome. Thankfully that’s no longer a problem as Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant now works with Nest.
Available on Amazon’s Fire TV, Echo, Echo Dot and Tap, Alexa is the company’s first personal assistant designed for controlling the home, ordering items from Amazon’s online store and playing music.
Alexa is already capable of controlling products from the likes of Philips, Insteon, Samsung’s SmartThings, WeMo and more, but it now has another to add to that list – Nest.
With Alexa and the Nest users will be able to turn the temperature up and down, ask what the current temperature and humidity is and even turn the Nest off using nothing but their voice. It doesn’t have to be specific commands either. Users will be able to tell Alexa that they’re “too cold” at which point the Nest will kick in and crank up the temperature.
Despite now working with Alexa, Nest was reportedly working on their Echo-like device, according to reports from Re/Code. The company supposedly ditched the project due to privacy concerns that surround its parent company.
It’s not the first time Nest has tread water lightly, when Google acquired the firm Nest’s CEO Tony Fadell addressed privacy concerns by explaining that it would remain a separate entity.
While Alexa is not yet available in the UK, it’s one of the hottest pieces of smart home tech to be revealed in 2014. In fact, it’s so popular Ford has integrated the technology in their upcoming SYNC dashboard entertainment system update.
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