Mornings With Mark

At Google I/O 2019, Google announced some significant changes to how the Nest line of products operates. Not only are they being re-branded as "Google Nest" but account holders will be strongly encouraged to move their Nest accounts to Google ones. Combine that with the abrupt wind down of the "Works with Nest" program in favour of the "Works with Google Assistant" program, a shift in privacy policies, and a number of questions start to come to mind. A discussion around data rights and access needs to be happening. Especially when companies change hands. Now that the digital world is blending with the physical one, the consequences are becoming more significant. The longer this goes on, the harder it will be to change the current momentum of external ties for everything. There's a lot to unpack on this issue and this episode is just the tip of the iceberg. References: the recent changes to Nest by Ron Amadeo for Ars Technica, https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/05/nest-the-comp