Tom Kraeutler: This is The Money Pit’s Top Products Podcast at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show, checking out the latest products from Nest. Now, if you’ve followed our program, you know that there’s a dispute between having photoelectric smoke detectors and ionic smoke detectors. One detects slow, smoldering fires, one detects flash fires. Nest has made a change to their combination smoke and CO detector that actually addresses that. With me to talk about that is Zoz Cuccias with Nest. Zoz, tell me about the new Nest Protect, and how it addresses that gap between photoelectric detectors and ionic detectors.
Zoz Cuccias: Absolutely, so Nest Protect, it’s the second generation. It’s fully redesigned on the inside. We added a split-spectrum sensor, typically something that is more commonly found in commercial buildings, we added it to our residential smoke alarm. They can test, sense both fast-flaming and smoldering fires to alert you and let you know what’s going on in the home.
Tom Kraeutler: Now, you also told me that this detector is smart enough to actually communicate with your Nest thermostat and turn the furnace off if it detects high CO, correct?
Zoz Cuccias: Correct. The leading cause of CO leaks in the home is a faulty furnace. If Nest Protect senses increased levels of CO, it’ll actually tell your furnace to turn off, so that, in case that is the issue, it’ll stop; and again, also with smoke, so it’ll tell the thermostat to turn off the fan base system so it doesn’t continually push smoke around the home.
Tom Kraeutler: Now, aside from these two products, you also have a new version of your Wi-Fi video camera. What’s different about that?
Zoz Cuccias: Yeah, so this is the Nest Cam. It’s the first-generation security camera that we have at Nest. It has 24/7 video recording and streaming, so at any time, you can check on your home, you can get mobile alerts, see if there’s an intruder, either motion or sound detection, and you can customize it, so you can set what we call “Activity Zones”. If you want to keep an eye on your front door or your windows, versus watching your dog run around all day, you can set those zones to specifically look for an intruder.
Tom Kraeutler: You guys were on the scene early with smart home technology. What do you think of the incredible growth of this industry?
Zoz Cuccias: We think it’s amazing, and it’s something where there’s going to continue to be new integrations. We have something called “Works with Nest”, which is our developer program, and there’s thousands of developers out there that are building on top of our API and looking for ways to make your home more comfortable, more safe, more secure, and really just more thoughtful.
Tom Kraeutler: Zoz, thank you so much for being a part of the program.
Zoz Cuccias: Thank you.
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