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Activist Post
The “Internet of Things” just wouldn’t be “Internet” enough if Google was not involved in a major way. Fortunately for those who have designed the gadget spy system, however, Google is attempting to become heavily involved in the implementation of yet another piece of the technological control grid.
According to the The Information and The Verge, Google is now testing thermostats connected to the Internet that would allow users to view the amount of energy being consumed in their homes as well as be able to make adjustments to that level of consumption. At least that is the justification used to sell the technology to the public. The real reasons behind both Google’s foray into the relatively new field and those of other tech firms, governments, and “sustainability”-related organizations are somewhat less interested in consumer satisfaction, environmental health, and lower energy bills.
Google’s latest foray into the control grid, a wide open country for the corporate giant which never seems tired of pioneering new marketable technological control products, is called EnergySense. This new program is round two for Google, which attempted something similar a few years ago named Powermeter, although this program was terminated in mid-2011 due to “difficulties scaling it up.” The mission statement for Powermeter, similar to that of EnergySense “was that people could trim energy use by 15 percent if they could see what was happening.”
Things are looking up for Google in this regard, however, as Josh Lowensohn of The Verge writes that “This might be a better time for such a service, as indicated by a rising wave of connected home appliances. That includes Nest, which began with thermostats and has since moved onto smoke detectors. It's joined by a host of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth-connected appliances that can pipe information to the cloud, from refrigerators to web cameras.”
Interestingly enough, Google Ventures already invested in Nest in 2012.















