Advertising – it is just about anywhere and everywhere that you look. Product placements in movies have definitely grown by an exponential amount in this day and age, and not only that, just about any and every app that you use would come with an ad-free and an ad-supported version, where the former would obviously cost you more money in order not to bombard you with subtle persuasions of different companies, while the latter would borrow your eyeballs before you are able to proceed. Ads have become annoying, but Google’s Nest does not look as though it is going to take the “billboard” route.
Practically everything is a billboard to Google, but there’s one thing that shouldn’t be: Your Nest. A December letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission, released today, fueled fears that Google might be soon be serving you ads on your home’s smart thermostat—imagine turning down your temperature via your Nest, and getting an advertisement for ice cream, or a vacation to Antarctica. “A few years from now, we and other companies could be serving ads and other content on refrigerators, car dashboards, thermostats, glasses, and watches, to name just a few possibilities,” Amie Thuener, Google’s director of finance, said in the letter. After a story in the Wall Street Journal inflamed customers, Google released a statement this week denying plans for future Nest ads: “We are in contact with the SEC to clarify the language in this 2013 filing, which does not reflect Google’s product roadmap. Nest, which we acquired after this filing was made, does not have an ads-based model and has never had any such plans.”
