Fancy new thermostat

[xoxoxoBruce]

An editorial in The New Yorker, is not happy about this acquisition.

But when you probe deeper, you realize they’re actually getting much more. Jokes aside (like needing a Google+ account to change the temperature in your house or getting ads for fire extinguishers while your house burns down), there’s something subtly different happening here. This isn’t just another corporate giant acquiring a well-loved startup and its users.

It’s not just an acquisition — it’s an annexation. The kind that involves planting a flag. Because now we’re talking physical territory, which is the case as the internet inexorably and increasingly reaches into the real world. Simply put: People invited Nest into their houses. Not Google.