Glass Nests

Saw this in Engadget.   My colleagues and I worked on the notion of the 'automated'  home in the innovation centers.  The idea has been around since at least 1990, depending how you define it. Think of it as a hierarchy in the internet of things.  Where a home contains things and properties that need to be controlled, by systems and by people.   So something as simple as a thermostat is a control mechanism ... The ideas we tested over a decade had some value, but not compared to the costs involved.  The Nest idea sounds like more gadgetry than value.  But I am willing to examine further.