Software update for Nest Thermostats will make them even more energy efficient

Nest is sending out an update to all of its thermostats that will allow them to make small changes in-order to keep your house at the ideal temperature. Nest says it has done this by creating even better algorithms that take into consideration things like weather, drafts, and your schedule.

Also, Nest says the update will allow the thermostats to maintain your home’s temperature up to 20% closer to the original temperature you have set. For example, if you have set the heat to 70ºF, Nest Thermostats will now be much more efficient at holding that temperature.

• Nest Thermostats will now maintain the temperature in your home up to 20% closer to the temperature you’ve set.
• Multi-stage heating systems can now save 3.8% more energy, heat pumps can save 6.5% more, and multi-stage cooling systems can save 5.4% more than they have before.
• Time-to-Temperature, Early-On and Heat Pump Balance will get better.

Frequent updates is the real benefit to using a Nest Thermostat. Normally, you buy a thermostat and it just sits there for years and years. However, Nest will always be looking at ways to improve theirs, and send you updates once they do. This new update is said to be rolling out over the next couple of weeks.

Source: Nest

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Google scours 1.2 million URLs to conform with EU’s ‘right to be forgotten’

While still fighting it in the courts, Google has been complying with the EU’s ‘right to be forgotten‘ ruling. In a transparency report, the search giant stated that is has evaluated 1,234,092 URLs from 348,085 requests since May 29, 2014. Of those, 42 percent of the URLs have been removed from search results. When deciding which results stay and which get disappeared from results, it says, “Google must consider the rights of the individual as well as public interest in the content.” Unsurprising, the top site to have its search results scrubbed is Facebook.

Via: WSJ

Source: Google

Google Play credit can now be sent as a gift via email

In the United States only, with hopefully more countries to come, Android users can send Play credit gifts to others via email.

This is a new feature to Google Play and starts today. This gives all Android users the ability to send Google Play credit to someone via email in the form a gift. One can find the option on the sidebar of the Play Store Store where it reads “send gift.” Right now, Android users have the option to send either $10, $15, $20, $25, $50, or $100. Users are not limited to the amount of credits they can send.

Once you select the amount, you’ll have to supply an email address and include a message to send to the receiver. Unfortunately, users can’t pay with their Play Store balance and must select a valid credit/debit card on their Google account. You’ll also have the option to pay with Google Wallet. Google Play gifts is a great enhancement to Google Play and arrived in the neck of time, hopefully we’ll see more countries added in the weeks ahead.

Source: Google (1) (2)

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Google updates ramp up of AMP

Back in October, Google announced the launch of a new initiative called the Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) project. AMP is an effort to speed up the delivery of web content through an open framework. In an update posted this week, Google indicated they are on track to start sharing AMP pages via Google Search in early 2016. The AMP team also shared some information on the partners they are bringing on board and some of the challenges they are addressing.

In terms of publishers who are interested in developing content using AMP, Google says companies like the BBC, News Corp, and the Washington Post are all following development of AMP. In addition, companies like CBS Interactive, AOL and The Next Web have all committed to supporting the project. Google has also attracted the attention of the Local Media Consortium which represents 1,600 local newspapers and television stations.

Outside of content creators, Google attracted the attention of advertisers who are looking at how ads can be delivered within the AMP framework. In their announcement, Google indicates they have support from Outbrain, AOL, OpenX, DoubleClick and AdSense. Google is also working with companies like comScore, Nielsen, and even their own Google Analytics to ensure AMP articles are counted just like a regular web article. This will help publishers ensure their AMP content is meeting goals like their normal pages.

Google says they have over 4,500 developers following the project on the GitHub page. This includes over 250 pull requests and an active set of discussions regarding AMP and available features.

source: AMP Project

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