Nest Bets That You Secretly Hate Your Smoke Detector - Businessweek

Building a bigger Nest

"The Protect definitely solves the aesthetic issue—it’s much prettier than the average smoke detector—and it takes some steps to solve the irritation issue by speaking in a soothing voice rather than howling when its batteries are low.  You can wave your hand to shut it up without climbing on a chair because it has an embedded motion sensor.
But these innovations come at a cost of $130, four times the price of similar devices sold on Amazon (AMZN). To justify that price, Nest has to address Fadell’s complaint about the limited functionality of existing detectors. Does the Protect do more than basically the same thing as its cheaper, uglier predecessors? Fadell thinks it does. The device serves as a motion detector for Nest’s thermostat, which means that it can better learn your patterns of activity and adjust the temperature accordingly. If it senses heightened levels of carbon monoxide, it can turn off your furnace, which is often the cause."

Nest Bets That You Secretly Hate Your Smoke Detector - Businessweek