Nest Gives the Lowly Smoke Detector a Brain — And a Voice | Wired Business | Wired.com

From an extensive Steven Levy Nest profile

"In other words, Nest isn’t only about beautifying the thermostat or adding features to the lowly smoke detector. “We’re about creating the conscious home,” Fadell says. “To take a truly important device that has had no great innovation and make that device really, really great.” Left unsaid is a grander vision, with even bigger implications: many devices sensing the environment, talking to one another, and doing our bidding unprompted."

Nest Gives the Lowly Smoke Detector a Brain — And a Voice | Wired Business | Wired.com