Google's Nest weaves new Weave protocol that isn't Google's Weave

Smart-home posterboy Nest has opened up its application protocol to developers in a bid to stave off competition from Apple. The "Weave" protocol – not to be confused with Google's Weave program – will remain proprietary for the time being, and allows products to communicate peer-to-peer and without requiring an internet …

[Bob 18]

I won't believe it's secure until it's been open sourced and widely scrutinized.

[Anonymous Coward]

It will be widely scrutinized ... by the TLA's and the FLA.

[Anonymous Coward]

But... but... they said they found a way to secure it through software. No one has tried that approach before!

[Your alien overlord - fear me]

They've used the word 'weave' for 5 years. Most likely the Egyptians were using it 5000 years ago.

[Irongut]

I still fail to see the point of an expensive thermostat with internets.

[Gene Cash]

Me neither. There's no good reason my wifi thermostat has to go through the Honeywell cloud, and indeed it doesn't, and I have a home-grown app for it. It's entirely behind my firewall.

[Henry Wertz 1]

Apple's "solution"

I don't think there's much market for either one of these. But having a specific protocol that others can follow is really the only way to have any chance of this kind of thing ever catching on (for anything more elaborate than "overpriced radio-control on/off or dimmer switch"). I've got little interest in that kind of thing. But that interest drops right to "less than zero"* if it requires buying components piece-by-piece from a single vendor just because vendors can't or won't standardize.

But, I'd like to make it clear, Apple's "solution" of requiring a specific chip and firmware from Apple, in no way solves any of the problems of security, power use, etc., It solves the "problem" of Apple wanting their products to only interoperate with other Apple-approved products, bringing my interest to well below zero. Network security in no way requires a special security chip (AES accelerator? Sure you can have one but not required). And "security through obscurity" doesn't work.

*What is less than zero interest? I don't know, I suppose not only having no interest in the technology for myself, but telling others how dumb it is and why they should not buy it?