If you have been holding off on purchasing Google's Nest thermostat because you didn't like the app that controls it or just were not overly interested in a thermostat that trys to learn your schedule; would you be more interested if you could root it? All it takes is physical access to the thermostat and a minute with it plugged into a USB port on a computer. Not only will this give you complete control over the hardware inside, you can also install an SSH server with a reverse SSH connection to bypass firewalls. It will be interesting to see how these rooted Nest's can interact with other pieces of hardware released by Google with the "Works with Nest" branding. Check out how to do this for yourself at Hack a Day.
"A few months ago, Google bought a $3.2 billion dollar thermostat in the hopes it would pave the way for smart devices in every home. The Nest thermostat itself is actually pretty cool – it’s running Linux with a reasonably capable CPU, and adds WiFi to the mix for some potentially cool applications. It can also be rooted in under a minute."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- What to expect from Google I/O: Android 5.0, Nexus 9, Android Wear and more @ The Inquirer
- Apple wins patent to pump ads to your iDevice while you're watching TV @ The Register
- Google expected to partner with HTC to launch dual-brand 8.9-inch tablet @ DigiTimes
- Microsoft is still touting Android smartphones – meet the new Nokia X2 @ The Register
- Hacking Team's government spy tool components uncovered by Kaspersky @ The Inquirer
“Why is it so hot in
“Why is it so hot in here?”
“Because my thermostat is mining bitcoins.”
If this can be done in a
If this can be done in a secure fashion, and allow for full control of he device, then this can make the device more useful and ensure future reliability. With the stock software, the biggest risk is that it nprelies on a 3rd party server to cntro it.this allows the company to change policies, e.g., restrict functions and introduce a monthy’or yeary paid tier which brings those features back, or go out of business and kill the servers, or simply stop supporting older modes the same way Microsoft dropped support for the original Xbox.
If it can be rooted for direct connections, then it can be useful. Only issue is that it is not currently done in a secure fashion, and that will open the device up to attack, meaning someone with enough time can infest your thermostat with something to perform arp poisoning, or side jacking attacks on your network.
Can’t wait for the day when
Can’t wait for the day when all these smart devices look at all of us and just say “No!“.
Then what are we going to do??