You probably don’t think much of your smoke detector, that is, unless you actually are in the smoke detector business and have the safety devices on your brain 24/7. For those of us who aren’t door-to-door smoke detector salesmen, you probably stick batteries into your smoke detector and forget about them until we’re reminded to change their batteries whenever daylight savings comes around. But a new smoke detector from Nest Labs Inc. is looking to make the traditional smoke detector experience one that is a little more rewarding.
Nest Labs Inc. is introducing its “Nest Protect,” which does what you’d expect it to do: it detects smoke and warns you of the possibility of impending doom. It does more than just detect smoke as it also can be used to detect unsafe levels of carbon monoxide, which many states in the U.S. are requiring detectors for carbon monoxide in addition to smoke detectors.
What makes Nest Protect stand out is its variety of sensors to detect heat, smoke, carbon dioxide, light and motion and will warn its owners of any problems using spoken words rather than high-pitched alarms, which comes in handy when the “warning” is the result of a bagel being left in the toaster oven for too long. The Nest Protect can be programmed to send warnings to tablets and smartphones and if you have multiple detectors, they can communicate with one another through wireless connection.
The Nest Protect will go on sale in November and will retail for $129.
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