Nest turns off oven, vacuum

Smart home gizmo maker Nest has announced a range of household appliances that will now work with its thermostat, smoke alarm and camera ecosystem.

A Whirlpool dishwasher, Rheem water heater, Samsung vacuum and Jenn-Air stove, among other things, will now be able to interact intelligently with the smart-home devices in a range of possibly useful ways.

One example: Nest can now automatically tell your dishwasher (well, specific models of dishwasher) to start when you’ve left. Likewise your washer or dryer. Or you can order them to operate in Quiet Mode when you're home.

Ever wonder if you've left the stove on? Again with specific appliances, if Nest notes that you've left the house, it will prompt you and ask if you meant to leave the stove on. If not, you can shut it off. Don't want that robot cleaner bothering you when you're home? Set it to only clean up when you're not there. And so on.

Nest hopes that these interconnections will build up the value of a smart home and, of course, the role that its devices can play in that situation. ®