Lightsabers and flying cars might not exist yet, but you have to admit, science fiction gets it right sometimes. Just look at the smart home. Today, building a hi-tech smart home is no longer just a far-fetched, futuristic imagining of a visionary storyteller. And Google and Nest are spearheading the drive to make every home at least a little smarter.

Nest thermostats, for example, have opened up new possibilities for how smart home tech can be integrated together. And, since Google acquired Nest in 2014, Google’s products work seamlessly within the Nest framework for a perfectly coordinated symphony of home convenience, security, and energy efficiency.

Read on to learn how smartening up your living space can enrich you and your family’s life, and then enter this contest for a chance at winning the grand prize, which includes enough goodies to build your own domestic ecosystem. There are also second and third place prizes to be won!

A snapshot of smarter living with Nest and Google

If you’re a long time reader of the Best Buy Canada Blog, I’m sure you’ve read a lot about smart home technology by now in articles such as Leonard Bond’s comprehensive breakdown of Works with Nest, or Elliot Chun’s smart home series. But, if you’re still wondering what exactly a smart home is and how it can complement your day-to-day life, allow me to paint a picture of what life can be like in an AI-enabled home. And by simply entering this contest, living in a tech-enhanced home could soon be your reality:

Nest Smart Learning Thermostat

You pull up the driveway at the same time you do every day. It’s late Fall and Jack Frost is starting to make his presence felt with cold winds that let you know that it’s the beginning of a long winter. You hurry to the front door to escape the icy chill and step into cozy comfort. Your energy-efficient Nest Thermostat has learned what time you usually come home and turned itself on a few minutes before you arrive—no more waiting for cold rooms to heat up!

Voice-controlled Google Home answers questions, plays your music, and controls other smart devices, including Nest

 

 

As soon as you’ve settled in, you go to the kitchen to get dinner ready. It’s cheat day, you’re craving carbs, and everyone in the family loves Italian food, so you ask your voice-activated Google Home to tell you about a recipe for a tasty pasta dish, request some good cooking music, and set a timer to ensure your pasta is perfectly al dente, all without lifting a finger.

Just as dinner is ready to serve, your smartphone vibrates with a notification: your Nest Cam IQ in the front yard has detected someone you know in the driveway. Seconds later, your Nest Hello video doorbell rings. It uses facial recognition to identify the person and transmits the message to Google Home to tell you that your mother is at the door.

As you take your mother’s coat, your partner arrives with your hungry toddler fresh out of daycare. The four of you sit down to dinner and you ask Google to dim the lights and play some nice background music. After dinner, you and your other half head out to the movie theatre for date night while your little one and Grandma stay in to watch a Disney classic.

Nest Cam IQ records in 1080p and boasts a wide-angle lens to capture the entire room

At the theatre, before the movie begins, that familiar feeling of separation anxiety hits you right on time, and you wonder if everything is okay at home. Plus, you’ve also got a niggling feeling that you left the cooker on. With Nest Cams in the nursery, living room, and kitchen, as well as outside in the front and back yards, you open the Nest App to view the Full HD live feed on your smartphone.

Live feed on the Nest App of your kitchen’s Nest Cam IQ

 

While baby plays happily in the living room, you can see Grandma is reading nearby with a blanket over her shoulders. You adjust the room’s temperature from your phone so they’ll be nice and cozy. Then you switch over to your kitchen Nest Cam. It has a perfect view of the entire room with its wide angle lens, and you zoom in on your range. It’s off. Priceless peace of mind! Now, you can relax.

————————————

This scenario only scratches the surface of how a smart home ecosystem can make your life more convenient. Nest and Google have been working tirelessly to make premium smart home products accessible to everyone. Installation is a doddle, and, as you can see, every individual item works together and can be controlled with your voice or from an app on your smartphone. There’s lots of goodies to be won in this contest, and if you’re wondering what other gear you’ll need to make a smart home platform work seamlessly in your house or apartment, remember this general rule of thumb: If you have a smartphone, you can have a smart home. It’s as simple as that.

HOW TO ENTER:

You can only submit one entry for this contest. Browse Best Buy’s smart home catalog, and in a comment below this article, tell us one smart home product that you would like to add to your daily life and why.

WHAT YOU CAN WIN:

We will randomly draw three winners. One person will win the grand prize, one person will win the second prize, and one person will win the third prize. The prizes are shown here, and also in the Rules and Regulations posted below.

Grand Prize 2nd Prize
 

  • Nest Temperature Sensor
  • Nest Wi-Fi Smart Learning Thermostat 3rd Gen
  • Nest Cam IQ Wi-Fi Outdoor 1080p Security Camera
  • Nest Cam Wi-Fi Outdoor 1080p IP Camera
  • Nest Cam IQ Wi-Fi Indoor 1080p IP Camera
  • Nest Cam Wi-Fi Indoor IP Camera – Black
  • Nest Hello Wi-Fi Video Doorbell
  • 2 x Google Home Mini
  • Google Home
  • Nest Cam IQ Wi-Fi Outdoor 1080p Security Camera
  • Nest Cam IQ Wi-Fi Indoor 1080p IP Camera
  • Nest Wi-Fi Smart Learning Thermostat 3rd Gen
  • Nest Temperature Sensor
  • Nest Hello Wi-Fi Video Doorbell
  • Google Home

 

3rd Prize

  • Nest Cam Wi-Fi Outdoor 1080p IP Camera
  • Google Home Mini

This contest runs from October 15th until October 28th.

Remember, you can only enter once. However, you probably know someone who would love to add some incredible smart products to their home, so please share this contest and they too will have a chance to win one of these prizes.

Win Google and Nest Smart Home Goodies Rules and Regulations

Good Luck.  

We frequently have many contests running at Best Buy, so check out the “contests in progress” page for more great contests to enter.
Kevin McElligott
Kevin McElligott
Kevin cut his teeth as a journalist writing articles for trade publications in Dublin. He moved to Vancouver and honed his craft first as a copywriter, and now as an Editor at Best Buy. He enjoys cooking when he has the time, playing soccer, and just recently ran in his first marathon. Fitness is important to him, and he needs the exercise thanks to his fondness for donuts.
Facebook Twitter

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

1307 COMMENTS

  3. I’d love the JBL Link View Smart Display with the Google Assistant. I’d love to control my smart home via touch and voice, plus the sound quality that JBL brings would be great for listening to music and watching YouTube videos on it.

  6. I’m really interested in the Philips Hue Lily smart outdoor spotlight kit. Especially for this time of year with the holidays to add some extra ambiance with outdoor coloured lighting but also to add extra security to our house to light up dark areas like the backyard around the garage.

  9. I would love to have the Nest Thermostat. With the cold coming, it would be nice to have my temperature adjust automatically based on my personal habits, not on how a thermostat was programmed.

  12. I would like the Nest Wi-Fi Smart Learning Thermostat 3rd Generation, because it would be great to come home to a warm house and sometimes I forget to turn the heat down at night.

  14. I would like the Voice-controlled Google Home, It would be great to have questions answered or play the music you want just by voice. Thanks for the chance!

  15. I would like to add the Nest Cam IQ Wi-Fi Indoor 1080p IP Camera to my home so that I can monitor the security of my home & safety of my family

  16. Definitely the security cameras. We have had 6 bikes stolen and so many issues with trespassing! It’d be nice to finally feel a bit more secure and know what’s going on around our home 🙂

  20. The smart lock would be amazing. Then I don’t have to badger my kids about keeping their house keys in a certain pocket of their backpacks!

  22. Definitely the nest video doorbell. Very convenient to gee who has approached the door. The entire nest package is excellent. A family member has this system and loves it.

  23. I’d love to add the Nest Hello. Great to silence when my son is napping and to keep an eye on people coming up to the door.

  26. The Amazon Echo Plus with Alexa – English – White would be very handy for our home. It would make our lives so much easier.

  27. I would love to have Nest’s smart learning thermostat. Setting up the home’s temperature is something so simple, but so important and I hate having to adjust it all the time when I leave the house or come back home. And I also love the tech of learning devices and that would be really interesting!

  29. Nest Cam Wi-Fi Outdoor 1080p IP Camera. THis is the product I would love to have at our house. We just moved and I am not familiar with the neighborhood yet and the extra protection would be great.

  30. The NEST smart lock would be ideal for me so my kids don’t need a key and mama doesn’t have to worry about lost keys

  32. Ideally, I’d love the whole nest product line. LOL. To start, I would want to add a nest wifi doorbell and Nest cam outdoor to add to my home!

  33. My husband and I were just looking into the Nest Outdoor Security Camera and the Google Home Mini. Would love a chance to win! Thank you! 🙂

  36. I would love to have Nest’s smart learning thermostat. Setting up the home’s temperature is something so simple, but so important and I hate having to adjust it all the time when I leave the house or come back home. And I also love the tech of learning devices and that would be really interesting!

  38. The outdoor security and Google Home would be amazing for our home. There have been a rash of break-in in our area and last month my wallet and belongings were stolen from our vehicle. This tech would have helped. Keep up the great work Best Buy.

  42. I would love the indoor and outdoor nest cams and the video door bell. It will indeed help a household with young kids…

  46. Would love to add a few Nest Cam’s to our cottage to monitor the exterior while we’re in the city. We have one inside currently and love the interface. So easy to use!! And the piece of mind is priceless.

  47. would love the alarm system we have had alot of crime in our area and this would help keep them away

  49. I would love the ability to be able to adjust my thermostat from anywhere. I’m not always home at a predictable time, so often I come home to a cold house.

  50. Nest Cam IQ Wi-Fi Outdoor 1080p Security Camera is the product I am very interested in adding to my home. I would feel very secure knowing who is outside my home even if I am inside of my home. Plus, I always park my car outside for the convenience factor. If I had a camera outside it would give me the security to keep an eye on my car as well as my property. Thank you.

« Older Comments Newer Comments »

Comments are closed.