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.

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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.
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1307 COMMENTS

  1. The Nest Hello Wi-Fi Video Doorbell is what I would want the most. The ability to detect faces of people I know from those I don’t is simply brilliant! I’ll know each time my children are home from school, safe and sound! Thanks.
    Hugh

  2. I think the next thing I would like to add is a Google Assistant powered smart display like the JBL Link View (https://m.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/jbl-link-view-smart-display-with-the-google-assistant-black/13019046) or the new Google Home Hub (whenever it comes to Canada.

    I love using Google Assistant to control my smart-ish home, and I really think that having a visual side to that is the next step forward and will really complement spoken interactions.

  3. I would love to incorporate a Google Home to my smart home set up. I currently have a arlo camera system and a home alarm system, both of these devices were just added to the google home controllable list. It would be so cool to be able to say commands versus pushing them.

  4. I would get get the Nest door bell cam and combined with the August logo. I would love to be able to see who is at the door in my phone and then just unlock the door without having to answer it. It would be even better if I had a Chromecast and Google home/mini to do it so by voice and see it on the tv. The dream of never having to do mundane tasks ever again

  5. As I get older,the more lazy and forgetful I get. So, not getting up for stuff is like icing on the cake. Remembering things like turning down the heat, well who has time for that, especially when a device can do it for you.Getting up to see who,s at the door, don’t think so. Yes the smart home would definitely make life easier and really isn’t that something we all want.

  7. I will love to have a Nest Wifi Video door bell to ensure my loved ones are taken care of when i am travelling

  8. I’ve got a Nest thermostat and it’s been great. I’d like to use a Nest IQ cam which has Google Assistant built in as a baby monitor, together with my three other Google Home (Mini).

  9. Nest Hello Wi-Fi Video Doorbell would be great so that I wouldn’t have to goto the door for deliveries.

  11. If I were to get any product it would be a Nest Hello. Upgrade the doorbell and add security at the same time. Plus it’ll help to talk to delivery couriers when they arrive if we’re busy with the baby.

  14. A Nest thermostat would be great to control via phone to help with conserving energy but staying toasty warm threw our brutal Canadian winters.

  15. I’d love the nest outdoor security cam! Unfortunately our car was broken into recently so the security camera would go a long way!

  16. Nest Outdoor Camera to help us see and hear kids when playing in backyard while we prepare supper. We already have Nest Hello and Thermostat so frequently use the app. We also use chromecast and google home devices so we can send video from front door to any display or TV with voice commands as well as control temp. But I’m concerned with kids in backyard since behind us is a busy boulevard and we have no fence due to a dispute with neighbour behind us. This would be a great ease of mind, and could ecen deter theft…quite a few occurences lately unfortunately.

  19. For me, it’s definitely the nest hello doorbell. The idea that I can interact with people at the front door when I’m not there is so convenient for me and my wife’s lifestyles. My wife has a photography studio so she could greet clients if they happened to come early and she wasn’t there.

  20. We could use a nest thermostat.

    It would really make our energy consumption drop while we are away from home.

  21. The Nest doorbell. Great to see when the kids have gotten home from school and being able to avoid door to door sales people with that awesome device. Can’t go wrong!

  22. We could use a nest thermostat… It would really make our energy consumption drop while we are away from home.

  25. The Nest smart thermostat is a must have for me. The fact that I can monitor and adjust the temperature remotely is a game changer for keeping our heating bill down.

  26. A new Nest Thermostat would be great in my new house for keeping in comfortable, and keeping the bills down!

  28. I would like to have a Nest Hello doorbell cam. The added security of video, and knowing who’s at the door.

  29. The Hello door bell would be great peace of mind. Knowing who’s at the door, even when I’m not there. Deliveries would never be missed again.

  30. I’d love to have a Nest Hello door camera. It would be great to see deliveries as they arrive, and decide whether to answer the door when people ring the bell.

  33. Nest Hello Wi-Fi Video Doorbell is what I would like. Though I must say all Nest products look great and seem so useful, that I wouldn’t mind having them all!!

  35. Nest learning thermostat. I’m a huge believer in sustainability and efficiency. Having a smart thermostat which can effectively monitor and tweak one of my house’s largest electricity users can not only benefit my pocket, but also reduce my carbon footprint!

    Thanks! And great article!

  37. I would love the doorbell. It seems like such a novelty, but especially with a small child now, it would be very useful, especially when away from home.

  41. Nest Hello Doorbell would be my choice to add as I would like to see and talk to the person standing at my door.

  45. I’m renovating so all would be an amazing addition but I would pick the outdoor nest cam iq to keep my home safe and secure!

  46. I’d love to have a Nest Outdoor Camera. We have a pool in the yard and young children at home. The added layer of security around the pool area would be very welcome.

  47. It would be great to have the cameras so I can share my family moments with family overseas that have not been able to meet my daughter’s.

  49. I think it would be really cool to install the
    LIFX Wi-Fi Smart LED Light Tile Kit – Multi-colour in our apartment. It would be really interesting to look at and would probably wow our visitors.

  50. Would love to have the addition of an outdoor nest cam. The added security on the outside would help keep the wife off my back 🙂

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