Monday, April 25, 2016

Final Project



"There is probably no act, for instance, which does good to anyone without doing harm to someone else, and vice versa." (Sir W.D. Ross) The case I’m going to touch base on is in regards to a business disabling other merging company’s product and how it will affect job roles and consumer base products. Nest a division within Google is a home automation producer of programmable, self-learning, sensor-driven, Wi-Fi enabled thermostats, smoke detectors, and other security system which started up in 2010. They teamed up Revolv who specialized in a smart proprietary hub that offers consumers control to lights, thermostat, speakers, smart-plugs, shades, sensors and etc.; you are basically connecting everyday objects with the cloud and smart phone in your home.  You are basically connecting everyday smart home devices with the cloud and smart phone. The two companies’ merged for Revolv’s talent rather than its products or users. The new team is to help work on improving API (application program interface) which will have to do with a set of routines, protocols, and tools for building some new software applications for the autonomous home. The new partnership comes with great value to some but what about the others which are the consumers who help bring fourth this idea buy having confidence in the maker by purchasing the hub.  As of May 15, 2016 Revolv service will no longer be available; as far as the app will not open and the hub device will not work after being sold as a lifetime subscription. Google/Alphabet could afford to support these devices throughout their entire useful lives. Cloud backup companies that sell data protection plans to consumers always include verbiage that deny said users the right to recognize any value from said data in the event the service loses or destroys their backups. The security issues raised through poor IoT devices is large and getting larger, and that’s before we get to the privacy implications.
This is where Ross’ theory prima facia (Latin term) which means consideration when deciding which duty should be acted upon and how the greatest good can apply towards a ones best interest written in The Right and the Good. There are seven duties that apply to this methodology which are Fidelity, Reparation, Gratitude, Non-maleficence, Justice, Self-improvement and Beneficence. I feel that W.D. Ross’s theory applies to the Nest disabling Revolv hub by making themselves better with self-improvement which is what Nest is looking to broaden their own future in autonomous product line. The real problem is that Nest’s decision sends a pretty clear message that you just can’t rely on IoT (“Internet of Things”) things. The shortsighted decision to pull the plug on the Revolv hub won’t inspire confidence in other products for future consumers whom familiar with how this company does business with its consumers. Beneficence is the theory for improving the condition of others like IoT which is the constant renewed innovator that is supposed to help us be more energy sufficient by saving electricity, water supplies, expand the healthcare field, make our homes and cars safer. In one aspect we are a nation of disposable electronics the fight is for technical perfection and seamless production.  W.D. Ross referred to these duties as guidelines like justice he felt there should be a fair distribution of pleasure or happiness but depending on the situation who should this duty really apply towards. So Revolv’s original warranty on hardware was one year, which Nest has honored and all warranties have now expired. Revolv services will cease while product data will be erased on May 15, 2016 and till this present day the countdown is still on for home owners. Revolv was always a start-up, and it didn’t reach the top scale like most start-ups do, so some of its assets were acquired by a big company. The impending of Revolv shutting down was handled not too tastefully, but it now appears the offenders will refund the purchase price of the hub, or provide some other remedy to the aggrieved parties. 

The moral behind this is to consider a home-technology professional to recommend products to oversee your installation and integration; they may be aware of internet loss and product obsolescence from supplier product experience. Also the issue is that giving these gadgets more autonomy could make it harder for companies to get people to pay monthly fees that turn devices into ongoing revenue streams. But with that being said smart products should be able to work remotely in the event their cloud services go away entirely. So now we currently live in the day an age of disposable technology to where smart-phones and tablets are repurchased for new up to date items, and still we expect our old devices to be still usable as a backup.

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