Daily News Roundup: Goodbye Nest.com, Hello Google Store

Google is working on merging the Nest and Google brands. In that spirit, it put an announcement up at Nest.com, directing you to the Google Store for all future news and purchases. For now, only Nest Aware is left standing.

At I/O, Google explained its plan to merge the Nest and Google brands and shut down services like “Works with Nest.” The company renamed the Google Home hub to Nest Hub and announced the Nest Hub Max. Curiously some products didn’t make the transition, like Google Home and Google Home Mini. But that could change in the future.

And now, as part of the transition, Google has flagged its intention to shut down Nest.com. If you go to the site today, you’ll be greeted by an announcement that Nest.com is moving to the Google Store. In the future, you’ll find new products and make your purchases there.

For now, Nest.com continues to serve as the hub for Nest Aware, Google’s subscription service for its security cameras and doorbell. And you can use the site to log into your Nest Account, at least until the company convinces you to convert to a Google account. [9to5Google]

RELATED: What the End of “Works With Nest” Means For You

In Other News:

• Amazon’s new Ring Door View Cam is available now: We think Video Doorbells are the best smart device you can purchase. And now Amazon is offering an incredibly easy-to-install doorbell that replaces your peephole. No wiring, no drilling. If you’re a renter, you should take a look. [ReviewGeek]
• Best Buy wants to sell you “smart gym” equipment: Best Buy is planning to add dedicated space in its stores for smart gym equipment. Think treadmills and rowing machines with touchscreens and Bluetooth. Or better yet, think “dust gathering furniture that costs even more than usual.” [Engadget]
• The latest Nerf Gun is a Fortnite Rocket Launcher: Nerf is getting in on the Fortnite action, and that includes a few themed guns from the game. The best looking toy is a Fortnite Rocket launcher, and please nobody tell our children. That’d be an instant buy demand. [Tom’s Guide]
• Harry Potter: Wizards Unite launches Friday: Harry Potter: Go Wizards Unite is the latest Augmented Reality game from Niantic, the developers behind Pokémon Go. The game seems more complicated and has you collecting artifacts and casting spells. Bonus points if casting Lumos turns on your phone’s flashlight function. [The Verge]
• Google Calendar went down and we didn’t know where to be: Google’s Calendar service went down for the better part of the day yesterday, ironically not long after bragging how great the service is. Just the day before, Google Cloud went down for part of the day, and we’re not sure how to survive without our files and appointments readily available anymore. [Digital Trends]
• Mozilla patched a Zero-day exploit in Firefox, update now: Google’s Project Zero team discovered a particularly nasty vulnerability in Firefox. By manipulating JavaScript objects, bad actors could cause an exploitable crash. Worse yet, this isn’t just theory; the vulnerability has already seen use in the wild. Mozilla provided very few details about the problem, but if you use Firefox, you should update right now. [ZDNet]
• Apple Watch may let you delete some built-in apps: The Apple Watch is gaining some independence from the iPhone in the upcoming watchOS 6 update. It seems in addition to the ability to install apps without an iPhone; you might gain the ability to delete some apps you couldn’t remove in the past. Watches have limited space, so getting rid of anything you aren’t using should be helpful. [TechCrunch]
• Intel makes overclocking easy for some processors: Overclocking your processor is always somewhat risky. You can minimize the risk with proper cooling and using caution in how much you ask of the processor. Intel’s new “Performance Maximizer” tool should make overclocking even safer—if you have a particular i9 processor. The program examines processor settings and determines the best tweaks to prepare for a performance boost. While it’s unfortunate the program is limited to just six processors, at least it’s free. [PCMag]

RELATED: What Is Overclocking? The Beginner’s Guide to Understanding How Geeks Speed Up Their PCs

You may want to think twice before clicking this next link. A couple staying at a ski lodge in Australia spotted an unusual site and had to take a picture. What exactly did they see? A giant spider eating a pygmy possum.

Pygmy possums are common in Australia, and shouldn’t be confused for the American opossum. They’re about the size of a mouse, and marsupials.

Still, how often have seen a spider eating a mouse? If your answer is “never” count your lucky stars for missing out on that disturbing event.

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