Welcome to the Tech Mem Ride Home for Monday, October 12th, 2020. I'm Brian McCullough today.

Google's Nest Thermostat is ditching the iconic dial design.

Will regulators first ask Google to divest itself of Chrome?

A big takedown of a botnet that could have influenced the election, update on Quibby's

shopping itself around, and why COVID has made Caterpillar hit the gas on

robot construction machines. Here's what you miss today in the world of tech.

Google launched new nest Thermostats today with a simpler design that includes

ditching the iconic rotating dial quoting the verge. Google's Nest Smart Home Division has a new smart thermostat available to order starting today.

The new Nest thermostat is a simpler model than the Nest Learning Thermostat or Nest Thermostat E and comes with a lower price just

$129.99. That's $40 less than the Nest E and $120 less than the top of the line third generation nest learning

thermostat. It is available to pre-order starting today and Google says it will be

shipping in a few weeks. Simpler is the theme with the new nest thermostat and that starts with its design.

Gone is the traditional rotating dial that's been on every nest thermostat for the past nine years.

In its place is a touch sensitive

strip on the right side that is used to navigate the interface and make

adjustments. Instead of turning a dial to adjust the temperature you swipe up and

down and tap on this touch strip.

This design eliminates all of the moving parts and allowed Google to bring the price down.

The front of the thermostat is a completely mirrored finish with a display that shines

through the mirror

when the thermostat is being used.

Google is using the same Soli technology that was in the Pixel 4 smartphone

...