big ass brother

In November I wrote a three part review of the Haiku fan from Big Ass Fans. I love the fan, but I had some complaints about the clumsy remote and the dim lamp. That review ends with:

If Nest can solve the user interface challenge of configuring a wifi smoke detector on your ceiling, then it must be possible for a ceiling fan.

The folks at Big Ass have now come to the same conclusion. They have a new model out with 'SenseME' technology. What is SenseME? It looks like a module that replaces the lame lamp with the equivalent of a Nest thermostat.

I have a guess that the fan motherboard is unchanged and that the SenseME module plugs into the same header as the RF remote receiver.

SenseME is still in pre-launch. I wonder if they will work out some kind of revenue split with users over the monetization of your home occupancy data. Maybe they will just knock a hundred dollars of the list price up front. Maybe they'll find it easier to just keep the money.

In any case, I have two suggestions for Big Ass. The first is to go license "See Me, Feel Me" from The Who for your SenseME campaign. The second is to take a moment and consider a brand pivot. This could be the moment to transition away from fans and become Big Ass Brother. Why not just admit up front what we all suspect about the current connected home insanity? Your existing brand concept slaps a folksy, colloquial label on a plain fact -- big fans. Let's do the same thing for the Internet of Things that Spy on You (IoTtSoY). Big Ass Brother.