Nest smart thermostat co-founder is back with a new device for the home, focused on food

Published

2 years ago

January 17, 2023

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Matt Rogers went from Apple to Nest Labs and into many homes with the now-Google smart thermostat. He’s looking to get into your home again, this time to solve America’s food waste problem.

Chewie Labs

Matt Rogers has always liked to look at areas that are overlooked.

Before he left Apple to start smart device company Nest Labs in 2010, for instance, no one thought twice about their home thermostat and took its technology for granted. Nest’s smart thermostat, which allows users to control their home’s heating from an app on their phone, ended up pioneering the way for the smart home revolution and changing the way people think about their energy use.

After Nest, Rogers began work on several philanthropic projects, many focusing on climate-related initiatives. In addition to co-founding Incite.org, he served as Chairman of Carbon180, an NGO focused on reducing carbon emissions, until September 2022, and he’s currently chairman of Advanced Energy Economy.

What stuck out to Rogers through his environmental work was how much food is thrown away each year. With more than one-third of food in the United States being wasted and food being the single most abundant material found in landfills, Rogers felt there had to be a better way to prevent so much food from being thrown in the garbage.

“Waste is one of these areas that we’ve kind of taken for granted but doesn’t have to exist,” Rogers said. “It’s super important in the climate fight, people need to realize how bad it is that we throw food in the trash and it becomes methane in landfills.”

That’s how Rogers — along with Harry Tannenbaum, who Rogers worked with at Nest — came up with the idea for Mill, his latest venture that launched Tuesday focused on creating sustainable technology to help combat food waste.

Mill users put their food waste — including meat and dairy, items that aren’t normally able to be composted — into a new kitchen bin that dehydrates the food overnight, turning it into an odorless, coffee ground-like material the company calls food grounds. Once the bin fills up, which Rogers says takes about three weeks on average, its contents can be packaged up and sent back to Mill via mail. The company then repurposes the grounds into an ingredient for chicken feed and sends it to farms.

The start-up charges users a $33 monthly subscription fee to recycle their food scraps. It’s a system he hopes may help eliminate food waste from the American home.

“We’ve kind of gotten used to the way things are, but it doesn’t have to be that way,” Rogers said. “So when you come at it with fresh eyes, you actually end up building an entirely new system.”

During his time at Nest, Rogers said he found that systems need to be significantly easier to use and create a better overall user experience if people are going to change their daily habits. Nest made it easy for individuals to control the climate of their home from their smartphones. Mill now makes it easy for people to get rid of food waste and reduce their carbon footprint. It eliminates smelly food scraps going in the trash bin with minimal steps; it offers an alternative to composting, which often attracts fruit flies and requires more maintenance than Mill’s system.

The bin can automatically dehydrate the waste every night, or users can program the bin to begin the dehydration process at times that best fit with their schedules. This is another lesson Rogers said he learned from Nest: while some people like to have their systems operate automatically, others like to have control.

Mill also includes some smart technology. An optional app lets users monitor their food waste from their phones and see how much they are putting into their bins. Rogers said making users aware of their waste habits — similar to how Nest makes them aware of their energy consumption habits — may help change purchasing behaviors over time, enabling them to save some money at the grocery store on food they don’t need to buy.

“If we start to think about things differently, actually, this is where individual actions can drive systemic change,” Rogers said. “That’s a really big deal.”

Ultimately, Rogers envisions Mill having the potential to reach beyond the household kitchen, to cities which have zero waste goals.

“We’re in this for large-scale impact,” Rogers said. “We want to build a big business that also is good for the planet, and we want this to be for everyone.”

CNBC is now accepting nominations for the 2023 Disruptor 50 list – our 11th annual look at the most innovative venture-backed companies. Learn more about eligibility and how to submit an application by Friday, Feb. 17.

Technology

Tesla launches refreshed Model Y in China to fend off domestic rivals

Published

7 hours ago

January 10, 2025

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Tesla launched a revamped version of its Model Y in China.

Tesla

Tesla on Friday announced a revamped version of its popular Model Y in China, as the U.S. electric car giant looks to fend off challenges from domestic rivals.

The Model Y will start at 263,500 Chinese yuan ($35,935), with deliveries set to begin in March. That is 5.4% more expensive than the starting price of the previous Model Y.

A spokesperson for Tesla China said that the new Model Y is only open for pre-sale in the Chinese market, rather than being launched globally.

Tesla’s Model Y refresh comes after the auto giant this month reported its first ever annual decline in overall deliveries for 2024.

Elon Musk’s electric vehicle firm is facing heightened competition around the world, from startups and traditional carmakers in Europe. In China, the company continues to face an onslaught of rivals from BYD to newer players like Xpeng and Nio.

Jason Low, principal analyst at Canalys, notes that the Tesla Model Y was the best-selling EV in China in 2024 and that the popularity of the car “remains high.” However, he noted that the competition in the sports utility vehicle (SUV) segment with vehicles priced between 250,000 yuan and 350,000 yuan “has been fierce.”

“Tesla must showcase compelling smart features, particularly a unique but well localized cockpit and services ecosystem,” as well as “effective” semi-autonomous driver assistance features “to ensure its competitiveness in the market,” Low added.

Tesla is offering a number of incentives for customers to buy the Model Y including a five-year 0% interest financing plan.

The new Model Y can accelerate from 0 kilometers per hour to 100 kilometers per hour in 4.3 seconds, Tesla said, exceeding the speed capabilities of the previous vehicle. The Model Y Long Range has a further driving range on a single charge versus its predecessor.

Tesla has not introduced a new model since it began delivering the Cybertruck in late 2023, which starts at nearly $80,000.

Investors have been yearning for a new mass-market model to reinvigorate sales. Tesla has previously hinted that that a new affordable model could be launched in the first half of 2025.

Despite Tesla’s headwinds, the company’s stock is up nearly 70% over the last 12 months, partly due to CEO Musk’s close relationship with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

Technology

World’s biggest chipmaker TSMC posts record 2024 revenue as AI boost continues

Published

11 hours ago

January 10, 2025

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World's biggest chipmaker TSMC posts record 2024 revenue as AI boost continues

The logo for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Sept. 26, 2023.

Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. posted December quarter revenue that topped analyst estimates, as the company continues to get a boost from the AI boom.

The world’s largest chip manufacturer reported fourth-quarter revenue of 868.5 billion New Taiwan dollars ($26.3 billion), according to CNBC calculations, up 38.8% year-on-year.

That beat Refinitiv consensus estimates of 850.1 billion New Taiwan dollars.

For 2024, TSMC’s revenue totaled 2.9 trillion New Taiwan Dollars, its highest annual sales since going public in 1994.

TSMC manufacturers semiconductors for some of the world’s biggest companies, including Apple and Nvidia.

TSMC is seen as the most advanced chipmaker in the world, given its ability to manufacture leading-edge semiconductors. The company has been helped along by the strong demand for AI chips, particularly from Nvidia, as well as ever-improving smartphone semiconductors.

“TSMC has benefited significantly from the strong demand for AI,” Brady Wang, associate director at Counterpoint Research told CNBC.

Wang said “capacity utilization” for TSMC’s 3 nanometer and 5 nanometer processes — the most advanced chips — “has consistently exceeded 100%.”

AI graphics processing units (GPUs), such as those designed by Nvidia, and other artificial intelligence chips are driving this demand, Wang said.

Taiwan-listed shares of TSMC have risen 88% over the last 12 months.

TSMC’s latest sales figures may also give hope to investors that the the demand for artificial intelligence chips and services may continue into 2025.

Foxconn, which assembles Apple’s iPhones, reported its highest-ever fourth quarter revenue this week, as it notched strong demand for AI servers.

Meanwhile, Microsoft this month said that it plans to spend $80 billion in its fiscal year to June on the construction of data centers that can handle artificial intelligence workloads.

CNBC’s Jordan Novet contributed to this report.

Technology

Supreme Court set to hear oral arguments on challenge to TikTok ban

Published

18 hours ago

January 10, 2025

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Supreme Court set to hear oral arguments on challenge to TikTok ban

Tik Tok creators gather before a press conference to voice their opposition to the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” pending crackdown legislation on TikTok in the House of Representatives, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 12, 2024.

Craig Hudson | Reuters

The Supreme Court on Friday will hear oral arguments in the case involving the future of TikTok in the U.S., which could ban the popular app as soon as next week.

The justices will consider whether the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, the law that targets TikTok’s ban and imposes harsh civil penalties for app “entities” that continue to carry the service after Jan.19, violates the U.S. Constitution’s free speech protections.

It’s unclear when the court will hand down a decision, and if China’s ByteDance continues to refuse to divest TikTok to an American company, it faces a complete ban nationwide.

What will change about the user experience?

The roughly 115 million U.S. TikTok monthly active users could face a range of scenarios depending on when the Supreme Court hands down a decision.

If no word comes before the law takes effect on Jan. 19 and the ban goes through, it’s possible that users would still be able to post or engage with the app if they already have it downloaded. However, those users would likely be unable to update or redownload the app after that date, multiple legal experts said.

Thousands of short-form video creators who generate income from TikTok through ad revenue, paid partnerships, merchandise and more will likely need to transition their businesses to other platforms, like YouTube or Instagram.

“Shutting down TikTok, even for a single day, would be a big deal, not just for people who create content on TikTok, but everyone who shares or views content,” said George Wang, a staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute who helped write the institute’s amicus briefs on the case.

“It sets a really dangerous precedent for how we regulate speech online,” Wang said.

Who supports and opposes the ban?

Dozens of high-profile amicus briefs from organizations, members of Congress and President-elect Donald Trump were filed supporting both the government and ByteDance.

The government, led by Attorney General Merrick Garland, alleges that until ByteDance divests TikTok, the app remains a “powerful tool for espionage” and a “potent weapon for covert influence operations.”

Trump’s brief did not voice support for either side, but it did ask the court to oppose banning the platform and allow him to find a political resolution that allows the service to continue while addressing national security concerns.

The short-form video app played a notable role in both Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’ presidential campaigns in 2024, and it’s one of the most common news sources for younger voters.

In a September Truth Social post, Trump wrote in all caps Americans who want to save TikTok should vote for him. The post was quoted in his amicus brief.

What comes next?

It’s unclear when the Supreme Court will issue its ruling, but the case’s expedited hearing has some predicting that the court could issue a quick ruling.

The case will have “enormous implications” since TikTok’s user base in the U.S. is so large, said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of Berkeley Law.

“It’s unprecedented for the government to prohibit platforms for speech, especially one so many people use,” Chemerinsky said. “Ultimately, this is a tension between free speech issues on the one hand and claims of national security on the other.”