Some of what is being offered will be useable for some but not for others. For example: Nest knowing when I am on my way home from work most likely will not help it cool my home since it takes longer to get it cool than my trip from work and there is this other problem with the fact that my house uses less energy if I don't set the Tstat back then if I do but...another story for some other time.... Now that I work from home on a floor the Nest would not be... I don't need this at all.
There was this bit about being at an energy peak and reducing consumption. At first this sounds crazy, but I and Joe(OP) have electric meters that track electric use by hour which means that our energy company can charge us more during hours ""IT" considers Peak. So .15 cents per Kwh off peak, $2.50 per Kwh peak. So some folks might want a thermostat that knows this and saves.
For me I only do Laundry once a week or two so the washer ability doesn't mean anything to me....I an swift enough in the brain to know when I want to do laundry and what the costs might be...others might not be, in fact I know others without a clue... so they may like this.....I don't.
As far as Google knowing things. I use Google and opt in to it's application sharing. It works for me for what I want. It may not work for others and right now they can opt out of what they don't want. There is also the fact that in the USA the Government knows everything about everybody without them doing a thing and regardless of what they don't want to share. We have cameras at traffic lights taking pictures of cars running traffic signals, so this notion of personal privacy is gone. I guess I can still whisper into my lovers ear...if I had one.. but who knows? In my Neighborhood the police are encouraging every property owner a to install surveillance cameras(I forget the name of this program). Many of my neighbors have them so they can see everyone and everything within a 360 degree radius 24 hours a day. They can download it to the police on request. So I keep my hands where they belong while walking down my streets :)
Still I like the advancement of technology. The trick is to use it in the correct and beneficial ways for each of us.
(Philadelphia, PA, USA) 
Comes to the Rescue!
