Google has announced it’s acquiring Nest Labs for the frankly astonishing figure of $3.2 billion. The search giant paid in cash for the company, founded by Tony Fadell.

Fadell is famous for being the brains behind the iPod, which he helped create and design while working at Apple. He then went on to co-found Nest, now part of Google.

Nest makes smart products for the home, redesigning boring objects such as thermostats and smoke alarms so that they better fit in with our modern lives.

Google has not only bought the company, its products, and the services of Fadell, it’s also bought the potential for gaining access to data from people’s homes. Which is clearly worth billions.