Episode 47: New money for IoT startups, new routers for homes and Eero’s CEO

There was a lot of smart home related news this week as Mozilla launched IoT gateway software, Apple’s HomePod reviews came out and Nest was folded into Google. Kevin and I discuss all of that, plus Netgear spinning out its Arlo home camera business and offering a 20 percent stake in an IPO, Amazon’s creepy wristband patent, Alexa at the Superbowl and some feature changes in popular devices. We also spend a lot of time talking about Apple’s health ambitions in light of a new study on detecting diabetes with the Apple Watch. We also answer a listener question about how to configure their Echo for Drop-In calls. Screenshots from Mozilla’s new IoT Gateway web software. Clean design, but this is still very DIY. Image courtesy of Mozilla. For the enterprise minded, we bring in Bruce Chatterley, the CEO of Senet, to talk about LoRa networks and offer some use cases in the smart city, enterprise and residential setting. I learned some new things, including efforts to allow roaming onto LoRa networks. Chatterley also brought up a new business model and said that new partners mean that Semtech no longer holds all the cards when it comes to LoRa networks. Enjoy the show. Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel Guest: Bruce Chatterley, CEO of Senet Sponsors: PointCentral and Renesas Grab your Pi and order a Z-wave dongle for Mozilla’s new IoT software What does Nest going into Google mean for consumer hardware? Kevin bought a WeMo HomeKit Bridge LoRa, what is it good for? Could you IoT devices one day roam? The post Episode 150: Mozilla’s IoT Gateway and LoRa Roaming appeared first on IoT Podcast - Internet of Things.

8 Feb 201856min

We kick off the podcast this week with a discussion of the unintended costs of combining user data, namely the story that Strava had unintentionally outed clandestine U.S. military bases around the world with the publication of its user heat map. Kevin Tofel and I then test text delivery from the Amazon Echo and talk about new features and numbers on the big voice platforms. After that we touch on a PTC tie up with Microsoft Azure and the rise of the industrial IoT at the World Economic Forum. We also answer a reader question on how you know if you’ve been hacked. A close up of the Strava heatmap. This week’s guest also discusses the Strava news as part of a broader discussion on the new regulations on data privacy in the EU. The General Data Protection Regulation rules come into effect on May 25 of this year and will have an effect on tech companies, data brokers and consumers — even if you aren’t in the EU. Chiara Rustici is an independent analyst covering privacy and GDPR, and she goes into depth on what it means, how it may be enforced and the questions better data privacy poses for innovation, especially when it comes to third party risk management or any other types of software that relate to GDPR. You’ll want to hear this. Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel Guest: Chiara Rustici Sponsors: PointCentral and Renesas Will this be the wake up call the U.S. needs to secure data? No ads on Alexa, but you can text Meet Marvis, an Alexa for diagnosing network woes GDPR makes data privacy a human right Let’s use analytics to protect privacy instead of pierce it The post Episode 149: Here’s how the GDPR will change IoT appeared first on IoT Podcast - Internet of Things.

1 Feb 201850min

The Apple HomePod goes on sale this week and Kevin is getting one for the show. We’re not sure if you should yet. We discuss that, and our respective Google Home experiments in this week’s show. We also cover Ring raising money at a big valuation, layoffs in consumer IoT, and trouble at SigFox and other low power wide area networks. Kevin also bought a hearable, Comcast reported its number of security and home automation customers and Bluetooth rescue buttons have flaws. Plus, we answer a question about wired alarms from one of our listeners. An image of Turck’s latest IoT market map. This week’s guest is Matt Turck, managing director at First Mark Capital. Every two years, Turck amazes us with his map of all the IoT startups. This year, he came on the show to talk about where the industry is, what he’s looking to invest in and the end of the first phase of the IoT hype. Listen to the overview and then go check out his in-depth blog post and market map. Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel Guest: Matt Turck, First Mark Capital Sponsors: PointCentral and CBT Nuggets I would wait on HomePod unless you’re all in on Apple Music Consumer IoT is a wasteland, and then there’s Ring Wired alarm? Try Konnected The age of experimentation is over Does your toaster need a bank account? The post Episode 148: IoT’s nuclear winter appeared first on IoT Podcast - Internet of Things.

25 Jan 20181h

At CES I made the decision to traumatize my family and swap out the Amazon Echo for the Google Home despite Wi-Fi challenges. We kick off this week’s show explaining why, and discussing some new tricks the Home has. From there, we hit the partnership between Maersk and IBM to create a digitized supply chain using the blockchain. Then we talk about a startup that might help with that effort. Add in news bits ranging from BMW acquiring ParkMobile to a new low power wide area network module that can last 15 years, and we round out the first half of the show. We also answer a listener question about radiation from IoT devices. If you’re not clued in on this subject, we’re living among radiation with things like WI-Fi and phone signals in our homes, which is why some are resorting to purchasing an EMF Meter to measure these levels of radiation. Listen on if you’re interested. Port of Algeciras, Spain. Image courtesy of Maersk. Our guest takes us back to the topic of IoT networks and the future 5G holds for the internet of things. Chetan Sharma is the founder of Chetan Sharma Consulting, and is a widely respected telecom analyst. He talks about what networks are likely to succeed and why, and then also digs into his thoughts on how we should rethink competition and M&A in the digital economy. He also asks if it’s too late to regulate anticompetitive data practices in the U.S. I hope you enjoy the show. Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel Guest: Chetan Sharma of Chetan Sharma Consulting Sponsors: PointCentral and CBT Nuggets The Google Home has a secret API IBM and Maersk ask what blockchain can do for shipping What 5G means for IoT and which flavor arrives first Things to know when picking a LPWAN Our anticompetitive regime is built for the 20th century, not the 21st The post Episode 147: Okay Google, manage my home appeared first on IoT Podcast - Internet of Things.

18 Jan 201849min

CES is full of stories if you know where to look. This year we had to look beyond companies putting Alexa in everything from toilets to toothbrushes. If you did, you could find out all kinds of fascinating things, such as the big opportunities in the enterprise internet of things or what Comcast is doing with its purchase of Stringify. While roaming the halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Sands Expo, I asked people what they were excited about, what they were looking for and what they think the future might hold. Once again, we bring you the less obvious side of CES. The results are in this podcast, with interviews with Alex Hawkinson, CEO of SmartThings; Nate Williams, an EIR at Kleiner Perkins; a CEO who sold his camera startup to Ooma, and many more. I also share my favorite device from CES, which is not exactly something you can buy at Best Buy. But if we’re lucky, we could soon see it in something from Amazon. I hope you enjoy. If you do, thank the Open Connectivity Foundation which sponsored the entire episode, and gave an update on that standard effort. Host: Stacey Higginbotham Guests: There are a lot Sponsor: Open Connectivity Foundation Comcast explains what’s next for Strinigfy Alexa Hawkinson on Samsung’s plans for SmartThings Ben Nader of Butterfleye on how to pick a buyer Nate Williams on enterprise tech Willy Pell on how to architect machine learning at the edge The post CES 2018 was about more than voice appeared first on IoT Podcast - Internet of Things.

16 Jan 201828min

This week. the Internet of Things Podcast crew (Kevin and I) went to CES to discover that the consumer electronics industry was ALL OVER the internet of things. We talked about the big trends and news, such as Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant starring in everything, the concept of a smart bathroom and Samsung’s really big play in the connected home. We also talk about Ring’s latest lawsuit, Z-Wave’s newest low-power chips and some of the cooler things we’ve seen so far at the show. We also answer a question about bathroom fans taken from the listener hotline. Google was really pushing Google Assistant and the Google Home. While at CES I had the chance to sit down with Simon Segars, the CEO of ARM, to discuss the future of technology as well as the Spectre and Meltdown security vulnerabilities. Segars says that the potential attack has “blown away” chip designers with decades of experience who had never considered that particular type of attack. He also gave some good advice to any consumer concerned about how this particular flaw affects them. Listen up. Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel Guest: Simon Segars, CEO of ARM Sponsors: Lux Products and CBT Nuggets Samsung’s open IoT vision is coming to pass Why Alexa and Google are everywhere at CES Can IoT help with bathroom smells? Where ARM fits in Softbank’s grand plan Will Spectre and Meltdown fixes slow my phone? The post Episode 146: ARM’s CEO on Spectre and Meltdown, plus hot CES 2018 takes appeared first on IoT Podcast - Internet of Things.

11 Jan 201841min

This week Kevin and I talked about the death of an expensive smart lock, Amazon buying a security company, and spent a lot of time wondering what the heck is going on with Google’s IoT cloud platform. We also wondered what the ad strategy for voice UIs will be given the news that Amazon is talking to consumer product brands about advertisements. Our news wrap-up includes voice computing from Roku, Arrow buying eInfochips, and the Intel CPU flaw that shouldn’t affect edge devices too much. We also answer a listener question on which smart speaker to buy if you don’t have a smart phone. The Otto lock will likely never ship after the company shut its doors. And for those tired of cryptocurrencies, we bring you block-less blockchains for the internet of things from Computes, a new startup. Computes founder, and former IoT Podcast guest Chris Matthieu, discusses why IoT needs decentralized computing and why a new type of blockchain makes the most sense. We dig into Computes, blockchain and more in a somewhat geeky interview. Enjoy the show. Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel Guest: Chris Matthieu of Computes Sponsors: Lux Products and CBT Nuggets Why 2018 is the year of cheap smart home tech What should a voice ad sound like? Arrow goes from distributor to IoT integrator with latest buy Why IoT needs decentralized compute What the heck is a block-less block chain? When it comes to smart speakers sans smartphone ownership, which do you buy? The post Episode 145: The block-less blockchain appeared first on IoT Podcast - Internet of Things.

4 Jan 201851min

Once again it’s time for the holiday episode of the Internet of Things Podcast, where Kevin and I gather weeks ahead of the show’s air date to predict what we think will happen next year. We kick it off with our disappointments from 2017, such as very limited (at best) presence detection in the home and a lack of flexible cellular plans for IoT devices. From there we shared our predictions for 2018 such as Kevin’s expectation that local machine learning will finally offer contextual smarts in the home and my prediction that IT shops will reassess how they value IoT deployments. We end with our big questions for the industry wondering what havoc GDPR regulations will wreck and if we’ll get a new security model that works for IoT. My family still loves the June oven we purchased this year. Just like last year and the year before, the guest portion of the show features my family, sharing what they liked and didn’t like about our smart home this year. Much of what we use has become so ingrained in our lives we don’t think of it anymore, but there are still the usual challenges and irritations that show how far the smart home needs to come. Enjoy the show, and I hope you have a restful end of the year. One more note: I used a different microphone to record this show. I will not be using it again. Hosts: Kevin Tofel and Stacey Higginbotham Guests: Andrew and Anna Allemann Sponsors: ADT and FSG Whither beacons and general presence? New homes and apartments get smarter! IT shops get smarter about IoT while carrier questions remain My family still loves voice We gave up on adding new devices to the home this year The post Episode 144: Our IoT predictions and my family’s thoughts appeared first on IoT Podcast - Internet of Things.

28 Dec 201743min