Episode 122: Roombas, an IIoT dictionary and IoT networks galore

Kevin Tofel and I crammed a fine mix of IoT news into the show this week, starting with news of an employer popping RFID tags into employees and ending with a dystopian book recommendation from Kevin. In between we discuss August’s new funding round, the death of an smart home startup and the acquisition of Arraynet by Prodea, a company trying to build smarts for service providers and enterprises. And yes, we did talk about iRobot selling your home’s layout to companies, and why this is a potential turning point for IoT. My Amazon Dash Wand review, Elon Musk’s boring elevator, an ARM paper and a discussion of the new Industrial Internet Consortium’s new dictionary round out the show.

August raised $25 million to expand its Access partnerships.

Don’t be tempted to tune out after all of that, because we’ve got more! This week Comcast’s MachineQ IoT network is in the spotlight. We talk about Comcast’s interest in LoRa networks and its plans for enterprise and industrial IoT with Alex Khorram, GM of MachineQ. Khorram explains LoRA networks and what they are good for, how they might be built and what other providers are doing with the technology. Not only will you learn about LoRA, but you’ll also know what Comcast plans to do with it. Enjoy the show!

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest: Alex Khorram, GM of MachineQ
Sponsors: Schlage and Smart Kitchen Summit

  • Roomba’s sucking up your data represent a turning point for IoT
  • Who is Prodea and what will it do with Arraynet?
  • My thoughts on the Amazon Dash Wand and Kevin’s book recommendation
  • Every thing you need to know about LoRa and LoRaWAN
  • Wait, is Comcast becoming a wireless carrier?

Episode 64: How a VC views the internet of things

Do you need money? Want to buy or sell an internet of things startup? Then this week’s interview is must-listen stuff. Matt Turck, of FirstMark Capital came on the show to give some advice to those seeking financing, discuss the overall funding landscape and try to pinpoint where the next big exits are going to come from. Why Turck? Because a few months ago he covered this who topic in amazing depth. So listen up to see what has changed!

Sproutling was one of the VC exits this year.
Sproutling was one of the VC exits this year.

Before you listen to Turck, Kevin shares his karaoke picks, we dig into the upcoming Bluetooth 5.0 specification and lay out what we think Apple’s HomeKit and Home app mean for the industry. We also talk about Samsung’s plan to invest $1.2 billion into the internet of things, its cloud, and Elon Musk’s offer to buy SolarCity. It’s not that crazy, y’all!

Host: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest: Matt Turck of FirstMark Capital
Sponsor: WolfSSL

  • Kevin’s karaoke nightmare (also the latest on Bluetooth)
  • Apple’s Home app is somewhat demoralizing
  • What Samsung needs in IoT
  • We’re in the second wave of IoT exits
  • Don’t quit your day job to rush to build a new product