Category: standards

Episode 120: Learn how 3-D sensors work before Apple puts them in the iPhone

What did you buy for Prime Day this week? This week we tackle if Amazon’s new program to help folks install Alexa-enabled devices is a big deal and Apple’s retail plans for HomeKit. We also discuss fashion-forward wearables, and a new startup called Nodle that’s trying to create crowdsourced Bluetooth-based IoT networks. We have a lot of data on voice thanks to IFTTT and spent some time discussing a friendly French IoT company.

Lighthouse combines machine learning, natural language processing and computer vision to create an assistant for your home that can see, hear and speak.

Then I chat with Alex Teichman about Lighthouse, his new startup that marries computer vision with a voice-based personal assistant to make your life easier. For the nerds out there, we also discuss the category of sensors available for 3-D sensing and how they differ. This matters for Lighthouse, self-driving cars and maybe even for the next-generation iPhone. Get ready to cover everything from recurrent neural networks to frickin’ lasers!

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest: Alex Teichman co-founder and CEO at Lighthouse
Sponsors: Schlage and Affiliated Monitoring

  • Do you need a Mother? It’s on sale.
  • Can Apple build the right showroom to sell the smart home?
  • Louis Vuitton gets into wearables
  • How to use 3-D sensing to make computers see more
  • How Apple may choose to use 3-D sensors to unlock phones

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Episode 119: Amazon’s Echo Show makes me feel lonely

After a week with the Amazon Echo Show I realize that I have no friends–on that device at least. In addition to my review of the Show, Kevin shares a review of the GoControl Z-wave sensor pack he purchased to go with the Wink, and I talk about the Leviton Decora light switch in depth. Reviews aside, we also chat (and sing!) about low power wide area networks, Ingenu’s departing CEO and the closure of the company behind a $500 backup camera.

The Plume WiFi pods

And because I’m so obsessed with Wi-Fi, I interview Fahri Diner, the CEO of Plume about where Wi-Fi is heading. He’s one of those that convinced me that Wi-Fi will end up in more devices, and he talks about how his deals with Comcast and Samsung will make that possible. We also discuss why you’re going to pay your ISP for Wi-Fi and where the retail model will struggle. You’ll have opinions about this episode.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest: Fahri Diner, CEO of Plume
Sponsors: Schlage and Affiliated Monitoring

  • I’m not totally sold on the Echo Show
  • Say goodbye to Pearl Backup cameras
  • Kevin tries some GoControl security sensors
  • Where will Wi-Fi be? Everywhere!
  • Retail Wi-Fi isn’t a big market

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Episode 116: Meet Eero’s new routers and see how Aclima uses IoT to stop pollution

There was a lot of Wi-Fi news this week with new routers and services from Eero. Meanwhile, the Wi-Fi Alliance has created a certification program for builders to ensure that newly constructed homes get the best in-home coverage available. Since I was out this week, Kevin and I recorded early, so there’s news of AWS Greengrass and Softbank buying Boston Dynamics. Plus, Kevin and I share how to connect your smart locks to Alexa and further information on the WeMo dimmer.

This is BigDog, one of Boston Dynamic’s scarier robots. Image courtesy of Boston Dynamics.

My guest this week tackles a serious topic. Davida Herzl, the CEO Aclima, discusses how we can use sensors on cars to map pollution data and shares the results of a study conducted in Oakland with Google. We talk about the importance of scientific validation for sensor data and algorithms as well as how to charge for this type of data. Beyond that, she shares why she thinks this sort of granular pollution monitoring is the future of fighting climate change.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest: Davida Herzl, the CEO Aclima
Sponsors: Affiliated Monitoring and TE Connectivity

  • So much news on the Wi-Fi front
  • How to tell Alexa to lock your doors using IFTTT
  • Testing Wink’s new service and WeMo’s dimmer
  • Where in Oakland is pollution the worst?
  • All IoT companies should be validating their data

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Episode 105: Comcast’s platform plans revealed

This week there were two big stories in the internet of things. The first is that Google Home has expanded the number of companies it works with, adding Rachio, Wink, August and more. The other story is that Congress has repealed rules that prevented ISPs from selling your personal data. This will open up consumers’ search history to ISPs and marketers, but Kevin and I discuss what it means for your smart home devices and data. We also discuss IKEA’s new smart home products, Kevin’s poor Z-wave lock experience and hacked commercial dishwashers.

This week’s guest is in charge of a smart home platform that aims to take over a huge number of homes in the US. Daniel Herscovici is the head of Comcast’s Xfinity Home program, and he has some big ambitions. We talk about the purchase of iControl, why Comcast isn’t keen on Zigbee and why Comcast isn’t sweating standards. It’s a fun show.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest: Daniel Herscovici of Comcast
Sponsors: Samsung ARTIK

  • Ikea has smart home ambitions
  • Google Home… is it good enough?
  • How to protect your IoT devices from your ISP
  • Comcast wants to be the base platform for the smart home
  • Standards aren’t holding back innovation

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Episode 104: Vint Cerf has a lot of questions on IoT

This week we discuss a personal assistant from Samsung, Amazon Alexa on phones and mistakes from Google Home. We also talk about a Legend of Zelda superfan and how he controls his home through an ocarina. We then talk about ARM’s new architecture and discuss two deals ARM did last month to boost support for low power wide area networks. Finally, I now have my SmartThings and Lutron integration working, and it’s awesome!

Image of Vint Cerf courtesy of Veni Markovski.

Have you ever wanted to know what Vint Cerf, a vice president and chief internet evangelist at Google, has in his smart home? Find out in our guest segment, as one of the fathers of the internet comes on the show to discuss the internet of things and the questions we should be asking. We discuss standards, architecture, privacy and more. You’ll enjoy it.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest: Vint Cerf of Google
Sponsors: Samsung ARTIK and wolfSSL

  • Google needs to pivot, and its latest misstep shows why
  • Kevin isn’t sold on ARM’s new architecture
  • Yes, standards are important for the internet of things
  • We talk about Vint Cerf’s connected wine cellar
  • More questions than answers on IoT from Vint Cerf

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Episode 93: Special CES Edition covering all the things!

This week’s podcast has too many guests to list (I’m going to list them anyway) and a format that’s totally different. We start off with a discussion on the state of the smart home and what we can learn from CES about mainstream adoption featuring commentary from Cory Sorice, VP of connected platforms at Chamberlain, Jason Johnson, CEO of August, and Ed Zitron of EZPR who is representing the normals among us.

The Stringify table at CES shows some of the myriad connected devices out there today.

From there we hit news from Lutron, Moen and discover what the new Dot Dot standard is all about. After a brief ad from the sponsor for this special edition of the podcast, The Open Connectivity Foundation, we talk to Dr. Michael Bjorn head of research at Ericsson Consumer Lab who shared predictions about technology trends facing us in 2017.

And we wrap with a few thoughts on business models for the internet of things from Zach Suppala, the CEO of Particle, a bit about changing standards from Grant Erickson of the thread Group and finally touch on the challenge of device longevity from Chamberlain’s Sorice.

You’re gonna love it.

Host: Stacey Higginbotham
Sponsor: The Open Connectivity Foundation

  • What can CES tell us about the state of the smart home?
  • This smart shower feels dumb
  • What is Dot Dot?
  • Trends that matter in 2017
  • When can I safely buy a connected product?
  • Get ready to pay a subscription fee

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Episode 92: At CES Amazon Alexa and robots rule

This week we bring our first impressions and several bits of news from CES, the consumer electronics trade show held annually in Las Vegas. I’m here while Kevin avoids the lines by staying in Pennsylvania, but we’re both happy to talk about connected grooming products, robots and the onslaught of Echo-related news. I also noticed that connected gadgets are essentially becoming a consumer’s chance to pay to be in a focus group, as their data is harvested through connected products.

This is a $200 hairbrush slated to come out later this year that measures how healthy your hair is.

Outside of the CES news, this week also has an enterprise IoT slant, with our guest Tim Crawford explaining how CIOs view the internet of things. Crawford is a CIO-for-hire and consultant who has helped advise companies through several tech transformations. We discuss how the role of the CIO needs to change and what new skills the IT organization as a whole must acquire.

Hosts: Kevin Tofel and Stacey Higginbotham
Guest: Tim Crawford, CIO speaker and consultant
Sponsors: Dell and Level Education

  • Let’s talk about business partnerships and privacy
  • Routers to protect all the things
  • So much smart lighting news including news about Lutron and switches from WeMo
  • There’s a new IoT protocol in town … dotdot
  • CIOs have to understand the business, not just tech
  • You can’t just sprinkle security on an IoT project

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Episode 89: Google’s IoT Strategy takes shape and Microsoft enters the fray

There was so much news this week, that we skipped having a guest in favor of just keeping track of some big moves in the sector. This week was Google’s time to shine since it launched both Actions on Google (an SDK for talking to its Assistant on Google Home) and its IoT operating system plus the Weave communications protocol. Not to be topped Microsoft released an SDK for Cortana it’s voice powered personal assistant and Amazon doubled down with AI for all on AWS. So Kevin Tofel and I spent the first half of the show discussing what this means.

The Plume WiFi pods
The Plume WiFi pods

For the second half we focused on all the little bits of news such as Fibaro’s new HomeKit sensors, Ayla Networks’ new ability to help customers build Alexa skills, GE’s decision to build networking gear for the industrial IoT and a new Bluetooth hub for the enterprise from Cassia Networks. Uber and Google also offered some exciting self-driving car news this week and the ZigBee and Thread groups achieved a feat. We also reviewed two Wi-Fi options with Kevin discussing Google WiFi and me talking about why the new Plume pods may not work for everyone. We’ll be back next week with a guest, but in the meantime, enjoy the show.

Hosts: Kevin Tofel and Stacey Higginbotham
Sponsors: Samsung ARTIK and Skybell (Use STACEY50)

  • The 3 things every personal assistant needs to succeed
  • Radio news from Thread and Zigbee plus a new BLE hub
  • GE and Ayla are making IoT easier for the enterprise
  • We have Waymo car news than usual
  • Reviewing Plume Pods and Google WiFi

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Episode 88: Bluetooth 5 and testing lights on Echo and Google Home

Get the bottom line on the Bluetooth 5 specification with Kevin and I in this week’s podcast. If radios aren’t your thing, then delve into the details of connected lights and new features with Amazon Echo and Google Home. We also talk about GE’s new Alexa concept light. (We think it’s strange-looking). We also cover the end of Pebble, the new Amazon Go store and a new energy monitoring device.

What do you guys think of this new Alexa-enabled lamp from GE?
What do you guys think of this new Alexa-enabled lamp from GE?

After the news, I chat with Peter Zornio, Chief Strategic Officer at Emerson Process Management. His company has been thinking about the internet of things for almost a decade and Emerson is currently offering new services based on connected sensors. Zornio explains how switching from a product to a service changes the company’s sales cycles, accounting, contracts and more. He also discusses the issue of security and the industrial internet, and how the internet of things “brand” is being damaged by recent attacks.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest: Peter Zornio of Emerson
Sponsors: Samsung ARTIK and Skybell (use code IOTPODCAST25)

  • Bluetooth 5 is out!
  • How to delete your voice recordings from Amazon Echo and Google Home
  • Goodbye Pebble (I still want my Core)
  • How to figure out which product can become a service
  • How your sales team and contracts will change in the IoT world

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Episode 85: Thoughts on Trump, smart locks and troubleshooting

We recorded last week’s podcast before the election results came out, so this week Kevin and I kick off the show with some thoughts on what Trump means for smart homes and the industrial internet. Then we hit gadgets hard with news about Eero routers getting a big update, the trouble with Google’s troubleshooting and resolution for my Google Home issue. I review the June oven, discuss new security from Z-wave and we answer a reader question on smart bulbs versus smart switches. I also discovered a Wi-Fi leak sensor that’s worth a look.

The June oven is recognizing my asparagus.
The June oven is recognizing my asparagus.

Then we started in on locks. This week’s guest is Rob Martens, a futurist at Allegion (Schlage). He discusses when a device becomes a service, the challenges of being open and security in both a digital and physical world. He also shares his thoughts on the role of futurists for anyone who is angling for that job. Enjoy the show.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest: Rob Martens, futurist at Allegion
Sponsors: Bluetooth and Samsung ARTIK

  • Why Kevin wants to buy an electric vehicle for Christmas
  • Your Eero routers are about to get a 2X improvement
  • Smart bulb or smart switch? Why not both?
  • Explaining the future is hard work
  • Yes, there is a sledgehammer test!

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