Episode 80: Comcast builds an IoT network and Amazon streams music

Comcast has decided to bet big on the internet of things by investing in LoRa, a radio standard used for low power wide area networks. Kevin and I discuss the cable company’s plans in this week’s show along with Amazon’s new streaming music service, new Arlo indoor/outdoor cameras and wireless charging. We also point out that SmartThings may be the best bet if you are a UK smart home user with an Echo. It’s the only Echo-integrated smart home system supported in the UK.

Farmers have had self-driving tractors for a while. Sensor-fueled smarts make them better.
Farmers have had self-driving tractors for a while. Sensor-fueled smarts make them better.

This week’s guest, Eric Hansotia, is the VP at agricultural conglomerate Agco. He spends the first few moments discussing precision farming and the rest of the interview talking about how to transform your business. Agco is trying to move from selling farm equipment to selling outputs. Instead of a tractor a farmer would buy a specific yield of crops, for example. This is a big transition, and Hansotia walks us through it.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest: Eric Hansotia, senior vice president, global harvesting, crop care and advanced technology solutions at Agco
Sponsor: ARM

  • We’ll pass on Amazon’s new streaming service
  • Drama in the IoT standard world
  • Wireless charging is getting better
  • How to start building services instead of devices
  • Now product companies have to deal with churn

Episode 48: Realtors ready for the smart home

We’ve talked about how whether you should take your connected devices with you when you move on previous shows, but on this week’s show Chad Curry, managing director at the center for Realtor Technology at the National Association of Realtors, takes things further. Much further. Curry discusses the future of MLS listings and how your next real estate transaction might end up with you receiving the gift of a smart hub. From there we discuss the future of home listings and what items will disappear from the home of the relatively near future. In the future when prospective buyers do a property search they may be able to request a smarter house and pick and chose their gadgets. And for those who missed it, check out the work Curry’s team did on helping people who move reauthenticate their smart devices. Most of our listeners should probably bookmark this checklist.

The future MLS listing with smart home data--GIF provided by the National Association of Realtors.
The future MLS listing with smart home data–GIF provided by the National Association of Realtors.

Before we get to Curry, Kevin and I discuss the new Raspberry Pi with integrated Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, which people are saying is THE Pi for the internet of things, the new Fitbit smartwatch and price cuts at the Pebble Time. We also run through some of the features on the Sony Xperia agent prototype shown off at Mobile World Congress which reminded Kevin a lot of the Amazon Echo. And I finally remembered to tell y’all about the future of the new standards-setting organization that formed two weeks ago with Intel, Qualcomm, Microsoft and more. So listen up, and don’t worry, next week, Kevin and I will discuss the new Amazon Echo products.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest: Chad Curry, managing director at the center for Realtor Technology at the National Association of Realtors

  • A new Raspberry Pi for the internet of things
  • Sony’s Amazon Echo prototype and watching the smartwatches
  • The AllJoyn engineers went to Intel and OCF is the result
  • Are you ready for connected drywall?
  • How MLS listings might change thanks to connected sensors