Episode 192: Amazon’s big news and UL’s cyber safety standard

This week Kevin and I start off on a heavy note discussing the things that went wrong during the Lion Air crash at the end of October relating that to the increase in sensors, software and inadequate procedures for marrying the Silicon Valley mindset with the real world. We then tackle the many, many announcements made by Amazon at its Re:Invent event, focused on the elements that matter to the internet of things. From there we discuss smaller news such as the Open Connectivity Foundation’s standards becoming an ISO standard, ISO’s new drone standard proposal and a new Google speaker. Kevin shares his thoughts on the future of digital assistants and we tell a father which connected light switches won’t require a neutral wire.

The Klipsch Google Assistant speaker is pricey, but pretty. Image courtesy of Klipsch.

After that, I speak with Gonda Lamberink, who is  a senior business development manager at UL, about the cybersecurity standards UL is working  on. We talk about best practices, why UL charges for its standard and how many UL certifications an IoT company should expect to get. We also discuss the challenges in preparing a standard for the software world, which changes so rapidly. It’s a good interview.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guests: Gonda Lamberink, UL
Sponsor: Afero

  • Sensors can lie, so how do we adapt?
  • Amazon’s new IoT services take aim at the enterprise and industrial IoT
  • Kevin is waiting for Jarvis
  • How will UL adapt it’s standards work for software?
  • What makes a device secure in UL’s eyes?

 

Episode 186: ARM’s new architecture and Anki’s adorable robot

This week’s podcast kicks off with a deep dive into the news shared at ARM’s TechCon event happening in Santa Clara, Calif. We talk about ARM’s new architecture, move on to Facebook’s privacy fudge and then spend a lot of time discussing the UK’s new standards for IoT device security. We then take a look at Github’s new Actions and speculate on what it could mean for IoT, and discuss Simplisafe’s new video doorbell, the Pixel Stand and Nest integration. We also share a website that’s great for finding frameworks for industrial IoT projects. We then discuss the death of the Myo armband and the launch of Anki’s new Vector robot. Finally, we close by answering a question about smart locks for a listener.

The SimpliSafe Video Doorbell Pro is will cost $169 and will be sold on the SimpliSafe site and at Best Buy. Image courtesy of SimpliSafe.

Our guest this week is Teo Swee Ann, founder and CEO of Espressif Systems. Espressif makes the ESP8266 and the ESP32 chips used by thousands of people and customers making IoT devices. We learn about the history of the ten-year-old company, discuss building IoT devices that can last 20 years and what Teo thinks about IoT in China. We also get the lowdown on the new architecture that Espressif plans to launch for IoT devices next year. It’s a fun show.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest: Teo Swee Ann, founder and CEO of Espressif Systems
Sponsors: Cognizant and Auklet

  • Explaining ARM’s big bets on IoT
  • The UK publishes great IoT security advice for business and consumers
  • Sometimes it’s hard to imagine your industrial or enterprise IoT project. This site can help.
  • What the heck is an ESP32 or an ESP8266?
  • What type of chip will the IoT need next?

Episode 176: Why did Apple join the Thread Group?

This week Kevin and I kick off the show with our thoughts on the future of hearables before explaining why we think Apple joined the Thread Group and what it means for future HomeKit products. From there we talked about a new report suggesting that IoT will be a $520 billion industry by 2021 and how enterprise and industrial IoT has stalled. A reader tip led us to valuable security actions you can take with your connected devices from Make magazine and Kevin shares his thoughts on the new Anki robot.  We hit news from ARM, the feds, Control4 and Smarter before answering a listener question about IR in the smart home.

The new June oven is $499 for a limited amount of time. It will eventually retail for $599.

Our guest this week is Matt Van Horn, who is the CEO of June. This week June launched a second generation oven that is roughly a third of the price of the original. Van Horn shares how June made that possible, how the company is using data to improve the user experience and why he’s not going into meal delivery kits anytime soon. He also shares a recipe for S’mores. Enjoy the show.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest: Matt Van Horn of June
Sponsors: NETGEAR and Afero

  • We’re going to ditch screens for voices in our ears
  • Security tips for your Pis and IoT devices
  • Check out Bond for IR control
  • No knobs and scaled back sensors lower June’s price tag
  • Why June has 64 ways to cook bacon