Tag: GDPR

Episode 424: Trust, AI, and the economy drive IoT conversations

This week’s show is live from Dallas as I attend the Parks Associates Connections smart home event, so I start out discussing some of the themes I’ve seen so far, including the growing importance of data privacy, local processing and generative AI. We also talk about the five-year-anniversary of the General Data Protection Regulation in the EU and evaluate its impact so far (it’s not as bad as you think). On the security front, we evaluate Samsung’s plans for IoT security with its Knox Matrix vision and talk about its similarities to the security design for the Matter smart home interoperability standard. Microsoft’s Build event is also this week, and the company’s newly launched Fabric data service and unified data lake products are worth watching for enterprises and industrial customers trying to aggregate and use IoT data. Then we cover some smaller news items such as new Matter products from Yeelight, Govee, and Yale. There’s also a new smart outlet with a sensor-packed outlet cover that has been funded via Kickstarter, which our audience might be interested in. Finally, we answer a listener question about good Zigbee-based light bulbs.

The Yale Assure Lock SL will have a Matter Smart Module, available for $229.99 in black suede or satin nickel. Image courtesy of Yale.

Our guest this week is Paul Williams, chief product officer of Nice North America, who last appeared on the show two and half years ago when he was at Savant.  We start off talking about Matter. Williams says that so far the roll out has been slower than expected which has obviously affected adoption, but he hasn’t lost hope for the standard. He also explains how Matter might affect professional integrators. During our conversation on generative AI he discusses how Nice is using AI currently and where he’d like it to go with generative AI. However, he cautions that privacy of consumer data and corporate data is a real concern when using generative AI, so he’s looking for more conversations about how providers deal with that. We close with a discussion about the economy and how it affects professional integrators and the adoption of smart home devices. Enjoy the show.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest: Paul Williams, chief product officer of Nice North America
Sponsors: Computex and Blues Wireless

  • There’s still optimism about the smart home at the Parks Associates event
  • GDPR turns five, and we look at what it has done
  • Microsoft’s new Fabric will bring all of your data together for analysis
  • Matter’s slow roll out is disappointing, but not a deal killer
  • In bad news for smart homes, new home starts and sales are down

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Episode 217: Lutron has saved the smart bulb!

This week, Lutron introduced the Aurora dimmer switch, which attaches to a traditional light switch to control your smart bulbs without any need of an electrician or tools. We love it! We also discuss the launch of Wyze’s light bulbs and newly added Google Assistant integration, Comcast’s proposed health sensors and Mediatek’s new chips for IoT.  From there we chat about GDPR, over-the-air updates for cars and Google’s new version of Glass. Our news bits feature Savant, Arduino Nano, Tado and Lenovo. This week’s hotline question concerns how to track when people are in a room for automation purposes, so we introduce RoomMe and a new security device called Minut as possible solutions.

The Lutron Aurora sells for $40 and is easy to install.

The guest this week is Zach Supalla, the CEO of Particle, who shares the results from a company-commissioned a survey of 800 IoT developers. We talk about the industries spending money on IoT and their use cases and then talk about the things that companies tend to struggle with once they scale up an IoT project. Surprisingly data isn’t the challenge you need to worry about. There are good learnings here.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest:  Zach Supalla, the CEO of Particle
Sponsors: Dell Technologies and Nordic Semiconductor

  • Lutron Aurora is a must-have for renters
  • Do you want Comcast all up in your health?
  • Microsoft wants GDPR-style regulations in the US too
  • Here are the top five industries buying IoT
  • Here are the top three use cases so far for industrial IoT

 

 

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Episode 202: What happens when your smart home gets a subpoena

This week’s news was somewhat grim for the smart home with Lowe’s shutting down its Iris smart home hub program and a number of acquisitions in the space. Those include LIFX, Neeo, and WigWag. We are pumped about the rise in mainstream attention for consent around data use and privacy. Unfortunately, we also have a bunch of stories about leaking data, poor security practices and a slight bright point with a UK investment in device security. We end with some Google Assistant updates that are pretty compelling. Then we hit our IoT Podcast Hotline to answer a question about the best light switch to replace a Plum light switch, which has stopped working.

LIFX was purchased by an Australian company for $51 million.

Our guest this week is Denise Howell, a lawyer in California who shared some thoughts about how smart devices will change the legal landscape. We spent some time talking about what might happen in criminal and civil lawsuits when police or even other lawyers want access to device data. What rights do you have? We also talk about GDPR and the likelihood of new data protection laws getting passed at a federal level. She’s not as optimistic as I am. Enjoy the show.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest: Denise Howell, attorney
Sponsors: Urban-X and Western Digital

 

  • Lowe’s does a great job with a bad situation
  • The fallout in smart home devices keeps coming
  • Basic security starts with encryption
  • Tort law is the best we have for poor IoT products
  • It’s not jsut the police you have to worry about when it comes to device data

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Episode 149: Here’s how the GDPR will change IoT

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

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