Episode 355: Get ready for an active FTC and energy storing appliances

The big story this week in IoT was the joint venture between Ford and ADT to add smart home security to cars through an in-vehicle security system. Then we discuss the FTC and Department of Justice reconsidering how they evaluate mergers. We also explain variations on Wi-Fi, from the launch of new Wi-Fi 6E gear to the coming Wi-Fi 7 standard. We include a blast from the past with an update on Misty Robotics and, in other robot news, we cover research from the MIT Media Lab on giving robotics a personality. We’re also sharing news about energy harvesting Bluetooth company Atmosic, which has a new product and $72 million in funding. In smaller news, we are excited about smart home company Tado going public, and a new way of handling IR sensing that could figure out the nutritional value of food. We stick with the food topic by discussing my latest purchase, a smart induction range from GE Appliances. Finally, we listen to a question from Kevin in St. Louis about using Amazon Sidewalk or LoRaWAN in wearables.

Furhat Robotics has acquired Misty Robotics for better social robotics. Image courtesy of Furhat. 

Our guest this week is Kailas Nair, a co-founder and director at Plentify. The South African startup is trying to help power companies store energy generated by renewable sources for later use by home appliances. Nair discusses how his startup is trying to use sensors and data analysis to make it possible to power a fridge, a heat pump, or a water heater when power is cheap and clean, for use when renewable energy isn’t available. He also explains how important it is to manage energy across many homes, not just on an individual basis. For the last five years, Plentify has sold its electronics and algorithms for water heaters in South Africa, and now he’s bringing the tech to the U.S. and hoping to convince appliance manufacturers to put the Plentify tech into their own products.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest: Kalais Nair, co-founder and director at Plentify
Sponsors: Rightpoint and Hologram

  • Canopy will bring smart home security to cars
  • U.S. merger guidelines are set to change
  • Let’s talk about Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7
  • Smart appliances will become a source of stored energy
  • How Plentify will use insurers and utilities to bring energy storage to homes

Episode 125: Lockstate’s big goof and a super sensor from CMU

How do you turn a deadbolt into a brick? Update its software! That’s not funny, especially if you’re Lockstate, which rendered 500 connected door locks useless with a software update last week. Kevin and I add a bit of context to the event and then jump right into discussions about Anker’s Eufy Genie, a connected bassinet and a story that portrays Carnegie Melon’s super sensor in a scary light. We end with Caraoke, June’s new wall-mounted oven and a plan to use Outlook to schedule your Roomba.

The Snoo bassinet costs $1,160.

Our guest this week covers what we need to do to continue building out the internet of things. As SVP and General Manager of Silicon Labs’ IoT division, Daniel Cooley has the unenviable task of predicting what features chips will need three to five years before he thinks we’ll need them. In this segment he talks about pushing more math to sensors, how important it is to get security right, the future of human-to-machine interfaces and the types of business models we’ll need. He also dives into the concept of unified data models for the internet of things– essentially defining in software what a physical product can do. You’ll learn a lot.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest: Daniel Cooley of Silicon Labs
Sponsors: HiQo Solutions and Eero

  • Lockstate has something in common with Wink
  • Someone put a baby in a Snoo!
  • Another gadget for the hall of shame
  • How silicon companies are thinking about the edge
  • The internet of things needs data models stat!

Correction: This episode credited the super sensor to MIT, but it was built by researchers from Carnegie Melon. The post has been changed on Aug. 29, 2017 to reflect the correction.

Episode 98: Science fiction prepared me for spying TVs

This week we discuss the city of Louisville, Kentucky adding an If This Then That channel, a settlement over televisions that spy on you, and a possible new feature for the Amazon Echo that could bridge the gap between it and the Google Home. That last tidbit was contributed by Grant Clauser, the smart home editor at the Wirecutter who took Kevin’s place this week. (Never fear, Kevin will be back next week.) Grant also provides input on the professional installer networks like Control4, Crestron and Savant in case you’re wondering about those options. We also have some kitchen M&A and security embedded in the Almond3 router.

Image courtesy of Bruce Sterling.

Our guest this week is Bruce Sterling, a popular science fiction author and the co-creator of a smart house/maker lab in Turin, Italy. Sterling discusses Casa Jasmina, overlooked aspects of the transition to smart homes and how Europe is likely to react to the challenges of security and privacy in connected devices. He also offers up the name “Talking Donkey” for devices like the Amazon Echo or the Google Home. To find out why, listen to this week’s show!

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Grant Clauser of The Wirecutter
Guest: Bruce Sterling
Sponsors: MIT IoT Bootcamp and Ayla Networks

  • Light bulbs for better health and evil TVs
  • Kitchen tech gets some M&A action
  • Don’t call it old-school home automation
  • What the heck is a talking donkey?
  • How Europe will take our smart tech and make it better