Episode 316: Everything you need to know about Project CHIP

This week’s show launches with a deep dive on Project Connected Home over IP after the Zigbee Alliance released many new details about the specification. We discuss when you can expect it, the devices you’ll see, and the security model. Then we cover the new Wyze lamp, smart auto-dimming windows, Logitech killing the Harmony remote, and Spotify’s new Car Thing. On the enterprise side, we cover a new IoT device vulnerability, funding for Density, a people counting company, and Edge Impulse making it easier to build edge-based ML models on the Raspberry Pi 4. Kevin then shares his thoughts on Logitech’s CircleView camera. We end with a question on what will happen to Z-wave and Zigbee if CHIP succeeds.

The Swarm Tile gets integrated into a sensor or device and costs $119. Image courtesy of Swarm.

Our guest this week is Sara Spangelo, the CEO of Swarm. She talks about Swarm’s monthly $5 per device pricing model and how Swarm can offer satellite connectivity for that price. We also talk about which customers are using Swarm today and why the company decided to focus on one-to-one connectivity as opposed to building a gateway. We conclude with a conversation on how to evaluate a satellite provider since there are so many options available for customers. I have to admit, I’m coming around to the idea of IoT coverage delivered via satellite as a legitimate business proposition.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest: Sara Spangelo CEO of Swarm
Sponsors: DigiCert and Qt

  • CHIP won’t support wearables, appliances, or cameras at launch
  • Why Project CHIP is embracing the blockchain for security
  • Should your service really have a hardware product?
  • Why the satellite era is upon us
  • How to figure out what satellite networks can and can’t do

Episode 220: The future of surveillance includes hacked data and biased AI

This week Kevin and I offer a take on the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency hack and what it means in terms of biometric data, broader security trends and how it relates to policing that can rely on connected AR glasses. Basically, it’s going to be a dystopian hellscape. Especially when you consider Spotify selling data about your emotional state, Amazon’s work on a wearable that detects your emotions, and Facebook trying hard to make a version of the Portal system that could sell. In other news, we discuss whether Uber’s air taxis need 5G, Amazon halting sales of its new Blink XT2 video camera and a new environmental sensing board from Google. And, in our IoT Podcast listener hotline, we answer a question about underrated smart home features. By definition, our answers should surprise you.

Google’s IoT sensor board plugs into a Raspberry Pi and talks to Google’s Cloud IoT Core service.

This week’s guest is Dominique Guinard, the CTO of Evrythng, a platform that connects unique tags to the internet. Brands ranging from Coke to liquor giant Diageo use the Evrythng platform to track individual items and connect brands to customers. Guinard discussed how Evrythng has changed with the times in the internet of things, how a new standard could let consumer packaged good companies track individual items, and how the economics are finally in favor of connected tags.  We also discuss the tech needed to track a trillion connected objects,  salmon and why companies always turn to marketing first when it comes to IoT. Enjoy the show.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest: Dominique Guinard, the CTO of Evrythng
Sponsors: Dell Technologies and Nordic Semiconductor

  • The surveillance state isn’t very secure
  • This isn’t the data I really want to share with companies
  • How many sensors did Google cram onto this board?
  • Sensor tags are finally cheap enough for packaged good
  • Yes, it’s the internet of salmon

Episode 158: Stacey and Kevin debate robots

Intel said it would sell its nine-year-old IoT acquisition Wind River to private equity firm TPG this week. We explain why, and offer some context on the deal. Driven by Spotify’s public listing, I suggest how it can improve its service for the IoT, and then Kevin and I debate what we’d like to see in robots. Kevin shares a smart radon detector. News bits include stories about Google possibly building its own smart display, controlling the Nest Secure system through Google Assistant, Sigfox doing a deal with Louis Vuitton, and enabling devices to use emotion as a form of contextual insight. I also offer a word of caution for those installing video doorbells and we answer a question from Zach about multiple users and the Google Home.

As a side note, if you think there are any risks in your home of radon poisoning, or if the detector finds anything, don’t hesitate to get in contact with a Nashville Radon Mitigation company, or one more close to home, to deal with the problem as soon as possible to help avoid health risks.

The Airthings Wave is a smart radon detector for €199.

Back on topic, our guest this week is Elecia White who is the creator of the Embedded podcast and an embedded systems engineer. She has spent 20 years building software for devices that aren’t computers and has a lot of insights on how the internet of things is changing the role of such engineers and the tradeoffs one makes when building a connected product. I enjoyed her stories on the challenges of security, the future for her job and the ideal team you need if you want to build a connected device. Enjoy the show.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest: Elecia White producer of Embedded
Sponsors: Forgerock and Ring

  • Why Intel dumped Wind River
  • Should digital subscriptions be tied to homes or to users?
  • I do want a Google display
  • What the heck does an embedded systems engineer do?
  • What your ideal smart device team should look like

Episode 112: Google’s IoT Cloud takes on Amazon and Azure

This week we recorded before the big rush of news from Google I/O but we managed to cram in the details on Google’s new IoT Core beta that offers developers a cloud-based platform for connected devices. Since Google servers are used frequently by businesses it would be interesting to see how google monitoring would work within this new cloud beta. Kevin Tofel and I also discuss Android Things and the moves Amazon has made with the Echo to compete with anticipated Google news. These include notifications on the Echo and a pledge to pay some developers. Add to this, Samsung’s new ARTIK modules, Honeywell’s new venture fund and some speculation on Spotify and we have a solid show. Plus, soon I can shop at B8ta.

GE’s appliances can talk to Alexa or Google’s Assistant.

Our guest this week is Bill Gardner from GE Appliances, who shares the industrial giant’s thinking around connected ovens, stoves and more. There’s some bad news, an AI named Geneva that works with Alexa and Google Home, plus a call for partners in building the smart kitchen for the future. And just for fun, I find out why I may want a connected washer and dryer. Enjoy the show!

Hosts: Kevin Tofel and Stacey Higginbotham
Guest: Bill Gardner of GE Appliances
Sponsors: Aeris and Smart Kitchen Summit

  • Google gets semi-serious about an IoT cloud offering
  • Amazon’s pulling out the stops to keep devs with Alexa
  • Sorry, old appliances won’t get Wi-Fi
  • Meet Geneva, the bot that will connect your kitchen
  • Get a sneak peak at GE’s plans for the kitchen of the future

Episode 109: How to scale the industrial IoT

Google Home can recognize your voice, SmartThing’s Connect app on Samsung’s Galaxy 8 can act as a hubless hub for the home, and Spotify may be considering its own connected device. Kevin and I discuss these stories, plus Waymo’s autonomous car testing in Phoenix, and why iDevices was acquired. There’s also a quick discussion of Symantec’s latest security report and Microsoft’s new IoT suite.

iDevices, the maker of this connected dimmer, was acquired this week.

We did forget to discuss Juicero’s challenges, and the Amazon Look came out after our recording, which just means you’ll have more to look forward to next week. In the meantime, sate yourself with a deep dive into the launch of the EdgeX Foundry platform for the industrial internet of things. Dell’s Jason Shepherd describes the newly launched open source effort as a way to scale IoT like we once scaled the PC. Listen up.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham
Guest: Jason Shepherd, Director IoT Strategy and Partnerships at Dell
Sponsors: Samsung ARTIK and IFTTT

  • Kevin bought a Samsung Galaxy 8
  • Who the heck is Hubbell?
  • Microsoft’s IoT efforts are compelling
  • Dell’s push to make industrial IoT scale
  • Standards? We don’t need no stinkin’ standards!

Episode 46: Barbie has a smart home and Sense gives your home computer vision

Andreas Gal, the CEO of Silk Labs has built what feels impossible. With the Sense hub he has created an artificially intelligent home hub that contains a camera, controls for other connected devices and a dedicated to privacy that means he can still offer services but still protect users from blanket surveillance. And the device is beautiful. Gal came on the show this week to talk about the Sense hub and why the world needs yet another connected camera and how he took his role as the former CTO of Mozilla and used that to inform the privacy features the camera offers. We also discussed how to implement AI models and learning on a device as opposed to in the cloud. Many of the challenges Gal has dealt with in his design are ones that hardware designers are thinking through as they implement their own AI or consider how to think about privacy in a world where the U.S. government has declared open season on stalking the Internet of Things.

The Sense camera and home hub from Silk. --Image courtesy of Silk.
The Sense camera and home hub from Silk. –Image courtesy of Silk.

And yes, Kevin Tofel and I discuss James Clapper’s comments before the Senate’s Armed Services Committee from last week in this episode, as well as a bunch of updates to some popular products. Some are good, such as the Wemo updates that boost reliability of the platform and Wink’s updates that bring lighting commands inside the home as opposed to between clouds. Some are frustrating, such as Philips Hue updating its Android app in a way that breaks it if users don’t want to share their location and photos. And some are just awesome, like the continued updates to Amazon’s Echo that include support for Spotify, Uber and the Ecobee3. And yes, Barbie has a smart home. So get set for your commute, your run or however you enjoy the show and have a listen.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guests: Andreas Gal, CEO of Silk Labs

  • Barbie’s smart home might rival yours
  • Amazon’s Echo gets better and updates gone crazy for Hue, Wemo and Wink
  • The Internet of things is a gift for spies
  • Meet the Sense home hub which uses computer vision to learn more about your home
  • Rethinking privacy for connected devices