IoT news of the week for April 8, 2022

The latest on the Sigfox sale: The French court met with bidders for Sigfox’s business and assets on April 5, and apparently only four credible bidders turned up. They were Singapore-based UnaBiz, Actility, a French LoRaWAN provider; OTEIS France, and Greybull Capital, an English venture capital company. For a bit more on the proceedings check out the article, which favors OTEIS as the eventual winner of the bid approved by the court. (Enterprise IoT Insights)

I’m excited about the PATCH Act: Lawmakers in both houses of Congress have put forth a bill that would make it much easier for medical device makers to patch security holes in their connected devices without worrying about the FDA invalidating their device approval after a software update. The legislation also calls for some cybersecurity best practices such as requiring a software bill of materials and coordinated vulnerability disclosure plan. I’d like to see this pass because right now, many medical device vendors aren’t as active about patching security flaws as I or the industry would like. (HR 7048)

I should book a trip to Edinburgh: This Scottish city has been investing in sensors and connectivity to connect air quality monitors, cameras, and now trashcans to the internet. The city has built out a LoRaWAN network for air quality sensors to track how well it can maintain a low-emission zone and has just hired a company called North to connect 11,000 trashcans to the internet. The connectivity will let the cans tell the city when they are full and then the city can pick up waste based on demand as opposed to using a schedule. Presumably, this will lead to better city service as well as fewer wasted trips. (The Scotsman)

LoraWAN provider LORIOT gets funding: LORIOT, a company that has built out LoRaWAN networks in Northern Europe, has scored an undisclosed amount of funding led by Wika Group. Wika Group makes pressure- and temperature-measuring equipment and has a strong focus on the oil and gas industry. This strategic investment may lead to the co-creation of sensors and connectivity solutions that work together. (LORIOT)

iRobot launches a new education robot: It’s been about eight years since the company behind the Roomba issued a DIY/educational robot, but iRobot has now released the Create 3 robot. The new design is built on the current Roomba platform, but runs the ROS 2 operating system, which has become really popular in the robotics industry. I’m excited by this, since the internet of things seems to be diverging into three separate camps: one of sensors and infrastructure for the built environment, a second composed of smart devices and tags for making things smarter, and a third that comprises connected robots designed to perform tasks while pulling in information from the other camps. (They will supply information as well.) So I like the idea of a robot designed for kids and adults to both play with and use to build something new. (IEEE Spectrum)

Ford now lets drivers talk to Alexa in their own words: Ford says it has updated the Alexa platform in its Ford and Lincoln vehicles to handle personalized commands from drivers, such as, “Alexa, turn the AC on full blast.” (Upon hearing this, Alexa will know to turn the AC down to 68 degrees.) The updated Ford platform uses Alexa’s teachable AI to let drivers personalize their requests. This is a pretty cool step to having more naturalistic interactions, although users will still have to set their commands and let Alexa know what they want her to do when it hears them. (Ford Authority)

ADT adds location sharing to its personal security app: Perhaps seeing that Life360 users might feel burned by the platform’s decision to share user data without making it clear who it was sharing data with, ADT has introduced location sharing to its SOSecure personal security app. The service lets SoSecure users create groups with which they can share their location, adding alerts for when a person gets to a certain location. This makes sense for families who want to track where their kids are, including when they get home, as well as for adults who might want a roommate or friend to have their location when they go out, say, on a date. ADT is doing some really interesting things around security and connectivity, so keep an eye on the company. (ADT)

What does it mean when machines judge you?: This is a very academic essay on the attention economy, only instead of our attention the article refers to what it means when machines pay attention to us. From CAPTCHA images designed to help machines understand the world to the feelings of helplessness people can experience when they are algorithmically sorted, the essay ponders what it means when machines judge us and pay attention to us. This isn’t something that will generate any action items, but it is a thoughtful look at the world we are inadvertently building. (The Convivial Society)