IoT news of the week for August 13, 2021

Hologram gets $65M for IoT connectivity: Hologram is a seven-year-old company that provides cellular connectivity and management tools to IoT customers. The company just raised $65 million in a round led by Tiger Global. It brings the total funding for Hologram to $80 million. Hologram is one of those IoT companies I’ve kept an eye on as I have met a few of its customers in passing and they have had nothing but good things to say. (Hologram)

IIoT gets a $150M SPAC fund: Are you worried you’re missing out on the special purpose acquisitions company (SPAC) bonanza? Well, if you’re an industry 4.0 company you might get a break as Seattle’s Cascadia Capital has filed to raise $150 million for a new special purpose acquisition company. The SPAC is called the Cascadia Acquisition Corp. and the focus will be on companies involved in “Fourth Industrial Revolution.” Go get your money. (Geekwire)

Apple’s trying to push Health data to doctors. Do they want it? I’m so glad someone checked with hospitals and medical organizations to assess how much adoption that Apple’s Health data is getting. Apple signed a deal with BlueJeans this week to bring Apple Watch data into telemedicine visits, but nowhere in that release was information about how many doctors actually want such data or even value it. My own doctors have no interest in my FitBit data even after wearing the devices for a decade. There are a lot of reasons for this lack of interest, but it’s essential to remember that doctors will need to feel secure in the reliability of this data as well as have some reason to want it. It’s not really clear that a decade of my heart rate data is anything useful for my doctor. Meanwhile, the diagnostic efforts by Apple and other companies to prompt consumers to contact a doctor after the device has detected an anomaly can frustrate doctors because they lead patients to panic. (Protocol)

Vayyar has a new radar module: Y’all are well aware of my love for RF sensing, and interest in using radar for a variety of sensors to track falls, breathing patterns, the proximity of people, and more. I’m not the only one who is excited. If you want to test radar for your products, Vayyar, an Israeli chip company, has launched the Element, a $1,000 development module for people who want to play with radar on their own. Is this expensive? Yes, but this module has 46 antennae, and more antennae mean higher resolution sensing. This is a powerful device. (Vayyar)

This is a good take on SpaceX’s acquisition of Swarm: I’m currently testing a Swarm satellite, and it’s performing well. I also had CEO Sara Spangelo on the podcast earlier this year, so I was excited to see that Swarm was acquired by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. SpaceX actually launched some of Swarm’s nano satellites, so SpaceX was aware of the company. And despite the fact that each constellation uses different airwaves and that Swarm is only doing low-data rate IoT connectivity as opposed to broadband, the deal makes sense. My former boss and colleague Om Malik did a good job explaining why. (On my Om)

Google asks the FCC for permission to test another radar device: Google wants to test a new device that uses radar sensing and has asked the FCC for authorization to test it and to keep its application with the device details private. Google developed the Soli radar sensor that uses 60 GHz radio waves to detect small movements. It most recently used the Soli radar in its second-generation smart display, where the radar is used to detect breathing patterns to track sleep. It’s part of a trend in RF sensing I’m super excited about, so I can’t wait to see what device Google has up its sleeve. Based on the FCC filing and job listings looking for hardware engineers to work on radar in Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects division, it looks like it will be part of a project called Touchstone. (FCC)

Google’s displays are getting some cool new skills: Google announced several new features for its smart displays that are very timely. First up, you can now ask Google to show you the real-time Air Quality Index on your display screen along with the time and weather. The wildfire smoke just rolled into Seattle today, so I am turning that on. Google also launched a tweak to its Family Bell program that shows kids a checklist of tasks to complete before heading out for the day. And it added an interactive periodic table and new storytelling content. (Google)

This 1930s house talked to homebuyers 80 years before Alexa: The idea of a smart home or a talking home is not new, as documented by this story from the Dallas Morning News archives from 1938. The story details the creation of a house full of modern appliances that can answer home buyers’ questions and extol the home’s virtues. Hilariously, the article says it has no idea how the home accomplishes this task, which was my first question. All the article says is, “The exact mechanisms behind this talking home’s ability to speak remain unclear. It may have been executed through an intercom system, radio transmitters, looped recordings, or speakers stowed away in the house’s appliances.” Inquiring minds want to know, so if you have any ideas, please share. (Dallas Morning News)

My latest and last column for IEEE Spectrum: I’m a bit behind on this, but I wanted to share my last column for IEEE Spectrum in which I beg folks to consider the concept of cozy futurism instead of the traditional hard-edged “Jetsons” and sci-fi view of technology and the future. In a world of cozy futurism, we’d be using technology to address issues like sustainable housing or income inequality. I actually had two vitriolic emails in response to the column from people upset that I wanted to take the excitement and dreaming away from technology and engineering, but I think there’s probably no more important engineering task ahead of us than trying to live a bit more equitably and lightly on this planet. (IEEE Spectrum)