IoT news of the week for August 30, 2019

Some real talk about tech patents: This week, my husband sent me a Cisco patent application for IoT security; it describes a server that contains access permissions and rights to connect to specific IoT devices, which isn’t a far-fetched idea but is an incredibly ambitious one. In the meantime, people are constantly sending me crazy patent applications for Amazon’s drones or Google’s plans to detect your emotion from your voice. So I was thrilled to see Rose Eveleth explain what’s behind all these crazy and not-so-crazy patents, as well as explain why there seems to be more coverage of them lately. (Slate)

Parisian benches get a dose of Bluetooth: Paris is upgrading its street furniture, and as part of the change, it’s embedding smarts into its benches thanks to a Bluetooth module from Nodle. Nodle is building a Bluetooth tracking network using software that runs on people’s phones. Companies can embed Nodle into their apps and then those phones become nodes in the network that help Nodle locate products. For the Parisian benches, Nodle’s sensors made the grade because they were durable and capable of lasting for 10 years on a single battery. Granted, a bench can handle a larger module with a larger battery, but that’s still an impressive product life. (Nodle.io)

VMware goes on-premise with its IoT software: At VMware’s annual trade show, the company talked up its strategies for customers running software on multiple clouds and for those who want containers instead of hypervisors, and also updated its IoT Pulse software so it would work on-premise and not just in the cloud. VMware also said it had acquired Uhana, which built a real-time deep learning model that helps boost application performance on carrier networks, and which will be good for VMware as it focuses on what people like to call “the telco edge.” (Mostly Cloudy)

Microsoft’s HoloLens will go on sale in September: I tried these headsets on, and think they could bring augmented reality into industrial manufacturing in a very real way. Yes, at $3,500 they are expensive and yes, companies will have to build dedicated software for employees to use them. But as a user interface, they are an excellent vehicle for learning how to physically manipulate complex machinery and get relevant information. (Engadget)

Is it time for privacy by design in IoT? Remember when everyone started telling IoT device makers to design with security in mind? The idea was that securing a connected product couldn’t be a box that manufacturers check before it goes out the door, but instead is something that is tackled again and again at each step of the design process, from the physical hardware to the back-end cloud. That concept of looking at every step of product design is back again, this time with a focus on consumer privacy. This article, which is written by a lawyer, suggests that privacy policies aren’t enough and that when companies build connected devices they have to think about the data they are collecting, why they need it, and what could happen to that data. The author sees industry self-regulation as more favorable than government regulation and suggests that consumers choosing privacy-protecting products over cheaper, data-leaking products will help drive the industry toward self-regulation. I cannot disagree more strongly on that point, since people are incredibly price-driven, especially with their gadget buys. Still, I’m glad to see someone trying to move the conversation forward with practical ideas. (Law.com)

Are we ready for appliances that are smarter than we are? At IFA next week, LG will roll out on its app something called Proactive Customer Care, which will let you know if you are using an LG appliance incorrectly. So if you put too much soap in the washing machine or leave the fridge door open while you load your groceries, you might get messages letting you know you’re not taking the best care of your appliances. This is one of the promises of connected appliances, for both consumers and manufacturers. Manufacturers get the insights they need to remotely diagnose problems and perhaps warn of looming failures, while consumers get a product that doesn’t break at inconvenient times. But I know that any app that tries to tell my mom to adjust her laundry soap usage is going to get the side-eye, and lord help any app that tries to tell my husband the right way to load a dishwasher. (CNET)

Monitored alarm systems are growing: Remember when I said that security is a gateway drug for the internet of things? It may be that the adoption of smart gadgets is also helping boost sales of monitored alarm systems. Berg Insight notes that the number of monitored alarm systems in Europe is forecast to grow from 15.6 million in 2018 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.6% to reach 18.6 million in 2023. In North America, the number of monitored alarm systems is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 2.9%, from 30.7 million at the end of 2018 to 35.4 million at the end of 2023. According to Berg, the current penetration rate of monitored alarms in the U.S. is 23%, which is much higher than the 17% that the National Council for Home Safety and Security reported back in 2017. (Berg Insight)

The World Economic Forum is worried about cybersecurity in the aviation industry: Once a year or so we are treated to photos of congested airport arrivals halls and headlines trumpeting delays because of a computer failure at a major airline. But as computers become embedded in more systems, and once disparate systems connect, the risk of a major disruption in the aviation industry rises. Luckily, the aviation industry is aware of the dangers, and recently a few major aviation companies sent people and gear to Defcon as part of an aviation hacking village. (The World Economic Forum)

Look, it’s an edge computing glossary! This one strikes me as being particularly telco focused, but I’m all for efforts to define nebulous industry jargon. This one’s from the Linux Foundation. (LFEdge)