IoT news of the week for Feb. 15, 2019

InfluxData scored $60M: When it comes to the internet of things, there is a whole class of companies that believe it needs new methods of dealing with data. InfluxData, which just raised $60 million led by Norwest Venture Partners and joined by Sorenson Capital, is one of those companies. It has a method of dealing with time series data, which has risen in importance as part of the internet of things. Time series databases usually store a measure of state, such as temperature, and the time at which that measurement was taken. I profiled InfluxData and the need for time series data a while back. With this round, InfluxData has raised almost $120 million in venture funding, and I can’t help but wonder what state rival time series database Predix is in as GE abandons its digital business. This funding makes InfluxData a much stronger competitor. (VentureBeat)

Ting faces healthy, but uncertain, IoT revenue: Ting Mobile is a mobile virtual network operator created by Canadian registrar Tucows. It offers a cheaper mobile phone option that competes with services such as Google Fi. But it also provides connections for IoT devices, and according to the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call this week, those IoT subscriptions are growing. Ting management says it finished Q4 with just over 162,000 accounts and about 296,000 subscribers. Accounts were flat and subscribers rose by 1,000. Management says it lost 3,000 accounts in total for 2018 and gained about 14,000 subscribers, and that subscriber growth for the year was driven by large IoT accounts. Ting qualified that “these accounts are for low margin per subscriber but are still quite profitable…We know they are vulnerable to the potential failure of these businesses.” So, basically, for now, the IoT is a low-margin and uncertain business for Ting. Yup, that sounds about right. (Tucows)

The blockchain is for auditing, not for industrial IoT security: Or at least that’s the point of this story, which says that implementing a blockchain-based security solution (Xage offers one) is too expensive and requires too much computational overhead. Instead, it suggests that typical low-level device security be the focus and that companies should use a blockchain-based product for auditing. Given the challenges associated with knowing if your industrial devices have been breached, an emphasis on auditing isn’t a bad idea. (Semiconductor Engineering)

How to really get AI everywhere: This profile on XNOR, which I also profiled, is really credulous and ignores the existence of similar technology from Qualcomm. But it is cool technology, and the concept the article discusses is really important. XNOR makes software for silicon that allows it to do machine learning more efficiently. In the story’s example, XNOR’s software has made it possible to do object recognition on a Pi Zero that’s running on solar power and a coin cell battery. This has several advantages related to power usage, privacy, and latency. In fact, I agree that having inference and maybe even AI learning at the edge will be essential to a world of billions of sensors. To see that future and one company trying to enable it, click on through. (TechCrunch)

Australian satellite company is banking on IoT: While I’m skeptical about the use of small or nano satellites to provide connectivity for internet of things devices that don’t require immediate responses, I might be wrong. First I spoke with the CEO of Astrocast to learn more about the business model, and now a company out of Adelaide, Australia (shout out to Austin, Texas’ sister city!) says it has a 1 million IoT connections on its fledgling nanosat network. Additionally, Fleet Space Technologies says it has a 2 million-device waiting list ready for more satellites to get launched. Clearly, there’s interest there. (ARNnet)

Are lighting companies selling us a bunch of snake oil? Two weeks ago, I wrote about Orro Switch, a company building a connected light switch that was designed to adjust the quality of the light throughout the day in accordance with people’s circadian rhythms. Orro isn’t alone. Signify sells several brands, including Philips Hue, based on the health benefits of tunable lights. GE makes connected bulbs that also focus on different light for different times of day and bodily needs. But is all this necessary? Two guys from the “Get A Grip On Lighting” podcast point out that vendors tell a good story, but most measures of lighting are unproven, and in other cases, the measurements used are anachronistic. There’s also a story related to “prescription” lighting that delves into this. It’s nice to hear someone in the industry talk about it. (Get a Grip of Lighting, Lighted)

Amazon’s Eero news IMHO: The news that Amazon planned to buy mesh Wi-Fi provider Eero was so big, I felt inspired to write a story about Amazon’s data advantage, home Wi-Fi, and what Eero has to offer the giant online retailer. (StaceyonIoT)

Curious about a smart home hub that avoids the cloud? Kevin tried the $99.95 Hubitat Elevation home hub, which keeps all of your automations local, and reviewed it on our site. The bottom line? It’s not for everyone, but a dedicated few will appreciate it. (StaceyonIoT)