IoT news of the week for Feb. 18, 2022

Eve’s smart blinds are quiet and Thread compatible: Kevin reviewed the new Eve blinds that work with HomeKit and use Thread for connectivity. The Eve blinds join a rush of smart window covering options such as those from IKEA, Lutron, and Somfy. Find out what Kevin thinks. (Stacey on IoT)

IoT is becoming a business enabler: The internet of things has long been focused on the mechanics of getting connected sensors deployed, as well as on the technology itself. But I’m getting more and more excited to see businesses launch that are taking advantage of the large quantities of data to build new products, and by companies reliant on IoT as an enabler. It’s kind of like the transition from writing about 4G and GPS on smartphones to writing about Uber and Waze that took place a few years back. And it’s why I was stoked to see this story about Vida Vanilla, which is using sensor-based technology to grow vanilla in new parts of the world. I can’t wait to see what else people come up with. (TechCrunch)

Comcast sees health devices rise in the home during the pandemic: Comcast, the nation’s largest broadband provider, has released some fun data showing the growth in connected devices on home Wi-Fi networks. Comcast saw 39 times more smart watches and fitness trackers connecting to home networks at the end of 2021 compared to the end of 2018.  Pelotons and other connected exercise gear also grew with homes adding almost 841,000 devices to their networks, which is 93 times more than in 2018. This is not as exciting as it looks simply because it grew from such a small initial number. But according to the report, one in five households plan to purchase fitness-related devices over the next 12 months, so that’s a pretty big deal. Comcast has roughly 33 million broadband subscribers, and if 20% of them add connected gear that’s a huge boost.  Comcast also said Xfinity households connected more than 2.5 million IoT devices in 2021, a 31x increase over 2018 levels. (Comcast)

Google plans changes to its privacy policies: Like Apple, which last year tweaked its privacy settings to make it easier for consumers to see and opt into sharing their data with apps, and also eliminated some forms of digital tracking in email and other services, Google is evaluating how it shares user data on its smartphones. The company says it will make changes within the next two years that limit the sharing of data across apps and with third parties. Apple’s changes have been blamed for Meta’s poor performance during the last financial quarter, and even I feel the impact of Apple’s privacy changes at our tiny little newsletter as I can no longer get accurate details about the number of people opening it. But overall, Apple’s changes have helped make the tracking industry more visible to consumers, which is ultimately a good thing. So I hope to see Google follow suit. (The New York Times)

Time series database company updates its software for the IIoT: InfluxData, a software company that provides a time series database, has added several new features designed to meet the needs of industrial clients eager to do more computing at the edge of their network. Time series databases are essential for the IoT, usually consisting of a time and a data point. For example time and temperature. InfluxData has made it easier to install its software on contained edge devices as well as made it possible to ingest MQTT data. MQTT is a popular protocol for IoT use cases. InfluxData also bragged that its database is used as part of both PTC and Siemens IIoT platforms, which is pretty cool. (InfluxData)

This NTT and ServiceNow partnership is pretty compelling: Ignore the business jargon from the press release announcing the tie-up, which says that the partnership between service integrator NTT and ServiceNow is an “AI-enabled end-to-end workflow automation platform” on the NTT private 5G network option. What the partnership actually helps with is documenting and enabling a business process that helps frontline workers figure out exactly what to do when a connected device sends an alert. We talk a lot about the nuts and bolts of digital transformation, but once the hardware and software are deployed, the heavy lift is actually getting employees to change the way they do things so as to take advantage of the new information they have. ServiceNow makes software to track work orders and is tying its platform to the alerts thrown off by connected operations software. So when a company’s connected machine predicts looming failure, ServiceNow software can take the failure information and create a work order for an employee to get out there and fix it. This may not sound like a big deal, but when dealing with machine data at scale and complex procedures, having automated processes is essential. (Enterprise IoT Insights)

Would you want your employer to send you a smart office? Google has built a connected smart light for its employees that we’ll probably never see in stores. The light acts as a desk lamp, a camera-friendly Zoom light, or a way to connect with Google’s assistant. The catch is that this light is for employees only. It seems like an odd item for a company to provide to its workers, except that during the pandemic more businesses have been trying to provide office supplies or reimbursements for better office furniture to employees stuck working from home. I am all for ergonomic chairs and keyboard trays, but bringing a device into the home office that has a microphone and connectivity has me wondering what data Google could collect off the thing. It may be less intrusive than a keystroke logging program, but still seems a little creepy. (9to5Google)

There’s a new ransomware gang in town: The Federal Bureau of Investigation is warning businesses that a new Russian ransomware gang is operating right now. The group is called BlackByte and it’s specifically targeting connected infrastructure, which means that anyone operating power plants, water utilities, hospitals, and construction sites should check their security patches (especially any Microsoft Exchange servers) and warn employees not to click on weird links or plug in random USB drives. (FBI)

Supercapacitors that can bend it like Beckham: Researchers from the University of Surrey’s Advanced Technology Institute (ATI) in the UK and the Federal University of Pelotas in Brazil have created flexible supercapacitors that might come in handy for wearable IoT devices. Supercapacitors are like batteries in that they store and discharge energy. But supercapacitors store electrical energy as opposed to relying on chemical changes like batteries do. And while supercapacitors are popular for powering styluses and smaller devices, with the use of carbon nanotubes, one can make quick-charging supercapacitors that are flexible enough for clothing or footwear. Using carbon nanotubes could also lead to lower costs for the supercapacitors paving the way for them to become more ubiquitous. There’s a lot of interest in the tech, so keep an eye on it. (Phys.org)