IoT news of the week for July 29, 2022

More details on when video camera providers turn data over to law enforcement: After Ring said it released video footage to law enforcement 11 times last year without homeowner permission, other video camera companies have shared their policies. CNET did an excellent article, and now Consumer Reports has added to their information by noting that while Google and SimpliSafe will share data with law enforcement when requested under specific circumstances, they hadn’t yet done so. Eufy said it had fielded two requests from law enforcement, but couldn’t actually offer up the data since it was stored locally on the consumer’s device. Which basically means if you don’t want to become an unwitting accomplice to overzealous demands by police, you may want end-to-end encryption or the ability to keep the data stored locally. However, if you do this, it will change the user experience for you. (Consumer Reports)

The Chips Act is about to become law: Congress has approved $52 billion in subsidies to boost U.S. chip manufacturing and technology R&D after years of the industry trying to maneuver during a shortage of silicon for automotive, IoT and even entertainment devices. President Joe Biden is expected to sign the Act into law next week. The law will provide subsidies for manufacturing plants in the U.S. as well as investment for research into new manufacturing processes. I’m more excited about the latter given how tough it is to stay on the cutting edge when it comes to manufacturing. But don’t expect this to change the shortage anytime soon. Chip plants are already being planned here in the U.S. but it will be years before they are built and shipping silicon. (Reuters)

Spotify gets out of the hardware biz: This week, during its second-quarter earnings call, Spotify reported that it was taking a $31 million charge as it ends its experiment with selling hardware. The company had previously introduced Car Thing, an $89.99 device that was designed to play Spotify in the car. The large physical controls and screen lent itself to a car experience, since spending too much time clicking through songs and albums on a screen while on the road can be deadly. But users weren’t convinced that they needed the device. It’s a shame. I hate the trend toward bigger screens and fewer physical functions in cars because finding controls on a screen takes more time and is less intuitive than a physical control. (The Verge)

You can now send Nest camera data to your Chromecast: It’s the ninth anniversary of Google’s Chromecast smart TV dongle, and to celebrate the folks at Google have made it easy to automatically send Nest video data to a TV using Chromecast. This is great for people who watch a lot of TV and for those who might not have a Nest display, which also has the ability to get video images from Nest devices. (Google)

Will muscle-oxygen sensors become the new HRV? For fitness freaks and those enmeshed in the fitness tracking world, heart rate variability, or HRV, came out of nowhere to become a hot biometric for measuring how ready an athlete was to engage in intense training. The fitness company Whoop really helped drive this metric, which has since been adopted by Fitbit and Apple on their devices. This article shares the existence of a new type of sensor to measure athletic performance — the muscle oxygen sensor. This sensor costs a lot, which limits its current use to sports labs, but the focus here is on driving down the costs and convincing coaches and athletes of its efficacy as a better measuring tool. Maybe in 10 years it will trickle down to the rest of us. (Outside)

An easier way to install a car charger: Siemens and ConnectDER have created a new way to install a 240-volt car charging outlet in homes without requiring new outlets, circuits, or wiring. The concept is a car charger that plugs directly into the electric meter inside or outside of a home. In some cases the utility might have to give permission for the installation, making this possibly less efficient than hiring an electrician, but it is also less than the cost of getting more electricity wired to the home. Because about half of homes have older wiring and a breaker box that is often at capacity, adding a new car charger isn’t as simple as finding an unoccupied circuit in the box. Instead, customers have to call the electric company and hire an electrician to bring in more amps and a new box. This new meter-connected car charger takes care of that problem. (ConnectDER)

How to build a software bills of materials: I’ve written before about the importance of software bills of materials, or SBoMs, when it comes to the IoT. These are documents that clearly list what software has gone into the creation of any connected device, at all levels. With an executive order mandating their use in a variety of industries that sell to the government, the use of SBoMs is on the rise. This article shares eight tools you can use to create them. (CSO Online)

This is a nice overview of the DECT-2020 LPWAN option: Close readers of this newsletter may recall my articles about DECT-2020, an ICT 5G standard for massive IoT. This is another low power, wide-area network tech that’s being pushed by Nordic Semiconductor and Wirepas. The article explains the tech including its benefits and its shortcomings. A big shortcoming is that the equipment to build these networks doesn’t exist yet. (EEtimes)

Will someone hack an EV charging network? Probably. (Ars Technica)

Is the next trend putting quantum in front of existing buzz words like AI and digital twin? I hope not, but it’s looking like a possibility based on this story about a deal between Bosch and Multiverse. (IoT Enterprise Insights)