IoT news of the week for July 8, 2022

A smart home by any other name: It’s no secret that consumers aren’t really into buying the smart home. They might like a few one-off gadgets, but the concept of an interoperating system has fallen flat, possibly because it doesn’t interoperate all that well. But with Matter on the horizon combined with all the concerns about living in a world with endemic COVID and climate change, I suspect that the smart home might soon get a rebrand. There are a lot of efforts to sell wellness, and “The Healthy Home” has a bit of a ring to it. Or perhaps we want to focus on smarter energy systems and more robust demand response. If so, “The Resilient Home” might work. The industry is gearing up to sell many more devices focused on wellness, safety, and resiliency, so what are your bets for new nomenclature? (CE Pro) — Stacey Higginbotham

Health hacking gets easier with this ring: Following up on its smart continuous glucose monitor (CGM), Ultrahuman this week debuted a new smart ring. This device may have more takers than the CGM product as that one is embedded underneath your skin, whereas the wearable ring is obviously removable. And it includes a bevy of sensors to track temperature, heart rate, and movement. If this sounds similar to the Oura ring, that’s because it is. The key difference? Oura focuses on sleep insights, while Ultrahuman’s ring analyzes and interprets your metabolism. Early birds can pre-order the Ultrahuman ring now for $249, with deliveries expected in December. So you have until then to eat fast food without shame. (TechCrunch) — Kevin C. Tofel

All about the new Raspberry Pico W: The hardware lines between Arduino and Raspberry Pi products continue to blur. And the new Raspberry Pico W product does this more than any other previous device. Like an Ardunio, it’s small and has 40 input/output pins. Unlike an Arduino, it includes a Wi-Fi radio. And that opens up more possibilities to easily offload sensor data to the cloud or a computer for analysis. What can you do thanks to that wireless connection? This article offers some great examples and use cases for this $6 chip and board. (MakeUseOf) — Kevin C. Tofel

Wi-Fi 6E will be huge in enterprises: That’s the insight and prediction from ABI Research, which recently noted that the number of Wi-Fi 6E access points will rise from 1.5 million in 2022 to 5.2 million in 2024. Some of that growth will be spurred by IT/OT convergence, as companies will need faster wireless pipes to get at the rapidly expanding amount of data created by smart devices and sensors. And an expected push to Wi-Fi 7 in about two years will keep companies investing sooner in the latest Wi-Fi 6E products rather than waiting for the next wireless cycle. (ABI Research) — Kevin C. Tofel

Tesla is tackling a major road issue: I noticed a new software update available for my Tesla Model 3 today, and it has an impressive key feature. Tesla will start to use the cameras in its cars to detect and avoid potholes. As these often cavernous tire-munching abysses are seen, Tesla cars will quickly adjust the suspension to reduce damage. Unfortunately, my Model 3 doesn’t have adjustable suspension, nor does the Model Y. So those vehicles may capture data for Tesla, but only the Model S and X vehicles will soften the blow of a pothole. (Electrek) — Kevin C. Tofel

DIY smart home device heartbeat monitoring: I can’t pass up a cool coding project, especially when it has to do with the smart home. And that’s what this project from Sebastian Günther is. Even better, if you have a Raspberry Pi, you can implement the code to monitor if your connected devices are “alive” while learning a little Python programming along the way. As a free bonus, you’ll also get a small taste of MQTT, NodeRed, and InfluxDB. (Admantium) — Kevin C. Tofel

Apple is expected to go big with its next watch: Mark Gurman, the oracle of all things Apple, has a new scoop this week and it’s all about the Apple Watch. Gurman reports that the next iteration will have a larger, near-2-inch display, providing more room for its battery. The idea here is to allow for more run time on a battery charge, particularly for workouts and extreme sports enthusiasts. Of course, the larger size also means Apple can fit more sensors in its popular wearable. Gurman says Apple will add a new temperature sensor capable of detecting a fever, and improved elevation data for the off-road mountain trail runners and bikers. (Bloomberg) — Kevin C. Tofel