IoT news of the week for March 6, 2020

Nodle acquires data privacy company: Nodle, a company building a blockchain-based LPWAN network where participants earn tokens for sharing their phone’s connectivity, has purchased Brickchain, a data privacy startup. The deal will help Nodle comply with new data privacy regulations such as California’s CCPA and the EU’s GDPR. Having just installed a router in my home that provides connectivity to others in exchange for a crypto token, I’m curious to see how Nodle and other ventures like this fare. (Medium) — Stacey Higginbotham

Does the Connected Home over IP (CHIP) standard work for the enterprise? The Thread Group has published a blog post trying to lay out how the CHIP standard for the smart home could be used over Thread radios to bring better building management and smarts to large commercial buildings. The argument seems to be focused on Thread’s efforts to make itself attractive for enterprise use, along with the fact that many consumer-oriented technologies find their way to the enterprise. However, it feels a bit early to make these arguments, as Thread isn’t that dominant in the commercial sector yet, and because CHIP doesn’t actually exist as a standard, rather just an idea. But if someone wants to propose an enterprise- or commercial-building working group for CHIP, I’m in favor. (The Thread Group) — Stacey Higginbotham

Cisco and Microsoft make edge IoT a little easier: Microsoft has teamed up with Cisco to make data management through Cisco’s Edge Intelligence software and Microsoft’s Azure IoT a little bit easier. The two enterprise giants have made it possible for companies who run Cisco Edge Intelligence to manage and provision devices on the edge of the network from Microsoft’s Azure IoT. This links the edge and the cloud in a way that will make it easier for enterprise IT departments to manage and handle, all with the imprimatur of the Cisco and Microsoft brands. The deal also shows how tough it is for one company to handle everything in the IoT. Expect more partnerships between large players. (Microsoft) — Stacey Higginbotham

Allegion Ventures invests in enterprise access company Openpath: There are 20 billion doors in the world and less than 5% have any sort of electronics on them, according to Allegion. The company, which makes Schlage locks, that ubiquitous push bar found in commercial doorways, and other access products, has made a strategic investment in Openpath, a company that lets employees use their phones to enter offices. The phones can stay inside an employee’s pocket or purse, making it easier than swiping a keycard. Rob Martens, chief innovation and design officer at Allegion, explains that the investment is in line with other investments that Allegion has made with regards to reducing friction while still providing secure access. Last year Allegion invested in voice biometrics company Pindrop. (Allegion) — Stacey Higginbotham

Here’s a good update on IOTA’s Tangle blockchain for the IoT: IOTA is a startup building a distributed ledger technology called the Tangle, which is similar to the blockchain designed specifically for the internet of things. The math required takes less time to run than a traditional blockchain, which saves on battery life and is optimized for devices without massive computing power. It’s also designed to send and execute messages. Two years ago, I had Dominik Schiener, co-founder of IOTA, on the podcast to discuss what the tech did and how it works. Since then, the IOTA Foundation has teamed up with the Eclipse Foundation to push the Tangle for the IoT. This article does a good job of introducing the Tangle and offering an update on IOTA. The tech could prove exceptionally useful at helping machines determine what other devices to trust on a network, and do so in a scalable way, so it’s worth keeping an eye on. (ZDnet) — Stacey Higginbotham

Google Home broadcasts to single speakers rolling out: Amazon Echo devices have long had a “Drop In” feature allowing you to use Alexa as an intercom for specific individual speakers. Now Google appears to be joining the intercom crowd, with reports of using the Google Home broadcast functionality to speak through your speaker of choice surfacing this past week. No software update appears to be required and Google hasn’t announced the feature, so it’s possible the company is rolling it out slowly, with server-side updates. (Android Police) — Kevin C. Tofel

Ecobee HomeKit Camera is on the way: Last week, Eero’s router products gained HomeKit support, so this week it’s Ecobee’s turn. Or at least that’s what it looks like. The FCC this week certified an unannounced Ecobee camera, and guess what logo is on the required FCC label? Yup, it’s an Apple HomeKit logo, suggesting we’ll soon have another HomeKit Secure Video option to choose from. (Zatz Not Funny) — Kevin C. Tofel

Google partners with AT&T for 5G Edge applications: As more IoT devices come online, more airwaves are being used to connect devices to servers. One of the ways to reduce latency and speed up IoT apps is to put software connections at the edge of a network. And that’s exactly what Google is doing with AT&T, with a just-announced Global Mobile Edge Cloud product. Using the Kubernetes platform at AT&T’s 5G tower locations, the power of Google Cloud should eliminate network bottlenecks that can slow down IoT device data transfers and required actions based on supporting IoT software. (Google) — Kevin C. Tofel

Silicon Labs adds a “birth certificate” for IoT chip security: It seems like all of the various IoT chipmakers are finally figuring out we need more security at the chip level. Silicon Labs this week announced a solution called Secure Vault. With it, individual chips have a sort of birth certificate for identification, as well as tamper detection features for developers, and encryption key storage to keep credentials and software separated. Happy birthday, my little IoT chips! (Silicon Labs) — Kevin C. Tofel