IoT news of the week for May 12, 2023

Industrial security firm Dragos came under attack: Dragos, which provides security for industrial and operational technology, reported a cybersecurity event this week in which a known cybergang attempted to breach its internal network and its cybersecurity platform. They didn’t make it. But the attackers did breach the company’s SharePoint servers and contract management platform. They were trying to get into Dragos’ network in order to encrypt its devices and presumably hold them for ransom. This is not great, but it’s better than some nation-state actor trying to infiltrate Dragos as a precursor to industrial sabotage. The hackers got access to personal information from a salesperson who had recently been hired but hadn’t yet started, then used that information to impersonate the salesperson through an employee onboarding process. I get exhausted just trying to think about securing information and devices in today’s world. (Bleeping Computer)

Google’s new Home app reminds me of Apple’s Home app: It has taken a long time, but Google has released a new version of its Home app, and it was worth the wait. The Home app has always been a bit controversial, as it replaced the Nest app while not offering many of its original features. With this total revamp, Google has now made the Home app easier to navigate, especially for users with a lot of connected devices, and brought in older Nest camera footage. It also lets iOS users of Google’s Home app bring in Matter devices, getting us one step closer to a less glitchy Matter experience for users of multiple platforms. (The Verge)

Wirepas teams up with Silicon Labs for low-power massive IoT: Silicon Labs will support Wirepas Massive, a proprietary radio tech for low-power connectivity, on its EFR32BG21 (BG21) and EFR32BG22 (BG22) Bluetooth modules and SoCs, both of which are now available. Wirepas Massive is a network that can use a variety of underlying connectivity protocols such as 5G, Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz, and even sub-gigahertz bands to create a scalable mesh network. Wirepas Massive runs on a variety of hardware so this deal just brings the tech to another chip. (Wirepas)

MIT has created a low-cost air quality sensor: The folks at MIT’s Senseable City Lab have created a low-cost air quality sensor dubbed Flatburn that anyone can build using 3D printed parts and the associated electronics. The idea is that this sensor is something citizens, nonprofits, or even governments can build and deploy around their municipalities. The sensors measure fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide, and researchers tested them against established air quality sensors in both Boston and New York City. The Flatburn device is part of a larger project at the Senseable Lab to create mobile sensors for tracking city life. I would love to see schools put these up to measure the pollutants caused by parents’ idling in pick-up lines, and nonprofits or NGOs trying to force polluters to pay up. (SciTech Daily)

Roomba maker sees sales fall and cash dwindle: IRobot, the maker of the Roomba robotic vacuum, saw its revenue fall 82% during the first quarter of 2023 and now has limited cash on hand. As of April 1, 2023, the company’s cash and cash equivalents were $47.9 million compared with $117.9 million at the end of last year. It has drawn down some of its available credit, but this is not a good trend. Because iRobot is waiting for a planned acquisition by Amazon to close, it didn’t hold an investor call, so there’s no way to know what’s going on. Notably, Amazon announced its plan to buy iRobot for $1.6 billion in August of 2022, only to see competition authorities in the U.S. and the UK investigate the deal. If it doesn’t go through, iRobot will be in a rough spot. (Yahoo Finance)

The America’s cup relies on Wi-Fi and sensor tech: Like many big sporting events, the America’s Cup has embraced technology in a big way in order to boost teams’ advantages. This particular case study is all about the team’s choice of Wi-Fi network provider, but I can’t help but be impressed with the creation of an ad hoc local Wi-Fi network that spreads over two miles on potentially rough seas, connecting hundreds of sensors on the yacht itself and the surrounding support boats. None of this data gets sent to the cloud, as there isn’t any backhaul to the public Internet on the ocean, which drives home the point that local data and computing can be just as important as the cloud. (CommScope)

This is a much nicer neon light: GE Sync showed off bendable neon-style LED light strips at CES this year, and this week the company emailed me to let me know they are now available for sale. You can buy a 10-foot or 16-foot strip of lights and use it to create any shape you’d like for your dorm room or dive bar. Today the 16-foot light is available at Lowe’s for $119.99, and the 10-foot version will be available in July at Best Buy for $79.99. The lights connect over Wi-Fi and work with Amazon and Google. They also sync to music. Your college-bound teen will likely love them. (GE)

Amazon’s plans for the Astro robot include generative AI: Business Insider has gotten its hands on an internal Amazon document that envisions giving the Astro robot new capabilities thanks to large language models like ChatGPT. The memo describes a robot that can see and remember things as well as answer questions. This would give it more capabilities, including the ability to see something different in the home, such as a stove burner left on or an unlocked door, and find the homeowner to tell them about it. Inside the robot is a set of technologies Amazon has dubbed Burnham, which basically would act as the brains of any robot. Many of the “cognitive” skills described in the Burnham memo are what I had hoped to see for Alexa over time, but I don’t know if Burnham as a code name gets retired and Alexa gets these new features or if this becomes an entirely new sort of digital assistant. (Business Insider; subscription required)