IoT news of the week for Nov. 15, 2019

Amazon takes the smart speaker sales crown in Q3: Amazon Prime Day must have really helped to move Echo devices because, in the third quarter of this year, Canalys estimated Amazon shipped 10.4 million of them. That’s up from the 6.3 million Echo units in the same period last year. I’m not surprised by that growth nor by Amazon retaining the top spot in the smart speaker market. What does shock me is that Google Home device shipments last quarter actually decreased from the year-ago period to 3.5 million devices from 5.9 million. Perhaps Google needs its own version of Prime Day? (Canalys)

“Alexa, fire up the grill!” Speaking of Amazon Alexa, the digital assistant now works with Trager’s line of connected outdoor grills. Trager says it’s one of the first companies to use Amazon’s Alexa Cooking API, which was introduced in September. Through voice commands, you can remotely set the grill temperature, hear the real-time temperature from a food probe, set a grill timer, or enable Trager’s “SuperSmoke” mode. Ironically, Google provides a similar API for the same commands, which Trager implemented a few months back. You might not be able to grill a steak that’s both rare and well done, but at least you can use either of the two main digital assistants for a backyard barbeque. (Engadget)

You can now wallpaper your rooms with Spotify music. I usually don’t get too jazzed over augmented reality (AR) implementations, but the latest news from Magic Leap is intriguing. By connecting your Spotify account to Magic Leap’s spatially aware AR goggles, you can line the walls of your home with images of albums, artists, and playlists. Each of these is playable with a quick aim and tap of the controller trigger. Of course, nobody else in your home will see your audio decorations, unless they too have a Magic Leap headset. Since I’d plaster The Beatles on every wall, in my home that’s probably a good thing. (Magic Leap)

Apple is on track for AR/VR wearables within two years. Unlike the Magic Leap and Spotify connection, Apple’s plans for augmented and virtual reality glasses reportedly include activities such as watching video, attending virtual meetings, and playing games. We originally heard that Apple’s entry into this market would take place next year, but Apple only launches products when it feels they’ll be disruptive. And according to Bloomberg, 2022 is the new date for those “iGlasses.” Maybe we’ll have virtual HomeKit devices to control our smart homes by then, too? (Bloomberg)

HomeKit Secure Video arrives on the Circle 2. Remember back in June, when Apple said it was working with device makers to provide secure local or cloud-based smart home video storage? At the time, Logitech was one of three companies on board with Apple and this week, Logitech announced that its Circle 2 cameras now support HomeKit Secure Video. The functionality comes by way of a beta firmware update that is now available. And if you’d prefer to revert your camera’s software back, that’s possible, too, but it requires a call to customer support. (Logitech)

Here’s a job you won’t mind robots doing. Not a week goes by when I don’t see some “humans v. robots” story when it comes to jobs. So it was refreshing to see this story about a vocation that humans probably don’t want anyway: sorting recyclable materials. I have nothing against people picking through discarded trash to maximize the number of recyclables, but it’s essentially a low-skill task. Which means it’s a perfect task for robots, because not only wouldn’t they displace genuinely skilled workers, but they’d also be better at it. A robot can accurately sift through 80 recyclable items per minute — double that of a human. (Fast Company)

Nvidia goes small for big AI advances: Although Nvidia is known by many for its computer gaming GPUs, the company has been making strides in AI silicon for the past few years. The company’s latest chipset is the Jetson Xavier NX, which Nvidia calls the “world’s smallest supercomputer.” I don’t know if that’s true or not but I can say that at just 70 by 45 millimeters, this $399 computing board is small and power-efficient. Nvidia expects device makers to use Jetson Xavier NX for AI solutions in both edge devices and robots. With 384 CUDA cores and 48 tensor cores, I’m looking forward to seeing products that use these chips. (CRN)

Intel makes more AI strides, too: Not to be outdone by Nvidia, Intel this week announced its first ASIC, or application-specific integrated circuit, for AI dubbed “Intel Nervana Neural Network Processors.” Unlike Nvidia’s offering, these Intel chips are targeted at cloud and data centers for AI activities. But that doesn’t mean you won’t see benefits in your smart home or in edge devices since many of these still rely on cloud-based learning models. And Intel is further covered at the edge with its next-generation Movidius VPU, or video processing unit, due in customer’s hands during the first half of 2020. (Intel)

Bluetooth LE is secure, right? Since Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) chips are used in many wearables and even some smart home devices, a report published by researchers at Ohio State University has me a bit concerned. The UUID, or universally unique identifier, used between BLE devices and companion software apps can apparently be used to determine what devices you have. More importantly, if your BLE device doesn’t encrypt your data, the UUID could be used to access the device. Using a Bluetooth sniffer, OSU was able to see 5,800 BLE devices within a 1.28-square-mile area. Nearly 95% of them could be identified by device type, while 7.4% were found to be vulnerable to hacking due to a lack of encryption. (Ohio State News)

Need smart holiday lights? Try Twinkly. As we all know, Stacey loves smart lighting, so when her old holiday LED bulbs died, she had to replace them. But smart holiday light options, especially for the outdoors, are far and few between. Luckily, she stumbled onto Twinkly Wi-Fi lights, which are outdoor-rated and support individually addressable bulbs. Based on her recent review, the holidays will be a little smarter and brighter at her home. (StaceyOnIoT)