IoT news of the week for Nov. 16, 2018

Smart home consolidation continues: French smart home startup Netatmo has been acquired by Legrand for an undisclosed amount. The two companies have already been working together for some time, and the deal will bring Netatmo’s CEO into Legrand as the CTO of Legrand’s R&D division. While terms weren’t announced, I was somewhat dismayed to see that Netatmo was only generating $51 million in annual revenue. Netatmo’s product price points range from $80 to $300, so a conservative estimate would be that Netatmo in on a path to sell a little more than 250,000 devices this year. That’s more successful than many smart home companies, but it’s still a relatively small amount for a consumer product maker.

However, Legrand and Netatmo fit together quite well. Both provide beautifully designed products, with Legrand having a long history in switches and outlets. Legrand has been working its way into the connected home for a few years, and I’d love to see it help bring Netatmo’s products into some of its commercial accounts. Netatmo’s innovations are really compelling. It’s Welcome camera was the first to offer facial recognition and the first to use it as a signal to arm or disarm the system. I think much of its awesome technology got lost in the hype over Silicon Valley’s darlings — and Netatmo’s higher price tags. I hope Legrand makes the most of this buy. (S.H)

Industrial IoT security firm gets $37 million: Dragos, which helps secure industrial control systems used in factories, utilities, and other critical infrastructure, has raised $37 million in additional funding. The round was led by Canaan, and included Emerson, National Grid Partners, and Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories. According to the article, venture firms originally passed on Dragos, believing that the ICS security market was too slow-moving and complex. They are right, but the need is critical. This attitude explains why Schneider Electric’s new fund may be able to make a real difference. (Fortune)

Mozilla’s terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad connected device gift list is out: I love Mozilla, but this year’s list of bad IoT holiday gifts frustrates me. There are several different sins a company can commit with its product that can land them on it; they range from a difficult-to-read privacy policy to a failure to use encryption. Some of those sins are less problematic than others, but committing any one of them can get a company added to the list. That being said, it’s an informative list, and I especially like how clearly Mozilla labels what it thinks is so bad about each product so that you can decide for yourself. (Mozilla)

The grid is under attack: A cyberattack on the electric grid may not have the fanfare of a Michael Bay movie, but this article describing a Pentagon test of the electric grid in New York is pretty exciting. And the exercise itself is also a necessary reality check in the face of more advanced attacks on critical infrastructure that’s connected to the internet. As nation states and well-funded groups seek to penetrate critical infrastructure, the need to figure out how to protect them grows. (NextGov)

Connected cukes and AI-powered greenhouses: I enjoyed reading how Microsoft, Intel, and Tencent are all participating in a contest to improve greenhouse operations in the Netherlands using artificial intelligence and connected tech. In many ways, this project epitomizes what I’m so excited about when I think about the internet of things. The contest is letting AI govern how a greenhouse runs in order to grow better cucumbers. The AI is going up against farmers, and it’s already doing really well. The goal of the experiment is to improve the use of indoor farms and to increase yields. (VentureBeat)

Early adopters, you are the beta testers: Tovala, the maker of a connected oven that sold last year for $399, now has a new product on the market selling for $349 that incorporates a bunch of new features that the company learned about by watching how the buyers of the initial oven used it. For example, the new oven is smaller and has more controls built into the app instead of the physical device. For manufacturers, the continued feedback and data the connected device delivers is a benefit, but as a user it’s beginning to feel like a bait-and-switch. As more connected devices enter the market, and as companies become savvier with their data-gathering, the early adopter tax is going up. Not only do early buyers pay more and have products with unknown reliability, they also are getting products that may differ substantially from the ones subsequent buyers will get. (The Spoon)

The first collaborative product from Rockwell and PTC is now out: Remember how Rockwell Automation took a big stake in PTC last summer? The first product to result from that collaboration is now out, and is known as the FactoryTalk InnovationSuite, powered by PTC. It makes it easier to connect factory equipment to the IT network and tries to bring the world of operational tech and informational tech together in the same dashboard. This modernizing of old-school factory automation software such as this CAM software that can automate a whole shop floor if needed, is a necessary step to advancing manufacturing into the next era. (Automation World)

The Amazon Echo is being called as a witness in another murder case: Or rather, the police are asking Amazon for the files associated with an Echo device that was in the kitchen of two murdered women. (Ars Technica)

There’s a new Pi in the world: Just in time for Thanksgiving in the U.S., we get a new version of the Raspberry Pi maker board. For $25, buyers will get the same computer that’s on a higher-priced device, but less RAM and no Ethernet port. Still, I have a few projects where this could make sense. (The Verge)

Robots get a grip: Robots are not generalists. They excel at doing a set task or a small number of tasks the same way again and again and again. Which is why Rosie from “The Jetsons” is still just a cartoon character. But this article showcases all the ways researchers are helping robots get better at manipulating objects. Along the way, you’ll learn a lot about the limits of what robots can and can’t grab. Perhaps it will come in handy when you’re being chased by Big Dog. (IEEE Spectrum)