IoT news of the week for Nov. 18, 2022

Twilio launches asset tracking service as part of IoT platform expansion: Twilio, which put a toehold into the IoT with its acquisition of Electric Imp back in July 2020, and the creation of a new IoT platform two months later, has finally launched another IoT product. This week, it introduced a customizable asset tracker that provides customers with the device, software, and cloud backend necessary to offer asset tracking. The device can connect to up to 400 cellular networks around the world and is aimed at a variety of industries, from logistics to equipment management in construction and mining. It’s nice to see that Twilio hasn’t completely forgotten about the IoT. (Twilio)

Have opinions for the FTC on surveillance tech? If you want a chance to opine on the Federal Trade Commission’s advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) on commercial surveillance and data security, then sharpen your pencils, because Monday is the deadline for comments. I reported on the creation of the ANPR after its release in August. Government agencies release these documents before they set out to create regulations around certain issues. They signal the direction the agency is leaning and ask for comments. In the case of surveillance tech, the FTC is asking how companies surveil customers, what harms may accrue from that surveillance, how aware consumers are when it comes to that surveillance, and more. Go read the document to get a sense of how important this issue is today and how important it will continue to be going forward. (FTC)

All I want for Christmas is surveillance tech: Speaking of surveillance tech, Mozilla is back with its “Privacy Not Included” list of holiday gift ideas. Every year, the Mozilla Foundation creates a list of connected products and analyzes their privacy and data practices to see which ones are worrisome and which ones pass muster. So if you’d like to see if you should get your loved ones a video doorbell for the holidays, but they’re active members of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, then this is the list to shop. (Mozilla)

This induction cooktop startup is worth watching: Y’all know that, as we move toward more electrification of homes and cars while also dealing with the existing limits of home wiring and variances in renewable electricity generation, I am keen on combining smart homes and energy management systems to help manage a finite electricity supply. That’s why I was excited to see a startup called Impulse attaching a battery and software to an induction cooktop to help mitigate the immense power an induction stove can draw from a home’s electric panel. Impulse is also considering using that battery as a source of energy storage inside the home, a role I also expect electric vehicles and water heaters to play going forward. The stoves themselves won’t be out until next year, but I love the thinking behind this and can’t wait to see more innovation on the appliance side. (TechCrunch)

Renesas launches combo NB-IoT and Cat M module: Chip maker Renesas has added a combo NB-IoT and LTE Cat-1 M module to its stable of connectivity options and this particular module can hang out in sleep mode consuming a mere 1 microamp of power. That’s pretty sweet, and the combo nature of this setup should lower the costs associated with using either of the connectivity standards in end devices. (IoT Business News)

Hey Google, feed the dog: Aqara has a connected pet feeder that can dispense food based on a voice command, a schedule, or even a tap on the bowl from your animal. I don’t think I’d give my dog the ability to tap the bowl to get food, but maybe other animals have more discipline. The feeder is $100 and might solve a complicated question that arises every morning and most nights at our house: Did anyone feed the dog? It would be nice if Google or Siri could say “yes.” (The Verge)

IBM will kill its Watson IoT Cloud: A few months back Google said it would kill off its IoT cloud platform and now IBM is following in its footsteps. Big Blue sent out a note to Watson IoT Platform users that their cloud access would die as of Dec. 1, 2023. However, I don’t think this will leave many folks scrambling as IBM’s cloud wasn’t popular, and because IBM’s IoT Platform really wasn’t much beyond a way to use MQTT to get data into IBM servers. Unlike AWS and Microsoft Azure’s cloud offerings, which have a lot of analytics capabilities and services for the data once it’s in the cloud, IBM doesn’t really have much there. That should also make it easier for users to switch. We’re likely seeing the end of this cloud as part of an overall realization that getting to scale is a big challenge for the IoT, especially as pilots can start and stay small for a while before becoming big enough to matter from a revenue perspective. Meanwhile, providing cloud capacity is a scale game that requires a large investment up front. IBM made that investment but few customers came.  (The Register)

Encrypted packets can tell tales too: University of Georgia researchers have published a program called ChatterHub that can look at the encrypted packets traveling to and from a smart home hub to determine what’s happening inside the home. Based on the time of day and packet length, researchers can use AI to make educated guesses about when someone is turning on lights, locking doors or telling Alexa to play a song. The researchers suggest that hub makers can use packet padding to make packets all the same length, or insert random packets into the daily mix of traffic to help prevent such discoveries, but I’m not really sure if that’s the top of mind for most hub makers when it comes to security. Perhaps a larger concern of this research is understanding that even encrypted smart home data will tell the hub makers more about you than you might realize. (Tech Xplore)

OnLogic adds a connected Pi 4 for industrial use: OnLogic, which makes customized industrial computers, has created a second computer that will use the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 for industrial use cases. The Form Factor 202 device will add connectivity plus a touchscreen interface so OnLogic customers can easily deploy and program the computer for their needs. The Factor 202 out now, which means that apparently OnLogic can source the very popular Pi 4 compute module. (OnLogic)