IoT news of the week for Nov. 6, 2020

Most digital transformation efforts fail! Trying to connect your operations and use data to make smarter decisions across a business is a tough task. And yet, companies are trying to adopt IoT and AI in droves as they attempt to digitally transform their businesses. The pandemic is only accelerating this task, and yet so far most companies trying to embark on these efforts are failing to achieve their desired results. (BCG) — Stacey Higginbotham

Qualcomm’s IoT chips earned it nearly a billion dollars last quarter: For the first time ever, Qualcomm has broken out its quarterly chip revenue by segment, showing that silicon-powering IoT devices earned the company $926 million in its most recently concluded quarter. For the entire fiscal year, IoT chips brought Qualcomm $3 billion, which is far higher than I would have guessed. The company is best known for powering the majority of handsets around the world, so the IoT earnings number surprised me. Given that Qualcomm competitor Nvidia is trying to buy Arm but doesn’t really want to be in the IoT business, might Qualcomm want the IoT parts? (ZDNet) — Kevin C. Tofel 

Smart fabrics are getting smarter: We talk often about Alphabet’s Project Jacquard, which created a fabric that can sense gestures. Now researchers have created a fabric that can tell what foods are placed on it. So your tablecloth can detect what you’re serving for dinner and perhaps log it into a favored app, or simply identify which ingredients you used and then add them to your grocery list. The possibilities are pretty endless here. (The Spoon) — Stacey Higginbotham

Jackson, Miss. police are co-opting connected cameras: This story shows just how quickly the state can take advantage of private devices to create a surveillance network. Police in Jackson, Miss., are using technology to stitch together a live view of connected home security cameras (the story uses Ring cameras as an example) in order to stream what is essentially a surveillance feed to aid with criminal investigations. The police are gaining access to an existing surveillance network that they didn’t have to pay for or set up themselves (which would have alerted people in the area that a bunch of new security cameras had been installed) and locals suddenly have more eyes on their street. I really dislike that police get a free surveillance network that the locals may not realize exists. I think it violates the rights of people living in the area and does so without asking their consent. (ZDNet) — Stacey Higginbotham

I might buy a smart motorcycle jacket: We often look at safety features for smart vehicles, but what about motorcycles? This Kickstarter project got my attention because it works with any motorcycle or scooter, using either sensors or wireless connectivity for additional safety. The jacket has integrated LED lights, which can provide more visibility for cars to see you or replicate the brake light of your two-wheeler. The less expensive version starts at $249 and uses an accelerometer to detect when you slow down. Add an additional $45 and the jacket wirelessly syncs to your brake lights and turn signals, and includes a module that attaches to your bike. I’m tempted! (Kickstarter) — Kevin C. Tofel 

An investment firm just bought my health data: Under Armour recently announced it would sell off the MyFitnessPal health platform for $345 million, and I am not happy about it. As we discuss all the time with regards to personal data, once you give it up, you lose control of it. In this case, I’ve used the MyFitnessPal app with various smartwatches and health trackers so as to have a record of my health, nutrition, and workout data — as have 200 million others who use the app. Once the sale of the platform closes, all of that data will be in the hands of Francisco Partners, a global investment firm. How will the data be used and who else will have access to it? That’s currently unclear, and so underscores the importance of carefully choosing where you share data and with whom. Even if you are careful, and regardless of whether it’s data on your health, your car, or your smart home, you still may lose control of it. (Under Armour) — Kevin C. Tofel 

Kubermatic wants to bring container management to the constrained edge: Containers are hot for the IoT, in part because it lets developers run the same app on the cloud as it does in gateways or edge devices. But that’s easy; managing a container at the furthest edge, where power and computing capacity are limited, can be tough. Enter Kubermatic, which is trying to build software to manage containers on these contained devices. (The New Stack) — Stacey Higginbotham

Voice is becoming an accepted user interface event beyond smart speakers: DSP Group, a company that makes computing modules used to add voice interaction to products, shipped its 100 millionth module during its most recent quarter. I thought the number of products its modules had sold into were worth noting since we mostly think about voice as a means of talking to Alexa or Google. But we can also use voice to talk to our GoPro cameras, our alarm systems, and more. (DSP Group) — Stacey Higginbotham

Pay attention to Vodafone’s e-waste efforts: Sustainability is going to be a big topic in the internet of things as we put computers in more devices and those devices hit the scrap pile. So I was excited to read about Vodafone’s commitment to reuse, recycle, or resell 100% of its e-waste in the coming year. The story discusses how dismal we are as a society when it comes to recycling e-waste (less than 20% is recycled) and what Vodafone plans to do to improve. Take a note. (SDXCentral) — Stacey Higginbotham

Tuya is doing well: China’s Tuya, which provides cloud services and connectivity for IoT devices, is gaining customers, even as tensions between the U.S. and China heat up. Tuya has seen the growth in devices on its platforms rise by 122% year over year to more than 200,000 products in almost 1,000 product categories. (Tuya) — Stacey Higginbotham