IoT news of the week for Nov. 9, 2019

Wyze has a lot of new gear coming: Wyze, the maker of several high-quality and inexpensive connected devices, isn’t done shaking up the world of gadgets. It recently shared with users that it is working on a doorbell, a lock, a scale, an outdoor camera, and a thermostat. Basically, it’s about to become possible to have an entire Wyze-powered smart home (plus a scale). Most of these will come out next year, but Wyze is hoping the lock will appear before the end of 2019. The company also says it will revamp its cloud infrastructure, which was designed for video cameras and will soon need to support myriad different types of devices. I’m really excited about these products because Wyze doesn’t just innovate on price; it manages to bring in new products that are smaller and sometimes more innovative than what’s already on the market. (Wyze)

Smart shades are going to cost you: IKEA’s smart shades are now in selected stores for $149-$154. There’s also AXIS, Lutron Serena, Smart Shades, and more, but all of those shades are typically sized generically. Hunter Douglas is now offering smart shades that can be customized to fit each window. They won’t come cheap, although they are cheaper than higher-end systems such as those from Somfy. The Hunter Douglas shades cost $299 per window, plus you’ll need a $285 hub. In other words, they are pricey, but they will work with Alexa, Google, IFTTT, HomeKit, and several other smart home platforms. (Hunter Douglas)

Hey, it’s another satellite LPWAN: While Amazon and others partner up with satellite firms to build Low-Power Wide-Area Networks, or LPWANs, for the internet of things, startup eSAT is working with the traditional GSS satellite companies such as Irridium and Thuraya to build out a network to serve the IoT. The satellite startup just finished a test with Thuraya. The eSAT network is specifically designed for the IoT, and doesn’t require terrestrial infrastructure or backhaul; it’s all satellite. ESAT claims that IoT devices equipped with its communications modules directly communicate with satellites at a transmit power level comparable to that of a car key fob, so the modules will work for years on a single battery. (Arabian Aerospace)

Let’s make the no-code lifestyle legit: This story is a glimpse into the future. While we’re all stressing about how to teach our kids to code, Microsoft and plenty of other companies are doing their best to make the skill obsolete. Microsoft’s entry into the no-code world is Power Platform, where people can use software to build apps. While hardcore developers may scoff, this a necessary evolution if we really want to take advantage of all the data and insights that the IoT and AI can offer. If a piece of software can share what’s inefficient in your business but you have to wait for some developer to get around to fixing it, we’ve just moved a bottleneck to a different place in the organization. But if the recipient of the digital insight can solve the problem using a no-code/low-code platform, that would help move things along. Read the article to learn how doing so can make businesses more efficient. (Quartz)

Nokia and Microsoft, together again! Nokia and Microsoft have teamed up to combine Nokia’s networking capabilities with Microsoft’s Azure cloud. Microsoft had purchased Nokia a few years back, before spinning it back out and selling the assets to a former Nokia executive. Now, they are back together and trying to build out an industrial automation platform where Nokia handles the corporate network (5G or another licensed technology) and the applications are hosted in the on-premise version of Azure.  This partnership matters because there’s a big change coming to corporate campuses, big industrial centers, and other private spaces, where the owners and operators of those spaces build their own wireless networks using equipment from companies such as Nokia and Ericsson. The trend is driven by companies that want the security of licensed airwaves and control of their own wireless destiny, and regulatory changes that are allowing those same companies to buy small amounts of spectrum to cover their physical operations as opposed to an entire metropolitan area as is normally the case in spectrum auctions. (EnterpriseAI)

How old tech is leading to new interfaces: Google’s Nest Hub Max is a smart display with the ability to pump out ultrasonic noise to determine if someone is nearby. The resolution isn’t as fine-grained as what Google has enabled with its Project Soli chip on the new Pixel phones, but these ultrasonic capabilities have their place. Google is using the ultrasonic sensor to figure out when to wake up the display and also to determine what people see. If you are across the room from the display, for example, it senses that and shows information on the screen in a larger-than-normal font. As you approach the screen, it may display more detailed information. For example, if you asked Google for the weather while sitting across the room, you might get a temperature reading and picture of a sun. As you near the display, it could show a 5-day forecast. I love examples of using tech as an enabling tool for better design as opposed to celebrating the tech on its own. What’s surprising is that Google is doing this after Apple had led the way in this arena for so long. (Engadget)

Renesas and Altair partner for highly integrated IoT chips: One of the things Qualcomm was famous for in the mobile phone industry was combining its processors and cellular radios on the same system on a chip. Doing so saved space inside a cramped design and influenced the phone industry for decades. Now it’s time to take that concept and apply it to even smaller form factors. With this in mind, Renesas, which makes microprocessors for the embedded and IoT world, has signed a deal with Altair, which makes cellular modems. The two have pledged to create modules that combine both the microprocessor “brains” of a sensor and its radios in a module. This isn’t quite the same as shoving it all on a system on a chip, but it’s a start. (Light Reading)

Enlighted to provide the sensors and lighting for pre-fab hospital rooms: Earlier this year, you may have seen a story about pre-fabricated hospital rooms available for sale on Amazon. These $285,000 rooms are the brainchild of EIR Healthcare, which makes a modular, pre-fabricated room designed for specific care needs. Enlighted, a company that started in smart lighting and is now offering analytics, sensors, and more, said it was chosen as one of the potential providers of lighting and sensing for these MedModular rooms. The idea behind Enlighted’s selection is that it will help lower energy usage in hospitals. (EIR Healthcare)