We hear a lot about designing with security in mind for connected products, but Lena Pripp-Kovac, Sustainability Manager IKEA of Sweden, designs IKEA's connected products with sustainability in mind. (Yes, it also designs with security in mind, … [Read more...]
Thoughts on automation after visiting IKEA’s test facility
While visiting IKEA's headquarters in Älmhurt, Sweden, I did not get to eat actual moose meatballs — but I did learn many things. I toured the testing lab, which performed 15,500 tests during IKEA's 2017 fiscal year (which ran from September 2016 to … [Read more...]
Rethinking the smart home in 2018
A year ago this month, I prepared a presentation on the "State of the Smart Home," which focused on how far voice interfaces had taken us and where they fell short. This week, I gave a quick talk to folks preparing smart home products for IKEA in … [Read more...]
Podcast: Amazon’s Alexa Blueprints, home robots and more
This week’s show finds me in Sweden pondering Alexa Blueprints, the Amazon Echo for kids and Amazon’s smart robot plans. Kevin and I talked about all of that, before showcasing new research for IoT out of Carnegie Mellon, the University of … [Read more...]
Podcast: The Nest doorbell is a great video doorbell
Microsoft plans to spend $5 billion on the internet of things, and it’s more than the usual shell game that big firms play with these sorts of announcements. We discuss its plans on this week’s podcast. We also talk about Qualcomm’s new vision chips … [Read more...]