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EU advances rules for giving users more control over their device data
Data sharing law has taken a step closer to becoming reality
In recent years, the EU has implemented comprehensive legislation to safeguard data privacy and enhance individual rights. This includes laws like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), which requires organizations to provide greater transparency and control of personal data to end users. The EU is not messing around when it comes to enforcement, either, and a number of tech giants have been fined serious money for flouting these regulations. That's why the world is keeping a close eye as the EU works to finalize access rules for IoT devices and data providers both within and outside Europe.
Matter explained: What is the next-gen smart home protocol
Your devices will finally work together as they should
The massive growth of the smart home market has led to problems with competing standards and protocols. The World Economic Forum estimates that more than 130 million households owned a smart home device in 2022. These issues have grown exponentially. Matter solves these problems by establishing a new smart home standard that allows smart home devices to be controlled by one app, improves security, and creates more reliable connections. Today, the best smart home devices that support Matter include devices from Google, Apple, and Amazon.
Last year was supposed to be the public debut of Matter, a unified protocol designed to unite all of our various smart home gadgets under one roof. As skeptical as we were, it seemed like the winds were finally blowing in the right direction for a launch before the end of 2021, but alas, it wasn't meant to be. If you're a smart home enthusiast who jotted down "first half of 2022" in your calendar, I hope you wrote it in pencil. Matter's been delayed yet again.
Smart home gear is becoming more commonplace these days, helping to automate your daily routine in small ways. The Internet of Secure Things Alliance (or ioXt) is essential in keeping these gadgets safe, but it's just as important to ensure any backend software is also protected. Today, ioXt is expanding its certification program to include mobile apps like VPNs, with Google One among the first selected to participate.
Pixel 4, 4 XL, and 4a pick up security certification from ioXt Alliance — required for Android 11's Enterprise Recommendation
Making your smartphone that little bit safer
Pixel phones have always been some of the most secure in the market, which is something Google has always been proud of. Today the Pixel 4 family, including the newly released Pixel 4a, picked up yet another security accolade by becoming the first smartphones to be officially certified by The Internet of Secure Things Alliance.
Google's operating system for lightweight Internet of Things devices, the fittingly-named Android Things OS, was originally intended to run on a wide array of hardware. It has seen the most success in Google Assistant-powered smart displays and speakers, and now that's the only product category Android Things will be certified for.
In a press release this morning, Qualcomm announced a new platform "purpose-built for IoT devices" and a couple of new system-on-chips to go along with it. The company is calling the new program the Vision Intelligence Platform, and its new chips will be used in devices like robots and smart cameras.
The more capable a microwave oven is, the harder it is to figure out what buttons to press to make it do the thing you want. Or so I've heard. Today, Amazon announced that it will save us all from furiously button-mashing to just heat up some leftovers by adding cooking capabilities to its Smart Home Skill API and working with appliance manufacturers to add its Alexa assistant to cloud-connected microwave ovens.Four new capabilities have been added to the API so that microwaves that support preset cooking can carry out particular functions by voice command. In a post at Amazon's Alexa Blog, Alexa evangelist Mike Maas writes that customers will be able to ask Alexa to microwave something for a certain amount of time, or even something a little less concrete like, “Alexa, defrost three pounds of chicken.”Maas says that Whirlpool has already developed its Alexa integration for its “smart” microwaves, with GE, Kenmore, LG, and Samsung currently working on Alexa-enabled microwaves for down the road.Perhaps most intriguing is that the Alexa Fund, which provides venture capital funding for the development of voice technology, has invested in June Life, makers of a highly praised smart convection oven. The June Oven already has a custom Alexa skill, and this investment is intended to further this integration. Amazon provided a statement from June Life’s CEO Matt Van Horn, who said, “This next development in Smart Home Skill API support for ovens will enable our owners to give shorter, simpler commands to their June Ovens and receive updates on their food as it is cooking.”No word on whether there are plans to integrate Alexa with Easy Bake ovens or campfires.Source: Amazon Alexa Blog
We've seen levitating Bluetooth speakers and connected smart cameras before, but the Moon, a fully funded Indiegogo project, melds those technologies in a $209 ($330 at retail) floating robotic eyeball and base that can also act as a smart hub for your home. That is, if it ever ships. The typical crowdfunding caveats apply. Some Indiegogo projects don't have much of a future, and this is 1-Ring's first.
Coffee is an integral part of so many people's lives, so it makes sense to make the brewing process more convenient. The folks at Behmor thought of this and created the Behmor Connected Coffee Brewer. The MSRP of $299 might have made it a bit out of reach for many consumers, but Groupon currently has this WiFi-toting machine for just $159.99 - a savings of around 46%.The Behmor Connected Coffee Brewer sports a number of noteworthy features, such as a double-walled stainless steel carafe, a stainless steel water reservoir, a flat bottom filter gasket and gold filter, as well as pulsed water flow. You can also control temperatures between 190 and 210 degrees Fahrenheit and pre-soak coffee grounds for up to four minutes. And of course, since it's WiFi-connected, you can use the Behmor app to set the coffee's temperature, pre-soak the grounds, control the number of cups being brewed (up to eight), and more.$159.99 is the lowest price for this brewer we've been able to find online; for reference, Amazon has it for $179.99. Shipping is free, as are returns. The site lists a 'limited time remaining' on this deal, so don't snooze if you want one.Source: Groupon
Fast on the heels of Developer Preview 2, Google has just pushed out their latest Developer Preview for Android Things, the IoT embedded platform based on Android.
Android Things is Google's simplified build of Android for Internet of Things devices (I still hate that term), first released last year as a developer preview. The previews only support a handful of developer boards - the Intel Edison and Joule, NXP Pico, and Raspberry Pi 3. Now Qualcomm has committed to supporting Android Things on its Snapdragon 210 SoC later this year.
Google dipped its toe in the waters of the ambiguously defined "Internet of Things" (IoT) at I/O 2015 when it announced the Brillo operating system. Today, Google has announced Android Things, the new name for Brillo, is ready for public testing. Developers can grab the images right now for several hardware platforms.
Love it or hate it, Bluetooth is in almost every gadget we own and use. It's one of the most universal means of communication between devices and thanks to the Low Energy protocol of Bluetooth 4.0 (and 4.1 and 4.2 subsequently), it has been propagating to various accessories, gadgets, wearables, and Internet of Things devices. Right now, I can count 13 things within 2 feet of me that use Bluetooth, and they're not all phones: I also have a speaker, a wireless trackpad, 2 smartwatches, a Fitbit, and so on.
Ever since it sold off its mobile business to Microsoft and its mapping entity to a consortium of German carmakers, Nokia has been struggling to find its identity and reinvent itself amidst a changing and challenging ecosystem. Its network arm is still going strong, but the brand has lost much of, if not all of its halo when it comes to consumer-facing technologies.
For mobile payments to really take off, the functionality needs to be available to far more than merely the latest devices. For this reason, the SD Association, a non-profit that sets memory card standards, is pushing a means to use microSD cards to make otherwise incompatible devices compatible.
In 2016, Samsung wants you to make one of its new Smart TVs the center of your smart home (assuming your home is smart, that is). The company has announced that each of its upcoming models will be able to connect to other Samsung devices and serve as SmartThings hubs, allowing them to connect to all SmartThing-compatible devices.
Just as expensive universal remotes started to feel outdated, Logitech smartly joined the boom in smart home devices. While your old Logitech Harmony remote handled your cable box, TV, and maybe a couple of other auxiliary media devices, the new stuff goes far beyond entertainment systems. Today, you can jump on the bandwagon at a pretty steep discount as Best Buy offers the white Logitech Harmony Home Control for $80, a discount of $70.
Nest has announced that a communication protocol it's been using internally for its products is now being made available to all device makers. It's called Weave, and I know what you're thinking, but it's not the same as Google's Weave/Brillo platform (because that's not confusing at all). Nest Weave will allow devices around your home to communicate directly (and with the Nest app) rather than relying on the cloud.
Did you see that white box floating across the Atlantic ocean? That was a SmartThings Hub. You can now purchase one in the UK and Ireland.