This is the final episode of The Internet of Things Podcast, and to send us off after eight years, we don’t discuss the big news of the day such as Arm’s planned IPO, a new display option from Brilliant, or new gear from Leviton. Instead we sha

Episode 436: Can Alexa (and the smart home) stand on its own?

Aug 17th, 2023 58m 3s

Amazon’s head of devices, David Limp, plans to retire as part of a wave of executives that have been leaving Amazon in the last year. Also, next year Alexa and the Amazon Echo will be 10 years old, which prompted us to take a look at the role A

Episode 435: How Honeywell is approaching TinyML

Aug 10th, 2023 1h 4m

This week we make a big announcement about the podcast and newsletter. Get ready! Then we talk about the issues with Matter and who’s to blame. We lay out the challenges that both we and The Verge have highlighted with Thread credentialing, and

Episode 434: So many new hubs, and a primer on LPWANs

Aug 3rd, 2023 1h 1m

This week’s show kicks off with a surprising revelation from Kevin, who has decided to swap out his smart home platform. He explains his choice, which also may represent a theme of sorts, as we see more and more high-end smart home hubs hit the

Episode 433: Tracking air quality with the IoT

Jul 27th, 2023 1h

This week we didn’t see a ton of news, yet we managed to talk about several big trends in IoT. We started with an update on Amazon’s planned acquisition of iRobot, and Amazon dropping the price by 15%. We explain why and then decided to explain

Episode 432: How to make IoT more consumer-friendly

Jul 20th, 2023 56m 54s

This week we dig in on two topics that will make the internet of things friendlier for consumers. The first is the newly announced cybersecurity label plan from the White House that will create a way for consumers to see if their planned IoT pu

Episode 431: Why Josh.ai added ChatGPT to the home

Jul 13th, 2023 58m 10s

This week on the show, Kevin and I start off talking about some of the Roku gear I’ve been playing with for the last week. We discuss the gear and the subscription plans and how they compare with what else is on the market, before moving on to

Episode 430: The theme of this show is wearables

Jul 6th, 2023 59m 30s

This week’s podcast focuses on wearables, from hearing aids to mixed reality headsets. We start the show talking about the potential future of Apple AirPods as a hearing aid or an additional health-focused wearable. And while on the topic of Ap

Episode 429: Why Roku wants a smart home OS

Jun 29th, 2023 1h

This week we learned a bit more about streaming provider Roku’s plans to build a smart home operating system. This is in addition to all of the new smart home devices the company has developed using Wyze hardware. Because Kevin Tofel is on vaca

Episode 428: How to add ChatGPT to the smart home

Jun 22nd, 2023 1h 1m

This week’s podcast tackles Kevin’s real-world experience with the Google Pixel tablet and speaker dock. He liked the tablet, but as a smart home accessory it’s lacking, which is what we had originally anticipated. But it’s still a bummer, beca

Episode 427: What it takes to put LTE on the moon

Jun 15th, 2023 1h 3m

We start this week’s show with a review of DeviceScript, a limited subset of the TypeScript programming language, built by Microsoft to bring a more modern programming option to connected device programing. Kevin downloaded the code and tried i

Episode 426: Our take on Apple’s Vision Pro and fixes for bad air

Jun 8th, 2023 1h 4m

It may not surprise anyone, but Kevin and I have thoughts on Apple’s Vision Pro mixed reality headset that we’re sharing with y’all. We also lay out some details about changes to Apple’s various operating systems and services that relate to Sir

Episode 425: Smarter grocery stores are coming

Jun 1st, 2023 1h

Krogers and Walmart are both expanding various IoT devices to more of their stores as part of a larger shift in how connectivity and intelligence will change how we shop. Walmart is deploying electronic shelf labels in 500 stores while Kroger i

Episode 424: Trust, AI, and the economy drive IoT conversations

May 25th, 2023 1h 1m

This week’s show is live from Dallas as I attend the Parks Associates Connections smart home event, so I start out discussing some of the themes I’ve seen so far, including the growing importance of data privacy, local processing and generative

Episode 423: Why Wemo is a no go for us

May 18th, 2023 59m 36s

We start this week’s show with a conversation about Latch, the company that is acquiring Jamie Siminoff’s stealth startup. Siminoff, who also founded Ring, left Amazon (which had acquired Ring in 2018) this week ahead of the planned deal. He wi

Episode 422: The Pixel tablet is a smart home let down

May 11th, 2023 57m 45s

Google launched a new tablet and dock at the Google I/O event Wednesday, and Kevin and I share our thoughts on how it might fit in with a smart home. Will it replace your Nest Smart Displays? We also share some of the updates expected in the ne

Episode 421: Amazon adds Thread and beefs up Alexa

May 4th, 2023 54m 6s

Amazon has turned on the Thread-capabilities inside its Echo devices so they can support the Matter smart home interoperability standard in its totality, so Kevin and I talk about what that will and won’t do for smart home users. It’s also the

Episode 420: First impressions of the new Aqara mmWave sensor

Apr 27th, 2023 50m 45s

This week we start the show with my first impressions of the Aqara FP2 mmWave sensor. This $83 sensor can detect multiple people in a room, light settings, and falls. It’s also one of the first presence sensors that uses radar to detect people

Episode 419: Little sensors save big amounts of water

Apr 20th, 2023 1h 2m

This week’s show has lots of updates and small updates. We start off with a story about a golf course near San Diego that has saved millions of gallons of water using connected soil sensors. And then we review what changed with Zigbee PRO 2023

Episode 418: Why is the smart home still so terrible?

Apr 13th, 2023 1h 9m

This week’s show is full of both good news and bad news, starting with Google apparently dropping software update support for third-party smart displays. We question Google’s commitment to the smart home, even though the good news from Google i

Episode 417: We need a standard for aging in place

Apr 6th, 2023 1h 1m

This week’s podcast is focused on IoT infrastructure, with our first conversation explaining the upcoming 6G cellular connectivity standard. After that, we discuss sales of IoT connectivity chips and modules, and the leaders in each category be

Episode 416: What the heck is an IoT hyperscaler?

Mar 30th, 2023 1h

With this week’s show I feel like we’re singing the same old tune. Philips Hue maker Signify is delaying its implementation of Matter while it waits for others to implement features it needs. Meanwhile Eve has started selling plugs that are Mat

Episode 415: Making meaning from Matter product delays

Mar 23rd, 2023 52m 6s

This week’s show starts off with our take on Belkin deciding to hold off on releasing Matter products, and an update on Matter plans from other vendors including Wyze and Yale. We also talk about Nanoleaf’s new Matter-compatible Essentials bulb

Episode 414: How generative AI could help the IoT

Mar 16th, 2023 1h 9m

We kick off this week’s show with a focus on generative AI and what new models such as GPT-4 and even things like Stable Diffusion could mean for the internet of things. Along the way we disagree with an article trying to compare digital assist

Episode 413: Cranes, trains, and cybersecurity

Mar 9th, 2023 1h 4m

This week’s podcast kicks off with a story about the Pentagon’s fears over a Chinese-connected crane maker and its prevalence in U.S. ports. The Pentagon and others focused on national security question whether or not ZPMC, the maker of these c