If it weren’t for Willis Carrier’s invention of the air conditioner in 1902, the scorching hot summer months in warm climate countries would be close to unbearable. So it’s is only fitting that the latest innovation in the realm of air conditioning would come from Israel.
Meet Sensibo, the greatest thing to happen to climate control since the introduction of the remote-controlled AC.
Internet of Things startup Tado has today unveiled its most ambitious product to-date. The German company and maker of the Tado smart thermostat, which competes with Google-owned Nest and others, has taken to crowdfunding platform Kickstarter to launch the Tado Cooling, an Internet-connected device that makes almost any remote controlled air conditioning system smart.
GE said today it would acquire the cyber security company Wurldtech to expand its digital arsenal for protecting critical infrastructure and operations technology.
GE has started connecting jet engines, power plants, locomotives and other technology to the Industrial Internet, an emerging digital network that connects machines, data and software with people.
And of the investors actively funding IoT companies, corporate venture groups are perhaps the most bullish on the promise and future of IoT. Specifically, three corporate VC investors lead the way in the IoT market – Intel Capital, Qualcomm Ventures and Cisco Investments.
Cisco thinks that as many as 50 billion devices will be connected to the Internet by 2020.
To put that in perspective, that’s nine devices for every one of the eight billion people expected to be on the planet. Your phone, the fitness device on your wrist, your doorbell, the thermostat in your hallway, the smart TV in your living room, the car in the driveway, the Amazon package at your doorstep, and even your family pet — all connected to the world and beaming data home.
With the advent of the Internet of things, potentially billions of devices will report data about themselves, making it possible to create new applications in areas as diverse as factory optimization, car maintenance, or simply keeping track of your stuff online. But doing this today requires at least some degree of programming knowledge. Now Bug Labs, a New York City company, is trying to make it as easy to create an Internet of things application as it is to put a file into Dropbox.
Things we learned today: Coca-Cola has been experimenting with the Internet of things. Talking soda cans could be in the future.
But more importantly, Jasper, the company powering whatever such initiatives Coca-Cola has been working on, just announced a new round of funding to the tune of $50 million. Temasek led the round, which now brings Jasper’s valuation to over $1.3 billion.
Yep, an Internet of things company is now in the billion-dollar valuation club. Take that, photo-sharing apps.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based company essentially provides cloud-based software and systems that are required for a functioning Internet of things (IoT) initiative.
While “smart home” companies such as Nest and SmartThings have been making all the headlines lately, industry veteran iControl Networks is scooping up a company to add to its Big Brother-like arsenal of connected home offerings.
iControl announced today that it has acquired Blacksumac Inc, the maker of Piper, an all-in-one security and awareness device for the home for an undisclosed amount.
Connected devices are on the rise, but there’s one big reason we haven’t yet realized the Internet of things: a failure to communicate.
For all of their network-enabled smarts, our connected gadgets can’t easily talk to each other. Right now, we have Things Connected to the Internet, which is far from a true Internet of things.
Prodea, an eight-year old company with $100 million in funding, believes it has the solution with its Residential OS (ROS), a white-label platform that aims to unite the disjointed world of connected devices. It’s launching today in the U.S. after nabbing several customers over the years in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.
