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| 5 things I learned from my smart range |
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| By Stacey Higginbotham |
The connected range I purchased back in November arrived this week, and the entire experience — from researching to purchasing to connecting the appliance — taught me a lot of lessons about the future of the smart home. I ended up buying a GE Appliances Café induction range; it replaced an aging Bosch oven that wouldn’t hold a temperature.
If I'm being honest, a Wi-Fi connection wasn’t even on the shortlist of features I needed in an oven.
So lesson one is that even the most smart home-crazy early adopter will buy a large appliance with an eye toward the device’s core functionality, not smart features. I focused first on induction, burner capability, and location, then oven size, features, and rack size. At no point during the sales process did anyone mention anything about Wi-Fi.
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But a week or two after ordering the oven, GE Appliance, which is owned by Haier, sent out a press release saying that owners of certain ovens would get an over-the-air update that would let them automatically cook the “perfect turkey” using the temperature probe that came with the oven and a pre-loaded recipe. It reminded me of the capabilities of the June oven, which I own and love.
So I looked at the receipt for my oven and saw that, yes, it had Wi-Fi. Cool. I then promptly forgot about it until the oven arrived. Once it was installed and I started reading the manual, I discovered that GE Appliances has a deal with Heston Cue, a maker of smart pans, that offers what GE called “precision cooking.”
They had me at “smart pans.” I had seen the Heston Cue demos at The Spoon’s food tech events and was familiar with the system, which consists of smart pans, an induction cooktop, and an app. With it, you can accurately control the temperature of the burner and pan so you can melt chocolate and perform other tasks that require fine-grained temperature control and a bit of babysitting, such as making candy or puddings.
I was so excited. It was as though my range, which I already loved, had suddenly become more capable and valuable all thanks to the Wi-Fi connection and the Heston Cue integration.
Since I was just moving to an induction range, which requires compatible pans, I already had new pans in my shopping cart. So I simply swapped out the $300 chef pan I intended to purchase for the $225 Heston Cue chef pan (it was on sale).
So lesson two is that when done well, a connected appliance can deliver joy (and potentially additional purchases) if the manufacturer invests in quality integrations and features.
There are a couple of things that would have made me skip the special pans and smart features. One is if it required a paid subscription. I also would have opted out if I hadn't already known that GE had worked with UL to certify its appliances under UL’s relatively new IoT cybersecurity standards. GE chose to get the UL gold standard, which means traffic is encrypted during storage and transmission between the device and servers and the app is monitored for data and security breaches. I’d prefer one level up to Diamond level certification, which would provide additional security from a secure enclave and notifications when privacy changes happen. But at least I know that GE cares about security.
I was disappointed that I didn’t find anything in GE’s documentation touting this certification. But since no one mentioned Wi-Fi during the sales process, it makes sense that they wouldn’t tell me about its cybersecurity efforts. Lesson three is that while cybersecurity is important, it’s also probably not a selling point. It’s just something a manufacturer needs to have, much like it needs to ensure its ovens lock during a cleaning cycle. Security isn’t a feature. It’s fundamental.
Finally, after ordering the pans, checking for the cybersecurity rating, and seeing whether or not my oven would talk to Alexa or Google (not a reason for me to connect the oven, but a nice-to-have since I'm connecting it), I downloaded the GE Appliances Smart HQ app and got ready to connect.
The app’s ratings are dismal on both Android (2.1, on average) and on Apple (2.9). Disappointingly, GE asks for your physical address, which it will share with third-party advertisers along with usage data. Upon seeing that, I almost stopped the connection process right then and there. And indeed, if the smart pans don’t perform as I hope they will, I may just disconnect the device and give up on a connected range altogether. I hate that GE thinks so little of me that it will sell my address and usage data to third parties to make a little extra coin. After spending $4,000 to buy one of its products, it’s disrespectful.
Which brings us to lesson four of connected appliances: Respect the buyer; don’t sell their information. At the moment, I’m begrudgingly accepting that to get what I want (precision cooking) I have to share my data, but I’m ready to dump the connectivity if the experience isn’t awesome. I’m also warning every person out there looking at buying a connected appliance to weigh the value of their data against what connectivity enables.
Once it was finally time to connect my new oven, I was transported back to 2015, when connecting a device was a chore. The oven has a soft AP that broadcasts its own Wi-Fi network. To start the broadcast, I had to go into the oven's setting menu and press 2 for Wi-Fi.
Once the Wi-Fi signal was broadcasting from the appliance, I had to go into the settings menu on my phone, switch over to the GE Wi-Fi network, and connect to it with a password displayed on the oven screen. From there, the oven connected and asked for my Wi-Fi SSID and password, which I entered. Success!
Notably, I use an Android phone; Apple usually has an easier process for connecting devices. But phone aside, this set-up process felt ancient. Most companies now use QR codes, Bluetooth, or other mechanisms to make connecting an appliance as easy as opening an app and searching for a nearby device. The process I went through is one that trips up consumers all the time.
So lesson five is make connecting as seamless as possible. My experience wasn’t terrible, but it is one that will cause headaches for people who aren't used to connecting things.
I’m still waiting for my pans, but I have connected the range to Google Assistant (which was a little wonky, process-wise) and can preheat the oven using my voice. So far, I’m hoping the Wi-Fi connection is worth the random email that marketers may send me, but that’s going to depend on future software updates and the Heston Cue experience. If those aren’t awesome, I’m taking this range back offline.
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| The future of retail brings digital surveillance to the real world |
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The National Retail Federation held its annual NRF 2022 conference this week, and the tech industry was there in force. Qualcomm, for example, held a briefing ahead of the event to celebrate its third year of attendance where it outlined how it plans to build its IoT business with a large focus on retail customers. And at the conference itself, Twilio, Intel, Nvidia, PTC, Comcast, and scores of data analytics companies demonstrated how they're using technology to make the physical retail experience as responsive and trackable as digital shopping.
Edge computing, targeted advertising, and computer vision solutions were made available, with various big tech companies showcasing partnerships that help retailers track shopping carts while also using them to deliver targeted ads, partnerships that leverage computer vision for loss prevention — even partnerships dedicated to dynamic pricing and truly accurate inventory management. |
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| — Most retail tech will be less visible than smart mirrors. Image courtesy of Qualcomm. |
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The tech industry has been wooing the retail industry for a decade, but the shift from e-commerce and providing cloud services to more IoT-enabled products has been happening for the last five years. And with the pandemic, the retail industry is wrestling with conflicting trends, such as more online shopping leading to the need to converge e-commerce and physical inventory, and in-person shoppers wanting to spend less time in physical places touching things. A rise in the number of thefts and continued pressure on margins are also leading some groceries, drugstores, and other shops to look at new loss prevention techniques and ways to make money on advertising or consumer data, respectively.
But retailers are willing to spend money, and they are getting more comfortable with technology. Last year, a Microsoft survey of retailers found that 92% were already investing in IoT either in production or as a pilot project. Most of the use cases dealt with increasing automation and making sure those retailers understood where their inventory was located and what was in it. (See chart below)
Last year, Microsoft pledged $5 billion for retail IoT and the intelligent edge by 2022. Not to be outdone, Qualcomm this year conducted a press event with Art Miller, its global head of IoT, who said that he's been working for the last three years on partnerships and technology to make Qualcomm a contender in retail IoT. He spent almost an hour laying out an array of scenarios, including a smart shopping cart partnership with edge computing hub maker Veea and advertising partner iFREE Group that uses Qualcomm technology to track smart shopping carts as they roam a store delivering targeted advertising and discounts.
Having a shopping cart blaring ads at me while I shop sounds like a nightmare, and other visions for IoT in retail give me pause, too. For example, Qualcomm has shown off cameras that use computer vision and algorithms running locally to assign demographic data to shoppers. While talking to vendors of computer vision tech for retailers, whether it is Qualcomm, Intel, or Nvidia, will generate a lot of statements about helping to make the consumer experience more enjoyable, dig a little deeper and most of the computer vision tech seems to be largely dedicated to advertising, loss prevention, or automated checkout.
And from my perspective as a shopper, only the automated checkout offers me much convenience. To be sure, automated checkout options were very much on display and in demand at the show, with solutions from GRUBBRR and Caper. I imagine many of us will encounter automated checkout in the next two years if we haven't already.
The show also had some traditional tech tropes for retailers, including smart mirrors and new digital signage technology that could link shoppers' social media accounts to signs in the store. This year also introduced shopping in the metaverse and a greater emphasis on sustainability. I'd like to hear more about that, but in the near term, the big story will be better data integration between online and offline inventories and sensor-based ways to track people in stores and deliver more ads to them. |
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| Episode 355: Get ready for an active FTC and energy storing appliances |
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| The big story this week in IoT was the joint venture between Ford and ADT to add smart home security to cars through an in-vehicle security system. Then we discuss the FTC and Department of Justice reconsidering how they evaluate mergers. We also explain variations on Wi-Fi, from the launch of new Wi-Fi 6E gear to the coming Wi-Fi 7 standard. We include a blast from the past with an update on Misty Robotics and, in other robot news, we cover research from the MIT Media Lab on giving robotics a personality. We're also sharing news about energy harvesting Bluetooth company Atmosic, which has a new product and $72 million in funding. In smaller news, we are excited about smart home company Tado going public, and a new way of handling IR sensing that could figure out the nutritional value of food. We stick with the food topic by discussing my latest purchase, a smart induction range from GE Appliances. |
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| — Furhat Robotics has acquired Misty Robotics for better social robotics. Image courtesy of Furhat. |
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| Our guest this week is Kalais (IT'S SPELLED KAILAS) Nair, a co-founder and director at Plentify. The South African startup is trying to help power companies store energy generated by renewable sources for later use by home appliances. Nair discusses how his startup is trying to use sensors and data analysis to make it possible to power a fridge, a heat pump, or a water heater when power is cheap and clean, for use when renewable energy isn't available. He also explains how important it is to manage energy across many homes, not just on an individual basis. For the last five years, Plentify has sold its electronics and algorithms for water heaters in South Africa, and now he's bringing the tech to the U.S. and hoping to convince appliance manufacturers to put the Plentify tech into their own products. |
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This week on the IoT Podcast Hotline, we answer a question about using Amazon Sidewalk or LoRaWAN in wearables.
The IoT Podcast hotline is brought to you this week by SpinDance. SpinDance can help you design, build and support your IoT product. Learn more at SpinDance.com. |
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| News of the Week |
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The FTC and the DOJ issue request for comment on the FTC's merger guidelines: This is a huge story for the tech industry because it's seen as a response to overly permissive M&A over the last decade, which has led to tech companies having outsized power over employees and suppliers and distorting markets. The notice is a first step to the agencies creating new merger guidelines to address an economy where value is driven by data, technology consolidation, and more. For decades, antitrust law has focused on consumer harms, specifically companies consolidating and then raising prices. But it's clear that the new merger guidelines will focus on more than just higher costs for consumers at checkout. The notice asks for input on a variety of topics, ranging from how M&A might affect labor markets to how to build models to measure anticompetitive effects in the modern economy. It's only 10 pages and worth the read, if only to get a sense of how nuanced merger reviews might become. And for a take on FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan's interview the day after the notice was released, hit up Protocol. (FTC, Protocol) — Stacey Higginbotham
Computer vision comes to coffee robots: If you read the story about NRF and technology, you know that computer vision is going to play a large role in retail IoT strategies, for better or worse. But computer vision may also provide your robot barista with skills that are good enough to drive the adoption of more robots in food service. At least that's what Meng Weng, the CEO of Artly, and the former CTO of a computer vision company that was purchased by Amazon and then saw it become the basis for Amazon's Rekognition computer vision service, hopes. Artly operates robot baristas that have computer vision advanced enough that it can "learn" from watching videos of human baristas performing a task (even mimicking humans creating latte art) as well as recognize necessary items for making the perfect cappuccino, even if those items are misplaced. The technology here is impressive and could go far beyond coffee-slinging robotic baristas. (Ottomate) — Stacey Higginbotham
Xiaomi has released new security guidelines for its devices: I love when companies think about how to best secure their connected devices and I love it even more when they share their thoughts for others to dissect or follow. So I was happy to read through Chinese gadget maker Xiaomi's latest security guidelines. The 55-page document is really comprehensive covering everything from encryption requirements to making sure developers turn off debugging capabilities on finished devices before they ship. On the software side, Xiaomi advocates for a software bill of materials and disabling telnet. I don't know if this will build trust for folks worried about buying a device from a Chinese company, but I wish more vendors put this sort of thing out (and then followed it). (Github) — Stacey Higginbotham
Nanoleaf will no longer sell its original Light Panels: Nanoleaf will no longer sell its original triangle-shaped Light Panels that launched in 2016. This means if you want to buy expansion packs or accessories, get them before they run out. (They're also on sale.) I asked Nanoleaf if the shift from an active product to a "legacy product" means that Nanoleaf Light panels will stop getting security updates, but that's not the case. The spokeswoman assured me, "support for Light Panels will be offered indefinitely. Customer support and app features will all be available, including Group Scenes—allowing users to control their Light Panels with current and future Nanoleaf products." As an owner of the original Light Panels, I am glad Nanoleaf is handling this clearly and continuing security updates and relevant support. Now, if only it would fix the bug that keeps turning my Nanoleaf Elements on at random times during the night. (Nanoleaf) — Stacey Higginbotham
Facial recognition and the IRS? If you're not a U.S. citizen, be glad that you don’t pay your taxes to our Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Starting this tax year, the IRS is requiring any online tax filing or review of your tax documents to use an account through ID.me. This is a third-party, for-profit company that offers identity verification to various customers. Apparently, the IRS is its latest customer, which means that in addition to providing ID.me with images of identification (a passport, a driver's license, etc), you'll also need to upload a selfie. The company says you can delete your biometric data at any time, but this report suggests that doing so equates to deleting your account completely. What could go wrong with the IRS and a third-party company having facial identification data of U.S. citizens? (KrebsOnSecurity) — Kevin C. Tofel
Ambient.ai raises $52M: There’s no lack of companies specializing in artificial intelligence (AI) these days, but they all seem to have a different approach. For Ambient.ai, that approach is to be the computer brains between cameras and people. By interpreting what’s happening in front of a security camera, for example, the company says its AI can route the appropriate information to the right people. Or the AI can create “personal signatures” of what people often do and interpret the context of what’s happening in real time. This is all scalable, meaning the AI can monitor hundreds of live feeds with accuracy and without the fatigue that human resources would feel doing the same. It sounds legit to me and clearly investors agree, as Ambient.ai raised $52 million this week, although it hasn’t detailed what it plans to invest the funds in just yet. (TechCrunch) — Kevin C. Tofel
Smart home security tech is coming to vehicles: Although I would have expected this news to come out of the Consumer Electronics Show, Ford and ADT announced a joint venture this week. It’s called Canopy and together the two companies will invest up to $100 million to back it. The idea is to provide vehicle security, both inside and outside. The joint press release from Ford and ADT touted this as a breakthrough technology, but smart home owners have had access to what Canopy is providing for years. Essentially, this tie-up brings ADT-connected cameras and monitoring services to upcoming Ford vehicles. Even if it’s not a “breakthrough,” I explain why I think it’s a good idea and the first of many similar such partnerships. (StaceyOnIoT) — Kevin C. Tofel
A smart home wishlist for 2022: This article crossed my news feeds on Thursday and I thought it was worth the share. In it are seven things the author wants to see brought to the smart home between now and 2023. I don’t disagree with any of the items, particularly since Matter is the first one, and because the last one is what I’ve been clamoring for since 2018 or so: a “smarter” smart home that acts more on its own based on learning models and data. (Android Central) — Kevin C. Tofel
Forget trucks; future goods may be moved by autonomous electric trains! Parallel Systems, which aims to move more goods at a lower cost than trucks, emerged out of stealth mode this week. The company, founded by three former SpaceX engineers, has a prototype train container system that’s both autonomous and electric-powered. Each 20-foot shipping container is automatically placed on two small train-like platforms thanks to sensors and cameras. These platforms can chug down tracks alone or in groups, depending on where the container needs to be delivered. Hopefully, existing rail lines connect all of the places those goods need to go. (ArsTechnica) — Kevin C. Tofel
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