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| Ting is building out an IoT network to monitor the public grid |
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| By Stacey Higginbotham |
Whisker Labs, the company behind the Ting sensor that plugs into homes and monitors for electrical faults to prevent fires, has expanded its network of residential sensors to the point where it can now start offering insights to utilities about the performance of the grid.
The company, which sells about 50,000 Ting sensors each month through insurance companies, has managed to build an IoT business that's sustainable, useful, and completely invisible to most consumers. |
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| — Ting measures electricity quality inside and outside of the home. Image courtesy of Whisker Labs. |
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Bob Marshall, the CEO of Whisker Labs, told me that the company now has more than 750,000 devices in people's homes thanks to deals with State Farm, Nationwide, and other insurance companies. Insurers offer Ting devices to policyholders because they help prevent fires from electrical shorts. I personally own a Ting and pay for the $50 annual service myself because I'm terrified some of my DIY wiring will cause a fire.
I spoke to Marshall this week to get an update after having him on the podcast a year ago. In that show, we talked about pivoting the company from weather monitoring to building a sensor and algorithms that could detect electrical arcs and faults, and how he managed to convince insurance companies to buy the device and send it to their customers.
A year later, Whisker ships 50,000 Ting devices every month and has prevented 3,500 fires so far (the service prevents an average of 10 fires a day), according to Marshall. When the Ting device detects a problem, a Ting fire and safety expert calls the homeowner and helps them find the problem. Ting will even send out an electrician to fix an issue. For insurance firms, the data has shown enough savings to make the cost of the Ting devices and the annual service worthwhile.
While Ting has been focused on tweaking its algorithms to provide even more details about potential fire hazards in the last year, it has also started working with utilities to share data about their electrical networks. Every Ting sensor tracks not just electrical variations within the home, but also variations and power issues coming into the home.
This gives it a good sense of the health of the overall grid. And at a time when utilities are trying to manage fluctuations in supply caused by renewables, increases in demand from electric vehicles, and challenges caused by climate change, having more information is helpful. "The grid is not designed for the two-way flows of power," Marshall said. "It is incapable of managing the future right now."
Whisker Labs is currently working with an undisclosed utility in California to monitor potential problems with transformer boxes, power lines, and substations. The home network provides a lot of information, but adding more data from the utility will improve the algorithm's accuracy, said Marshall. Anytime Ting tracks a problem, the company's data science team pulls all of the data and does a postmortem to understand what the raw data showed and what the actual issue was. In this way, Ting's algorithms continue to get more accurate and descriptive of a problem over time.
Today on the grid, Marshall estimates the company is at a two or a three out of 10 in terms of the depth of its insights, but every time it gets more info from the utility that number will start to go up. For a look at stats on utilities that Ting offers consumers, check out this map, which Ting updates monthly based on power outages, surges, and brownouts in a given region.
The map reminds me of one that's produced by Generac, maker of home generators and owner of Ecobee. Its power maps are based on data from its generators coming online in the wake of a power outage, but the idea is similar. However, Whisker Labs' plans to track the grid for failures before they occur is particularly compelling. Parts of California already see power outages when fire risks are high because utilities don't want a stray spark to ignite a blaze.
If Whisker Labs could detect those sparks in advance, consumers could keep their lights on while utilities could prevent the sparks that generate fires. That would be putting the IoT to very good use indeed. |
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Rune Labs’ StrivePD platform enables patients and clinicians to better manage Parkinson’s symptoms by collecting metrics from deep brain stimulation (DBS) devices and by providing access to dashboards. Rune Labs uses InfluxDB to collect its time-stamped data and provide customers with visibility into sensor data collected from DBS and wearables.
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| Sonde Health wants to use speech to track health |
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Back in 2014, when I first got an Amazon Echo and had an 8-year-old who frequently got colds, I thought that a future where I could get my kid to cough into the Echo to help diagnose her illness would be super helpful. Is this cough croup? Pneumonia? Post-nasal drip? Any help in figuring out if I should keep them home or take them to the doctor would have been appreciated.
My wish may soon come true, thanks to a company called Sonde Health, although I'm not sure I want this functionality anymore given the state of privacy regulations today. Sonde Health, founded in 2015, a year after I started wishing for some form of machine learning to diagnose a cough, now provides insights about depression, anxiety, COPD, asthma, and cognitive decline based on people's voice. |
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| — The Sonde Mental Fitness apps uses its biomarkers to track my mental health. Screenshot of my results. |
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I am being a bit cautious here, because Sonde Health doesn't diagnose these conditions and maybe never will. Instead its CEO David Liu told me that it analyzes a 30-second vocal sample for characteristics that indicate a person may have depression, anxiety, or cognitive decline. For asthma and COPD, patients provide a six-second vocal sample.
To formally diagnose someone, Sonde Health's algorithms and app would need FDA approval, something Liu isn't planning to seek. Instead the idea is to find clinical biomarkers for medical conditions in vocal samples, and build algorithms that look for those biomarkers. Then the patient gets feedback on individual samples and trends over time. If they don't like what they see they can reach out to their doctor.
Anytime I hear an entrepreneur in the wellness sector discuss biomarkers and their decision not to get FDA approval, I get skeptical. I think there are plenty of disproved metrics promulgated by tech startups that are really just examples of digital snake oil. And yet, anyone who has spoken with a depressed or anxious person can certainly hear it in their voice.
When I'm depressed, my voice loses intonation and I tend to speak slowly and flatly. When anxiety hits, I speed up and can struggle to speak clearly because my mouth can't keep up with my thoughts. I also tend to speak in a higher register. Sonde's app tries to track these and other potential indications of mental stress before they might be obvious to a human's ear.
The idea then becomes that, much like I use my FitBit to track my steps, sleep, and heart rate over time, companies deploying Sonde's technology would use it to help patients track their emotional or cognitive states over time and get ahead of any issues. I imagine this sort of attention on a digital dashboard might increase some people's anxiety, but when used appropriately it could help.
But (and this is a big but) I worry about who has access to this information and how it might be used — especially if it becomes accepted as part a popular knowledge as opposed to being diagnostically relevant. Think about employee wellness programs that hand out activity trackers and set goals of 10,000 steps a day, even though that number was chosen somewhat randomly.
I'm not sure I'd want people outside of my medical team monitoring trends for possible depression, COPD, asthma, or cognitive decline. It's certainly not data I'd want sold to advertisers or accessed by my employer.
Sonde Health doesn't currently share any data about its users with third parties. Rather, it provides an app for consumers and has deals with healthcare providers and remote monitoring companies to provide its algorithms and dashboards as a service. So far, the algorithms are designed to look for biomarkers taken through a near-field microphone such as the one on your phone. Sonde also tests the quality of its algorithms with a variety of medical providers developing new biomarkers with medical partners who formally diagnose a person if their voice is used to train the algorithm.
Liu stressed to me that the training data includes people of different ethnicities, socioeconomic statuses, and genders. The algorithms are tested and developed in conjunction with different hospitals and medical practices. For example, Sonde Health is working with Massachusetts General Hospital's Frontotemporal Disorders Unit to remotely detect and monitor mild cognitive impairment in people living at home.
The results of this work could lead to new biomarkers that could act as early warning signals for diseases such as Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia.
In addition to expanding the number of biomarkers, Liu said the company is trying to build algorithms that could work on far-field microphones, such as those found in smart speakers or smart TVs. This makes me nervous, because none of these companies are bound by any of the strictures of HIPPA. Liu maintained that people are OK with their data being tracked for their benefit, especially when it comes to health and wellness, but I think most people simply don't understand the lack of protection they have with regards to keeping that data private.
I'm glad Liu isn't selling the data and has no plans to, but as it expands its business relationships beyond remote healthcare and monitoring companies, the potential for someone to use this data against an individual grows. And the fact that this data isn't proven to be diagnostically relevant means that people might experience painful repercussions thanks to tech that doesn't even do what it purports to do. |
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| Episode 413: Cranes, trains, and cybersecurity |
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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 cranes, could gather intelligence or cause work stoppages using sensors and motors connected to the internet. It’s a concern that underscores the importance of trust when it comes to connected devices. In train news, we discuss Norfolk Southern’s Ohio train derailments, the findings of a preliminary National Transportation Safety Board report, and Norfolk Southern’s plans to spend more on track sensors. Could legislation force companies to adopt more IoT? Then we focus on Ring’s new plans to eke out $40 a year from new buyers of its security system product and the new Ring wireless doorbell that will start shipping in April. In cybersecurity news, we talk about The White House’s new pillars to address cybersecurity. Developers beware. Then we talk about the latest Hubitat device, my plan for the new Sonos Era speakers, and Kevin’s troubles adding Matter devices using Apple devices.
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| — The new Sonos Era 300 speaker has a new shape and can handle spatial audio. Image courtesy of Sonos. |
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Our guest this week is François Baldassari, CEO and co-founder of Memfault, who is on the show to discuss his startup, the history (and future) of reliability in products, and his thoughts from a decade of participating in building connected devices. Baldassari was a former engineer at Pebble and built Memfault to solve the problem of debugging connected devices at scale. We talk about why he’s focusing on industrial customers, how reliability has been slipping over time, and why AI will need its own form of debugging in the near future. He also explains the two big trends he’s noticed in a decade of building connected devices. Enjoy the show.
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This week on the IoT Podcast Hotline, we hear from a reader on how to send messages to an elderly parent using their TV and an Android phone.
The hotline is brought to you by Very. Harness the power of IoT with Very. Our design, development, and data experts help you work through the complexity of IoT engineering to deliver business value rapidly. Click here to learn more. |
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| News of the Week |
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Want to build a DIY Matter device? SparkFun has released a Thing Plus Matter board that has a Matter-certified module from Silicon Labs and includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Thread/Zigbee connectivity. The board will sell for $24.95 and is designed for prototyping future Matter products, but if you're OK with building one for personal use and bypassing the notifications you'll get about not having an authenticated device, then maybe this is also for you. (SparkFun)
Z-Wave... it's not dead yet: With Matter acting as an interoperability protocol for the smart home, and expected to dominate the sales of new smart home devices, plenty of industry observers are wondering what happens to Z-Wave. It's not part of the Matter standard at all. It doesn't look good for Z-Wave, but the Z-Wave Alliance is trying to paint a rosy picture with a its latest ecosystem report. In it, the data emphasizes how important interoperability is for smart home buyers, and how much they don't care about having a smart home hub. This gives Z-Wave a chance to remain in homes as long as customers are willing to purchase a hub device that can bridge a Z-Wave ecosystem over to Matter. There is also a ton of data about what devices are in people's homes and what they might want to purchase next. Surprisingly, 90% of people who own smart devices have gone out and purchased another. I wish the report had emphasized the future for Z-Wave's new long-range offering and its security, which is where Z-Wave can differentiate itself. (Z-Wave Alliance)
The EPA demands states protect municipal water supplies: The Environmental Protection Agency says states must report on municipal water agencies' cybersecurity threats as part of their water safety audits. So alongside the levels of arsenic or chlorine that water systems already report, they can add their risks associated with the log4j exploit. The EPA will assist states in creating the necessary audits and cybersecurity programs, but so far it's unclear if there is funding to help water utilities implement these programs. I've lived in some pretty rural areas where my water district was a public utility district run out of a ramshackle strip mall, so I think both expertise and funds will likely be needed. (NBC News, EPA)
The White House has a new cybersecurity strategy: The White House issued a new cybersecurity strategy last week, and it has two big elements worth noting. The first is an emphasis on data privacy as part of cybersecurity, which is unusual and a good sign for my hopes of some kind of privacy legislation. The second is that the White House has decided that software makers building insecure software should be held liable for their code, much like carmakers are held liable for unsafe vehicles, or drugmakers are held liable for making unsafe products. I can hear the cries of concern about innovation right now, but as software gets embedded in critical systems and in places where private data is stored, we have to prioritize safety over innovation. I know it may rankle, but it's just part of growing up. (The White House)
The FBI has purchased location data on Americans, surprising no one: In a hearing Thursday, FBI Director Christopher Wray confessed that the FBI has previously purchased location data on Americans without obtaining a warrant. He said the agency doesn't currently purchase location data, but that it had in the past as part of a "specific national security pilot project," which he said is not active at this time. He also noted that the agency has a “court-authorized process” for seizing data. Wray didn't elaborate on that process or how it may differ from getting a warrant, so I don't know if this makes me feel much better. What does encourage me is that the recently released White House Cybersecurity Strategy (see above) says: "The Administration supports legislative efforts to impose robust, clear limits on the ability to collect, use, transfer, and maintain personal data and provide strong protections for sensitive data like geolocation and health information." Can we please make that happen? (Ars Technica)
The LoRa Alliance is on board with the unified LPWAN trend: Next week is Embedded World in Europe, but it's also LoRaWAN World Live in Florida, so RCR Wireless sat down with the lead of the LoRa Alliance to understand how she views the creating of unified LPWAN companies offering LoRaWAN, Sigfox, and cellular IoT. She stressed that unified LPWAN offerings may use LoRa, but noted that they are still proprietary and that public LoRAWAN still has a future, especially with citywide and long-term deployments. This might be an effort to make the best of a slowly declining situation, but I do think private LoRa will be here for the long term, while public LoRaWAN isn't winning the deals and attention folks had hoped for a few years back. (RCR Wireless)
Lucid Motors selects Orange Business for connectivity in the EU: Lucid Motors, the maker of an absolutely gorgeous electric vehicle, has selected Orange Business to provide connectivity in its cars sold in Europe. Vehicles are one of the original IoT devices, and I can recall when AT&T built up significant IoT revenue by providing service for Tesla, GM, and other carmakers. It now connects more than 51 million vehicles! In-car connectivity doesn't just benefit the carriers; carmakers are adding add-on services to the purchase of a vehicle that rely on an internet connection, making it not just a nice-to-have feature for consumers, but also a revenue opportunity for automakers. (Orange Business)
Here are the top use cases for digital twins: Look, the factory metaverse isn't happening, but the concept of a digital twin of a manufacturing facility or a piece of equipment is alive and well. The market for digital twin software grew 71% between 2020 and 2022, according to data from IoT Analytics. The firm laid out the top use cases for digital twins, which include system prediction, system simulation, asset interoperability, maintenance, system visualization, and product simulation. (IoT Analytics)
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