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Top-News

Börsengang von Fitbit

Wearable-Hersteller Fitbit hat einen erfolgreichen Börsengang hingelegt. Der Aktienpreis sprang zum IPO um 50 Prozent nach oben. Zum eigentlichen Ausgabepreis von 20$/Anteil wurde das Unternehmen mit 4,1 Milliarden US-Dollar bewertet. Im Zuge der Börsenunterlagen wurde bekannt, dass Fitbit 2014 11 Millionen Geräte verkauft hat und dabei einen Gewinn von 131,8 Mio. $ gemacht hat.

Fitbit ist Marktführer der Wearables

IDC über den Wearables-Markt:

We now see over 40% of the devices priced under $100, and that’s one reason why the top 5 vendors have been able to grow their dominance from two thirds of the market in the first quarter of last year to three quarters this quarter.
(..)

Fitbit started 2015 the same way it ended 2014: as the clear market leader in the worldwide wearable device market. Fitbit’s first quarter shipments were driven by the release of three new devices (the Charge, Charge HR, and the Surge) along with continued demand for its older Flex wristband and One and Zip clip-on models. Separately, these address multiple segments of the market, from casual exerciser to committed athlete, and collectively leverage Fitbit’s behavior change engine to encourage activity.

Insgesamt wurden laut IDC im ersten Quartal 2015 11,4 Millionen Wearables weltweit verkauft. (Wir hatten die Marktzahlen in Bezug auf Xiami bereits in Vernetzte Welt #15 angesprochen.)

Hier die Marktaufteilung anhand der IDC-Zahlen:​

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Smart Home

Nest stellt Nest Cam vor, Nest Protect und Nest App in erneuerten Versionen

Nest stellt mit Nest Cam die erste Frucht aus der Übernahme von Dropcam vor:

Neben dem Nest Thermostat gibt es nun auch eine neue Version des Nest Protect Rauchmelders und ganz neu Nest Cam, eine Kamera, die Euch auch unterwegs anzeigt, wenn zu Hause etwas los ist. Das Ganze wird dann mit der neuen Nest-App gesteuert, die ebenfalls eine Generalüberholung erfahren hat.

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hub:raum (Deutsche Telekom) investiert in M2MGO

Deutsche Startups berichtet, dass hub:raum, der Inkubator der Deutschen Telekom, in M2MGO, eine in Berlin sitzende IoT-Entwicklungsumgebung, investiert hat.

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ELLA Assistant

Tech in Asia über das in Shanghai sitzende ELLA Assistant:

It’s a tiny screen that can be stuck on any surface. There’s also a single button and a programmable LED.

“It can work with the phone, but very importantly it can work without the phone,” he says.

The startup team, which is based in Shanghai, sees it being used for things like telling you that you should take an umbrella, reminding you that you’re running late to an appointment, or for turning off all your smart lights at once. With a single press, it could alert your significant other that you’re leaving the house.

Bei Prä-Kickstarter-Hardware-Startups ist Vorsicht geboten, aber die Vision hinter dem Produkt ist interessant.

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„Ausprobiert: Withings Home“

Testbericht über Withings Home:

Eingebunden in das WLAN-Netz wird die Withings Home Kamera ganz flott, denn sie kann die Einstellungen aus eurem Smartphone übernehmen – passende App installieren, per Bluetooth koppeln und schon ist die Kamera in eurem WLAN.

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Analysen & Berichte

Studie: 86% der Fluggesellschaften glauben, IoT bringt klare Nutzenvorteile, 16% planen größere IoT-Projekte

Tnooz über eine SITA-Studie zum Internet der Dinge:

Research shows 86% of airlines believe I0T will deliver clear benefits in the next three years and more surprising is the 67% who say it is already demonstrating benefits.

The research, part of a wider Airline IT Trends Survey from airline technology specialist SITA, also shows 37% have already devoted budget to development in the area.

That said, only 16% are planning a major project while 41% say they will make some research and development investment.

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Wie IoT die Reisebranche verändern wird

Dazu passend Skift von der SITA-Konferenz über Wege, wie IoT die Reisebranche verändern wird:

At booking, airlines will offer the extra services you need, based on what you’ve needed before, where you’re headed and even who’s traveling with you. The intelligent reservations interface remembers your trip history and makes relevant recommendations.

Imagine finding the nearest shop at your airport that can replace your lost headphones, or walking past your luxury clothing store of choice and receiving a special offer for that one item you’ve searched for and couldn’t find anywhere. You’ll find the nearest café to enjoy a quick lunch that fits your dining preferences, and access reviews from fellow travelers. IoT can even pinpoint where that cinnamon scent is coming from and map out a trail on your device to blissful satisfaction.

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Myware statt Spyware

Sehr interessante Vision von Cory Doctorow, wie ein populäres Internet der Dinge auch aussehen könnte:

A lot of our Internet of Things models proceed from the idea that a human emits a beacon and you gather as much information as you can — often in a very adversarial way — about that human, and then you make predictions about what that human wants, and then you alert them. What if instead you had a device or a device ecosystem that was local to you, that didn’t share your information with anyone else, that gathered information that you gave voluntarily because it was just for your own benefit — myware, not spyware.

Then, as you moved through the world, other things emitted information about themselves. Your device took them in, looked at your very intimate, not-for-sharing preferences, and presented you with options, rather than treating you as an ambulatory wallet to try and game into admitting dollars. If you think about every offer that every business that you pass today might make to you, it adds up to a gig or two. We can handle that in our sleep. Why are we trying to tailor which information comes to you? Why aren’t they all promiscuously broadcasting, then you receive them and filter them at your end using your device that can keep your secrets for you?

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Vernetzte Produktion & Maschinenbau

O’Reilly Radar über „Taking manufacturing to the next level of IoT“, also die Vernetzung der Produktion über Wertschöpfungsebenen hinweg, was also zum Beispiel, wenn nicht nur die Fabrik intern und mit dem Hauptquartier des Unternehmens vernetzt ist, sondern auch ein Datenaustausch mit den Herstellern der Fabrikanlagen selbst stattfindet:

Sounds simple enough, but let’s consider why this new level of connected machines is essential. When you connect these smart machines back to their machine builders and control vendors, those companies can then:

• Service and maintain the machines remotely and proactively to reduce downtime
• Use diagnostic data and issue resolution to dramatically reduce Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) and improve Operating Equipment Efficiency (OEE)
• Speed the process to install, commission, and debug machines for new or refreshed assembly lines
• Smarter machines provide better control, increased efficiency, less downtime, higher productivity, and more flexible manufacturing, which leads to plant-wide optimization.

Langfristig werden die größten Veränderungen in der direkten Vernetzung der Wertschöpfungsnetzwerke statt ’nur‘ in der internen Vernetzung der Unternehmen und ihrer Produktionsstätten stattfinden.

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Die autonomen Automobile sind bereits hier

TechCrunch über den aktuellen technischen Stand bei Automobilen, der leicht übersehen wird:

Consider cruise control. What is a control system keeping consistent throttle pressure if not the earliest form of outsourcing to the motorway machine? Now, however, adaptive cruise control sees your car match the speed of other traffic by watching the car in front, keeping a steady relative distance.

Our cars already have eyes. Lane Departure Warning (LDW) technology checks for vehicles drifting across lane dividers. Today, cars like the Jeep Cherokee or Mercedes-Benz S-Class send vibrations or tiny tugs through the steering wheel to alert drivers. Tomorrow, they will simply steer back in the lanes themselves.

But our cars are already taking control. Self-parking technology now comes standard on many vehicles, while Forward Collision Warning (FCW) technology is being developed to not just warn about dangers ahead but brake before they are encountered.

Many people would not recognize these features as part of what is being termed the “driverless car.” But that is exactly my point.

Eine Konsequenz ist unter anderem, dass der Sprung zum vollständig autonomen Auto nicht so groß ist, wie vielleicht vermutet. (Technisch „überschaubar“, geschäftsmodellseitig für die Automobilhersteller umwälzend.)

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SAP Hana erweitert Funktionalitäten

Forbes:

The stylishly named Service Pack 10 for SAP HANA (SPS10) is intended to extend a firm’s central business functionalities out to the edge of the network with a new remote data synchronization feature. In other words, SAP is bidding to connect a firm’s original IP and commercial proposition (basically, what it sells and how it works) to that area of technology management where remote business transactions and events (such as IoT data events) actually occur.

Konzise Zusammenfassung der Kritik an SAP Hana:

SAP has been criticized in the past for a) the comparatively slow uptake of HANA b) the reinvention of its own business model to quite suddenly ‘get’ cloud, developers and big data analytics (it used to ‘just’ be a kind of ERP firm, remember? c) the complexity and prohibitive cost of HANA and d) the interplay that the firm presents with previously acquired software products from the likes of Sybase, Business Objects and others – so it’s not always cake and ice cream for everyone on the HANA team. That being said, the firm’s German efficiency still shines through for many and HANA is now said to be sporting more than 6,400 customers, almost doubling from only one year ago.

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Node.js beliebt im Internet der Dinge

O’Reilly Radar:

Node.js is on the rise for programming hardware. The full Google V8 version helps run Intel’s Edison chip. The IoT community has already embraced Node.js for embedded devices and robotics, with notable examples including Nodebots and Cylon. And now, even smaller devices like Tessel 2 — a development platform for prototyping hardware — are using JavaScript.

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GEs Sensoren erzeugen Very Big Data

Venturebeat über GE Predix:

GE, for its part, has its own platform for managing data from the industrial Internet, called GE Predix, which currently generates about $1 billion in revenue. Gokcen said he expects that business to grow to $4 billion to $5 billion over the next few years.

Interessant auch die Datenmengen, die durch die Sensoren erzeugt und über die dahinterliegenden Plattformen verarbeitet werden müssen:

Ibrahim Gokcen, a technology executive at GE, told me recently how GE jet engines include sensors to monitor temperature, pressure, fuel consumption, and more. The sensors themselves aren’t new, but the quantity of data they’re generating is.

Ten years ago, each sensor would generate about 30KB of data per flight, sampling conditions at takeoff, when the plane reached cruising altitude, and again at landing.

Today, the sensors embedded in a GE jet engine sample conditions continuously and generate 500GB of data — per engine — for each flight.

Ein bisschen bessere Optimierung und Komprimierung könnten helfen.

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Konversationsbasierte Userinterfaces

Zu den noch ungelösten Fragen im Internet der Dinge zählt auch, welche Interfaces sich für welche Aufgaben durchsetzen werden.

Konversationen (in Chat-Apps) mit Bots könnte eine wichtige Interface-Spielart werden.

Matt Webb:

My point, I guess, is that a new medium needs a new grammar and conversational UIs are definitely a new medium.

For one — they’re intrinsically social. If I’m chatting with a bot in iMessage about what movies are on nearby, shouldn’t I be able to turn that into a group chat with my partner? And does the bot conduct two separate conversations, one with each of us, or assume we’re both searching for the same movie?

We’ll need app frameworks to help author these bots, and the frameworks will make assumptions about how conversations work in small groups.

And you know what, we’re still in the PC era, the era of personal computing. We don’t really know how to use computers in small groups, how to use interfaces collaboratively.

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Kalifornien setzt auch Smart Meters ein, um Wasserknappheit Herr zu werden

Wired:

Still, Long Beach doesn’t just use the smart meters to bust people who break the rules. Many people just want to use less water and want more immediate feedback on their usage than monthly water bill can provide. So as part of a pilot program, the Water Department also gave out around 200 smart water meters to residents. Tseng says the city believes they are having an impact.

No, smart water meters won’t solve the drought crisis. But they can help spot cases of extreme waste. For example, Tseng says one Long Beach resident was able to slash her water bill by about 98 percent after discovering a leak beneath the foundation of her home. Yes, those residential savings are small compared to the amount of water used by agricultural systems. But they do add up.

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