Immer Mittwochs erscheint auf neunetz.com eine kommentierte Übersicht zu den wichtigsten Entwicklungen und besten Analysen aus der Welt der vernetzten Geräte, dem 'Internet der Dinge'. Vernetzte Welt kann per Email und per RSS-Feed abonniert werden.
Top: Amazon Dash Replenishment Service startet
On Tuesday Amazon kicked the program up several notches. In addition to launching the first three products supporting Dash Replenishment Services (the Brother printers, the GE washer and the Gmate SMART blood glucose monitor for diabetics); it expanded the number of participants to Purell so hand sanitizers around the country could now ping Amazon to get more gel. The company also opened access for its Dash Replenishment Service to consumers.
That last move is the big one. Amazon will now let anyone, from a huge company like Procter & Gamble to everyday hobbyists, connect to its Dash Replenishment Service. Like the Amazon Echo—the Internet-connected speaker and personal assistant, which has become a stealth home automation platform—Dash Replenishment Service stands to become another platform for the Internet of things. And unlike other efforts on the market, Amazon’s platform could become an essential one, because it’s attached to a viable business model.
Siehe auch meine Zusammenfassung bei Early Moves und meine Analyse auf neunetz.com vom letzten Jahr: "Ein Dash, sie ewig zu binden".
Top: Amazon steigt ins Halbleitergeschäft ein - mit Blick auf das Smart Home
Noch einmal zu Amazon, von mir auf Early Moves:
A year ago, in January of 2015, Amazon bought chipmaker Annapurna Labs for around $350 to $370 million.
Some people back then thought (understandably so) that it was a move to bolster Amazon Web Services. Amazon might start going deeper into building its own servers. (Similar to Facebook.)
> But instead Annapurna Labs introduced chips for connected devices a few days ago. (press release) (...)
Amazon is adamant to become a key player in the smart home sector. For this to happen Amazon is working at several fronts at not only pushing its products (Echo/Alexa, Dash button, Dash) but also to be a partner for startups and other companies. There is AWS (now with dedicated IoT-APIs), the Alexa fund for investing in smart home companies and Launchpad, a portal to help startups sell their gadgets. Amazon is working hard to be there if a startup needs distribution and more.
Why not throw dedicated chips into the mix, maybe even optimized to Alexa’s voice interface in the future?
Another big name with plans to work with Amazon is hardware manufacturer Asus. The company describes Annapurna as having “one of the most advanced and flexible silicon solutions in the marketplace,” highlighting the growing need for increased flexibility and computing power as consumers demand more from home Wi-Fi routers.
Beyond collaboration with hardware partners, Annapurna plans to release a hardware development kit so manufacturers can craft their own designs based on the Alpine platform.
Top: Beacon-Unternehmen Estimote erhält 10,7 Mio. $
Estimote, a beacon company whose small, wireless sensors and accompanying software provide indoor location technology to some of the largest retailers as well as 65 percent of the Fortune 100, has now closed on $10.7 million in Series A funding. The round will help the business scale to meet the needs of its current customer base, around half of which is retail, as well as fund R&D efforts related to what’s next.
Estimote ("Stick our tiny beacons in any location or to any object
to create new, contextually rich mobile experiences.") gehört zu den bekannteren Playern im Beacon-Sektor. Was angesichts des sehr frühen Status des Marktes nicht viel zu sagen hat.
Analysen & Berichte
"Smart Farming: Wie die Digitalisierung die Landwirtschaft revolutioniert"
Doch der Fortschritt hat einen Preis: Auch Vorreiter wie Palme und Schulze Rötering sind sich darin einig, dass der Einsatz von Hightechmaschinen größere Betriebe erzwingt. Nur wenn die Maschinen viele Hundert Hektar bearbeiten, rechnet sich die teure Technik. Die ohnehin stark unter Druck stehenden Kleinbetriebe werden es künftig noch schwerer haben. Sie können es sich kaum leisten, einen der Hochleistungstraktoren von Claas, John Deere und Co., die heute schon um die 400.000 Euro kosten, für weitere 40.000 Euro mit Autopiloten, Datenerfassung und Sensoren aufzurüsten. Oder 100.000 Euro für einen Melkroboter auszugeben. So treibt die Digitalisierung den Strukturwandel gnadenlos voran.
Das ist kein Zustand, der so bleiben wird. Wir stehen am Anfang eines neuen technologischen Zyklus. Am Anfang der Entwicklung ist die neue Technologie immer teuer und wird im Laufe der Zeit aus diversen Gründen günstiger und günstiger. (Skaleneffekte bei Masse der Produktion und über die Zeit (Lerneffekte), allgemeine technologische Weiterentwicklung (Evolution der Zulieferersysteme), und Modularisierung auf dem Markt (Kommodifizierung und größerer Wettbewerb))
Gerade der beschriebene Zustand zeigt enormes Marktpotenzial für (neue) Hersteller.
Songdo, "Smart City" vom Reißbrett
Zusammenfassung von Songdo in Tech in Asia (in einem sponsored post):
Songdo, in South Korea, is a smart city built from the ground up. It is grand in both scale and ambition, and in many ways is an experiment that is being closely watched by most other countries in Asia and around the world. The city features some of the most cutting edge technology in urban development and planning, including:
- The city is built around the airport, to reduce travel times (it is 15 minutes from Seoul’s Incheon airport, closer than Seoul itself).
- Built-in sensors on streets and buildings to monitor and manage human traffic.
- Up to 40 percent of the city will be green space.
- Pipes connecting offices and apartments which manage and recycle waste.
The city itself is expected to be finished by 2018, but the cost? An estimated US$35 billion. The 10-year project is expected to be one of the most expensive development projects ever undertaken.
Similar to this is the zero-carbon Masdar City project, being built close to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
weiter:
Songdo and Masdar City are two examples of governments trying to build a smart city from scratch, at great cost. They don’t exactly make for easily applicable and replicable answers to questions that require robust solutions.
Even if both cities are fully built and functional, they will be home to less than a million people each, and very limited in their reach.
Teure, spannende Experimente im großen Stil.
Wearable IoT World erhält 4,5 Millionen US-Dollar, startet Accelerator in Hong Kong
San Francisco-based accelerator Wearable IoT World announced today the launch of the U.S.-Pan Asia IoT Superhighway, an IoT (Internet of Things) and “emerging technologies” accelerator in Hong Kong. The official launch came after a $4.5 million funding round led by China-based investor Radiant Venture Capital.
Superhighway, WIoTW said, will help early-stage Asian startups develop wearable and IoT technologies.
Sigfox bringt sein IoT-Netzwerk in die Antarktika
France’s Sigfox, which operates a low-powered communications network for smart devices, announced today that it will be expanding its network to the Belgian polar-exploration station. The goal is to: “strengthen safety and security during research operations at the Antarctica expedition, which is underway now,” according a press release.
If this sounds like the least commercial use of a network possible, well, that’s because it is. The plan was announced as part of a broader effort by the new Sigfox Foundation, a nonprofit that will work toward using the benefits of IoT (Internet of Things) to “protect people and the environment, improve health care and social ties,” according to the press release.
Nebenbei ein guter Weg, Forscher dazu zu bringen, Geräte zu benutzen, die das Netzwerk einsetzen. Siehe zu Sigfox auch Vernetzte Welt #1 ("Das französische Sigfox hat für sein IoT-Netzwerk 115 Millionen Euro eingesammelt") und Vernetzte Welt #16 ("Samsung investiert in Sigfox").
"The Age Of Autonomy Is Coming"
However quietly it begins to arrive, The Age of Autonomy marks a giant step beyond the world of connected devices and the Internet of Things. With 50 billion devices and a trillion sensors coming on line, simple practicality would suggest autonomy will become a necessity. In fact, autonomy is almost here already. Every device and even some of the things we don’t generally regard as devices are essentially becoming robots of one type or another. And with that, autonomy is starting to appear.
Auch ein Weg, über die Frage "Cloud oder nicht Cloud" nachzudenken.
"Smart Glasses helfen Sehbehinderten"
Ein Wissenschaftlerteam am California Institute of Technology (Caltech) hat eine Brille entwickelt, die Sehbehinderten mehr Bewegungsfreiheit verschaffen soll, berichtet Technology Review in seiner Online-Ausgabe ("Echolot-Brille für Blinde").
Das Gerät enthält eine Minikamera, deren Aufnahmen an einen kleinen Computer weitergeleitet werden. Dieser setzt über eine spezielle Software die Bilder in Tonsignale um, die der Träger wiederum über Kopfhörer ins Ohr übertragen bekommt.
Cassia Hub vergrößert die Reichweite von Bluetooth
The wifi-connected Cassia Hub acts like a router, boosting Bluetooth signal from the standard open-air range of 30 ft to 1000 ft, making the signal detectable through three concrete walls.
Die offizielle Website von Cassia Networks. Das hat offensichtlich als eigenständiges zusätzliches Gerät nur geringes Marktpotenzial. Sprich, eine solche Funktion sollte, wenn schon, dann im Router oder einem allgemeinen Smart-Home-Hub stecken. Also 'nur' eine Brückentechnologie?