But for the most part, people are selling consumers, not applications, but the links to make applications possible. So the WeMo isn’t just a connected outlet, its analogous to selling someone an outlet for electricity. What would someone in a non electrified world want with an outlet? What does the average consumer want with a WeMo? That was one of many topics that I discussed in this week’s podcast with product designer Carla Diana. Diana is fascinated by the SmartThings, the Twines and the other connected elements that she calls “mavericks” but she’s not sure that’s how the internet of things will actually invade the home.

Hear her discuss this, designing for ambient information without overwhelming users and how the internet of things will help take us away from our screens and embed technology into our lives in ways that make us more efficient and maybe more fun.

(Download this episode)

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Show notes:
Host: Stacey Higginbotham
Guest: Carla Diana, Smart fellow at Smart Design and CEO of Carla Diana Creative

• How do you design something when we’re not even sure how people will use the internet of things?
• The importance of mavericks in the developing ecosystem.
• Pre-made kits may be the best example of how normal people will install the internet of things.
• Thinking about design and using the internet of things for ambient information.
• Learn why “life now, data later” matters in designing for connected devices.

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Well, a month ago the creator, Berg London, pivoted from its original incarnation as a design house to become a product-focused firm, looking to develop devices to run on its Berg Cloud platform and inviting other developers to do the same. And now the company has stepped up that latter ambition by teaming up with the Benetton Group’s Fabrica communication research center to launch Sandbox, a new R&D facility for developing connected products and services.

Not many R&D facilities run out of a 17th-century Italian villa, but Sandbox will. According to a statement, the facilities in Treviso will be used to prototype “connected objects, spaces and experiences” – just the sort of language you’d expect to hear from such design-centric companies.

Here’s how Fabrica CEO Dan Hill described the Sandbox mission:

“Sandbox is a unique opportunity for Fabrica’s researchers to imagine and prototype how these new connected objects and spaces will begin to radically change the way we live, work, play, organise and communicate. Going beyond the hype around ‘smart cities’ and Internet of Things, we are layering these technologies over our wonderful building to create a unique, open demonstrator – to help both us and our clients understand what it truly means to live and work with these exciting possibilities.”

I’m not sure centuries-old villas restored and expanded by star architects (Tadao Ando, since you ask) are the best representations of normal people’s living or working environments, but it sure does look like a nice place to do R&D:

Berg and Benetton are just the founding partners: more will be added in the summer, they say. Everything that comes out of this luxurious collaboration space will use Berg Cloud, however.

There are quite a few of these platforms gearing up at the moment, all of which aim to make it easier for people to create new types of connected, everyday devices. One of the biggest looks to be LogMeIn’s Xively platform, which counts the muscular ARM as a partner as of earlier this week, but there are other smaller efforts also underway, such as those from Carriots and Electric Imp. This is a very new field, though, so there’s every chance that different internet-of-things platforms will attract different types of developers.

I think it’s fair to say the more design-minded among those developers now know where to look as they prepare to invent the connected future. If you’re interested in design and the connected future, make sure to check out our RoadMap event in San Francisco in November. Tickets will go on sale this Summer, but you can sign up to be one of the first to get access to those here.

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As someone who spends a lot of time playing with connected home and personal devices this is fabulous news. I had started gathering research for a post about how as an Android user I feel like many of the popular connected devices are leaving me out in the cold with lame apps, while iOS users get sparkly interfaces and more functionality. The Hue app, the WeMo app, the BlueBulb app and the FitBit are all examples of this iOS first and foremost (and sometimes only) mindset. Or when it comes to specific devices such as the Wahoo Blue heart rate monitor my colleague Kevin Tofel wrote about last year, the Android support only extends to a few devices.

But one reason for the focus on iOS for many devices, especially those containing Bluetooth, is that native support and easy integration between the radio and the app wasn’t there. But with this announcement, which means developers will find it easier to build Android-based apps for connecting to Bluetooth devices, all that changes.

Then app developers building software for Bluetooth enabled gadgets no longer have an excuse. Although, as seems to be the case with Hue and WeMo which both work with Wi-Fi, perhaps they just think iOS users are more likely to buy their gear, so they’ve skimped on Android resources for the time being. Hue lightbulbs are also exclusively sold in Apple stores, which may also contribute to the meh nature of its Android app.

Bluetooth is serious about the internet of things.

While the Android news is great for the growing number of people toting those devices, it’s just one element in The Bluetooth Special Interest Group’s plans to make the radio technology ubiquitous for the internet of things. Bluetooth is already making huge strides in personal area networking compared with other standards I covered as far back as Jan. 2011. Bluetooth radios are set to be in 2.5 billion new devices this year, according to Mark Powell, executive director of the Bluetooth SIG, who I met with on Wednesday. That’s one fourth of the 10 billion Bluetooth radios that have shipped in the lifetime of the technology, according to ABI Research provided by the Bluetooth SIG.

Clearly Bluetooth is popular, and the acceptance by Google of the overarching Smart Ready application development framework will enhance the experience for more consumers, but Powell also detailed plans to create a secure end-to-end network layer for Bluetooth. That technology could ensure that communications between certain devices stay private, an important consideration for medical or personal data.

He also said that in addition to the profiles for data that the SIG had developed for formatting data (for example, it has a running profile that tracks the data associated with steps so an app developer doesn’t have to figure that out), it’s beefing up its service discovery layer. This will become more important as we get more connected devices and want them to talk to each other without human intervention. For example, if you have four connected Bluetooth lightbulbs in a room, you might want to turn them on all at once instead of individually programming them.

This is a concept I explored with Mike Kuniavsky, a principal in the Innovation Services Group at PARC, in a podcast in March. Powell also noted that in addition to the low energy specification the SIG released it’s working on extending the range of Bluetooth in some flavors beyond 100 meters. That means it can be used in the home, and not just as a personal area network, but for devices communicating between rooms. Combine that with the end-to-end security and suddenly my Z-wave door locks look like the wrong choice.

However, I won’t sweat that just yet. Even as Bluetooth beefs up for the internet of things, it won’t become the sole radio technology connecting my gizmos and gadgets to the web any more than Wi-Fi is my sole means of accessing the internet. However, Bluetooth has really grown up and moved well beyond its early days as a connection technology for wireless headsets and computer peripherals. Even if I’m not bullish on the future of the Bluetooth mouse, I’m bullish on Bluetooth.

This story was updated on May 16 to reflect that Bluetooth is extending the service range beyond 100 meters.

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So it took that data and tweaked its approach. Now when it sees a slowdown it reaches out to the client to try a new plan or just make sure the clients don’t cancel. In the future it may offer new pricing plans to adjust for slack usage.

That’s just one way connected devices and the data they offer can be used for benefitting a business. But the value of constant connectivity to a firm goes far beyond that — and could change the way businesses operate. Even after a product goes out the door, the company responsible can still keep an eye on it. That has big repercussions for business and consumers — and not all of those repercussions may be welcome.

Always be talking … to your device.

For example, the constant contact can also help tweak a design or improve the function of a product — even out in the field. In a recent conversation, Splunk’s Tapan Bhatt walked me through a few examples such as the one above, where the company’s machine logging data helped businesses adjust. For example, the makers of the Nest thermostat use Splunk to analyze data uploaded from hundreds of thousands of homes, and tune their algorithms for energy performance.

Medical device manufacturer iRhythm uploads remote monitor data to Splunk to make sure devices run as expected, as well as help ensure that patients can use the devices intuitively. In many ways this isn’t new. Jeremy Conrad at Lemnos Labs pointed out to me in a conversation last month that many manufactured devices are tweaked again and again after the first manufacturing run to smooth out perceived and real flaws in the design.

The shift is that it can now happen constantly and that the changes might be implemented weeks or months after the product has been manufactured. Advertising firms and online publications have been using such data to refine their products for years. The Huffington Post’s love of A/B headline testing is well documented, while the use of eye tracking in web site design is a common practice. But more connectivity in devices means the fine-tuning and easy tracking that are common in digital products are now available in the real world.

Want to tweak a feature? Send out some software

Connected devices not only offer you the ability to get data from your goods (while software like Splunk’s helps you log and later analyse it), but it also allows you to change how they feel and function. For example, Orbotix, the company that makes the Sphero not only knows the moment someone activates one of the Bluetooth-controlled balls, but can give it new abilities with an over the air update.

This connectivity and resulting data can also help with business goals, like improving manufacturing, anticipating demand and even holding reviewers accountable for their articles as was the case when The New York Times and Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla got in a public battle over a poor review of the electric car.

The board at the Orbotix HQ that tracks all the active Spheros in the wild.

At Orbotix a billboard in the office tracks how many Sphero’s were activated that day, that month and even over longer periods of time. If you stand in front of it for a few moments the numbers will change. Paul Berberian, the CEO of Orbotix told me that during the holiday season the numbers were changing so fast it was hard to keep up. During the rest of the year evenings and weekends were popular times for seeing the numbers flip more rapidly.

Just in time manufacturing gets a data infusion

As this data accumulates he’s finding that he can better anticipate demand and plan inventory to meet it. Perhaps if he wanted to, he could implement a similar program to that elevator company, watch the data from individual Sphero’s and when interest seems to wane perhaps the company sends a notification to the user about a new app available for the ball.

But it’s not always about the customer — this data can be used to monitor manufacturing partners or suppliers. For example, Electric Imp, which makes a tiny module that device makers can insert into their products to give it connectivity (it’s a radio with access to a cloud back end), connects its modules as they come off the line. One of the final steps in the packaging process is each module gets an ID laser-etched onto it.

This process requires the module to “wake up,” connect to its virtual machine in the cloud to get its ID number, and then tell the laser etching machine (which has its own Imp module) what number to print on it. As part of this process Electric Imp’s management can track all of its modules off the manufacturing line and get key information about yields and even product theft.

Of course the flip side of this constant connectivity is the disquieting sensation that even as you enjoy a product it’s not yours. It’s features might change at any point. Perhaps things you love about the product or even features you’ve purchased, might suddenly disappear. As a consumer, the idea of dynamic pricing can seem exciting if you don’t use something a lot, but it becomes a source of higher costs if you have a building with very active elevators, for example.

And perhaps most unsettling is the realization that these products can act as a doorway into your home, sharing information that perhaps you’d rather it didn’t. Your car tracking your trips. A toy that knows if you’ve skipped school to play video games. It’s unsettling enough that this happens on the web and with our phones. As this capability hits more devices, we may find ourselves taking the stairs instead of a connected elevator or playing with an old-fashioned doll instead of a Bluetooth enabled ball.

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The ownership of Smart TVs has roughly doubled over the last year, with 25 percent of broadband households owning at least one Smart TV, compared to 12 percent in 2011. Dedicated streaming devices on the other hand grew slower, inching up from 12 percent in 2011 to 14 percent in 2012.

Of course, one should note that owning a device isn’t the same as using it. Only 69 percent of Smart TVs are connected to the internet, according to the report, whereas one should assume that most streaming boxes are connected (safe for the ones used as paperweights).

The most popular device for internet video remains the game console, with 62 percent of broadband households now owning a next-generation game console such as the Sony PS3 or the Microsoft Xbox 360. Almost a fourth of the time spent with these consoles is spent on online video viewing.

Altogether, 56 percent of broadband households now have at least one TV connected to the Internet.

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As entrepreneurs Jerry Jariyasunant, Ljuba Miljkovic and I stopped short at a stoplight, a little gizmo plugged into the on-board diagnostics port below the Zipcar’s steering wheel broke the silence with a high-pitched chirp.

The Automatic iPhone app shows how many times the driver stopped short.

At the same time, a “rough brake” was being tallied on an affiliated app on the iPhone 5 sitting in the cup holder. During an eight-minute test drive around San Francisco’s SoMA neighborhood, it was one of three such short stops, each one adversely impacting the car’s fuel economy.

During the test drive, we didn’t go on a freeway, but if Miljkovic had driven faster than 70 mph or accelerated too fast, the app would have tracked that.

The founding principle of Automatic, a San Francisco startup stepping out of stealth mode on Tuesday, is to  point out opportunities to save money and provide other perks to drivers.

In addition to helping people spend less money on gas, the app also shows you why the check-engine light comes on (and permits users to turn it off), directs you to your parking spot and automatically calls 911 if you get into a collision. It also tracks the cost of every mile you drive, a calculation based on a continually updated stream of data of gas prices from stations across the country. All these functions came about after the founders realized what a device that could monitor fuel use can do, said Jariyasunant, a co-founder.

Automatic’s Link device plugs in to the on-board diagnostic port of every car sold in the United States since 1996.

Customers can now pre-order the Bluetooth-enabled device on the Automatic website for $69.95; the iPhone app is free. The device, called the Link, will ship in May, with an Android app to follow. No desktop support is planned, but Automatic could add it later if customer demands warrent, said Miljkovic, the company’s chief product officer.

Plenty of thrifty drivers could save money by using the Link. The way I drive, I know I could, at least, simply by seeing when I am driving in a way that isn’t optimal. The founders aren’t sure if they want to address the enterprise market.

They also haven’t decided what they will do with user data in aggregate, if anything. That could become an important question as some connected-device makers wrestle with whether to share the data and to what degree.

To tie in with other devices and applications in the ever-growing internet of things ecosystem, it might be a good idea to open up the data, for other driving apps, for government or industry uses or for other services.

However the data question is dealt with, given Link’s size and appearance, it calls to mind Square’s successful gadget that lets consumers order stuff with smartphones. Time will tell if it will be as successful as Square — or Verizon Wireless’ Delphi product, which plugs into the same data port as the Automatic gadget.

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There is also a significant growth in the interest for 3-D, but it’s still a less important feature than connectivity. A year ago, only 6.6 percent of potential TV buyers were looking to buy a 3-D TV. Now, it’s 18.8 percent.

However, it’s worth pointing out that size is still one of the biggest drivers, and that price matters more than it did just 12 months ago. 53 percent of consumers who want to buy a new TV now say that the price tag is a main purchase driver. That’s up from 27.9 percent 12 months ago, and it also tells you a bit about why internet on TVs and 3-D are getting more popular: Even lower-priced TV sets are now connected, and 3-D isn’t that much of a premium anymore either.

And with falling prices, consumers feel like they should just get Netflix apps and possible 3-D glasses as part of the package, instead of paying through the nose for it. Whether people are actually going to activate those TVs is of course a completely different question.

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WebMD and Qualcomm Life, however, believe they can bring the latest wave of digital health technology to millions more. On Monday, the two companies announced a partnership to provide a “connected personal health hub” to consumers by combining the power of WebMD’s brand with the Qualcomm’s FDA-approved technology.

“We think there’s a real opportunity to give users insights around what their data means,” said Bill Pence, WebMD’s CTO. “[It’s like] bringing wireless health to consumers on a mass scale.”

Launched in 2011, Qualcomm Life’s 2net platform provides a secure, universally-interoperable network for collecting and sharing data from connected fitness and health devices, like blood glucose meters, health monitors and other gadgets. The platform currently integrates with about 250 device partners, including AliveCor and BodyMedia, but WebMD says it is the first major brand to partner with the platform.

The “health hub,” Pence said, is “a cloud-based system for the problem of having to integrate with different devices.” Through a WebMD app, for example, users would be able purchase devices from a curated in-app marketplace, and then store and aggregate data from those devices. The app, Pence continued, would be able to generate insights based on that data as well as other information users provide about their health. Instead of just getting generic information from a WebMD search on diabetes, for example, users could get results more specific to their individual needs. (At GigaOM’s upcoming Structure:Data conference, I’ll be speaking with Aetna’s head of innovation about other ways big data can improve health care.)

For WebMD, the partnership highlights the company’s shift from offering “trusted content to [being] a full-service engagement platform for patients,” said Pence. Even though the company is known for its consumer information sites and apps, like WebMD.com and its various mobile apps, the company says it’s grown a strong physician audience through its registration-based Medscape medical news site. It also offers employers a subscription-based patient-engagement platform and provides consumers with Personal Health Records software.  As digital health tools proliferate, Pence said, consumers will increasingly have opportunities to connect with their physician and care providers, more closely monitor their own health and interact with the health care system in new ways. WebMD, he said, sees a role for itself in being a one stop shop for digital health services and helping to guide consumers through the growing new landscape.

Down the road, he said, the company will begin to integrate the various parts of its business, giving consumers the opportunity to securely interact with doctors on Medscape or helping consumers analyze their medical records, for example.

Other startups, like Tictrac, also aim to aggregate an individual’s personal health data and help them derive meaning from it. But, given WebMD’s name recognition, it could certainly help introduce connected health technology to a new swath of consumers. Still, it will be interesting to see the kinds of insights the new “hub” will be able to generate. Some could see a novelty in storing and tracking their data but, if the app doesn’t generate meaningful enough insights, they may not see a reason to stick around.

Also, even though WebMD’s brand is strong, consumers see it as a health information company, not a health services company prepared to handle potentially sensitive personal information. And it may take time for the company to earn consumer trust and awareness on that front.

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Each washable Peeko Monitor shirt from Rest Devices contains a strip that detects information and then connects to a thumb-sized data logger, which wirelessly sends data to a Wi-Fi Station. From that point, it’s relayed to Amazon Web Services, which normalizes the data and directs it to smartphone apps.

A package of three shirts, the logger, the Wi-Fi station and the smartphone app will be available in stores for $199 following a planned July launch, Rest Co-founder and CEO Carson Darling told me at the Strata conference in Santa Clara, Calif., on Thursday. The company is also testing a shirt for adults that can monitor for sleep apnea.

The Boston-based company, which has taken on around $500,000 in seed funding, has a few interesting question to wrestle with, including:

• How can Rest minimize incorrect alerts that unnecessarily wake up parents if a baby’s breathing changes in a normal way while also giving alerts that prove the device is working? The company is already getting feedback from parents using the product in beta tests to improve algorithms.
• Should Rest partner with health systems to make sure babies can continue to be monitored even after they leave hospitals? Customers might be able to compare their babies’ live patterns with aggregate normal information or the babies’ individual tendencies, depending on how the product evolves.
• Should Rest set off on the journey of getting regulatory approval as a medical device that can help diagnosis and treatment? For now, Rest will release the Peeko Monitor as a non-regulated product such as a camera and microphone for baby-watching. But perhaps the Food and Drug Administration might want to regulate it, as it did for a connected toothbrush.
• Perhaps most importantly, how open should the data gathered about babies be? Darling recognized the value of tying such data in with other connected devices, such as a thermostat, which could be automatically lowered should that help parents and their baby get some sleep. And he knows the data could help people learn more about babies’ sleeping patterns, which could be valuable for the medical community. But Darling also said he wants to provide data where it’s useful.

Whether or not the product will be able to push data into a larger system for many connected devices, such as Qualcomm’s AllJoyn peer-to-peer network, appears to be an important issue as more such devices are emerging, and managing all the data could become a hassle. My colleague Stacey Higginbotham has noted that as people adopt more and more connected devices, developers would be wise to think about ways for computers to make decisions on all the incoming data, rather than relying on humans to do it all on their own. And that means it would be best for the data to be open.

Those questions aside, selling the Peeko Monitor to parents who are nervous as it is could be a challenge in itself.

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