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Podcast: How to design a connected device that isn’t a jerk, plus IoT’s recipe for success

Stacey Higginbotham — Thu, 23 May 2013 11:30:43 +0000

The internet of things poses a variety of design challenges starting with the fact that we’re not exactly sure how most consumers will want to deploy and implement connected devices in their homes and lives. Much like people don’t think about using electricity, but instead they think about turning on the lights, plugging in a TV or other applications, using the internet of things will require applications.

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.

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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.

PREVIOUS IoT PODCASTS:

Podcast: The history of the internet of things includes a Swedish hockey team and LEGOs

IoT Podcast: Where self-milking cows graze fields of data gold

Podcast: Power to the people — and all their connected devices

What you really need to know before buying connected devices

How the internet of things may make parents less worried but more neurotic

Shark Week for the internet of things

What the Internet of Things can learn from Minecraft and Lemmings

Podcast: How IBM uses chaos theory, data and the internet of things to fix traffic

Electric Imp aims to make the Internet of Things devilishly simple

When devices can talk, will they conspire against you?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

GigaOM Chrome Show 6: Chrome battle plans shown off at Google I/O

Kevin C. Tofel — Wed, 22 May 2013 11:26:59 +0000

Google I/O has come and gone without any new Chrome OS hardware. Was it a bust for Chromies? Not at all, but most of the news were behind the scenes services and provided context for Chrome’s cross-platform future vision.

You can see some of that future in Chromium for the Mac, which is getting the Chrome App launcher. Our extension of the week dovetails with Google’s new Play Music All Access subscription service. And while Kevin still loves the Chromebook Pixel, he pleads with Google to add one important function to Chromebooks: Support for Google Play movie and TV downloads.

Show notes

Hosts: Chris Albrecht and Kevin C. Tofel

So what was Google I/O like, what’s new for Chrome and what new services did Google add?
More Intel-powered hardware builds are being tested
Chromium for Mac getting the App launcher
What’s Google’s vision for Chrome? To take over the world, of course!
Extension of week: Better Music for Google Play Music
When will Google add movie and TV downloads for Chromebooks?

Got questions, tips or tricks for an upcoming GigaOM Chrome Show? Find Kevin on Google+, Twitter (@kevinctofel) or via e-mail (kevin@gigaom.com)

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ICYMI Podcasts: Real Chrome apps, a history of IoT and Google I/O 2013

Kevin C. Tofel — Sun, 19 May 2013 14:15:04 +0000

Another week full of tech news means another week of GigaOM podcasts filled with analysis and commentary. Here’s a summary of what you might have missed, along with links to our audio episodes.

On the GigaOM Chrome Show, Chris Albrecht and I chatted with special guest, Joe Marini. As a Google Developer Advocate, Joe is an expert on the Chrome app experience along with the technology behind it such as Packaged Apps and Native Client apps.

Stacey Higginbotham also had a special guest interview this week on the Internet of Things podcast. Adam Dunkels explains how his early IoT coding efforts helped form the basis for LEGO Mindstorms robots and gave him the knowledge to start his latest company, Thingsquare.

Lastly, on the GigaOM Weekly Wrapup show, Tom Krazit, Eliza Kern, Janko Roettgers and I team up to dissect all of the developments at this year’s Google I/O event, ranging from new APIs for Chrome and Android to the new Google Play Music All Access subscription service.

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(Download the GigaOM Internet of Things podcast)

(Download the GigaOM Weekly Wrapup podcast)

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The GigaOM Show: Google I/O themes and takeways that affect you

Kevin C. Tofel — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:04:42 +0000

Google I/O is nearly over and most of the big news is now old news. But what does it all mean for consumers, developers, Android and Chrome? This week’s podcast explains it all. Tom Krazit and Kevin Tofel discuss what was — and what wasn’t — announced for both of Google’s software platforms, while Janko Roettgers explains how Google’s new media services compare to others already on the market. Eliza Kern wraps up the discussion with commentary on the new Google+ changes and if they’ll increase engagement and grow the social network.

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SHOW NOTES:
Co-Hosts: Tom Krazit
Guests: Kevin Tofel, Janko Roettgers, Eliza Kern

Google may not have announced Android 4.3, but it made Android better while unifying it with Chrome.

Can Google really take on Spotify, Rdio and others with the new Google Play Music All Access service?

Google Talk becomes Hangouts and will see SMS integration soon.

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Podcast: The history of the internet of things includes a Swedish hockey team and LEGOs

Stacey Higginbotham — Thu, 16 May 2013 11:30:32 +0000

Thirteen years ago Adam Dunkels was trying to hook up a hockey team in Lulea, Sweden with sensors and cameras so coaches and fans could track helmet cams and players’ vital signs. It was an academic project but it was also an early example of the internet of things. The project was doomed to fail for a variety of reasons, but out of that experience came a lightweight code for connecting devices called Lightweight IP.

A later version of that code became the base for LEGO Mindstorms and a variety of other connected projects. But Dunkels realized that to truly build a platform for connected devices he needed even lighter weight code. So he built Contiki, an operating system of sorts of the internet of things. And now he’s commercializing all that he’s learned in a startup called ThingSquare. In the podcast we discuss the history of the internet of things and when we reached the tipping point that made the internet of things inevitable.

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Show notes:
Host: Stacey Higginbotham
Guest: Adam Dunkels, chairman, co-founder and chief architect of ThingSquare

How connecting a hockey team in 2000 helped him learn what the internet of things needed.
Why he build LWIP, microIP and later Contiki as an OS for the internet of things.
The factors that led to a tipping point for the internet of things.
Dunkels tells me to stop looking at the future and to pay attention to the present. Because the internet of things is here today.

PREVIOUS IoT PODCASTS:

IoT Podcast: Where self-milking cows graze fields of data gold

Podcast: Power to the people — and all their connected devices

What you really need to know before buying connected devices

How the internet of things may make parents less worried but more neurotic

Shark Week for the internet of things

What the Internet of Things can learn from Minecraft and Lemmings

Podcast: How IBM uses chaos theory, data and the internet of things to fix traffic

Electric Imp aims to make the Internet of Things devilishly simple

When devices can talk, will they conspire against you?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

GigaOM Chrome Show 5: Google I/O preview and Joe Marini from Google talks apps

Kevin C. Tofel — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:35:21 +0000

On the all-Chrome podcast this week, we remind folks that Google Keep is replacing Scratchpad in Chrome OS: Don’t forget to sync your notes! Also, Google has added push notification support in Chrome. Speaking of Google, Joe Marini, a Google Developer Advocate talks about Packaged Apps, Native Client and more.

Our extension of the week will help you better manage your tasks while a quick tip helps unhide your “missing” extensions. Oh… and isn’t there a big event this week? Hear our preview thoughts of Google I/O!

Show notes

Hosts: Chris Albrecht and Kevin C. Tofel

Goodbye Scratchpad, hello Google Keep
Google gets pushy with notifications
Special guest: Joe Marini from Google
What we expect from Google I/O
Extension of the week: Any.DO
Tip: Can’t see all of your extensions? Here’s the fix

Got questions, tips or tricks for an upcoming GigaOM Chrome Show? Find Kevin on Google+, Twitter (@kevinctofel) or via e-mail (kevin@gigaom.com)

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IoT Podcast: Where self-milking cows graze fields of data gold

Stacey Higginbotham — Thu, 09 May 2013 11:30:13 +0000

Connecting devices to the internet helps solve the problem of turning on your lights without ever leaving your chair, but a 1980s device called The Clapper did the same thing. To really bring connected devices into the future people are using them to build services. That’s fun, but it gets even better when you add machine learning to the data those devices collect.

That’s what ThingWorx did when it signed a partnership with Jeff Hawkin’s hot data startup Numenta. Hawkins who was the creator of the Palm Pilot, has tried to build out a series of algorithms that look at data in the manner a human mind does to make predictions. But it can process a lot more data than a human.

In this week’s podcast Russ Fadel, CEO of ThingWorx, talks about the partnership and how predictive intelligence plus connected sensors are changing farming and improving medical care.

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Show notes:
Host: Stacey Higginbotham
Guest: Russ Fadel, CEO of ThingWorx

How farmers are using the internet of things to improve their crops.
Adding more intelligence to connected devices means they can tell you what to do (and eventually those sensors may tell a robot what to do).
Does a secure internet of things mean a closed system?

PREVIOUS IoT PODCASTS:

Podcast: Power to the people — and all their connected devices

What you really need to know before buying connected devices

How the internet of things may make parents less worried but more neurotic

Shark Week for the internet of things

What the Internet of Things can learn from Minecraft and Lemmings

Podcast: How IBM uses chaos theory, data and the internet of things to fix traffic

Electric Imp aims to make the Internet of Things devilishly simple

When devices can talk, will they conspire against you?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

Podcast: What you really need to know before buying connected devices

Stacey Higginbotham — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 14:30:07 +0000

In my time talking to people about the internet of things, we sometimes get so excited about the possibilities of the technology that we forget about the consumer who has to install it or has their own vision for connected living that they are trying to implement. So this week I brought my colleague Kevin Tofel onto the show to discuss how consumers should literally buy into the internet of things.

Tofel is our gadget and mobile device reporter (he has a podcast too!), and has been trying connected devices in his home (pictured) since 2010, so he has hands on experience setting up a home automation system using an Insteon-based system. But as, we discuss on the podcast, this limits the connected devices he brings into his home and it doesn’t work with his Nest thermostat for example. He offers some good tips for those planning their own connected homes such as planning ahead, picking a protocol and thinking about what you really want to achieve. Toward the end we even debate the merits of apps versus voice and gesture controls for telling our smart homes what to do.

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Show notes:
Host: Stacey Higginbotham
Guest: Kevin Tofel

Kevin’s 41 solar panels aren’t connected to his Nest thermostat. Should they be?
We offer two practical considerations consumers must think about before buying connected devices. Hint, one is the protocols you’ll be using.
Why you need to plan ahead when buying connected devices for your home.
Kevin predicts the death of the remote control and I complain about having too many apps.

PREVIOUS IoT PODCASTS:

Podcast: How the internet of things may make parents less worried but more neurotic

Podcast: Shark Week for the internet of things

What the Internet of Things can learn from Minecraft and Lemmings

Podcast: How IBM uses chaos theory, data and the internet of things to fix traffic

Electric Imp aims to make the Internet of Things devilishly simple

IoT podcast: When devices can talk, will they conspire against you?

What the internet of things can learn from Minecraft and Lemmings

Podcast: Why the internet of things is cool and how Mobiplug is helping make it happen

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

Podcast: How the internet of things may make parents less worried but more neurotic

Stacey Higginbotham — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:30:25 +0000

Parenting is tough. Not only are babies incapable of listening to your rationale pleas for sleep, but they are tiny, fragile things that require your constant vigilance and protection. Or at least that’s the messaging around parenting in the U.S. To support new parents an entire industry of products from baby monitors to sensors placed under the mattress have emerged. So of course someone decided to connect them.

In the latest podcast, I speak with Chris Bruce, the CEO of Sproutling, a company building connected devices that aim to help people be better parents. The first product is a sensor-packed ankle bracelet that tells parents how their baby is while it sleeps. It’s like the next generation of baby monitor without the static or murky video. In the interview we discuss how the internet of things could change parenting and when to give up surveillance of your kids. I also admit to keeping my newborn in my closet while I tried to get some sleep.

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Show notes:
Host: Stacey Higginbotham

The basics on Sproutling’s connected baby monitor
What happens when the quantified self meets parenting?
How data from connected devices could change our understanding of babies.
This makes helicopter parenting looks positively neglectful. When do we take the sensors off our kids?

PREVIOUS IoT PODCASTS:

Podcast: Shark Week for the internet of things

What the Internet of Things can learn from Minecraft and Lemmings

Podcast: How IBM uses chaos theory, data and the internet of things to fix traffic

Electric Imp aims to make the Internet of Things devilishly simple

IoT podcast: When devices can talk, will they conspire against you?

What the internet of things can learn from Minecraft and Lemmings

Podcast: Why the internet of things is cool and how Mobiplug is helping make it happen

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

Podcast: Shark Week for the Internet of Things

Stacey Higginbotham — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 11:30:12 +0000

Want to know how many fish there are in the sea? The amount of carbon dioxide in the water in the mid-Pacific? How about getting humpback whales a record deal? These are all projects that Liquid Robotics’ connected, sensor packed robots have undertaken. The company, which makes self-sufficient, autonomous ocean-going robots, has built a sea-faring internet of things. And like all seagoing entities its robots have had their share of shark attacks and are always on the lookout for pirates.

The Wave Glider robots are pretty amazing machines, with a dry box packed full of server gear, solar panels and the original wave-harnessing energy technology all packed onto what used to be surfboard. Add to it, a satellite radio, cellular and some shorter range radios so a fleet of Wave Gliders can create what is essentially a distributed computing platform in the ocean. To learn more about how they work and what they do, check out this week’s podcast with Graham Hine, the SVP of product management for Liquid Robotics.

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Show notes:
Host: Stacey Higginbotham

How does an autonomous ocean-going robot work? And why do we need it?
Packing computers on surfboards and a year-long trip from California to Australia
Shark attack! Also, Pirates.
Why robots and the internet of things belong together.

PREVIOUS IoT PODCASTS:
What the Internet of Things can learn from Minecraft and Lemmings

Podcast: How IBM uses chaos theory, data and the internet of things to fix traffic

Electric Imp aims to make the Internet of Things devilishly simple

IoT podcast: When devices can talk, will they conspire against you?

What the internet of things can learn from Minecraft and Lemmings

Podcast: Why the internet of things is cool and how Mobiplug is helping make it happen

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.