Applied AI Weekly News

Justin Grammens

Welcome IoT Weekly News Readers!

Another fun and exciting week in the world of the Internet of Things! Toyota, Microsoft and NIST are just some of the organizations that are involved in stories on the IoT this week. Also, be sure to try and attend a free event put on by the Industrial Internet Consortium and Entrust Datacard entitled "Driving Secured Digital Transformation in Industrial Control Systems" on May 10th. Full details in the Sponsors section below.

Finally, spring is finally here in the great state of Minnesota and we are slowly getting out of the 6 months of hibernation. I look forward to your feedback on this or any prior issues. It's really YOU, the readers and the companies I consult with through my industry experience on how they should be using IoT technology to improve their bottom line that drive the content for these issues. Please contact me at Lab 651 if you would like to setup a time to talk and learn more on how I might help your business.

I hope you enjoy this issue and remember to follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook

News

Toyota Will Offer Alexa in Its Cars Starting Later This Year

Toyota announced at CES this year that the carmaker will be offering support for Amazon Alexa within its vehicles – no additional hardware required. There’s a lot of third-party devices out there that are putting Alexa on your dashboard as an aftermarket add-on, but Toyota is one of the first automakers to fully embrace loading their vehicles up with Amazon’s voice-powered smart assistant.

Microsoft Built Its Own Custom Linux Kernel for Its New IoT Service

At a small press event in San Francisco, Microsoft today announced the launch of a secure end-to-end IoT product that focuses on microcontroller-based devices — the kind of devices that use tiny and relatively low-powered microcontrollers (MCUs) for basic control or connectivity features. Typically, these kinds of devices, which could be anything from a toy to a household gadget or an industrial application, don’t often get updated and hence, security often suffers.

Well Intentioned Lawmakers Could Stifle IoT Innovation

IoT security regulations could stifle innovation without addressing the security problems at hand, a well-respected security researcher controversially argues.

Sponsor

Driving Secured Digital Transformation for Enterprises and Industrial Infrastructures

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) enables businesses with high risk and critical infrastructures to take advantage of powerful cost-saving, decision-making and business-enhancing solutions. But with big benefits come big risks. Don’t miss the opportunity to join the Industrial Internet Consortium and Entrust Datacard™ for an educational security forum on emerging trends and techniques to combat cyber threats in today's ever-increasing threat landscape.

Security

IoT Security Concerns Peaking – With No End in Sight

While IoT security has been criticized over the past few years, IoT device privacy is another rising pain point highlighted at RSAC, particularly with the rise of voice assistant devices such as Amazon Echo and Google Home. However, many of these devices are built with little to no security in mind.

NIST Seeks Industry Help to Secure Tiny IoT Medical Devices

Cryptography experts specializing in secure communications at the National Institute of Standards and Technology are looking for ways to protect data created by tiny networked devices that are being used in Internet of Things applications and projects. These tiny IoT devices, which include sensors, actuators (components of a machine that move or control a mechanism or system) and other micromachines will need a new class of defense mechanisms against cyberattacks.

IoT and Blockchain: A Happy Marriage or a Messy Divorce?

The Internet of Things has its problems. Even the biggest advocate for IoT tech will admit there’s a lot of work ahead. Scalability and security seem to be major issues on the horizon, and the jury’s still out on whether blockchain can be part of the solution.

Leaders Emerge as the Industrial Internet of Things Ecosystem Takes Shape

Most third-party security firms focus on the "practice" of cybersecurity—this is, checking the regulatory and certification boxes rather than focusing on the reality of incident response: the practical deployment of dispatching security solutions for cyber mitigation, SOC monitoring, and proactive/attack-based cyber resolution solutions from the datacenter to the edge.

Industrial

Study Reveals Hottest Trends in Industrial IoT

Manufacturing and Industrial settings are often among the first to adapt new technology, as small increases in efficiency can be the difference between a profitable venture and one that’s economically unsustainable. Technology is having a major impact on manufacturing, and Deloitte, in conjunction with the Council on Competitiveness and Singularity University, recently released their Exponential Technologies in Manufacturing study to outline just how quickly change is expected.

Consumer

How the IoT Will Transform the Home Maintenance and Repair Industry

We go to the doctor every year for a physical and twice a year to the dentist. We take our car to the auto mechanic at least once a year for maintenance. Yet the funny thing is, when it involves our homes, the biggest single investment most of us will ever make, we often wait for things to break down before addressing them.

Survey

Companies Are Migrating to the Cloud for the IoT

Companies are increasingly abandoning privately managed, on-premise data centers in favor of cloud-based platforms for their IoT needs, according to The Eclipse Foundation's annual survey of about 500 IoT developers. Only 19% of developers told the Eclipse Foundation they currently store and analyze data in private, on-premise data centers, down from 35% two years ago.