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| Notes from CES: A smaller show and the wrong kind of tech |
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| By Stacey Higginbotham |
I'm at the annual CES show, but for the third time in three weeks I find myself sick with some kind of respiratory infection, so my deep thoughts on the tech I've seen so far will have to wait.
That said, I already have plenty of quick takes, each of which I'll be thinking about more deeply and discussing with folks as the New Year gets underway. For a rundown, read on. |
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| — Masonite's M-Pwr door has an integrated Ring doorbell camera and smart lock. Image courtesy of Masonite. |
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The wait for Matter still isn't over: Most companies that are pushing out Matter support will do so in the next few months, many of them with new products. But they'll wait until later this year to update existing products. Switchbot, for example, is offering a new Matter hub in March, while Eve will stock the shelves with new Matter-certified gear that month.
Additionally, TP-Link is one of the first companies to receive the Matter 1.0 certification. TP-Link is showing off 15 new Matter-compatible products and five new HomeKit compatible products across its Tapo and Kasa lines with some products available later this month and other coming in March. Amazon said it will update its Echo devices as well as its Eero devices to support Matter over Thread (so far, it only supports Matter over Wi-Fi) in spring while also supporting more device types.
In the meantime, I've been surprised to find that some of the companies presenting at CES don't have an announced Matter strategy. Lutron isn't talking about its Matter plans, and Kevin and I actually had to explain what Matter was to the folks staffing the Kidde table. That isn't a knock on the Kidde employees; I've had to explain some aspect of the smart home to their product people for years, which acts as a good reminder that the smart home is still incredibly niche, and that a mainstream business can afford to ignore it.
I also spoke with folks from the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) who said that, so far, they've certified 550 Matter devices and applications and have another 150 devices in the pipeline. They also confirmed that the CSA will stick to its planned Matter release update schedule of spring and fall. Chris LaPré, head of technology at the CSA, told me that in the spring release of the certification we should see support for robot vacuums and home appliances as well as improvements in battery performance for Matter devices.
As to the complaints coming in from users about updating their devices to Matter or how challenging it is to find multi-admin support, the CSA hopes that companies providing apps and devices for Matter listen to those consumers and take steps to make things easier for them. LaPré noted that while the Matter spec requires companies to support features like multi-admin, it doesn't dictate how they implement them. I, however, think companies that make switching "brains" in the smart home difficult are likely to get pushback from buyers.
Companies are ready to build smart devices into your home; the tech itself is not: We mentioned this on the podcast, but products such as Moen and Kohler's smart showers and toilets, Masonite's $6,500 door with integrated Ring doorbell and smart lock, and new home energy management services all drive home the idea that businesses want to go direct to builders in order to put smart home tech inside the home. While this is the sort of long-term transition that will take a few decades, I don't think we're anywhere near ready to start.
Unlike a thermostat or even an irrigation controller, many of the systems we're seeing companies try to install require a professional and big up-front costs. And because we don't have clear interoperability standards or even a sense of the longevity of many smart home products, it's scary to think about putting a $6,500 door on your home with sockets designed to fit a doorbell that may only last for three or four years. Ditto for a breaker box that would have normally lasted 25 years but instead will only last for seven because the computer or software inside will become too old to support.
One maker of a smart water monitoring system told me that builders are interested in putting monitoring systems with shutoff valves inside new homes because it offers them a way to establish an ongoing relationship with the buyer, to whom they may be able to provide an additional service. But I'm not sure I'd be keen to pay the builder a monthly water data and monitoring fee after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a new home, although I could see requiring monitoring systems for extended or ongoing warranty services.
Wellness tech is everywhere — and getting more invasive: Wellness tech has been big for years, from devices that track steps to sensors that monitor heart rate variability — even lamps that find the best time to wake someone up based on their sleep patterns. At CES in 2019 and 2020, we saw saliva tests to measure nutrition. This year, Withings showed off a urine analysis kit composed of a reader and a replaceable puck with about 100 tests inside. Its U-Scan system has not been approved by the FDA (although Withings is seeking such approval), but the company's goal is to convince consumers to use the system to track their diet and reproductive health. The Withings U-Scan reader and both Cycle Sync and Nutri Balance cartridges will arrive in the second quarter of 2023 and cost €499.95 ($526.42).
I've also seen several companies at this year's show with headbands for treating depression or improving focus, but a lot of that still feels like snake oil. One company is promoting tech that could determine muscle fatigue. Maybe that will become the new heart variability as the metric to beat for wellness.
Energy management is going to hit the mainstream: I was really excited to see Schneider Electric's vision for a smart home energy management system complete with a battery, smart breaker box, and optional EV charger and outlets. As I've written about before, managing home electric loads is going to become more essential as we deal with climate change and the need to electrify everything on a more unreliable grid. Intelligently managing load in the home will be a big part of that, especially as we add more energy storage in the form of EVs and batteries.
The real question is how those systems will work together. Schneider Electric will let others integrate with its system, but we're also seeing competing efforts from companies like Samsung, which is promoting its SmartThings Energy Management services. Additionally, the Home Connectivity Alliance, a group of appliance companies, have released the 1.0 version of a standard that lets appliances from major vendors communicate their electricity consumption. The need for some form of service has become clear at the show, but what's still unclear is how companies plan to build something that will work for consumers, utilities, and providers of the big energy-consuming products inside homes.
Satellites are big news: I had initially included satellites on my list of 10 predictions for the coming year, but then struck it at the last minute because I thought M&A felt more relevant. But satellite news is the air (sorry) at CES. The biggest news has been Qualcomm launching chips for Android phones that are able to use Iridium's satellite network, which is a response to Apple's deal to put satellite messaging from Globalstar on iPhones. More on the IoT front, satellite company Skylo announced a partnership with Quectel Wireless Solutions that puts Skylo's low data-rate satellite connectivity into Quectel's modules for IoT applications.
Notably, this show feels much smaller than in prior years. The last CES I attended, in 2020, had about 170,000 attendees according to the CEA, which puts on the event. This year, the CEA estimated that some 100,000 people would show up. In the meantime, the media days have had much fewer reporters running around, and fewer exhibitors.
There's still time for me to see more, but so far I feel like we're seeing a lot of tech, but much of it feels like the wrong tech, more focused on getting people to spend money for little value. There are interesting pockets of news such as Samsung's work to engineer its washing machines to reduce the amount of microplastics shed by clothing during a wash, but the cynic in me wonders if that's just literal greenwashing. |
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| Some random tech from CES I think is cool |
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| — Dracula Technologies showed off a new manufacturing process for energy harvesting chips designed for wearables. The photovoltaics and electronics are printed onto a sheet of plastic film and can be custom-sized for any application. Image courtesy of Kevin Tofel. |
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| — These systems on a chip from French company Proes place RF boosting technology on modules that can combine LoRa connectivity with satellite connectivity for a two-way communication that traditional LoRaWAN isn't great at. The satellite connectivity also gives it a long range of more than 1,700 kilometers (1,056 miles) while keeping power consumption at sub 25 milliwatts. Image courtesy of Kevin Tofel. |
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| — Babyark is showing off a car seat that I had thought we'd see way back in the early days of the IoT because it's so mind-numbingly obvious. The car seat uses carbon fiber and airplane-grade foams to protect the baby, and embeds sensors into the seat and the base that attaches to the car. The sensors can tell if the seat is installed correctly, if a baby is in the seat, and if so, whether or not the baby is buckled in. When things are wrong (for example, if someone left the baby in the car) the seat sends notifications to the user's phone until the problem is fixed. It will be available later this year and cost a pretty penny, at around $990. But it's sized for a baby weighing 4 pounds all the way up to 60 pounds, which should get the user through several years. Image courtesy of S. Higginbotham |
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| — This smart lamp from Nobi detects people, and can tell if someone is moving about or fallen. The lamp will cost $1,700 and is designed for group care settings to help monitor elderly or at-risk patients. The lamp uses a variety of sensors including infrared so it can detect people's motions when lit or in the dark. Image courtesy of Kevin Tofel. |
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| — As my growing belly reminds me, I do a poor job at tracking my food intake. I’m just terrible at portioning what I eat and I don’t really know the nutritional value of my meals. Nuvilab can help though. The company uses cameras and proprietary AI to scan food to provide nutritional value with a claimed 95-percent accuracy rate. Over time, you can view your food trends, which clearly, I need to do. The product is really the algorithm as even a phone camera can be used for food scanning. Nuvilab sells the service as an API for developers and hardware makers. Images and words by Kevin Tofel. |
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| Episode 404: CES has more Matter and many voices |
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| Kevin and I are at CES 2023 this week and eager for the show floor to open to see all of the new and crazy gear. But before we see the show floor, we had to slog through the planned news and media events, which we're talking about in this week's show. Matter is everywhere so far with most companies choosing to announce new Matter products that will arrive in the coming months. We cover news from Nanoleaf, Eve, Govee, Samsung, Lutron (no update on Matter plans), and SwitchBot. We then talk about Amazon's Sidewalk expansion news and its work with two partners for voice interoperability in an automotive platform and with Josh.ai. Also in voice news, Home Assistant will add voice control for its platform in the coming year. And now, prepare for the rush of product news including new Ring cameras, ADT's app with upgraded Nest integration, Cync lights, and Moen's new sprinkler and soil sensors. We also discuss Arlo's new end of life plans for older cameras, which the user community is upset with. Then we talk about a larger trend emerging at CES of building smart devices, such as Masonite's new powered door, into the home itself. I don't think we're ready for this, but the consumer electronics industry is eager to provide these products. |
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| — Nanoleaf has smart switches and an intelligent Matter over Thread hub. Image courtesy of K. Tofel |
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| Our guest this week is Gimmy Chu, CEO of Nanoleaf. He's on the show to discuss Nanoleaf's new Sense+ Controls light switches which contain sensors and additional buttons to manage the growing complexity of color lighting. These are also key components for Nanoleaf's new Nanoleaf Automations Learning Assistant (Nala), which is an effort to let your lights automate themselves. The idea is that sensors inside the switches will indicate presence based on time of day, ambient light, and stated preferences, then add more information to get the appropriate lighting for that moment. As a person who has been testing smart lights for a decade, I'm eager to see if Nanoleaf has the goods. We'll have to wait until the third quarter until these are out to test them, but Chu explains what he's aiming for. We also talk about the future of lighting and how color will play a larger role. Enjoy the show. |
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This week on the IoT Podcast Hotline, we get more details on Thread's range from a listener.
The IoT Podcast Hotline is brought to you by Silicon Labs. Silicon Labs is a leader in secure, intelligent wireless technology for a more connected world. Learn more about their integrated hardware, software and development tools at silabs.com. |
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| News of the Week |
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Samsung is making SmartThings hardware again: In a surprise move, Samsung announced a hub for its SmartThings smart home system that also ties heavily back into Samsung's Galaxy products. As Kevin notes, this is a shift, but it's also an attempt for Samsung to be more like Apple. (Stacey on IoT)
Powercast signs deal with Kyocera for battery-free shelf labels: A few weeks back I wrote about how the combination of energy harvesting tech, low power Bluetooth (or other connectivity) and over-the-air wireless power transmission could enable billions of sensors, especially in retail settings. Well, this deal between Powercast, which provides OTA wireless power devices, and Kyocera would allow Powercast transmitters to harvest wireless energy to power electronic shelf labels. (Powercast)
Labrador Systems accessibility robot is one to watch: We heard about Labrador's Retriever robot last year at CES and this year, the company is back with a demonstration of its robot working with Amazon's Echo Show device so a user could give verbal commands to the Retriever and so the user gets access to a camera and display. The Retriever robot is like a side table on wheels that can roll up to a person carrying necessary items. There is an ecosystem of related products that can allow the Retriever to work with a fridge or other products to fetch food or drinks. The robot is designed to work in a clinical or group home setting, where the cost of the robot and specialized equipment make sense. Having a robot handling basic fetching and carrying can help offset the lack of caregivers available to care for seniors and those needing extra help. (Labrador)
Amazon updates Sidewalk Network with LoRa devices: Amazon has added four new devices to its low power wide area Sidewalk Network, and in an interview with me Tanuj Mohan, Amazon's GM and CTO for Sidewalk, said it would open up the network to developers in the first half of 2023. At CES Amazon announced four new companies using its Sidewalk Network, and for the first time, these companies are using LoRa connectivity. Amazon's Sidewalk Network can handle both Bluetooth and LoRa radios, but until now the two companies making Sidewalk-enabled products (Tile and Level Locks) used Bluetooth. The new devices coming this year are leak and freeze sensors from Meshify, a gas leak sensor for utilities from New Cosmos USA Inc., a modem for solar inverters from Deviceroy and sensors from Browan. The devices aren't the typical consumer fare, but that's because Amazon wants Sidewalk to connect devices that don't need a lot of bandwidth, but would benefit from a cheap connection to share snippets of information. Mohan says that most of the coverage is provided by consumers' Amazon Echo devices in the field, and that right now coverage maps aren't available because Amazon is worried about privacy. He did say that Amazon has coverage in most major metro areas. (Amazon)
TDK to acquire TinyML player Qeexo: TDK, which makes a variety of sensors and electronics components, plans to acquire Qeexo, a startup that builds no-code machine learning models designed to run on constrained devices. I profiled Qeexo back in 2020 after seeing an impressive demo and hearing several sources in the chip community rave about the tech. Financials were not disclosed, and the deal is contingent on approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS). (TDK)
We're getting serious about IoT security: I know we're seeing ever more attacks on our connected infrastructure, but I am optimistic that electronics vendors, industries, and the government are at least now taking security seriously and working on regulations, laws, and technical solutions to help build more resilience and security into our infrastructure and devices. This is likely leading to the ambitious predictions by ABI Research that state the secure MCU market will grow to $2.2 billion by 2026. MCUs are microcontrollers, the constrained chips inside IoT devices, and we've seen the cost of secure chips drops even as programs to make it easier to implement security on devices have risen. There is still plenty of insecure gear out there, but it's going to get better. (EETimes)
This is a good report on sensor technology: I love sensors because they help define how computers can interpret the world. New sensing tech opens up new avenues of innovation and cheaper sensors make new functionality accessible for more devices. LiDar used to be expensive and reserved for cars and expensive robots, but now it's cheap enough to put on a vacuum cleaner. That's why this report about new sensing technology is worth a glance. It talks about the growth in new biosensors (we saw some cool new sensors at CES that can detect the gases given off by ripe fruit, for example) as well as noting that four new sensors are connected with every new IoT device that comes online. Go check it out. (IoT Analytics)
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