Tag Archive for Internet of Things

RB | January 26, 2012
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Spot Can Run, But He Can’t Hide

Internet of ThingsThe new pet-oriented Global Positioning Systems (GPS) on the market, now make it possible to constantly track your best friend according to a report in MIT’s Technology Review.

Garmin GPSThe GPS devices made just for pets are generally small enough to be attached to a collar which allows Owners to track their furry companion’s every paw print in real-time. The New Jersey Star-Ledger points out unlike microchips embedded in the skin of an animal which store identifying information, these devices aren’t invasive, and owners don’t have to wait for a stranger to find and bring their lost pet to an animal shelter to scan the chip.

“This could easily be a multimillion-dollar category,” David Lummis, a “pet market analyst,” at New York-based market research firm Packaged Facts, recently told the New Jersey Star-Ledger. Pet owners are now more “crazy” about their four-legged friends than ever. If the recession is any indication, Mr. Lummis told the paper that he $58 billion pet products industry has merely slowed a few percentage points during the recession.

Tagg the Pet TrackerThat kind of consistent growth has attracted attention of  Qualcomm (QCOM) the biggest maker of mobile-phone chips.  San Diego-based Snaptracs, a wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm, has released Tagg the Pet Tracker.

The rechargeable Tagg device can be attached to a collar (provided it’s not a spiked or bejeweled one), plus a home base unit. Owners are able to set a virtual perimeter for Fido to wander. TR says a text message or email alert will be sent if Fido strays too far. The device has a battery life of some 30 days and is water-resistant; it’s intended for dogs (or cats) 10 pounds or heavier. The necessary hardware and one year of Verizon (VZ) service costs $200 according to Technology Review. The service costs $5 a month after that. It’s a small price to pay, Dave Vigil, president of Snaptracs told the paper, considering pets are becoming increasingly “like family members.” Users can also find their pets at any time through a computer or smart phone.

Jessie and WileyGPS giant Garmin (GRMN), has also entered the doggie lo-jack market. The paper says the Olathe, Kansas based company released the GTU 10 device, a 1.7-ounce gadget. Garmin users can also set up a perimeter and receive alerts, or track real-time from a mobile device or computer. The GTU 10 operates on AT&T‘s (T) wireless network and costs $200 for the first year and $50 a year after that.

Another competitor is Retriever. TR says Retriever has similar functions with virtual fences and alerts but adds a social networking element. Retriever will share Spot’s location with a friend, presumably so if your old pal Spot gets loose while you’re out-of-town, you can help steer the on-site rescue. To judge from its site, Retriever appears to not yet be on the market, nor is a projected price listed.

Technology Review also notes other products in this niche. Global Pet Finder, is not available anymore on Amazon (AMZN) as of this article. The SpotLight device costs $169.99 and is limited to T-Mobile coverage. SpotLight costs $179.88 per year for a subscription.  The Love My Pets device and 1 year subscription costs $189.95 uses the Sprint (S) network. The Love My Pets system costs $14.95 per month for a subscription according to a CSR.

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Qualcomm’s goal is to encourage new uses of its radio chips, not to make a hit product. These products are part of the Internet of Things. As the Apple (AAPL) iPod and iPhone have shown, people are willing to shell out a lot of cash for the things, but it is in the services where the money is to be made on the Internet of Things. Content is still king.

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RB | January 3, 2012
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Internet of Things

Internet of ThingsOnce upon a time, there was a time when “using the Internet” always meant using a computer. Today getting on the intertubes is an expected feature for many devices. The next digital frontier is the physical world, where the “Internet of Things.” The Internet of Things will bring online ability to objects.

Twine Sensor Connects Household Objects to the Internet

Twine Tested.com notes a Kickstarter project from two MIT Media Lab alums who developed a way to make the Internet of Things more available. A small, durable “Twine” sensor listens to its environment and reports back over Wi-Fi. The creators hope their new product will let regular users, even those without programming knowledge, digitally manage their surroundings.

A basic Twine unit senses temperature and motion, but other options like moisture detection, a magnetic switch, and more can be added using a breakout board. The various sensors and built-in Wi-Fi can be powered by either a mini-USB connection or two AAA batteries, which will keep it running for months. Twine readings get wirelessly loaded into the appropriately named Spool web app, where users can set simple if-then triggers that create SMS messages, tweets, emails, or specially configured HTTP requests.

For a donation of $99 or more will get you a basic unit when they ship in March.

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THE SMART FRRRIDGE. Chilly Forecast for Internet Frrridge

Internet FridgeThe Smart Frrridge is a new version of the familiar kitchen apparatus. According to Medienturn the new fridge comes with a built-in computer that can be connected to the internet. It is one of a growing class known as “internet appliances” that include not only smart phones, but also web-enabled versions of typical household appliances.

The refrigerator keeps an eye on the food in it by using RFID technology, a digital camera and image processing. These technologies allow the fridge to keep track of whats in it, how long has this been there, should it be trashed?

To keep in contact with the Smart Frrridge all you have to do is to pick up your mobile phone and call. It will be able to suggest a menu that uses the foods inside, and generate a shopping list of the missing ingredients and place the order online.

The Smart Frrridge cab also be used to watch television, listen to music, to take a photograph, save it to an album, or post it to a website, or send it to an email recipient. The comes with a docking station you can just dock in your Apple (AAPL) iPod or iPhone and start using all your favorite cooking apps.

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SCADA: How Big a Threat?

Cyber attackerThere are reports of two recent cyber attacks on critical infrastructure in the US. Threatpost says the hacker who compromised the water infrastructure for South Houston, TX, said the district used a three-letter password, making it easy to break in.

There are also reports that a cyber attack destroyed a water pump belonging to a Springfield, IL water utility. There are mixed reports that an attacker gained unauthorized access to that company’s industrial control system.

According to DailyWireless, Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) software monitors and controls various industrial processes, some of which are considered critical infrastructure.

Researchers have warned about attacks on critical infrastructure for some time, but warnings became reality after a highly complicated computer worm, Stuxnet, attacked and destroyed centrifuges at a uranium enrichment facility in Iran.

German cybersecurity expert Ralph Langner found Stuxnet, the most advanced worm he had ever seen. The cybersecurity expert warns that U.S. utility companies are not ready to deal with the threat.

In a TED Talk Langner stated that, “The leading force behind Stuxnet is the cyber superpower – there is only one; and that’s the United States.”

In a recent speech at the Brookings Institution, he also made the bigger point that having developed Stuxnet as a computer weapon, the United States has in effect introduced it into the world’s cyber-arsenal.

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New NIST Report Sheds Some Light On Security Of The Smart Grid

NIST DarkReading reports the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released a report (PDF) by the Cyber Security Coordination Task Group. The report from the Task Group which heads up the security strategy and architecture for the nation’s smart power grid includes risk assessment, security priorities, as well as privacy issues.

The smart grid makes the electrical power grid a two-way flow of data and electricity allows consumers to remotely monitor their power usage in real-time to help conserve energy and save money. DarkReading says researchers have raised red flags about the security of the smart grid. Some have already poked holes in the grid, including IOActive researcher Mike Davis, found multiple vulnerabilities in smart meters, including devices that don’t use encryption nor do they authenticate users when updating software. He who was able to execute buffer overflow attacks and unleash rootkits on smart meters.

Tony Flick, a smart grid expert with FYRM Associates, at Black Hat USA talked (PDF) about his worries over utilities “self-policing” their implementations of the security framework. “This is history repeating itself,” Mr. Flick said in an interview with DarkReading.

According to DarkReading, the report recommends smart grid vendors carry out some pretty basic security practices:

  • Audit personally identifiable information (PII) data access and changes;
  • Specify the purpose for collecting, using, retaining, and sharing PII;
  • Collect only PII data that’s needed;
  • Anonymize PII data where possible and keep it only as long as necessary;
  • Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) must set up protections against denial-of-service (DoS) attacks;
  • Network perimeter devices should filter certain types of packets to protect devices on an organization’s internal network from being directly affected by denial-of-service attacks;
  • The AMI system should use redundancy or excess capacity to reduce the impact of a DoS;
  • AMI components accessible to the public, must be in separate subnetworks with separate physical network interfaces;
  • The AMI system shall deny network traffic by default and allows network traffic by exception;
  • Consumers’ access to smart grid meters be limited. Authorization and access levels need to be carefully considered.
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RB | December 20, 2011
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Web Connectable TV New Source of Threats

Internet of ThingsYou may want to consider the security of the fancy new 55-inch high-def LCD TV that Santa Claus brings you. Surprise, surprise, surprise they may have security holes that could allow hackers to take over your home network.

Consumer appetite for on-demand and online video content will drive sales of Internet-connectable TV devices to nearly 350 million units worldwide by 2015 reports ITnewsLink.  Parks Associates’ Connected Living Room: Web-enabled TVs and Blu-ray Players forecasts worldwide sales of Internet-connectable HDTVs, Blu-ray players, game consoles, and digital video players like Apple‘s (AAPL) Apple TV will grow about fourfold from 2010.

Digital televisionParks Associates says all major manufacturers are debuting new models with innovations in content aggregation, apps development, and user interfaces. Content options are finally catching up to the hardware innovations, and growing libraries of on-demand movies and TV available are starting to unlock the potential of connected TV devices as multifunction online entertainment and communications platforms.

The growth of these devices will increase opportunities for apps developers – including third-party developers and giants such as Google (GOOG), Samsung, and Yahoo (YHOO) and one other group, hackers.

Mocana Mocana, a company that focuses on securing the “Internet of Things”, released a study that highlights digital security flaws in Internet-connected HDTVs reports ITnewsLink. The Mocana researchers believe that the security flaws exist in many Internet TVs and recommend that consumers seek out third-party security tests before they purchase and install them in their home.

Mocana’s CEO Adrian Turner told ITnewsLink: “…manufacturers are rushing Internet-connected consumer electronics to market without bothering to secure them … consumer electronics companies that might lack internal security expertise should seek it out, before connecting their portfolio of consumer devices to the Internet.”

Computer securityMocana’s research shows that attackers may be able to leverage Internet-connected TVs to hack into consumers’ home network. Researchers found that the Internet interface failed to confirm script integrity before those scripts were run. Mocana was able to show that JavaScript could then be injected into the normal datastream, allowing attackers to obtain total control over the device’s Internet functionality. As a result, an attacker could intercept transmissions from the television to the network using common “rogue DNS”, “rogue DHCP server”, or TCP session hijacking techniques. The security holes could allow attackers to:

  • Present fake credit card forms to fool consumers into giving up their private information.
  • Create a man-in-the-middle attack on the HDTV to dupe consumers into thinking that “imposter” banking and commerce websites were legitimate.
  • Steal the TV manufacturer’s digital “corporate credentials” to gain special VIP access to backend services from third-party organizations including popular search engine, video streaming and photo sharing sites.
  • Monitor and report on consumers’ private Internet usage habits without their knowledge.

The flaws Mocana uncovered should raise questions about the security of consumer electronics in general-which manufacturers are scrambling to connect to the Internet, often with little or no security technology on board.

Alfred E. NewmanMocana’s CEO Adrian Turner continued: “While much public discussion … on the recent explosion of smartphones … the vast majority of new devices coming onto the Internet aren’t phones at all: they are devices like television sets, industrial machines, medical devices and automobiles – devices representing every conceivable industry. And the one thing that all these manufacturers have in common is that, unlike the computing industry, they don’t have deep experience in security technology.”

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RB | November 8, 2011
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Gartner’s Top Tech Trends For 2012

GartCrystal ballner VP David Cearley described their top ten strategic technology trends for 2012 to attendees of the Gartner Symposium IT/Expo. Gartner (IT) defines a strategic technology as one with the potential for significant impact on the enterprise in the next three years. Here are Gartner’s top strategic technologies for 2012.

GartnerMedia tablets and beyond: Bring-your-own-technology (BYOT) at work has become the norm, not the exception.  By 2015 tablet shipments will reach around 50% of laptop shipments and Windows 8 will likely be in third place behind Google‘s (GOOG) Android and Apple’s (AAPL) iOS. The net result is that Microsoft‘s (MSFT) share of the client platform, be it PC, tablet or smartphone, will likely be reduced to 60% and it could fall below 50%, Mr. Cearley says.

iPadThe implication for IT is that the era of PC dominance with Windows as the single platform will be replaced with a post-PC era where Windows is one of a variety of environments IT will need to support. Gartner says it expects iOS/Android will dominate the market with 80% of tablets shipped by 2015. IT leaders need a managed diversity program to address multiple form factors, as well as employees bringing their own smartphones and tablet devices into the workplace.

Mobile-Centric Applications and Interfaces. User interfaces with windows, icons, menus, and pointers which have been in place for more than 20 years are changing. The UI will be replaced by mobile-centric interfaces emphasizing touch, gesture, search, voice and video. Applications themselves are likely to shift to more focused and simple apps that can be assembled into more complex solutions. By 2015 half the applications that would be written as native apps in 2011 will instead be delivered as Web apps.

Internet of thingsInternet of Things: The Internet of Things (IoT) describes pervasive computing where cameras, sensors, microphones, image recognition, everything, is now part of the environment. In addition, increasingly intelligent devices create issues such as privacy concerns. Gartner says. Driver of the IoT are:

  • Near Field Communication (NFC) payments allows users to make payments by waving their mobile phone in front of a compatible reader.
  • Embedded sensors which detect and communicate changes are being built into an increasing number of places and objects.
  • Image Recognition technologies identify objects, people, buildings, places logos, etc. that has value to consumers and enterprises.

General storeApp Stores and Marketplaces: Application stores by Apple and Android provide marketplaces where hundreds of thousands of applications are available to mobile users. Gartner forecasts that by 2014, there will be more than 70 billion mobile application downloads from app stores every year with an enterprise focus. With enterprise app stores, the role of IT shifts from that of a centralized planner to a market manager providing governance and brokerage services to users and potentially an ecosystem to support entrepreneurs. Enterprises should use a managed diversity approach to focus on app store efforts and segment apps by risk and value.

Big data Big Data: The size, complexity of formats and speed of delivery exceeds the capabilities of traditional data management technologies; Gartner says it requires the use of new technologies simply to manage the volume alone. One major implication of big data is that in the future users will not be able to put all useful information into a single data warehouse. Logical data warehouses bringing together information from multiple sources as needed will replace the single data warehouse model.

Cloud computingCloud Computing: This topic is still an important trend. It will become the next-generation battleground for the likes of Google and Amazon (AMZN). Going forward, enterprise IT will be concerned with developing hybrid private/public cloud apps, improving security and governance, Mr. Cearley says. While the market remains in its early stages in 2011 and 2012, it will see the full range of large enterprise providers fully engaged in delivering a range of offerings to build cloud environments and deliver cloud services. Oracle (ORCL), IBM (IBM) and SAP (SAP) all have major initiatives to deliver a broader range of cloud services over the next two years. As Microsoft continues to expand its cloud offering, and these traditional enterprise players expand offerings, users will see competition heat up and enterprise-level cloud services increase.

Enterprises are moving from trying to understand the cloud to making decisions on selected workloads to implement on cloud services and where they need to build out private clouds. Hybrid cloud computing which brings together external public cloud services and internal private cloud services, as well as the capabilities to secure, manage and govern the entire cloud spectrum will be a major focus for 2012. From a security perspective new certification programs will be ready for initial trial, setting the stage for more secure cloud computing. On the private cloud front, IT will be challenged to bring operations and development groups closer together using “DevOps” concepts in order to approach the speed and efficiencies of public cloud service providers.

Other key predictions Gartner had included:

  • Contextual and Social User Experience: Context-aware computing uses information about an end-user to improve the quality of interaction and anticipates the user’s needs and proactively serves up the customized content. By 2015, 40% of the world’s smartphone users will opt in to context service providers that track their activities with Google, Microsoft, Nokia (NOK) and Apple continuously tracking daily activities Mr.Cearley says.

 

  • The growing use of flash memory for In-Memory Computing as a long-term technology trend that could have a disruptive impact comparable to that of cloud computing.
  • The adoption of Extreme Low-Energy Servers built on low-power processors typically used in mobile devices will increase for non-compute intensive workloads or delivery of static objects to a website. Gartner says that 10%-15% of enterprise workloads are good for this.
  • Next-Generation Analytics Gartner says o ver the next three years, analytics will mature from structured and simple data analyzed by individuals to analysis of complex information of many types (text, video, etc.) from many systems.

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