Virtual shopping mobile app Salesfloor acquired Automat, a Montreal-based conversational AI platform that powers guided shopping experiences, product recommendations and personalization for brands, it said Thursday. Retailers want platforms that can help manage in-store and online shoppers to offer more unified and seamless shopping experiences, said Salesfloor CEO Oscar Sachs, saying the acquisition lets the company provide a mix of human store associates and AI-assistant capabilities.

The federal government has failed to implement about 24% of recommendations for solving cybersecurity “shortcomings” since 2010, GAO reported Thursday about the SolarWinds and Microsoft Exchange incidents. The agency has made 3,700 recommendations since 2010, 900 of which the government hadn't fully implemented by November, GAO said. The auditor said it “will continue to monitor federal agencies' progress in fully implementing these recommendations, including those related to software supply chain management and cyber incident management and response.”

The Chinese Wi-Fi IoT market is projected to expand at a 29% compound annual growth rate over the next five years, reaching 916.6 million connections in 2026 from 252 million in 2021, reported ABI Research Wednesday. COVID-19 pandemic-induced remote work fueled consumer demand for “cohesive home environments,” stimulating the growth of smart home applications enabled by IoT devices using Wi-Fi connectivity, it said. “To meet the surging Wi-Fi demand, the Chinese market has been ramping up manufacturing capabilities through support plans provided by the government and the emergence of new vendors to ease the strain felt from the global chip shortage,” said analyst Andrew Zignani. ABI forecasts the global Wi-Fi IoT market will grow to 6.7 billion connections by 2026, nearly a threefold increase from 2021, it said: “With a population strength of around 1.4 billion, China alone makes up approximately 40% of the global Wi-Fi IoT market. This indicates the strong prospects for the Chinese Wi-Fi ecosystem, where Wi-Fi-enabled applications and services would be driven by the proliferation of IoT.”

Physical goods will be 45% of subscription market value by 2022, Juniper reported Tuesday, citing consumers’ needs for reliable sources of medicines and daily essentials during the pandemic. The global value of the subscription economy is seen reaching $275 billion this year, up from $224 billion in 2021. Physical goods, digital video and digital music will be 75% of the global subscription market revenue this year, Juniper said, with music, video, spoken word and videogame streaming services making up 39%. The research firm said support for alternative payment methods is key to growing future subscription-based services. Subscription economy vendors should support multiple payment methods to boost end-user convenience, it said.

The FTC provided stronger evidence supporting its case against Facebook, and Chair Lina Khan doesn’t need to recuse herself, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. He threw out the social media network’s attempt to dismiss the case, as was expected (see 2108240059). The agency’s newly presented facts fortify its theories, particularly about claims about Facebook’s social networking monopoly, wrote U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in 1:20-cv-03590 (Pacer). The FTC alleged Facebook has a monopoly in personal social networking services and unlawfully maintained that monopoly. Facebook bought rivals Instagram and WhatsApp and unlawfully implemented policies preventing interoperability between Facebook and apps it viewed as nascent threats, the FTC argued. In its amended complaint, the agency presented “detailed factual allegations” and multiple metrics to show Facebook’s market dominance, wrote Boasberg. Facebook argued commissioners' vote authorizing the complaint was invalid because Khan showed prejudgment against the company in her work before joining the agency. Khan was “acting in a prosecutorial capacity, as opposed to in a judicial role, in connection with the vote” and therefore didn’t violate any ethical rules, wrote Boasberg, also as expected. The company didn’t comment.

U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi in Los Angeles granted Netflix and various studios a preliminary injunction Friday against the anonymous defendant operators of the streaming video website Primewire. In the docket 21-cv-09317 order, Scarsi said the plaintiffs adequately showed a significant likelihood they will succeed on the merits in their video piracy claim. He said defendants hadn't responded.

Amazon extended its Sidewalk network to businesses, municipalities, universities and public services through two pilot programs, it blogged Thursday. Amazon Sidewalk Bridge Pro by Ring enables organizations to address problems created by limited connectivity, the company said. A pilot with Arizona State University will address smart cities research; a second with Thingy is designed to help first responders fight wildfires.

A court dismissed the rest of a landowners’ challenge to Virginia’s law empowering electric cooperatives to expand broadband. U.S. District Court in Charlottesville dismissed it without prejudice, said Monday's entry in case 3:20-cv-00065. The court earlier dismissed constitutional claims against Virginia in Grano v. Rappahannock Electric Cooperative, leaving a contracts clause claim against REC. The landowners and REC filed a joint stipulation last week seeking dismissal. Grano's attorney earlier told us it was weighing options including possible appeal (see 2112030035). Baker didn’t comment now. An REC spokesperson said the cooperative couldn’t immediately comment due to “a major storm and widespread power outages across our system.”

More than 130,000 third-party sellers surpassed $100,000 in sales on Amazon this holiday season, blogged Amazon Wednesday. U.S.-based third-party sellers sold an average of 11,500 products per minute between Black Friday and Christmas, it said. Top categories for sales from Amazon’s third-party sellers included cameras and home office and wine-related products. The company spent over $100 million during Prime Day and through the holiday season to help small- and medium-sized businesses reach more customers, it said.

Privacy and security will continue to plague the connected home industry as an increase in threats create more consumer concern for their data, blogged Parks Associates President Elizabeth Parks in a 2022 trends forecast. Consumers will continue to embrace over-the-top video services, and the “great unbundle of Pay TV will move into the next phase,” including the “rebundling” of streaming services, she said. Interoperability efforts will push ahead, with industry players working together through integration and partnerships, she said, while choice will remain “paramount” for consumers in video viewing, home security and automation. Large investments in energy management tech will drive demand response capabilities in a transforming power grid, while distributed energy resources manage the grid’s load, she said. Home healthcare will “explode” in coming years through devices, virtual care and remote patient monitoring, and work and home will continue to “blur,” leading to ongoing investments in technology.