The Internet of Things will remain a “trending topic” in 2015, as more than a third of online U.S. consumers now own at least one smart device other than a smartphone, said Ipsos research conducted for data privacy management company TRUSTe. The most popular devices are smart TVs (owned by 20 percent of those sampled), in-car navigation systems (12 percent), fitness bands (5 percent) and home alarm systems (4 percent). The survey canvassed 1,000 U.S. adult consumers online Nov. 28 to Dec. 5 and found that the number of connected devices available on the market continues to grow, and so does the amount of data being collected, TRUSTe said. Nearly eight of 10 consumers canvassed said they’re concerned about the idea of their personal information collected, it said. Only 20 percent “think that the benefits of owning a smart device outweigh any privacy concerns about the data they may collect,” it said. Though ownership of smart devices is high, consumer awareness of Internet of Things as a term is remarkably low, it said. The survey that 82 percent were unfamiliar with the term, it said.
Alarm.com announced a smart thermostat designed to integrate with connected devices in a smart home. The Alarm.com thermostat is said to differ from others by using remote temperature sensors placed around the home to adjust temperature in rooms where people are located, not in just the room where the thermostat is, the company said. Dynamic modes can automatically adjust temperature based on time of day. Alarm.com’s cloud platform intelligently connects the thermostat with other devices in the home, enabling it to learn and adjust to occupancy patterns and to respond in real time to activity, the company said Sunday. The thermostat can adjust automatically when the security system is armed and change temperature based on a user’s location, the company said, but the homeowner manages rules and settings to fit lifestyle and preference. The thermostat will be available exclusively through the company's network of service providers in first half 2015, it said.
Orbcomm completed its buy of SkyWave Mobile Communications Thursday, said the acquirer in a news release Monday. It said SkyWave will add more than 250,000 subscribers, 400 channel partners and annualized revenue of more than $60 million, as well as expand its machine-to-machine business.
Apple hasn’t announced a definitive 2015 launch date yet for the Apple Watch, but that’s not stopping a small Evansville, Indiana, supplier from laying claim to fielding what it calls "the first great Apple Watch accessory." The supplier, Standzout, is using a CES exhibit in the Las Vegas Convention Center’s North Hall to demonstrate prototypes of an Apple Watch docking station it calls the Bandstand, the company said in an emailed media alert Sunday. Calling the Apple Watch "the new king of wearables," though it hasn’t yet reached the commercial market, Standzout said the Bandstand has been designed "from the ground up to make the experience of using the Apple Watch easier, more natural, and more beautiful." The Bandstand is designed to be "the nightly home" for an Apple Watch, it said. It will include integrated charging using Apple’s inductive charger, plus additional ports to allow the user to charge two other USB devices simultaneously, including an iPad, the company said. "It also features a pivoting watch platform, to adjust the angle of the watch for visibility from any angle." With the built-in charging for the Apple Watch and two additional USB devices, Standzout expects to price the Bandstand "around the $99.99 range," CEO Brandon Barnard emailed us Sunday. "We are still early in development to offer exact pricing." Availability of the Bandstand will come "within weeks of the Apple Watch release for reasons of needing to evaluate for exact fit and testing," Barnard said. Asked for his company's latest intelligence on when it thinks Apple Watch will debut, Barnard said: "We have no other information other than what is publicly available." What Apple originally touted as wireless charging technology for the Apple Watch isn't wireless at all because it uses a wire with a magnet on the end (see 1409160022). Referring in the media alert to Apple's long-term status as a CES exhibitor holdout, Standzout said: "This year's CES is jam-packed with amazing tech from hot companies around the world. You're going to be busy. But one of the year's biggest stories, the Apple Watch, isn't likely to make an appearance. "
Three-fourths of U.S. homes view TV content from a DVR, Netflix or an on-demand service from a cable or telco provider, according to a survey from Leichtman Research Group. A quarter of survey households use two of the services and 11 percent use all three, Leichtman said. Of the U.S. households subscribing to pay TV, 62 percent have a DVR, up from 41 percent five years ago, Leichtman said, compared with those who don't subscribe to pay TV and have a DVR penetration rate of 1 percent. Just over half of DVR households have service on multiple TVs, up from 28 percent five years ago, it said. Additional findings: Two-thirds of households with annual incomes higher than $75,000 have a DVR, vs. a third with incomes of less than $30,000, while a quarter of non-DVR households reported owning one in the past. Six of 10 cable subscribers have used VOD, up from 46 percent five years ago, and 63 percent of digital cable subscribers -- and 58 percent of telco video subscribers -- used on-demand in the past month, it said. More than a third of pay-TV subscribers get Netflix, compared with 48 percent of non-subscribers, and 36 percent stream video daily, Leichtman said. VOD and DVRs “are now core components of pay-TV packages,” and along with Netflix and other over-the-top offerings, on-demand TV services have “permanently changed the options of how people may choose to watch TV,” said Bruce Leichtman, president. The study was based on a telephone survey of 1,233 adults ages 18 and over, done in November throughout the continental U.S. among TV households. The overall sample has a statistical margin of error of +/- 2.8 percent, Leichtman said.
With smart watch sales "skyrocketing," Hyundai owners soon will be able to connect with their cars using the wearable devices and the Hyundai Blue Link smart watch app, the carmaker said Friday. Hyundai's cloud-based Blue Link platform allows features like remote start and service information to be quickly accessed through devices like smart watches and smartphones, it said. Hyundai partnered with Station Digital Media to develop the Blue Link smart watch app and will demonstrate it at CES, it said. "This new app expands Hyundai's exploration into how wearable technology and Blue Link fit into a customer's lifestyle," it said. "Connecting to your car through a smart watch and voice recognition was previously something seen only in science fiction movies." To use the app, the smart watch wearer taps an icon or uses voice commands to execute remote functions, it said. The app allows Hyundai owners to remote start, lock and unlock doors as well as find their car in a crowded parking lot, it said. The app must be paired via Bluetooth to a smartphone that has the Blue Link mobile app installed, it said. At CES, Hyundai will demo the app on Motorola, LG, Samsung and Sony smart watches, it said. Android Wear users will be able to download the free app from Google Play starting this quarter, it said.
The FCC's decision that programming and retransmission consent contract information should be available with safeguards to parties in the Comcast/Time Warner Cable and AT&T/DirecTV merger reviews is “within its broad discretion,” the FCC said in a respondent's brief filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Filed Friday in response to the content companies' petition for review of the commission's decision to release Video Programming Confidential Information, the brief asked the court to affirm the FCC's protective orders “expeditiously so that the merger reviews can proceed as promptly as possible.” The joint challenge by CBS, Disney, Viacom and other content companies “rests on the premise -- wholly unsupported -- that parties will not comply with the protective orders’ provisions, and that the Commission will not punish violators when warranted,” the brief said. The protective orders for the VPCI “contain robust safeguards against abuse, and the Commission has made clear that the orders will be vigorously enforced,” the brief said. Not allowing access to the VPCI would “weaken” the FCC's ability to defend a merger review decision against court challenges and disrupt the merger review process, the FCC said. Content company suggestions that VPCI in the record be made anonymous “would be inappropriate, are unworkable, and would only serve to create unacceptable delay that could, by itself, prevent the transactions from moving forward,” the FCC said.
Facebook was the top smartphone app of 2014, with 118 million average unique users each month, said a Nielsen report on digital trends in U.S. smartphone apps and operating systems released Wednesday. Consumers seemed to “place a premium” on the Internet’s social side in 2014, Nielsen said, with a large portion of the top smartphone apps geared to connectivity. In addition to its top app rank, Facebook's Messenger app had a user uptake jump of 242 percent over 2013 to reach the seven position on the smartphone app list. Positions two through six were held by the Google family: Google Search, YouTube, Google Play, Google Maps and Gmail. Google+, Instagram and iTunes Radio/iCloud were in the eight, nine and 10 spots. Among operating systems, in Q3, Android held the top spot with 51.9 percent of smartphone users, followed by iOS with 42.9 percent, Nielsen said. Eking out slivers of the U.S. market were Windows Phone with 2.8 percent, Blackberry with 1.5 percent and “other” with 0.9 percent, it said. Nielsen’s findings were based on passive metering technology on smartphones used by roughly 5,000 panelists on an opt-in basis. Operating system data was based on Nielsen’s monthly survey of 30,000-plus mobile subscribers aged 13 and older in the U.S.
More than six of 10 U.S. broadband homes never back up their data to an online storage service, despite the many options available, Parks Associates said Thursday in a report. The finding suggests there’s “a huge addressable market for cloud-based storage in 2015, as consumer consumption of digital content is on the rise,” Parks said. In U.S. broadband homes, smartphone users alone spend 18 minutes on average per session when streaming music apps, it said. That exceeds the time they spend on average on gaming, social media or video apps, it said. “As the connected consumer achieves greater mobility, device storage becomes a limiting factor for consumer content, prompting a shift to cloud-enabled storage and access," the firm said. Starting at CES and throughout 2015, the firm expects to see CE makers and online technology companies “leverage cloud-based storage as a value-added feature,” it said. “CE companies and cloud-based storage providers are struggling to differentiate in the market, prompting device and service providers like Amazon, with its Fire Phone, and Kodak, with its upcoming Android devices, to rely on cloud-enabled storage and functionality to attract new customers." Wearables in particular stand ready “to form a large chunk of the personal cloud in the new year as consumers store their health and fitness data in the cloud,” Parks said.
Kestrel will begin taking orders Jan. 15 for the DROP D3 wireless temperature, humidity and pressure data logger ($199) that allows users to record and monitor environmental conditions from a smart device. DROPs can be placed inside or outside the home -- and in water -- to log specific environmental conditions and can send the data via Bluetooth Smart to an iPhone or iPad, Kestrel said. Measurements include temperature, humidity, heat index, dew point temperature, station pressure, density altitude and pressure trend, the company said. The data logger uses Kestrel’s Connect app and can transmit data up to 100 feet line of sight to a mobile device, it said.