Smart home devices from companies such as Amazon and Google can be hacked and used to crash websites, steal data and snoop on users, an investigation reveals. Consumer group Which? has found poor security on eight smart devices, some of which are no longer supported with vital security updates due to their age. Examples include the first generation Amazon Echo smart speaker, released in 2014, and a Virgin Media internet router from 2017. All of the products had vulnerabilities that could leave users exposed to cybercriminals, Which? Domestic abuse survivors can also be tracked and controlled by ex-partners who exploit weak security on devices including Wi-Fi routers and security cameras.

The NFL's rumored streaming service could debut in JulyDyson, the company that's recently branched out into hair curlers, air-purifying headphones and not cars, has revealed it has an entire division secretly developing robot prototypes for household chores. The company didn't detail any of the models specifically, but many look like robot arms adapted to do specialized home chores, like cleaning and tidying. Dyson also showed off its Perception Lab dedicated to robotic vision systems, environment detection and even mapping humans with sensors, cameras and thermal imaging systems. So why reveal its secret lab now? Well, Dyson's on a recruiting drive, looking for around 700 engineers to help finally make at least some of these ideas a reality in our homes.

IKEA continues its foray into smart home devices with the launch of a Google Matter-ready hub called DIRIGERA and a new IKEA Home smart app. With the new device and app, the Swedish company is promising to handle more smart device segments while making device integration easier. It says the app will be "convenient, easy to navigate and user-friendly" for anyone just getting into smart home tech. "With the new DIRIGERA hub for smart products, users will be able to onboard all IKEA smart products to the system and steer them individually, in sets or in groups in the new IKEA Home smart app. This enables users to create different scenes with pre-set functions of the smart products and increases the personalisation options for the smart home," according to the company.

Thanks to the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and advances in sensor technology, a whole host of everyday products are getting smarter. We have smart TVs and smartwatches. We have smart running shoes – or rather, smart insoles – that gather data on your running performance. You can even get smart nappies that send an alert to your phone when your baby's nappy needs changing. For product manufacturers, there's no doubt we've reached a tipping point in the smart product trend, meaning it's no longer possible (or wise) to ignore consumer demand for smart, AI-loaded products.

You've figured out the basics of setting up your smart home, now it's time to raise your game. I've spent years installing, configuring, and tweaking dozens of smart home products in virtually every product category. Along the way I've figured out a lot of the secrets they don't tell you in the manual or the FAQs, ranging from modest suggestions that can make your smart home configuration less complex, to essential decisions that can save you from having to start over from scratch a few years later. Here's my best advice on how to optimize your smart home, digested into a dozen top tips and best practices. These days, an Amazon or Google/Nest smart speaker or smart display can fill the role of a smart home hub (and some Amazon Echo devices are equipped with Zigbee radios).. There are three major smart home platforms on the market, and your smart home will probably have at least one of them installed: Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, or Apple HomeKit.

Smart is a word in transition. Once almost exclusively applied to human (and some animal) intelligence, today everything and anything is called "smart." With the growing field of AI (artificial or augmented intelligence) predicting self-learning inanimate objects, smart might be a minimum term with genius close behind. In construction, the application of computer technology to every facet of the trade is achieving inroads at companies large and small. But the focus is now turning to the implementation and installation of smart technology in the actual buildings.

Q: I have an Amazon Echo. What are the best smart products to use with it like lights and such? A: Virtual assistants, such as Amazon Echo and Google Home, are gateways into the "smart" universe. Yes, you can program your devices individually, and few smart appliances require voice commands. But once you establish and sync all the gadgets in your home, you can unleash the full power of the smart network.

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) software and hardware are giving rise to a multitude of smart devices that can recognize and react to sights, sounds, and other patterns--and do not require a persistent connection to the cloud. These smart devices, from robots to cameras to medical devices, could well unlock greater efficiency and effectiveness at organizations that adopt them. In some industries, smart machines may well help expand existing markets, threaten incumbents, and shift the way revenue and profits are apportioned among industry players. Rapid strides in technology and the growing investment in AI innovation signal how fast AI deployment is moving. Advances in software and hardware are propelling AI outside of the data center into devices and machines we use in our work and our everyday lives.

It's a truism that artificial intelligence (AI) is pervading all facets of technology from spotting early-stage cancer to understanding all forms of human speech to swapping your face with your cat's in real-time high-res video. A stampede of consumer applications has fueled and funded the mainstream demand, social acceptance and growing ubiquity of AI, and now, thinking systems are exploding into the enterprise IT landscape. Enterprise IT has seen AI become mainstream for many tasks, including cybersecurity, IT operations, monitoring, data analytics, business-process automation and infrastructure provisioning, in response to the widening gap between the slow-growing skilled-labor pool and fast-growing IT workloads. For data centers, however, they represent only the first raindrops of two gathering monsoons: AI for data centers and data centers for AI--read that twice. Today, smart products are already augmenting IT operations and analytics by sifting through a dizzying amount of operational telemetry data, spotting anomalies, correlating events and determining root causes.

I wanted to include a case study in this blog, but my advisors said that at 6 pages, this blog was already too long. So that case study will have to wait until my next blog, and heck, that even gives me a chance to assign homework then! Organizations are facing a business model disruption like they have never experienced before, fueled by rapid advances in sensor technologies, an out of control avalanche of sensor data and the rapid democratization of advanced machine learning, deep learning and artificial intelligence capabilities. These are truly "weapons of business model mass destruction". Unfortunately, organization's IOT strategy looks like a giant game of'Twister' with random, uncoordinated investments in architecture, technology, data, analytics and governance (see the blog "Avoiding the IOT'Twister' Business Strategy" for more on this giant game of IoT'Twister'). To avoid the IoT'Twister' game and avoid becoming a victim of these "weapons of business model mass destruction", one needs a coherent, coordinated plan for identifying the sources of customer and market value creation and capturing those sources of value. And more and more, those sources of customer and market value creation will be delivered via smart product and spaces that leverage these IoT and advanced analytic capabilities to create products and environments that self-monitor, self-diagnose, self-cure and continuously learn across every step in the process.