In this special Black Hat edition of the Podcast, sponsored by UL: Parisa Tabriz, Google’s Director of Engineering for the Chrome Web browser, brought some strong medicine to Las Vegas for her Black Hat keynote speech. We talk about why her simple message was so groundbreaking. Also: Ken Modeste of UL joins us from the Black Hat briefings to talk about UL’s efforts to make cyber security as important to consumers in the 21st century as product safety was in the 20th.
The New York Time’s BITS blog has an interesting look at the companies that are gearing up to compete against Google in the home automation market. Google has picked up its investment in so-called “smart home” technology, from the acquisition of Nest, the smart thermostat maker, and DropCam a maker of wireless cameras used for home monitoring and surveillance. The Times notes the entry of firms like Quirky, which has the backing of major retailers like Home Depot and manufacturers like General Electric, Honeywell and Philips. That company announced a new spin-off firm, Wink, that will focus on software. There’s also (of course) Apple, which last week announced HomeKit, a new platform for home automation products that leverages the company’s iOS mobile platform. For its part, Google and Nest have alliances with companies like Whirlpool, Jawbone and Mercedes-Benz. The company seems to be focusing on getting cool products to market that […]
