Happy New Year 2017 and it’s CES 2017 this Week – Autonomous Cars, IoT, Gadget Apocalypse?

by | Jan 2, 2017 | Developer Programs News, Developer Relations, DevRelate, Internet of Things, Machine Learning |

Happy New Year 2017! I hope everyone survived the holidays. I am back in the office and starting off an exciting new year. It’s CES 2017 later this week. I can’t wait to actually hear about the actual announcements (instead of the speculations) of new consumer technologies that will appear this year. At the same time, its exciting to hear that CES will showcase news about AI, Machine Learning, Smart Cars, Autonomous Vehicles, IoT, VR, Personal Robots, 8K displays, Voice Assistants, Home Automation, Drones, and more.

CES 2017 – What to Expect

The top tech news sites have multiple articles with pre-announcements and previews of what to expect this week in Las Vegas. Last year at CES 2016, Faraday Future gave a glimpse at their concept electric car. This year, they will live stream the unveiling of the actual car on Tuesday, January 3 at 6pm PST. They even have a countdown timer on their home page at https://www.ff.com/en/

FaradayFuture-FFZero1 CES 2017

Here are links to a few of the CES 2017 previews and news articles that I’ve been reading.

Home Automation in my Christmas Stocking

My Christmas stocking was filled with home automation IoT devices including an Amazon Echo Dot, Switchmate Smart Light Switch and a Wemo Switch. I’ve set up the Echo Dot to control my Nest Thermostat – “Alexa, set Family Room temperature to 72 degrees”. I am working to get the other devices installed and connected to the Echo Dot and also explore SDKs for building additional integrations. The good news for developers and developer programs, there are lots of Voice Control APIs available to connect different devices together in your home and office.

For connected devices and developer evangelism, Evans Data has its Internet of Things vertical research service and annual Tactical Developer Marketing research report series (Developer Marketing Patterns and Developer Relations Programs).

The Gadget Apocalypse?

Back in early December, Farhad Manjoo wrote an article in the New York Times Personal Tech section, “The Gadget Apocalypse is Upon Us“. In his article he mentions the problems at GoPro and Pebble being acquired by FitBit. He also talks about the fall of other companies, the start/stop of Kickstarter projects and that with SmartPhones and software there may not be a need for as many gadgets and wearables.

VentureBeat has a recent article that mentions Manjoo’s article and points to the CES 2017 show’s vendors announcing and demoing 20,000 consumer products. VentureBeat: CES 2017: 20,000 consumer electronics products will be launched despite “gadget apocalypse”. As always, there are some CES products that never see the light of day or take a few years to appear as products (note by mention of Faraday Future above). I did like how VentureBeat talked with Shawn Dubravac, chief economist of the Consumer Technology Association, to provide some perspective about the CES show and product announcements: “… Dubravac flat-out disagrees… But beyond that, even if software has become more critical, we still have seen major companies like Google and Amazon and Snap pushing into the hardware space. Content and software remain tightly linked to the success of any hardware. It may be true, as Manjoo argues, that it’s hard to be a company whose sole focus is hardware, but that’s always been true, Dubravac points out.”

If your company has CES 2017 announcements, let me know.

I will be watching for CES 2017 announcements, both as a tech fanatic and also as a developer. If you see any news or hear of new developer capabilities in CES 2017 announcements let me know.

David I - Developer Relations Conference

David Intersimone “David I”
Vice President of Developer Communities
Evans Data Corporation
davidi@evansdata.com
Blog: https://www.devrelate.com/blog/
Skype: davidi99
Twitter: @davidi99

 

 

Internet of Things and your Developer Relations Program

by | Nov 8, 2016 | APIs, Developer Relations, DevRelate, Internet of Things |

The Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the hottest topics in developer and technology conversations. IoT companies with developer relations programs comprise a vast range of use cases, industries and devices. I’ve personally written code for the personal medical devices including pulse oximiters, blood pressure cuffs, heart rate chest straps and blood sugar monitors. Using code and components I’ve created demos and videos showing how to work with home control devices including Z-Wave based smart switches and door locks. It’s easy to create apps that control home lighting and heating. I’ve created demo applications for department stores using proximity beacons and beacon fencing. These development use cases are only a fraction of the use cases that can be included in the IoT developer space. IoT reaches way beyond what a consumer might experience with IoT. Your IoT developer relations program can help educate developers with sample code, tutorials, how to videos and more.

To look at the larger IoT development opportunities, we can see IoT devices already in use in manufacturing, transportation, retail, energy, financial services, healthcare, homes, buildings, logistics, cities and governments. There is a vast array of opportunities for developer relations programs to reach out to IoT developers. Predictions abound that there will be billions of devices and trillions of sensors connected to the Internet. Recent news stories about hackers taking control of devices points to the need for security skills for developers. Big data and analytics software will allow developers to harness the rapid growth in the number of connected devices and the data streams they will create.

IoT Developer Relations Programs

I should always answer this question with “who doesn’t have an IoT developer program”. We can quickly list the readily identifiable software, hardware, services and platform companies that are extending their reach to include IoT products. This group includes Intel, Cisco, Facebook, HP. Microsoft, Salesforce, Qualcomm, Oracle, Texas Instruments, Toshiba, Amazon, AMD, Samsung, Apple, SAP, Google, AT&T, IBM, Verizon, Huawei, Dell  and others. There is another group of companies, especially in the industrial and automation spaces that are adding IoT layers to their product and services offerings. In this group I include GE, Bosch, PG&E, ABB, Thingworx, Ericsson, Emerson, Siemens, Philips, Orbit, Cypress, Sierra Wireless, Schneider Electric, Rain Bird, Comcast, Honeywell and more. That said, here are links to a few of the thousands of companies that have active IoT developer relations and outreach programs.

 

Evans Data Internet of Things Vertical Research Service

The Internet of Things vertical research service focuses on developers working on projects for connected devices in the Internet of Things, whether they’re for transportation, home automation, smarter cities, retail, industry or any other type of interconnected application. The service provides year long data delivery with two global survey reports plus IoT focused data deliveries across disciplines like mobility, Big Data, and Cloud. You can view the table of contents and sample pages on the Internet of Things Vertical Research Service page. You can also use the Evans Data Analytics Console to look at Internet of Things developer research data.

IoT Developer Relations

If you have a developer focused IoT program, let me know

I would love to explore your IoT focused developer program. Send me an email with your IoT developer program URL so that I can join and take a look.

David Intersimone “David I”
Vice President of Developer Communities
Evans Data Corporation
davidi@evansdata.com
Blog: https://www.devrelate.com/blog/
Skype: davidi99
Twitter: @davidi99