Tom Raftery's newsletter - Issue #18

Another week over, and another set of stories pulled together for this newsletter, in case you missed them. Some very interesting ones this week - I particularly recommend the IoT has a dirty little secret, and the climate change claims a lake ones, but all the others are fascinating too, so enjoy!

The Internet of Things (IoT)

Lots of news in the IoT space this week. Two stories in particular caught my eye - the 451 research report talking about how successful IoT is in the industrial sector, while the second story in The Verge pours a bit of cold water over the hype around IoT in the home - so-called smart homes. This tracks very closely with the blog post I published recently about IoT

451 Research: Today 65% of Enterprises Already Using Internet of Things; Business Value found in Optimizing Operations and Reducing Risk — www.prweb.com According to recent study, Utilities and Manufacturing lead IoT usage. Datacenter Equipment, Cameras and Surveillance, Smartphones, and Connected Buildings Lead IoT Endpoints

The Internet of Things has a dirty little secret: it's not really yours — www.theverge.com The Internet of Shit is a column about all the shitty things we try to connect to the internet, and what can be done about it. It’s from the anonymous creator of the Internet of Shit Twitter...

Energy

In the energy space, we're now seeing drones being used to help renewable energy companies be more efficient. Whether it is surveying rooftops to see if they are suitable for solar panels, checking distribution lines, or ensuring the blades on wind turbines are in tip-top shape, drones are on the job!

Why Drones Are ‘Game-Changing’ for Renewable Energy — www.greentechmedia.com But they’ve had their wings clipped by regulations.

And you know renewables make sense for business when even Amazon are finally getting on board. Amazon has, according to this piece, set a goal of getting 40% of its electricity from renewable resources by the end of the year

Amazon and Dominion Power Forge a New Renewable Energy Path in Virginia — www.greentechmedia.com Dominion creates a special rate to meet the needs of one of its largest customers.

CleanTech/Misc

Google are feeding anonymised eye scans into its DeepMind artificial intelligence platform, in the hope that it will help drastically speed up the diagnosis of eye problems

Google’s DeepMind AI to use 1 million NHS eye scans to spot diseases earlier — arstechnica.com Privacy is unlikely to be an issue for this fully anonymised dataset.

And in the US, the FCC has approved spectrum for the next generation of mobile data transfer - 5G. This is set to vastly reduce download times on phones, but even more important than faster Pokemon catching will be 5G effect on industry where machine to machine data transfer will be significantly improved 

Your Phone Is Poised to Get 10 Times Faster as FCC Approves 5G — www.bloomberg.com Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler took a seat, grasped a set of controls, and guided an excavator -- that happened to be 1,400 miles away.

Climate

A beautifully presented story in the New York Times this week tells the poignant tale of the loss of a lake in South America to climate change, and with it, the loss of a way of life

Climate Change Claims a Lake, and an Identity — www.nytimes.com An indigenous group that survived Spanish and Inca conquest cannot handle the abrupt upheaval of global warming. Lake Poopó was more than their livelihood: It was their identity.

And finally, new UK prime minister Theresa May has decided to abolish the Department of Energy and Climate Change. This is an extremely retrograde step, and speaks to the UK Tory party's ongoing war on science, and the environment

Abolition of Decc 'major setback for UK's climate change efforts' Ex-ministers and environmental groups condemn decision to axe ministry as downgrading action to tackle climate change

And finally

Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter. I hope you found it interesting. If you did, you should also check out my blog

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