Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the big things that have happened in recent times. Due to its growing popularity, tech companies are now focused on creating an ecosystem of products that can be interconnected and controlled right from a smartphone. However, we may have cause to change the name to “Internet of Troubles” next year.

A security researcher and consultant Scott Helme has raised an alarm about the impending issue that may plague a number of gadgets from next year. He told The Register that a lot of smart home and IoT gadgets are going to break down within the next 12 months. These gadgets range from smart TV, set-top box, smart refrigerator and even old Android phones which might lose most of its internet connections in the next year or two.

The reason for the potential failures is that the Certificate Authority root security certificates built into many smart-home and Internet of Things devices are beginning to expire. Such certificates make it possible for digital devices to establish secure online connections with servers. With a move to secure internet connections for almost all internet connections these days, the scale of potentially affected devices looks massive.

The good thing is that these root certificates can be renewed with firmware updates. Sadly, not all of these gadgets get any form of software updates after installation. Also, not all of the gadgets have a companion app or admin interface. Again, most Chinese manufacturers do not offer any form of software supports for their gadgets. So, a day might come when the gadgets may just stop working.

The security researcher also disclosed that several CA Root Certificates are expiring in the next few years. The Root CA certificates usually have a license duration of 20+ years. Thus, since it has been 20+ years since the encrypted Web really started up, it means that most of the certificates have run their full cause and needs renewal.

At this point, it becomes imperative that buyers check for the expiry date of the CA Root Certificates of any smart home/IoT gadget they are buying. Even gadgets that don’t often connect to the internet should be Vetted for expiring/ expired certificates.

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Internet of Things is becoming part of our everyday life. In a few years, every kind of hi-tech device and domestic appliances will be connected to the network and it is time to give them a nice and complete operating system. Google has just announced the final and stable version of Android Things 1.0, its operating system for IoT devices. The OS has been in development since 2016, but until now it was only available as a Developer Preview. Now the final version of the OS went finally official and soon we will see the first devices running it in the market.

According to Google, Android Things 1.0 will offer a free three year support for each of its long-term releases. The software support will include updates with stability fixes and security patches. Note that security will be very important in the IoT sector as it will include objects interacting with our everyday lives and external attacks may be more dangerous than expected. After the three-year support for each major version of the operating system, there will be additional options for extended support and products manufacturers will be able to release updates on their own.

Besides announcing the operating system, Google has also introduced the compatibility with new System-on-Modules which will power Internet of Things devices. The new hardware modules supported are NXP i.MX8M, Qualcomm SDA212, Qualcomm SDA624 and MediaTek MT8516. The Developer Preview of the operating system already supported Raspberry Pi 3 Model B, NXP i.MX7D and NXP i.MX6UL. The compatibility with the first two modules will remain, while the NXP i.MX6UL will not be supported anymore with the 1.0 version. The Mountain View giant has confirmed that the first IoT devices with Android Things 1.0 will be made official by the end of summer. Among these, there will be smart speakers and smart displays.

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The tech giant announced on Christmas day that it had achieved the milestone earlier this month. The record shipments also show that Xiaomi’s diversification strategy was working as planned. Presently, Xiaomi’s IoT gadgets include products like the Mi Robot Vacuum Cleaner, Mi Smart Speaker, Mi Home Thermometer, smart body scale, home security kit and several others. Most of the IoT gadgets are manufactured under Xiaomi’s MIJIA crowdfunding platform like the Aqara smart home products.

Related: Xiaomi And Baidu Partners To Work Together On IoT And Artificial Intelligence

Majority of the smart home IoT gadgets are sold exclusively in China but most of them can be bought outside China via third-party e-retailers like Banggood, GearBest, LightInTheBox and several others. Xiaomi doesn’t ship the product directly but of late, the company has made available some of its IoT gadgets in India where Xiaomi has continued to soar and is currently close to surpassing Samsung as the largest local smartphone vendor, according to recent estimates. As Xiaomi’s connected smart home products continue to gather momentum, the tech giant is expected to expand its Internet-enabled home products to more markets around the world.

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China-based internet giant Baidu and smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi have announced that they have formed a strategic partnership under which both the companies will work together for developing technologies in the domain of Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence.

This was announced today at Xiaomi’s first developer conference in Beijing. This alliance marks the coming together of third most valuable publicly traded Chinese technology company — Baidu, and one of the world’s most valuable private company — Xiaomi. The alliance is intended to advance China’s smart manufacturing capabilities using AI, IoT and big data.

However, exact details regarding the tie-up have not been disclosed as of now. But, both the companies said that will immediately explore opportunities in voice recognition, deep learning and computer vision, in addition to more work with DuerOS.

Baidu’s vice chairman, group president and COO, Qi Lu, said,

The two companies have joined forces in forming a strong partnership to make users’ experience more compelling, moving on to the next stage in AI development. Xiaomi has accumulated solid experience in smart hardware, big data and established a smart devices ecosystem. Baidu has strong technological fundamentals in AI systems, with our conversational AI system DuerOS, to support the development of the IoT industry.

In July, Baidu launched the DuerOS, which is a conversation-based AI system to support the development of the IoT industry. The open platform aims to help developers create voice-enabled devices that can hear, understand and follow commands given by the user. Since its launch, the DuerOS has added more than 130 partners and is embedded in products including smartphones, TVs, speakers, smart watches and home appliances.

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They will also leverage Xiaomi’s experience in applications and its large number of active users, along with the smart device ecosystem, in order to enhance applications that are able to better understand real scenarios, users and their needs.

Baidu has been on the global technology stage and its reach extends into robotics, AR, VR and self-driving cars. These technologies could also be areas of joint cooperation in the future.

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Huawei CEO, Yu Chengdong announced at the 2017 China Internet Conference this morning that his company is developing an AI processor.

The new trend for tech companies now is smart electronics with built-in AI assistants. Silicon makers like Qualcomm and Mediatek recently announced smart chips that will power smart audio devices.

Qualcomm announced a number of new smart audio chips last month and Mediatek’s MT8516 voice chip unveiled in May powers the AliGenie smart speaker. Since Huawei is also a silicon chip manufacturer, the announcement doesn’t come as a surprise.

Mr. Chengdong also mentioned that the company is planning on creating a cloud services platform that will allow users store and recover their data in case of theft or damage of their device. Another project they are working on is HUAWEI PAY which already has support for more than 50 banks and bus transport systems.

If you are expecting a Huawei smart home device, you may want to look the other way as the company has no plans of making one. Their plan is to provide a platform that third party hardware makers can use. Right now, they have gathered over 27 thousand developers to work on creating the Huawei smart ecosystem.

READ MORE: Huawei Enjoy 7 Launched: Snapdragon 425, 3GB RAM, Starts At 899 Yuan ($132)

He also bragged about the efficiency of EMUI 5.1, equating its performance on 4GB RAM devices to that of 6GB RAM devices from other manufacturers.

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The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) was formed in 1998 as a non-profit group that oversees the development of Bluetooth standards and licensing of Bluetooth technologies. The group recently adopted Bluetooth 5.0 as the latest version of the technology. As it stands, the upcoming Galaxy S8 might be the first device to come with the new bluetooth version.

First, what does Bluetooth 5.0 do differently from the previous Bluetooth 4.0 version?

According to the information on the Bluetooth website, Bluetooth 5.0 has quadruple the range and double the speed of Bluetooth 4.0. In addition to that, the capacity of connection-less data broadcasts have also been increased by up to 800%, which will change the way bluetooth devices transmit information. To explain how that will work, just imagine not having to download an app for a bluetooth device just because you need to use the device.

The increase in operation range will also allow users connect to IoT devices that extend beyond the walls of homes, therefore providing a more reliable Internet of Things connection.

READ MORE: Samsung galaxy S8 Will Only Have a Curved Variant

SIG already has 30,000 registered members which consists of promoter members, associate members, and adopter members. Samsung is an associate member and its next flagship, the Galaxy S8 is expected to be the first device to feature the new Bluetooth 5.0 standard.

Source: Sammobile

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