The World’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies In The Internet Of Things
There's No Place Like The Connected
Home Sweet Home.
For solving yet another pain point
in building the smart home. Following
its game-changing “learning thermostat,” Nest released the Protect smoke
detector, again infusing a previously design-neglected home appliance with
modern detail and functionality. From the Protect’s hands-free silencer and
voice controls to its smartphone notifications and battery monitor, Nest has
produced the first nonannoying smoke detector--and picked up $3.2 billion in
cash from Google along the way.
For having the bright idea to make
smartphone-tethered bulbs. It’s safe
to say Philips’s 50 years of LED research has paid off. With a long-coming
federal ban on cheap incandescent lightbulbs providing wind at the company’s
back, Philips’s Hue lighting system--which is programmable by smartphone to
help save on energy bills and produce a multitude of mood-setting shades--will
help fuel nearly $2 billion in LED sales for the company by next year
For unleashing simple connected
products for the cautious consumer.
When his invention-crowdsourcing startup decided to make a play for the
smart-gadget market, CEO Ben Kaufman realized, Who wants to buy a garage door
or a lock from a company called Quirky? So he partnered with GE, which not only
invested $30 million but shares Quirky’s vision for a simpler connected home
that won’t intimidate customers. The first five gadgets hit the market last
fall.
- Monitor your home. The Spotter disc comes packed with sensors for temperature, humidity, light, sound, and motion, so it can deliver alerts to your phone when, say, the washing machine is done, or someone walks through the door.
- Keep things fresh. An Internet-powered tray called the Egg Minder contains sensors that tell users the exact number of eggs left in the refrigerator and for how long each one has been sitting there.
- Display your data addiction with pride. The clocklike Nimbus dashboard has four dials that translate metrics of digital life--such as Twitter activity, emails, and calories burned on fitness trackers--all in real time.
For upping the activity-tracking
game with a next-gen, supercharged wristband.
Unlike competing wearables, Jawbone’s UP24 motivates your lifestyle--not just
your steps. The wristband was released last fall and received positive critical
reviews. Thanks to its Bluetooth Smart technology, it constantly tracks
activity, provides feedback, and wirelessly syncs with computers (meaning no
annoying slip-on, slip-off interactions to plug the band into a computer). The
UP24 can also connect with other apps on your phone to brew your coffee or
secure your front door’s smart lock.
For opening a platform of
Internet-wise devices to let users customize their connected homes. Amid a dizzying array of automated gadgets, SmartThings
offers accessibility. First launched on Kickstarter, its open-software platform
allows users to connect a kit of devices, including moisture detectors and
motion sensors, and control them with an easy-to-use smartphone app. The
company is also extending that accessibility to an army of creators: It
recently opened an online store to sell its wares alongside brands like GE and
Kwikset, and at the Consumer Electronics Show, it launched SmartThings Labs,
where its 5,000-strong developer community can publish (and sell)
connected-home apps directly to consumers.
For strengthening its products to
stand out among the quantified-self crowd. Following
an infusion of $30 million from investors last year, Withings has evolved its
line of wellness-oriented products, including its flagship smart scale, the
Pulse--the nonwearable activity and heart-rate tracker you can slip into your
pocket--and its latest and most advanced offering yet: the Aura, an alarm clock
that not only tracks your sleep but can also hack your circadian rhythm to help
you sleep better in the future. An LED light on the Aura diffuses warm,
orange-toned light at night, to mimic a sunset, and cooler blue light in the
morning, to wake you up.
For giving users control of
whatever’s plugged in. As an
early player in the field, Belkin first transformed the electrical outlet with
the WeMo, which gives users dead-simple on-and-off control of the devices
plugged into it. After building on the WeMo’s success with apps for the popular
productivity service IFTTT (and the above-mentioned SmartThings), Belkin is
making a play for the home chef’s peace of mind with an Internet-connected
Crock-Pot. It sounds laughable, but it’s highly practical and only the first in
a new partnership Belkin has signed with Jarden, which also owns Mr. Coffee, Holmes
space heathers, and Coleman coolers. Future applications are sure to come.
For jumping into the IoT fray as
only it could--with a superpowered chip.
As is its legacy, Intel supplies the brains behind the tech. But the company’s
announcement of Quark--its smallest chip yet--wasn’t just business as usual: It
will connect mobile devices, including wearables and smartphones, to other
electronic devices using only a tenth of the power. Perhaps Quark will make its
debut on the runway: Intel recently partnered with the Council of Fashion
Designers of America to better connect fashion designers and smart hardware
developers, so that tracking our lives can get prettier.
For building out a cloud platform to
help make smart machines smart.
The IoT movement isn’t purely consumer-based, which is why LogMeIn--the company
that IPO’d by helping professionals operate devices remotely--has the
enterprise in its crosshairs. With Xively, LogMeIn has shifted its cloud
capabilities to help businesses in, say, the restaurant industry use wireless
sensors to monitor food storage in order to improve safety compliance. Its
partnership with giant U.K.-based chipmaker ARM--which powers 95% of the
world’s smartphones--has helped it scoop up customers in the health care and
automotive industries.
For racing to establish an Internet
of Things accelerator. Drawing
on its lauded work for the Nike+ FuelBand, digital agency R/GA partnered with
Techstars last year to create the Connected Devices Accelerator program, in
which a crop of eager upstarts--including makers of a wireless air vent and a
device to monitor a baby’s vitals via smartphone--will receive $120,000 and
mentorship to help break into the fledgling (but rapidly growing) field.
http://www.fastcompany.com/most-innovative-companies/2014/industry/the-internet-of-things?partner=newsletter
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