This week’s Smart World Series features drones infiltrating the enterprise, a connected smart lamp, the problem with using sleep trackers, billion in smart city investment, new smartwatches launched at MWC and new development tools for the Internet of Things.

For those who missed last week’s Smart World Series, here’s a chance to catch up on the exciting developments in the connected world.  Each week, SiliconANGLE rounds up the top news trends regarding smart homes and cars, smart data centers and IT, smart infrastructure and all things related to the Internet of Things.

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Drones in the enterprise: How high can they go?

Drones or unmanned aerial vehicles, once seen as expensive toys, are now transforming into tools that could greatly help businesses in their respective industries. These flying vehicles are now being utilized by photographers to get better aerial shots, farmers to see how their crops are growing and even to scan disaster-hit areas to look for survivors or see the extent of the damage.

Despite the promise of drones’ use cases for the enterprise, the use of these flying vehicles is not legal in some countries. Will these restrictions be the one that hinders the progress of drones?

Read more about it here.

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A lamp that literally connects loved ones around the world

No more lonely nights, with the Good Night Lamp powered by Eseye. The connected lamp works with the hub Big Lamp that acts as the controller, and a Little Lamp that receives the signal. The group of lamps can be used anywhere in the world and act as a simple communication hub. When the Big Lamp is turned on, the Little Lamp automatically turns on as well. It lets the owner of the Little Lamp know that someone’s at home or if someone is free to chat.

Also featured in this roundup is Switchmate, a smart light switch panel that easily snaps on to an existing switch without drilling or rewiring, and the integration of AT&T’s connected car platform Drive to its home automation system Digital Life.

Read more about these products and announcements in our Smart Living roundup.

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The nightmare behind sleep trackers: Catching data, not Zzz’s

Is using sleep trackers preventing you from getting more zzz’s? According to Dr. Siobhan Banks, researcher at the Sleep Health Foundation, people who use sleep trackers can be distracted by the data collection process taking place throughout the night, sometimes checking data points instead of falling back to sleep if woken.

Also featured in this roundup is a blood pressure app that may be causing more harm than good, and cellphone casing that may be exposing mobile users to higher doses of radiation.

Read more about these stories in our Smart World Problems roundup.

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Billions invested in these smart cities: Intelligent infrastructure

What makes a city smart? The answer is intelligent infrastructure able to gather huge amounts of data that can be quickly analyzed, empowering local authorities to make better decisions on improving urban facilities and services for residents. This is the reason why many are investing millions and even billions of dollars for smart city infrastructures, such as IBM aiding Vodafone Spain in its smart city efforts.

Also featured in this roundup is an investment for smart infrastructure that aims to lower electricity costs, and how Google is changing its office spaces to be more in tune with nature.

Read more about these initiatives in our Smart City roundup.

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Smartwatch surprises at MWC 2015

The recently concluded Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona, Spain not only served as a stage for flagship smartphones but also for smartwatches and wearable devices. One show stopper was Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.’s unveiling of its luxury Huawei Watch, accompanied by the wearable tracker-Bluetooth headset combo TalkBand B2 and Bluetooth headset TalkBand N1.

LG electronics USA, Inc. brought its Urbane Watch and Urbane Watch LTE to the show, which caters to those looking for more masculine smartwatches,

However, HTC Corp. disappointed when it did not reveal a smartwatch, though the electronics maker did unveil a fitness tracker called Grip.

Pebble Technology Corp. brought its colored e-paper smartwatches called the Pebble Time and Pebble Time Steel, while Monohm brought a different kind of smartwatch in the form of Runcible, a standalone pocket smartwatch that also serves as smartphone.

Read more about these new devices here.

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Newest tools and modems for IoT developers, smart home builders

New modems and tools for the development of Internet of Things hardware and software were announced this past week. These includes the release of Conditions as part of Temboo, Inc.’s IoT Mode, People Power’s FabrUX Developer Console designed to enhance and accelerate third-party IoT platforms, services and products with popular cloud and mobile software, and the partnership between Connected IO and Altair Semiconductor for the commercial availability of a cellular module for IoT apps.

Read more about these in out Smart DevOps roundup.

Tune in next week for more interesting stories, discoveries and innovations in the world of smart and connected things.

Feature image via Pixabay
photo credit: Santa’s Little Helper via photopin (license)