This week’s Smart World Series features Google’s new health tracker, a device that helps farmers deal with droughts, fresh funding for Internet of Things (IoT) startups, and more.

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 new trends regarding smart homes and cars, smart data centers and IT, smart infrastructure and all things related to IoT.

Transparent truck makes roadies smarter, safer

Image via Samsung

If you’re looking to cut down on your energy use, you don’t have to purchase a bunch of new connected appliances that can cost you more. The solution to your problem may lie in Curb, a smart device that you connect to your home’s breaker box so you can monitor and control your energy consumption with the use of your laptop, smartphone or tablet.

Also featured in this roundup is Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.’s Safety Truck and Nest Labs, Inc.’s new device that ups the security of your home.

Read more about these innovations in our Smart Living roundup.

Google’s new wearable for clinical trials

Google’s life sciences team has developed a wristband that will help in the field of medical research. The wristband will not be commercially introduced, and Google hopes the device will be prescribed by doctors to their patients to help monitor their vital signs when they leave the hospital.

This aims to provide physicians with reliable data to see how their patients are doing or coping outside the hospital. Aside from that, the health tracker can also be used to monitor patients who are part of clinical trials.

Read more about Google’s health tracker here.

New ways to measure blood glucose

Sano Intelligence, Inc. raised $10.25 million in a round of funding led by True Ventures and Intel Capital. The funding will be used to expand the Sano team, which is developing a way for painless blood glucose monitoring.

Also featured in this roundup is Google’s health tracker and the gogo Sport Music player which is a truly wireless earbud that not only delivers music to your ears but also serves as a fitness tracker.

Read more about the advancements in health trackers in our Smart Health roundup.

Advanced analytics for machine-to-machine chatter

Aeris Communications, Inc. launched AerVoyance, a new M2M and IoT analytics service that delivers a way for their customers to better manage their connected solutions, as well as to make sense of huge amounts of data.

AerVoyance can help deliver insights in managing connected devices, troubleshoot problems and predict potential problems so they can be addressed early.

Read more about the AerVoyance here.

Smart farms get sensors to manage water in droughts

Image via CropX

In order to support the needs of our growing population, our food supply must increase by 60 percent by 2050, according to the World Resources Institute, but with droughts affecting various regions, the feat may seem impossible. An answer to this conundrum may lie in CropX, a device that farmers can stick into the soil so it can be analyzed. The farmers then receive the results of the analysis and recommendations via their smartphone so they can make better decisions, including how much water a particular crop actually needs.

Also featured in this roundup is office management service Managed by Q, Inc. raising $15 million to expand its services and digital visitor check-in platform Envoy also raising $15 million in a round of funding.

Read more about these products and developments in our Smart City roundup.

Only 50% of developers ready for IoT

IoT applications may be generating revenue for developers, but only 50 percent of them are ready for IoT, according to a study commissioned by Progress Software Corp. The reason why not all developers are jumping on the IoT bandwagon lies in the complexity of this new market.

Also featured in this roundup is Sigma Designs, Inc.’s new Z-Wave SDK and GE Corp.’s Predix app, which allows you to explore the possibilities of the Industrial IoT.

Read more about the study and the other developments in our Smart DevOps roundup.

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

Featured photo credit: photo credit: Zanthia via photopin cc