This week’s Smart World Series features s smartphone maker’s entry to the smart home market, a virtual reality headset used to promote tourism, a new platform for Internet of Things (IoT) developers and more DevOps news.

 .

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.

A smart smog killer to banish China’s air pollution problem

Smartphone maker Xiaomi, Inc. has entered the smart home market with the Mi Air Purifier, looking to help people in China breathe cleaner air as the country’s smog problem continues to worsen.

Also featured in this roundup is Sonos Inc.’s selling off $130 million equity to delay an IPO or buy out, and COBI’s a connected system to turn any bike into a smart one.

Read more about these new smart products in our Smart Living roundup.

Using Oculus Rift to promote tourism: Virtual reality travel

Tourism organization Destination British Columbia has figured out a way to attract more tourists with the use of Oculus Rift, the virtual reality heads-up display unit acquired by Facebook Inc. earlier this year.

Also featured in this roundup is Iowa’s plan to create an app to digitize drivers licenses, and Arbor Solution, Inc.’s LYNC-708 Touch Panel PC, an embeddable computing solution for smart building management.

Read more about these initiatives in our Smart City roundup.

IoT DevOps get interesting with Cisco initiative

Cisco Systems, Inc., Bosch GmbH, and ABB Ltd. are forming a joint initiative to develop and operate an open software platform targeting smart home devices and applications. The companies will be creating a platform that facilitates the exchange of data from connected devices of different brands as well as provide a number of services related to household devices, such as energy management, security technology and entertainment.

In other smart IT news, software and analytics platform for wearable technology Strap raised $1.25 million in seed funding in a round led by  CincyTech with participation from Mercury Fund, Vine Street Ventures, Danmar Capital, Hyde Park Venture Partners, and New Coast Ventures and angels including Wendy S. Lea.

You can find out more about the first part of our Smart DevOps roundup here.

Intel caters to IoT developers

Intel Corp. has announced the Intel IoT platform, an end-to-end reference model designed to unify and simplify connectivity and security for the Internet of Things. Also featured in this roundup is Thingsee One, a slick, cheap hardware platform for IoT, getting successful crowdfunding, and telecommunications company Telus launching a new IoT marketplace.

Find out more about this round of Smart DevOps news here.

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

photo credit: erhard.renz via photopin cc