Home automation is seeing rival companies vie for consumer attention, while homeowners are reaping the benefits of a new, digitized services market. 

Every week we round up the latest developments in the Smart World, from new developer platforms to smart city initiatives around the world. Here’s what you missed in the Smart World:

Smart home’s laziest trend on the rise

A new study from smart home platform maker Icontrol Networks, Inc. reveals insight to the Do-It-For-Me trend in smart homes, as existing telecoms offer alternatives to the DIY methods that helped home automation gain traction.

The survey showed that consumers are satisfied with the professionally installed system and will choose this route if they had to do it again. The survey also revealed that consumers are driven by safety and security concerns, and that reputation of the service provider plays a huge role in the decision-making process.

Read more about the results of the survey here.

No Amazon Echo, no problem

Forking over $180 may be a little hard to swallow if you just want to try out Amazon Echo, the retailer’s voice-activated personal assistant. If you’re just curious as to what it can offer, try out the Lexi iOS app for only $4.99.

Just like the Amazon Echo, Lexi can give users the latest headlines, weather report, when your favorite sports team is playing, updated traffic conditions, search for the best tacos in town, and more.

Read more about the Lexi app here.

Intel CEO to chair FAA’s new drone council

Intel Corp. CEO Brian Krzanich has been a huge proponent of drones since he took the leadership seat for the company three years ago. Now Krzanich has been appointed by the Federal Aviation Administration as chair to its advisory committee made specifically for drones. The Intel head will have a huge say on establishing guidelines for drone use in U.S. airspace.

Read more about Krzanich’s new role here.

Dr. Robot will see you now

A growing number of white collar jobs may be at risk of being replaced by robots and artificial intelligence in the next five-to-ten years, and this automation trend is not sparing the medical industry.

Though this may sound bad for doctors, nurses, and other medical staff, automation could actually help their jobs and not necessarily replace the need for humans. Some areas where robots can greatly improve the hospital setting include diagnosing patients, assisting in surgery, and outlining better treatment plans for patients.

Read more about the impact of robots in the medical field here.

Hitachi takes on GE with IoT platform

Hitachi Insight Group, Hitachi Ltd.’s global group leading its IoT business and strategy, launched Lumada, an enterprise-grade IoT core platform that simplifies IoT solution creation and customization.

Lumada incorporates Hitachi’s expansive expertise in operational technology and informational technology as well as the company’s other software technologies to accelerate actionable insight that allows better decision making in real-world setting.

Read more about Hitachi’s IoT platform here.

Webroot’s new IoT gateway secures connections

With the continuous growth in demand for connected devices, the need for IoT gateways promoting cross-device communication also increases. It is expected that the IoT gateways market will reach $12.64 billion by 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.2 percent between 2016 and 2022.

With that in mind, Webroot, Inc. announced the release of Webroot BrightCloud Threat Intelligence for IoT Gateways. The new tool aims to augment real-time protection  against malicious threats, unauthorized network access, and Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. Webroot’s Gateway is available to its partners and IoT developers.

Read more about Webroot’s IoT gateway here.

HPE launches IoT platform for business

Hewlett Packard Enterprise launched the Universal Internet of Things Platform during the IoT World 2016 conference in Santa Clara last week. The new platform promises to streamline all the major analysis process starting with the data aggregation stage.

Read more about HPE’s new IoT platform here.

Alexa competitor debuting at Google I/O?

Google is rumored to be working on an Amazon Echo competitor dubbed as Chirp which would look much like the search giant’s OnHub wireless router. This smart home assistant is expected to be launched at this week’s Google I/O event and is rumored to have the same features as its competitors such as voice commands to play music, read books, create calendar events, read a summary of news headlines, and more.

Read more about Chirp here.

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

photo via Amazon