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IOT & THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

5/22/2018

Guest Post By Brian Baglow on May 22, 2018

Has the IoT era truly arrived? Is the industrial revolution 4.0 a reality? Our friends over at DIGIT spoke to Steve Aitken, the founder of Intelligent Plant, to find out more about the opportunities – and challenges facing industry as IoT evolves. The era of the Internet of Things (IoT) is upon us. The long-heralded promise of ‘machines talking to machines’ is already here.The growing availability of cheap sensors, ubiquity of cheap, reliable communications and the ability to process ever greater amounts of data is promising to revolutionise the way we live and work.

SPEAKERS ANNOUNCED FOR THE 3RD ANNUAL IOT SCOTLAND CONFERENCE

5/11/2018

Post By Simon Montford on May 11, 2018

The 3rd Annual Internet of Things Scotland Conference organised by Digit will take place in Edinburgh, United Kingdom on 30th May 2018. It will bring together technologists from industry, academia and government to explore the evolution of the Internet of Things. The programme will contextualise IoT within the current technology landscape, looking at key trends, industry permeation and real world progress - whilst also considering some of the key barriers to adoption.

SMART AUTOMATION & ROBOTICS STARTUPS WILL MEET KEY PLAYERS AT AUTOMATICA

4/12/2018

Post By Simon Montford on April 12, 2018

automatica is the leading exhibition for Smart Automation and Robotics. The trade fair will take place in Munich from 19 – 22 June 2018, and products on display will range from components, robots and systems to entire production facilities. Mobile World Capital Barcelona will be present and will bring a number of outstanding international startups as part of their delegation to support the continuous global transformation of robotics and smart automation.

AI, IOT, & BLOCKCHAIN EXPOS: A STELLAR SPEAKER LINEUP

4/9/2018

Post By Simon Montford on April 9, 2018

Artificial Intelligence, IoT, and Blockchain expert speakers from a range of industries will be arriving at the Olympia National, London on the 18-19th April, and Simon Montford will be attending all three expos on both days. The event organisers claim that they have already received over 12,000 attendee registrations, and with such a stellar speaker lineup this conference promises to be worth attending.

AN AMICABLE REVOLUTION - UTOPIA OR DYSTOPIA?

12/21/2017

Post By Colin Cardwell on December 21, 2017

Montford's Rule is a new one for our times… “Every time there is a step change in technology it’s heralded as a revolution - now it's real,” he alleges. And Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the key. We are now no longer just looking at the loss of labour to technology that the evanescence of tasks that have for centuries required a high degree of intellect and evaluation. There’s a sense of urgency highlighted by the publication last month of arguably the U.K.'s most focused new industrial strategy to be announced in the past two and a half decades.

HOT IOT IN EDINBURGH

10/31/2016

Guest post by Fred de Haro on October 31, 2016

Having spent an amazing 2 days in Edinburgh with back to back speeches/presentations, its easy to understand how I have yet to come off this incredible buzz. Firstly, Edinburgh University. A few words which would best describe such a forward thinking University? Simple: Pioneers and visionaries! It did not take much to convince us to join their recent Hackathon using the newly released triple bearer network LoPy modules.

THE COMMERCIAL UAV SHOW MUST GO ON

10/28/2016

Posted By Simon Montford on October 28, 2016

Last week I attended the 3rd annual Commercial UAV Show. I can't believe it's been a year since I covered the previous event, and wrote "There's no business like drone business". It took place on the 19th and 20th of October at ExCeL in London. The first thing I noticed was that the number of exhibitors and attendees appeared to be down compared to the previous year. I felt, however, that the quality of companies and delegates had increased. Last year l got the impression that many who attended were there out of curiosity. While milling around the expo floor, I came across an industry analysts with a remit to gather data and obtain market intelligence, an entrepreneur scoping out commercial opportunities, and an intern who had been dispatched on a fact-finding mission by her boss.

FROM BREXIT BRITAIN TO FANTASTIC FRANCE, EU TECH HAS NEVER BEEN BETTER

7/20/2016

Posted By Simon Montford on July 20, 2016

France is home to some seriously dynamic IoT tech startups. Two of the most well-known examples are SigFox, the LPWA network technology pioneer (the Gallic startup raised France’s biggest VC round ever of $115M), and ride sharing trailblazer BlaBlaCar. Other examples include Lima, D-Vine, Invoxia, Parrot, Withings (acquired by Nokia), Sen.se, and my personal favourite Aldebaran Robotics (acquired by SoftBank); maker of some of the cutest humanoids on the planet - I met Pepper at IoTTechExpo, and Nao on the IBM Watson stand at MWC.

STARTUPBOOTCAMP IOT CONNECTED DEVICES COHORT FOR 2016

7/13/2016

Guest post by Raph Crouan on July 13, 2016

We announced the ten startups that will join the first cohort of our Startupbootcamp IoT | Connected Devices program. A diverse range of startups working on an Internet of Things (IoT) device - from security, to intelligent horse monitoring technology and smart manufacturing - were selected to take part in the accelerator program.

THE EUROPAS CONFERENCE & AWARDS: TECH, STARTUPS, MUSIC & IOT

6/15/2016

Posted By Simon Montford on June 15, 2016

The Europas is an annual conference and awards ceremony for technology startups. The event was organised and hosted by technology journalist Mike Butcher MBE, and took place yesterday (June 14) in London, at The Grand Hall at Old Billingsgate. As tech conferences go, it was a reasonably relaxed affair, with no VIP lists or sectioned off areas in order, to facilitate networking and knowledge transfer between attendees.

TECH STARTUPS, IOT PIONEERS, & MY FAVORITE ROBOT

6/7/2016

Posted By Simon Montford on June 7, 2016

There are some fantastic events coming up later this month! Some of the highlights include IoT Tech Expo (Berlin), IoT Global Innovation Forum (Barcelona), and the Europas Conference and Awards (London). Unfortunately I can only attend one of them as they are taking place concurrently in three different major European cities. In the end I plumped for the Europas, because the founder and organiser, Mike Butcher, invited me well in advance. He also happens to be someone I've known for many years, and he kindly invited me to host a 20 minute panel titled "IOT: What Happens when Everything is Connected?", which was an offer I simply couldn't refuse!

THE BUSINESS OF THINGS

5/18/2016

Guest post By Alasdair Allan on May 18, 2016

Developing a workable business model for the consumer IoT isn’t just important - it’s urgent. Right now most internet of things devices being sold to consumers have the same architecture, at least on the surface. There is a thing, an app that controls the thing, and a cloud service at the back of both the app and the thing. The business model behind them is also similar, consumers make a one time purchase of the thing itself, but don’t pay an ongoing subscription to support the cloud services that make the thing "smart."

REVOLUTIONALL: DISRUPTING THE FUTURE?

5/5/2016

Guest post By Ben Butchart on May 5, 2016

If you have ever wondered what it would be like to “own the future” you should probably talk to John Curtis, co-founder and CEO of Revolutionall World. I heard him speaking at the regular IoT EDI Meetup (organised by Simon Montford of web3iot.com) on Wednesday 27 April, at Napier University’s Merchiston campus, an event which had attracted an eclectic mix of knowledgeable people working on subjects as diverse as algorithm design, apps for wearables, renewable energy strategy and big data.

IOT//EDINBURGH: SMART BUILDINGS & CARS (VIDEO PLAYLIST)

5/5/2016

Posted By Simon Montford on May 5, 2016

In an ideal world all buildings constructed today would be "smart buildings"; intelligent spaces that use cutting edge design and construction methods, eco-friendly materials, and automated technologies to reduce environmental impact, and improve the comfort, safety and well-being of occupants.

ROB DOBSON'S GUIDE TO HACKING A WEARABLE DEVICE

4/1/2016

Guest post By Rob Dobson on April 1, 2016

Things related to the coming day are forgotten pretty routinely in the morning rush, especially in relation to children. I’ve made a couple of things to help with this in the past (a calendar-printer and projected calendar) – but both of these assume that parents or children bother to look at them in the morning. Recently that hasn’t been happening and we’ve missed a few music lessons and the like which occur at irregular times during the week.

THE WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY SHOW PHOTO JOURNAL - DAY 1

3/15/2016

Posted By Simon Montford on March 15, 2016

Today I attended day one of the Wearable Technology Show at ExCel, London. This is the third consecutive year I have been to the event, so it was interesting to see how the show has grown in stature over the past few years. Back in 2014, the show's debut took place at London Olympia, and was a far more modest affair. It was, however an exciting time, as back then the major players were conspicuously absent; it was almost exclusively attended by a passionate bunch of wearable tech pioneers, and a few plucky little startups. Since the arrival of major players such as Sony, Samsung et al the whole shebang has become a larger, more polished production.

MY MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS PHOTO JOURNAL & PRESENTATION

3/6/2016

Posted By Simon Montford on March 6, 2016

Mobile World Congress took place in Barcelona from the 22nd-25th February 2016. It is the world’s largest gathering for the mobile industry, and I was there to cover the show. Here's a selection of photos and videos taken during my week in Spain. As it was my first time attending the conference, I found it overwhelming! Due to the bus and metro strike, getting around the city was a major challenge, but getting to and from the conference centre was a breeze compared to the real challenge of finding my way around the vast series of halls that played host to thousands of the world's leading mobile technology companies, with the exception of Apple.

IT'S BEEN A WEEK SINCE MWC, AND I'M STILL EXHAUSTED!

3/4/2016

Posted By Simon Montford on March 4, 2016

Mobile World Congress took place in Barcelona from the 22nd-25th February 2016, and remains the world’s largest gathering for the mobile industry. Here are a few of my favourite products of the show. The reason why I was fortunate enough to be there, was that my business partner and I, together with some of the UK's most exciting technology companies, were selected to join a British delegation organised by Scottish Development International (SDI), and United Kingdom Trade & Industry (UKTI).

TUSI SMARTWATCH TEXT APP TAKES 2ND PLACE DURING MWC, BARCELONA

2/25/2016

Posted By Simon Montford on Feb 25, 2016

Scottish tech startup Nautilus Beam Ltd (based in Edinburgh, United Kingdom) came second last night in the prestigious TechCrunch Pitch-Off that took place during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Co-founders Dr Tim Willis and Simon Montford pitched their smartwatch text app Tusi to a crowded room of tech startup entrepreneurs, and a panel of investors. In addition to winning tickets to TechCrunchDisrupt New York in May, the founders also won a 4G-enabled Panasonic Nubo camera. Immediately after their successful pitch, the company released a public beta of Tusi for Google Wear devices, which is available to download for free from Google Play.

PEPPER THE ROBOT TOTALLY DISSES ME AT IOT TECH EXPO

2/10/2016

Posted By Simon Montford on Feb 10, 2016

Have you ever been dissed by a robot? Until today, I hadn't either. It's a weird feeling, being rejected by an inanimate object that doesn't even know you exist, but yet you can't help feeling dejected. I almost wanted to tap it on the shoulder and give it a piece of my mind and say "didn't your parents teach you any manners?", but what would that have achieved? It isn't human, so has no parents. Instead, I just had to take it on the chin, leave my dignity where I stood, and walk away. Pepper is cute, but boy can it act like a little brat!

CODIE IS A ROBOTIC TOY THAT TEACHES KIDS TO CODE

12/24/2015

Posted By Simon Montford on Dec 23, 2015

A Hungarian startup called Codie, that successfully raised $96,306 back in May 2015 via crowdfunding platform Indiegogo, has started shipping its robotic toy. The device offers a fun way to teach kids how to code. The campaign was so successful that it raised one third of its funding goal in only two days, and ended up exceeding it by 115%.

SBRICK WILL BE DEMOING THEIR LeGO REMOTE CONTROL AT BRICK 2015

12/9/2015

Posted By Simon Montford on Dec 9, 2015

Brick 2015 is coming to town this weekend. The Lego-themed event will take place at the Excel conference centre in London's Docklands Dec 11-13. Not only will there be seasonal displays such as a snowman constructed using over 250 thousand bricks, but attendees will also be able to checkout Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Batman-inspired Lego creations. In addition, SmartBrick will be there.

THE LITTLE DRONE THAT WON'T MAKE IT HOME FOR CHRISTMAS

11/20/2015

Posted By Simon Montford on Nov 20 2015

From hero to zero, the Zano drone failed to take off. Having been one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns of 2014, the team behind the doomed project concede defeat. The company raised over £2m worth of pre-orders from 12,000 supporters, and it now appears that the majority of those that paid £170 to own one will have nothing to show for it.

IOTEDINBURGH MEETUP: THE MAKER REVOLUTION (LIVEBLOG)

11/1/2015

Posted By Nicola Osborne on Oct 29 2015

18:15 - 18:20 Simon Montford (WEB3//IOT) @simonmontford

The theme tonight is the maker revolution – the opening up of industrial technologies to amateaur makers. Maker Culture contributes 30 billion to the global economy, so this is a big and growing thing, with Internet of Things at the centre (the recorded livestream can be viewed here).

HOW TO BREED UNICORNS

10/29/2015

Posted By Simon Montford on Oct 29 2015

One of my passion projects is organising and hosting IoT events such as meetups, hardware hackathons, and conferences in Edinburgh and London. As an entrepreneur I also start businesses. My most recent venture is a text input and word prediction technology called Tusi, that has been designed specifically for very small touchscreens; ideal for smartwatches, interactive domestic appliances, and in-car touchscreen interfaces.

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