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This is one of the connected tools in the ABB Power Grid plant. Image courtesy of Ericsson.

Spectrum for 6GHz Wi-Fi gets OKd: The world of Wi-Fi is about to get a super fast lane for new devices thanks to the FCC voting on Thursday to approve 1,200 megahertz of spectrum in the 6GHz band. This will add to the existing 5GHz and 2.4 GHz bands already in use for Wi-Fi. The new spectrum will be used for Wi-Fi 6E, with the Estanding for enhanced. Like the new Wi-Fi 6 standard, it will use a different modulation scheme to improve the way packets flow on Wi-Fi networks, reducing latency. But because theres so much more room in the 6GHz band, it will also allow for much faster data rates. The caveat is that older, non-WiFi 6 devices cant hop into this fast lane, which will keep data flowing quickly but also means older devices wont get the benefit. So dont rush out and get your Wi-Fi 6E routers anytime soon unless you plan on running Wi-Fi 6 devices on the network. (FCC) Stacey Higginbotham

This is big news in the world of autonomous vehicles: The dirty little secret in the world of autonomous vehicles is that in most cases, youstill need a human operator. For companies seriously building in this space, the question is how many human operators. This month, Einride, which makes autonomous, electric commercial trucks, showed off one operator remotely controlling two autonomous trucks at the same time. Einride says it plans to expand that number to 10 trucks per operator. (InsideEVs) Stacey Higginbotham

I think this is a 5G screwdriver, yall: Telecom giant Ericsson and ABB Power Grid, which makes power transformers and distribution equipment,put out a press release this week touting the 5G factory environment that Ericsson has built for ABB Power Grid. The release says ABB Power Grids factory inLudvika is attaching essential tools, such as cordless screwdrivers, to the network as part of a factory optimization effort. So, it sounds like somewhere in Sweden theres a 5G industrial cordless screwdriver. I have to wonder about that battery life. (Ericsson) Stacey Higginbotham

Google opens its Healthcare API: After more than a decade of hope, the coronavirus is helping to push a variety of changes into the healthcare system that could make it much easier to deliver telemedicine and get access to your medical records in a standard format. This is a good thing. Googles contribution is an open API that will take medical records from different providers and organize them in Googles Cloud. Of course, if they want to store those records, they will need to pay for Googles cloud storage.(CNBC) Stacey Higginbotham

Want to understand the difference between MQTT and LwM2M messaging protocols?Ifyou do, then check out the white paper published by IoT testing house MachNation, which looks at the trade-offs associated with each protocol. Both are used in the IoT, although MQTT is far more common. Lightweight M2M, meanwhile, is popular in cellular networks, and while one of the papers sponsors is AT&T, its worth a look if youre wondering which messaging protocol works for your job. Note as well that MQTT is getting a lot of support from organizations building open-source add-ons to improve some of its shortcomings.(MachNation) Stacey Higginbotham

Scary robots help hospitals with COVID-19:Youve probably seen videos of Boston DynamicsSpot, its somewhat terrifying line of dog-like robots. It turns out theyre doing good work at hospitals. The company said this week that health care facilitiesreached out in March to see if the four-legged robots could be used fora mobile telemedicine platform. The first facility Spot was deployed to wasBrigham and Womens Hospital in Boston; hes been there for the past two weeks, equipped with an iPad on its back. His presence allows doctors and nurses to have two-way video chats with patients without any risk of virus spread. Good dog! But I still think theyre scary. In the future, the company hopes to equip Spot with sensors to measure a patients temperature, pulse, and oxygen saturation levels.(Boston Dynamics) Kevin Tofel

Raspberry Pi lookalike device has a powerful AI chip inside: Nvidia is widely known among consumers for its graphical processing units and cards for gaming, but those who follow IoT know Nvidias chips can power AI and ML applications, too. And if youre into artificial intelligence development, you might want oneof thesecompact computers with Nvidias Jetson chips packed inside. Based on its appearance, I first thought these small devices were a cheap Raspberry Pi. Nope. These are similar on the outside but have enough compute power to provide 32 TOPS (32 trillion operations per second). Of course, that kind of performance will cost you between $450 and $1,100, to be exact, depending on the model.(AAEON) Kevin Tofel

Are we one step closer to a universalbrain-computer interface?I admit Ive watched The Matrixone too many times and want to see a brain-computer interface (BCI). Just the idea of thinking about something and tapping the vast knowledge of the internet to get more information in milliseconds sounds amazing. Were not there yet, of course, and most research on BCIs is currently aimed at people wearing prosthetics or battling a disability. For those people, there may be an improvement on the horizon. Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh have published research that could remove the current requirement to recalibrate devices that use a BCI. This article is an interesting look into what could be next, which is me hopefully jacking into the web from my noggin. Oh, and for you other Matrix fans, there is no spoon.(TNW) Kevin Tofel

Home Assistantautomations can supercharge your smart home:Ive spent the last few weeks digging into the automation functions of Home Assistant and Im completely impressed. They are easy to set up now that the software is moving away from text file configurations to a card system based on triggers, events, and actions. And they even use an open-source natural language processing system to better understand what youre trying to automate. Folks who have been telling me that Home Assistant makes store-bought hubs look like toys, you were right! (StaceyOnIoT) Kevin Tofel

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IoT news of the week for April 24, 2020 - Stacey on IoT