Is it too late to cancel our trial subscription to 2020? The newest headline: “Massive Saharan Dust Plume” describes tons of dust that are now flying across the Atlantic and will hit the U.S. Gulf Coast in a few days. Bad for those with allergies and COPD, but it creates beautiful sunrises and sunsets. It even helps minimize hurricanes. All in all, not bad for a 2020 headline. Speaking of headlines, we missed some cool IoT news, so let’s catch up.

Cisco revved up a batch of its DNA products. For us? Cisco DNA Center and Cisco DNA Spaces now provide greater insights into IoT endpoints.

The coronavirus pandemic and shutdown will cut the growth rate of IoT spending, but it will still be positive, says IDC’s Worldwide Internet of Things Spending Guide. Single-digit spending growth this year will be at 8.2%, down from 14.9% in 2019’s forecast for this year. Still up, but not as much.

For our South Asian readers, an overview of how flexible licensing helps the Indian IoT market and what the IEEE did to help.

No surprises here, but the growth in IoT devices will generate more and more data. In 2025 IDC expects over 79 ZB to be created. News, stock tip, or both?

A new type of radio receiver being tested in Poland may help connect disparate IoT systems monitoring energy, gas, and water supply systems. More connections mean better systems.

Speaking of networking, Napster co-founder Shawn Fanning and Amir Haleem’s startup tagged Helium launched a low-power IoT network in Austin, Texas, last summer and now it’s expanding to Europe. Helium claims to have sold over 9,000 LoRaWAN hotspots to consumers to place in their windows to power the community mesh network plan. Hotspotters will get a tiny slice of the tiny IoT streaming revenue.

The Swiss IoT player R&M has co-founded a Single Pair Ethernet (SPE) Alliance. Working with Fluke Networks, Phoenix Contact, Weidmiller, and Telegartner. They plan to improve Industrial IoT networking.

Still networking, this time with a new wireless connectivity protocol from Behr Technologies called MYTHINGS. QuadReal Property Group signed up to be the brave early adopter.

BroadLink says it has mastered a “NoAPP” IoT device one-minute setup process to connect new devices to Alexa and Google Home. Just three simple steps, because it turns the IoT device into a wireless access point you can login to with your phone and give it your router details. Hmm, maybe that connection process should be an app?

Yokogawa Corporation of America is introducing its Sushi Sensor wireless solution with advanced AI analytics into the U.S. Great for IIoT plant management applications they say.

From our friends at Hackster.io:

Build a robotic arm extension! It helps maintain social distancing but admit it: you were hooked with the “robotic arm” tag. Extend the arm, use the robotic hand to shake hands safely, or grab an apple, all from a distance.