July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Apparently, we love Wi-Fi.

Total cumulative global Wi-Fi-enabled device shipments reached five billion in 2012, according to ABI Research. And the pace of innovation isn’t slowing, with new Wi-Fi protocols rolling out in 2013 and close to 20 billion WiFi-enabled devices predicted to be in the market by 2017.

Naturally, we’re familiar with Wi-Fi in our laptops and smartphones. But the next level of Wi-Fi penetration, the firm says, is likely to be in home automation and smart, connected cars, as manufacturers continue to connect formerly isolated devices, equipment, and other things.

What’s up next? More speed, according to ABI’s Peter Cooney:

“Wi-Fi continues to develop as a technology in many ways,” Cooney said, adding that “the 802.11n protocol is now well established and has pushed the envelope increasing data rates, expanding Wi-Fi into the less crowded 5GHz space.”

The newest Wi-Fi protocols will vastly improve wireless data transfer speeds, with 802.11ac bringing gigabit-Ethernet style speeds and 802.11ad blazing up to a theoretical maximum speed of seven gigabits per second. 802.11b, by contrast, can only manage 11 megabits per second.

Of course, it’s not just Wi-Fi that is connecting our stereos, lights, cars, and smartphones. It’s also the full spectrum of communication technologies such as Bluetooth, UWB, NFC, and Zigbee. In fact, despite the fact that Wi-Fi is pervasive and powerful, it may be one of the least popular wireless communication protocols, as ABI is also predicting that in 2013 all of these technologies (combined with Wi-Fi) will result in more than five billion shipments of wireless connectivity chips in 2013 alone.

Which means that our devices will be smart and connected, even if we’re frying each other with all those radio waves.

photo credit: Palagret via photopin cc

Or costing you more, if you’re Mario Andretti in a minivan.

Source: Progressive

Progressive’s Snapshot device

Progressive’s system, called Snapshot, works by plugging a little electronic dongle into your vehicle. Previously only available to select Progressive clients, Snapshot is now available to all clients … and customers of any other insurance agency.

The device tracks three driving behaviors: time of day you’re driving, distance you’re driving, and how many times you hit the brakes hard per mile.

Snapshot uploads that data to Progressive via the cellular network, and from those three driving behaviors, Progressive can assess your accident risk much more effectively than before.

“Until now, insurers had no effective way to capture actual driving behavior and factor that into the rates they could offer,” Progressive chief executive Glenn Renwick said in a statement. “But we have made a meaningful start toward personalized insurance pricing that’s based on measuring real-time driving behavior.”

In testing the program, Progressive said 70 percent of drivers who sign up for Snapshot actually save money, averaging $150 in annual savings. More than a million drivers have beta tested the device, saving more than $70 million so far.

The question is, of course: are already-safe drivers choosing the device, or is the device making drivers safer? Perhaps both, according to Progressive:

“Snapshot is an optional program, which tends to attract safe drivers — as evidenced by the fact that seven out of ten save,” a company representative told VentureBeat. But, the spokesperson added, “drivers with the device in their cars tend to be more aware of their driving overall.”

After a month of usage, drivers can go online to check their stats … and get a new quote, potentially saving them money.

What if Snapshot decides that you are a bad insurance risk? Will your costs go up?

According to Progressive, no: the program is discount only, and no current Progressive clients are charged more. Non-clients will get a quote which they can take or leave.

Realistically, however, insurance works by averaging risk.

Those who have accidents are subsidized by those who do not. If all safe drivers, who rarely crash, start using Snapshot or similar devices, insurance rates for those who do crash and are not using the device would, inevitably, have to rise at some point. When that happens, it might be better to be classified in the safe pool than see skyrocketing insurance rates.

And it’s hard to argue that this wouldn’t be fair.

Image credit: Serg Dibrova/ShutterStock