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TheRoad
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About technology
Looking at technology through the lens of product strategy


Smart Tangibles News Digest #2607
Enterprise IoT is fading into the background as hardware, networks, and AI push toward autonomous operations. This Smart Tangibles News Digest tracks how IoT in energy races toward a $285.9B market, how Vodafone and Skylo’s NTN NB IoT make anywhere coverage realistic, how Ikea’s Matter rollout exposes real world frictions, and how ARBOR’s edge AI systems turn devices into modular data center grade nodes at the edge.


Smart Tangibles News Digest #2602
Our CES 2026 Smart Tangibles Digest breaks down the real signals behind the noise in Las Vegas: Matter everywhere, ultra-low-power edge AI, smarter and more secure home entry, and new connected toys and wall panels. Learn what these announcements mean for IoT product strategy, interoperability, and long-lived business models in the smart home and built environment.


IoT Tech Expo Global 2026 - Speakers and Exhibitors
IoT Tech Expo Global 2026 (Feb 4-5, London) brings together industry
leaders from Merck, JPMorganChase, BMW, and Rolls-Royce to discuss edge
computing, digital twins, and IoT security. Key sessions cover AI
analytics, 5G connectivity, predictive maintenance, and embedded
intelligence. Features 200+ exhibitors showcasing next-gen IoT solutions
for smart manufacturing, connected devices, and industrial automation.
Essential event for enterprise IoT decision-makers.


Smart Tangibles News Digest #2507
This week’s Smart Tangibles Digest examines how the connected-hardware stack is becoming more productizable. From brokers absorbing storage and standards upgrades improving fleet economics, to edge AI platforms gaining long-term OS support and deployable form factors, Issue #2507 highlights the operational maturity shaping scalable, service-led IoT products.


Smart Tangibles News Digest #2505
This week is all about the smart home plumbing that most users never see: new Matter and Thread capabilities, a big Zigbee update, and the first real global framework for consumer IoT security labels. Together they sketch the guardrails and transport pipes your next generation smart tangible will have to ride on.


Smart Tangibles News Digest #2503
Here’s this week’s Smart Tangibles digest - focused on product strategy for connected hardware, IoT, Policy, UX, and Manufacturing.


Evolving Competitive Challenges for Hardware Vendors
The hardware landscape is changing fast. Old advantages like manufacturing scale or IP protection no longer guarantee success. Companies must now master global supply chains, use cost arbitrage, and build strong software layers. The new winners excel at both manufacturing and software, combining global efficiency with sharp local market insight.


IoT Tech Expo Europe
We’re excited to announce our participation in the IoT Tech Expo at RAI Amsterdam on September 24-25! Join us as we explore product strategies and initiatives shaping the future of IoT, Industry 4.0, and Smart Hardware. Let’s connect, share insights, and drive innovation together.


Contribution Margin and Break Even Quantities
Can your product idea become a sustainable business? This chapter introduces contribution margin and break-even analysis — two essential concepts for evaluating the viability of smart, manufactured products. Using a simplified model that assumes one-time transactions, we explore how price, cost, and sales volume interact. It’s a first step toward understanding smart product economics — before diving into recurring revenue, services, and platforms.


Interoperability Wins!
As industries embrace digital transformation, integration into collaborative data ecosystems is becoming critical. From construction to pharma and aviation, point solutions that connect via open standards and APIs scale faster, gain trust, and deliver greater value. This article explores why tools like Revizto, Hopper, and PhlexTMF succeed by aligning with data pipelines - and what vendors should consider when deciding whether to go it alone or plug in.


Smart AND Secured? Think Again.
smart tangibles benefit from enhanced utility but are susceptible to increased cyber threats. This post discusses strategies for smart product cyber resilience.


Smart Tangibles - Upcoming, 2026
Smart Tangibles explores the critical shift taking place as connected, learning, and adaptive physical products reshape user flows, raise consumer expectations, and build competitive advantage over traditional, non-responsive alternatives.


From Insight to Impact: Business Analysis for Product Leaders
Great products start with clarity, not features. Learn how business analysis turns insight into impact for smarter product decisions


Reviving iRobot: Build a Marketplace
Reviving iRobot by building a marketplace around the existing control app to increase revenue opportunities


Product Management - For the Physical World
Product Management for the Physical World tackles hardware age old design challenges and new opportunities.


חומרה זה קשה
חומרה היא אתגר עסקי מורכב: מיזמי חומרה סובלים משיעור כישלון גבוה, עלויות שקועות גבוהות, זמן השקה ארוך והשקעות כבדות במערכי ייצור ואספקה


Is LinkedIn Beyond Hope as a Content Platform?
This article discusses the weaknesses of LinkedIn as a content platform and explores remedies


Is Google's "Ai Overview Search" an SEO Killer?
The future of the search market in the AI era


Physical Product Validation, Before It's Too Late
About the urgent need and strategies for physical products early validation, focusing on differentiating factors.


Validated Ideation
The Fiona Effect: As products progress towards production, the balance between imagination and maturity shifts.
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