Last week on Pro: smart meters, smart watches, and more

It was a busy week for our startup, social, and mobile readers — all eyes were on Palo Alto on Thursday, as the Zuck took to the stage to announce Facebook Home launcher for Android devices, dispelling earlier rumors that the social network would release its own phone – at least, for now. Meanwhile, over on GigaOM Pro, our analysts have been getting smart: this week’s featured research includes a flash analysis on the future of the smart watch, a deep dive into big data and smart grid technologies, and more.

Note: GigaOM Pro is a subscription-based research service offering in-depth, timely analysis of developing trends and technologies. Visit pro.gigaom.com to learn more about it.

Cleantech: How energy data will impact the smart grid
Adam Lesser

“The time has come for software development to tackle the smart grid,” declares Analyst Adam Lesser in his latest research report. Now that we’re collecting petabytes of energy-use data from millions of connected devices, companies working in home energy management, building energy management, and utilities must leverage new, affordable big data tools to monitor and impact energy usage. As solar has given cleantech investment a bad name, software (and, to a lesser extent) hardware startups are offering a new range of products meant to increase efficiency of a fossil fuel source, as opposed to advancing renewable energy options. Lesser analyzes the risks and opportunities for these companies and highlights the major trends and takeaways from the companies already working in the space, such as Nest, Opower and ENBALA.

Connected Consumer: Flash analysis: smart watches
Michael Wolf

With the success of projects like the Pebble watch on Kickstarter, followed by rumors that Apple might release its own device, the smart watch is no longer a gimmicky sci-fi gadget. Instead, early offerings from startup companies (or recipients of crowd sourced funding) have proven that there is interest and excitement from consumers, investors, and larger consumer products companies. Analyst Michael Wolf looks at the results of a reader survey conducted last month across GigaOM and GigaOM Pro, summarizing responses about smart watch price points, feature requests, and use cases and adoption rates, among other data points. The report also goes on to look at the Pebble’s market position in relation to potential offerings by giants like Apple and Samsung, as well as the company’s prospects in the near term future.

Social: What is of highest value in today’s business?
Stowe Boyd

In his latest weekly update, Analyst Stowe Boyd looks at the changing nature of work in the American economy. Looking at recently-released data from the New York Federal Reserve, Boyd notes that since 1975, major shifts in labor — from manual, routine jobs towards nonroutine, knowledge-based work – has increased by about 20 percent. Boyd looks at how this shift is affecting operations, culture, and structure in the workplace at large.