Kiplinger's Tech Alerts - June 22, 2016

In this issue: New Wi-Fi gear for the home. Hacking threats to fitness trackers. The huge market for tech products in India. Amazon stock: What's it worth? More-detailed rules to govern the Internet. Apple's effort to improve its apps. What Microsoft's acquisition of LinkedIn means for business.

Expanded Home Wi-Fi

New Wi-Fi gear in the works will vanquish dead zones in single-family homes as well as in apartment and condo complexes -- a response to consumer demand for wireless Web connections in areas, such as patios, garages and attics, that typically can't be reached with today's equipment. "A single access point will definitely not get you full coverage" in large homes, says Neeharika Allanki, wireless architect at CableLabs, a research group for the cable industry. Solutions on the market that beam Wi-Fi signals farther, such as Wi-Fi repeaters and extenders, can be tricky to install and lack seamless connectivity.

The new gear will borrow ideas from business-grade Wi-Fi systems, which work seamlessly at large office buildings and airports. But consumer versions need to be simple and cheap, allowing users to walk from room to room with their Web-connected device shifting automatically and smoothly to the strongest Wi-Fi connection in the vicinity. Cable providers account for nearly two-thirds of broadband subscriptions in the U.S., according to market research firm Strategy Analytics, and the cable industry is pushing to create new standards that work across different vendors. Builders and landlords also are keeping tabs on the work, as home buyers and renters increasingly demand strong Wi-Fi everywhere.

Sellers of wireless gear are poised to cash in on the new Wi-Fi equipment, which will hit the market in the next year or so from sellers such as Netgear, Linksys, Asus and Tenda. New companies are tapping the growing market, too. San Francisco-based Eero started shipping its products this year, including a three-pack of wireless routers that covers about 3,000 square feet for $500. Eero also provides a mobile app and free software updates. Another company, Luma, is backed in part by Amazon and sells its system for $400.

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Blanketing homes with Wi-Fi will jump-start the smart home market, making it easier to connect lights on the patio or humidity sensors in the attic to a mobile app. In the garage, strong wireless coverage will come in handy for updating software on your car or lawn mower. Note, too, that a recent Bluetooth upgrade stands to help the market by providing faster speeds over greater distances for all sorts of Bluetooth-connected devices and smart home products. Emerging smart home vendors include Cocoon, Dojo-Labs and Securify, plus tech giants Apple, Google and Amazon.

Dealing with Wi-Fi problems at home? Some things to consider: Make sure your Internet plan comes with ample speed. (Netflix recommends at least 5 megabits per second for HD streaming.) If you have an older wireless router, it might be time to upgrade to a newer, faster model. Also take a look at your mobile device. An old laptop, phone or tablet lacks the latest Wi-Fi tech and might be the cause of slowdowns. There are many free ways to improve home Wi-Fi if your problem is a bad setup, such as making sure the wireless router is five to seven feet off the ground, keeping it away from appliances that emit radio signals and rebooting your router regularly. (For more details, check out 10 worthwhile tips from Comcast.)

Hacking Threats to Fitness Trackers

The wearable tracker on your wrist is a growing target for cyberattacks. Experts say that some devices lack strong security to protect personal health information as vendors race to enable wearables to collect even more sensitive data. Researchers have discovered weak security from fitness tracker vendors for Bluetooth radios, mobile apps and websites. The use of unencrypted data by some firms makes private information viewable to hackers who are able to breach personal accounts. Some privacy and security researchers say security holes are worrisome since the data collected, including heart rate, number of steps and location, doesn't come under the strict regulations of health data collected by hospitals. And most consumers don't take stock of the fine print that comes with fitness trackers, including notices that many companies reserve the right to sell your data if they go bankrupt.

The bigger push to collect and analyze sensitive health and fitness data leads to complex ethical questions, says Michelle De Mooy, a privacy researcher at the Center for Democracy & Technology, a technology advocacy group. De Mooy got a peek into Fitbit's internal operations for a report on the fitness wearable firm's privacy practices. Fitbit has already run large-scale experiments, such as tracking its users' heart rates during the Super Bowl. De Mooy says Fitbit and other companies should adopt privacy practices from the start, including stripping out user identities and getting consumer consent. So far, Apple Watch has some of the most advanced security and privacy features among the top sellers, which also include Fitbit, Xiaomi, Garmin and Samsung.

India's Digital Rise

The tech industry is racing to tap India's 1.25 billion people, a huge potential customer base for a variety of digital products and services. One of the biggest beneficiaries in coming years: smartphone makers. "There's huge room for all the players to grow at the same time," says Tarun Pathak, a senior analyst with Counterpoint Technology Market Research. Only 18% of Indians now use smartphones, but the percentage is sure to rise. Sales of smartphones in India surged 23% in 2015 while growth stalled in the rest of the world, according to Counterpoint. That surge makes India the second-largest smartphone market in the world, behind only China. Smartphones will turn Indian consumers on to a variety of apps and services, creating ripple effects across the digital ecosystem and helping sellers of cloud services, smart home devices and wireless equipment.

More than half a billion smartphones will be sold in India in the next three years, according to Pathak. Many of the phones are being assembled in the country by top sellers Samsung, Micromax and Lenovo. Most smartphones sell for around $100. Because the vast majority of consumers don't get subsidies from cell companies, vendors find it tougher to sell high-priced models such as iPhones, which add up to only 2% of the market. Still, Apple could push the share up to 5% and net $10 billion in yearly revenue in India by 2020, notes Abhey Lamba, an analyst at Mizuho Securities, in a recent research note.

Other American technology companies are also boosting efforts to tap the huge Indian market. Apple, Intel, Facebook and Dell are among the many firms stepping up visits so they can better gauge the market, navigate the nation's many languages and cultures and improve government ties. On the whole, the average consumer has little money to spend, so products have to be incredibly cheap. They also need to be easy to use and provide local language content. Even free services, such as Facebook and YouTube, face unique challenges. YouTube, for instance, lets consumers download content so they can watch it offline later, a nod to areas lacking in Internet coverage.

Tech Tidbits

Is Amazon's stock worth $800 a share? Amazon's market capitalization is now 50% higher than Wal-Mart's, even though Wal-Mart has four times the sales. My colleague Elizabeth Leary examines the e-commerce giant's gravity-defying stock price in the Kiplinger.com story, "What's the Right Price to Pay for Amazon's Stock?"

Telecom regulators will start rolling out more-detailed Internet rules after a big court win. Federal judges allowed the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules to stay in place, and prospects of the case making it to the Supreme Court on appeal are now slim. The FCC has much work to do on the specifics of how it plans closer oversight of the Web.

Apple's new method of collecting data will improve all of its apps and services. The tech giant said at its developers conference last week that it's using differential privacy, a technique that helps protect anonymity while collecting personal data. Apple needs to collect more data as it battles Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon in the race to build artificial intelligence services.

Microsoft's acquisition of LinkedIn has big implications for business. Microsoft Office products will start integrating the work social networking tool in coming years, making it easier to set up a meeting while writing a document, for instance. Though the two companies seem to be a natural fit, there's sure to be a bumpy ride ahead.