The plant floor, whether discrete, batch, hybrid or process, is changing rapidly. The increasing use of smartphones and tablets and small PCs on the plant floor has given rise to the BYOD (bring your own device) movement. This is a security headache, but the use of smartphones and tablets will continue to grow because the utility of having access to these devices right there in the field far outweighs the potential problems for security.

In the meantime, people are working out the details. Here's a press release detailing the award of a patent for an augmented reality app.

You probably have--in your neighborhood, at church, at the supermarket hawking Girl Scout Cookies, at a family reunion or Christmas party. Maybe she even lives at your house. She's smart, imaginative and creative. She's got a quirky outlook on life. She's curious about everything and is always asking why things are the way they are and work the way they do.

After two years that could best be called "lackluster" it was said that ISA Automation Week was dead. Apparently, not dead enough. The money-losing event has risen from its grave, with Paul Galeski of Maverick Technologies as the program Chair, joining Greg McMillan and Peter Martin as notables who couldn't make the conference work and pay for itself.

Color me surprised. I thought that the new ISA leadership had put a stake in it.

I am very pleased to announce that Joe Weiss, our intrepid and Unfettered cyber security blogger, has been named by the US as a designated US Expert on cyber security.

"I just received my official notification of being designated a US expert to IEC TC45/SC 45A/WG9 - Instrumentation and control of nuclear facilities,"Joe said in a recent blog post on our Unfettered blog (www.controlglobal.com/unfettered).

From Rich Merritt:

In the process and factory automation worlds, the days of the big shows in North America are done. The ISA show, the Sensors show, the National Manufacturing Week, the Chem show are all either dead and gone or shadows of their former selves.

But in the building automation space, nothing could be further from the truth.

I hadn't been to an ASHRAE show in over a decade, and I decided to do a day trip to Dallas to see what was going on.

Control Essentials is our new monthly product. The first month's edition is "Essentials of Safety Instrumented Systems" sponsored by ABB.

Fluke is voluntarily recalling its digital clamp meters - Fluke 373, 374, 375, and 376 - that were manufactured between Sept. 1, 2010, and Oct. 31, 2012.

The reason for the recall is that the printed circuit assembly in these units may not be properly fastened to the test lead input jack. This may result in inaccurate voltage readings, including a low or no voltage reading on a circuit energized with a hazardous voltage, presenting a shock, electrocution, or thermal burn hazard.

With all its new HMI and haptics potential, Windows 8 has begun its journey into automation. Advantech announced yesterday that it is supporting Windows 8:

Advantech Announces Full Support for Microsoft® Windows 8

Recently, several ICS end users in the Middle East and Asia have been exposed to attacks directly on the control systems through firewalls that have been misconfigured, or not configured correctly, for Modbus and OPC data. These attacks have caused weeks of rebuilding systems, with concomitant loss of production and loss of revenue. We have seen enough of this to validate the ISA99 "zones and conduits" model of ICS system architecture.