Fitbit is reportedly planning a merger with smartwatch maker Pebble. The acquisition is a ‘small amount’ but there’s no word on exactly how much, or indeed how little,” TechCrunch reports. “The deal will see Pebble and its products closed down over time, with Fitbit acquiring its assets, which include intellectual property and software.” The news was reported by The Information.

The DDoS attack against Dyn on Oct. 21 may not have been anything new or sophisticated to those steeped in cybersecurity, but it should serve as a significant wake-up call to retailers this holiday season and beyond, say experts. The hack — which led to vast consumer trouble loading major websites such as Etsy, AirBnB, Netflix and Twitter — was particularly notable because it appears to have relied on infecting internet of things (IoT) devices such as cameras, monitors and routers with software meant to flood targets with overwhelming traffic. This should concern retailers that are investing heavily in IoT …

Amazon has jumped aboard the Internet of Things bandwagon, offering to certify its APN Partners as "Amazon IoT Competency Partners", it announced at its AWS re:Invent conference. "To become an AWS IoT Competency Partner, you must meet a number of requirements, such as providing use case-specific public customer references, and you must successfully complete a third-party audit of your IoT solution or practice," according to AWS. Successful IoT-focused firms get to display the "AWS IoT Competency logo" in their marketing bumf, get "preferred access" to market development funds and might, if they're really ass-kissy lucky, be mentioned by Amazon in future IoT …

Intel is reorganizing its business and creating a new division dedicated to autonomous driving as the semiconductor giant ramps up its effort to dominate the fast-emerging market. The world’s largest semiconductor maker announced Tuesday that the new division, called the Automated Driving Group, spun out of its Internet of Things business, an area where Intel has deepened its stake in the past year. Doug Davis, a long-time executive who managed the company’s Internet of Things business, will now lead the Automated Driving Group. Kathy Winter, formerly of Delphi, will be the vice president and general manager of the new division.

Self-driving cars, including those backed in part by the phonemaker BlackBerry Ltd, have been approved for testing on Canadian public roads in the country's first such program, the government for the province of Ontario said on Monday. Automated vehicles from the University of Waterloo and the Erwin Hymer Group auto manufacturer have also been approved for testing, Ontario said in a statement. Ontario, home to nearly all of Canada's auto industry, launched the program on Jan. 1, but had no applicants in the first half of the year. The province's auto sector has struggled as investment shifted to less expensive …