All joking aside, the internet of things is a technology looking for a use. The geek in us tells us that connecting devices together is a good thing. Networks are better than the sum of it’s parts. Choice is better than none at all.
Back in the day, I had a friend who set up a macro on his Palm V to wake up each morning and emulate his remote control and turn on and tune his TV to the morning news. Sure he had to remember to set his Palm on the coffee table each night so the IR sensor could reach his television but the combination of a simple cron entry and an IR emulator added value not only to the Palm but also to the TV which had a new purpose as an alarm clock.
Let’s run through some of the previously inanimate objects that now can be addressed by a network. I’m not including things such as a computer or the Arduino which is like the breadboard for the internet of things. I’m focused more on single purpose devices or sensors which can be networked. A partial list includes,
- Withings, the connected scale
- Nest, the connected thermostat
- Sonos, connected music and internet radio
- Dropcam, a connected camera
- Ube, the connected lightswitch
- Philips Hue, personal wireless lighting
- WeMo, plugs & switches
- Electric Imp, real world, meet the internet
- Cyber Rain, internet-enabled sprinkler system
- Liftmaster, internet-enabled garage door opener
- Lockitron, lock your door from anywhere in the world
- Ninjablocks, programmable, connected sensors
- Current Cost NetSmart, a connected power meter
- Radionode Data Logger, a connected temperature & humidity guage
What happens when we hook this stuff together in the cloud. What use cases can you imagine?
GigaOM posts tagged Internet of Things
ReadWrite posts tagged Internet of Things
