The Internet of Actual Things

The plummeting cost of the basics of computing—sensors, processors, network connections, batteries—will mean that in the very near future, objects all around us will start to change. They will no longer be just things; they will be connected things. They will be part of the network, our network. Our stuff will be on Facebook alongside us. 

Pundits call it the internet of things. They mean things that have more than a simple essence of thingyness about them. Things that monitor their surroundings, measure changes, respond to those changes with voices and actions of their own. Not things that think, necessarily, but things that act.

Things like the Nest thermostat, which learns how warm you like to keep your house, and is always online so you can control it from your phone. Or the diaper that tweets when baby’s dropped one. Or the WeMo smart electric outlet and its companion WeMotion sensor. Plug them in, get an If This Then That account, soon you could activate a hidden home-security system that uploads a photo of the guy breaking into your house to Instagram with the tag #handsoffmystuff, sharing it... Continue Reading