Under the term the “Internet of things” (IoT) is currently understood a growing number of concepts; the idea has become increasingly popular. As a matter of fact, there is a lot of complexity behind the term as it is pretty much related to a number of things including technology and innovation and human factor and what not.
However, all this fails pretty much to cover up the idea of sense behind IoT. Thus, here are some things to understand.
What It It
Nowadays Internet as a phenomenon seems so natural, and it’s getting cheaper, more and more available, and inseparable from our daily lives with all the potential of Wi-Fi and smartphones and numerous other gadgets that inevitably invade our lives.
With all this in mind the basic concept behind IoT is that any device that has a potential for Internet access will be connected to it; and such devices will also be interconnected with one another. Thus, we are going to have all sorts of appliances and devices at home (and out) that create an actual network – and the prospects are that by 2020 we are going to have about 30 million devices connected in such a way. Pretty impressive, isn’t it?
So, we are getting at entirely new level – not only it is things-people relationship but all the possible combinations as well. One of the concepts is of a smart city; the one that will live and develop effectively and will be able both to serve as a comfortable place to live and harm environment to a minimum at the same time. There are others, of course, as the potential of IoT is really great. In a sense it is hard to imagine all the opportunities and openings that such technology is to offer.
What to Expect
We will have everything connected, if it can be. Well, here is the point where questions and discussions start arising. Do we actually need so many things connected? Do we have to be surrounded by an invisible network of gadgets that, well, are able to think on their own? The discussions are numerous and some of the questions refer to a broader issue of artificial intelligence and all things related.
Some of the conversations do get negative hint that reflect eternal fear of the unknown and unconventional; and surely, there is plenty of challenge and risks to be taken. First and foremost is the question of security. With all the devices and gadgets brought up together in one network, there is no surprise that people may worry about their private data security. As the leak in one place will definitely be fraught with unpleasant (and sometimes even downright dreadful) consequences. Just imagine someone hacking into your coffee-maker and stealing all you personal photo from your smartphone, or credit card data, or else. Not nice, isn’t it?
Next issue the amount of data that is going to be produced and processed. Well, there’s going to be tons of information. And it will require monitoring, storage, analysis and so on – definitely there will be new job openings…
There are several talks about IoT on Ted.com. They dwell on the topic how IoT is going to affect our daily lives with the speakers trying to make attempts at understanding both the benefits and the challenges and how we can prepare ourselves to deal with such product of process to the best of our advantage.
Get a better idea by having a look at “The Internet of Things: Dr. John Barrett at TEDxCIT“.