In spite of its rather clunky name, the whole concept of the Internet of Things has a certain elegance. First, it’s not just about the home— although it’s often depicted as a smart house, with TV, Internet, heating, microwave oven, security alarm, and bird feeder all linked.
But ‘things’ is much bigger than that. Eventually, boosters see a world where traffic flow is automatically posted on your car’s GPS; where a building’s climate is regulated in sync with weather forecasts; where the labor and propensity for error of human involvement has been shoved all the way back to the programmer. (And of course, programming is subject to continual review and improvement.)
This Jules Vern-type environment is smart, energy-efficient and gentler on the environment. It’s already creating jobs for millions of people (although some of them may not even realize they’re part of the ‘Things’ revolution). In short, Big Story, people!
We’ve already seen the tip of the iceburg (or the tip of the furnace, to shift the analogy), in smart thermostats that are linked to so-called geofenced security systems and to your cell. For a description of the basic smart thermostat, see here: http://www.acdoctor.com/get-educated/be-efficient/thermostats/.
Capitalism is all-in. Cell phone makers are betting big money on the industry. At the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Samsung announced that all of its products would be open-platform— compatible with other manufacturers— and that 90% of its products would be able to connect to the web by 2017.
One of the first products to hit the market was Nest, which was acquired by Google last year. Nest is a ‘learning’ thermometer that automatically acquires data about the homeowners’ schedules and preferences, and adjusts accordingly (kind of like Google just ‘knows’ you are in the market for a new car). Here’s a little more about the smartest thermostats on the market today: http://www.acdoctor.com/blog/smart-thermostats-move-market/.
The only missing part of the equation at this point seems to be us, the consumer. Are we ready to invest a few minutes into incorporating the technology into our daily schedules? Skeptics have only to pronounce one phrase: ‘Remember the VCR!’ At some moment in history, a great fraction of American homes had a VCR and a tiny portion of those actually used it. Why? Too complicated. Nobody wanted to invest the time to learn the drill.
Now that we’ve got Apple and Google and other geniuses doing so much of the thinking for us, that problem may have gone the way of the up-down mercury bar
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