The Internet of Things, or IOT is a buzzword that get more and more popular every year.
What exactly is it though? Why is it so popular? Is it here already?
The Internet of Things definition: “Sensors and actuators embedded in physical objects are linked through wired and wireless networks”
So in simple words, Things that send information and communicate with other networks. Popular commercial examples are Smart Thermostats like Nest and Hive and more recent connected appliances like Amazon Echo and the Google Home.
The IOT started gaining in popularity around 2010 and since has exploded. Platforms like the Arduino and the Raspberry Pi have helped involve DIY’ers taking interest in the topic. The era of the connected products, cars, houses, clothes and anything else has arrived.
Through those years there have been some IOT examples that make more sense than others. Products like connected thermostats that allow you to set the temperature of your home remotely, connected security cameras, connected cleaning robots, air purifiers and so forth, products that add value to already known product categories and make your house and life ‘Smarter’.
Those products with the addition of Artificial Intelligence and smart sensors are learning your interests and your way of life and adjust around you to save you money, clean your house or the air in it when needed most or keep you and your belongings secure.
On the other hand there are some other proposed IOT solutions that make less sense, or at least are weird. Connected pitchers, coffee machines, sex toys, juicers, egg trays (yes the thing that you put eggs in) and the list goes on. Products that don’t actually benefit anyones life by collecting data and being connected to the Internet.
I believe that there will be more products like that to be released. It is tempting for many companies to just strap a WIFI or BLE chip on a product and make it ‘Smart’ in case it sells more. There are also a lot of people that make their own connected products using RPis and Arduinos. From adding sensors to your home to monitor humidity and temperature and sending those to the cloud to DIY connected security cameras solutions to Smart Mirrors that display your twitter feed and the weather forecast while you wash your teeth in the morning.
Do you actually though need a connected mirror? Would you buy one if it was on sale for $500 or would you hack your place to create one? I bet there is no universal answer for these questions.
I think the most important aspect we must consider is the one of security and privacy. Often neglected, we must always consider how has access to all that ‘Smart’ but highly ‘Personal’ generated data and who owns them.
Sure, it is really cool to be able to turn the lights on and off when I am not home but how difficult would it be for someone to control my smart plugs in a bad way and cause a fire in my apartment? Additionally, we are surrounded by always listening microphones. I do believe when Apple, Google and Amazon say that those microphones never upload anything to the cloud, other when we request them to. Is that always going to be the case? Will those companies use my conversations to sell me products, categorise me in a certain demographic, use or sell my data for other reasons? I don’t know. Privacy is very relative in the connected world that we live and often neglected in favour of the ease of use. Fruit for thought.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not against connected products, I don’t believe that the benefits of making something smart are less than the drawback. I think that it will be a while until the everyday user understands what really involves connecting a product. However, as the technology moves forward and IOT matures, an equilibrium will be reached between privacy and usability.
To summarise, I think that IOT is here already and is here to stay. I believe that some of the above questions will be answered in the future and that as more people get familiarised with the concept of the connected product they will be able to make more informed decisions about the products they buy/use. Additionally, the market will favour products with real value to the end user and push out products that don’t.
To be continued…