19 Ways the Internet of Things Changes Everything
The possibilities are endless with the Internet of Things.
By 2025, the Internet of Things (IoT) will be everywhere, according to a 2014 Pew Research Center report. You'll be hard-pressed to find a device that's not connected to the Web in some way.
At its f8 developer conference last week, Facebook announced its push into the IoT with software development kits for its Parse mobile app development platform. So just as social milestones and interactions are now saved in the cloud with Facebook, so will the monitoring of home alarms, security cameras, smart locks, thermostats, and the like.
The possibilities are endless with the IoT: from health trackers and cars to home audio systems and smoke alarms. Combine that with an IFTTT (If This Then That) command and you have the recipe for a truly Web-connected life.
While privacy advocates have concerns about the IoT, about 83 percent of the 1,606 experts surveyed by Pew said that the trend will be beneficial in the long run. A previous Pew report that predicted digital life in 2025 had experts speculating that the Internet will become âlike electricity" in that it will be a nearly invisible undercurrent to all lives.
Part of what will make the IoT so seamless and omnipresent will be how it can slip unnoticed into daily life. Graphene, for example, is a one-atom-thick sheet of pure carbon that could serve as an efficient conductor of heat and electricity and will likely feature prominently in the IoT. Graphene is already being looked at as a way to construct a very small, exceptionally flexible ultracapacitor that can be woven into clothing for the ultimate in wearables.
Where can you find the IoT now and where is it going? Check out the slideshow to find out.