The Internet of Things

Have you heard of the "Internet of Things?"  For those of you unfamiliar with the term its the concept  of having everything you own "talk" to each other.  They would communicate status, anticipate needs, and work together to make your home and your life smarter and easier.

I first heard of this concept in elementary school, where my teacher told me that "one day your refrigerator will order it's own milk" I couldn't understand how it would do that, or whether I would even want it to.  How did it even know there wasn't brand new milk already in there, in the back, waiting to be opened?  What if it thought I needed milk when I was about to leave on vacation?  It sounded like a waste of money.

Fast forward several decades to the world we live in today.  I don't have a R/F tag (radio frequency tag used to communicate with other devices) on my milk jug, nor does my fridge have a scale on it that measures how much milk is left in the jug, but my smartphone knows my

The smart IQ Thermostat "talks" to your home control panel
and makes adjustments based on your personal habits and location

schedule, and my home knows when I am there and when I return.  The internet of things has already begun.  My doors have sensors that report when they've been opened.  Each of rooms have image sensors that detect movement and can show me a picture of whats happening in them.  My home control panel tells my thermostat to turn itself down when I've left my home and my smartphone tells my home when I am only a few miles away so it can turn the thermostat back up to my preferred temperature for when I return.

So what's next?  Almost anything.  We have shoes that talk to our phones, TVs that connect to the internet and watches that take phone calls.  In a few years we'll see these sensors and devices aligning under a single platform, making your home smarter, your life easier, and innovation only a few steps away.