Could someone please explain in simple terms what the Internet of Things or IoT is? The Wikipedia page is a bit vague.
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It is the concept of connecting any device to the internet and to each other.
Smart microwave
Self driving cars
Simply put it is devices with processing ability and software to communicate with the internet and other devices. I guess it’s more if a buzz word to group all these devices into one easy to remember acronym.
Iwatch
Fitbit
Smart thermostat
It’s a blanket term for devices that are embedded with hardware to connect over the internet that do not conform to existing device categories like laptops, desktops, cell phones, etc.
Examples of IoT devices: thermostats, outlets/power strips, home appliances, raspberry pi projects, etc. The key is that these are all devices that previously did not connect to the internet and now have embedded hardware enabling them to do so.
Embedded in this case means someone took a device like a microwave, added a bit of hardware like a raspberry pi, added some sensors with an operating system and then connected the whole thing to the internet.
These devices often are subject to cybersecurity issues. Manufacturers have little to no standardized operating systems, most lack the ability to update automatically and many never receive updates at all.
The term IoT is essentially how we classify all of these devices and the collective issues they all face. Such as the aforementioned security issues.
It is the connection to the internet of things that have not been traditionally considered network devices. A laptop is a computer, a smartphone is a computer, it’s easy to see them as connected devices.
But now we are connecting “things” where being a computer is nowhere neat their primary function. Refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, cars, light bulbs, garage door openers.
The way it was sold in the early 2000s when it was The Next Big Thing^tm was this way: with the growth of the internet and social media all kinds of data as at your fingertips. You can google basically any fact about the world and get it in seconds, or, increasingly with social media, connect to other people. What you can’t do is google “where are my keys.” Factoids about things and people are all online, so why isn’t real-time information about the physical location and status of things available online?
Some aspects of IoT have come to fruition. Smart homes and smart cameras are a thing. Google maps has basically revolutionized navigation and how smartphone users get around, while also enabling things like accurate real-time tracking of vehicles. You can indeed now google “Find my iPhone.” But some of the promised applications, like, say, embedding sensors in small items or clothing so that you would never lose them, turned out to just be a kind of bad idea nobody was interested in.
It’s when everything around you is connected to the internet in some way. Your car, your fridge, your speaker, your lights, your watch, etc. Traditionally, all of these things used to be “offline” or “analog”, but now they’re increasingly being hooked up to the internet. This means that you can use the internet to access them, get data from them, or control them.
As people say, it’s connecting almost anything to the Internet. But what makes it super cool is the “things” will talk to each other without people being involved. And then it’s either cool or scary, but the machines will learn from each other without human supervision!
Imagine your fridge, with a display to command on the internet things that are missing inside. Browse supermarket website to order what you need.
That’s IoT.
Then imagine this on any tool where there might be a need of internet connectivity.
Your fridge is one of the things. Why not put wifi and a screen on it? Now your fridge can play some Zeppelin while you cook. Your coffemaker is ok but what if you could turn it on from your smartphone in bed? IOT is a way to make things more expensive and fragile so that planned obsolescence is even more effective! Now you will pay double for the fridge and when it breaks you have to call a computer programmer. Or they will tell you the circuit board is fried and its better to buy a whole new fridge for 3000 dollars. Ok that is a little cynical but in 20 years some cool stuff will probably stick.
Take a device that has no connection to the internet, like a fridge, or a calculator, a lamp, or an umbrella.
Modify it to make it have an internet connection.
Now you have an “internet of things”, even if that “thing” is simply an umbrella with a raspberry pi unit attached to it.
Why do we do this? Data collection.
What kind of data? All kinds of data.
[What is the purpose for it? Well, that’s really the question, now, isn’t it?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AlcRoqS65E)
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