What is the IoT?
The Internet of Things (IoT) has been in the background for decades, but it’s now beginning to take hold and emerge as a realistic development in technology. The IoT enables objects or ‘things’ to be connected to the Internet, transmit data, and ‘talk’ to each other. Everyday objects such as coffee machines, vacuum cleaners, fridges and wearable devices are just some of the vast number of possibilities.
Household objects
Sounds like the future? Well, it certainly looks like it. Essentially, the IoT allows us to control our household objects remotely and make better use of them based on the data that they collect.
Devices will be responsive to their environment. For instance lights that can tell that a room has been vacated, and will turn themselves off, thereby saving energy. Our homes and cars will be connected to external networks, and we will become connected to the Internet in ways that we never thought possible.
Digital future
The IoT represents a dramatic shift in technology and in the way that we interact with our physical environment. With the IoT our homes will become our digital environment, and in the most part it’s exciting, a way of saving money and organising our busy lifestyles.
However a huge flaw in the use of sensor technology and transmitting data, is security. There is a risk with having so many objects connected to the Internet, and the IoT would need to be monitored extensively and the data collected would have to be stored securely. Security has to be at the centre of the IoT!
