The Internet of Way Too Many Things • Hacker News Board

Re: The Internet of Way Too Many Things

#51

Post by roymurdock » Mon, Sep 07, 2015, 4:49 PM UTC

I work at a market research/consulting firm that specializes in the embedded devices market. This means we cover any semi-specialized device with a CPU that is not a desktop, laptop, or tablet.

The consumer-facing home IoT stuff (Nest, smart-fridge, smart-car etc.) gets a lot of press because it's exciting and it appeals to the least common denominator - anyone from an electrical engineer to a nanny can see how these devices might affect their lives.

Most of the (pretty astronomical) growth of the embedded device market is driven by the applications of industrial connectivity. Think aerospace & defense, automotive, medical, municipal, retail automation. The industries that don't make for sexy headlines.

Ultimately, I believe the entire IoT movement is going to contribute substantially to the economy in the form of cost-savings. Companies will be able to access and analyze a lot more data which will hopefully enable leaner operations due to process refinement and resource conservation. It's a good time to be in the security and analytics business.

While cost savings are great for the bottom line, we also need to find a way to create new markets and generate new, useful products. Hopefully the government has invested enough in R&D to enable the next internet to begin to take root sometime soon, whatever that may be.

From my perspective, it would make sense that virtual reality would be a huge paradigm shift in the way that we create and consume information, which seems to be an underlying theme driving many advances in technology and overall quality of life.

IoT seems to be the maturation of internet connectivity - what's next in the world of technology?

Re: The Internet of Way Too Many Things

#52

Post by JupiterMoon » Mon, Sep 07, 2015, 4:49 PM UTC

Zigurd wrote: post #41

oblio wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet we use public transportation in many parts of the world and few bad things have happened. We use door handles everywhere. Etc.

Door handles are a big problem in hospitals. I'd take the bet that they are a bigger problem in public places than is generally acknowledged.

Interestingly this is actually a solved problem that we have forgotten the solution to. Copper naturally kills most pathogens. Brass door handles therefore act to prevent touch based spread of pathogens -- but plastic is cheaper.

Re: The Internet of Way Too Many Things

#53

Post by guybrushT » Mon, Sep 07, 2015, 4:49 PM UTC

freehunter wrote: post #35

guybrushT wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the companies that is solving this very problem is Xiaomi. Their method is quite crude - that is, they make everything themselves. But the end result is that everything they make - from an air purifier to a TV - is connected and operated via a similar / familiar OS called MIUI. They give away their phones for very cheap, because the phone is the Trojan horse - it is the remote control for all the other devices…

Yup, Xiamoi makes everything interoperable by making it themselves. And Apple makes HomeKit. And Google makes their own. And Microsoft makes their own. And HP makes their own. And... See the problem?

I do. And you are right. I think we will get to a place where one company does it right, before we agree on an interoperable standard.

Re: The Internet of Way Too Many Things

#54

Post by JupiterMoon » Mon, Sep 07, 2015, 4:52 PM UTC

OliverJones wrote: post #15

Internet-enabled house jewelry? Feh. It will be fun for a week, then boring. Here's what I want: stuff that will make me a better neighbor and citizen of the world. Specifically: Realtime smart energy and water consumption meters. Wouldn't it be great to get some sort of alert if there was a pipe burst or even a water trickle? Wouldn't it be fabulous to track electricity consumption? That could generate the creation…

These already exist in the UK the utilities companies were giving them away about ?10? years ago. Some people noticed quite how much energy the kettle took to boil learned to only part fill it. However, mainly people got them, played with them and then forgot about them.

Re: The Internet of Way Too Many Things

#55

Post by sjclemmy » Mon, Sep 07, 2015, 4:55 PM UTC

awjr wrote: post #3

For anyone not familiar with the Hype Cycle http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/methodologies/hyp... we're still in the "Peak of Inflated Expectations". I would have hoped we'd have hit the "Trough of Disillusionment" by now but it seems to be powering along quite nicely. One of the big problems with IoT is the cost of the connectivity bit of the hardware. You want these things to be low powered but that costs…

I first heard of the hype cycle today - but it was mentioned in an article on microservices. An example of Synchronicity if ever there was one! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronicity

The Hype cycle seems to be a variation of Fisher's Personal Transition Curve http://www.businessballs.com/freepdfmaterials/processoftrans...

Re: The Internet of Way Too Many Things

#56

Post by aswanson » Mon, Sep 07, 2015, 4:56 PM UTC

roymurdock wrote: post #51

I work at a market research/consulting firm that specializes in the embedded devices market. This means we cover any semi-specialized device with a CPU that is not a desktop, laptop, or tablet. The consumer-facing home IoT stuff (Nest, smart-fridge, smart-car etc.) gets a lot of press because it's exciting and it appeals to the least common denominator - anyone from an electrical engineer to a nanny can see how these…

As an analyst, which vendors do you see most well-poised to take financial advantage of this change, from a supplier perspective? ARM? Texas Instruments?

Re: The Internet of Way Too Many Things

#57

Post by ccozan » Mon, Sep 07, 2015, 4:59 PM UTC

antr wrote: post #12

s_baby wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would still run cat6 as if I was going to use smart devices. You're already inside the walls.

All rooms will have gigabit ethernet sockets :-)

May I suggest adding also USB plugs to be able to load your devices without extra bulky part?

Re: The Internet of Way Too Many Things

#58

Post by oneJob » Mon, Sep 07, 2015, 5:00 PM UTC

It's gonna be like "Beauty and the Beast" up in here. You have far too many opinions Cogsworth!

Re: The Internet of Way Too Many Things

#59

Post by savrajsingh » Mon, Sep 07, 2015, 5:10 PM UTC

OliverJones wrote: post #15

Internet-enabled house jewelry? Feh. It will be fun for a week, then boring. Here's what I want: stuff that will make me a better neighbor and citizen of the world. Specifically: Realtime smart energy and water consumption meters. Wouldn't it be great to get some sort of alert if there was a pipe burst or even a water trickle? Wouldn't it be fabulous to track electricity consumption? That could generate the creation…

Please check out wattvision.com and let me know what you think, we share in your vision. Key features are that we work with existing utility meters and smart meters, and are consumer installed (no electrician required), and update our live data every 10 sec or so.

Re: The Internet of Way Too Many Things

#60

Post by srj » Mon, Sep 07, 2015, 5:10 PM UTC

FWIW I find the Whistle to be a good product. I can easily find out when our dog walker dropped our dog off, and therefore how long she has been alone. At the risk of stating the obvious: just because the author doesn't have the problems that these devices purport to solve doesn't make them superfluous.