Internet of Things — The way I understand it
A few weeks ago, I mentioned in my blogpost that I joined TribalScale because I was so excited about the opportunities available in IoT. I referred to current experience as “disparate devices connected to disparate apps.” Over the holidays I ploughed through my Pocket reading list and fell in love with Daniel Miessler’s “The Real Internet Things.” I felt myself consistently nodding along as I read and encourage anyone seriously interested in IoT to check it out. In his words, “IoT will fundamentally alter how humans interact with the physical world…” — we at TribalScale couldn’t agree more.
“IoT will fundamentally alter how humans interact with the physical world…”
So, what exactly do we mean? First, let’s consider the technologies and interactions we currently consider the internet of things. We’re excited about thermostats in our home we can control using an app, we’re excited about wireless speakers throughout our rooms we can control using an app, we’re excited about controlling the lights in our space using an app — have you noticed the pattern? IoT today is essentially [insert common device] controlled by an app. From a technology standpoint, it’s incredibly exciting to take every devices and essentially make them usable over the web, but does it fundamentally change our current mode of interaction? The point of simplifying our interaction with devices and our environment is not because it’s a cool technical feat, it’s because we want to spend less time doing less important things and more time on what makes us happy, i.e. our social interactions. A home or a building where we all need to be constantly connected to our phones is not better than our current state, it’s just a different form of the same old switch!
Going back to the first question; what do we mean when we say “…fundamentally alter how humans interact with the physical world…”? Well, I’m in complete alignment with Miessler, our devices (or “daemons” in his words) are our most personal digital contact and as such should be capable of bringing our needs and personality into all of our interactions — seamlessly. Put simply, my environment and the devices within it should always be responding to my will without any direct input from me. I know sometimes this type of discussion could sound aloof, so let me illustrate. If I’ve got a dinner scheduled with friends till 10pm tonight, my Nest Thermostat and Hue lights bulbs don’t currently care — I’m going to enter a house with the lights on and thermostat set to 75F at 7pm despite not being home. Unfortunately, these current technologies are all siloed — my calendar, my Nest app, and my Hue app. Short of hacking together my own solution, none of these connected or smart devices are acting as they should, given the amount of personal data available on my iPhone.
Today, all of the manufacturers involved in the IoT space have done an awesome job getting devices in our homes and offices, marketing them, and developing their interfaces to be developer friendly. In 2016, I’m hoping we’re going to see a lot more of in how devices devices *seamlessly* connect. So, put another way I guess, IoT is the enabler for more *magic* to happen in our lives — I’m looking forward to help drive that charge.
Connect with me on Twitter or LinkedIn and let’s keep the conversation going — exciting times ahead!
