Episode 5: Do we really need an Internet-connected toilet?
Listen to the full episode on iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast or Bytes.
Episode Summary
What would a world in which everything was connected to the internet look like? Danial and Shubham take some time to explore the “Internet of Things” (IoT). Danial contemplates a connected toilet, while Shubham imagines a fridge that automatically replenishes itself.
News
The big players in consumer tech (Apple, Google, Amazon) are making moves to become the platforms for IoT (The Verge)
- “Starting to build ecosystems — rather than product lines — to connect the devices you already have. They want the smart home to go mainstream, and they’re doing that by making it really easy for consumers to buy in.”
- Before we had to buy all these different tools/boxes/hubs, now companies are making normal things that we buy and have in our homes already, “Smart Home enabled” right out of the box — no special hubs, boxes needed. Less is more.
- Apple is doing this with something people own already — the iPhone (that’s the hub); no need for ANOTHER thing.
Oculus Rift release date and price announced. (Polygon)
- Price came in way above expectations. Kickstarter units/development kits were going for less than $400. Some worried about what this means for adoption as you’ll also need a computer with serious power (costing easily $1,000 or more) to run the games.
- Considering how new this technology and how unfamiliar consumers are with it, initial adoption won’t necessarily be huge. It’ll take time to spread as more and more use cases are developed and word of mouth spreads.
- Sony has a huge opportunity here to price it reasonably and sell to their built-in PS4 customer base of over 30M.
- We’ll come back to this topic in the future once we’ve actually had the chance to play with some VR headsets.
The Internet of Things (IoT)
“According to research firm, IDC, the IoT market could hit $1.7 trillion by 2020. McKinsey thinks it will be roughly six times larger than that at $11 trillion by 2025. The reality is simple: the potential for the IoT is absolutely huge.”
What things make sense to be connected:
The Smart Home
- Thermostats — Nest
- Front Door locks — August Lock
- Appliances: Microsoft shows how the Internet of Things can actually be interesting (The Verge) // You can open up your device and get an understanding of what’s in use, when, and whether its being put to use in the most efficient manner.
The Smart City
- Parking sensors: sensors at each parking spot in a given parking lot which detect whether the spot is vacant. This data is pushed to an app (or, in the future, your self driving car!) so that you can save time looking for an empty spot.
What is just ridiculous:
- Fridges: In its current state, not much functionality… but what if it was connected to Amazon/Instacart? Imagine the fridge could detect when you’re running low on milk/eggs/fruits and automatically orders more (removes the need for the “Dash” button )? Alternatively, the fridge could constantly monitoring your produce, and tell you when something is about to go bad.
- Connected Kitchen items: toasters, coffee machines, blenders, etc.: But imagine, its all connected to your alarm clock. You wake up, your coffee starts brewing or your smoothie starts blending (Blender is within your smart fridge…crazy man!)
- Connected Rugs/alarm clocks — Ruggie: Come on…
- Connected… toilet — Raspberry Pi: we’ve gone too far…
Drones & Personal Robots
The modern-day messenger pigeon:
- What if every person had a drone?
- Need to send something to someone? Just drone it over to them
- OR, what if someone did for drone ownership what UBER is doing for car ownership
- On demand delivery, via drones
- Huge applications for logistics
Segway Advanced Personal Robot — WIRED
- Like a little robotic buddy! It even holds your groceries for you!
The Dark Side of IoT
Cross-device tracking is the latest obsession for internet marketers. You probably use multiple internet devices: your computer, your smartphone, your tablet, maybe your internet-enabled television — and, increasingly, “Internet of Things” devices like smart thermostats and appliances. All of these devices are spying on you, but the different spies are largely unaware of each other. Start-up companies like SilverPush, 4Info, Drawbridge, Flurry, and Cross Screen Consultants, as well as the big players like Google, Facebook, and Yahoo, are all experimenting with different technologies to “fix” this problem.
Retailers want this information very much. They want to know whether their television advertising causes people to search for their products on the internet. They want to correlate people’s web searching on their smartphones with their buying behavior on their computers. They want to track people’s locations using the surveillance capabilities of their smartphones, and use that information to send geographically targeted ads to their computers. They want the surveillance data from smart appliances correlated with everything else.
All these various internet-connected devices are collecting tons and tons of data about their users. Up until recently, this data has been siloed and not very actionable since it is not useful without understanding the larger context of the user’s habits, demographic information, etc.
Creepy!
Report on Business Magazine/The Globe and Mail:
One IT expert recently demonstrated how easily he could hack into a radio-frequency-controlled insulin pump and remotely administer lethal doses to a diabetic. Other experts have claimed that hackers might, if motivated, access the software in smart cars to take control of their speed, brakes and steering.
Links
The companies that rule mobile are taking over the smart home, too — The Verge
Amazon was huge at CES 2016, and they weren’t even there — GeekWire
The US smart home market has been struggling — here’s how and why the market will take off — Business Insider
Weird fridges are back — The Verge
Microsoft shows how the Internet of Things can actually be interesting — The Verge
Intel shows intelligent drone with “Real Sense” tech — CNET
The Future is Smart — Report on Business Magazine/The Globe and Mail
The Internet of Things That Talk About You Behind Your Back — Motherboard
Welcome to the Future: Virtual Reality at CES — CNBC
Oculus Rift price set at $599, shipping in March — Polygon
Shubham’s new headphones — Parrot Zik 2.0
1Password — AgileBits / App Store / Google Play Store
