The Internet of things, connecting everything

While summing up the most important topics from this years Picnic, I forgot The Internet of Things, which seem to surface more and more frequently as it becomes increasingly relevant.

The Internet of things is the concept of connecting everything.. everything in the whole world. As Rafi Haladjian, of Violet and Nabaztags, said in his presentation on personalized connections:

“There are 1 billion computers in the world
and 3.3 billion mobiles.
But a 100.000.000.000 things”

Rafi took us through their strategy which seems naively funny but is actually marvelously intelligent:

1. Connect all the rabbits (the Nabaztags)

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.
2. Connect everything else.

The plan is simple: In the whole world there are two kinds of objects: cobjects and nobjects. Cobjects are connected, and nobjects are not, their dumb, like an umbrella
.

So Violet are developing a “mirror” and the plan with this mirror is to “scan” and register every object. These object will then be given an assignment and a physical stamp. The next time you show your umbrella to your mirror, it will recognize the stamp, and perform an action – for example give you the weather report through some weather service website.

But The Internet of things isn’t just a crazy concept some crazy french guys with a plastic rabbit, or Nabaztags, are thinking about. It’s very real, and a very big deal.

In the post Toward a European Internet of Things on Core77 you can find the link to a working paper called “Future networks and the Internet. Early challenges regarding Internet of Things” from The Commission of European Communities on the topic. And they are saying:

“The phrase “Internet of Things” heralds a vision of the future Internet where connecting physical things, from banknotes to bicycles, through a network will let them take an active part in the Internet, exchanging information about themselves and their surroundings. This will give immediate access to information about the physical world and the objects in it – leading to innovative services and gains in efficiency and productivity. The productivity and efficiency improvements rendered possible by this Internet of Things and the services it will convey will definitely contribute to improvements in European living standards. So citizens and society will benefit.”

The paper relies heavily on RFID technology as a possible “ground breaker” when it comes to the evolution of the concept, and definitely thinks about the concept as something more intelligent and dynamic than just “stamping” something in order for it to activate an action.