The internet of things may well be one of the hottest concepts in today’s world. It is all but impossible to escape from it. We hear it on the news, read about it online…it almost seems that wherever we may go, the internet of things is following us. That is why the following article strives to describe the concept in layman’s terms, so to speak.
Imagine yourself trying to play a YouTube video on your smart TV, but the TV remote is nowhere to be seen (this might as well already have happened to you more than once). Instead of reaching for the remote, you may reach for your phone, open YouTube app and play the video in question. The application may automatically communicate to your TV, telling it to turn on and play the video. That means that YouTube app communicated directly to the TV without the mediation on the part of the user. Such direct communication between smart devices is an example of the internet of things (IoT) in action.
Having illustrated the concept of IoT using a concrete example, I will now try to come up with as simple a definition as possible. The internet of things is an automatic process of data transfer between (or among) different objects, programs, digital machines, smart devices, etc. It already has a widespread application in the modern world, and chances are that the concept is here to stay. Some of the examples of the internet of things in the contemporary world are as follows:
1. Smart home
Even if you are not a fan of technology, you must have a friend or an acquaintance who is. A smart home, to put it as simple as possible, is a concept of home whose smart devices communicate among themselves using Wi-Fi or a similar medium. Thus, if you have a washing machine and dryer set, the washing machine can “tell” the dryer that it is done with the laundry, in turn telling the dryer to “start its business”, so to speak.
2. Farming
Although it might seem a bit strange that one of the oldest industries, agriculture, should use such a modern technology as IoT, it is hardly surprising judging by the data found online. In fact, according to a Wikipedia article, agriculture is one of the first branches that has benefited from the use of the internet of things. It has been using it to overcome the ever-present problems of the draft, storms, pests, etc. Using interconnected web of weather apps and cloud platforms, it can all but accurately predict the weather conditions and “know for certain” whether it is going to rain, to use just one simple example.
3. Car industry
Last, but not least, is the car industry. The concept of smart cars is nothing new and we have all witnessed the benefits of GPS, mapping, smart dashboards, etc. The implementation of IoT in the car industry is growing at an amazing speed, and the ultimate goal seems to be a completely self-driving car.
Whether we like it or not, it seems that IoT is here to stay, and it appears that its benefits are already surpassing the possible downsides, which are not a part of this article.