Introduction
You’ve probably heard about the Internet of Things, sometimes called the Internet of Everything. You might not know what it is (and, frankly, the definition is a little fuzzy), but you’ve heard about it and you’re interested in it enough to pick up this book. Good for you.
Like you, I was curious about the Internet of Things (which we’ll abbreviate to IoT from here on out). I wasn’t quite sure about what it was or where I could find it or even what it consisted of. All I knew is that everybody was talking about it, in the tech world at least, and thus it attracted my attention.
So, as is my wont, I went out and learned about the IoT. Then I wrote about what I learned, and the result is the book you hold in your hands, The Internet of Things: How Smart TVs, Smart Cars, Smart Homes, and Smart Cities Are Changing the World. Read along and you’ll learn as I did what this IoT thing is all about.
Spoiler alert: It isn’t quite as clear cut as you’d think by the name. Yes, the Internet of Things is literally about things connected to the Internet, but it’s both more and less than that.
In many ways, the IoT is marketing hype, a buzz phrase used to describe all manner of new devices and services that various manufacturers would very much like for you to purchase. There are a lot of companies adding the word “smart” to the devices they sell in the hope of tagging along on the IoT bandwagon. That’s to be expected; remember all the “cyber” and “e-” things back in the early days of the Internet? Everybody wants to be on top of the latest trend. That’s where the money is.
The technical definition of the IoT involves small devices, each with their own Internet Protocol (IP) address, connected to other such devices via the Internet. In other words, lots of little “things” connected to lots of other little “things” over the Internet. Instead of connecting people to other people, as does the current Internet, the new Internet of Things connects things to things. That sounds simple.
Except, a lot of the so-called smart devices ballyhooed as part of the IoT don’t have their own IP addresses, don’t connect to the existing Internet, and don’t even connect to other devices. Which means the IoT isn’t just about connecting things to things; it’s also about autonomous operation—things that can operate pretty much on their own, without a lot of human interaction.
And even those devices that do connect to other devices don’t connect to all other devices. A lot of what I found about the IoT involves industry-specific applications, where concepts of thing-to-thing connectivity and autonomous operation are applied to solve very specific problems. There’s a distinct IoT for the healthcare industry, and another for the automotive industry, and another for the warehousing/distribution chain, and so on. The smart medical devices you’ll find in your local hospital have nothing at all to do with the smart cars you might find parked in the hospital parking lot, or the smart systems employed to put food in the hospital cafeteria. Chances are they don’t even use the same network to connect.
For that reason, you have to look at the IoT as multiple networks of things, each dedicated to specific industries or applications. That’s how I approached it in this book, which is why you’ll find separate chapters for smart homes, smart clothing, smart cars, smart medicine, and such. In a way, each of these areas will have its own Internet of Things, to which its own devices and services will be connected.
Like I said, it’s not just one thing. It’s lots of things.
This will all make more sense to you as you read through the book. We start with a general introduction to the IoT and its underlying technologies, then move into examinations of the many different approaches to the IoT, from the most personal (smart homes and smart clothing) to the more universal (smart medicine, smart cities, smart warfare). We end with a chapter describing the potential problems associated with the IoT, of which there are several.
By the end of the book, you should be a lot better versed in the various things that are likely to comprise the Internet of Things. And you’ll know how all of this is likely to affect you, personally. It’s really quite thrilling.
What You Need to Know to Use This Book
How much prior knowledge of the Internet of Things do you need before starting this book? Absolutely none. I assume that you, like me when I first got started, don’t know much of anything about the Internet of Things. This isn’t a really technical book, so you don’t have to come into it with a bunch of detailed technical knowledge either. In other words, this book is written for—and can be read by—anyone who’s curious about the IoT. If I do my job right, this book will assuage that curiosity.
One More Thing
There’s one more thing you need to know about the Internet of Things before you start reading. That is this—like all emerging technologies, the Internet of Things is in the process of defining itself. There’s a lot of change happening, and it’s happening every single day. What I write about the IoT today may be superseded tomorrow. It’s an exciting time full of rapid development and constant discoveries, so don’t expect things to stay the same for long. Read this book to get a general overview of what’s happening, but then keep your ear to the ground to stay on top of ongoing developments.
Where can you learn more about the IoT, and find the latest news and developments? Alltop hosts a nice feed of IoT-related news, located at internet-of-things.alltop.com. So does TechCrunch, at www.techcrunch.com/topic/subject/internet-of-things/. And, for more business-oriented stories, check out Venture Beat’s IoT feed at http://venturebeat.com/tag/internet-of-things/.
I’m guessing, however, that you’ll find plenty of IoT-related stories in your day-to-day news reading. Like I said, it’s a big buzzword, which means it’s getting an increasing amount of coverage, even in the mainstream press. Just keep your eyes and ears open and you’ll hear more about it.