Disconnecting from the internet of stupid things Alistair Carwardine - M2 Group Paris Cowan itNews June 26, 2015 http://www.itnews.com.au/CXOChallenge/405652,disconnecting-from-the-internet-of-stupid-things.aspx
... "There is no doubt that there is going to be rich opportunity with the internet of things, and we are very excited about it. But some of the use cases that are coming out are really twee," he said. Towards the end of last year, a frustrated David Rowan of UK Wired coined the term 'Internet of Stupid Things' to describe the sometimes-ridiculous territory the IoT trend was headed into. Things like sensor-enabled jugs to tell you when your milk is off (presumably for the smelling-impaired), and smartphone-connected kitchen scales (presumably for those of us who find it to hard to look away from Facebook long enough to glance at an inbuilt display). All devices, Rowan said, that are driven by marketing rather than any actual real-life consumer purpose. "You know the idea that you should give an IP number to an incandescent bulb so that when it blows you get a little pop up on your desktop this stuff really needs to be tested," Carwardine concurs. "So do we have an internet of things program today? No we don't. "The use cases are still flushing out," he said, with no intentional reference to the infamous Japanese Satis toilet that can be operated remotely via a smartphone app. "But we know that as there are improvements in wi-fi and bluetooth, especially as they become low power, then we will truly become able to explore how to connect things. "So we're keen to see how that fleshes out, and make sure we're part of it." ... My sensors detect an Internet of Stupid Things David Rowan campaignlive.co.uk Thursday, 30 October 2014 08:00AM http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/opinion/1319303/ I blame Tony Fadell. If the superstar Apple engineer hadn't left to build an Internet of Things business (Fadell being the guy who led the original iPod team and then helped Steve Jobs build something called the iPhone), we wouldn't be in this mess. But when Google paid $3.2 billion in January for Fadell's start-up, Nest - the maker of sensor-packed thermostats and smoke alarms - a new mantra swept around the manufacturing world. "Guys, we need to stuff internet-connected sensors into every household device imaginable," it said. "This Internet of Things thing is going to be huge." So a new wave of product marketing is springing up to convince us that our non-internet-enabled toilet, or robustly disconnected coffee cup, are no longer what will satisfy us. In recent months, Oral-B has launched the SmartSeries electric toothbrush with Bluetooth connectivity so that you can share your brushing routine with your dental professional live from your bathroom. The Orange Chef Co is promoting a "smart Bluetooth-enabled kitchen scale" called the Prep Pad that gives you "real-time insight to your food". And, naturally, you can buy the £4,000 Satis internet-connected toilet, big in Japan, which, through its My Satis app, you can deodorise and flush at will simply by tapping your smartphone. Never mind that the security company Trustwave issued an urgent alert in August last year that the toilet could be remotely accessed by dark-side hackers, who presumably could set your toilet flushing at will. At no stage have any of these product marketers answered a simple question: just because a device can be packed with sensors and put online, does it actually serve a consumer purpose? The worst offender is an online community called Quirky, which solicits ideas for inventions from the crowd and then takes to market those inventions deemed suitably exciting. Thanks to Quirky, you can buy the Milkmaid, a "smart jug" that uses "pH sensors" to detect when the milk in your fridge is starting to sour and sends you an urgent iPhone message (presumably so you can dash home from meetings to urgently replenish it). Or, for $50, you can buy Quirky's Egg Minder, a "smart egg tray" that "wirelessly connects to your mobile device to track the number of eggs you have", with in-tray LEDs to tell you when they are going bad. Or Quirky's Porkfolio, a piggy bank whose nose lights up when coins are deposited and pings your phone so you can "wirelessly set financial goals from afar". I call this trend the "Internet of Stupid Things". Still, I'm raising a funding round to be part of it. It's for a sensor-packed version of Campaign that flushes your toilet each time you enjoy a column. Anyone investing? David Rowan is the editor of Wired This article was first published on campaignlive.co.uk -- Roger Clarke http://www.rogerclarke.com/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 6916 http://about.me/roger.clarke mailto:[email protected] http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law University of N.S.W. Visiting Professor in Computer Science Australian National University _______________________________________________ Link mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
