The Internet of Things is the interworking of vehicles, buildings, electronic devices, plus network connectivity that enables these devices, or "things" to collect and exchange data. More simply explained, it's basically just connecting an electronic device to the internet, and allowing these devices to communicate and work in tandem with each other. Sure, it might sound like something out of a futuristic novel, but The Internet of Things could change the way you live your life in the not so distant future. Here is a glimpse of what your typical day could look like as an Internet of Things user:
7:00 AM
Your smart clock’s alarm goes off. It monitors how deeply you are sleeping and adjusts the volume of your alarm accordingly. The clock sends a message to the smart kitchen to start the coffee maker brewing. At the same time, the alarm clocks in your children’s rooms have gone off as well. When you get out of bed, your smart shower turns on, and the temperature of the water is adjusted based on the ambient temperature in the bathroom. The bathroom lights automatically come on in their programmed morning setting. As you leave the bathroom after your shower, your coffee is being dispensed into your cup. As you walk down the hall you are reminded to place your breakfast order. Your breakfast is being prepared as you get dressed. Smart sensors in your pantry notice that your coffee and bread supply is running low, so the smart pantry orders those products to be delivered tomorrow. As you walk to the front door, the appropriate jacket is brought to the front of your smart closet, based on the temperature outside.
8:30 AM
Your smart car starts itself up, and the door unlocks as you step off your porch. As you enter your car, the house locks itself. The day's weather forecast flashes on the screen in the car, then it displays the latest news for your industry. Your car notifies you that there will be a slight detour due to some debris that has fallen into the roadway on your normal route, and you will experience a short delay. If the delay would have been any longer, then your car would automatically notify your place of employment of your later arrival. If necessary, your appointments would have been rescheduled automatically.
9:00 AM
As you approach your office building, smart sensors in the parking lot notify you that there is an open parking space. As you park your car, your office computer boots up and coffee begins brewing in your office. Confirmation messages are automatically sent to your appointments for the day. Soon the confirmations come back, and your day is set.
12:30 PM
At lunch, your smart belt beeps to let you know you should stop eating. When you click ignore, it signals a message to be sent to your kitchen to decrease portion size in tonight’s dinner. You hear a beep from your smartphone, there is a notification that some motion has been detected in your home. After accessing your living room camera on your phone, you see that the balloon your daughter brought home from a birthday party yesterday is being blown around by your climate control system, and the motion was detected by the smart home security system. You press "ignore notification", and send your daughter a voice reminder to put the balloon away when she returns home from school.
2:30 PM
You receive a message telling you that your 3:00 PM client needs to push the meeting back 20 minutes. You hit the accept button to change the time of the meeting to 3:20. You have some time to kill, so you go online to buy some tickets to the concert coming up next month. When you confirm your purchase, you hear a notification saying that the show has been added to your calendar.
5:00 PM
You get another notification reminding you that your sister is coming over for dinner, so you access your home network to tell the vacuum cleaner to make a quick run-through of the house. As you return to your car for the drive home, dinner menu choices flash onto your car’s computer screen based on the contents of your smart refrigerator and pantry. You choose Chicken Curry, and the rice starts cooking in your kitchen.
7:30 PM
After dinner, you tell your TV to stream your favorite movie on Netflix while your kitchen makes popcorn.
11:00 PM
You tell your MP3 player to play 30 minutes of soothing music to fall asleep to, so you'll be ready to do it all over again tomorrow.
By Wayne Porter, Staff Writer