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IoT Is the Third Big Technology 'Wave' In the Last 50 Years, Says Harvard
dcblogs writes: The Internet of Things (IoT) may be more significant in reshaping the competitive landscape than the arrival of the Internet. Its productivity potential is so powerful it will deliver a new era of prosperity. That's the argument put forth by Michael Porter, an economist at the Harvard Business School and James Heppelmann, president and CEO of PTC, in a recent Harvard Business Review essay. PTC is a product design software firm that recently acquired machine-to-machine firm Axeda Corp. In the past 50 years, IT has delivered two major transformations or "waves," as the authors describe it. The first came in the 1960s and 1970s, with IT-enabled process automation, computer-aided design and manufacturing resource planning. The second was the Internet and everything it delivered. The third is IoT. That's a strikingly sweeping claim and there will no doubt be contrarians to Porter and Heppelmann's view. But what analysts are clear about is that IoT development today is at an early stage, perhaps at a point similar to 1995, the same year Amazon and eBay went online, followed by Netflix in 1997 and Google in 1998. People understood the trend at the time, but the big picture was still out of focus.
Shill says shilled product is the "next big thing," let's listen!
Yeah, bluetooth is cool. Everything's connected. I can control my toaster with my Harmony remote. But this is NOT bigger than the internet.
I for one welcome our new food cooling overlords.
This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when first he appears as a protector - Plato (423 to 327 BC)
I did not read the article, I quit reading the IoT articles some time ago. Seems they all revolve around the wonderful new advertising and data collection methods that arise as people adopt the IoT.
The day my toaster tells me about the great new pop tarts I could be eating, is the day I take a large axe to it and give it a reprogramming it will never forget.
The internet of things has toasters.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Wow, an article hyping a fork of the internet that is all...hype!
Let's say 2-10% of the total population use devices to actually control or monitor web-connected appliances. That's not where the market is.
It's all about the 100% of the population are subjected to an unending bombardment of ads on their refrigerator and microwave screens, based on personal data profiles garnered from same-said appliances associated with other known user info. Universal real-time context-based marketing. SCORE!
This isn't about technology. It's about marketing, pure and simple.
Scruting the inscrutable for over 50 years.
Let me go through each of the predicted applications of the Internet of Things and see how much, or how little, effect it will have.
Environmental monitoring - Will protect you from a tsunami once a decade. Otherwise, makes no difference to your life.
Infrastructure management - Will make your train run a couple percent faster. Barely noticeable.
Industrial applications - Will let Walmart cut a few more cents off their prices and still make a profit. Barely noticeable.
Energy management - Will cut a few dollars off your electric bill. Barely noticeable.
Medical and healthcare systems - Will get you faster to the hospital when certain medical crises occur. May lead to better treatment of some chronic diseases, once a few decades of research is done based on the resulting data.
Building and home automation - Will change the world just as much as X10 did. Remember them?
Transport Systems - See infrastructure and industry above.
Large scale deployments - May save a little money. Unclear what this category even means.
Compare that to the effects of the internet on business on society. Here are a few of the first ones I can think of:
- Internet purchases
- Telecommuting and eased outsourcing
- Almost replaces the newspaper, travel agent, and snail mail industries
- Social media as a major activity for most people - formation of new geographically-dispersed communities
There's just no reasonable comparison. Even the hype for the IoT is smaller than many of the demonstrable effects for the real internet.
How does the IoT handle security problems? That seems the biggest stumbling block.
"Dumb" things have an important advantage in that they can't be hacked and remotely controlled - especially without your knowing.
The current maintenance nightmare of securing networked devices is already overwhelming (me) and the effects of being hacked are already incredibly expensive. I'm not sure the value gained from IoT is worth it.
Perhaps if the devices were not update-able and only sent and recieved particular commands... but then you lose some of the value that IoT promises?
Complexity Happens
... so powerful it will deliver a new era of prosperity. That's the argument put forth by Michael Porter, ...
This is not 'an argument', it's a postulate. How does he actually imagine that this fabled 'IoT' (note the fancy capitalisation, an infallible sign that This Is True, for certain values of true). Let's go all the way back to the fundamentals of economy: value is produced by adding labour to natural resources, right? You dig iron ore out of the ground, heat it up and slap it with a hammer - now you have a tool, which is valuable (slightly simplified, I know). Where does the value come from in this IoT? Advertising? Outsourcing? Or does he just mean that the already wealthy will be better able to concentrate what limited wealth there is in their bankaccounts? Value, whichever way you define it, does not come out of thin air and communication.
Let's hear some real arguments, please.
As far as I can tell, "Internet of Things" is at present a purely marketing term, and something bandied about by people who are telling us how awesome the future will be and what we'll be using.
Is it a real thing? Is this what people actually want? Or is this just hype and bullshit?
Me, I'm more thinking this falls into the category of most forms of prognostication, isn't as inevitable or desired as people think, and a whole bunch of people are making money by talking about "Interwebs of Stuff".
It's hard not to see this as so much marketing crap, and something for the analysts to talk about that, as usual, they have no idea if it's real or not but need to sell their services.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
This is all fine and dandy as long as a few simple requirements are well understood by the technology implementers.
1) Legal liability for appliances and their cock ups is handled in much the same way as it is now.
If my toaster starts a fire and burns down my house, the insurance cuts me a check immediately while they handle the legal battle with GE (toaster manufacturer) and UL (Underwriters Laboratory who signed off on the device safety). The same legal protections for technology in appliances should be in effect. If my dishwasher gets malware (or just includes it by default) and causes my refrigerator to stop working and spoil my food, the insurance cuts me a check for my losses and to replace the defective appliances, and handles the legal issues.
2) Device interoperability needs to be as easy as antiquated analog systems.
You could hook up a TV with RCA or coax connections and be watching off a VCR or DVD player in minutes. It's ridiculous that HDMI is rarely so straightforward (it occasionally works this simply). Resolution, aspect ratio, audio stream selection, and DRM phone home setup is retarded.
3) Pick a device class to be the central hub, management, and gatekeeper. I suggest home wifi routers or a cheap, simple network bridge device.
4) Full control of permissions and actions by devices with simple to understand language.
If I don't want my washing machine downloading ads for Tide and Purex, it better f---ing not download ads. Same goes for usage tracking uploads.
5) Power usage should not significantly go up. If anything, connected devices should be able to lend clues as to how little changes can make my home greener and/or lower utility bills. Example: washing machine suggests running wash cycle at 8 PM to get out of peak usage billing. It sends me an SMS if I select, to let me know to put the clothes into the dryer.
6) Device electronics / control should be isolated to prevent the additional complication from increasing failure rate.
It's stupid, bad engineering that the more features a home appliance has, i.e. the more premium it is, the more consumers see failures. If the toaster can't get online, it better still make my toast when I press the button.
XBOX Live account required for XBOX branded appliances (terms and conditions apply). Now connect with your friends in whole new ways! Achievement! You made toast today! Achievement! Dinner meals for the week planned. PLUS Voice control features available in any room with an XBOX branded appliance! *ALL XBOX branded appliances must remain connected at all times or your account may be voided.
In order for people in a nation to support a market place two things are required. The people must have disposable income and leisure time available. Sadly we are living in a time in the US where most people have less and less disposable income and either have way too much liesure time or way too little liesure time. We can assume the unemployed won't be getting "things" very much at all. And those that work anywhere near minimum wage won't be buying much either. And it is not a tax problem as politicians would have you believe. It is the cost of basic survival is too high and the wealth the rich have been allowed to accumulate has ruined the economy. Yes we do need a fair minimum wage and we also need a maximum wage and earnings limit as well. Failure to do this will result in some sort of revolution which may already be under way. Every crime has an element of rebellion against government in it and every arrest costs the tax payer more money. The downward path is chiseled in rock for all to see.
Once everything can get a public IP, you can do cool things like ping your grandfather's pace maker....
ping grandpa .... ...
No response.
"GRANDPA!!!!!"
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
Bought a new coffeemaker last year, it has an oh-so-helpful alarm to let you know when the coffee's finished. Which can't be switched off. So when I get up early on Saturday to a nice quiet house, my frickin coffee-maker has to emit 5 piercing beeps to let all the sleepers know I'm making coffee. Really nice when someone is crashed in the living room.
We need a coffee luddite movement.
Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
Please stop the Big Data wet dream of sensors all over collecting information they have no business having. The security nightmare of millions of half-ass secured devices leaking data 24 hrs a day is not a good thing for society. There could be plenty of value in certain devices communicating, but on an intranet only and with very limited extranet access only if and when appropriate. The current model where things just get stuck on the internet with no limitations is the wrong approach for the consumer and the health of the internet.