Towards a connected future

摘要

The next time you walk down the street, pause for a moment and look around. I bet the majority of people you see are using a device to talk, text, tweet, or connect with someone else. The world has long been composed of systems that are connected or intelligent, but not both. Connected systems like telephone lines and light switches can transmit information or state, but offer little to no intelligence. Intelligent systems such as engine control units and thermostats have onboard processing intelligence, but can't communicate outside of the closed circuit. Today, the people you see connecting around you are using systems that marry the two concepts to become both intelligent and connected. What you see on your walk is The Internet of Things: a collision of systems that have traditionally been disparate.