Internet of Things, Oh How You've Grown
This infographic, provided by Cisco, shows just how quickly the Internet of things has grown since 1988, when Xerox PARC chief technologist Marc D. Weiser first conceived of ubiquitous computing. Weiser saw a future populated by smart objects, a web of sensors on everyday items better connecting us to our environment and our environment to the Internet. Today, Cisco says that more than 13 billion devices are net-connected and there will be 50 billion by 2020.
This is what the Internet of Things looks like today.
By the way, Cisco didn't give us money to post this. That's fine by me, since the Electronic Frontier Foundation and other groups have linked them to helping the Chinese government electronically track dissidents.
The emerging Internet of things may make our lives more convenient.
Left out of this attractive infographic are the potential costs.
About the author
Patrick Tucker is deputy editor of THE FUTURIST magazine and author of the forth-coming book A Future Ever Certain: How the Science of Prediction Will Change the Way We Work, Live, and Love (Current, 2013)
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