People talk about the Internet of Things (IoT) quite a bit in the modern era. It has become one of those terms that you might be familiar with, without actually fully understanding it. Read on to explore everything that you need to know to understand the IoT as a beginner. This beginner’s guide will make it much easier to grasp the IoT and you won’t have to worry about not understanding what people are talking about any longer.
What Is the IoT?
The IoT term actually refers to billions of physical devices that are now connected to the Internet. These devices collect data and they are capable of sharing data as well. Just about anything can become a part of the IoT and connecting these devices will help to give them greater capabilities. For example, you can make an object Internet-enabled while also adding sensors to it to turn it into something more than what it was before.
Currently, the IoT term often refers to devices that wouldn’t usually be expected to connect to the Internet. For instance, you might have a smart refrigerator that is capable of collecting data and it might even have some type of display on one of its doors. This fridge is an IoT device because of its capabilities and the fact that it is connected. There are billions of these IoT devices out there now and even more will be created in the near future.
How Did This Become Possible?
The IoT became a possibility due to advances in chip technology. In the past, it wasn’t practical to make small chips and such an endeavor would be prohibitively expensive. In modern times, the cost of making chips is much lower and it’s possible to make them very small. This allows the IoT dream to be realized and it has become a major part of the world.
People had the idea of creating devices like this all the way back in 1980. It just wasn’t possible for people or companies at the time to make things happen. In 1999, Kevin Ashton coined the “Internet of Things” term and the rest is history. It would take a solid decade for the IoT vision to be realized, but now that it has, it has become apparent that the IoT is a huge part of the future.