Tag: Connected World

A system called the Iron Dome intercepts rockets before they can hit the ground, saving human lives. A farmer using an application called CropX sets his irrigation system to deliver more water to certain parts of his field and less to others, increasing food yields while conserving resources. Two ancient human challenges, warfare and farming, have been completely transformed due to technology that increasingly connects all objects, ranging from hostile missiles to green sprouts of wheat. About 28 billion ‘things’ will be connected to the internet by 2020, according to a recent Harvard Business Review report. As advances zoom forward with the help of the sector known as Internet of Things, or IoT, the world is on a path to increasing connectivity, setting us up for myriad social and economic changes. The first internet-connected device that was not a computer was a toaster. In 1990, John Romkey created a toaster that could be switched on and off over the internet, following the challenge of Interop Internet host Dan Lynch. Although this started off as nearly a joke, the technology...