Are machines communicating with each other at your house? Is a technology that you wear on your body communicating with your computer?
The Internet of Things is here.
"There's currently a whole lot of capital moving around the IoT tech sector, over 800 companies are working on IoT devices and platforms, and new IoT components come on the market on a regular basis," according to an article on appaccessories.co.uk.
This infographic, also from appaccessories.co.uk, includes a good visual summary of the current state of the Internet of Things, dividing it into categories. "In fact, we think it's safe to say that there are 15 separate IoT categories - everything from fitness to health care to really cool toys," according the article. "Of these 15 distinct groupings, the home category is the largest by a wide margin, with nearly 140 companies working on smart home products."
Where is investment going? It is seems to be going toward the developing of of user interfaces. "It almost seems counter intuitive - if these products are smart, there should be very little interaction with them," according to the article. "However, the initial setup can't be too complicated, and lots of these products need to be able to work with one another. This is especially the case in home IoT devices, the category in which venture investing is the highest. Without a good interface, the general public might not be interested in purchasing these things."
Where is this development happening? There are over 100 companies producing IoT devices in San Francisco alone. There are 26 companies in New York, and another 37 in Canada. There are 40 IoT companies in the UK, 22 of which are located in London. You'll also find development in this field from companies in places like China, Australia, and many countries in Europe.