What is the "internet of things"?

Imagine toilets that can analyse your urine and recommend a diet that would best suit you. Or a toothbrush that could alert the dentist that you need an appointment for a check-up or filling. These are some possible applications included in the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT), a concept coined by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA. 

In simple terms, The Internet of Things refers to taking all the things in the world and connecting them to the internet.

These internet connected ‘things’ can be placed into three main categories: things that collect information and then send it, things that receive information and then act on it, things that both collect and receive information. All three of these have enormous benefits that feed off each other.

Thanks to RFID (radio frequency identification), it will be possible to place a tiny chip into any item to process and transmit information. It is estimated that by 2020, between 22,000 and 50,000 million devices will be connected to the internet in order to provide people with a huge number of intelligent services and applications.

According to Hans Vestberg, CEO of Ericsson, the impact of the Internet of Things is going to be considerable: “If a person connects to the internet, life changes. But if all things and objects connect together, it is the world that changes.”