Some analysts think we are in the fourth wave of the Internet, but what will it mean for our future?
有些分析家認為我們身處於網路第四波,但這對我們未來的世界具有何種意義?
by John Schmid / © 2014, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Distributed by MCT Information Services.
The Internet of tomorrow has arrived, and it’s about much more than Facebook, Netflix, Twitter and email, the services we use to connect with one another.
This new Internet already has its own acronym, IoT, for “Internet of Things.” And while many of its architects are well-known Silicon Valley companies, longtime Milwaukee industrial stalwart Rockwell Automation Inc. has positioned itself at the heart of the phenomenon, which some consider the next Industrial Revolution.
“We’re past the inflection point, where there are now more things connected to the Internet than people,” Rockwell Chief Executive Keith Nosbusch said in a keynote speech at the first Internet of Things World Forum.
The Internet of Things will be defined by the exponential growth of Web-enabled “things” that measure, monitor and control the physical world, talking with each other more than they talk with humans. Among the many examples: thermostats, car keys, lake levels and parking spaces.
A new ‘wave’
The implementation of what Cisco Systems Inc. CEO John Chambers calls the “fourth wave of the Internet” is underway.
Since last August, for example, Starbucks has installed Internet links on 500 specialty coffee brewing machines around the country, allowing its “coffee expertise team” in its Seattle headquarters to track which roasts are most popular.
[Cisco] says sensors on some automated teller machines already can recognize human distress signals. “We are at the very, very beginning of a super-interconnected world,” said Steve Steinhilber, a senior Cisco executive who works on smart ecosystems.
Cisco estimates that sensors currently are installed on fewer than 1 percent of the non-human devices that have the potential to transmit data from an IP (Internet protocol) address. But that’s rapidly changing. By 2020, when the world population will hit 7.7 billion, Cisco expects 50 billion devices to be interconnected.
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Discussion Questions
-What is one area in which you are known for your expertise? Explain.
-Will the Internet of Things help you in your everyday life? Why or why not?
-Do you worry about losing your privacy in a new “super-interconnected world”? Explain.
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