You Too Can Join the Internet Of Things

I read a lot news online and this one relates: You Too Can Join the Internet Of Things . It talks about the growing open source community behind the Internet of Things. In this case using mbed.org a ARM based development kit.  ARM chips are faster than the AVR chip found on the arduinos I'm using but right now the cost is much higher and their not a whole lot of code written for them yet.

For many years now, Silicon Valley has hyped a concept known as the Internet of Things.

The thinking goes that just about everything, be it a shirt, toy, wall or milk jug, will have a chip or some kind of sensor in it that transmits information. People talk about refrigerators that can discern what’s inside of them and recommend recipes or order more milk for delivery just as that gallon jug begins to run out. Or maybe a restaurant gleans some kind of information about its wait staff based on the movement of plates.

A lot of the stuff sounds hokey and adds complexity to situations where the current order of things works just fine. But advocates of the Internet of Things argue that it’s tough for us to really grasp what useful creations people will build with the sensors in these early days with the technology.

[New York Times]

Update: Wired Posted a followup

Will the Internet of Things Be Open or Closed?

Now, at Adafruit Industries’ blog, DIY-engineering all-star Limor Fried counters the Times’ warm enthusiasm for ARM’s approach with some ice-water skepticism: “mbed requires an online compiler, so that you are dependent on them forever. You cannot do anything without using their online site, ever.”

[Wired]