IoT explained
The Internet of Things is about giving intelligence and connectivity to almost everything. Maybe the best-known example of an IoT device is the smart thermostat, which communicates with your PC or smartphone and learns what you like and when and programmed itself.
Some devices also use sensors to detect when nobody's home to prevent waste. Where things get interesting is when you have lots of smart devices connected to each other and to a central hub, which might be your PC or a device such as your Xbox One.
Your Kinect camera could monitor the house when you're at work, alerting you if it sees anything suspicious, and your fridge could add things to your shopping list when you're running low on supplies.
Windows 10 and IoT
The Windows operating system fit into all of this?
Developers can create apps that work across all kinds of devices, and Windows 10 devices can change the way they work according to what they're connected to - so for example thanks to a technology called Continuum, a Windows smartphone can deliver a PC-like experience when you connect it to a keyboard and display.
You use the same apps, but the apps adapt - so Outlook changes from the mobile-focused version to a PC-like version. Universal apps will also work on the Xbox One, so developers can create apps that work not just for desktops and laptops but phones, tablets and consoles too.
Things get really entertaining when you add Hololens to the mix. Hololens is Microsoft's augmented reality (AR) headset, and it overlays computer graphics on the real world - so you could get it to show you an enormous TV on a bare wall, or overlay Mine-craft on your sofa.
Hololens is an early version of AR technology - in the long term we'll get AR embedded in normal glasses or sunglasses.
There are attempts to create open standards everyone can use, but there are many competing. The answer may be in what's called a bridge, a device that acts as a translator between two standards - so for example you might have a bridge that enables your Xbox One to control Home-Kit or Brillo devices, or vice versa.
Hue and cry
connected technology is Philips' Hue lighting system, which you can control from smartwatches, mobile devices and - via third-party apps - Windows 10.
The lights connect to a wireless hub that you connect to your wireless router, and you can then create light 'recipes' that change the colours and brightness. It's one of several such systems and by far the best known.
That doesn't mean its the best loved, however. While it's great fun Hue isn't cheap - a hub and three bulbs will set you back £149 and when rivals such as GE started making Hue-compatible bulbs using the same Zigbee wireless technology but with lower prices, Philips issued a firmware update that stopped third-party bulbs from working. It said it would change its mind after massive public outcry.
This demonstrates one potential danger of the Internet of Things: if you can't connect the devices you want to use, the Internet of Things is really the Internet Of Only A Few Things.
We shall have some Pi
it's a bare-bones computer kit that uses SD cards for storage and ships without keyboards, mice and other fripperies. But it's a fantastic device and it now runs Windows thanks to Windows 10 IoT Core, a version of Windows designed for the Internet of Things.
That also means it's cheap and cheerful. For £32 you can have a kit that you can use to connect to and get data from sensors, to run robotic arms, to get information from cloud-based services on the internet and display it using LEDs or displays, to connect cameras and to do pretty much anything else you can think of. The Raspberry Pi can be as simple as a single sensor trigger events, or you can make it the brains of a complex system programmed in Visual Studio.
The Internet of Things is about giving intelligence and connectivity to almost everything. Maybe the best-known example of an IoT device is the smart thermostat, which communicates with your PC or smartphone and learns what you like and when and programmed itself.
Some devices also use sensors to detect when nobody's home to prevent waste. Where things get interesting is when you have lots of smart devices connected to each other and to a central hub, which might be your PC or a device such as your Xbox One.
With a few well-chosen devices you could automate all kinds of interesting things, so for example your fitness tracker might tell your lights when you're off to bed and then monitor your sleep to find the right time to wake you up gently, giving the coffee machine and the thermostat a nudge so the house is toasty and your coffee ready when you get up.
The Windows operating system fit into all of this?
Developers can create apps that work across all kinds of devices, and Windows 10 devices can change the way they work according to what they're connected to - so for example thanks to a technology called Continuum, a Windows smartphone can deliver a PC-like experience when you connect it to a keyboard and display.
You use the same apps, but the apps adapt - so Outlook changes from the mobile-focused version to a PC-like version. Universal apps will also work on the Xbox One, so developers can create apps that work not just for desktops and laptops but phones, tablets and consoles too.
Hololens is an early version of AR technology - in the long term we'll get AR embedded in normal glasses or sunglasses.
There are attempts to create open standards everyone can use, but there are many competing. The answer may be in what's called a bridge, a device that acts as a translator between two standards - so for example you might have a bridge that enables your Xbox One to control Home-Kit or Brillo devices, or vice versa.
connected technology is Philips' Hue lighting system, which you can control from smartwatches, mobile devices and - via third-party apps - Windows 10.
The lights connect to a wireless hub that you connect to your wireless router, and you can then create light 'recipes' that change the colours and brightness. It's one of several such systems and by far the best known.
That doesn't mean its the best loved, however. While it's great fun Hue isn't cheap - a hub and three bulbs will set you back £149 and when rivals such as GE started making Hue-compatible bulbs using the same Zigbee wireless technology but with lower prices, Philips issued a firmware update that stopped third-party bulbs from working. It said it would change its mind after massive public outcry.
This demonstrates one potential danger of the Internet of Things: if you can't connect the devices you want to use, the Internet of Things is really the Internet Of Only A Few Things.
it's a bare-bones computer kit that uses SD cards for storage and ships without keyboards, mice and other fripperies. But it's a fantastic device and it now runs Windows thanks to Windows 10 IoT Core, a version of Windows designed for the Internet of Things.
Microsoft's own demo used Windows on the Raspberry Pi 2 to control a virtual robot via a Hololens headset, overlaying computer graphics on a real, fully functional and controllable robot that can respond to voice commands.
That also means it's cheap and cheerful. For £32 you can have a kit that you can use to connect to and get data from sensors, to run robotic arms, to get information from cloud-based services on the internet and display it using LEDs or displays, to connect cameras and to do pretty much anything else you can think of. The Raspberry Pi can be as simple as a single sensor trigger events, or you can make it the brains of a complex system programmed in Visual Studio.
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