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thethings.iO in ‘El Mundo’

thethings.iO team

thethings.iO team

Last 25th of September, we appeared at the Spanish Newspaper ‘El Mundo’. They explained what we do at thethings.iO as well as introduced the concept ‘Internet of Things’. The article says…

Coming from the old concept of domotics, popped up the Internet of Things. The old domotics showed up a problem: with the system used, all the devices needed to be from the same maker or compatible brands. If not, the system didn’t work anymore. The Internet of Things as a business came to solve that problem. A new model not tight to old proprietary protocols and brands and based on the top of new communication protocols such as WiFi, Bluetooth, Sigfox or LoRa. And this is why thethings.iO appeared into the IoT platform scenario, we are helping companies making networked hardware, connected and compatible with other devices.

thethings.iO makes posible to connect things to the Internet and then to the cloud, using different protocols, according to the use you are going to give to each device. Also, thethings.iO was defined as the Amazon Web Services for the IoT companies.

“To put on sale a product is so expensive and it takes a lot of time. We allow companies to focus on their best (the design and building the products), while we do the software in order to do everything in a shorter time”, explains Marc Pous.

Actually, the team that started the acceleration in Wayra Telefónica (Barcelona) changed their business strategy. Pous explained that they started with the idea of create a mobile app to manage multiple devices, but the huge demand of what there was under it (the software) made them do what they are doing right now.

The Internet of Things enable companies to understand the way users and consumers use their devices: who uses them once, and who uses it everyday.

In some past projects, Marc Pous connected a sofa that vibrates with the music rhythm in the context of the Sónar+D, and during the Oktoberfest he connected a beer mass. “In that moment, there wasn’t any place where you could save and display the data in real-time and that was what I wanted”, adds thethings.iO CEO.

Right now, thethings.iO is working with big enterprises and startups developing different Internet-connected devices, such as medical devices, printers or lights.

Marc Pous ensures that thethings.iO‘s differentiation as a startup is to help their clients make their product be build as fast as possible, in a simple way, giving just the most important information from the data acquired and, finally, the interoperability.

To read the full article in Spanish click here.

Introducing you thethings.iO

At thethings.iO we connect devices or wearables. We are a Cloud solution for companies that decide to build new cool things that can be connected to improve our lives. If you want to know more about us, you can create an account by clicking here, sign up to receive our monthly newsletter or follow us on Twitter! Stay tuned and be the first in knowing the latest news of the IoT world and thethings.iO.

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thethings.iO interviewed at the Tech Lounge MWC15

Last March, as you might know, the Mobile World Congress took place in Barcelona. In that congress, Marc Pous, thethings.iO CEO was interviewed at the Intel TechLounge leaded by Sascha Pallenberg. Do you want to see it? Watch the following video:

Most Internet of Things companies do both hardware and software, so they have a lot of work reinventing the wheel. What would happen if each company focus on what they do best? thethings.iO brings to IoT companies a real-time cloud solution, allowing them to make just hardware. So they build the things, and then, thethings.iO connects them to the Internet.

AH! Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter!

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thethings.iO on Forbes!

Forbes website talked about thethings.iO as one of the easiest IoT platforms that connects devices with the cloud

A few weeks ago we had made a post about how excited we were about being featured in VenturesBeat. If you’d like to see this article feel free to click here.

However, today we are thrilled to announce something a bit larger, last week thethings.io appeared in Forbes!

thethings.iO on Forbes

Barcelona-based thethings.iO is the latest entrant into the IoT cloud market. It proclaims to be the “Amazon Web Services (AWS) for IoT companies”. Though it seems to be yet another backend with ingestion API and real-time analytics support, the key differentiating factor is in its interoperability. thethings.iO is one the few platforms to expose both REST and CoAP APIs.Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) is a protocol designed to be used in low-powered devices to allow them to communicate over the Internet. It is targeted at sensors, switches, valves, and actuators that are controlled remotely via standard Internet networks. Both REST and CoAP follow the same pattern of using HTTP verbs. thethings.iO uses CoAP to perform operations like activation, reading, writing and subscribing to sensors and channels. After completing the sign-up process, developers can grab an activation code to start pushing the sensor data to the platform. The node.js SDK is available on github.

Thethings.iO appeared next to some other awesome IoT startups from around the world, such as Konekt, TempoIQ, SensorCloud, Xively, Temboo and PubNub. But what makes us different from other IoT startups? The main factor is our interoperability. thethings.io is capable to expose REST, MQTT and CoAP APIs, which allows different kinds of devices to use cases to communicate over the Internet. Forbes’ article sums up all of this in their article, so make sure to check the whole piece out.

Stay tuned for more exciting posts from thethings.iO about The Internet of Things and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and be sure to check out our #IoTFriday blog!

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VentureBeat features thethings.iO as the Amazon Web Services for the IoT!

We are SO excited to share one of VentureBeat‘s most recent posts, featuring… thethings.iO as the Amazon Web Services for the Internet of Things!

VentureBeat featuring thethings.iO

VentureBeat featuring thethings.iO

Recently, we launched our free IoT cloud solution, including back-end support for the cloud solution, a customizable front-end user interface, analytical tools, and guaranteed interoperability.

Read more

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How To Start With Internet of Things #IoTFriday

Welcome to the new edition of IoTFriday at thethings.iO. A lot of people have ask us how to get started with the Internet of Things. Today I would like to talk about what you can learn or do to get into the IoT. It depends on what you do, ideas you have and what you want to learn. Enjoy the new #IoTFriday video.

During this #IoTFriday, we proposed 3 different situations depending on if you are a designer, a programmer, or a business man with a lot of amazing ideas.

If you are a designer our suggestions are to design something useful that solves a problem in your daily life. After that, print your design with a 3D printer. Finally, learn how to code to continue working on your solution.

 

If you are a developer our first suggestion is first to buy electronics such as Arduino, Raspberry Pi or Intel Edison and begin the coding process. Learn how these IoT platforms work;  it’s quite simple and the most important part is to have fun programming things. Finally, developers always need to meet a designer.

If you are a business person, create a nice idea and think of the best way to scale it. If you have a business idea related with the Internet of Things that scales, meet with developers and designers to make it happen.

Feel free to write in the comment area below if you have any questions or comments! We will do our best to respond promptly. If you need to test our back-end solution, write us a message to thethings.iO.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and be sure to check out our #IoTFriday weekly blog!

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3 Internet of Things Protocols #IoTFriday

Happy IoTFriday ! Today we are going to talk about three of the most popular Internet of Things protocols: HTTP, REST, MQTT and CoAP.

 These three protocols are often discussed among experts who decide which one has the best features, security, and lowest cost, among several other important categories. Deciding which protocol should be used depends on your needs and potential uses. At thethings.iO, we have endpoints with REST, MQTT, CoAp and Websockets. (You can find documentation for IoT developers here.)

Marc showing 3 Internet of Things protocols #iotfriday

Marc showing 3 Internet of Things protocols #iotfriday

REST APIs are the most popular of the protocols. Based on HTTP and TCP/IP, it is the most standard used to share information among services on the Internet. REST APIs enable developers to access their data using market standardized methods and formats also known as JSON and XMLs.

MQTT (Message Queue Telemetry Transport) is an IBM open source protocol that offers a light-weight and easy publish-subscribe outlet to the Internet of Things. MQTT is based on TCP/IP in which several platforms are using for atomization of subscriptions and push messages to customers.

Lastly, CoAP (Constrained Application Protocol) is a simplification of the HTTP protocol. CoAp is mostly designed for processing restrictions that cannot process or run HTTP on the hardware. Even though it is not a standardized protocol, there are a lot of interesting features such as the observe or discovery methods that will boost the Internet of Things.

 

At thethings.iO, we are offering for developers four Internet of Things protocols. Write us in order to have an invitation and test our Internet of Things real-time platform.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter!

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thethings.iO Appeared on Cinco Días

Last week, we were interviewed by Cinco Días newspaper about the Internet of Things in a post entitled “Applying the Internet of Things” in Spanish. In the article thethings.iO and GreenMomit were mentioned as some of the most advanced Internet of Things startups in Spain.

Cinco Dias y theThings.IO

Cinco Dias y theThings.IO

The English transcription of the article is:

The advantages of connecting everyday objects to the Internet are infinite. From efficiency to security, and even control remotely our gadgets. With cars connected to the Internet, for example, we are able to know if there is traffic jam or an accident, where the car automatically can call an ambulance.

GreenMomit is an example of temperature control. GreenMomit has a smart thermostat that learns from our habits at home, reducing about 25% of our electricity invoices.

Wearable is an English concept that describes clothing and complements (bands, helmets, gloves, among other) that are connected to the Internet, usually from our mobile device. For two year, the fitness wearables are being very successful, for example the fitness bands that counts steps, distance, calories or your sleep cycles.

The next generation of smart watches will integrate a lot of the sensors that these fitness bands have been using individually. That said, wearables such as motorbike helmets or glasses, through connectivity, are going to give extra information to their owners about their context and surroundings.

thethings.iO is a full-stack platform that powers the Internet of Things. That means that we help any company that is developing hardware or any Internet of Things to connect it to the Internet. We are the easiest and simplest way to connect your things to the Internet.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and be sure to check out our #IoTFriday blog!