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thethings.iO introduces you to the Tactile Internet

Tactile Internet

Tactile Internet

Is it possible to touch your daughter’s cheek while you are talking to her via Skype? Or to take a piano class from Tokyo if you’re in London? In a near future, it will be.

What exactly is Tactile Internet

Developers are working on the 5G, which is expected to come in 2020. Much faster, much longer and much better than the 4G we have nowadays. What might surprise you is that by 2020 about 26 billion devices will be connected to the Internet.

Tactile Internet goes further. The term ‘Tactile Internet’ was first introduced by Professor Gerhard Fettweis from the Technical University of Dresden in Germany in 2012, while working on control robotic systems remotely and in real time.

It was King’s College London professor Mischa Dohler that made ‘Tactile Internet’ something more than “remote control”. His idea was to close the data cycle in order to improve communications. So it is not about just seeing or hearing things far away, but also the opportunity to transmit accurately the equivalent of human touch using the bits and bytes of data networks.

The role of the Internet of Things

To make Tactile Internet possible, there is the need of having devices that can read and understand the codes to be able to make the functions we want. Those devices or “things”, must be connected to the faster Internet we have mentioned before. It is necessary to find a way to encode touch, then transmit the data and at the end make the user able to receive the sensation he or she is looking for.

Users are demanding a world in which they’d be able to feel the emotions and sensations that in a past, they were not able to. The world we live in changes fast and the Internet is no exception. Tactile Internet allows users to experience new sensations in perfect synchronization with no time-lag.

Think about a daily example of it: the e-commerce applications of Tactile Internet. You would be able to touch and see what you are about to buy on yourself without having to actually have purchased it already. This may sound like something out of a Star Trek movie but just wait a few years and you will not be thinking about it because you will be using it.

When Tactile Internet meets thethings.iO

Which is the relation between Tactile Internet and thethings.iO? thethings.iO connects devices to the Internet. To make Tactile Internet possible we must have Internet-connected “things”. Do not you see the relation yet?

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IKEA joins the IoT revolution

IKEA joins the IoT Revolution

IKEA joins the IoT Revolution

Internet of Things is now a reality, and lots of companies have to face it. Companies from many different fields (as we have seen: housing, decor, gardening…) have to improve their offers in order to survive in the new technological era. That’s why the famous Swedish company IKEA has decided to adapt things into the IoT’s world and also create new connected things to make our lives easier.

IKEA’s idea is to make a more sustainable life at home, so that is the reason why in the next decade the brand is going to create and develop new connected things, such as the whole kitchen. In a collaboration with IDEO, a global design company, and design students from Lund University (Sweden) and Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherland), IKEA has created the named Concept Kitchen, which was shown at the Milan Design Week.

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thethings.iO on Think Big: From Futuristic Ideas to the True Reality

Think Big

Last June, we appeared on Think Big blog (a project of the company Telefonica). The post was about the growth of wearables in the last couple of years, and how they are changing the entrepreneurship world. The movement started with the Apple Watch, and now the scene is looking to explode with not just wrist products but anything imaginable.

Marc Pous, thethings.iO CEO, says that the revolutions will not be just with the wearables, but with lots of internet-connected devices, the number of which will increase in the next 5 years.

“If we compare it with the forecast of connected devices by 2020, when the number of those devices will be 7.000 milion, can you visualize the number of business models that a technology which is 4 times bigger than the mobile era will generate?”, says Marc Pous.

Lots of entrepreneurs and startups have taken this opportunity to jump into the industry, developing new projects and products that will forsure be part of the new technological revolution.

Marc Pous adds, “The most important thing is to create a product that offers value or a need that can not be covered without a wearable”.

To create and make all those wearables useful, there must be other companies that connect the things to the Internet. That is the reason why we are beginning to see Internet of Things as its own market, and companies that offer exactly this service. The IoT devices are changing the way we understand our cities, houses, cars, kitchens… making our work that much easier. thethings.iO appears in here in order to make the process of connecting things to the Interner easier by offering a Cloud solution service.

“Nowadays, companies that connect things to the Internet do everything from scratch, and that costs too much. We let them focus on building the product and with our technology we connect their devices to the Internet in real time. In addition, we not only accelerate their development, our technology also allows them to save money. Our pricing system allows them just to pay if they sell the devices”, explains Marc Pous.

You can check the whole post (in Spanish) by clicking here!

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How IoT will change our gardens

How IoT will change our gardens

How IoT will change our gardens

In this blog, we have had a quick look at different ways that Internet of Things is going to change our lives soon, like houses, cities, workplaces and even animals! As you see, Internet of Things is going to change absolutely everything, and your garden could not be less. In this post, we are going to know new connected garden equipment that will help you improve it.

It is commonly said that most people do not have many time to take care of their garden. Then, you need to ask yourself if you prefer to have a poor garden, or better hire a gardener who will care of it for you.

Firstly, you need to know that, as well as there are thermostats that can help you control your house temperature or humidity, there is also the garden version. Edyn Garden Sensor is an IoT device that tracks environmental conditions, such as light, humidity, temperature… and then recommends you which plants will thrive or the optimal time for planting, among others. You can see all the information just by using its app. Isn’t it easy?

Edyn Garden Sensor

Edyn Garden Sensor

Other IoT devices can also help you save lot of water, for example RainMachine, which is synchronized with NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and other international weather data sources, that sends information to the app about temperature, humidity, wind speed, solar radiation, amount of precipitation… This device also calculates daily evapotranspiration losses and, at the same time, auto-adjusts the watering duration depending on the needs of the plant. The main purpose of RainMachine is protect and nourish your garden to perfection.

Koubachi offers a new point of view in tracking and controlling your plants. It offers a plant sensor (there are the indoor and outdoor options) and measures vital plant parameters, like light level (sunlight or artificial), soil temperature, humidity… With it, your own plant will tell you when you should to water it or if you need to change its position. In your app you will have an inventory of your plants.

Koubachi Plant Sensor

Koubachi Plant Sensor

For all those that have tried to have a little vegetables’ garden at home, Click & Grow is the option they were looking for. Their first internet-connected device was Smartpot, a connected pot that allows you to watch how your plants grow. As they describe themselves, the process is simple: “plug it in, add a little water and let it take care everything else”. By using an innovative NASA-inspired technology, they make plants grow faster, but still 100% naturally, without pesticides, insecticides… Can you believe it?

Even the brand Parrot has been interested in the connected devices, specially with a garden product, so similar to Koubachi. It is called Flower Power, and measures the needs of your plants and sends it to your phone. Available indoor and outdoor, it controls fertility, humidity, temperature and light. When it detects a need, it advises you automatically, so you will know in real time when to water your plants, add fertilizer…

Even if you are a garden-lover or a garden-forgetful person, IoT is going to change the way you look at your garden for sure! Now, any excuse is going to be accepted.
thethings.iO connects all those devices to the Internet, as most of you know. Actually, some months ago we connected a Koubachi Plant Sensor here at thethings.iO’s office! If you want to know more about IoT world and thethings.iO stay tunned!

Discover how we can help you to connect wearables and devices to the Internet.

Try for free now

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How IoT will change our animals

How IoT will change our animals

How IoT will change our animals

Could you ever imagine that Internet of Things is going to change our animals? Yes, this is possible, just keep reading and you will discover it!

Pets

Basically, the most common IoT devices for dogs or cats are the animal tracking-kind. Many companies have created a similar FitBit bracelet, but for dogs’ neck. It is commonly said that the dog is the best friend of the human, so why not start understanding it?

Some examples are WÜF or FitBark, which monitors the dog’s everyday activity and allows you to track its progress. By using FitBark, the dog’s master can understand its health, changes in behaviour, share experiences with friends and family, automatically share data to its vet, etc. It fits in all kind of dogs.

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thethings.iO library for Electric Imp

We love Electric Imp, its simplicity and how it works. This is the reason why this is the very first tutorial explaining with detail how to connect Electric Imp with thethings.iO. The ElectricImp + thethings.iO library that we implemented let you read, write and activate things through the REST API from thethings.iO.

From now if you need to store data from your Electric Imps you will be able to use our Electric Imp class to access the thethings.iO services.

Electric Imp board

Electric Imp board

Keep reading if you want more information about the Electric Imp + thethings.iO library…

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How IoT will change Sport

How IoT will change Sport

How IoT will change Sport

First, it was the Health app from Apple or Nike+, Nike + Running, Runtastic mobile apps…, and now lots of wearables and other devices are connected to the internet to measure, not only your steps, even more and more. From bracelets to t-shirts that control your movements. The inimaginable, has become real to change our lives. Do you want to know more? Keep reading, we are going to show you the latest news in the Internet of Sport Things field.

Fitness

To practise Fitness is in style. Everyone knows what fitness it, and most people around the world have added it to their lifestyles. The Internet of Things fitness devices’ main role is to help athletics practise it in a better way.

If we think about running, the first device that comes to our minds is FitBit. What is it? It is a brand of connected bracelets that allow the customers to track their day-to-day. Your daily steps, the distance you have walked, the calories you’ve burned… everything is tracked with one FitBit device. To monitor your sleep at night, to wake you up with a quiet vibration, act as a clock or ask at phone calls (yes, you can connect it to your smartphone) are some of other capabilities Fitbit offers to customers. But there’s even more! All the data generated can help you see your own personal progress and keep the control. There are other sport brands that offer a similar product as FitBit, for example, Nike, with its device called FuelBand.

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How the Internet of Things will change our houses

How IoT will change our houses

How IoT will change our houses

“Home, sweInternet-of-Things home”. Yes, IoT will be in your house too. Imagine yourself arriving from work. You lock your car just by touching your smartphone. Automatically, you can also open your house’ front door. You are in, and then, looking at your own smartphone, you can know exactly the temperature, humidity… there is in the house. And what about turning your lights on with just one click? Let’s talk about some of those opportunities that new homes will bring us…

Saving energy

As we have said and repeated lots of times, most IoT help us saving energy. Using a new system of connected, for example, lights, you can customize and adapt them depending on your needs at any time. Check Ledmotive, one of thethings.iO customer, and you will realise what we are talking about.

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