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theThings.IO team is going to the Web Summit 2014

Web Summit 2014 is almost here and thethings.IO team will be in going to Dublin Ireland to present some of our companies awesome capabilities!

Web Summit 2014

Web Summit 2014

We plan on bringing a few surprises to the Web Summit such as our real-time platform demo, the backend website and also the notorious connected boxing glove.

 

We are looking for the strongest man/woman of the Internet of Things.

 Our infamous connected boxing glove will be in attendance in Dublin so come on by and give it your best shot. We will have categories for both men and women.

Make sure to visit our booth on Tuesday November 4th at HRD123 (Summit Machine) to take part in the challenge, and who knows maybe even you can win some of the super cool prizes we are bringing with us.

 

Our Calendar at Web Summit

On Monday we will visit Wayra Ireland, being a part of Wayra Barcelona has let us connect with a lot of interesting startups and we would like continue making new connections all over the world.

On Tuesday the contest for strongest IoT man/woman of the WebSummit 2014 and then at 3:45 p.m. Marc will take part in the panel session on “Legal issues of the Internet of Things, wearable technologies, eHealth”.

On Wednesday and Thursday we will be visiting the Summit Machine and look forward to meeting some awesome people who are speaking there.

How To Fund Your Internet of Things Project

Welcome to the new edition of IoTFriday at thethings.iO. Today we will be discussing how to fund your Internet of Things project.

We have come across multiple startups and companies who have innovative ideas and prototypes but they don’t know how to get funding to produce their things and enter the market successfully. Usually, they are restrained until they get to the point where they have a few prototypes but are unable to receive funding therefore they are unable to produce anything. Today we want to cover some ideas about how to fund your Internet of Things project.

The Internet of Things business cycle

At thethings.iO we work using our own lean approach. This IoT business cycle is an approximation of how we think people build products.

IoT business cycle

Idea: Teams want to solve daily life problems; they have an idea about how to solve that problem with a networked object.

Prototype: Teams should then prototype the idea of the solution through design and electronics. From there, they should refine the idea as needed by user tests and iterations.

Promotion: Now it’s time to market to the proper target. It’s important to understand what is the niche of people who are more apt to buy your product and see it as useful. Today, it’s becoming easier to fund hardware and software products through new funding instruments such as crowd funding platforms.

Sell: If you are using crowd funding campaigns or pre-selling on a website, you are already in the selling process.

Manufacturing: With the proper funding, it would then be time to decide where to produce the final product. Before this point, you may already know where you can produce this product, the cost of producing it, and delivery timing, as well as several other small details. However, it is important to remember that everything can change so being familiar with these small details is extremely important for the future of the product. Lastly in this manufacturing process, you will need to create a team in the country of the manufacturing strictly devoted to testing and tuning the last details of the product.

Distribution: As the final step, you will need to send your product to your first clients and wait for feedback. Then, you should take into account things like stocks, logistics, etc.

Although creating hardware can be complicated, it is very doable.

Some examples of IoT Crowd Funded Projects

1. Smart Citizen Kit Project

Smart Citizen Kit was provided with two important things through a crowd funding campaign: cash to produce the first prototypes in China and enough market traction to attain people’s interest on the product.

2. SmartThings project

Unlike the Smart Citizen Kit Project, SmartThings received funding from investors before attending their Kickstarter campaign. They used their crowd funding campaign as a marketing campaign to get traction which insured them that there were early adopters who were very interested in their product.

They get funded by investors before going to their Kickstarter campaign. They used their crowdfunding campaign as a marketing campaign to get traction and proof that people and early adopters were really interested on their product.

 

Advice From Thethings

If you are searching for funding for your startup, there are several accelerators and incubators available such as Highway1Lemnos Labs or Startupbootcamp IoT, among others, that can help Internet of Things startups to get their seed funding to set up the first prototypes and help define the target market strategy.

Investments from venture capitals and angels can make things a bit complicated for the Internet of Things and hardware companies. If investors don’t see a direct value and future revenue stream from the hardware, it’s difficult to get funded.

At thethings.iO, we help hardware companies connect their things to the Internet for a variable cost. With this pricing, our vision and main goal is to encourage companies to focus on their product development while we take care of the underlying cloud platform of their solution.

If you are looking for extra information on how thethings.iO can help your product, feel free to contact us at any time!

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

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At the Intel IoT Roadshow and StartupBootcamp

Within the next few days, our CEO and Internet of Things advocate, Marc Pous, will be in Munich, Germany to attend two very important events and will represent thethings.iO.

Intel Edison

Intel Edison

The first event is the Intel Internet of Things Roadshow, where Intel will be presenting their new Internet of Things platform, the Intel GalileoGeneration2 and the Intel Edison. Intel is investing a lot of effort into their new IoT platform. Marc will be at the Roadshow discussing his experience on the Internet of Things and then also as a judge for the IoT hackathon on Sunday. If you are in Munic, don’t miss out on such an important IoT event.

StartupBootcamp IoT Barcelona

StartupBootcamp IoT Barcelona

Monday, Marc will be mentoring the selected startups that make it out of Munich in Switzerland at the StartupBootcamp Munich Pitch Days. StartupBootcamp is opening a new Internet of Things accelerator in Barcelona where they will help 10 IoT startups get to the next step, where Marc will also be a mentor to young companies. If you want to apply click here.

If you want to learn more about thethings.iO and meet Marc Pous during the next days in Munich, ping him on @theThingsIO twitter.

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thethings.iO Aelected at the Pioneers Startup Competition

We are very happy to announce that thethings.iO is one of 50 startups that have been selected for the Pioneers startup challenge in Vienna October the 28thPioneers festival

Pioneers festival

We will be pitching our company in fron of investors on October 29t at the  Investors Day at the Pioneers between 3:30 PM and 4:30 PM. After that the thethings.iO will be presenting at the Show Room for startups between 4:40 PM and 5:40 PM. From that pitch competition, 10 startups will be selected to pitch at the Pioneers Festival.

Feel free to contact us via Twitter or e-mail (hello at thethings.io) to meet us in Viena during the Pioneers Festival if you need further information about what is thethings.iO.

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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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Does Your Thing Need An Open API? #IoTFriday

Welcome to the newest edition of the  IoTFriday segment at thethings.iO. Today, we are trying to answer some questions we have been receiving asking why one should open their devices on API.

 

Remember that the Internet of Things is a bottom-up technology wave, much like the Web was some years ago. Most of the innovation and new features are coming from makers, hackers and new startups. Opening your things’ APIs allows you to build new features on the top of your things. That means more functionalities for you, which in turn leads to a smarter device and finally brings you more revenue due to third party people.

What do you think? Feel free to send us your feedback and comments!

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

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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!

 

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Top 3 DIY Platforms #IoTFriday

Welcome to the newest edition of the IoTFriday at thethings.iO. Today we will be speaking to you about our favorite DIY platform to develop Internet of Things projects. It typically isn’t the hardware you need but actually the needs of the project that is the deciding factor in which platform to choose.

We have selected Arduino, Electric Imp and Intel Edison as some of our 3 favorite do-it-yourself electronic platforms.

 

Top 3 DIY platforms - #IoTFriday

Top 3 DIY platforms – #IoTFriday

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