All of my recent interesting in the concept known as the “internet of things” has been turning up some interesting results. And it’s not hard to see why really, given all the research, innovation and commercial applications dedicated to making it a reality. And yet, a surprising amount of people seem to be in the dark about what this term means.

Again, not surprising, as high-tech trends tend to be somewhat esoteric, understood by only a select few at first and gradually trickling its way into public consciousness. To break it down, the Internet of Things is a concept where the real world will come to resemble the internet, where digital markers and wireless internet will make reality incredibly accessible and connected.

Think of it this way: you wake up in the morning and receive instant updates from all of your household devices. You’re fridge tells you how close your food is to its expiration dates, and your thermostat sets itself based on the weather, season, and your habits. On your way to work, you are able to access emails and memos from your office server, and when you’re driving home, you are able to tell the house to warm up and turn the lights on.

All day long, you are able to monitor all of your gadgets and devices because they are all “tagged”, feeding you information on their locations and anything else you need to know in real-time. If you lose something, it alerts you to this fact and tells you where to find it. And if you’re out and about without your vehicle, you can summon it and get it to find its way to you.

That’s the general idea, creating a “smart world” through the use of networking technology. Now here are some videos too that demonstrate the concept in action. All are from Cisco, the networking IT giant located in San Jose (capitol of Silicon Valley) and are promotional videos, basically showing what the company’s vision is and how they intend to bring it about.

“Circle Story”:
This video, perhaps more than anything, demonstrates how the world of the near future will be interconnected. As the name would suggest, it follows a day in the life of regular folks as they start their day, go to their various jobs, do their shopping, and how the entire process is all part of the same dance. And of course, Cisco showcases how its technology is helping to make it happen.

Curiously though, the people do look kind of bored, don’t they? Subtle social commentary, or were they just being realistic? You decide!

Barcelona Embraces IoE to Create a Smart City:
In this promotional video, we see how the city of Barcelona, Spain is using the concept of the Internet of Everything (IoE) to address the ongoing challenge of urbanization and growth. By embracing the latest in smart technology, Barcelona is becoming a shining example of what Cisco refers to as a “smart city”, much to the company’s delight!

What this consists of is Barcelona connecting its citizens, remote sensors, and all devices contained within to a city-wide WiFi. This in turn is offering people new services, facilitating energy-efficient reforms, and establishing new economic opportunities for the city’s companies and partners, not playing to the city’s reputation for social interaction and connectivity. Check out this video for the details:

The Road to the Internet of Everything:
Last, but not least, is Cisco’s promotional video of what the Internet of Everything is really all about. Intrinsic to the IoE is the fact that by 2020, the physical and digital world will be connected by 50 billion devices and 1 trillion sensors. Meanwhile, billions of electronic embedded devices will transmit terabytes of data, communicating everything from health information to updates at the speed of light.

The result of all this, according to the video, will be an “electronic skin” built on the internet, one which will overlay the world’s existing surface and communicate everything across its vast, virtual space. As we know, this skin is already being laid, but what is still to come is going to be pretty impressive and game-changing. The bottom line being that those that are in the know will be able to reap the benefits more quickly.

You may think these videos are little more than corporate promotion of company services. But if the “internet revolution” has taught us anything, it’s that the current range of technological change is here to stay, and is only going to be getting more pronounced as time goes on. And when it comes to predicting how these things will shape the world of tomorrow, those deeply involved in the development process are certainly worth listening to!

After all, they are helping to build that world, and are doing so because we’re letting them. Best to know what’s coming if you want to know how it’s going to effect you, and if you want to have anything to say about it, right?