What is IoT [Internet of Things]? Everything You Need to Know

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By Vinay Khatri

 

INTERNET: BASIC INTRODUCTION

 

In this era, the Internet has become a life-changing resource tool for every group of society. While accelerating human interaction, it has left a huge impact on the lifestyle of people. The Internet can undoubtedly be referred to as a modern library with an answer to any question one can possess and imagine. It has changed the outlook of how one feels about the surrounding world with a change in thinking and reasons for its preoccupancy with modern society. 

 

PERKS OF INTERNET TO THE MODERN SOCIETY 

 

With an endless path of advantages which one can never know of, the Internet has changed our lives in a beautiful way which a man is unknown too. Some of the advantages of the Internet which strikes a human mind when listening to the word “INTERNET” can be summarized as below: 

 

PROVISION OF KNOWLEDGE 

Beyond the shadow of a doubt, the Internet is one of the greatest creations providing instant access to an endless amount of knowledge. With a click and a blink of an eye, one comes across millions of links to go with for any query or topic through various web pages.

 

  1. ONLINE ACTIVITIES

Without stepping out, the Internet turns out as a helping hand for all online transactions. It provides instant access to one’s bank details, whether it is the transactions incurred (withdrawals and deposits), balance, payment of bills, etc., electronically. Online shopping is one of the biggest perks one can get during such difficult times. With a click, one can safely find the desired products and safely deliver them to their place. Reviews and comparisons give customers an upper edge of excellence. 

 

  1. COMMUNICATION AND SHARING OF INFORMATION

In former times, it used to take days to get a letter from someone, but now, with internet access, one can send emails to a person even in some other part of the world within seconds. With instant methods of communication and online forms, people get a chance to share a common line of interests and connect. 

 

  1. ADDRESS AND CONTACT

With advanced technology, GPS, and efficient search engines, one never has to face issues with contacts. GPS aids in providing maps and direct access to any and every location one desires to go to in any part of the world. Smart search engines help to know locations and give access to contact numbers accordingly. Say, for instance, a person is in urgent need of an electrician, all he will have to do is search the word, and voila, he’ll be accustomed to 100’s of electricians around his place in no time. 

 

  1. MAKING MONEY 

Whether one is a businessman or is engaged with sales of products and services, the internet comes off as a perfect place to sell. With websites and internet access, one can reach potential customers and sell goods at any time of the day. Apart from providing an online platform, the internet has the ability to advertise products and services according to the desired specification of the producer to everyone around the world. The internet provides an ample amount of online services to perform to earn money easily. 

 

  1. EASY DONATIONS AND FUNDING

Internet is a service to which every person across the globe today has access, and hence, with such an extensive audience, charity or fundraising tends to be a piece of cake. Innovative ideas and projects for helping the one in need and collecting donations from people are some of the biggest advantages of the Internet. With a much wider range of audiences, funding for important causes can be done more efficiently compared to offline mode. 

 

  1. SOURCE OF ENTERTAINMENT

The Internet provides a wide range of videos, movies, games, and music which can never make a person feel bored or isolated. 

 

With these aforementioned points, the Internet is a blessing in one’s life. When thinking of it, how can someone not come across the fact of a surprising wireless transfer of data? 

 

INTERNET OF THINGS

 

  • The developer of the Internet of Things, Kevin Ashton, has exclaimed, “The Internet of things has the potential to change the world, just as the internet did, maybe more so.” and can’t possibly ignore the fact. 

 

  • The Internet of Things (IoT) is the system of interconnected, inter-related objects which help in the collection and transfer of data over a wireless network without human interruption. It can be referred to as the billions of physical devices connected all around the internet for the collection and sharing of data. Anything, from a light bulb to something as big as a truck, has the potential to be turned into a part of IoT with the help of sensors and an advanced level of digital intelligence. It is without a pinch of doubt turning the world smarter and responsive. 

 

  • As Geoff Mulgan quoted, with the advancement of the Internet of Things, the very notion of a clear line between reality and virtual reality is blurred, sometimes in a creative way. 

 

  • IoT is utilized in devices that are not generally expected to have a provision of the internet and an ability to communicate independent of human intervention. And hence, while a computer or a Smartphone is not considered an IoT device, any wearable device like a fitness band or a smartwatch might be treated as one!

 

  • With a thought of how far the world had come from the time when Kevin Ashton gave the term, its usage has improved by leaps and bounds and never fails to surprise the users to date. But as it is said, every advantageous concept comes with a price. 

 

ADVANTAGES OF IOT TO INTERNET USERS

 

Any business organization’s benefits might enjoy giving a special reference to IOT depending upon proper implementation and efficiency considerations. This is practiced with a primary objective of business enterprises having access to data about products and their internal systems with a greater ability to make effectively bigger changes as a result. 

 

Following are the advantages of the Internet of things: 

 

  1. ACCESSIBILITY 

With a smart device in your hand and a fairly good internet connection, one can almost anywhere get access to facts and information in real-time. Anyone prefers to use the skilled Google maps to see where they are instead of constantly looking out for someone to be around on the street and ask him or her about the location. With the presence of IoT, booking has flipped out to be within a second away of a click. All the desired information and facts are easily accessible. 

 

  1. SPEED

All the data through IOT assists the users to perform numerous tasks with exceptional speed. Say, for example, IoT has made automation so easy today. Repetitive functions in smart offices are carried out competently, allowing the working employees to invest the saved time and efforts into more challenging tasks.

 

  1. TIME MANAGEMENT

IoT has proved out to be an implausible tool for saving time. One can search for the latest news and reviews on his/her phones during such heavy rushy times of the day or visit a blog about one’s favorite niche, purchase commodities and services through online shopping; IoT can do anything one can name today. 

 

  1. STANDARDS AND ADAPTATION

With an indeterminable amount of changes that IoT has been going through, all the alterations are minimal compared to the persisting high-tech world. Hence, it is no wrong to say that it would be so unyielding for today’s generation to keep track of every activity taking place around him, every recent update of happenings across the globe, and every little thing without the existence of IoT.

 

  1. COST REDUCTION

With more business organizations moving towards the usage of IoT devices for streamlining their daily operations, time and cost efficiency are evident, along with a substantial increase in their profitability rate. With the tailored use of more Internet of Things technologies, the rate of survival and succession drastically rise. IoT devices have already marked their place, starting from Cybercity to workplace efficiency. IoT devices are characterized to use sensors for keeping business assets and types of equipment running at their peak continuously, keeping a high head with a healthy impact on maintenance costs. 

 

  1. PRODUCTIVITY AND EFFICIENCY RATES

Efficiency in operations helps to improve productivity and help to boost revenues. A company can increase its organizational efficiency through IoT but cutting down the repetitiveness in tasks or tasks that consume an inefficient amount of time. A very basic yet knowledgeable example of this can be the automated converting process of PDFs and other documents through IoT, where the creation tool assists in kicking off the obstacles in the path of the same, i.e., edit on PDF, text archives, increased ability of communication and an even accelerated documentation process which helps in assisting and increasing production rate. IoT also results in a more effective approach to management activities through printers, WiFi, etc. 

 

Though IoT has numerous advantages, nothing is perfect.

 

DISADVANTAGES OF IOT TO INTERNET USERS

 

  1. BREACH OF DATA

Thinking of trouble-free access to data certainly is amazeballs, but woefully in the process, one’s private data gets a good amount of exposure too. For instance, during the times one engages with online banking, the risk of identity and credit information thefts are at times compromised too; this kind of data breach turns out to be exceptionally worrying. Users and companies themselves fear that these activities might lead to a breach of trust of their clients through websites and other paths. A few devices which are called out to be risky considering the same are smart toys and devices, certain unprofessional apps, etc. 

 

  1. COMPLEXITY IN FUNCTIONS

The Internet of Things is undoubtedly renowned for its ease in people’s lives, but this considers a lot of complexities behind it. If software ends up with a calculation error, every next time in the process is affected. Such mistakes have an irreversible impact and are deemed to be too difficult to fix.

 

  1. OVER DEPENDENCY

With an undivided dependence on the internet connection, IoT tends to be dysfunctional in the absence of the internet. Also, for quick conclusions, today’s generations have become overly dependent on IoT, not only in business terms but also in private lives. With a second-late delivery of information, one tends to lose his/her control. Hence, IoT does not contribute to the best part of people, whether with attention span or retaining power.

 

  1. UNEMPLOYMENT 

With more devices being interconnected through the internet, it can be an evident guess that the manpower requirements might see a downfall, and eventually, employees might lose their jobs. IoT, through the automated promotion of tasks, might fulfill HR requirements in organizations. E.g., Chatbots. This automation will result in a devastating impact on the working class.

 

FIELDS THAT USES IOT 

 

  1. HEALTH CARE CENTRE 

IoT is used in hospitals through wireless fitness banks connected with the patients to automatically sensor and monitor a patient’s health. It helps in providing them a personal edge over their health in a medically suited way. 

 

  1. EARTHQUAKE DETECTION

IoT is used in earthquake detectors which have high-end sensors. They sense the seismic waves through the ground, which helps us in preparing beforehand. 

 

  1. SECURITY PROCEDURES

Concerning security, devices with IoT tend to detect trespassers or unauthorized entries through sensors. This might end up jamming the doors or restricting entries through alarms and actions through security forces involved. 

 

  1. SMART HOMES

Sensor devices are placed at physical locations, which help people living in the place to turn their house into a smart home to fulfill the desired task by the user. For example, IoT is used to adjust lighting and electrical appliances like air conditioners, refrigerators, etc. 

 

CONCLUSION

 

With the use of IoT and the extended rise in connection of devices, the gap between the virtual world and reality can be narrowed down, helping one life and work within an environment with smart products while accepting privacy and security issues. Some might bring a plethora of new opportunities, while some might call off its usage.

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