The Most Revolutionary Phase Of All...Physical World Connection

When every physical object is, or can be connected to the Internet, ie (Physical World Connection), is when a revolution occurs.

Some call it the "Internet of Things", I also call it the Internet Phase 2.

Cars, refrigerators, billboards, tennis rackets, water heaters, digital cameras, stop signs, airplanes, sprinkler systems and any physical object you can think of, will soon be "connected" to the Internet. This occurs with various types of Physical World Hyperlinks.

A Physical World Hyperlink is any sensing device (RFid, GPS, ZigBee etc) or a machine readable identifier (barcode, image, sound etc) that when initiated or scanned provides an Internet connection (or a connection through the Net).

The ability for devices (more than PCs and mobile phones) to connect (or have the ability to connect to the Net) will offer some exciting applications. The ability for individuals and corporations to connect/interact via the Net, created new multi-billion dollar companies/industries (Google, eBay, Amazon, YouTube). This also allowed economies to become so much more efficient.

The areas to watch for Physical World Connection:

1. software/hardware (solution) that resolves any type of physical world hyperlink

2. a "registry" for domains that will be issued for every device (that will dwarf the number of website domains)..like Verisign

3. a network provider that can ensures a secure network for these devices (it's one thing if your website is hacked, it's something completely different if your machinery or car is)

4. a delivery system/platform that can move any sized data from a physical object through the network (what good is having objects connected and providing data if they cant transmit and receive it)

On the advertising side of PWC here's how Google Can Connect The Physical World

Even Microsoft is developing the RFID browser.

Internet enabled everything

In the 15 years since Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, the life of almost everyone in the industrialised world has been touched by it. But just as many of us are getting to grips with its second stage, the mobile internet, few are prepared - or even aware - of the third and potentially most revolutionary phase of all: the internet of things.

AT&T Looks To "Internet Of Things" For New Stream Of Revenue

What is the "Internet of Things", or as I call it "Physical World Connection"

When every physical object is, or can be, connected to the Internet.

From N.Y.Times AT&T wants more web-enabled devices

AT&T has created a new division within the company to help devise new consumer devices – digital cameras, devices for cars, even dog collars – which they hope will make it easy to access the Web using AT&T’s network.

Because nearly nine out of ten people already own a mobile phone, AT&T can’t grow fast enough by selling more phones. It needs to find new sources of revenue, particularly devices that use data.

More Physical World Connection discussion.

The Economist Reviews Physical World Connection With "When Everything Connects"

This week's The Economist has a great summary on Physical World Connection, or the "Internet of Things", called "When Everything Connects".

The ability for devices (more than PCs and mobile phones) to connect (or have the ability to connect to the Net) will offer some exciting applications. The ability for individuals and corporations to connect/interact via the Net, created new multibillion dollar companies/industries (Google, eBay, Amazon, YouTube). This also allowed economies to become so much more efficient.

What industries and companies will be created when any type of device can connect to the Internet? How efficient will this make an economy?

Phase 2 of the Internet, when physical objects can be connected to tne Net, using a Physical World Hyperlink, offers some exciting times ahead.

Why do I think The Next Google or Next Microsoft is this application? Google is so successful because they offer the ability to find anything on the Internet which consists of billions of websites. Imagine that same function to find OR control any device connected to the Net.

So far the mobile phone has been getting all the attention. Around 2.8 billion are already in use, with a further 1.6m being added every day. The phones themselves are improving at a cracking pace. Yet this boom is also spilling over into other areas of wireless communications, used for linking machines, sensors and objects.

Everybody talks about the emerging markets being the big opportunity for the cellular industry in the next few years, but in the longer run there are going to be a lot more devices talking to each other,” says Paul Jacobs, the boss of Qualcomm, which makes mobile-phone chips.

The phenomenon “could well dwarf previous milestones in the information revolution”, according to a 2001 report entitled “Embedded, Everywhere” by America's National Research Council.

In the years ahead new wireless technologies will appear in a plethora of devices, much as computer chips did in the second half of the 20th century