The internet of word-things

Hang around the Web long enough and you'll see more than your share of cartoons mocking the Internet of Things. (I refer, of course, to the collection of uniquely identifiable devices that are connected to the Internet and are capable of transmitting and receiving data over that connection.) "We have to go out for dinner," runs one typical caption. "The refrigerator isn't speaking to the stove." It's easy to poke fun at gadgets such as video-enabled toothbrushes and smart tampons, but don't let these facepalmworthy devices distract you from the serious side of IoT. Market research firm Gartner predicts that over 6 billion IoT nodes will be connected this year, while a report from DHL Trend Research and Cisco Consulting Services puts the number at 15 billion. That's a lot of "things," and the only trend everyone can agree on is that these numbers are going to get bigger. The good news for language watchers is that as the IoT grows, so does the lingo surrounding it. A full glossary of IoT-related terms would fill a year's worth of columns, so I'll just spend the rest of this column looking at a few noteworthy coinages.