Things ain't wot they're going to be

In his 1999 book 'When Things Start to Think', MIT's Neil Gershenfeld wrote about a future where computers and sensors would be in every thing, talking to each other via self-adapting networks, and doing useful tasks without human intervention. A 'thinking' coffeemaker, he said, would have access to your bed and mug status, calendar, and consumption records, so it knew when to brew your morning cup.