The Very Personal Internet of Things

Computers and the software that makes them sing are woven into the very fabric of our lives. Laptops, desktops, smartphones, tablets, appliances, even our cars—computers and software mediate so much of our everyday lives that we hardly even think about them anymore.

It's important to understand that physical objects are also increasingly interconnected. The so-called “Internet of things” is becoming a reality, and that's due in large part to advances in sensors, cameras, broadband connectivity, miniaturization, and CPU horsepower. Computers are now much smarter about the physical world that we humans live in. Products like the Nintendo Wii, the iPhone, HP's TouchSmart PC, and Microsoft's Kinect have opened up new ways of using computers that we are still in the early stages of exploring.

Computing is becoming less about computers and more about social interaction. The new interconnectedness between devices is raising the bar for the software and computing industry. As data moves to the cloud, and machine-to-machine (M2M) technologies and always-on connectivity make computing ubiquitous and increasingly invisible, we are keen on making sure that the user experience remains human.