Cisco: 50 Billion Things on the Internet by 2020 [Infographic]

Cisco: 50 Billion Things on the Internet by 2020 [Infographic]: "

The Internet of Things, when real world objects are connected to the Internet, is a trend that we've been actively tracking since early 2009. So far a lot of big technology infrastructure and solutions companies have gotten behind the trend, for the simple reason that they see a huge market opportunity. As more and more 'things' go on the Net, it creates more demand for network infrastructure like sensors and routers. Enter the likes of Cisco and Verizon Wireless. Likewise, more technology solutions will be developed to upload and manage data from real world objects. Enter the likes of IBM and HP.

Cisco has designed an infographic that offers a simple example of how Internet of Things will affect you in your everyday life. It also states that by 2020, there will be 50 billion 'things' connected to the Internet - everything from your body, car, alarm clock and even cows.

Sponsor

There has been some contention about the number of connected things and by when. Cisco's prediction of 50 billion devices by 2020 matches Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg's prediction earlier this year within a similar time period. However IBM recently put it at 1 trillion connected devices by 2015. Indeed in April 2010, Cisco's own CTO Padmasree Warrior said that by 2013 the number of devices connected to the Internet will reach 1 trillion. So even Cisco doesn't seem to have a consistent prediction.

Regardless, as the infographic below shows, the number of things connected to the Internet has already exceeded the number of people on earth. So this is a big trend - and big business for Cisco and other technology companies.

Infographic via All Things D

Discuss

"

Google, Microsoft and Apple

Google, Microsoft and Apple: "

To use a quote from The Simpsons: “It’s funny because it’s true.” While Apple stuff is pretty neat, I sometimes get that feeling that they see all programmers who don’t work for Apple as barely-tolerated, not-really-trusted “fourth-party developers”.

This comic was created by Manu Cornet, the artist behind the comic org charts of the big tech companies.

Update (Thursday, July 7th, 2011): Wow, there’s a lot of butt-hurt going on about this comic. Remember: it’s the comic artist’s opinion, not mine, and secondly, for the Apple fans — you do know that I work at Shopify, which has more Macs on display than the local Apple store and my desk look likes this, right?

"

Monkey thief steals camera and shoots self portraits

Monkey thief steals camera and shoots self portraits: "

Photo: David Slater

The critically endangered crested black macaque spends most of its day foraging for food, socializing, and — apparently — sharpening its photography skills.

Wildlife photographer David Slater witnessed these skills first-hand while on a three-day trek through an Indonesian national park. With the help of a local guide, he was able to encounter and walk with a group of these rare and inquisitive monkeys. Upon leaving his tripod-mounted camera unattended for a moment, a bold member of the group swooped in and commandeered the prize. As can be expected, chaos and hilarity ensued.

They were quite mischievous, jumping all over my equipment. One hit the button. The sound got his attention and he kept pressing it. At first it scared the rest of them away but they soon came back – it was amazing to watch.

Photos: David Slater

The thief ended up taking hundreds of photographs, including several amazingly in-focus self portraits and one of Slater himself attempting to regain possession of his property.

Crested black macaques aren’t particularly celebrated for their intelligence, but it’s pretty clear that their eye for photography far surpasses mine. I can never achieve anywhere near these kinds of results from the arm-stretchy self-portrait technique employed here.

(Via PetaPixel & The Guardian.)

"

M Thru F: Workers These Days Have Serious Priority Issues

M Thru F: Workers These Days Have Serious Priority Issues: "

Check with your boss before visiting M Thru F!

"

Hope Your Boss Isn’t Looking Over Your Shoulder While You Read This

Hope Your Boss Isn’t Looking Over Your Shoulder While You Read This: "

A Yale undergrad has produced what has got to be the highest evolution of time-wasting yet: Hardlywork.in. This brilliant site, once it’s got your Facebook Connect credentials, converts your newsfeed into a productive-looking Excel spreadsheet. Gone are paranoia and stress– unless, of course, your company secretly tracks everything you do anyways. If that’s the case, you’re probably already screwed for checking this site instead of incessantly feeding your soul to the money machine.

The Atlantic notes that a similar site was out first, but this one was made by an Ivy Leaguer so we feel some weird sense of loyalty to it (the other site doesn’t seem to be working, anyways).

Update: If you see any site downtime, it’s because Penn kids (literally, it’s a ton of Quakers, we asked the founder) have been driving so much traffic there that they’re upgrading.

"

A star is born

A star is born: "

The first photo of our daughter Billie and I made it while she wasn't even completely born yet.



For me personally this is the most important photo of my life. It's like all these years I have been practicing just to make this one single shot work.



Barbara was amazingly strong both before and while she was giving birth and I'm just incredibly proud of her. She's awesome, nothing less.



So why this title? Well, not because I think she's going to be a movie or a rock star, but because she will be *my star*, forever, and I'm pretty sure she'll have about a million photos by the time she's grown up. :)



Oh yes, one last thing: I'm absolutely convinced that she's got special powers, because when I'm holding her in my arms and I look at her, I feel something that I've never felt before... it's like she's enchanted me.. yes.. magic.. that's the best way to describe it.

"