The Internet of Things is really only in its teenage years - stubborn, angsty. Put short: it’s complicated.

Behind the Internet of Things is an industry on edge, patiently waiting for the storm to pass. We’re trying to make sense of the problems facing the modern world, and we know we have the technology to fix those problems. But instead, we’re having to make do with old-fashioned business systems.

Commercial VS Industrial

Companies like Salesforce, Intel and Cisco are busy preparing themselves for the Internet of Things, and announcing their own visions for the future. We’re all working towards the common goal of ridding ourselves of the black box swamp - the fiendishly complex legacy systems that make it harder to work.

So it’s fair to say that the more industrial side of IoT is ready. The commercial side, I think, needs more work. I’ve seen far too many IoT-based products in the past few months - egg trays, basketballs and belts, by example - that I’m not sure are really of use to anyone.

It’s probably down to the influence of Nest, but all the trends really do point towards the Smart Home, which is all about having a more efficient system through data.

Allison Arieff of the New York Times argued recently that she believed that the idea “had not carried over to the realm of the Smart Home.

“Instead, the tendency has been to throw excess technological capability at every possible gadget without giving any thought to whether it’s really necessary.”

Time to Grow Up

Again, it does feel like we’re in that weird transition period in which this sort of technology is available and possible, and products are starting to flood the market. But only a few of them are actually useful.

Perhaps this is what technological progress feels like.

Take the evolution of the desk, for example. Best Reviews has handily put together a visualization of how technology, whilst more complex than ever, has simplified life for us.

Evolution of the Desk

Screenshot courtesy of Best Reviews

One day the Internet of Things will do the same.

Front page photo courtesy of nextnature.net.