Invasion of The Internet Of Things

Social media entrepreneurs are butting into every aspect of life. Like it or not. Tweets from the street, while at home or from the toilet, all have found their way into apps leveraging the context from the internet of things to bring to us some extremely unique, radical and totally wacky apps and connected devices to the marketplace! Sharing your data on the internet just went a bit beyond the wild and wacky.


Almost any and every data element seems to be a secret ingredient to a new business idea. From your license plate number to your cigarette , all the way to who your friends are and if you have a clean toilet at home; this new virtual place has some crazy and wacky ideas being turned into business models.The motive behind this..well you dont know what will catch the consumers imagination. Taking a cue from facebook that is bound to file for an IPO in an year, its valued around USD 100bn!! A very very humble microblogging site Tumblr has a USD 800mn valuation that puts it on the same pedestal as The New York Times.


All this is driving the entrepreneurs to force consumers to share. Wether you are sitting on a seat or a commode, buying soda from a vending machine, there will be a new social feature urging you to share! Hope you all like sharing!


Some real wacky stuff up on the block covered in  the last edition of WIRED magazine are:

Ceiva digital photo frames. These digital photoframes are connected to the internet and are hooked onto your facebook, twitter pics, picasa and all the other web properties that house your pictures on the cloud. The frame displays pictures from the web properties without having to download or store them on a memory car or a usb stick. Hold your breath on this one, anyone could email you picture and it just comes up on the photoframe. imagine gifting one to your boss. Morphing his or her picture and emailing it to the boss from an anonymous account during the family hour! Boss's face would make up a great kodak moment! I wish these things existed while I was in the college hostel I would have loved to gift one to my hostel warden. I have had my share of fun pasting playboy center spread on his front droor and run away after ringing the door bell at 2AM.
Check out the link Ceiva digital Frames.

Social e-cigerettes. people today scoff at smokers for an entirely different reason. You still use fire to light up? How primitive!! E-cigerettes are catching on. Wikipedia definition "An electronic cigarette, or e-cigarette, is an electrical device that simulates the act of tobacco smoking by producing an inhaled mist bearing the physical sensation, appearance, and often the flavor and nicotine content of inhaled tobacco smoke; though without its odor, and intended to omit its health risks." 
Well as if this is not revolutionary in itself ( smoking a e-cigerette that is battery powered and sold with a usb charger!!) , the makers of these gadgets blu have decided to pack these e-cigarettes in a smart pack that contains a homing device connected to the internet that does a search for other e-cigarette smokers (smart blucig packs) nearby and for blu e-cigarette retail stores to ensure that you are always loaded! Looks like people are looking at slapping social onto everything these days. Come to think of it, smoking is a social activity. Total strangers will share their lighters, their cigarettes, and their stories all over the course of a ten minute cigarette break. Even when you start to hate the actual act of smoking, it’s difficult to give up because you get extra breaks during work where you can mingle with co-workers or strangers, and inevitably make friendships. 
What blu  has done, is not just sold you cigarettes , but have designed cigarette packs that connect to the internet and search for other smokers around for you to have a great social moment. Thats a 5 start rating in my books on account of CRM being their core strategic business value. Not only that, since these packs are smart, they direct the smoker to the cigarette shop...that cleaver sales strategy. Check out their website at this link blucigs,

Bump.com : License plates of motor vehicles have gone social with bump.com.  Innovative way to take physical violence out of road rage and still realizing the satisfaction of letting it out at fellow driver! All that you need to do is text what you want and address it to a license plate number. You could click a pic of a license plate number and send a text message. The other person can choose or ignore to response. You dont have to know a fellow drivers name or email id or a phone number to communicate. 
There are a lot of applications outside of the social networking aspects as well. Los Angeles billboards track more than 250,000 license plates everyday. Bump.com set up shop at Coachella music festival that was held in April this year where it tracked license plates of people who attended the festival and ensured discounts available to their customers.Bump.com is in a position to deliver a lot of meaningful data to advertisers today. For example it can give you data of traffic on a freeway categorized by economy, semi-luxury, luxury and SUV vehicles. It can tell you how many motorcycles ply on any give road! 
A simple idea turned into a great business model is what bump.com is all about. BUT...texting while driving is a big NO. Dont want to got from bump to crash!

The CLOO'-app. My personal favorite is the CLOO' app. The wackiest of ideas yet...on the internet of people. CLOO' is a future startup that may prevent you to pee in your pants. For the cost of a Latte, CLOO' turns any private residential bathroom that you, your friends and your friends of friends could use solving the issue of too few easily accessible restrooms! Now, taking a dump or peeing is a very personal activity. Nothing social about it. Or rather a clean toilet is what every member of any social community aspires for, specially when you are out of your house and in a public space.  
CLOO' is an app when you open for use, displays a list of hosts in your areas (CLOO' members toilets available for use). Along with this list, to each toilet, the app tries to find common friends between your circles and the toilet owners social circles. The app also lists the community's rating for the toilet you select and the price for using it. Check out this link for more on this wacky idea : CLOO'.  The future is now and it demands a courtesy flush!

My.microbes : Move over facebook, here comes my.microbes a social network for intestinal bacteria! The European Molecular Biology Laboratory has created my.microbes a social network of people with similar intestinal bacteria! Some people are not content with social networks that bring friends with similar habits or hobbies or dating needs together, they go deep down to the molecule level! 

Members can share their gastrointestinal stories, something I can assure that people with stomach issues tend to do, as well as have a place to share diet tips. The researchers haven’t set up my.microbes simply for the joy of watching people with ailing stomachs get together and complain — they’re going to be watching and recording everyone’s stories in an attempt to gather and study the information provided. The idea for the social network began when the team of researchers received a large amount of emails from people asking the team could help them their their stomach issues. So far, 283 people have signed up. What does it take to sign up? Well, you need to part with some money , USD 2100 to be precise, and part with some shit, quiet literally. USD 2100 + your stool sample = my.microbes membership. Check out this community at my.microbes

Social Vending Machine: Pepsico's  social vending machine, lets you gift a soda to your friend. Nothing wacky , wierd or unique about this. Its a simple practical idea very nicely executed. The vending machine will text  your pal with a e-coupon that could be redeemed at a similar vending machine. You could record a video message that could be played back to your friends as they pick up the soda from the vending machine.

Samsung Smart Fridge : Samsung RF4289 refrigerator is the WiFi connected refrigerator with LED lighting and 28 cubic feet of storage. And with an 8-inch LCD touchscreen, Samsung provides quick access to "kitchen relevant applications" like Google calendar, Weatherbug forecasts, Epicurious recipes, AP news, Pandora music, and Picasa photos. You can also leave notes for the family or tap out a quick tweet should the compulsion arise. The wireless touchscreen is available on both the RSG309 side-by-side and RF4289 four-door french door models.Some websites have branded this as "smart fridge with a dumb price tag"! This costs USD 3499! Makes sense to stick with the existing refrigerator and buy a ipad. Considerably cheaper deal.

Withings Connected devices:Withings.com sells three connected devices :
1) A weighing machine that tweets your weight, BMI and muscle mass everytime you get onto it. Talk of peer pressure and public shame as motivators to reduce flab!
2) Connected Blood Pressure Monitor: This connects to a iphone, ipad or a ipod touch device and records blood pressure readings. The app enables you to email the same to your doctor or seamlessly upload the data into a health record application that you can manage on the cloud.
3) Baby Monitor : A baby monitor is due for launch. This connects to iphone or ipad touch 2.0. You can see your baby thru the iphone and ipad, and talk and sing to it over the internet using facetime. Check out the site Withings.com


The last three devices are simple applications with very straight forward ideas.I am completely bowled over by the first five in the list above. Let me know thru comments and feedback, if you know any more wacky stuff out there turning into a business model.