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On Wednesday, Sept. 11, at 11 a.m. PST/2 p.m. EST/7 p.m. GMT, @eWEEKnews will host its ninth Tweetchat event. The topic will be “How Will The Internet of Things Change Us?” It will be moderated by yours truly, who serves as eWEEK’s editor of features and analysis.
Some quick facts:
Topic: “How Will The Internet of Things Change Us?”
Date/time: Sept. 11, 2013 @11a.m. PST/2 p.m. EST/7 p.m. GMT
Hosted by: @eWeekNews
Moderator: Chris Preimesberger: @editingwhiz
Tweetchat handle: Use #eWeekChat to follow/participate in the chat
Chatroom real-time links: We have two: http://tweetchat.com/room/eweekchat or http://www.tchat.io/rooms/eweekchat
eWEEKchat Event news page: https://www.eweek.com/innovation/eweekchat-events/
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eWEEKchat No. 9 will discuss the impact of the coming Internet of Things. This is a completely connected world in which people can control virtually anything they own from a handheld device, and one in which machines talk to each other 24/7 to make things more efficient for people.
Yes, we are talking about connected sensor-driven smart meters, air conditioning systems, security videocams, Google Glass units, smartwatches and so on. And yes, this has been talked about for years, but with the development of the cloud, the emergence of software-as-a-service and improving security techniques in the last decade, this intelligent communication among devices has become more than just a pipe dream.
Major vendors and technology leaders such as Cisco Systems, Microsoft and Oracle are announcing initiatives aimed at tackling the Internet of Things. Cisco recently predicted that the Internet of Things, including machine-to-machine (M2M) systems, would have a major impact on the global Internet network, with both the number of devices and the amount of traffic from these devices growing quickly.
By 2017, there will be about 3.6 billion Internet users, almost half of what will be the projected worldwide population of 7.6 billion people that year. By comparison, there were 2.3 billion users in 2012, or about 32 percent of the world’s population, according to Cisco’s report.
There also will be more than 19 billion network connections–both fixed and mobile devices as well as M2M connections–by 2017, up from about 12 billion in 2012. That’s an enormous amount of network activity that IT will be strained to handle.
Beyond just the connections, much of the work these devices will be doing will be automated — pre-planned or programmed by people as well as machines using increasingly aware business intelligence software.
This discussion will be relevant to everyone who uses a connected device. Let your friends know about this valuable discussion.
For a bit of background, here’s how a Tweetchat works:
Who: All those who use the Internet.
What: A Tweetchat is an online conversation held at a prearranged time following a specific hashtag. In eWEEK’s case, we will be using #eWeekChat for all of our Tweetchats. Chatroom real-time links: http://tweetchat.com/room/eweekchat or http://www.tchat.io/rooms/eweekchat.
When: Wednesday, Sept. 11 at 11 a.m. Pacific Standard Time/2 p.m. EST/7 p.m. GMT.
Where: The chat can be followed on Twitter using the hashtag #eWeekChat. A link to the recap (so you can see a record of what everybody tweeted) will be posted on this blog the following Friday, Sept. 13.
Why: The whole idea is to facilitate additional industry dialogue and provide a forum for questions, idea sharing and problem solving. We also want your input on what you’d like to discuss during future chats, so please leave a comment on this post or tweet @eweeknews with topic ideas.
Participants will be able to ask questions of eWEEK staff members and special guests or simply add their thoughts to the conversation. The only restrictions are that we stay on topic and that you say what you need to say succinctly (140 characters).
You may not have participated in a Tweetchat previously. They generally move pretty fast, but you can learn a lot. We’ll also post a record of all the comments so that you can refer to it afterward. Here’s the Storify page containing all of our previous eWEEKChat compilations.
Please note that to maintain a semblance of order, please prefix your question or comment with the number of the question we are currently discussing. As an example, the moderator may post: “Q1: Do you expect the Internet of Things to make your life easier or more complicated?”
To which you might answer: “A1: Yes.” Or you might not answer that way.
A Tweetchat is a venue that is easy to use on any type of device, too. By the way, did you know that eWEEK is the only mainstream IT trade publication that has specific apps for Android and iOS devices?
Hope to connect with you Sept. 11, and use your collaboration network to tell your friends. Let’s have fun with this.