Internet of Things (IoT) Tools

Great article on tools for the Internet of Things (IoT) from William Toll at ProfitBlocks.
http://blog.profitbricks.com/top-49-tools-internet-of-things/
Rolls up many of the players. ProfitBlocks located in Boston/Cambridge area. Too much to describe in a few words... Go see for yourself.

And it is all a moving target. Saw these and other announcements in the next days: Pinoccio Mesh IoT. Thread IoT Thread Group - Samsung, ARM, NEST. Not to be confused with previous Samsung announcement as part of Open Internet Consortium. Perhaps IoT is about forming consortia like AllSeen, Thread, OIC?

Homographs and Search

One of the biggest problems for search is homographs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homograph

Especially problematic are IT domain homographs, when one actually wants to find the real world item.

Examples:
Ethernet switch - where the term switch means things with sets of contacts with a mechanical actuator to change the set of contact positions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switch – and where instead one gets the IT term related to protocol switching (hubs, repeaters, bridges and routers). My best attempts were to replace Ethernet with RJ45 or TCP/IP and to add the term “selector”, “rotary” or “contact” or other physical specifier. The same problem largely applies to any “network-type” switch (optical, packet, etc.) when one is looking for an on/off, disconnect, or manual selector for that media.

Big data for mining – where the term mining means the mining (coal, precious metals) industry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining – and where instead one gets the IT term for data mining. My best attempts were to search for physical/resource mining and then use their search engines to back into big data. http://www.mining.com/

3D model – where one means physical (real world instantiated) model http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_model – and one instead gets the IT terms related to computer aided design (CAD) and virtual 3D modeling. Even refining and adding 2D from 3D or “physical” gets many of the same references to CAD. And there is an additional “fashion model” ambiguity as well. The real and virtual model discussion are now so closely connected that there does not seem a good way to differentiate. Discussions related to 3D printing seem to have a good way of segmenting the topic by materials used. But if a 3D model is made of /paper/ then the world of CAD printing gets mixed with the world of real 3D physical models made of paper/card.

Interestingly enough:

Search – where one means looking in the real world for a person/place or thing (Oddly Wikipedia does not even have a page for old-school “search” as in search and rescue or finding lost people/places/things) – and one instead gets the IT terms related to web or Internet search. Searching for the problem of homograph search is itself a homograph search problem.

ESC Boston 2012 - Design East

Attended ESC Boston 2012. Now called Design East.
http://east.ubmdesign.com/
http://events.ubm.com/event/1713/esc-boston-embedded-systems-conference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embedded_Systems_Conference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embedded_Systems_Conference#ESC_Boston

Glad to see a few of the familiar faces and ask them about new trends in the industry.
Lantronix http://www.lantronix.com/ xPico
Microchip http://www.microchip.com/ Metering and Wifi
Various systems based on ARM processors
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_architecture
Our mantra is "more RAM". Even if just for one sensor and minimal OS features - still want DB and security - 256M minimum.

Power over Ethernet 802.3af and 802.3at.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_over_Ethernet
http://www.silvertel.com/

Should give positive mention to Symmetry http://www.symmetryelectronics.com/  for hosting Lantronix, Silvertel and others.

Looked at Wurth Ethernet 802.3af magnetics with LED. http://www.we-online.com/web/en/wuerth_elektronik/start.php

Toradex - USB sensors and ARM processors. http://www.toradex.com/

Interesting talk on Internet of Things http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_of_Things
by Micheal Anderson of PTR http://www.theptrgroup.com/

Blogged before of Google Goggles to read meters. Visited Vision Components http://www.vision-components.com/en/  and looked at their smart cameras.