The Internet of Things. It’s that tantalizing idea that the next wave of internet-like interconnectivity is between our appliances and cars and devices—the things we own.

It’s a sprinkler system that talks to the moisture sensors in the yard + the Weather Channel, or how our smoke detector might develop a friendlier relationship with the toaster. Or how my car keys might find themselves. Please.

Bill Wasik at Wired magazine has June’s featured article on the status of the “physical internet,” which is more than just a Jetsons-like take on home automation. Companies like GE are using sensors and thousands of points of data per second to increase the efficiency of tricky manufacturing plants, while location-aware consumer systems are alerting the coffee bar to start your espresso when you walk in and auto-charge your virtual Starbucks card. You only gotta flash your pretty caffeinated smile.

Wasik describes three milestones on the way to a more physically automated world:  Continue Reading…