back to article Boffins challenge Internet of Things' lust for power

The Internet of Things is going to vastly expand demand for the world's connectivity, and with it, there'll be a corresponding increase in the electricity devoted to computing and communications. The University of Melbourne's Centre for Energy Efficient Telecommunications is kicking off a new project to work out how that impact …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not one IoTa of difference

    I'm starting to suspect that this is all a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Are we supposed to swoon over the idea that all our meat-space gadgets will soon be "connecting together" in cyberspace? I have yet to see a really good argument for this future, other than "It's way cooool!!".

    Please, leave me a few things that have actual knobs to turn, pull, or at least fondle, okay? I'm old.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

      1. Ben Tasker

        Re: Not one IoTa of difference

        Yeah, funnily enough the amount of electricity used is not, and likely never will be my first concern about the IoT.

        Never quite seen the difficulty with having a quick snout in the fridge if you know you're going to the shop...

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Not one IoTa of difference

          "Never quite seen the difficulty with having a quick snout in the fridge if you know you're going to the shop..."

          Well maybe a smart fridge could text me helpful messages like "Fridge to Ledswinger. You know that carton of custard that's been open in the fridge for 19.423 days? I'd suggest you put rubber gloves on, throw it in the outside dustbin without looking in it, and hold your breath whilst you do that. I've ordered some extra bleach on your next shopping list. Oh, and your iceberg lettuce is frozen to my heat exchanger, and will turn to sludge when it defrosts"

          Who said the IoT was a complete waste of time and space?

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Not one IoTa of difference

            "You know that carton of custard that's been open in the fridge for 19.423 days?"

            Reminds me of an old Zappa piece, "The Dangerous Kitchen":

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lpj2uMFi-c

          2. Fungus Bob

            Re: fridge

            "Well maybe a smart fridge could text me helpful messages like "Fridge to Ledswinger. You know that carton of custard that's been open in the fridge for 19.423 days?..."

            Don't need IoT for that.

            http://xkcd.com/1109/

  2. Mark 85

    More power? No new power plants? Climate Change?

    I'm waiting for the meddling/stresses/battles amongst the greenies who will want the stuff but not want new power plants built. Then there will the same from the climate change folks. And this list goes on. Maybe the best thing to do is sit back with some popcorn and see how this all plays out......

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Solutions looking for problems

    This article seems to go very well with the other one today - "Government funds effort to secure wearable data pulses"

    Why don't they all save some money and go holistic. Come up with a complete solution and then file it under 'pending'.

    I can save plenty of power in my home life by just ignoring this craze.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I have the solution ...

    for this "need" for upstream bandwidth and cloud processing loads. All these local sensors should only report their data locally! (yay! no upstream bandidth needed). Then, since we are without all this upstream reporting, processing can/will be done only locally, or not at all. This will stop all these cloudy servers having to go beserk processing aggregated cheese supply info, living room temperatures, and toaster status updates.

    I think that's a win all round, don't you? ;-)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I have the solution ...

      Missed the point. Its about your stuff interacting with you as you move around. Your watch, your clothes, your biometrics... all as data moving amongst other data nodes everywhere you go. As you walk into the grocery store, your locational awareness checking in with the fridge and cupboards to let you know what you're short of. As you head home, your on-board pre-notifying when you're five minutes away to switch on the kettle, mood lighting and to get dinner started. A lot of this data is needed to shunt back and forth to enable 1950s home life in an internet age. They could save a lot of effort in modelling data flows by just doing some time/motion studies on CEO's personal assistants.

      1. P. Lee

        Re: I have the solution ...

        I think I'll just pop the kettle on for myself and spend the five minutes chopping the veggies for supper. Perhaps I could ask the kids to help so that I can chat to them while we do stuff together.

        Its why the IoT will fail. It solves no problem. The metro system can't cope with my bank card being next to my rail card. What's the likelihood the fridge can sort out the jumble of food that's stuffed in it? Food in paper bags and food in plastic bags which have been re-used. Unlike Android, setting up stuff to snoop on my home is likely to be way more expensive than simple mechanical devices and far more trouble for me. I may be willing to pay for "cool tech" but I'm not going to pay for tech which makes things harder for me.

        There's also a lack of benefit from the cloud for this. I may allow google to rifle through my mail because they are good at storing email and making it available to me. They also take the security headache away. IoT not so much. I already have music on my phone - I don't need locational awareness to follow me around the house playing music, I'll wear headphones. It may be a marketer's dream and Cisco's dream but I've never had a hankering for it. I may have all my music in Amarok, but I like pulling a CD out and putting it into the CD player. I don't want Christmas to mean scrolling down to the "seasonal" genre in the playlists. I want to buy Christmas tree, bring it home and set it up, not have it stored in a built-in cupboard and pop out fully decorated with this years holographic baubles when a cronjob kicks off on 1st December.

        There are a few things which make sense, but I think having the airconditioning run on a timer is just fine, I don't need it internet connected. Apart from anything else, in hot weather my router tends to lock up. I can turn the light switch on by myself - programming it to match what mood I'm in is more trouble than its worth. Plus, what dreadful things might happen if I'm almost home... and then decide to go out for pizza?

        1. DiViDeD

          Re: I have the solution ...

          "What's the likelihood the fridge can sort out the jumble of food that's stuffed in it?"

          None at all. The IOT isn't meant to help you keep track of your stuff, but to SELL you shit.

          "Hi. Your phone tells me you've just wallked past shop X. Wouldn't now be a perfect time to go in and take advantage of a great deal on our product? We checked with your fridge and it says you don't have any. In fact, it says you don't have any of our products at all! What are you, some kinda communist?"

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: I have the solution ...

            "We checked with your fridge and it says you don't have any. In fact, it says you don't have any of our products at all! What are you, some kinda communist?"

            For some reason this thread keeps triggering memories of old schtick, this time Woody Allen:

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRB_ypEnL50

          2. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. PNGuinn
      Boffin

      Re: I have the solution ...

      You mean - pull the ethernet cable out of the back of the fridge.You mean it's wireless? TOUGH - I don't DO wireless.

      And fridge - stop going on about that mould on that piece of 6 month old whatever. It'll probably save from a nasty bug I picked up from some space port or other... And another thing - Washing machine - SHUT UP about the state of my towel.

      I'm old enought to remember 405 line tv. And turret tuners. And having to get up and walk across the room to spin the thing round to change channels. 13 to choose from. And 2 stations. And Crossroads ... Mmm ... maybe I chose the wrong icon...

  5. earl grey
    Trollface

    no jetsons for me

    just skip the IOT and leave me off the snoopy grid.

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