How the “internet of things” will replace the web

Quirky

Christopher Mims | Quartz QZ.com

The internet of things will become more central to society than the internet as we know it today.

The web will survive, just as email survived the arrival of the web. But its role will be reduced to that of a language for displaying content on screens, which are likely to be more ubiquitous but less necessary.

The internet of things will create a world of “invisible buttons”

The pioneer species of the internet of things is the smartphone. For example, every time we take a smartphone with us in a car, it beams information on our location and speed to Google. The result is real-time traffic information that can be used by everyone.

That smartphones gather traffic data without their users ever being aware that they’re doing so shows how the internet of things replaces the internet-related actions we already know—click a button, navigate a webpage—with context.

This awareness (is what) what Amber Case, a researcher for mapping company Esri, calls “invisible buttons.” An invisible button is simply an area in space that is “clicked” when a person or object—in this case, a smartphone—moves into that physical space.

Read the whole story at Quartz, QZ.com