My Internet of Everything Holiday Wish List

‘Tis the season to shop and to make resolutions  for the coming year. I’m doing a fair bit of both, inspired by the many Internet of Everything (IoE) products that are popping up everywhere. And while it’s the season of giving, I’m also finding plenty of things I wouldn’t mind getting myself. According to the National Retail Federation, I’m not alone. “Self gifting” makes up almost a third of all holiday shopping.

IoE is about things connecting to the Internet, millions of things. It’s about turning the data they collect into information we can act on or respond to. Cisco defines IoE as bringing together people, process, data, and things to make networked connections more relevant and valuable than ever before.

There are so many intriguing new connected products — connected washing machines, connected coffee pots, and even luggage. Here are some faves I’ve put on my IoE Holiday Wish List:

1. Peloton Bike

I live on the West Coast, and by 6 a.m. most mornings, I’m already on conference calls. And with three kids, my evenings are often packed with activities. It’s not easy fitting in gym time. The Peloton Bike lets you join live spinning classes from Peloton’s New York studio remotely in your home.  The large touchscreen displays streaming video of the instructor. The instructor can see you’re in her class and may call out your name to urge you on, keeping you engaged and motivated. The leaderboard pits you against other spinners and you can interact with each other through video chat. All your metrics are stored so you can track your progress. And if you can’t join the class live, the videos are stored in the cloud, a growing library available on demand. A spin class whenever I want.

2. ToyMail

I travel quite a bit and my children are seven, nine and eleven, so they don’t have phone plans yet.  Being in different time zones can make it hard to stay connected. ToyMail is a WiFi-enabled toy that can receive, store, and play back voice messages sent from a mobile app. My kids could get my voice message and send their reply right from this device, which is a cute little toy mailbox/animal. There are several. The pig version snorts when there is a message waiting. It’s a fairly simple example of IoE, but it illustrates how connecting even things like toys can transform how people interact. Having a simple way for my kids and I to leave each other messages might just ease the stress of being away.

3. Tile

We got a puppy a few months ago. It was one of those Saturdays at PetSmart when rescue dogs are available for adoption. I went to buy cat food and came home with a dog. (Cat is thrilled.) Murphy is a hoarder like most dogs, and he buries his favorite toys in the yard. We either spend too much time looking for them, or too much money replacing them. Tile is a little sensor that casts a Bluetooth signal up to 100 feet. Attach these small square tiles to your keys, your wallet, your dog’s squeaky toy, whatever, and when they’re misplaced or buried , the Tile smartphone app will locate them for you. Murphy may need a bunch of these. So will I.

4. The Point

One great thing about living in the Bay Area is you can visit the ocean, the mountains, wine country, or ski slopes, and it’s a fairly short drive. So we make it a point to take weekend trips (now with the puppy). The Point is a device that attaches to the wall, and then it listens to your home while also analyzing the air. It will alert you if it senses smoke or hears anything of concern, such as an alarm ringing, windows breaking or just noises above a certain level – things you set yourself. All the analysis is done on the device itself (what we call fog computing). The Point has its own lights and sounds onboard to alert my family and me when we’re at home, and it’s a WiFi device that will report to my phone when we’re off somewhere in the mountains.

5. Smart Jewelry

Every girl likes to get a bit of jewelry as a gift and I’m no different.   IoE jewelry connects you to your phone or the Internet. Imagine rather than checking your phone all the time, your ring glows to alert you of a message you don’t want to miss (you set the filter). What appealed to me most was the promise that it enables you to stay present in the moment with the people around you. What a great gift.

Every day, every minute, I make decisions on what’s going to get my time and attention.  I can’t do justice to it all, but perhaps I can do a better job with these new gifts. What’s on your IoE holiday list?