The Next Step in the Evolution

Those of us who have been engaged in the on-going evolution of hardware, applications and online services have observed the continuing convergence of various components: mobile computing, cloud computing, social platforms, big data and analytics, and the internet-of-things. We now are advancing towards a new evolution in using computing devices.

While most of the terminology is familiar, big data and the internet-of-things are relatively new. Big data refers large datasets and the analytics related to that data. Along with the processes are associated the issues of privacy, security and anonymity and the internet-of-things enables massive amounts of data to be collected. The following video pulls together these ideas in “Simplifying the Internet of Things”.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_T0ZQlpoBg’]

IBM ” in its vision “sees a confluence of four factors — social, mobile, analytics and cloud, or “SMAC” — that will combine with cognitive systems to have a major impact on 21st-century business, government and society in general.” These will be combined with big data and the internet-of-things. (IBM’s vision for cognitive computing era)

Along with the shift toward this new era of computing comes the new era of social and ethical considerations. Examine these articles with videos and related impacts:

• The price of creating a connected future
• Will the internet become conscious? 
• Will men and machines merge?
• What makes us intelligent?
• Does the internet rewire your brain? (i.e. Web addicts have brain changes)