WoT Nuggets – 10 October 2012

One thing I love when taking the pulse of the blogosphere, is the four short links series posted by Nat Torkington on O’Reilly’s Radar. Every day, four interesting links/resources carefully handpicked are presented, along with a short description. That’s the perfect daily fix to see what’s happening around and make sure not to miss the headlines of the day or simply some cool/nerdy/geeky links. Unfortunately, there is nothing like that for the Web of Thing world, so I thought it would be great to start it today on the WoT blog.

Ok. Maybe not every day though.

Digi Integrates ThingWorx Application into the Industry’s Leading Internet of Things Cloud – The iDi

What? Digi International, a worldwide leading provider of machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions, has selected ThingWorx as its technology provider for dashboarding within their iDivi product.

So? We know the folks at ThingWorx and they do great work. It’s a big step that their products have been chosen by Digi, which will make it much easier to develop industrial-scale applications. They have been great supporters of the Web of Things from our early days and they were among the first to implement the Web of Things in real products. Oh, and they just closed their Series C financing round yesterday.

No Place Like Home GPS Shoes

What? Dominic Wilcox has created a fully functional prototype pair of shoes that will guide you home no matter where you are in the world!

So? Very cool to see such “subtle” integration of digital technologies into everyday things. Not necessarily useful per se (other than after a long night out at the bar), but a neat design/UX, and a subtle integration of WoT into everyday objects I’d like to see more often.

YC-Alum Lockitron Is Back With A New Kit That Allows Smartphones To Control Dumb Deadbolts

What? The Lockitron is a digital deadbolt that plugs on existing deadbolts to make sure your door is a safe – and convenient – as possible. Plus, it’s packed full of features including remote management, proximity entry through Bluetooth, and, even more fun, a vibration sensor that will notify the owner when someone is knocking on the door.t

So? Great idea! No more need to give/rent/share your key with friends – simply share your door with them on Facebook and they can get in your home. It would just be quite uncool to forget your phone (or to charge it) in winter, when it’s cold outside. And you’re alone. Interesting to see how these things will evolve once deployed in the wild, and especially the problems that can arise with Web-enabled security systems (would love to see a hall of fame of the funniest/stupidest situations this will generate).

DIGITAL BOTTLE CAP AUGURS THE INTERNET OF ALCOHOL-BASED THINGS

What? The creators of T-shirt OS and the first animated tattoo have created an RFID-enabled cap that sparks fun times when it’s popped.

So? RFID-controlled alcohol bottles is certainly a cool marketing/PR gimmick, and a super playground to create novel interactive applications around the Web of Things, how much are you willing to pay for a can of beer. It seems to me just a fun thing to use for a party, but definitely not the way technology will get embedded into the real world.