Maker Media Inc. - Make: Getting Started with the Photon: Making Things with the Affordable, Compact, Hackable WiFi Module

by Simon Monk

Copyright 2015 Maker Media. All rights reserved.

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[LSI]

According to MIT Technology Review, 2013 was the year of the Internet of Things. The following year, Cisco said 2014 was the year of the Internet of Things. This year, CNBC says that 2015 is the year of the Internet of Things. It is likely that every year for the next decade will be the year of the Internet of Things. But what does that mean, exactly?

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a broad concept that suggests that as the cost of connectivity comes down, more and more objects around us will be Internet-connected. Were used to thinking about the Internet in terms of devices with screens: your personal computer, for instance, and your smartphone. The Internet of Things covers devices that you wouldnt typically think about being connected to the Internet, and includes categories like wearables (Fitbit, smart watches), smart home (connected lights, appliances, and toys), the industrial Internet (feedback systems on wind turbines), smart cities (connected parking meters and traffic lights), smart farms (connected irrigation systems), and more. Its a category that is difficult to define because of its breadth, but the common thread is that things that werent connected before are becoming connected now.

I believe that the Internet of Things is the third wave of personal computing (the first being the PC, and the second being smartphones). And, unlike the tech press, I dont think weve reached the year of the Internet of Things quite yet. I believe were still in the prototyping days, where even most IoT products coming to market are just the first experiments that will give way to a large, vibrant ecosystem in a few years time. This is like the early 90s for the Internet, or the early 2000s for smartphones.

And, like PCs and smartphones, the rapid growth that were seeing nowand that well continue to see for the next decadewill present massive opportunities for the people who jump in early. Industries will change, jobs will be created, and fortunes will be made and lost.

This book is about a tool: the Photon. The Photon is a simple development kit, but it represents a starting point that can take you much further. Your journey may start with the Photon and end with a connected garage-door opener for your house. Or it may end with a connected garage-door opener that you bring to market and sell to hundreds of thousands of people around the world.

For you, dear reader, the year of the Internet of Things will be the year that you join in. Every great company starts as an idea, and every great product starts as a prototype. What will you build first?

Zach Supalla, Founder and CEO of Particle, April 2015