In this week’s cast, we discuss how the Internet of Things affects personal productivity. All those smart devices (including your smartphones and tablets) make up part of the large interconnected web of items tethered to one another by the Web. We provide our thoughts on approaching the IoT productivity in your home and life.

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In this Cast

Ray Sidney-Smith

Augusto Pinaud

Art Gelwicks

Francis Wade

Show Notes | IoT Productivity

Resources we mention, including links to them, will be provided here. Please listen to the episode for context.

Big G - Google AssistantBig A - Amazon AlexaBig S - Apple SiriBig C - Microsoft CortanaBig B - Samsung Bixby

Nest Thermostat

Raw Text Transcript | IoT Productivity

Raw, unedited and machine-produced text transcript so there may be substantial errors, but you can search for specific points in the episode to jump to, or to reference back to at a later date and time, by keywords or key phrases. The time coding is mm:ss (e.g., 0:04 starts at 4 seconds into the cast’s audio).

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Voiceover Artist 0:00 Are you ready to manage your work and personal world better to live a fulfilling productive life, then you've come to the right place productivity cast, the weekly show about all things productivity. Here, your host Ray Sidney-Smith and Augusto Pinaud with Francis Wade and Art Gelwicks.

Raymond Sidney-Smith 0:17

And Welcome back, everybody to productivity cast, the weekly show about all things personal productivity, I'm Ray Sidney Smith.

Augusto Pinaud 0:24 I am Augusto Pinaud.

Francis Wade 0:26I'm Francis Wade.

Art Gelwicks 0:27 And I'm Art Gelwicks.

Raymond Sidney-Smith 0:25

And Welcome, gentlemen, and welcome to our listeners to this episode. And what we are going to be doing this week is talking about the Internet of Things, and its impact on productivity on personal productivity. And what we're going to cover throughout the episode is a little bit of a definition of what IoT is, what the Internet of Things is, and how it relates to personal productivity. Then we're going to talk about what IoT we currently use in our own personal worlds or don't use and what we may be planned to use in the near future. Then we are going to broaden the conversation then to what we think how we think IoT is going to impact productivity in the next few years for those of you out there, and we want to do it from this future perspective, so that we're all a little bit more aware of how IoT works, and how it can work for you, and therefore help make you more productive. And I think that's a good thing for all of us. So let's start off with what the Internet of Things is. And so I'll kick us off just with kind of the basic understanding of what the Internet of Things is. And I'm going to read you the really wonky Wikipedia definition, and then I'm going to interpret what I believe it is. And then I'm going to open it up to the floor for for the other gentleman here to give their views. So Wikipedia defines the Internet of Things as a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals, or people that are provided with unique identifiers, you IDs and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human to human or human to computer interaction. What that really means is that the Internet of Things are all the things that are uniquely identifiable on the internet and connected to one another without someone else having to facilitate that connection. And that ultimately means that the Internet of Things is anything that we call quote unquote smart that is able to be connected to your, your internet connection at home or at work. And I guess along the way, if you were using your smart phone along the way, in a mobile device capacity so if you're in the car, or if you're on a bus or a train or plane, and or boat, I suppose you know, all of those things. And devices that are connected to the internet infrastructure are IoT,

Art Gelwicks 3:06

this whole idea of the Internet of Things I think the the Wonka pedia article there because I like your wonky Wikipedia article. So I'm going to coined that new term, the Wikipedia. That is pretty accurate, at least in my book as to what I perceive when we talk about Internet of Things. It's any, any device that you wouldn't traditionally consider a computer or a computing device, but you're still using technology to interact and control with it. So things like our lovely home assistance that we have the the Guillermo and elite, you know, Alicia, I'm trying not to trigger anybody. So pardon me with weird names that will go with big a big G and that and so forth for for naming purposes. So big a and big G is I think what we commonly understand now We think about Internet of Things, and all the things that those can interact with, that's not limited to that in any stretch. But it's all of everything wants to be connected anymore, at least companies who are releasing things all want things to be connected. I think for the the more important understanding of it, though, internet of things really needs to go beyond what's connected, and focus on how you're using that connection. How is that benefiting you? Is it connected just because it can be? Or are you actually deriving a direct benefit from using that connectivity to make life easier or more efficient or just more pleasant?

Raymond Sidney-Smith 4:42

And I think what what art is getting at here so that we have context is that I gave the more textbook definition, the longer pedia definition. And really, this ends up being about data and shared data. And when we when it comes to thinking about Your own productivity. Most of what you're doing is generating data, capturing data, manipulating data in some way, shape, or form. And by having devices, things out in the world that are, quote unquote smart, that are able to share that data, without you being the one to have to do it, necessarily, you know, there are potentially sensors and other things, capturing data ambiently. For example, your smartphone collects dozens of pieces of data points, you know, every second about you as you move around in the world. And that data can then be utilized by IoT devices to get things done for you. That's really the power here that I think about is how it can transfer and share that data without me having to do it. And privacy implications aside, we could talk a little bit about the the security and privacy behind IoT and the necessity for Security Standards and compatibility for both extensibility but interoperability as well. And those things, but the core here is that I don't have to do everything. Because now I have these. They're not that much smarter devices. They're just devices that are connected to the internet that are talking to one another, that are then capable of passing on these little data points that ultimately become the big data of me, that then knows more about me than I could know about myself in particular categories, and therefore, potentially helped me get new things done that I didn't know needed to be done. But now it can help forecast. For example, my phone could tell me how to get to work better because it knows the ways in which I drive to work. Or it could tell me that I really like one cafe over another cafe because I consistently rate the beverages I have at that cafe in a particular way. So there's like the new stuff. But it can also actually help me with the stuff that I know I need to do and know I want to do. And that's also really great.

Francis Wade 7:06

Like the definition that I'd love to hear the examples. That's that's a part because I'm looking around my office or my world trying to think of examples that I may have using without actually knowing I can't think of any yet but I'm hanging in there.

Augusto Pinaud 7:21

So one of the things that he's interested in was Internet of Things is that for most people, has come almost in an invisible way. You know, that comment that Francis made? It is interesting, because a lot of people are not even aware of the Internet of Things. And when their phone, you know, told them, they put an alarm that says the location and their phone is able to tell them, hey, you have a meeting in two hours and you normally have this meeting in your office and you are not in your office. Those kinds of things that are a combination of Internet of Things and artificial intelligence are things that people don't understand what ease they just know their phone do that and somehow the smartphones and these things has been getting into people live without people be necessarily conscious of what Internet of Things is. So they have led the terminology being a quote unquote geek terminology technically terminology without allowing them to understand this is part of your life when you can go to your fridge and Mark milk into the thing or your fridge can intelligently said hey, the milk that you put on the shelf is getting low and then pritch there are some that can so that is the internet of things but for most people, it is invisible. It is invisible. The fact that if you open your phone, it will tell you You are 17 minutes from home, okay or he will tell you do not take I 69 because There is a crash. And for most people, they don't understand that is the Internet of Things. It's just a feature on the phone is there always m