Quote from: AtheistAKASaneBrain on April 29, 2015, 04:34:21 PM

Quote from: Jakesy on April 29, 2015, 03:46:47 PM

Quote from: manselr on April 29, 2015, 03:15:23 PM

For me the "internet of things" is still a cool sounding buzzwork, but I don't see the benefits from having, say, microwave oven and a fridge that's connected to the internet. Isn that a bit over the top? this being connected to everything constantly is getting pathological imo.

No, not over the top. It's the future. And businesses will be making a lot of money off of it.

IBM and Samsung have teamed up to heavily research and invest in the Internet of Things (IoT) - a model solved with blockchains.

They wrote 2 whitepapers as a proof-of-concept:
http://public.dhe.ibm.com/common/ssi/ecm/gb/en/gbe03620usen/GBE03620USEN.PDF
http://public.dhe.ibm.com/common/ssi/ecm/gb/en/gbe03662usen/GBE03662USEN.PDF

I'll highlight some quotes from their latest whitepaper:

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Through the partnership with Samsung Electronics and collaboration with the open source communities, ADEPT successfully demonstrated four use cases using functional Samsung products:

A W9000 Samsung washer autonomously reordering detergent (B2C)
A W9000 Samsung washer autonomously reordering service parts (B2C)
A W9000 Samsung washer autonomously negotiating power usage (B2C)
Samsung Large Format Displays (LFDs) autonomously displaying advertising
content (B2B).

By empowering devices to engage autonomously in markets both financial and nonfinancial and react to changes in markets, the IoT will create an Economy of Things. Virtually every device and system can potentially become a point of transaction and economic value creation for owners and users. These capabilities will be crucial to everything from enabling sharing economies to energy efficiency and distributed storage.

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Applying the blockchain concept to the world of IoT offers fascinating possibilities. As soon as a product completes final assembly, it can be registered by the manufacturer into a universal blockchain representing its beginning of life. Once sold, a dealer or end customer can register it to a regional blockchain (a community, city or state). When registered, the product remains a unique entity within the blockchain throughout its life. The possibility of maintaining product information, history, product revisions, warranty details and end-of-life in the blockchain means the blockchain itself can become the trusted product database.

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Devices will be part of ecosystems that can also require continuously evolving levels of trust. As more transactions occur between peer devices, trust will evolve between them. What starts as an interaction between two trustless peers can over time become a semi-trusted or even a trusted relationship.

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So washers and refrigerators of the future, for example, will be equipped with higher storage and processing capabilities that make it possible to meet blockchain requirements for a specified period of time not only of themselves but also of light peers in their trusted environment. We expect such products to become the standard in the years to come.

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For example, a solar micro-grid may be commissioned for a decade or a smart street light may have been registered a few years back. When servicing or support is needed, blockchain access may verify the first registration or installation details.

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These technological changes could foretell the biggest revolution since the origin of general purpose computing and transaction
processing systems.

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One strategy that does offer certainty, however, is not advisable: sitting on the sidelines and waiting for others to pioneer this technology.

TL;DR: The Internet of Things can ONLY SCALE AND SURVIVE with blockchain technology. They're calling it "future-proof"...

And how will this blockchain self regulate and function without a cryptocurrency that acts as a means of incentive for the miners to keep it going? I dont get all those "blockchain without a crypto" projects.

Ummm... it is still based on cryptocurrency. IBM is leveraging Ethereum. "Ether" is a fancy new word for "bitcoin."