Non-Human Users Online

AT&T made an announcement this week that isn’t getting much press. It didn’t make Techmeme or the mainstream media’s technology sections. But this under the radar announcement is evidence of perhaps the next big thing that will rock the Internet: machine to machine (M2M for short) connectivity. It’s also called the “Internet of Things” or “Web of Things”. What is it? Simply put, it’s machines rather than people connecting to the Internet. It’s non-smartphones and non-PC’s hooking up, like your eReader, your car, your GPS, home appliances, and loads of automated industrial devices.