Drastic falls in cost are powering another computer revolution

THE INTERNET OF THINGS (IoT) is a clumsy name for a big idea. It holds that, despite all the changes the computer revolution has already wrought, it is only just getting started. The first act, in the aftermath of the second world war, brought computing to governments and big corporations. The second brought it to ordinary people, through desktop PCs, laptops and, most recently, smartphones. The third will bring the benefits—and drawbacks—of computerisation to everything else, as it becomes embedded in all sorts of items that are not themselves computers, from factories and toothbrushes to pacemakers and beehives.