From Wired UK:
The internet of things will allow the products we buy to act as social objects with their own virtual Facebook profile equivalent, around which new experiences can cluster, according to Andy Hobsbawm, founder and chief marketing officer of Evrythng.
Speaking at the Economist's Technology Frontiers conference, he explained that machine-to-machine interactions such as tweeting fridges tended to get a lot of attention, but that his company was particularly interested in the "people and machines stuff".
He asked: "How do you get the real physical world to digitally connect with people and start creating interesting forms of connectivity and dialogue with human beings?"
He talked about Toyota Friend -- a private social network that connects the driver with its car -- which texts you when it needs its batteries recharged. "This creates a direct digital connection between the physical object and the person who owns and uses it," he said.
Hobsbawm went on to propose the idea of a digitally-connected guitar. Currently, when a musician buys a guitar from a shop there is barely any relationship between the manufacturer and the buyer. Gibson won't even know who has bought the guitars it ships to its retailers....MORE
