tothepoint

news
Fridges of spam

The long talked about ‘internet of things’ could finally start to become a reality this year with more connected devices coming onto the market than ever before. We’re now used to our phones and computers being permanently connected to the rest of the world and even our ‘smart’ TVs are joining the party too. There’s no down-side to this, right?

Other items such as fridges (that can re-order milk for you before you even knew you’d run low), washing machines and other household goods are becoming internet enabled too – it’s a brave new world! And they’ll all want access to your Facebook account so they can update your timeline – telling your friends how often you re-stock the beer and wash your smalls.

Ok, I’m a little cynical – not so much of the concept, but of the practical uses the big brand companies will find for this – and let’s not even get started on the security worries! For instance, The Guardian recently noted that over the Christmas period, a wealth of internet connected items (including fridges naturally) were discovered to be sending out huge quantities of spam and phishing emails. So just be very careful when your freezer casually sends you an email with a request for your bank details – so it can keep you stocked in petit pois – oh, and it has a rather interesting deal going on with a toaster in Nigeria…

Read more: The Guardian