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8 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | JULY 2017 The Internet of Things. Most of us have heard that term by now. The first "thing" was the computer. That was the first device connected to the Internet. Now, tens of billions of things are connected some or all of the time to the Internet. Your smartphone is a thing; so is your tablet. These days there are refrigerators, alarm systems, and myriad other devices that qualify as things on the Internet. Most of these things connect wirelessly to local area networks in homes and offices. But what value are they to you and me? That's the topic for this month's column. If all you are going to do is communicate with a device directly, there's no point in connecting it to the Internet. For indirect or remote connection there is often an app for that. I'll use my home as an example. I have a Honeywell thermostat controlling my heat and air conditioning. In the summer, I leave it at one temperature 24/7 because I've been assured that is the most efficient way to set the air conditioning unless I'm away from the house for more than four days. That doesn't hold true for heat. So in the winter I turn it up in the daytime and down at night. Mostly I do this manually. But if I'm away from home or just too lazy to get up from the couch, I can use my Honeywell app to change the settings. Same goes for my sprinkler system. I use a Rachio control system, and I use the Rachio app all the time. With Rachio, there is no way to directly interact with the controller. It's either on my computer or my phone. To set up initial schedules, it's far easier to do it on a computer. For day-to-day adjustments, the app can't be beat. When we're expecting rain, I use the app to set a rain delay that suspends the regular watering schedule. Before connecting my sprinkler system to the Internet, when I wanted to test a sprinkler zone, I had to manually turn the sprinkler valve on and then off. Now, I can use the app to start and stop a zone from my phone. I'll admit that I'm really into this stuff, which is why I write this column. So I'll confess that I use a blood pressure monitor that's connected to the Internet (via my local network of course). I use an iHealth arm cup that connects to an app on my phone. I press a button on my phone and the device starts its cycle. When it's finished, the results appear on my phone. And the app logs my readings so when I visit my doctor, I just pull up the list of readings on my phone to show him. While we're on the topic of physical ailments, I now wear hearing aids, and they have Bluetooth that communicate with the Signia EasyTek app on my smartphone. I can adjust the volume, bass/treble balance, and select from four environmental profiles. Because it's linked to my phone, I can also listen to podcasts on my hearing aids. I use a TiVo DVR for recording TV shows. Often I'll want to set up a recording when the TV isn't on. I use the TiVo app for that. With the app I can see the guide and select a future show to record. I can view my recorded shows and a list of upcoming recordings. Just about anything I can do while watching the TV I can do with the app. In fact, I can even watch a show on my phone using the app. I'll admit that I just bought a new car. But in my defense, my last two cars were 10 and 15 years old. Among the many features I am now becoming used to, is an app that allows me to start and stop my car remotely, see any maintenance alerts, find a gas station, find a dealership, and many other things I'm still learning about. I doubt it will surprise you to learn that I'm really into data. I ride a bike which amazingly enough is not connected to the Internet, but my cycling computer is. I use it to record every ride. I log my miles (which I have no interest in), my elevation gain (which I have a strong interest in), my interval times, my average and max heart rates, and many other parameters. All this info gets transferred from my cycling computer to my desktop computer via the Garmin app on my phone. Admittedly I don't use the app much beyond turning it on and off at the beginning and end of my rides, but without the app on my phone, the data wouldn't end up on my computer where I use it the analyze my fitness (or, more properly, to witness the slow agonizing decline of what now passes for fitness.) There are other devices in my home that qualify for the Internet of things and have apps, but I don't use them very much. I can control my A/V receiver, Apple TV, and my TV with apps, but I find the remotes much easier. I can even control my lights because most of the house is connected to an Insteon system. But this great little system has wonderful remotes that are all over the house; it's much easier to press a button than to use an app on my phone to control a group of lights. There are amazing things you can connect to the Internet and amazing apps that go with them. Just make sure you choose your own password because default passwords can leave your home network vulnerable to intruders. Do you use an app you'd like to share with others? Let me know at steve.benoff@verizon.net. The Internet of Things THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT! By Steve Benoff

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