How the Internet will swallow everything

When the Internet was invented, it was not expected to dramatically change the way people connect with each other easily and speedily in the immediate future; to share contents, communicate, build communities and do commerce. Over 3 billion people now have access to the Internet, globally. The virtual future is coming

In the next half decade, over 6 billion smartphones will be in use and about 70 billion devices will be connected to the Internet. According to industry experts in “Internet of Everything”, so many things will be connected to the Internet. Houses, cars, watches, traffic lights, trees, animals, diapers, bras, shoes, power grids, schools and many other things will be connected to the Internet.

The conditions and character of these things will be managed, monitored and measured using the Internet. Businesses must understand that everything will be virtualised by the Internet.

Features of the virtual future Some of the features of the virtual future are as follows:

1. Social messaging and communication: The way we socialise and communicate will be redefined by the Internet in that it will connect us to everyone and anything which relates to our social character and behaviour. We will be able to have real-time access to our families, friends and social networks using smart devices. Social messaging will take over from social media as the number one activity on the Internet. WhatsApp, Messenger, Skype, Viber and Tango are some of the major social messaging platforms.

2. Driverless and smart automobiles: Vehicles and cars will be able to drive themselves by communicating with each other via the Internet within the context of defined computerised transportation system. Google, Tesla, Mercedes Benz, Nissan, BMW and many other car manufacturers are earnestly working on and testing smart cars.

According to Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, it will be illegal for human beings to drive cars in the near future. All you need to do is programme these vehicles to drive you to your destination. That is the actual meaning of “auto-mobile” or self-driving cars.

3. Reinvented traditional media: Traditional media will be reinvented in order to stay relevant. Radio, Television, Print and other traditional media will be formatted by the Internet in that content developers can stream their contents to their respective audience via the Internet in real time without any geographical restrictions. Contents will find their audience via the Internet.

4. Mobile authorisation systems: The mobile phone will be the online authorisation and authentication device in the next decade. It will be the key to people’s connection to the Internet. It can lock or open doors, unlock cars, turn on or off heaters, lock or unlock refrigerators, control television sets and other appliances with the owner’s activation. Ring, a mobile-phone powered security system, enables subscribers to secure their homes using their mobile phones from anywhere. Hei-Julor, developed in Ghana, helps its users to activate the emergency alert system to send SMS to their family or neighbours, the Ghana Police Service, security companies and a partner radio station, when under attack.

5. Drone courier services: Amazon, one of the ecommerce giants in America, is testing delivery of parcels using drones in the USA. This means the remotely controlled quadcopters will make deliveries to homes anytime someone buys online, by beating all the delays on the road transport system. It will be faster and will bypass any physical structural restrictions. It can make deliveries to remote areas with bad road networks. That is the future of parcel delivery.

6. Connected trendy fashion: Now, the Internet is inspiring new trends in the fashion industry. Huggies, a leading brand in diapers, developed TweetPee app which sends tweets to mothers’ Twitter accounts when there is need to change the diapers of their babies. Intelligent Textiles also developed a special fabric for the British Army which is made of yarn that conducts electricity. The fabric can carry data or power through the soldier’s clothes, or helmet. German researchers have developed shoes that generate electric power when you walk or swing a leg.

7. Health delivery systems: Smartphone accessory, adaptors, developed by researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine enable the taking of high-quality images of the back and front of the eye so patients can be remotely diagnosed and treated. MPedigree, developed by Bright Simons of Ghana, helps to authenticate drugs in order to fight counterfeiting. MoTech helps women in rural northern Ghana to receive maternity education and health services using feature phones. A smartphone accessory cable of testing for syphilis and HIV by finger-prick in 15 minutes, has been developed by engineers at the Columbia University. Doctors can connect with patients via apps powered by the Internet. Hospitals will go to the people instead of the people going to them.

8. Computerised commuting system: Transportation or commuting system will be computerized to the extent that bus tickets will be automatically deducted from your account via your mobile phone when you immediately board the bus using Near Field Communication technology. Traffic conditions can be known via apps in real time. Electric cars are the trendiest thing in the market and in-car entertainment features being redesigned to enable streaming of contents. Services such as Uber, Lyft, Getaxi and EasyTaxi are helping passengers find rides easily anywhere using the respective apps.

9. Virtual business marketplace: Businesses of the future must understand the certain reality that the whole consumer marketplace will be virtualised. Ecommerce portals will be bigger, in terms of product inventories, than thousands of malls put together. Payment will be seamless and banks with physical structures may not be in existence. Money will be virtualised in that its owner can move it around without ever cashing it out. Machines will do more work through the power of artificial intelligence.

10. Innovative educational system: People in rural areas or remote places can receive world-class education by the power of the Internet via connected devices. School structures will not be needed because education will take place between teachers located anywhere in the world and their students in different locations, in a virtual classroom on the Internet.

The writer is a digital marketing strategist, social media expert, app developer and technology Instructor.