In 2014 the Internet of Things became both a fascinating and scary thing, thanks to interesting products and a few hacks. Nest, while remaining the darling of this new industry, had its own set of problems with the potential issues found in its smoke detectors. But last year is all behind us, and hopefully 2015 holds more promise than problem.

Now the Google-owned company is announcing new functionality for its popular thermostat and perhaps scary smoke detector. The tiny wall and ceiling devices are getting a boatload of new functionality, involving that whole Internet of Things.

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The future is here! We are actually living in the future. The futuristic sci-fi imaginings of the 1960's are not only a reality, they have been bettered, exceeded and trumped. At least that's what we're led to believe. The reality is rather different.

A lot of excitement has been pinned on the Internet of Things -- little more than connected, communicating devices -- but Qualcomm is taking things even further. In a video released ahead of CES 2015, the chipmaker waxes lyrical about not the Internet of Things we're supposed to know and love, but the Internet of Everything. And it's here. Apparently.

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Companies are always forward-looking, but it's at this time of year that this is really focused on. Consumers are excited to see what products they'll be able to get their hands on in the year ahead, businesses want to know what services the coming year has to offer, and technology enthusiasts are keen to learn about what projects are in the works.

Today, Microsoft shares its view of which areas of technology are going to be of the greatest importance for businesses in 2015. Corporate Vice President, Enterprise and Partner Group, Susan Hauser believes that security will continue to be strengthened, the Internet of Things will grow, and predictive tools will be more heavily utilized.

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The Internet of Things will see an acceleration in adoption if Intel's plans work out. The chipmaker has just unveiled its own Internet of Things platform called, inevitably, Intel IoT Platform. The aim is to create a unified system that makes it easy for manufacturers to securely connect their devices to others.

The platform is essentially a set of protocols that helps to ensure compatibility between devices. Intel has already forged a number of partnerships with a view to accelerating uptake of and interest in the Internet of Things in general, and Intel IoT specifically.

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The definition of the Internet of Things is "intelligent interactivity between humans and things to exchange information and knowledge for new value creation". Try saying that after a glass of wine! There’s been a lot of talk about the IoT in the business world, and with good reason. It’s chock full of potential to improve performance, reduce costs, drive innovation and create new revenue streams. Of course, we’ve now reached the point where the talk is turning into action -- technology is adapting and businesses are planning IoT strategies.

Forrester Consulting say: "We are at the tipping point for broader IoT adoption with 53 percent of organizations planning to implement an IoT solution in the next 24 months. Organizations in Asia Pacific and Latin America are more aggressive with 69 and 60 percent respectively, planning to implement over the same time period".

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Gartner research indicates that the rapid growth in the number of Internet-connected devices will become a powerful force for business transformation and will have a disruptive impact across all industries and all areas of society. Forecasts predict that 4.9 billion connected things will be in use by 2015, an increase of 30 percent compared to today, with the figure set to reach 25 billion by 2020.

Jim Tully, vice president and analyst at Gartner, explains how companies need to embrace IoT if they want to survive in the changing business landscape. "The digital shift instigated by the Nexus of Forces (cloud, mobile, social and information), and boosted by IoT threatens many existing businesses. They have no choice but to pursue IoT, like they’ve done with the consumerization of IT".

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A recent report by Gartner predicts that there will be 4.9 billion connected 'things' in use in 2015 and as many as 20 billion by 2020.

There’s little doubt that the internet of things is set to have a big impact which will be felt across enterprises and homes. Business systems specialist SAP is keen to be at the forefront and is using its TechEd conference in Berlin to announce three new IoT solutions.

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Three months ago I reached the end of my tether. I'm lucky enough to live in one of the most beautiful and unspoilt parts of the UK (it nearly wasn’t part of the UK had the Scottish referendum on independence taken a different turn), but there's one problem: truly awful broadband. There is a 'choice' of one broadband provider who is capable of trickling sub 0.5Mbps connections into houses in the area -- and that's on a good day.

One Twitter rant later, a few emails exchanged with Satellite Internet led to the arrival of two installers to get me set up with a 20Mbps satellite connection. My initial impressions were great. The internet worked as it should for the first time in months. But my fear was that this was just a honeymoon period. So what’s the story nearly three months down the line -- what is it like to live with a satellite internet connection? Were my initial concerns about data usage well-founded?

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Recently a fresh round of exciting wearables have been announced or shipped by large device manufacturers like Apple, Motorola, LG, and Samsung. These gadgets present new opportunities for developers to expand their existing apps by developing new user experiences. The user experience (UX) change can be subtle, but very impactful.

As an example, I've been using a watch wearable for several months with the primary function of tethering to my device and presenting notifications such as messages or phone calls, which at the surface seems like a small UX change. However, the benefit has been surprisingly tremendous. Previously, during evening walks with my wife, every single notification from my mobile device resulted in a reach into my pocket, flip open of the folio, swipe down on the notification, eyes transfixed to a 4in screen, to get to a message that 9 times out of 10 just wasn't that urgent. With this watch wearable I simply take a quick look at the notification from my wrist, the mobile device stays in my pocket (90 percent of the time) and I stay engaged in our conversation. Oh and I can use it to get the time too!

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If This Then That, better know as IFTTT, is a system for customizing what happens with various devices. Pretty much anything you can dream up can be programmed in, and the service has moved now into the home automation field.

The company is announcing integration with Honeywell's new thermostat. The evohome systems now have a custom channel, bringing even more to the growing Internet of Things offerings from IFTTT. This brings the total products up by one more.

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It is only natural for Wi-Fi transfer speeds to increase as we are getting closer to the Internet of Things (IoT). The new technology era will see virtually every single thing we can imagine being designed, from the start, to go online. That requires technologies which can cope with the extra load. But since what we have now is seemingly not good enough, Samsung, being heavily invested in IoT, has decided to take matters into its own hands.

As it works towards bringing its Smart Home concept to fruition, which is an integral part of its IoT plans, Samsung announces today that the new Wi-Fi technology it has developed, formally known as 802.11ad, will enable transfer speeds of up to 4.6 Gbs (575 MBps). In plain English it means that a 1 GB file will be downloaded in less than two seconds.

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According to a new survey UK consumers increasingly fear the pace of change they face and are particularly cynical about the need for connected, "Internet of Things" devices.

According to the survey of over 1,600 consumers by UK-based audit and accounting specialist KPMG, more than half of people (58 percent) resent the idea that computers seem to run their lives. Also 70 percent suggest that with the marketplace flooded by inter-connected devices, it's too easy for things to go wrong. The survey reveals a hankering for a return to 'simple' technology. Many, for example, mainly want their phone to make calls (54 percent) and the majority think that more advanced internet-based products such as smart fridges which self-order food or cookers reminding owners about recipes aren't needed.

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As we saw last week, parental control products are a bit of a mixed bag and are only part of a protection strategy that includes effective education.

If you have several different devices in the family you may also end up using multiple products to protect them. That is unless you use the latest version of Remo Software's MORE which offers cloud-based management across multiple platforms.

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The world's first death caused by the Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to occur before the end of the year, according to a report by The European Police Office (Europol).

The greatest risk is likely to come from hackers targeting crucial health and safety equipment as more and more devices become susceptible to remote hacking.

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There are a lot of technology buzzwords and phrases being thrown around lately, such as "Cloud" and "Wearables", but the one I see gaining the most traction is "Internet of Things". The concept is pretty simple -- things being connected to the Internet, but what exactly is defined as a "thing". Well, pretty much anything that isn't a traditional computer can qualify. Think outside the box for a moment and imagine things like your bed, a toaster or a vacuum cleaner being connected to the Internet. Maybe an internet-connected bed can upload logs of your sleep patterns, a toaster can tell you that breakfast is ready, or your vacuum might warn you to to clean the filter.

Unfortunately, as cool as this is, it presents a big problem -- who will decide the standards, and how can we be sure that it is all safe? After all, you do not want a vulnerability in an Internet-connected refrigerator compromising your entire network. Have no fear however, ARM has stepped up with its solution -- the mbed platform which focuses on open standards.

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