It's inevitable.

Within a few years there will be more "things" (intelligent devices) on the Internet than people.

This is not a bad thing. In fact it is a very good thing. (The illustration is from a Forbes article on RFID, reprinted at Mindfully.Org.)

Here's one example. Philips is developing a Zigbee-based garment that can monitor your physical condition, diagnose problems, and alert you or a doctor if something goes wrong.

When the story linked above was written Philips was saying it would reach the market in a few years. But I now doubt that, because the present version of Zigbee isn't the wild hit hardware makers thought, so engineers have gone back to the drawing board, looking for something that lasts longer, and maybe transmits more data, than the old standard.

The point is this is a true "killer app." Whether it comes in the form of a garment, or a wristwatch, or something that's implanted, a system that monitors, tweaks, and optimizes the health of a sick person means that person can go out in public, or live at home, much longer than before. The savings from that are enormous and we're all living longer.

And this is just one Always-On application space. You can automate building controls with Zigbee, so as to use less power. You can automate gardens and golf courses, to use less water. (Imagine applying this to the problems of drip irrigation farming.) Stores and manufacturers can use it to save on their supply chains, and reduce theft. You can use it in homes for security, or just so you'll know, from your desk at work, whether you have the ingredients at home for Spaghetti Al Fredo or if you need to zip by the grocer's on the way home.

For all these things, the Internet is just one transport mechanism. There are others. Wireless LANs, UWB LANs, Zigbee, Bluetooth, cellular -- these too are just transport mechanisms.

The point is there is a whole world out there, waiting to be born. It's a world that can employ millions, in programming, in sales, in service, in networking, and create trillions of dollars in new value.

What are we waiting for?