Abstract :
In his 1999 book ´When Things Start to Think´, MIT´s Neil Gershenfeld wrote about a future where computers and sensors would be in every thing, talking to each other via self-adapting networks, and doing useful tasks without human intervention. A ´thinking´ coffeemaker, he said, would have access to your bed and mug status, calendar, and consumption records, so it knew when to brew your morning cup.