The BING of Things: Microsoft is getting into the internet of things game

Just some quotes from the press release called: “Bing at Build 2013: Weaving an Intelligent Fabric.”

With the explosion of always-connected devices – from smartphones, tablets and “phablets” to internet connected TVs and wearables, the daily use of technology in our lives is becoming more central. Awareness of the Physical World Weaving an Intelligent Fabric

The title of the PR might say it all. Intelligent fabric is an often used metaphor within the Internet of Things discourse that refers to an active knowledge base connected devices can utilize to function better. So what’s the deal? The problem:

The scale and technical horsepower required to build digital models of the physical world, the ability to turn simple web data into actionable knowledge and ways to employ naturalistic input like sight and sound to create amazing experiences are beyond the grasp of all but a few companies. We think it is time to democratize this technology to usher in a better future: one where developers build natural user experiences that weave together the web’s knowledge, an understanding of the user and the physical world in which she lives, and connections to services that help her do, not just search.

The solution:

The new platform services will deliver three broad categories of capabilities: services to bring entities and the world’sknowledge to your applications, services to enable your applications to deliver more natural and intuitive user experiences, and services which bring an awareness of the physical world into your applications

In short they are releasing an API that third-party vendors can use to tie into the tools that make Bing function as a search engine. Connections is the magic word. Connections that not only rely on data in indexed links (Google), but also on connections that lead to actions. Focusing on a broader database full of action-oriented connections is Mircosoft’s way of saying that Bing can and will become a central player to tie connected objects. Bing could use such connections to make connected devices do things or to gather and transmit data that could then inform tasks carried out by other devices. We will have to see how this will turn out, but all major players (IBM, Ciscco etc) are taking positions. What’s yours?