Sunday, August 31, 2014

Internet of Things (IoT) in the North


Photo courtesy of www.control4.com
In the Tech scene, only Baguio is the city that is on the radar for IT. It has a good track record for business process outsourcing (BPO), manufacturing hardware parts, and providing web  services for various industries.

In the southern part of the Philippines, Davao and Cebu are tech superstars. Of course, tech companies abound, tech industry is at its most promising stage — who could ask for more?

But the North seems more laid back, it has this watch and see attitude, and even though the national government is pushing the envelope in the provinces it seems that a lot of things need to be done first before we finally embrace technology and modernisation.
Why is this?

Most of the local officials are not open and exposed enough to technology. I know of a few influential officials that squirm at the word. They say that they were born and raised without and that their constituents do not need it or are not aware of it. Such people deserve a perfect slap on their faces to wake them up to reality.

Whoever said that technology is not necessary yet and their community can live without it must be living in a rainforest or is a caveman, Mayor.
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Today, we are entering the era of interconnected devices. The Internet of Things (IoT). Google acquired Nest Labs - a company which manufactures and sells intelligent devices running on Big Data or cloud technology that connects other devices to it.

Google will soon launch Android One, an Android phone that will also communicate with other devices at home like the television, the door, your zircon or coffeemaker and your ref. It can also talk to your car, the Android Car.

With all these up and coming, the people in the North can just not afford to watch things as they happen. We have to be in. We have to join the bandwagon and create things that will make our future a better place to live in.


The 4th DICT Congress in Pangasinan on October 9-11, is themed “ The Internet of Things- Star the future now”. The congress aims to open up and involve the Pangasinenses to the future of technology which is the IoT.  It wants to encourage citizens to build their own IoT contribution and specialise because there is no place in the Philippines that is niching on it.
Pangasinan is full of talents and its labor force is huge. A big portion of the urban workers come from Pangasinan. And we are trying to create our own opportunities here.

By introducing IoT and what the future holds to our students, we envision our digital natives to go and create software or devices hacked from ordinary things we see around and convert it to more useful devices that the entire community can benefit of.

Learn more about the Internet of Things  and DICT 4 on my next column.  The congress is scheduled October 9-11 in Lingayen and Dagupan City Pangasinan respectively.



Tweet me @vanjpadilla for more stories and conversation. 

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