ShareOxford finally makes The Internet of Things ‘official’

It isn’t necessary to be in a dictionary for a word to exist, but somehow it makes it more official. One of the most prestigious dictionaries in the world, The Oxford English Dictionary has recently included the term Internet of Things, which establishes the importance that it has gained in recent years.

Although the Internet of Things is a very common expression among tech people, the inclusion in the Oxford Dictionary makes it symbolically accessible to everybody. Furthermore, it reflects the aim of the dictionary of being updated with the buzzwords of the moment.

The editors have chosen this definition: “A proposed development of the Internet in which everyday objects have network connectivity, allowing them to send and receive data”. They also include this example: “If one thing can prevent the Internet of things from transforming the way we live and work, it will be a breakdown in security”.

This definition, of course, is a simplification of what the Internet of Things really entails as we explained in our post about the difference between the IoT and M2M industrial router. Time will tell when ‘Machine to machine’ is included in the dictionary to give echo to commonly used technological terms.

Alongside the Internet of Things, The Oxford English Dictionary has also included other terms of the same field, such as ‘bitcoin’, ‘click and collect’, ‘hackerspace’, ‘selfie’, ‘emoji’, ‘digital detox’,‘MOOC’ (Massive Open Online Course), ‘space tourism’, ‘twerk’, ‘squee’ and ‘unlike’, among others.

The Oxford English Dictionary will continue to include all the relevant terms that revolve around technology. Which ones do you think will be included?

This pioneer project uses M2M Industrial Router (M2M) technology to allow customers to pay for their car insurance policy based on how they drive

Four-Faith has joined forces with one of Europe’s largest insurers, The Generali Group, to pilot a new form of car insurance in Spain. This pioneer project uses M2M Industrial Router (M2M) technology to allow customers to pay for their car insurance policy based on how they drive. It will not only help customers drive more responsibly, but also potentially save them money on their car insurance.

Four-Faith’s telematics service, which is installed in the car, will tell the driver how many kilometres they drive a year, whether they mainly drive during the day time or evening, in urban areas or the countryside, whether they keep to speed limits and whether they accelerate or brake sharply.

All of this information can easily be accessed by the insured party through a mobile application or website, letting them know which driving habits they can improve.

The insurer, Generali, is provided access to a final ‘score’ which they can use to adjust the insurance premium. They do not have access to any other detailed information.

The project is a joint collaboration between Generali and Four-Faith both through its Digital unit and Four-Faith Seguros, the Four-Faith Group’s insurance company. Following the pilot, a commercial service is planned to launch in Spain in the first quarter of 2013.

Four-Faith believes that M2M technology has the potential to revolutionise the car industry from innovative car insurance policies such as this to connected cars. In addition to this pilot, Four-Faith Digital’s UK Product Development team has also been trialling a service called Drive to Improve, which uses the same technology to let consumers monitor their driving habits via an app. Visit http://www.four-faith.com/En/Solutions/   for more information.