When Hardware Meets Software: How the Internet of Things Transforms Design and Manufacturing by Mike Barlow

The Internet is rapidly transforming from a simple network of humans with computers into the backbone of a new industrial society of networked machines that connect with each other to get things done. And nowhere is this revolution more apparent than in consumer hardware. Welcome to the Internet of Solids, where software developers think like product designers, and product designers think more like software developers. In this O’Reilly report, Mike Barlow talks to several industry leaders about the effects of the indie hardware movement, the product innovation taking shape on the factory floors of Shenzhen, China, and GE’s vision of an Industrial Internet. This concise report covers: The marriage of hardware and software by a new generation of DIY Makers Why products based on software are giving way to products based on hardware What it takes to free hardware from its physical constraints—without increasing cost How rapid prototyping is making hardware startups look like software startups The (near) future where devices continually share data and make real-time decisions.