Things are, and will continue to be, connected. see here
A little more (oversimplified) background …
In my workplace for the last few years, we have been working to prepare for a new scheme of Internet addressing. Back in the 1980s, Internet addresses were given a number system based on 32-bits. This is the foundation of what is known as Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) and results in something over 4 billion possible addresses, or 2 to the 32nd power. Within ten years or so, it becamse apparent that the world would run out of addresses — despite some interim workarounds and hacks to stretch out the available 4 billion. This scheme has pretty much run its course, and, as of earlier this year, the worldwide need to fully implement Internet Protocol version 6 became a real urgency. Unknown to 99% of our users, we are working feverishly to implement IPv6 on all of our equipment and make sure that our IPv4 addresses can be translated into IPv6-recognizable ones. IPv6 uses a 128-bit system, which can be expressed or quantified as 2 to the 128th power. Just try calculating that number out — it comes to something that heretofore was only used in the realm of mathematical theorists or scientists who try to count the number of stars in the universe, that is … zillions (I think the term used to count these things is in the undecillions). This means that a common household might have more IP addresses than now are used everywhere. So the point of the above linked piece is that we are rapidly approaching a scenario where just about everything will eventually have its own IP address, and be connected or connectible.
Here, also, is a draft of an article that I am preparing for our company blog: 340