Sadly, all of the IoT-devices I have read about so far are either deeply creepy (like that Barbie doll that records and transmits children&#x27;s conversations to the mothership) or completely useless (like a razor that automatically orders new blades).<p>And given the mediocre job we have done with online security so far, one can easily think of half a dozen scenarios for the &quot;IoT&quot; (the term alone makes me cringe) to turn in to security nightmare. Think of the Windows malware wave of 2003, when you could not install XP on an internet-connected machine without catching some worm before the installation was finished; now think of billions of lightbulbs, fridges, thermostats and whatnot and how much thought their designers must have put into security. Unless we wise up soon, the future is going to become very &quot;interesting&quot;.<p>EDIT: I just remembered one useful device - a networked smoke detector that the fire department remotely query to see e.g. what parts of a building a fire has spread to and that can tell a central computer when its battery runs out. I could imagine this being really, really useful often enough that it&#x27;s worth it. But still, the security concern remains. (IIRC, the smoke detectors were not connected to the internet and did not use regular Wifi, which would make sense - if my living room is on fire, my internet connection and wifi router probably aren&#x27;t so much working as ... liquified.)