From cooking and fitness to driving and parking, IoT has found its place in our daily lives, and it would seem IoT tech is here to stay. Fortunately, the changes these technologies have made are pretty incredible and very positive, making it easy to accept such an enormous shift in the way we do things.

Want to learn more about the newest IoT innovations being developed in Chicago? Below are three of our favorites.

#1: Jiobit

By now, everyone has seen a Fitbit or Apple Watch. These wearable technologies are far from new, and as useful as they are, they are no longer something to get too excited about. That said, the Jiobit is a new wearable technology that might just pique your interest, especially if you are a parent of caregiver to a young child.

This small, lightweight, wearable device can clip onto a child’s clothing or backpack and accurate track him or her wherever they wander. It will send alerts to your smartphone, updating you on your child’s location, and will even set off an audible alarm when your child walks too far away in a public place.

The battery life on this tracker is incredible, as it can last up to a week on a full charge. Additionally, the Jiobit is compatible with Amazon’s Alexa assistant via devices such as the Amazon Echo.

#2: Tovala

Okay, so we all like to eat a delicious, home-cooked meal at the end of a long day. Unfortunately, actually cooking that meal is not something most people want to do after working for several hours.

Therefore, most people end up ordering take out or heating something up in the microwave. This is unfortunate because there are so many incredible meals they could be enjoying. Fortunately, Tovala is about to make its debut and take weeknight dinners to the next level.

Tovala is a smart oven that makes cooking amazing meals as easy as can be. The oven will scan the codes located on the Tovala-brand packaged meals and proceed to bake, steam, and/or broil the meal to perfection. Don’t have a Tovala meal on hand? No worries! The Tovala app includes plenty of DIY recipes that work perfectly with the Tovala oven. On top of all that, the oven also works with meals you create, meaning you can put directions for cooking your favorite meals into the Tovala app and ensure they are cooked just right, every single time.

#3: ParqEx Access+

If you have ever used ParqEx, you know how helpful this parking-sharing program can be. That said, it can be a bit difficult for those who are trying to rent parking in a garage. In the past, these cases would require the parking space owner to leave the garage door unlocked for when their customer arrived, something that made a lot of people uncomfortable for obvious reasons. Fortunately, we have fixed this problem with a nifty little feature called ParqEx Access+.

ParqEx Access+ allows approved renters to open garage doors with their smartphones. This means no more unsecure garages. Customers can get in and out of their rental space without a problem, and space owners no longer have to worry about safety and security, making this a win-win technology for all.

Want to learn more about how ParqEx is using the Internet of Things to improve lives? We’d love to hear from you. Please contact us today!

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Want to know more about these awesome advancements? If so, you’ve come to the right place! In this article we will explore three of the most exciting new trends in vehicle technology, how they might affect your day-to-day life, and how they’ll change your habits for the better in the near future.

Vehicle Communication

After a long 12 years of research, vehicle-to-vehicle communication will officially hit the market this year via the 2017 Cadillac CTS. While the technology will be extremely limited at first due to a lack of similarly equipped vehicles on the road to “talk” to, it will still give the driver some advantages, such as communicating with certain traffic lights.

Moreover, it will pave the way for even more of this incredible new technology in the future, which will eventually have the ability to prevent accidents through the use of cameras and other information-gathering systems and an advanced wireless car-to-car communication system.

While it may take a while to grow to that point, Cadillac is taking the most important and most difficult baby steps in the right direction.

Autonomous Driving

As proven by Tesla, Uber, and a few other companies in 2016, self-driving cars are here to stay. Not only that, but they are set to make some big advancements this year.

For instance, Volvo will be releasing 100 autonomous cars onto Swedish roads in the next year in order to 1) give the public a chance to experience a ride without a driver, and 2) test this new technology in the quest for a “death-proof vehicle”. The company hopes to make this ultra-safe car available to the public by the year 2020.

Additionally, companies such as Ford, GM, and BMW will be releasing self-driving fleets of their own. Finally—and most impressively—Tesla is scheduled to send a self-driving car on a trip from New York to LA before year’s end.

Improved Electric Cars

As if self-driving cars aren’t cool enough, it looks like 2017 will be a big year for electric cars as well. Hopefully this advancement signals the beginning of the end of our dependence on fossil fuels, and a step toward a greener, brighter tomorrow.

Not to be outdone by the Nissan Leaf—which was upgraded last year and now boasts an impressive 107-mile range—Chevrolet has announced that its new Bolt EV will have an increased range of up to 200 miles. This is an incredible step in the right direction for electric vehicles, as the longer range makes them a far more practical option. Additionally, the Ford Focus Electric will become a 100-mile car, meaning those looking for a lower-priced option will not be disappointed with the range possibilities in their budget category.

Smart Parking

Clearly, vehicle manufacturers have seen just how important it is to keep up with the demand for newer and more efficient technology. We at ParqEx have seen the light as well, and we’re taking steps to make parking easier than ever through the use of “internet of things” technology. We hope to work with car manufacturers toward an ultimate goal of less traffic congestion and a hassle-free driving experience for all.

Are you interested in learning more about Using Internet of Things and new trends in parking technology? Please have a look around our website or contact us with questions. After reading more about us, we are sure you will want to sign up for an account right away in order to take full advantage of our peer-to-peer sharing platform and our amazing new technology.

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A Primer on IoT: Why It Is Such a Big Deal

The premise behind the Internet of Things is simple: take sensors and all of the latest technology we use to communicate (WIFI, BlueTooth, RFID tags, beacons, apps, etc.) and embed them in the common objects of daily life. Not only do these common objects gain new functionality, but they add new streams of data that can be used to make our environments smarter.

Although the concept is quick to grasp, the application of it — i.e. seeing all of its potential uses — is what society is just beginning to explore. Some say we’re at the first flickers of a massive wildfire of tech change. As this article from Harvard researcher Laura Adler notes, IoT use, as measured by IoT connections, is predicted to increase four-fold by 2020.

Smarter Cars and Cities Means Smarter (and Happier) Drivers

One simple but exciting use of IoT is between traffic lights and drivers. Technology now exists, and is actively being employed, in which a traffic light sends a signal to an app in a driver’s phone and alerts him or her when it is about to turn green. Cities are already applying this tech to stop the traffic delays that occur because distracted drivers aren’t noticing the green light.

Eventually, such an alert system will not require an app on the person’s phone. Traffic lights, thanks to smart car technology, will be able to communicate directly with the car, and the car will send the alert when the light is about to change.

The V2V Revolution

V2V (Vehicle-to-Vehicle) smart technology, which allows cars to communicate with each other in real-time using sensors and computers, is just beginning to spread. GM, for example, has already completed a fleet of Cadillacs that are fully functioning V2V. This means:

• When you’re about to change lanes, the car sweeps the road nearby with its sensors, and if it detects a car in your blind spot an alarm sounds and your seat buzzes so that you do not steer into the car.
• The car prevents a rear-end collision by analyzing your speed and using sensors to detect cars on the road in front of you. If it sees that you’re about to rear-end a car, it sounds an alarm and automatically (and smoothly) applies the brake to avoid the collision.
• When you’re about to change lanes, the car uses its sensors to see if any other cars are coming up fast in the lane next to you and alerts you so that you don’t steer into the speeding car.

GM has noted that there are 800,000 blind-spot accidents each year, and V2V’s potentially enormous boost to driver safety has inspired the Department of Transportation, as Wired noted, to make V2V tech mandatory for all cars. It has already begun working with car manufacturers to realize the dream.

Can I Really Use an App to Reserve a Private Parking Space (or Rent Your Space for Extra Income) in Chicago? Absolutely.

Some IoT applications have begun using sensors to alert drivers when a parking space in the city has opened up. The goal is to make the parking spot-hunting process more efficient. Although it helps drivers know where to find open parking spots, it doesn’t always guarantee a parking spot. Sure, you can track the availability of the spot, but at the last second just before you arrive there, someone else could take it.

The sensor, in other words, doesn’t hold the spot for you. IoT has its limits, and this is where well-developed apps with large networks of users can take over and drastically reduce the hassle of hunting for a parking spot in Chicago.

The app ParqEx, for example, locates privately owned parking spots in the city and uses ParqEx’s large network of users to allow you to reserve an ideal parking spot in advance and be as specific as month, week, day, or hour. Or you can use the app to rent out your parking space. That’s right, you can become the landlord of a parking spot and earn extra income.

If you love technology innovation as much as we do, especially when it makes your travel experience in Chicago easier, contact us to learn more about Parqex.

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