Can you knock on your kitchen countertop to dim the lights, turn on your favorite music or send your partner a text message? You can if you have a "Knocki" stuck to it. Developed by Texas-based Swan Solutions, Knocki is a disc-shaped device that turns solid surfaces, such as walls, doors or tables, into remote control switches for internet-connected devices. All you have to do is knock.

Nokia’s GPS technology has been bought by German car manufacturers BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz, which offers the system more of an edge to compete with other mobile map applications. Nokia’s mapping system Here is working to compete with big mapping technology companies such as Google Maps and TomTom.

We are now living in a digital world and consumers’ growing love for, and reliance on, technology has helped the UK turn into a hotbed of digital development. On average, UK consumers spend almost nine hours every day on media devices, and according to new research from Cisco, there will be over nine networked devices per person in the UK by 2019.

When was the last time you thought about your lights? Whether you are outside or in, you will probably see 4, 5 or more sources of artificial light within view. There is an estimated 50 billion individual light points in the world today – seven or so per person; of all technology, the light bulb is arguably the most ubiquitous.

Nokia has reached an agreement to sell its Here mapping and location services business to an automotive industry consortium consisting of Audi, BMW Group, and Daimler, in a deal that gives the business an enterprise value of €2.8 billion ($3.1 billion). The deal fits with the plans of the automakers to progressively introduce more Internet-based services and automation to assist drivers.  

Being a key player in the dairy sector, Mother Dairy has been an active technology user, right from being the first dairy company in India to implement SAP to using the buzzing Internet of Things. Annie Mathew, CIO, talks about her decade-long stint in the dairy industry, about whether it is really difficult for women to break the glass ceiling, and how technology can prevent quality-related issues.

GE’s Jeffrey Immelt made news last month when he told Charlie Rose that every company is becoming a software company. The Internet of Things (IoT) is forcing device makers to create software. And that software has value. It can be monetized, and it needs to be protected.

Dick Smith is aiming to snare more than 10 per cent of the $1.7 billion small appliances market ahead of a wave of new products that consumers will control through their mobile phones and computers. The retailer, better known for electronics than vacuum cleaners and kettles, has taken a leaf out of the book of rival electronics chain JB Hi-Fi and plans to establish small appliance shop-in-shops under the ConnectedHome brand in about 100 Dick Smith stores over the next five months.

In his first week as Cisco Systems' new CEO, Chuck Robbins has already made an impression, moving quickly on plans to create a leaner, faster-moving company out of the networking colossus. Cisco was born in the mid-1980s as a company that made routers, a piece of networking gear that proved to be an essential component of the Internet, which was just then taking off. By the tail end of the dot-com boom in 2000, Cisco briefly was the world's most valuable company with a stock market capitalization of more than $550 billion.

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son has high hopes for the burgeoning internet-of-things movement. “Each individual, on average, will have more than 1,000 devices that are connected to the internet by 2040,” he told the audience at SoftBank World yesterday. “There will be no devices that aren’t connected.”