There was once a time when people distinguished between cyberspace, the digital world of computers and hackers, and the flesh-and-blood reality known as meatspace. Anyone overwhelmed by the hackable perils of cyberspace could unplug and retreat to the reliable, analog world of physical objects. But today, cheap, radio-connected computers have invaded meatspace. They’re now embedded in everything from our toys to our cars to our bodies. And this year has made clearer than ever before that this Internet of Things introduces all the vulnerabilities of the digital world into our real world.

It also makes a really good espresso from whole beans, can froth milk, and go from standby mode to ready to brew in roughly a minute. As far as coffee makers go, it’s the fanciest one that’s ever graced my kitchen countertop. The machine in question is the Saeco GranBaristo Avanti made by Philips  PHG -0.88% . It is part of a new class of machines known as super automatics, because they do everything for you—from grinding your favourite beans to pumping water over them at the appropriate pressure to make an espresso. The …

It's nighttime in Saudi Arabia, so we can't see much when Aamir Lakhani hacks into a video stream. But the fact that we can see the video stream at all is startling. Even more surprising, we are viewing it from the conference room of cybersecurity company Fortinet, 8,100 miles away in Sunnyvale, California. Lakhani, a security researcher at Fortinet, accomplished the hack without any coding skills, though he has those in spades. He merely went to Shodan.io, a website where anyone can find a huge trove of Internet-connected devices, from baby monitors to cars, cameras and even traffic lights.

What with the fervor over autonomous cars, and predictions of the arrival of the machines being anywhere from 20 years to 2 years, as is Tesla CEO Elon Musk's latest projection, many might be forgetting a major development that will become prevalent before any of this self-driving stuff. That is over-the air (OTA) networked updating of cars. And it will probably end up in the majority of cars within the next 5 to 10 years, pundits say. Consumers are getting used to fast development cycles in their technology, instigated by the smartphone cycle. They’re getting disappointed when other technologies, such as …

If you and your organization aren’t talking about the Internet of Things yet, you will soon enough. Those of you who have thermostats talking to you at night, or who wear a FitBit 24/7, are experiencing the IoT first-hand. Using a beacon at your meeting? That’s just the tip of what the IoT could mean to meetings and events, says Wilson Tang, vice president of digital experience at FreemanXP, a brand experience agency. Simply put, the IoT is a network of physical objects (things) embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity, enabling these objects to collect and exchange data.

In the robot vacuum wars, Neato has made a name for itself by developing cheaper, laser-guided devices that are just as effective as iRobot's Roombas. In fact, while Roombas have been bouncing around walls for years with no real intelligence (something that's finally changed with thecamera-equipped Roomba 980), Neato's lasers have helped its devices wisely navigate your floors since they debuted in 2010. Now with the BotVac Connected ($700), Neato also has a robot vacuum that's controlled by a mobile app. But while it does a decent job of cleaning floors, I found it to be much more trouble than …

The hype around the Internet of Things has been rising steadily over the past five years. In tech analyst Gartner's Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies report in 2015, the IoT is at the peak of "inflated expectations", particularly for areas like the smart home, which involve controlling your lights, thermostat or TV using your mobile phone. But the era of sensors has only just dawned, according to renowned technology investor and internet pioneer Marc Andreessen. In 10 years, he predicts mobile phones themselves could disappear.

The implication seems to be that LG is limiting webOS to smart TVs moving forward, something that fans of the old versions of webOS might find disappointing, if not heartbreaking. LG wishes to launch a Smart TV line, which according to the latter will feature the new webOS 3.0 platform. The software isn't as much of a massive visual overhaul as past webOS refreshes. The company released webOS as open source in the hopes companies like LG would adopt it for commercial products. Magic Zoom is intriguing as LG claims TV owners can magnify objects and text without degrading picture …

Google wants to bring shared self-driving cars to market by 2020. In 2015, it showed signs of inching toward the marketplace by bringing aboard John Krafcik to lead the program and commencing testing in Austin, Texas. With a manufacturing deal with Ford reportedly in the works, 2016 may bring more concrete signs of Google's go-to-market plan. Meanwhile, Google's archrival Apple Inc. continues to explore cars in secrecy. For more than a decade, the U.S. government has pushed technology that would allow cars to “talk” to one another to avoid crashes, using a wireless communications frequency. It hasn't hit the market — …

Robotics maker Boston Dynamics, owned by Google, had a unique take on Santa's sleigh as its annual holiday wish.  Using its robotic dogs to pull it along, the sleigh and rider wish all a Happy Holiday.