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What Are the Different Types of Internet Gadgets?

G. Wiesen
G. Wiesen

There are a number of different types of Internet gadgets, though they can typically be divided into a handful of basic categories. Devices and gadgets that can help facilitate connectivity, often through wireless networks, are quite common and can be used to connect other hardware to a network for a variety of reasons. Some Internet gadgets can include smart phones and tablet computer devices that combine a great deal of online functionality with portability and ease of use. There are also some gadgets that can be used online through a remote connection, such as webcams and other remote security devices or software.

Some of the most common Internet gadgets are those that are designed to provide greater accessibility to the Internet and online functionality in different settings or for different devices. There are, for example, an increasing number of devices that can be used to provide Internet access from specific locations such as an automobile, with functionality designed for that particular setting. Other Internet gadgets include devices that can be used to provide online connectivity for televisions and other media devices. This can allow someone to use a television for navigating the Internet, and may allow instant streaming of media from a number of different sources on that television.

A webcam.
A webcam.

There are also some Internet gadgets that are somewhat more complicated, but allow a great deal of functionality online. Smart phones, for example, have incorporated an increasingly high number of online functions and tools for users to utilize through the phone interface. While laptop computers have been common for some time, and often allow online use through wireless networks, tablet computers have become increasingly powerful and useful. Such computers can be considered Internet gadgets that provide power and functionality closer to a small computer, while utilizing an interface that more closely resembles a large smart phone.

An ADSL modem, one of the ways to connect to the Internet.
An ADSL modem, one of the ways to connect to the Internet.

Some Internet gadgets provide more limited functionality, often developed for use in accomplishing a particular task. Security devices and gadgets, for example, have been designed that utilize the Internet and online functionality to improve security and provide greater options for users of such devices. A webcam can be set up at a particular location and connected to a computer either through a physical connection or wirelessly; as long as that computer is on and online, software and Internet gadgets can be used to access that webcam and view images captured through it. There are also security programs and devices that can be connected to a computer to capture keystrokes and record websites visited on that computer, which then send that information through the Internet to a remote device.

Discussion Comments

Markerrag

The rise in the number of Internet gadgets is a good tale to describe the pitfalls of coming up with a good idea before its time. A company called Be Inc. came up with a graphical interface called BeOS in the early 1990s. After trying and failing to sell it to Apple as a replacement for the aging Mac OS, the company reconfigured BeOS to run on Intel-based machines (the platform on which Microsoft Windows is still dominant) and even made some of its own hardware that ran BeOS and Mac OS.

By the late 1990s, Be Inc. shifted its focus to marketing the OS for Internet appliances -- radios and such that streamed information from the Internet. Be failed miserably. Had they come up with that idea just a few years later, the company might have been more successful.

Pioneers don't always get the big bucks, see?

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    • A webcam.
      A webcam.
    • An ADSL modem, one of the ways to connect to the Internet.
      By: Petr Malyshev
      An ADSL modem, one of the ways to connect to the Internet.
    • Smartphones can be considered Internet gadgets.
      By: N-Media-Images
      Smartphones can be considered Internet gadgets.
    • Many gadgets connect to a computer through the use of a USB cable.
      By: szilvi9
      Many gadgets connect to a computer through the use of a USB cable.
    • Tablet computers are a type of internet gadget.
      By: bloomua
      Tablet computers are a type of internet gadget.
    • Using internet gadgets, televisions can connect to the internet.
      By: viperagp
      Using internet gadgets, televisions can connect to the internet.