We saw some huge news today in the Internet of Things space, that area of tech that's trying to connect everyday objects to the Internet and make them smarter.
Nest, a company founded by former Apple employee Tony Fadell that makes smart thermostats and smoke detectors, sold to Google for $3.2 billion. Take the purchase as a sign that big tech companies truly do think we'll one day live in a future where everything is connected online.
According to analysis from Business Insider Intelligence, more than 18 billion devices will be connected to the Web by 2018. Wow.
This chart says it all:
