Blockchain Blockchain, by definition, is a distributed database keeping data records about developments in a digital world. This system is distributed and available to most of the users. Data records can be input only with consent of the majority of the users. Moreover, once recorded the data can’t be changed or erased. Imagine that in a busy street you see a tree that has just grown from beneath asphalt within a second. The same second everyone witnessing this, were connected to a computerized polygraph and asked to describe what exactly they had seen. As a result they, word for word, gave a clear account of what had happened. Are there any doubts that the tree has grown through the asphalt? This is the basic principle of blockchain – a powerful invention, misunderstood by many despite its ability to drastically change our interaction with the digital world.

The Internet of things (IoT) is gradually moving into top gear. This concept has a potential to not only enhance our daily graft but influence our activity as well. What’s the Internet of things like and how does it affect us? Internet has become widely available, connection - cheaper, more and more devices with sensor and Wi-Fi option are being created, technological costs have been substantially reduced and smartphones acquired extraordinary popularity. All these are fertile ground for the IoT. In other words, IoT is a computer network connecting objects around us. This can be everything from IP-TV sets to blood pressure gauges connected to the Internet. These involve cars and clothes we wear, refrigerators and tooth brushes, namely, all these things can be connected to the wireless network. The IoT can apply to the jet engine or oil platform. If the object has on/off switch, then it can be a part of IoT. Gartner analytical company predicts over 26 billion connected devices by 2020. The IoT will become a gigantic network of the interconnected things, there will be relations not only between people but also between their items. ”Thing” implies a device as well as a human with the patient monitor implant, farm animal with the biochip, car with the integrated sensors to warn a driver about decrease of the tire inflation pressure. Any other natural and artificial object with IP- address and option to transfer data through the network can be related to the IoT. Regardless of what we call IoT technology, it’s already real. What will it be like in the future and what impact will it have on humanity – even Google can’t fully answer.