Ah, the ‘internet of things‘. So much more than a buzzword used to describe the proliferation of networking technology into normally static devices and more a myriad of opportunities to market stuff at us. Even curmudgeonly ole me has to admit that Nedbank’s latest ad wheeze is a good ‘un, though. The bank has an enormous installation just outside Checkers in Sandton City this week, featuring a four storey high waterfall and some clever IoT tech.
Riffing on the theme of ‘saving for a rainy day’, passers-by are encouraged to SMS messages to a short code saying what they’d like to save money for. The messages are picked up by the waterfall controller and ‘written’ in the cascading water. It doesn’t photograph well (see above) but is worth catching if you happen to be in the area.