Friday Q&A: ThingWorx promises not to make SkyNet

If ThingWorx COO John Richardson has his way, your refrigerator will order groceries, your FedEx package will @reply you on Twitter and your entire house will be controlled from a single application on your smartphone.

The Downingtown-based company (for now, anyway) made a splash in mid-February when secured $5 million from Safeguard Scientifics to develop a platform for what it calls the “Internet of Things.” The company wants to enable real-life objects to communicate with one another and with users to make for a smarter world. Using ThingWorx, your refrigerator will be able to communicate with the local ShopRite when your milk is low or a manufacturer will be able to get detailed analytics about an assembly line’s efficiency from his machines.

After the jump, we ask Richardson about preventing a real-life Terminator and why the company is already plotting a move from Downingtown.

Read more