We’ve talked plenty about how the Internet of Things has become the biggest category at CES — a broad descriptor that basically means “everything is connected.” Sometimes that’s a flowerpot. One day it might be chairs. The Internet of Things’s logical conclusion is The Internet of Everything. And that includes guns.
TrackingPoint is an Austin start-up known for precision-guided firearms and has also experimented with Google Glass, letting you shoot from behind cover. The company, which is here at CES Showstoppers, has just announced ShotView, an iOS and Google Play app that lets a hunter stream video from his or her gun to anyone in the world. And the press release is very clear about its place in the tech world:
“Hunting and shooting sports are now part of the Web fabric. With this new technology, friends and family are virtually transported and immersed in exotic and exciting hunts,” says Danielle Hambleton, TrackingPoint’s vice president of marketing. “Hunters can now share the thrill of the stalk and the excitement of victory in real-time.”
According to Cisco, more than 99 percent of things in the physical world are still not connected to the Internet. But, this new technology represents a giant leap forward for the firearms industry. “We wholeheartedly embrace Cisco’s vision for the Internet of Everything,” says Hambleton. “Our exceptional long-range hunting technology combined with Cisco’s foresight will vastly enrich the world of hunting and shooting sports.”
“Now that the firearm is networked, the sky is the limit,” says Vann Hasty, TrackingPoint’s vice president of engineering.
TrackingPoint is on hand at CES showing its new 338TP precision-guided firearm (pictured), which “allows even novice shooters to make mile-long shots with greater precision than the most skilled marksmen in the world — even on targets moving 30mph.”
Look, I’m not trying to get into a discussion on gun rights or ethics or any of that. That isn’t my point. Right now, the Internet of Things is a technology story, but like all technological advancements it very quickly and necessarily becomes a culture story, a social story, and / or human story. This is just a reminder of the future ahead.