Don't laugh: This networked trash can actually is a good idea - CNET

The Inteet of Things promises a lot more than an end to overflowing garbage at the playground. There are plenty of security and technology challenges, to be sure, but hundreds of companies are working to add computing smarts to your everyday life. Your home stereo could pause the music when mom calls, your car could tell you if you left the house without your phone and your door could unlock for an authorized deliveryman and package.

Computing smarts for your beehive and your...

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Some of that technology will use Wi-Fi networks. Sigfox's network takes a different approach designed for devices that don't have enough battery power to use Wi-Fi for long. Its network sends only tiny tidbits of data, but that amount of data still is useful for plenty of jobs. In addition to carrying trash can status updates, it reports, for instance, latitude and longitude coordinates to keep track of scientists working on Antarctica.

Sigfox is vying with competitors like Ingenu's Machine Network, MultiTech's device network and Actility's ThingPark. They'll all be competing with the 5G network technology coming to your phone and any number of other gadgets. It's still early days for the Inteet of Things, so expect some hurdles as the technology matures.

At the Mobile World Congress tech show in Barcelona this week, Sigfox is showing off a variety of ways its tech can be employed.

Say you're having a pint with your pals at the bar. Brewer Estrella Damm is using a Sigfox network to report when beer is being stored at the wrong temperature, according to Thomas Nicholls, Sigfox's executive vice president of communication. The company sends a technician to fix problems a bar manager might not even have noticed.