As beacons evolve, so too does the way marketers use them. Once started out as small, battery-powered, radio-transmitting devices, beaconing technology is being integrated and incorporated into other things. Beaconing technology is being incorporated into lighting and Wi-Fi access points in large stores.

Location tracking is not only getting better, it's also getting smaller. This is thanks to some of the behind-the-scenes technologies of the Internet of Things. Some of the IoT sausage making will remain out of the limelight, but the marketing benefits will become more mainstream as more connected objects come online.

Once an Internet-connected object reaches mass scale, it's likely to stay there for some time. The smartphone is there now. It took a number of years for the masses to move from feature phones, but now that time has arrived. Well over a billion smartphones will be shipped this year, according to the latest tracking data.

Creating for the Internet of Things at scale can be tougher than it looks. In somewhat of a setback for thousands of consumers awaiting delivery of a new robot for their home, shipping of the Jibo social robot is delayed and international investors won't be getting one. I spent some time with one of the robot's designers a few months ago after a Jibo presentation at a Boston conference.

Consumers may or may not agree on what a smart home is, but many of them would want one. While the majority of consumers would want a move-in ready home, many also want that home to be smart, based on a new survey. Almost three quarters (71%) of U.S. consumers would want a move-in ready home and almost half (44%) of those define that as a home with smart home technology already installed.

While autonomous cars still have a way to go in a range of areas, they have no problem in continuing to grab headlines. Another Tesla car crashed in China while in 'autopilot' mode, with the driver saying that he was sold on the idea of the car being self-driving by salespeople. Tesla confirmed the car was in autopilot mode, which gives control of steering and breaking in certain conditions. Tesla says that the driver's hands are supposed to stay on the steering wheel when in this mode.

Wearables continue their streak with yet another increase in the number of health and fitness trackers hitting the market. Fitbit continues to lead the field, having shipped 4 million fitness trackers just in the second quarter of this year, according to a new report. Total shipments of basic bands, comprising mainly health and fitness trackers, passed 9 million units in the last quarter.

There's capturing data and then there's putting that data to use. Internet-connected devices are providing plenty of data, which many companies at least are capturing. Trouble is, most of those companies are not using that data to provide any insights relating to customers.

Much of the ground work is underway to get consumers at least aware of and even interested in buying smart devices. Any look at the number of smart devices displayed in stores today compared to a year ago shows that, at the very least, manufacturers and marketers are gearing up for a very big IoT push.

There's buying into the Internet of Things and then there is buying in the Internet of Things. This phenomenon became pretty clear in an interesting stat that was tossed out at the MediaPost IoT Marketing Forum this week.