Helium: a Wireless Network for a Coin

Here is a new thing, the users pay for service with cryptocurrency.  Cryptocurrency as token of service payment?

Helium’s trial balloon: A new peer-to-peer wireless network goes live in Austin
Napster creator Shawn Fanning’s new company Helium flips the switch on an innovative wireless network for the Internet of Things.

By Guillermo Jimenez in decrypt.co

There’s a new way for Internet-of-Things devices to connect to the digital world—a low-power, wide-area network that no single entity controls, called Helium.

Nicknamed “the people’s network,” Helium is owned and operated by the network’s users, who earn money in the form of a new cryptocurrency, in exchange for providing coverage to the network. .... " 

Cryptocurrency and IOT

This company hopes its cryptocurrency can help the internet of things reach its true potential  Helium, a startup focused on connecting low-power devices, thinks a blockchain can seed the spread of cheap, ubiquitous connectivity.

by Mike Orcutt in Technology Review

Anyone who hears that an internet-of-things startup is getting into blockchain technology would be forgiven for laughing it off as another hollow scheme. But Amir Haleem, cofounder of Helium, says he has no interest in making a quick buck off the irrational exuberance that permeates the cryptocurrency world. In fact, just the opposite—he’s interested in cryptocurrency only as a way to build a true internet of things, once and for all. And he knows his idea is so far-out it could take a while before people catch on.

Haleem started Helium in 2013, along with Napster creator Shawn Fanning. The company’s first product, which is now on the market, is a hardware system that uses a homegrown wireless standard to provide long-range, low-power wireless coverage for devices like sensors that track and monitor medicine or food supply chains. Software routes the data to internet-based applications hosted by whoever owns the sensors. .... "  

New Sensors for an Internet of Things

An internet of things is also connected to its environment, which needs sensors to detect context.  Context can drive analytics with data.  Looking for new ways to connect and interact in the smart home.

 " ... Helium is releasing new sensors, applications and development tools as it builds out a comprehensive product line. The company's latest product is a new sensor called Helium Green, which can monitor temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, motion, and light. ... 

The sensor hardware offers three years of battery life on two AA batteries. It can be plugged into a mesh network of interconnected devices through the emerging IEEE 802.15.4 standard, which is behind Zigbee and Google's Thread protocols. .... "