Data could be the real draw of the internet of things –but for whom?

Will the new generation of IoT-related data benefit us enough to be comfortable giving up even more of our privacy?

For most of us, the internet of things (IoT) might call to mind specific gadgets - slick innovations like Nest thermostats or the Apple Watch - that seem to owe their provenance to science fiction and promise a more wired world, as well as the inevitable automation of everyday life.

Then there are people like serial entrepreneur Nova Spivack, someone who's far less enamoured of the next IoT device than he is with something infinitely geekier: the data that can be captured.