Smart-tech expected to generate $11 trillion in annual sales by 2025

Look around. How many computing devices do you see? Your phone, probably; maybe a tablet or a laptop. Your car, the TV set, the microwave, bedside alarm clock, possibly the thermostat, and others you've never noticed.

Much of that computing isn't doing much while segregated into individual devices. But many of these gadgets have the potential to get smarter by connecting to their fellows, which in turn could open the door to a brave new "Internet of Things".

According to the McKinsey Global Institute, a division of the consulting giant McKinsey & Co, the value created by connecting the world's devices could hit $11 trillion annually by 2025, a mind-boggling sum that represents over half of US economic output in a year.