The Internet of Things is growing at an accelerating pace. This week a startup called Renew launched an initiative to transform London’s trash cans into high-tech geolocation trackers, Citrix got the word out about the benefits of BYOD for small businesses, and North Korea unveiled a new smartphone. Vietnam also grabbed headlines after it contracted IBM to enhance water and transportation infrastructure in its fourth largest city.

On Monday, we reported that Renew is deploying on hundred internet-connected recycling bins that can track pedestrians’ phones over Wifi. The bins will aggregate Mac addresses in real time to provide marketers with new insights into individuals’ daily routines.

Advertisers are greatly benefiting from the mobile explosion, as are small businesses. A recent infographic by Citrix GoToMeeting revealed that 21 percent of U.S. businesses that let their workers bring personal devices to work have recorded productivity gains of more than 30 percent. Over 40 percent of business owners in the UK and Germany have recognized the benefits of BYOD, but their American counterparts are lagging behind with a 19 percent adoption rate.

Over in North Korea, dictator Kim Jong-un made an appearance in celebration of the “Arirang,” an Android device hailed by the regime as the nation’s first domestically manufactured smartphone. Martyn Williams, a prominent North Korea analyst, suspects that the handset was produced in neighboring China.

Twelve hundred miles to the south, IBM is cooperating with Vietnamese officials to transform the port city of Da Nang into a full-fledged Smart City. Big Blue is supplying the Department of Transport with sensors and analytics technology that will be used to optimize traffic flow, minimize car congestion and monitor public transportation.