One of the interesting newer technologies is plug computing. These are very small computers that plug into an electrical outlet that serve some purpose. At first look, it seems like a very empty sort of idea. But if you stop and ponder the ideas coming into the plug computing space, I think you will see massive potential waiting to happen.
I recently posted about the Pogoplug, which allows for a great way to NAS over the internet. It’s those kind of services that naturally lend themselves to plug computing. Really, service providers are only limited by their imagination. It’s a low cost, low energy usage device that can have some very interesting applications.
For instance, Shaspa provides home automation monitoring and management. They also provide for data collection within those monitoring systems both on a home and commercial level. They have plugs and monitors that allow you to access those systems over the internet.
It will be interesting to see if disparate plug devices will be marketable or if consumers will stick to centralized computing. It seems that nodal computing on a small scale like this could have real momentum.
One thing to note is how powerful these tiny computers are. They sport a 1.2Ghz Marvell 88F6281 ARM processor with 512MB of DDR2 and 512MB of NAND flash. Another thing to note is the power consumption. How about 5 watts under normal operating conditions (PCs can use 25-100 watts). Most plugs have USB 2.0 and GigaLan. That’s impressive for how small it is.
Here’s a video that summarizes it:
And here’s a Sheevaplug unboxing to show you the size:
