I think the idea is that modern machines already have most/all of those sensors (ours here does), but lack the UI to present/track it all. EDIT: they also lack time-of-day and utility rate info, but that is all available on the web once the device has internet capability.

With an imp installed to relay that info to a central server, remote web/based software can track the usage and compute averages and load advice etc.. and present it all with snazzy graphics within a web-browser interface.

The added B.O.M. cost is about a dollar to the washer, plus perhaps twice that much again in overhead costs, and they get to sell the "intelligent internet enabled" washer for an extra $100 to "savvy" consumers.

Cheers

Oooh.. and another use for the imp: any device that has (or wants) a built-in clock can now set the time/date all by itself. No need for extra buttons to do that, and no need for us all to (re-)do it after power failures or daylight-savings adjustments.

+10!

Modern washing machines already have a bunch of sensors, some including sensors to weigh the load and act accordingly.

And you keep talking about retooling factories. Manufacturers don't continually turn out the same* appliances year after year, they update and redesign them all the time. Adding an extra slot that is connected to the firmware and electronics they already have doesn't involve retooling the factory anymore that updating to next years models does.

* or at least they don't in Europe, though given the pictures I've seen of US appliances in the past, the same might not apply there

Exactly!

All that is missing is the connection to the outside world.

I see this a little like the difference between a computer without a modem and one with. At first we didn't all really get it did we? Then it hit the mass market and now we can't imagine buying a computer without some form of connection to the outside world.

I don't really see why a washing machine should be any different. This is a way of removing the premium model and just having everything internet ready if you want it to be.

Cheers

Cris

While washing machines have had these kinds of sensors for years, small and cheap integrated wifi chipsets have also been around for years. If manufacturers saw a demand for this, it would already be in their machines.

While wifi tech is useful for many applications, there are thousands of applications that are going to be left as "so what? who cares?"

Smart electric meters already have these tracking capabilities and by all accounts, people aren't using the stats or report-making abilities. Google shut down their tracking service as an example.

Honestly, most people don't want to sit around looking at graphs. I know plenty of people who do that during work hours who want to step on their computers at the end of each day. Which brings us back to the cool factor, which is automation. And you can't automate a washing machine with an internet connection.

The light switch example is much more apt, except for the fact where every switch is now going to cost $100+ retail. If you want to spend $100 on a light switch there are already products out there for you today. You might actually spend a lot less than $100 on the actual switch, but don't fret, you can make up for it in an expensive controller/gateway.

Now, I'd really be interested in hearing about the real/actual products this tech is going to find its way into. But I'm certain that if they were allowed to be announced at this time, we would already know. I suppose we'll have to wait.

Again, yes the WiFi technology has been around for years, but has someone ever come up with a end user friendly way of connecting all your appliances together before ???

WWV

I guess if your in a an underground bunker that might be an issue with RF reception but my WWV clocks work fine in the middle of nowhere. Maybe WWV is only a US thing. Not sure, and too lazy to check.

I would love to hook one of these things up but I can't figure out a need or want.

I've not heard of $1 wifi with an attached programmable microprocessor before. That *is* new here, as is the infrastructure behind it all.

Cheers

As I understand it, the support bits for the manufacturer are $1. The actual SD card is $25. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Bitt is right.

Isn't the retail price for the card $25 - so not really comparable to the $1 mfg incremental cost.

Yeah, but what I'm saying is that the two parts are complementary. You can't use the EI SD card without the support bits, and, without the card, the support bits are useless.

To be clear, by "support bits", I'm talking about the slot to put the card in, plus the rest that makes that slot actually connect to something internal to the device.

My understanding of the way things are supposed to go is: manufacturers include the support bits in the item for very little cost, and then the consumer can choose to internet-enable the device by putting an EI card into it.

Oh, absolutely. But it's the cost to the manufacturer that's most important here. At $1/unit, they could well sign on, and then sell the "internet ready" appliance for an extra $100 or so.

Then some "savvy" consumers might decide that for the cost of a bottle of vino they'll add the $25 internet connection -- peanuts for anyone already buying the most expensive machines.

That's somewhat clever of EI -- making it cheap and easy for the factories to support the product, and leaving the major (well, moderate) portion of the cost up to the end consumer.

Cheers

Agreed, I wasn't clear.
I was more noting that $25 is retail and whilst the production cost for it is not likely $1 yet, it is likely to be capable of going to ${small} in the near future.

Electricity, Water and Gas meters with Imps in them would be really great. Even if a third party electricity check meter existed with an Imp slot, I know some of my customers (landlords) who would buy them a dozen at a time.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I have a clock with this, and it seems to take about three days past DST to actually change the time.

Besides, that's a pretty weak argument. "Don't put this thing in that can do a bunch of stuff because here's another technology that's also not in any of these products that does only one thing."

Anyway, I'm already an Electric Imp fan. If I had the know-how to install these into things I already own, I would. Hopefully it'll catch on with manufacturers, and I especially hope it gets picked up by someone who puts it in a Z-Wave controller, so I can finally have some decent interaction with my house lights...

I really don't have an argument here just an observation.

If I were to argue I would say – “If it’s only going to set my clock or turn on/off lights I'm not going to pay a monthly service fee. Also I don't want to pay $44 for a clock when the older free technology will get me a $19 clock." I've never had to wait days for my clock to change.

But if there was something I needed/wanted to control or monitor remotely I would be all over this. I just can't think of one. The only thing I can think of is a home monitoring system. But they allow remote access now.

I would think remote temperature control of the house would be nice but I heat with wood and I don’t think this thing will load my stove.

No... but it could call the fire department when your chimney caught fire because you didn't clean the creosote out of it.

tanstaafl.

Good idea but unfortunately in the US government services like the fire department and police don’t take automated calls. But I guess it could call me or a neighbor. But after just spending $6k on a new stove and chimney I’ll take my chances. Plus my insurance is paid up.

I’m still thinking

AC system: Not sure if Nest does this, but remote control of the system when you are coming home early (and it is 107F outside) and the temp isn't set to lower for another few hours. Health monitoring so you can spot a problem and call the repairman before it is 95F in the house and you just got home.

Stove/Crockpot: Change the timer so that the cooking time starts earlier or higher temp so the food is cooked sooner. Adjust the timer on something like a bread-making machine to start earlier/later depending on a schedule change.

Irrigation system: Modify the timers while out of town to account for any weather changes/rain.

DVR: Notification that you ran out of space and are not going to get the show recorded you were waiting for. Delete shows remotely to free up space (Myth TV probably does that already).

Those are definitely some good ideas and I hope manufactures do build the imp into these products. I guess I’m thinking is more on the lines of “What can I hook-up now that will probably never be in a product.”

You did spark my thinking on irrigation. I have a cistern that is filled from a spring. If we have a heavy rain the water gets murky and this either clogs up the filter or in some cases gets mud into the cistern. If I could have this turned off automatically when a heavy rain comes, or remotely when I’m expecting a big rain that would be cool. However the cistern is probably 300’ from the house not in my wifi range.

I suppose I could also do this with a rain gauge to automatically turn off the flow. But this would be a cool project I could possibly do.

While I can see some value in turning on the oven remotely, eg I just bought a frozn pizza on the way home, I don't see £5.95 (~$9) a month value in it - I just don't eat that much pizza.

Paying a flat amount for several Imps would be more palatable, but the cloud offering will really need to be sweet, and the variety of appliances / uses to be great. Unfortunately I think manufactures will reserve this feature for their top of the line products, rather then the bigger mid-range market, meaning most of us will have to wait.

Oddly enough, since we mentioned that we were looking to use the energy micro family, our component supplier has been bending over backwards to get us to use the stm32 family, so much so that we're actually looking at using the stm32f2 in our design.

We like the fact that the BGA package is pin compatible with the f4 which has FPU and DSP bits inside and could be of use on our products "bigger brothers".

It's also fast!

Adrian

Sorry, Hugo. They talked about you and your company on the last episode of This Week In Tech, and it was surprisingly disrespectful. The moment they finished "discussing" your product I turned the show off and deleted the episode. I've sent them an email expressing my disappointment.

Was there any substance to their criticism? Just curious what their complaints were.

They didn't really say much about it. They weren't actually commenting on a story about EI. They were commenting on a quote from Hugo about phones being hard to build, where he was about the Facebook building their own phone.

The only thing they actually said about EI was John C Dvorak with his normal cynical "it has been tried before, it didn't work".

I didn't see any of it as disrespectful, they were just having an odder and crabbier week than normal

Isn't Dvorak reason enough not to go near that podcast? Ever?

Where in the podcast is it? I didn't realize that it was going to be 2-3 hours of four old dudes rambling on.

Edit: Found it. 1:18:55

Agreed! I went through the same yesterday just to hear the small snippet they devoted to Electric Imp. I had the exact same feeling: what rambling old geezers! Do you watch this show every week Dignan? Wow, talk about endurance!

It can be quite fun listening to it because of Dvorak. Not because I agree with much of what he says, hell I don't think he agrees with much of what it says, but it can be entertaining none the less. Very far from my favourite podcast though, think that has to be Hypercritical, probably.