A start-up company with an egg theme is looking to break into (crack?) wireless sensor networks and have made their first product available for the new year. GreenGoose wireless sensors for dogs connect to (well, the dog of course, but then also) a wireless radio frequency (RF, not Wi-Fi) goose-egg-shaped base station (pictured at right) that plugs into the home broadband router via Ethernet cable. The company is also hatching (!) future plans to expand their network with additional types of personal information sensors and technology.
Some in the industry are expecting new kinds of networked wearable computing devices like this to be popular in 2012. Traditional home automation sensors are good for monitoring things like lighting, rain, doors and movement but are installed at fixed locations rather than being attached to animate objects. Wearable gadgets to complement home automation systems were hyped about a decade ago but failed to gain popular acceptance. This time around, with the technology improved, the situation could be different... as long as companies focus on practical rather than frivolous applications.
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