iTWire - Fugoo-dness sake! Smart appliances at last?

Fugoo-dness sake! Smart appliances at last?

by Stephen Withers
Monday, 12 January 2009
Page 1 of 2 A new hardware and software platform called Fugoo may finally bring about the kinds of smart devices and appliances we've been promised for years. Register now to win a Canon EOS 500D Back in the early 1980s, one of the promises of the "microprocessor revolution" was that relatively inexpensive electronic controllers would be upgradable in a way that their mechanical forebears never could be. For example, a washing machine could be reprogrammed with an additional wash cycle for a new type of fabric. A decade or two later, the "Internet revolution" gave us the idea that household devices could be interconnected, but that went about as far as putting an web browser on a fridge door. As we approach the end of the Noughties, someone's taking another stab at turning these ideas into reality. A company called Fugoo has used the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to show off its approach to the problem. The Fugoo platform - developed in collaboration with Microsoft, VIA and Foxconn - is a WiFi-enabled hardware module plus Windows-based software designed to make it easy to build smart devices. Suggestions include a coffee grinder that can look up the idea grind size for a specific type of bean, an alarm clock that uses traffic reports to advise how long it will take to drive to your first appointment of the day, a digital photo frame that can also display online content such as news headlines and sports scores, and a mouse that can monitor blood pressure and upload the readings to the treating doctor's system. The specification includes a standardised docking port so that manufacturers of appliances and other devices can design products that are ready to accept a Fugoo module, just as today's cars and audio systems often include iPod docks. Another important characteristic of Fugoo is that it is also designed to provide a user interface for the device. Who's behind Fugoo? See page 2. << First page < 1 2 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>