It's not true that you'd burn excess power. This wasn't a PC-based solution - it was a microprocessor-based solution that would be part of a thermostat that was ALADN(r)-enabled (if I remember the marketing tag correctly). It would consume a trival amount of power (milliwatts). The idea was to produce these chips as something that could be a part of any product, and thermostats were the first market. Total home automation was the goal.
I actually worked as a consultant at Sage and wrote most of the kernel. We got the design done, and the prototypes worked great. Sadly, the company went looking for production money... in late 2000. No money anywhere, and last I saw they were busy going belly-up. They weren't particularly well-run, but had a great idea. And (if I say so myself) a pretty slick implementation.
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It's not true that you'd burn excess power. This wasn't a PC-based solution - it was a microprocessor-based solution that would be part of a thermostat that was ALADN(r)-enabled (if I remember the marketing tag correctly). It would consume a trival amount of power (milliwatts). The idea was to produce these chips as something that could be a part of any product, and thermostats were the first market. Total home automation was the goal.
I actually worked as a consultant at Sage and wrote most of the kernel. We got the design done, and the prototypes worked great. Sadly, the company went looking for production money... in late 2000. No money anywhere, and last I saw they were busy going belly-up. They weren't particularly well-run, but had a great idea. And (if I say so myself) a pretty slick implementation.