Smart dust goes on sale

They're not really all that smart (yet) or as actually small as dust (yet), but smart dust just officially exited the lab and become a commercial reality. Dust Networks has begun selling their SmartMesh Evaluation Kit, which comes with 12 low-power radio-enabled "motes" which are basically sensors that collect data and then create a wireless mesh network to relay it back. The motes come with sensor plug-ins that can monitor temperature, light, and tilt, but eventually you'll probably to rig a smart dust sensor net to cheaply and easily keep tabs on pretty much anything that can be measured or detected.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM]

Crossbow (http://www.xbow.com/Products/Wireless_Sensor_Networks.htm) have been selling these for years, for rather less money than Dust Networks are asking. In fact, as I type this comment there are two google ads for Motes on this page!