Hello all,

I want log data to a SD card when the imp is offline. Is there any library available for interfacing a SD card with the imp ?

Hmmm..

• must buy a specific chip with an embedded "serial number" and incorporate it into your hardware design
• must get permission from "cloud" before you can program this thing (bless the imp)
• must load code only through their "cloud" (imp controlled servers?)
• must use this C-like language (because every new widget must create yet another new language?)
• must put this thing on your network
• cannot turn off the network access when programming is done

Looks like quite a bit of potential for security holes and any functionality depends on the folks at imp keeping their servers running in the future. I don't see any imps in my future. IMHO this is a really great concept poorly implemented.

At first, it looked promising. I'm not exactly sure now... I guess it's not the right product for me, as i like to have complete control over my devices.

I agree with VccDood as well.

Our patent-pending technology is available to license.

Fantastic. More patents.

Sparkfun should take notice that the top 3 "customer's also purchased" items at the bottom of the Electric Imp product page are SD sockets, breakouts, or sniffers. None of these will work with the EI. While this was clearly pointed out in the 9-14-2012 product showcase video and is sort of mentioned at the beginning of the item description, this should probably be clarified in bold in no uncertain terms.

You need either an EI-specific breakout module or an EI-specific shield in order to make this function. It contains a particular chip that gives each node a unique ID on the network. Again, this looks and feels like an SD card, but will NOT function if you plug it into a normal SD slot...

The video DOES mention that the breakouts and shields are in the prototype stage at Sparkfun and will be available soon. I guess the point in the meantime is to snap up the Imps while they're available and start exploring the development infrastructure available. While it would be ideal if all components had been released simultaneously, my concern now would be a lack of availability of the "cards" when the associated hardware DOES get released.

Imagine if the Arduino required cloud activation and everything which that path of product development entails. Where would it be today? I respect the hard work of this company, however without the back-end being freely available (you know, the Linux box where these Imps connect to) I would have to wait for the redirect hack to come out.

While this looks cool in some ways, the fact that you have to have their servers to program it seems really unfortunate. It's almost like I don't own it - I can't program it without talking to the mothership! I have to say that while I know there is a place for closed products, things that are this closed make me really nervous - I'd be afraid tonuse one for fear that they'll change their minds on the planner service pricing and I'll be out of luck and unable to program my imps!

Sorry guys, nice try, but I'm afraidbthe model is just a bit too controlling - I'm gonna have to pass.

Cool hw packed into an SD form factor. But how "hackable" is it. Can I wipe the existing software on the IMP and flash my own ARM code?

What is the max speed (in Mbps) that it can do?

Very interesting. I think I'll get one to play with! Any chance they will make one with a few gigs of onboard flash so it can be used as a standard SD card as well?

I'm very pleased with the Electric Imp! The biggest challenge was getting acquainted with Squirrel due to limited documentation, tutorials, etc. However, it didn't take that long and I'm now quite comfortable, but still learning. I haven't found a better platform for quickly developing a production ready IOT data collection tool, especially at this price point. We're pushing data from several sites to GroveStreams (similar to Xively) and have found the imp platform to be very reliable and scalable. I read some of the less-than-positive opinions below and thought I'd weigh in with my very positive personal experience. FWIW.

I'll just weigh in that I recently finished a project with the imp to control a motorized gauge over wifi to display some data. The experience was very good. Having attempted the same project a while back using Arduino and a WiFi shield, this was a much better experience for me personally because Squirrel is a language I prefer for its high-level functions; also, I could push data to the device using a Raspberry Pi instead of having to pull reams of XML and then filter out the few bytes I needed using C like with the Arduino. The networking configuration worked great. The optical means of configuring the device with the SSID and password is an elegant solution to that problem. I'm really looking forward to trying out the other port functionality beyond the PWM feature I'm using now. If you don't like working with bleeding-edge technologies from a new company, then don't jump in now, because things are moving quickly.

Bottom line: this is like most any technology, it's great for what it's designed for. And if you have concerns about the ecosystem then just use something else.

I was one of the lucky ones who got in on the early developer release. Initially I was kinda irked about the whole "use their server thing", but after playing with these things for a few weeks now, I get it. The imps aren't stand alone devices like an Arduino, instead its an ecosystem. Its the server side processing, which works flawlessly. Its the API which kicks ass, eve if the squirrel language is a tad quirky. Its the imp itself which is hugely powerful for a form factor this compact. The imp guys did a lot of the dirty work so we can take their concept and bring our ideas to fruition. For instance, I was able to take one of these, and using a spare relay breakout board I had laying around I was able to rig a lamp that switches on an off with a button on a webpage optimized for my phone. Total coding time was maybe 20 minutes. Web page and imp code. It took longer to heat up my soldering iron and wire the relay to the imp breakout board than it took to code. That's cool.

Questions: Does the user have direct access to the onboard Wi-Fi to communicate with other devices on the LAN? Can we communicate directly with websites, or does everything route through your servers? What happens if this thing can't connect to the internet, does it retain it's last known code or does it require a persistent connection to function?

Whoa! This thing not only has an ADC built in (Which you would expect), but ALSO a DAC? Incredible.

http://devwiki.electricimp.com/doku.php?id=whatisthere

I think the pros of using SD form factor (cost/plug and play dev) out way the cons. But, currently, it's too closed for me to pick up. Not sure how much this product is wrapped around the cloud, but it would be awesome if you could download the IDE environment locally and work with your devices exactly as advertised, but only over your local network.

For commercial products you use Imp cloud to setup initial product purchases and they take their cut per sale, but other than that they stay out of it unless you want to use their cloud services.

Like the Software (Apple) App model made for hardware.

Ouch! Co-opting somebody else's form factor and connector for something that isn't even remotely compatible makes life harder for everybody. How is the average non-techie person supposed to know that you can't just plug this into an SD slot, or an SD card into an IMP slot? It's an ease of use disaster.

Shame on IMP for "polluting" the SD card space, and on SparkFun for offering a product that has such potential to cause confusion.

I like the product idea, but have wasted way too much time in the past fighting with connectors that mate physically but are incompatible electrically.

this doesn't look like a good idea....made by who? in china...there could be something embedded on that card or chip, to know our passwords and such...this card is not a good idea..unless we had control...no way my name and password is going on a cloud

Promising concept! The necessary ID chip (supposedly the ATSHA204 from atmel) is under a dollar at mouser: http://ca.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Atmel/ATSHA204-TSU-T/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMteY%252blXHTQ5JP1O054GXXJf and appears only to need power, ground, and a connection to pin six on the imp.

I was considering this for a wireless temperature sensor application, but was swayed away from it do to the imp cloud aspect as so many other have been. However, I've now seen that it possible to create your own "cloud" by installing a phant server from https://data.sparkfun.com/

This should remove the imp cloud restriction. Can someone confirm this?

Maybe they (Electric Imp) will last, maybe not. Who knows. Only time will tell. But, I DO like it. I have built the Weather station project using the IMP and it works SO NICE! I plan to stay with the Imp for as long as it's around (or I'm around!). I have a few other project in the pipeline too. It was pretty easy to 'BlinkUp', but I had to use a real Android phone to run the app. My hacked B&N Nook running Android didn't seem to work too reliably (it took a few dozen attempts until it succeeded using legacy mode) whereas my wife's Galaxy Note 3 worked first time. Well anyway, my two cents worth - I think its pretty cool, cloud or not (my TRS-80 was cool too, while it lasted. But what lasts anyways?)

Just an FYI....yes, this hardware product is a means to gain revenue for their company...they offer their "cloud" service for free in order to finance their hardware...

I think I will wait until these guys run out of venture Capitol so these are worthless doorstops because their cloud service you are 100% dependent on them to keep running goes bye bye.

Then I can get these for a few pennies each and hack them to talk to my own reverse-engineered server.

Say what you want but I am impressed! Just got one imp and after 10 minutes it was logging/displaying a smoker temperature in Xively with max31588+K-type thermocouple.

Hi, does the electrical imp support arduino libraries?

I have to say that it's very disappointing that you have to pay for a subscription as a comercial customer, the price of the IMP card should include the server services. If I end up selling 1000s of my IMP enabled products and I have to pay $10/qrt for every 20 IMP cards, do the math, and if for some reason my company goes belly up then all those IMP enabled products that I sold will stop working as soon as my company stops paying the service fees. I don't think that is a good business model. The simple fact that you are selling the IMP card should make your company sustainable. But if your commercial customers perpetually have to be paying server service fees, that doesn't work for the end user in the long run.

This took me awhile to find so I am just going to leave this here for future reference. https://github.com/electricimp It contains quite a few examples, more than their webpage.

Sparkfun: Under "Features", could you explicitly state that the Imp does NOT support enterprise-level non-PSK security, such as 802.1x or PEAP (i.e. most university campuses).

I blew a chunk of time trying to troubleshoot this product, only to find an "oh by the way" reference to this limitation in the Imp forums. This issue deserves to be out front, as it makes Imp a non-starter for some.

I read through this product and thought it was so cool, until I saw the cloud part....

Then I saw the comments below, lol! Love you guys.

I noticed this product https://www.sparkfun.com/products/639 heated up quite a stir with the christian fish emblem on the board. But a devil on the board for a logo.... Not a single complaint. Hmmmm.

As a Arduino newbie who wants to log sensor data to the cloud via Xively ..

Imp & Shield = $50 Ard + Wireless Shield = $130

so what am I missing?

As a newbie Arduino user I was happy to find this solution for cloud data logging as all the other options I've investigated are significantly more expensive & complex.

Ex. ArdUno + wireless shield > $100 vs Imp $50

So what am I missing?

The "Spark Core" is a potential alternative to the Electric Imp that is worth consideration. The business model may be more to your liking as well. Note that I have nothing to do with the Spark Core team, this is just a suggestion based on a market survey of products that look ideal for embedded and IoT applications!

Curious if someone could post an example using there latest update from the Beta Planner Screen. I worked through the example posted in the tutorial and it worked great, after some minor fixes. The example is basically outdated, is my point being the IDE has changed, and the Agents are imbedded. Just a thought.

M.

I am searching for a way to connect wireless a camera to internet for streaming. Can this module help to send the data to internet? Or is to "slow and inappropriate for a big data processing/transfer"?

First I was interested. But I can't find real specs? I have to go through the examples, the wicki and search for bits of information laying around. The specification:imp001 is a joke, Sorry. Take a look on any Microchip or Atmel data sheet and you know what I am looking for. Where are the numbers ;-) like characteristics of the code size & speed, PWM, AD, DA, Pulse Count, ... I miss the hard facts on one sheet and all the details on some of the next pages. If I decide for a project I don't need buzzword flyers and I don't wan't to read dozens of wiki pages and poke some number from some example code.

The DAC for example: "The pin is configured as an analog (DAC) output. Use pin.write(x), where x is a value between 0.0 and 1.0, to set the output voltage, from 0V to the imp's power-supply voltage (usually 3.3V)." That's all? What about resolution, setup time, conversion time, ...?

What would happened to the pins if the internet / "cloud" connection is lost, reconnected, auto update imp firmware? What happened to the pins on power on? power of? brown out?, ...

Sorry, but the whole project looks in the actual state like a thing for toys to me. Not very serious and reliable. The make and DIY community prefer open hardware and open source. What is the target user group of the electric Imp?

To me the "cloud" only in combination with closed source is the real dead end. Why not an option to work without the "cloud"?

Last but not least: For security reasons I would prefer a cheap $20 wireless router like TP-Link Nano Router TL-WR702N outside the firewall only for the Electric Imp.

can these run a sensor network that would send notifications to my android phone? if so, what kind of hardware would i need assuming that my phone is connected to the internet?

I keep coming back to the EI, get really excited about it right up to the point where I remember it relies on some cloud service for development and transmitting data. Essentially a useless product without a live Internet connection.

Such a shame.

Hugof, these are so cool, very well thought out. I can't wait to get my hands on some. I'm from New Zealand and I'm a little concerned with latency issues connecting to US AWS regions. Any plans to setup in other regions, Sydney would be great. The application I have in mind needs to stream low quality audio, so it is going to get interesting. I think there is a lot of value in making this cloud based by the way.

From the description above - "the Imp provides an easy, integrated way to connect almost any hardware device both to other devices and to internet services." Could I use the EI as a remote sensor sending data on a TCPIP / peer to peer basis to another device ( say an Android phone) without the EI having a permanent connection to the internet.?

I was looking for an application to try the Imp out on. I've been interested in Weather and Air Quality sensors. I've wanted to work with the local schools to build and deploy air quality sensors. I've published my Arduino experiments (http://www.howmuchsnow.com/arduino/airquality/grovedust/), but I've been disappointed with the Arduino network stack reliability and cost. Here is my attempt at a low-cost particle sensors using the Imp: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1652961970/wifi-air-particle-sensor

The thing that nobody seems to have asked about is: who owns the code you write? The code you HAVE to keep on the vendor's servers, that you have to entrust to their security and that you can only use with their tacit agreement (by keeping their servers available to the users & the devices). Also what happens to guarantee backwards / downwards software compatibility with the vendor's future development systems and bug fixes? Will I have to update my code every few months just because of some server update?

I like the idea of a small, programmable wireless device but I think this one has too many limitations and needless restrictions. I'll wait for the Mk2 - though I have my doubts that the product will last long enough to get to maturity.

function sendTwilio(){
local response =
http.post("https://api.twilio.com/2010-04-01/Accounts/ACae249c17f97/Calls.json",
{"Authorization":"Basic QUNhZTI0OWM4OWYwZjA4NDg2OTBjOTRhN"},
"From=%2B18055551212&To=%2B18055551313&ApplicationSid=AP5714e4d49").sendsync();
if(response.statuscode==201) server.log("Calling soon");
else {
server.log(response.statuscode);
server.log(response.body);
} }
device.on("sendit",function(s) {
sendTwilio();
} );
function mywebserver(request,res){
t

Electric Imp speaks and listens to reply on phone!

It will call me on the phone and wait for a verbal response. When I speak to it the number or text is transcribed then sent back to the tiny module for processing. Only 30 lines of code. 10 minutes of my time!

How hard do you think it would be to do on an Arduino with Wifly? Is it possible? How do you configure the router to receive incoming HTTP requests?

function sendTwilio(){ local response = http.post("https://api.twilio.com/2010-04-01/Accounts/ACae249c17f97/Calls.json", {"Authorization":"Basic QUNhZTI0OWM4OWYwZjA4NDg2OTBjOTRhN"}, "From=%2B18055551212&To=%2B18055551313&ApplicationSid=AP5714e4d49").sendsync(); if(response.statuscode==201) server.log("Calling soon"); else { server.log(response.statuscode); server.log(response.body); } } device.on("sendit",function(s) { sendTwilio(); } ); function mywebserver(request,res){ t

Frequent contributor hugof is actually/supposedly the CEO and founder of ElectricImp. We/I may or may not always be completely in tune with his frequency, but I admire his contributions and answers here on this forum. I shows how big a driver Sparkfun is and how important the Sparkfun community is, but it also show how seriously Hugo/ElectricImp take us, the Sparkfun clients. That I can only applaud : kind thanks Hugo !

any idea if you will be making the Quinn board available?

http://devwiki.electricimp.com/doku.php?id=quinn

Could a manufacturer (of an oven for example) remotely change the code on the imp without the users knowledge? From Techcrunch "And because the smarts of the device can be updated from the cloud, manufacturers will be able to remotely monitor and update their products seamlessly, without consumers even knowing." This seems like a bad idea because now the security of all of these vendors and their employees is an issue. E.g. Turn every oven on to full power in the middle of the night or unlock every front door with one installed. Can the user "Lock" the imp out from being updated?

If this thing has SPI, why isn't the pinout of that compatible with SDIO?

this device supports connections true a proxy?

these look great!

Hi,

this cloud thing is not very good for smart building systems. I have written some papers on this. I make research in this field of Internet of Things, Web of Things, smart building systems and others. I made a device like this, a Smart RF card (SRF) that works on 6LoWPAN (a compressed IPv6, on ZigBee, Wireless HART and others). Right now it has PIC micro capabilities and runs a operating system. I want to make all this as flexible as possible, in order for you, end users to be able to configure your home, office, hospitals, medical devices and so on, in a few very easy steps.

I use the sub-GHz frequency to have better range with less energy emitted. There will be a mixed Wi-Fi access for configuration and low power communication through your building. We are working hard to get it on the market as soon as possible. The will be programming interface for manufacturers and end users with little knowledge in programming and an interface for those who don't want to develop code, only to set various things. We hope in 2013 you will get these modules. The main direction we are focusing is interoperability, low power, security and the most important privacy. We don't think that cloud will be a good solution to store personal data. Maybe a centralized system would be good for smart cities to have everything in a single place but not for personal use.

Anyway don't use Wi-Fi, try to think about having 100 smart devices in a single building, each one having Wi-Fi communication, think about the energy transmitted, it's better to use others like Bluetooth LE, ZigBee or 6LoWPAN.

We think that you will be satisfied with our modules. We wish everybody a nice day.

I wonder if these could be set up in a mesh (802.11s)?

Just so you know up front a number of us are having problems with the imps/breakouts we bought through Sparkfun. The imp does not want to update code without being rebooted. Kinda kills the fund of remote programming. See: http://forums.electricimp.com/discussion/comment/1282#Comment_1282 for more details.

Sorry to be dense but I want to be clear. I need the ID chip to be able to program or use this at all? Kind of a shame that they didn't have an internal ID but also allow an external ID and to be able to pick between the two at will. Still, sounds like an interesting solution for a task that would have taken me quite a few hours and this would actually be closer to the solution I would have wanted. In fact, it would be a nice solution to quite a few projects that I've back-burnered because they ideally require wireless technology.

I need to use my Imp to monitor 4 temperature sensors that are located 4 feet from the Imp. I will monitor all of the data using COSM and would like to base the design on the breakout board. Any suggestions on a design for the hardware?

So - what other features like SAR compliance are in the works to simplify the use of imp in medical or other highly regulated environments?

The health care industry is going to move towards real time monitoring and having an open source or at least standard platform to manage the data transport would cut out the extra cost we see with redundant proprietary systems. Check out the Creative Destruction of Medicine for an excellent review of the current state of digital medicine (actually medicine as a whole), great introduction to a growing change which I believe makers can have a real impact on.

I seriously don't like these comments, most of them are negative over the whole ID chip or cloud and future costs, some are questions about functionality and limitations. And what worries me is that the very few positive comments seem to be from new "costumers" that didn't even care to choose a user name.

Now I really love these comment sections and the forum, we have an amazing community with some very smart people that give away their time to bring us good information and insights into the products, even other "competing" companies comment here in a transparent way from time to time.

As such I request our Sparkfun overlords ;) to check these comments to see if there is any foul play.

Warnings:

1. First make sure you have a phone that can do the 'blink up' iPhones and iTouch's work but there are a lot of Android phones that do not (my RAZR MAXX did not). Here are the list of tested Android phones:

2. According to the website the blink up process will send your SSID and network password in the clear. To quote: "Your wireless configuration information is sent unencrypted from your mobile device to the imp card. Although it would be very hard to eavesdrop on this transmission, be aware that such interception is, in theory, possible."

3. Make sure to put your finger over the white parts of the board or you can overload the sensor during a blinkup. Sigh... this teminds me of the old Timex/Microsoft watches you can set with a flashing screen. If you have epilepsy have someone else do this because the blinking screen can cause problems.

I know... complain complain complain...

To commission your imp if you don't have the iphone or an android phone or tablet, you can download the windows application for your laptop or desktop windows pc. It's called WinBlink. I tried it and it worked after six tries. http://fenconsultants.com/blog/?p=63

I would like to use the Imp with the ADXL345 accelerometer and I would like to send the data to an iPhone via WiFi. The Connection with the Cloud is a plus but the connection with the iPhone must have low latency thus a round trip to the server will add complexity and more important latency. Is it possible to direct connect the Imp to the iPhone/Smartphone ?

Why there is hike in price? I remember 5 days back , it was 25$ and now 30$

Sparkfun,

Any chance of making a device to blink-up the wifi config? This is a pain if you don't have a smartphone. Perhaps there is another way to upload the wifi config?

Thanks,

-diesel

Whats the max baud rate of one of these things for serial communication and also whats the max data rate using the wifi because im guessing its not in megabits seeing that the thing is running a virtual machine inside the processor and the like?

Here's a USB->WiFi adapter based on GS1011M that I found in a quick search. Key thing is that this one has an AT style interface so you could easily connect it to an Arduino-type environment without the need for drivers. http://www.arduino.com.au/Data/USB-WIFI.pdf

Agree with VccDood. If the Imp just had the wifi drivers and the serial interface without all the programming/serial numbering/cloud stuff then I'd prefer that for connecting with an Arduino-like environment. Otherwise, I'd just use a wifi shield for prototyping. To go super-compact, I'd be much more inclined to spend $15 to $20 on a micro USB dongle (e.g. http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/usb-wifi-dongle-p11590.htm) and get the stack working than to try something like the Imp. Arduino-ish already has IP and USB connectivity, so it shouldn't be all that hard to get a dongle working. Google "arduino wifi dongle" and you can see folks are already working on it either via USB or Ethernet to the dongle.

Was initially very interested in this given the price and what it did, but given its Apple-like lock-in I'm not going to even buy a single one to play with. The Carambola is a far better, open platform IMHO. I have 6 of them and they're superb, and cheaper than the imp, and no silly cloud-based lock-in so you can be held to ransom later.

http://www.8devices.com/product/3/carambola

The weird thing about this device is the wild emotional responses it evokes in me, and apparently in many others as well. At first glance, I was really excited and interested. Once I learned a little more about it I had a very negative reaction to it, and the more I learn about it, the more I dislike it (and I feel a little confused as to why). Today I read that you have to go through their server to use it and that they eventually intend to charge a monthly service fee for use; my feelings about the Imp just crossed over into hate. I loathe this thing, which is odd, because typically I just stop caring. Maybe it's just because this could have been so cool, if not for the pure evil that took it over. Oh well, it is not worth the emotional cost, I will try to ignore it from now on, or at least until I get back to not caring about it.

Can the Electric Imp support OneWire protocol?

What is the status of the Imp to Twitter connection? Can I send tweets based on data collected by the Imp? And is SMS support planned?

The imp rocks it just works!! I'm so happy that they are providing me with a hardware & software service platform. I could never build what they have already achieved myself.

One way of looking at it's like buying a mobile phone & contract. Ok there is only one carrier...Electric Imp. But once there was only Bell.

Hmmm does anyone know if its going to be possible to stream audio to the imp and it would output the audio from its analog out or is the imp not designed for that kind of throughput?

This device looks and sounds awesome....except for one little thing. Does this really needs a Android/iOS device just to setup?

i don't have a Android/iOS device. i only have a wireless laptop with every software ide/skd/studio i need. heck i don't even own a cellphone!! i know its easy to think "oh everyone has a smartphone/tablet" but that is not true. there are people that are still using their old non-android phone or aren't swept by the current tablet trend.

That is alot of whining about cost and form factor, but nobody has mentioned the ultimate use case:

Imagine if every device had this sub $1 SD connector, and you could use just a single $30 IMP to plug in and update the firmware when it was needed. That is very efficient and much cheaper than adding wifi to every device on the planet.

Also if this cheap connector offered some extra functionality that required constant connection, then end uses can pick and choose how many imps to buy and how many of these extra features they really need in all their devices.

I think it is a great idea.

So, for $30 I get a piece of hardware which is dependent upon somebody's business model to be correct. If I build my business around it, I can't make any money unless the makers are also making money.

This product makes no business sense to me. Technologically, it looks great. But I think anybody putting it into a product would be either gullible or insane. Not sure which.

Simply program the Imp with your WiFi Network information using your iOS or Android smartphone (Optically! No special hardware required!)

What if I don't have a smartphone??? One could say a smartphone is "special hardware" if you don't have one... (I do have an Android phone, but just got it not too long ago, and I know many people who don't own one.)

What if someone didn't have access to a smartphone? Would it be impossible to program the Imp with the necessary network information to get it working? Is there a Linux or Windows program that could flash a window on a computer monitor to program the Imp instead?

While programming the Imp optically is pretty nifty, I see problems with limiting programming to only smartphones...because some people don't want to spend the $30+/month extra for the smartphone data plans...

How would you address this issue?

As a Electric IMP beta tester I can see the value of this system. Lets give an example.

You buy a new Oven with Electric IMP capability. you can use it as a regular oven but if you buy an IMP it adds cool features. You blink the IMP your your WIFI SSID and password using the Electric IMP App then insert into oven.

Then you download oven Manufactures. Create an account and enter your ovens serial number. Since the Oven has a ID chip corresponding to the the oven's serial number the IMP that is inserted in oven is connected to your account

Now in the oven's app you can monitor your ovens temp, change temp, maybe see pic of contents ETC..

The Electric IMP provides a simple standard for connecting commercial products to the internet through your homes wifi.

The complexity of adding internet access and supporting the result in a product is greatly reduced by using IMP.

So... I wonder how long until someone figures out how to redirect the requests so you can use an Imp offline with your own "server"? I think I may purchase a few, I don't see it being that long until it happens.

Considering the last two products these guys came up with went over well (ever heard of the iphone or gmail?), I'm betting they can figure out a way to make the Electric Imp awesome for everyone. Now if only we could just get access to the rssi info, and add a u.fl connector...shwing!

What will the non-developer edition of this device be like? Will it be less/more money?

Great idea (user friendly, concentrate on the app development and not the hardware hacking), this could be exactly what I am looking for ... except ... just can't get my head around why they could not put the Atmel Crypto chip in the module itself? So now need to wait until the dev kits come out or back to hardware hacking? Ahh ...

Hey Sparkfun... are you going to make the DEV boards for these? I wanna buy a dev board but can find a place to do it... this has the perfect ring for a wifi enabled led lighting project...

I was really interested until I read that you have to use their specific socket, and that everything goes through their servers, and that the JTAG/any programming headers aren't exposed.

Well, nevermind. Hopefully someone makes an alternative, because the SD card formfactor is an awesome idea.

Compare and contrast with the mbed...

I wonder how long until someone finds these guys sniff your network traffic for key things (usernames, passwords, CC#s, etc) and send them back to a central server....

After reading about the "Duino: Arduino, with Imp", I am really excited now...I will be able to program my RC car without plugging into it...

After one is programmed...can you use it in a Local Area Network (no access to the cloud)?

What's the benefit of having the processor and WiFi in an SD-like package? Is there a real need to be able to remove the processor from the rest of your project? The "all for less than $30" concept seems misleading if you need to buy additional parts to make the thing work. If you could use it as an SD card and plug it into a laptop for programming and/or to store/retrieve data, the SD form would make a ton of sense. Without that, I don't see the point.

This could be cool... But does everything go through their server? They also talk about making something internet enabled for $1, that's some crazy bulk discount.

You guys would rock if you do a comparison of the wifi radios you sell. There's also the Xbee wifi now.

This needs a "IMPee" to work with. Where are the rest of the parts needed to inteface with or make use of theses?