I've been looking into a number of possibilities for wireless sensor networks, tiny little bugs called motes hiding in corners of who-knows-where collecting who-knows-what kind of data. Imagine the kinds of fun we could have at Parsons with this stuff!

So far, I'm most impressed by moteiv and their Tmote Sky motes. For $78 a pop (bulk order), you get a USB stick-like board with built-in temperature, humidity, and light (both in visible range and up to IR.) There's an antennae attached to each of them, and they all talk to each other over ZigBee and run on the open-source TinyOS. Sweet!

Speaking of TinyOS, it's looking like a pretty strong standard for getting these little guys to run. There's even a plugin for TinyOS with my new favorite IDE, Eclipse. Super sweet!

To keep up with my research, check the wireless keyword at my del.icio.us.