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Geek of the Week

 

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And this week’s winners are

David Carr and John Kestner

The Microsoft Ireland Geek of the Week award celebrates those people who impressed us with technology, of any kind. The inaugural award has gone to two MIT alums have hit upon a simple but brilliant solution to enhance how we look after our homes. “Twine” is a block of rubber that can fit in the palm and has a WiFi node and sensors for motion and temperature

Users can configure Twine to monitor an event and then notify them when it occurs. So if your basement floods a moisture sensor attached to a twine block can let you know that you might need your wellies. If you want to know when your washing machine has finished its cycle, a block on top of your washing machine could tell you when it has finished vibrating.

The possibilities seem close to limitless as the block has a space to connect a breakout board for those willing and able to make their own sensors. Carr and Kestner have received nearly US$350,000 of funding on kickstart, ten times what they were seeking initially.

So what do you make of their invention? Are there any good uses it could be put to in your home or office? How could their functions be integrated with Microsoft products?

This week’s other nominees:

Big Red Book

Leap Card

Every week we are giving anyone nominates a geek a chance to win an 8GB Microsoft memory stick. To nominate for next week’s geek(s) so comment below or tweet @IEITPRO. It can be anyone you feel is worthy of the title, including co-workers or someone you came across on the net. Spread the word fellow geeks!

 

Diarmuid