Sleeptalking USB Stick

Here is a tricked out USB stick that does the downloading work while your PC is in standby mode.  The sleeptalking USB stick is aptly named, Somniloquy [medical term for talking in your sleep] and provides a great service when you take a closer look.

A team effort between University of California and Microsoft Research came up with the Somniloquy concept to reduce a computers carbin footprint into todays “going green” world.  Many users keep their PCs on for late night syncs, virus software updates, computer hard drive backups, or large data downloads.  The sleeptalking USB stick is designed to allow all of these things to happen while the computer remains in standby mode…meaning reduced power consumption for those critical updates or juice torrent downloads.

The Somniloquy is a prototype device that packs an entire low-power PC and embedded operating system onto the USB thumb drive.  It needs only 1/10 the power of a typical PC or laptop.

Somniloquy essentially takes over as the computer’s presence on the network while the actual PC is asleep by operating at the computers’ network interface. In effect, it impersonates the sleeping PC to other hosts on the network.

The device can also wake up the PC if necessary. If the SUB key’s flash memory fills up during a movie download Somniloquy will rouse the PC from its slumber, transfer the data to the PC’s hard drive and then return the PC to its standby state.

Source:  APC Magazine.