Have you seen the Ambient Orb?
It’s kind of expensive at US$150 just to monitor the stock market but I read a cool story in Wired magazine about how they’re using Orbs to monitor the power grid “to signal changes in electrical rates, programming them to glow green when the grid was underused — and, thus, electricity cheaper — and red during peak hours when customers were paying more for power.”
I kind of reminded me of a cool gauge that my friend Shaun Redmond showed me that monitors your energy usage in your house.
Ideally, I could keep tabs on my home power consumption from my computer or iPhone from anywhere with an Internet connection.
Even wilder it the EnergyJoule (pictured) which is currently only available to Consumer Powerline customers in New York City.