We made our Tweet-a-watt completely open, thousands of folks are using them (you can see many on Twitter and in many Google app engine examples)…
We also sent Google a request using their form for “device partners” but we only got an auto-reply back.
Eventually we posted about this on our site and a Google engineer commented.
In early 2009, a month after we released the Tweet-a-watt, Google announced their “PowerMeter” and now almost a year later they have their first device partner, we’re a little bummed that Google *could have* had thousands of Tweet-a-watt customers using the Google PowerMeter all this time but for whatever reason will not?
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Why would I ever pay $200 for a TED device when I can build a tweet-a-watt for about half that, have an extensible open system, and LEARN SOMETHING while I am doing it!
The Google power meter looks like a cool idea. I hope they get their API published soon so I can connect my tweet-a-watt to it.
While the tweet-a-watt may work for some, most people are interested in their total energy usage. How much is my dryer, oven, HVAC etc. using. To do this you need to measure power at the mains. This is what the TED accomplishes.
andrew, we don’t think you can accurately speak for “most people” and what they’re interested in. as per our customers and what they tell us, many people live in apartments and can’t tap the mains, you can however use many of the tutorials for tapping the mains and using a tweet-a-watt, so either way, TED, a tweet-a-watt, it doesn’t matter.
what does matter is the topic of our post, google powermeter and their refusal to send us anything but an auto-reply to people with hardware that’s out there now and has been for months.
I think the answer is Google is interested in devices like TED that may end up in millions of homes, more so than the tweetawatt, which is a hobbyist device. If you’re not measuring mains, then your data is not that accurate anyway, except maybe for a few users that operate off one socket. Besides, running a computer all the time (~100W) to report your data is a waste of energy – the thing your supposed to be saving.
andrew – how do you know what google is interested in? do you work for them or represent them?
so far, according to their own words posted on our site from one of their engineers they are interested in the tweet-a-watt.
again, just to repeat…. you do not need a computer running all the time to use tweet-a-watt (ours is in our router, as are many customers) and again, the tweet-a-watt can be used with the mains, but most people as per our customers say they do not have access to the mains since they live in apartments.
The good thing is tweet a watt is practically ready for goodle api. you would probably see a huge surge (pardon the pun) in orders as soon as they publish the specs. I agree $200 for TED device is too high…
Why would I ever pay $200 for a TED device when I can build a tweet-a-watt for about half that, have an extensible open system, and LEARN SOMETHING while I am doing it!
The Google power meter looks like a cool idea. I hope they get their API published soon so I can connect my tweet-a-watt to it.
While the tweet-a-watt may work for some, most people are interested in their total energy usage. How much is my dryer, oven, HVAC etc. using. To do this you need to measure power at the mains. This is what the TED accomplishes.
andrew, we don’t think you can accurately speak for “most people” and what they’re interested in. as per our customers and what they tell us, many people live in apartments and can’t tap the mains, you can however use many of the tutorials for tapping the mains and using a tweet-a-watt, so either way, TED, a tweet-a-watt, it doesn’t matter.
what does matter is the topic of our post, google powermeter and their refusal to send us anything but an auto-reply to people with hardware that’s out there now and has been for months.
I think the answer is Google is interested in devices like TED that may end up in millions of homes, more so than the tweetawatt, which is a hobbyist device. If you’re not measuring mains, then your data is not that accurate anyway, except maybe for a few users that operate off one socket. Besides, running a computer all the time (~100W) to report your data is a waste of energy – the thing your supposed to be saving.
andrew – how do you know what google is interested in? do you work for them or represent them?
so far, according to their own words posted on our site from one of their engineers they are interested in the tweet-a-watt.
again, just to repeat…. you do not need a computer running all the time to use tweet-a-watt (ours is in our router, as are many customers) and again, the tweet-a-watt can be used with the mains, but most people as per our customers say they do not have access to the mains since they live in apartments.
The good thing is tweet a watt is practically ready for goodle api. you would probably see a huge surge (pardon the pun) in orders as soon as they publish the specs. I agree $200 for TED device is too high…
http://wattcher.appspot.com/ seems to be down, by the way