Don't Back Down

Allegedly, anyway. Bluetooth was supposed to be the consumer-friendly personal-area network. That hasn't worked out too well. Most geeks I know even have trouble getting it to work reliably. Still, it hasn't stopped Jaguar, and perhaps others, from putting it into cars. But I think it's more a checkbox at this point. Something that people might ask, and they can say "Yes, we do that!"

Zigbee apparently aims to take over that market, with a multitude of tiny sensors that work together to form a network of information. It definitely sounds cool. One application is that you could have a sensor on a pipe, and if water is detected, it could shut off the main water supply. That's neat - provided both that it does what it says and that it lets you know about it, so you don't call a plumber who comes in and tells you how stupid you are because your Zigbee shut off everything in the house. Then charges you a couple hundred bucks for the house call.

Still, there is a Zigbee Alliance, which appears to be doing well. And the buzz is that there might be something in the works as soon as Christmas. It could be neat. It could be a flop. You may want to hold off a bit before investing in the company - unless you want to toss money at unlikely successes, on the hope that one will pay off. Perhaps this is it. We'll have to see.