"The Silicon Valley chip maker is trying to create a new
category of inexpensive, energy-efficient devices it calls "plug
computers," for which it would supply the integrated
processors.
"Strongly resembling those vacation timers that turn on your
lights at night to ward off potential robbers, a plug computer is
more of a home networking gadget that transforms external hard
drives or USB thumb drives into full network-attached storage (NAS)
devices.
"That allows easy access to your files, particularly videos and
songs, via your home network or the Web site provided by your plug
computer's maker, according to Raja Mukhopadhyay, a product
marketing manager at the Santa Clara, Calif., company."