Intel’s Edison Makes Everything with SD a Little Bit Smarter

Intel unveils Edison at CES, an SD-sized Computer.


Edison, and perhaps Tesla, would be proud of this tiny computer.

How do you show up all the “Smart” objects at the Consumer Electronics Show? You give anything with an SD slot the power to become “Smart”.

This week, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich unveiled Edison, a mini wireless computer capable of fitting into an SD housing. The computer makes anything with an SD slot – from a coffee maker to a baby monitor – as smart as a cellphone.

“Wearables are not everywhere today because they aren’t yet solving real problems and they aren’t yet integrated with our lifestyles … We’re focused on addressing this engineering innovation challenge. Our goal is, if something computes and connects, it does it best with Intel inside,” said Krzanich.

The product is designed to promote innovation and the product development among today’s inventors, makers, consumers and entrepreneurs.

It seems very flexible as it can connect to various I/O devices, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, LPDDR2 and NAND flash storage. The chip can even support a variety of operating system types, which makes it perfect for open source.

The 22nm Intel Quark technology “inside” Edison ensures low power draw capable of connecting anything to the internet of things and/or wearable computing.


All the baby nap information you could ever want on your cellphone.

If you thought the baby monitor reference was just a suggestion, think again. The Mimo Baby product line is using this technology to reduce the size of their Rest Devices to fit into onesies. With Edision you no longer need an external receiver and can get all the information about your baby’s nap right on your cellphone.

The electrical and mechanical libraries of Edison will be added to the Autodesk 123D Circuits library, which will help to expedite access for the inventor and maker communities alike.

Source Intel 1, Intel 2

Picture courtesy of Intel, Mimo Baby

Written by

Shawn Wasserman

For over 10 years, Shawn Wasserman has informed, inspired and engaged the engineering community through online content. As a senior writer at WTWH media, he produces branded content to help engineers streamline their operations via new tools, technologies and software. While a senior editor at Engineering.com, Shawn wrote stories about CAE, simulation, PLM, CAD, IoT, AI and more. During his time as the blog manager at Ansys, Shawn produced content featuring stories, tips, tricks and interesting use cases for CAE technologies. Shawn holds a master’s degree in Bioengineering from the University of Guelph and an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo.