John La Grou plugs smart power outlets

http://www.ted.com John La Grou unveils an ingenious new technology that will smarten up the electrical outlets in our homes, using microprocessors and RFID tags. The invention, Safeplug, promises to prevent deadly accidents like house fires -- and to conserve energy.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate. Watch a highlight reel of the Top 10 TEDTalks at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• John
• La
• Grou
• TEDTalks
• TED
• talks
• smart
• power
• electric
• outlet
• RFID
• Safeplug

[williamn6133]

We've had technology here for a long time that achieves the same result - a fuse in each plug, coupled with a power switch on every socket.

[alphax999]

It's stupid how he spins the circuit breaker. The fact that most fires happen below the limit is evidence that circuit breakers WORK - if they didn't, the percentage of fires over the limit - as well as the total number of fires - would be much higher. We use old technology because fail-safe mechanisms aren't supposed to depend on anything else working; to maximize reliability they should be self-contained and rely only on basic physics.

[PhattyMo]

That's great,but it only address part of the problem. The outlet and everything *after* it (ie,the appliance) will be 'protected'..but what about *BEFORE* the outlet? note,at 0:48 there is a picture of a melted outlet...note that it's the wiring on the back of the outlet (ie,before the 'smart tag") that is melted. the wiring and connections in the walls also need protection.(IOW,his smart plug wouldn't have helped.) Currently that is done by circuit breakers.

[dinogrower]

This technology is not for safety. This is smart technology to allow the government to control how much electricity you are allowed to use. It does not matter if you have the ability to pay the electricity you use. They friendlier dictator will inform you how much you are allowed to use. Bullshit technology. The people will hack it and destroy it for sure.

[cheeseit126]

i love smart inventions

[anothergazman]

I simply meant that the pins on a us plug are uninsulated unlike uk ones which have only the lower half exposed, this is so that you cant touch the pins whilst the plug is in far enough to touch the live connections in the socket. FYI I am a qualified electrician and have experience with both us and uk plugs and sockets and plugs from when i was producing machines for both markets. Oh and I never said our system was perfect. Nice manners you have by the way, way to represent your country.

[dev0random]

lol? Updating in what way? the US plugs are pretty idiot proof compared to others, while the British have to use their brilliant fused plugs because of extremely outdated electrical loops being used in the country. I see you know nothing of electrical outlets so best shut your mouth son.

[dev0random]

Worst TED presentation yet. What a way to spin things around to sell your crap product. Lets just pretend GFCI's don't exist and ultra-sensitive circuit breakers (which are just barely coming into the US and Canada) don't exist either.

[FoundationBreaker]

I don't think the point was to say that a circuit breaker is bad, or even needs to be expunged. The idea is that more safety can be added with the new invention.

[farnium]

Haha. Its a free market baby! Green is the only way you'll make people go green!