The world is moving more and more towards separating storage from logic, so you don't need a lot of CPU power attached to each disk; on the consumer side there are cheap NAS devices, but they (a) generally don't allow you to install your own code without major hackery, and (b) aren't designed for server environments.
If you put more brains on it, for example something like BackupPC, there would be a market for that also.
A microphone that's always streaming to the internets.
A robot to clean my roomba.
Turn a roomba into a cheap telepresence robot so I can roll into meeting rooms.
A really small bluetooth phone ringer/vibrator that can be easily concealed cause I wear clothing with no pockets, or tight jeans, and my cell phone is always in my pocketbook and if it's the slightest bit noisy around me I never ever hear my phone ring, especially when I'm out in noisy bars and people are calling me wondering 'hey, where are you? we're supposed to meet up an hour ago' but I never heard the call because I'm wearing clothing that is not cell phone friendly. Despite all of this I am always surprised I have 10 missed calls.
Validation and opportunity: 1. iPhone apps that track running routes successfully charge money. The gps on these things sucks and carrying it can be cumbersome. 2. OnStar and similar car systems are popular and their interactive features are being replaced by phones. 3. Suggestions?
e.g. Routers
Current corporate offerings suck, both in terms of the device, and the proprietary formats.
Make it export to CSV or Quickbooks OR XLS. Make it durable, and reasonably priced.
Since it is portable, you remove it from the car during your hotel stay, and again use it in your hotel room to keep the kiddies pacified.
When they go to throw away the bottle, have them scan a barcode, and swipe their license or other identifier and then vote on how much they enjoyed that particular beer.
Associate data as necessary and distribute as required.
I would love to be able to buy a wall switch for $15 to $30, that I could remotely turn on and off, and it would physically move to the on or off position. Additionally, I would be able to query the state of the device and determine if it was on or off.
I want a whole network of devices like these, similair to the X10 product lines.