We know what you’re thinking, “What’s the big deal? Looks like an SD card…” Well this is no SD card! The Electric Imp is a WiFi enabled development platform powered by a Cortex-M3 processor core. “Really?” Yup.

In essence, the Imp provides an easy, integrated way to connect almost any hardware device both to other devices and to internet services. It’s more than just a WiFi card, or even a WiFi module with processing built in - it’s an integrated platform that deals with the drudgery of connectivity, allowing you to concentrate on the application instead of the mechanics.

It does this by integrating an 802.11b/g/n WiFi transceiver, a great antenna, a Cortex-M3 core and lots of flexible I/O in a tiny package. But the hardware is only part of what makes the Electric Imp an innovative platform. The development environment and workflow is totally cloud-based and in-browser! Simply program the Imp with your WiFi Network information using your iOS or Android smartphone (Optically! No special hardware required!) then log on to the Electric Imp developer website and program your module over-the-air!

Development is done in-browser and in a language called “Squirrel,” which is a C-like language with extensions to communicate with the hardware interfaces and the service. Thanks to cloud-power, you get many big system benefits like buffered I/O and crash recovery - plus you can push updates to devices in the field with a few clicks. There’s even a Planner tool that makes it easy to design interactivity between your Imps.

Note: Although, the Electric Imp comes in an SD form factor, it isn’t compatible with standard SD devices. Development boards are available, though, in the related items below!