Millimeter Wave technology has recently hit “mass consumer product adoption” price points. A casual search for “human presence sensor” on Ali Express will turn up a seemingly endless number of sub $40 devices that can detect movement far more accurately than any old PIR sensor. Each listing is fairly generic; there’s no explicit manufacturer details but they all use the same marketing images: As the photos below will show, neither device is super well marked with a model number so I’ll just refer to each by either the color of the enclosure or by the radar sensor inside.

PC (power) remote control While doing research for a potential project, I stumbled onto a device that fit’s so squarely into that “it’s so simple and obvious, why didn’t I think tof that?!” category that I immediately placed an order for a few. That device? A simple WiFi equipped micro controller that gets wired between the power button on a PC and the motherboard. This makes it possible to remotely control and monitor the power state of any PC!