Some researchers at UC San Diego, teamed up with Microsoft Research, have a novel new method in the works to let your computer save on power in sleep mode while still keeping up with IMs and whatever other network activity you pesky folks might be up to. Dubbed "Somniloquy," the USB dongle acts as an external networking card, and takes over most of the communication duties, with its own embedded OS and flash memory (similar to the Killer NIC). When the computer goes to sleep, Somniloquy maintains IM connections, ongoing downloads and torrents, and keeps your computer present on
