Sadly this origin story ended before it began. While at WWDC we spoke to the creators of Elphi, a smart, remote-controllable AC outlet. Last night their Kickstarter project ended almost $30,000 shy of their goal. It's a shame, since this looked like a really promising product that would have been quite useful to a great number of people. We wrote it up almost immediately, to no avail.
Check out the video below to learn more (here's hoping they can try some other method of funding?). Also, check back on Fridays for more TUAW Origin Stories, where we talk about why developers create their apps.