It's difficult for some to imagine just how far we've progressed in the world of technology. To put things in perspective, the devices we carry around in our pockets today out-perform, on an exponential scale, computers of the 60s, 70s, and even the 80s. Embedded systems came along for the ride and Flash is riding shotgun.

A decade or so ago, the operation space (what it did) of an embedded system was very small. Performance / speed was a common concern and most operations had to be baked (part of the silicon) into the system; generalized code execution was a job for your desktop computinator.

The landscape has changed... fully featured servers are smaller than a bread box! Way smaller. How small you ask? Some embedded systems are so small, that more than 50% of the footprint is tied up in the connector. With a little creativity, Flash can live on or be served up from the smallest of embedded systems.

Who's using the embedded approach? Netgear has a cool product... their MS2120 Home Media Network Storage Device. It has a nice looking Flash UI on-board and sports a companion cloud utility that allows you access your content from home or abroad.

Take a look at the Stora demo at CES 2010. Kinda cool huh? Hopefully your wheels are turning.

Here is a quick spice rack of devices... everything from full-on teensy tiny computers to microcontrollers. Choose your flavor!

• SheevaPlug
• guruPlug (next generation SheevaPlug)
• fit-PC
• Beagle Board
• Gumstix

So, go out and do something great with Flash and an embedded system! ...and do it now!