The Compute Stick contains a Myriad 2 Vision Processing Unit that uses only around one watt of power. And it's the same vision processing unit used by FLIR's thermal camera cores, DJI's Phantom 4 drone as well as security cameras and VR headsets. With the Compute Stick, you can convert a trained Caffe-based neural network to run on the Myriad 2, which can be done offline. Ultimately, the device will help bring added AI computing power right to a user's laptop without them having to tap into a cloud-based system. And for those wanting even more power than what a single Compute Stick can provide, multiple sticks can be used together for added boost.

"The Myriad 2 VPU housed inside the Movidius Neural Compute Stick provides powerful, yet efficient performance – more than 100 gigaflops of performance within a 1W power envelope – to run real-time deep neural networks directly from the device," said Movidius VP Remi El-Ouazzane, "This enables a wide range of AI applications to be deployed offline."

Intel says the the Movidius Neural Compute Stick is now available from select distributors for $79.