JGL, I have looked at the ESP8266 devices, neat, but they are probably a little over my head for now. You are probably aware of this already too. So just as a FYI (and I am not sure how this fits in with what GRJ is attempting here) places like Adafruit, Sparkfun, etc have ESP8266 breakout boards, tutorials, and libraries too I believe.
Might be too basic for you, GRJ, Stan, etc, but just thought I would mention it here in case someone was interested. I realize you guys would probably just use the ESP8266 and not need the breakout boards, but maybe this would be a good learning place for some that were interested? Possibly even you guys?