I do a lot of firmware development and am constantly having to unplug/replug devices during the process .. for this reason I have an I-Tec 16-port Charging Hub, which has individual switches for each port - and this works fine, as long as I get the druthers to launch out of my chair and turn things off and on again... however being able to do all of this remotely, with software, would mean I could a) automate the hell out of a lot of things that requires monkey-tapping, and b) put the whole mess in a closet where it belongs, away from my coffee cup.
So I'm quite eager to see this project proceed - especially if there is a way the port capacities can be expanded (16-port would be ideal) .. so please consider officially reporting any issues in the design that you see!