BugLabs.net's really cool reconfigurable gadget in depth

Wow. Wow. Wow.

If you like playing with electronics you’ll WANT one of these.

Introducing BugLabs.net’s BUG. Here’s BugLabs’ founder/CEO Peter Semmelhack and marketing guy Jeremy Toeman showing off the devices ind epth.

I filmed three videos there yesterday. If you want to get an idea of what BUG can do, this should about cover it.

Video one, introduction.
Video two, final shipping plastic.
Video three, open hardware.

If you’re a geek you MUST WATCH this series of videos.

By the way, these were filmed with my cell phone, a Nokia N95 (I wasn’t planning on running into Peter, so didn’t have my professional camera with me).

Published by

Robert Scoble

As Startup Liaison for Rackspace, the Open Cloud Computing Company, Scoble travels the world looking for what's happening on the bleeding edge of technology for Rackspace's startup program. He's interviewed thousands of executives and technology innovators and reports what he learns in books ("The Age of Context," a book coauthored with Forbes author Shel Israel, has been released at http://amzn.to/AgeOfContext ), YouTube, and many social media sites where he's followed by millions of people. Best place to watch me is on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/RobertScoble

Comments

  3. Very very interesting*

    The Market for that is HUGE*

    We’re talkin’ Long Tail!!

    ;))

    i thought yer Nokia Vid was excellent too! No need to apologize for the Quality of that - It looked Great running Full Screen in that Google Shockwave Viewer*

    Thx!!

  4. Very very interesting*

    The Market for that is HUGE*

    We’re talkin’ Long Tail!!

    ;))

    i thought yer Nokia Vid was excellent too! No need to apologize for the Quality of that - It looked Great running Full Screen in that Google Shockwave Viewer*

    Thx!!

  5. This is cool..

    Make a HSDPA module with sim card slot, a 4″ LCD module and a 4″ E-ink module and you’ve got an open-source VOIP SIP iphone alternative and kindle alternative.

    Though I didn’t hear if he mentionned the battery life, and I guess it isn’t powerful enough to play all kinds of videos at full resolution and bitrate?

  6. This is cool..

    Make a HSDPA module with sim card slot, a 4″ LCD module and a 4″ E-ink module and you’ve got an open-source VOIP SIP iphone alternative and kindle alternative.

    Though I didn’t hear if he mentionned the battery life, and I guess it isn’t powerful enough to play all kinds of videos at full resolution and bitrate?

  8. Honestly? Screw the quality (which is good anyway) - these videos rock. Not only do they show the potential of connected devices, they show how things are changing towards people building hardware platforms that can be hacked in addition to APIs.

    You know how the story goes, but “This is going to be huge!”

  9. Honestly? Screw the quality (which is good anyway) - these videos rock. Not only do they show the potential of connected devices, they show how things are changing towards people building hardware platforms that can be hacked in addition to APIs.

    You know how the story goes, but “This is going to be huge!”

  10. Bug Labs

    BUG is an open-source, hackable hardware platform from Bug Labs. It is not only cool, but it also may be the holiday gift for the geek/hacker in your life. Keep an eye on their store as they promise to be open this year.
    Robert Scobel recently spent so…

  11. Very cool - definitely bring more of these. I agree about the quality of the video not being an issue. If the content is compelling (as this is) the quality is hardly noticeable. If the price is right, I’m getting one of those bugs.

    This spontaneous video was great - make sure you always have your cell phone camera with you :)

    I love the dialog about the GPS unit being lost :)

  12. Very cool - definitely bring more of these. I agree about the quality of the video not being an issue. If the content is compelling (as this is) the quality is hardly noticeable. If the price is right, I’m getting one of those bugs.

    This spontaneous video was great - make sure you always have your cell phone camera with you :)

    I love the dialog about the GPS unit being lost :)

  17. hey robert - thanks for posting this. i linked to it from my blog at avc.blogs.com

    @andrew - the hope is that as volume increases, prices will drop. some of the modules could be sub $10.

    fred

  18. hey robert - thanks for posting this. i linked to it from my blog at avc.blogs.com

    @andrew - the hope is that as volume increases, prices will drop. some of the modules could be sub $10.

    fred

  19. Sorry for being negative, but I think this device is too geeky to take off. Not sexiness here at all!?

    The future is with converged devices like iPhone and such, only open, like Google Phone. And with properly integrated wireless networking via Bluetooth or Wireless USB, it shall talk to other compatible devices without plugging anything in.

  20. Sorry for being negative, but I think this device is too geeky to take off. Not sexiness here at all!?

    The future is with converged devices like iPhone and such, only open, like Google Phone. And with properly integrated wireless networking via Bluetooth or Wireless USB, it shall talk to other compatible devices without plugging anything in.

  21. > I think this device is too geeky to take off.

    Famous last words :-)

    Presumably you are buying these things to create some feature set that isn’t otherwise available in sleek, commercial products. In that case, it doesn’t matter how geeky it looks, because it gives you the ability to do something you previously couldn’t.

    Or, you are buying this for the joy of building something yourself. You can buy a clock for next to nothing, but buying a clock KIT and putting it together yourself can run you hundreds of dollars.

    I kind of wish this is what Microsoft’s “Pocket PC” concept had been. :-) Only maybe with the larger touchscreen and .NET language. 😉 In the late 1990s, if it had been possible to easily snap on a laptop hard drive onto a Pocket PC, the iPod might never have been invented.

    Of course saying that, I don’t remember seeing any mention of storage… they have a dock and USB, but being able to natively slot a 32 GB SSD on the base would open up some interesting possibilities….

  22. > I think this device is too geeky to take off.

    Famous last words :-)

    Presumably you are buying these things to create some feature set that isn’t otherwise available in sleek, commercial products. In that case, it doesn’t matter how geeky it looks, because it gives you the ability to do something you previously couldn’t.

    Or, you are buying this for the joy of building something yourself. You can buy a clock for next to nothing, but buying a clock KIT and putting it together yourself can run you hundreds of dollars.

    I kind of wish this is what Microsoft’s “Pocket PC” concept had been. :-) Only maybe with the larger touchscreen and .NET language. 😉 In the late 1990s, if it had been possible to easily snap on a laptop hard drive onto a Pocket PC, the iPod might never have been invented.

    Of course saying that, I don’t remember seeing any mention of storage… they have a dock and USB, but being able to natively slot a 32 GB SSD on the base would open up some interesting possibilities….

  27. Oh and I agree with the comments above - the quality of the video is unimportant as the content is interesting enough to hold attention. It looks fine on google video anyway.

  28. Oh and I agree with the comments above - the quality of the video is unimportant as the content is interesting enough to hold attention. It looks fine on google video anyway.

  31. […] Robert Scoble has been talking to Bug Labs about their series of “BUG” modules that will be available soon. Potential hackers of mobile tech could really do with a low entry-level prototyping environment and these could be exactly that. The main module (BUGbase) is a small ARM-based Linux machine with on-board WiFi, USB, SPI, I2C and 4 UARTs, and running a full Java implementation (not J2ME). […]

  33. What was the price they said in the first video for the four module set? I couldn’t make it out.

  38. Thanks Scoble. From one of the experts in J2me both MIDP CCLDC and CDC it is nice that the transition form J2ME MIDP to J2ME CDC is getting an engaging and understandable presentation.

    despite some people getting it wrong it is in fact J2me, the future side ie CDC not MIDP. It is projets like BugsLab that will encourage exploration of the power of that transition from J2me MIDP to J2me CDC and take the fear out of such a transition.

    Fred Grott
    Mobile Expert
    http://www.jroller.com

  39. Thanks Scoble. From one of the experts in J2me both MIDP CCLDC and CDC it is nice that the transition form J2ME MIDP to J2ME CDC is getting an engaging and understandable presentation.

    despite some people getting it wrong it is in fact J2me, the future side ie CDC not MIDP. It is projets like BugsLab that will encourage exploration of the power of that transition from J2me MIDP to J2me CDC and take the fear out of such a transition.

    Fred Grott
    Mobile Expert
    http://www.jroller.com

  41. […] Robert Scoble has been talking to Bug Labs about their series of “BUG” modules that will be available soon. Potential hackers of mobile tech could really do with a low entry-level prototyping environment and these could be exactly that. The main module (BUGbase) is a small ARM-based Linux machine with on-board WiFi, USB, SPI, I2C and 4 UARTs, and running a full Java implementation (not J2ME). […]