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).

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  • http://www.BillionDollarBaloney.blogspot.com/ BillyWarhol

    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!!

  • http://www.BillionDollarBaloney.blogspot.com BillyWarhol

    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!!

  • http://ARMdevices.net/ Charbax

    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?

  • http://archosfans.com Charbax

    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?

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  • http://blog.webreakstuff.com/2007/11/your-blog-ads-piss-me-off/ Fred Oliveira

    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!”

  • http://blog.webreakstuff.com/2007/11/your-blog-ads-piss-me-off/ Fred Oliveira

    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!”

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  • http://lojic.com/blog/ Brian Adkins

    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 :)

  • http://lojic.com/blog/ Brian Adkins

    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 :)

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  • andrew

    cost will be a serious issue and will make it tough to gain traction.

  • andrew

    cost will be a serious issue and will make it tough to gain traction.

  • http://fredwilson.vc/ fred wilson

    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

  • http://fredwilson.vc fred wilson

    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

  • http://adir1.com adir1

    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.

  • adir1

    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.

  • Karim

    > 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….

  • Karim

    > 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….

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  • http://tenyearsofpics.blogspot.com/ Patrick Dodds

    Very interesting. Way too pricey at the moment but the potential is huge.

  • http://tenyearsofpics.blogspot.com Patrick Dodds

    Very interesting. Way too pricey at the moment but the potential is huge.

  • http://tenyearsofpics.blogspot.com/ Patrick Dodds

    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.

  • http://tenyearsofpics.blogspot.com Patrick Dodds

    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.

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  • tom61

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

  • tom61

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

  • http://scobleizer.com/ Robert Scoble

    tom61: they didn’t give me an exact price, but said the four module set would be under $1,000.

  • http://scobleizer.com/ Robert Scoble

    tom61: they didn’t give me an exact price, but said the four module set would be under $1,000.

  • http://www.advertisehereforever.com/ Brendan

    Interesting.

  • http://www.advertisehereforever.com Brendan

    Interesting.

  • http://www.jroller.com/shareme Fred Grott

    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

  • http://www.jroller.com/shareme Fred Grott

    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

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  • http://www.virtualcogs.com/ John Davidson

    Heres another interesting/similar concept I came across — http://www.virtualcogs.com/

  • http://www.virtualcogs.com/ John Davidson

    Heres another interesting/similar concept I came across — http://www.virtualcogs.com/

  • Adesh Raman

    I hope this takes off big. This is so sick. Best of luck to Pete and Jeremy!

  • Adesh Raman

    I hope this takes off big. This is so sick. Best of luck to Pete and Jeremy!