On Monday, we were lucky to have the NY Java Meetup host their monthly meeting here at Bug Labs HQ. In addition to eating lots of pizza and drinking lots of beer (and playing lots of COD2 afterward), we managed to actually talk a thing or two about Java. Our friend Timothy Fagan gave a great detailed review of JavaOne 2009 (check out some of the slides here), and we tried a few Java Puzzlers from one of the sessions presented at the show. We even gave away a few cool door prizes, like a copy of IntelliJ.

The BUG team got plenty of inquiries from the attendees, and it seems like more and more software folks want to be hardware folks these days. That got us thinking of starting our very own meetup very soon, kinda like a BUG User Group (B.U.G. anyone?). Anyway, it was a great time and we hope to have the Java Meetup back again very soon.

We’re swinging the BUG HQ doors wide open once again next Wednesday night! Come by and chat with the team, check out the latest in our Test Kitchen, and enjoy tasty refreshments (read: M&Ms) and delightful drinks (read: beer).

Bug Labs Open House (add to calendar)
Wednesday April 29
6:00pm – 9:00pm

598 Broadway (@ Houston) (map)
4th Floor
New York, NY 10012

Hope to see you there!

When we released our v1.0 BUG platform we believed, from our initial research, that it would appeal to three market categories – early adopters/hackers, entrepreneurs/product developers and educators/students.  We guessed that the majority of orders would come from the first group – individual technologists.  This was true initially.  But quickly, our order mix tipped in favor of the enterprise, the second category.

Today over 50% of our orders come from companies, many of them big Fortune 500 corporations.   We were a little surprised by this.  We had assumed that big companies had the budgets necessary to custom build whatever hardware they needed/wanted.  We were wrong.  In talking to many of these customers it became clear that getting internal funding for new hardware projects was at least as difficult (sometimes more) as prying dollars out of a VC.   They were drawn to the BUG platform because it gave them a complete, vertically integrated hardware/software system that they could use to innovate and explore options without having to go beg for funding.  And when they did decide to make the trek upstairs to meet with the suits, they had a well tested, functional prototype to show with results to prove their case.  This story was also making sense to entrepreneurs who, like us when we started, were discovering that innovating in hardware was a looking a little more complicated than it first appeared.

What have I learned in the past 36 months?  I’m used to saying that hardware is “hard”.  And it most certainly is.  I’m reminded of it almost everyday.  But I’ve started to include a more optimistic position as well.  Having seen our customers at work, I realize now that it doesn’t have to be.  It can be made much easier, cheaper and more enjoyable.  Is our system exactly right?  No.  We still have much to learn from everyone using it to do new things.  We have to continue working hard on our platform so our users don’t have to.   We need to continue to refine our design (see picture above from our work with IDEO).  The other thing I’ve learned is that companies, organizations and even individuals are beginning to realize that devices don’t have to just come from the Big Guys.  Amazon’s Kindle is a good case in point.  This is a seismic shift.  But in order for it to really happen, the pain and suffering must be taken out of hardware prototyping, piloting and production.

As I look at the breadth of BUG-based projects going on now – in such diverse areas as health care, asset tracking, home automation, security, point-of-sale, to name a few – and in many areas around the world, I can’t help but feel that we’re on the right track.  We are still a ways from making it as easy as just snapping LEGOs together, but that vision is still the golden ring.  We’ll get there.  I look forward to telling you how we did twelve more months from now.

PS – I will devote a separate post to our experiences in the world of education.  The activity and lessons-learned there are fascinating and bode well for the future of electronics!

When I was in middle school in the 70’s, Popular Science was my bible. I was a devoted subscriber and anxiously awaited the arrival of each new issue (and still do!). To now have a product that’s been recognized by them is a genuine thrill.

We are honored to have made the Best of What’s New in ‘08 list. Thanks to all the editors at Popular Science.  We appreciate your support and recognition.

Now the goal is to keep up the pace of innovation and earn ourselves another place on the list in 2009

Bug Labs was at the Austin Maker Faire this weekend, where we won a Editor’s Choice award from Make! We were really honored to be part of Maker Faire and excited to show everyone our product!

Just before Maker Faire, at our Open House, we got our breakout board module (The Von Hippel) talking to an Arduino mini! It was a collaborative effort with help from NYC Resistor, who brought us a much needed R232 to TTY chip at a moment’s notice.

The folks at Maker Faire enjoyed clipping together modules together and coming up with new module ideas we should consider for the future, such as the Jelly Bean module and a Robot Wheels module (pictured below).

Hope everyone enjoyed seeing demos of the Bug! If we took your picture with the DrawPad app, check for it on Bugnet!  View more pictures of Bug Labs at Maker Faire here!

As I think back all the way to last night’s Open House I can’t help but recall… “I wasn’t there.”

But others were! Lots of others in fact! And we have pictures and cool stories to prove it. Rather than me share some interpreted anecdotes as assembled by the gang who could make it, we’ve put together a short collection of vignettes.

Matt C: “I enjoyed talking with Cynthia – she said some are saying technology is keeping kids indoors. She wants to use technology to get them outside (BUG scavenger hunt is an easy hit).”

Amie: “I met a handful of people who are considering or have already applied for a job at Bug Labs. That made me feel good.”

Melinda: “There was a woman that showed up last night who had no tech experience and wasn’t working in the tech industry, but when she heard about BUG she was so excited over the possibilities that she had to stop by to see it in person. I think one of the most rewarding aspects of the evening was talking to people that aren’t geeks, but who still see the potential for something truly great in what we’re doing. ”

Brian B: “I spent most of the night demoing a simple BUG application. The app lets you snap a photo, draw on and annotate the photo, and then upload the photo directly to an rss feed. Most people get uncomfortable when you point a BUG at them, but once they saw the beautiful art we made, they relaxed.” (more on Brian’s app here, expect an update from him soon!)

Peter: “I had a terrific conversation with a woman interested in getting more girls into technology. We both agreed the Test Kitchen could be a great resource. Alicia wants to have a “GeekGirlz” nite ” (JT’s note: after a lengthy lecture on appropriate terminology, we determined that the discussion was actually about encouraging young women to pursue technology-focused careers. Good job Peter!)

Amie: “I talked to Dan, a software developer from hedge fund company, who found out about us on the day of open house and decided to stop by with two of his colleagues. It’s always good to see such enthused reaction from fellow developers!”

Matt C: “100 beers gone, and plenty of Bug shirts awarded…. Awesome to see so many people so engaged – and trying out applications (like draw pad)”

Big thanks to everyone who could make it and join the crew. Maybe next time we’ll have one in San Francisco and leave them New Yorkers jealous?? Of course they do have the awesome new Test Kitchen there, not to mention the engineering staff and everything. Oh well, at least we’ve got better burritos!

Been a great time at Gnomedex so far this weekend. I’m presenting on Openness and Consumer Electronics in a few minutes (4:15pm PST – you can watch it live on the site), and we’re going to have a quick contest and discount weekend! Also, in the spirit of the show, we’re going to make both open to even those unable to attend the event here in Seattle.

The contest we’re doing is detailed here, but the basic gist is – invent a gadget, add it to the Gnomedex Wiki page, and possibly win a BUGbundle! Easy stuff, eh?

There’s also going to be a discount on the BUGbundle between now and Monday, August 25th, 12pm PST. All Gnomedex attendees can get the normally $629 BUGbundle for $399, all those who watched the show online for $499. The process to claim the discount is pretty easy:

1. Place an order at www.buglabs.net/store (again, this is *only* for the BUGbundle)
2. Your credit card will be authorized (not charged yet) for the full amount
3. Send an email to support [at] buglabs.net with the words “gnomedex attendee” or “gnomedex audience”
4. We will automatically update your order
5. When your order is fulfilled (late September-ish), the correct amount will be billed

Also, I’ll put the entire Gnomedex presentation online next week. I think there’ll be a video online too, if so, I’ll link to it when I find it!

We did it! We moved to our bigger space in SoHo and are getting settled in. We love the neighborhood – it’s super active, colorful and lots of good eats – Kelly and Ping and Cafe Habana are all right around the corner (not sure if it’s a pro or a con, but Riba saw Lindsay Lohan eating at Habana).

In the office, work is under way for our Test Kitchen – an in-house lab for getting dirty with electronics and trying out apps. More importantly, at least for the purposes of this post, we have added desks and want to fill them.

We are actively interviewing for folks that can write linux device drivers, help with marketing and outreach (like our .edu program), or help write technical documentation. You can see more details for each of these jobs at www.buglabs.net/jobs.

We are also keeping our eyes open for a controller, biz dev, and ops person with loads of experience with start-ups, CE, light manufacturing, the works.

If this is you, or someone you know, let me know at matthew[at]buglabs.net

Thanks to the amazing talents of our designer, Mateo Zlatar, the company’s sported some cool shirts at the various conferences we attend.  On quite a few more than one occasion people have asked if we had extra shirts, hats, or other schwag to hand out, and being the small startup operating on a responsible budget that we are, we haven’t.  But we really wanted to have some for the big fans out there, so we decided to create a Zazzle-hosted shop to solve the problem.

Now you too can have your own Bug Labs hat, mug, t-shirt, mousepad, and, uhm… necktie.  Yes, that’s right, a Bug Labs necktie.  Perfect for the occasion where you need to dress it up a bit, but still want to represent open source and DIY gadgets in a fashionable way.  All the options are available here.  Have fun!

My personal road to the Maker Faire has actually taken me three years,
as last year at this time my son was born, and the year prior I had a
48 hour long trip to Sweden.  But this year nothing shall stop me
(despite being in New York instead of San Francisco as I write this).
It’s an event I’ve been looking forward to for quite some time, and not
only am I attending, I’ll be participating the whole time.

My impressions of Makers Faire were formed from reading various
blog posts and hearing personal tales over the years.  In my head I
picture a huge field covered with bits of silicon, oddly shaped
plastics, insanely huge gears and blowtorches.  Not sure why the
blowtorches, but I picture many of them strewn about.  It’s the place
the teenager in me would’ve hitchhiked just to get to.  Then again,
back then my computer had no case and instead  sat on a piece of foam
until the one fateful morning when I wiped it out by accidentally
touching the edge of my CGA card (yes, you read that right) and
shocking the heck out of it.

Part of why I’m excited about Makers is that it gives those of us
who look beyond the Web/computer as "the platform for innovation" a
chance to share.  Living in San Francisco I feel heavily immersed in
online culture, and while there’s phenomenal creativity occurring in
that culture, I still believe there’s so much more to technology and
imagination.  Last week I tried playing with Yahoo Pipes for the first
time and felt it was pretty impressive that I could so easily "mash up"
various feeds and services.  Experimenting with their tools was
definitely dabbling in creation. 

I look forward to this weekend where
I can have the chance to meet others who are taking their visions well
beyond the screen+keyboard+mouse.