We are doing the Century Ride again – Sunday, September 7th at 7:30 am (gasp). Don’t let the name fool you – you can choose your distance and bike at your own pace. The routes were designed with safety and enjoyment in mind. See more about the event and register here.

There is a pile of us from the office that will serve as marshals, “helping” to navigate the course and guide folks to the scenic rest stops with plentiful food (and the 15 mile route finish line). I heard Brian might even ride his square wheel bike for a challenge:)

We are not just in it for the cool Transportation Alternatives T-shirt, to raise environmental consciousness, or to advocate safe and alternative transit methods. Biking through the city is an awesome way to see and enjoy New York. Let us know if you know of any other rides we might like, or if you will be around on the 7th. Care to join us in the beer garden in Queens after the ride?

I think it was Tim O’Reilly who called today’s musicians “a new breed of hackers” and this awesome little box is a perfect example. I’m convinced you’ll see more and more of this type of thing over the next couple years. Musicians have always tinkered with their gear. Making it easier to play with the high tech stuff will result in some great new creative directions. I will definitely be purchasing one of these babies.

It’s no secret that LEGO was a big inspiration for the founding of Bug Labs. And this link to artist Nathan Sawaya’s portfolio of sculpture just helps to reaffirm that feeling.

Why is it that LEGO has inspired so many people to do such amazing, creative things? Why is it that of all the toys my son has, he returns, again and again to the LEGO bin? I think first and foremost, playing with LEGO is FUN. It’s just a pleasure to play with. Second, the system just works. Everytime. Its physical interface is obvious and easy to understand. And while the interface is limited in its flexibility, the constraints actually help you focus. Sort of like haiku =)

If we can come even close to emulating the creative energies that LEGO inspires we will be doing great. It’s always good to have a lofty goal.

I had a great time at Gnomedex last Fri/Sat, it was my first time at the show. I made the presentation (below) over the course of the show itself, as I really wanted to gear it for the audience. I knew it was a tech-savvy crowd, and also wanted to avoid “pitching” Bug Labs while still sharing the company’s vision.

You can watch the video below (first ~30 minutes are my presenting, rest of the time is Q&A), or you can check out the slides (also below) – but I will say the deck doesn’t really “work” without the voiceover.

Lastly, don’t forget the FREE BUGBUNDLE CONTEST is still live until this coming Friday! So easy to enter…

Live Streaming by Ustream.TV

The video doesn’t necessarily capture all the slides, so if you want to see them raw (read: out of context), here they are:

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!

As CNET reported last night we’re proud to say that Court Square Ventures has led a third round of funding for Bug Labs, and our prior investors (which include Union Square Ventures and Spark Capital) participated as well. We don’t typically like to make a lot of hoopla about fundraising or related efforts, but we thought an update was in order.

This is exciting news for us, as this financing lets us execute upon our business plan to expand and add resources to the company. As you may have noticed on our blog recently we’ve ramped up our manufacturing to handle a larger volume of orders, and we’re also staffing up the team. We’re currently planning our international sales efforts, which we hope to have in place by the end of the year. We’ll also use the money to enhance our marketing efforts, with numerous programs to get the word out to many more programmers, coders, developers, hackers, tinkerers, inventors, makers, entrepreneurs, and hackers (you said hackers twice! we know, we like hackers).

Thanks go out to our investors for their continued support!
-Team Bug

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

I can’t imagine we have all that many people reading this blog who aren’t aware, but just in case… LinuxWorld 2008 begins tomorrow (Tuesday) at the Moscone Center in San Francisco!

This is our first year exhibiting at the show, and we’re located in the Linux Garage area (as you walk in to the Exhibit Hall, go straight until the back area, then take a right – you can’t miss it).  Our booth is #1234, and, much like CES, it’s a “pod” so we’re going to make the most of our space.

We walked by the area this afternoon, but the showfloor was still quite the mess, and they haven’t finished setting up our area.  Not a big deal for us, since we’re bringing the most important assets: our team and our BUGs.  Please stop by and say hi to Angel, Brian, and Ken (from NYC), and I’ll be there with Andrew (from SF).  As always, during any downtime we’ll be writing new applications and building some gadgets.  If you want to hack around with us, just bring a laptop and maybe an extra Red Bull if you have one.