Jeremy Toeman of Bug Labs came to the SDForum Emerging Technoloy SIG to talk about their newly released modular consumer electronic device, which features both open source hardware and software. See Ideal Mechanism’s notes after the break!

About Openness

• Open platforms are beating closed ones, and will continue to in the long term
• source of success of google vs yahoo

Open Hardware is Coming

• current economics of CE are failing
  • tech support can quickly erode the profit margin
• iPhone as a trend indicator
  • ~1-2 million hacked iPhones
• Big companies are already moving
  • IP-accessible consumer electronics devices
  • Sun, Google, Nokia pushing open source standards

Electronics Industry is Ripe for Disruption

• Giving power to individuals- shifting creative power from those who produce to those who consume

The consumer becomes the producer

• The power of the 1% (long tail?) [pizza tail!]
• Common factor? Community.
• Even if a consumer is not creating original content, openness gains you choice
• Important to empower the individual – extreme personalization

Bug Labs 2008

• Heathkit 3.0
• Open source, modular platform for building customized personalized electronics devices
• ARM11 core with multimedia extensions
• Santec connector
  • USB, I2C, Serial
• Key Components
  • BUGbase
  • BUGmodules
  • BUGnet
• Product Launch
  • Q1: 2008: 1 BUGbase, 5 modules
  • ~20 more modules in 2008
• Market Focus
  • Developers, Entrepreneurs, Vertical Opportunities
• Primary Objectives
  • Build a developer community, assess future needs
• Sustainable Product Cycle – Don’t chuck it, send it back to us