Bug Labs store open for business, BUGbundle unveiled for $549

We knew today was the day, and now Bug Labs has opened its doors and cautiously invited shoppers inside. Cautious because Bug doesn't really want non-developers snapping up the kit right now, since the hardware itself is pretty much useless to the proletariat at this point without any mature software, and there isn't a bunch of it go around. To kick things off, Bug Labs is also announcing the BUGbundle, which packages a BUGbase (the WiFi-free Hiro P edition), GPS, LCD, accelerometer and 2 megapixel camera for $549. Orders are limited to one per customer at this time, and educational promotions will be coming in March.

[PsychOfMSE @ Jan 21st 2008 12:30PM]

Epic win. This platform is so freakin cool. I have a feeling Bug labs will streamline the whole system in the future, and when that happens I will definitely buy one. A bit too bulky for my liking right now.

[silverblackvoid @ Jan 21st 2008 1:01PM]

a bit bulky yeah but definitely a lot more geeky!

[Joe @ Jan 21st 2008 1:46PM]

I agree. Very cool stuff - I applaud them. But am I the only one who thinks $549 is a bit pricey? I mean I'm all for hardware hacking, but that's a ridiculous amount to spend on hardware, especially for us first users. I like the way they say "wifi-free" as in the base doesn't even come with wifi (meaning add $50-75 for wifi in the next release). Thanks but no thanks, I'll stick with my Arduino and my eeePC...

[cmonkey @ Jan 21st 2008 8:58PM]

Ehhhh, its too bulky and expensive to be useful as a consumer electronics toy even if someone ports a decent OS to it (Maemo or Familiar perhaps?), and there's too little I/O for it to be useful as a hacking/robotics platform.

What's worse is that you can get all of that functionality smaller and cheaper in one package already, without having to swap modules.

Nifty concept, but unlikely to succeed.

[CUBSWILLWIN @ Jan 21st 2008 12:37PM]

this is frickin awesome but they need to have a mini qwerty keyboard add on. Maybe a SIM slot add on too for a phone box. But the qwerty keyboard would be enough for me.

[JD @ Jan 21st 2008 2:05PM]

Fear not, it's in the pipeline. It's listed as something on their site that is coming later (Q2) this year.

[Superevil @ Jan 21st 2008 12:42PM]

So what exactly do you use these for?

[silverblackvoid @ Jan 21st 2008 12:48PM]

anything you wanna. your mind is the limit.

[Marc C @ Jan 21st 2008 12:52PM]

whatever you can make it do with the software you write, from managing your media server, to control your smart home by switching outside lights on to turning up the heat. On the road it could be your new GPS, camera and if they ever build a GSM module even possibly phone. The possibilities are endless.

[fontendet24 @ Jan 21st 2008 6:15PM]

Hm...
Looks very bulky...
So to use some different operations (GPS+display+joystick) - you need to pluging/unpluging that modules?
Yah.
In the near future you can control light and other stuff in your home by your mobile phone, so this thing is useless. But it is very good for programming software and that kind of stuff.

[Eric YJ Chiu @ Jan 21st 2008 12:57PM]

maybe we need some of these in bill clinton's bedroom.

[Marc C @ Jan 21st 2008 1:23PM]

Who cares what Bill does, he can play with all the cigars he wants, at least our economy wasn't crashing.

[insertAlias @ Jan 21st 2008 2:08PM]

Both of you can piss off. Gadgets, not politics!

[PGP-Protector @ Jan 21st 2008 1:18PM]

So how long tell they have the Non Wi-Fi Free version :)
I'd much rather have WiFi Built in then missing with something like this.

[Marc C @ Jan 21st 2008 1:23PM]

they will be releasing a wi-fi module till they get it out, price, cost of manufacturing or so they claim.

[Charbax @ Jan 21st 2008 1:36PM]

Archos released this kind of technology in 2002, it was called the Archos JBMM20, that could do the same kind of video playback resolution. Also came with camera and other modules. Not as open source though.

But that's what it comes down to. Size, resolution, performance, features and price. Archos is far ahead of this with the $200 605 WiFi.

Sure Archos is not in the same way open source. But Archos tried with an SDK for the Linux based PMA430 released in 2004, that wasn't a commercial success though.

People want easy access to all audio and video content, and that's simply not possible today with an open source device because of the laws in place.

[KC @ Jan 21st 2008 3:38PM]

Cool. As long as additional features are not going to cost more because of SOX. Hahah.

[Iceman @ Jan 21st 2008 4:17PM]

Wow, $549. Yet currently you can get all of that shit with an iPhone/iPod Touch with a 8G or 16G internal flash drive, a bigger screen, unrivaled touch interface, thinner, sexier package, and Wi-fi. And that's BEFORE it's jail broken straight out of the package. To sum it up, I'm not impressed, get an Iphone.

[jason @ Jan 21st 2008 4:22PM]

Who wants a "gps-camera-phone-pda-radio-mp3 player" that not only requires assembly, but coding too?

Also, why is this thing so freaking huge? The iPhones (or any equivalent/superior smart phone) are small enough to slide in a pocket and still manage to do everything this is supposed to eventually be able to do. Thanks, but I'll stick with hacking upgrades into pre-assembled gadgets.

[deadlyseven @ Jan 21st 2008 5:41PM]

I think you two are missing the point

[Labrador @ Jan 22nd 2008 5:32AM]

Or you could buy a Nokia which also has a GPS, a better camera, a better screen, is a lot smaller and costs less. It also comes with great built-in software and has a more mature SDK.