January 14th, 2008
The coolest camera at CES was one you build yourself.
Okay, so CES may be ancient history, but if everyone can still be blogging about Gizmodogate, I can put up one more post about Bug Labs. This company was at CES showing off its open source modular gadget platform, called BUG.
For the true gadget geek, this has got to be one of the coolest ideas since sliced bread. Essentially, you pick and choose your electronic modules and snap them together to build your own gadget. The foundation is the BUGbase, a tiny, fully programmable Linux computer with a 530MHz ARM CPU, 128MB of RAM, USB 2.0, 802.11b/g WiFi, Ethernet, and a tiny LCD with button controls (oh, and did I mention the tripod mount?). You then purchase add-on modules that snap on to add various functions. Or since both the hardware and the software is open source, you can design your own module if you’re so inclined.
The first BUGmodules to be released (in March this year) will be a 5-megapixel camera module, a GPS module, a touch-screen color LCD,and a motion-sensor module (the SDK is already available http://www.buglabs.net/sdk/). In Q2, BUG Labs plans to release a double-wide color touch-screen, a mini-QWERTY keyboard, and an audio speaker. Just imagine the possibilities: With the first modules alone, you could fashion, say, a GPS-enabled digital camera that can automatically upload your photos to the Web. Bug Labs even rewards early adopters with a reverse pricing scheme.
Of course as cool as the idea is, the reality is that even the most avid technophiles are not likely to run out and build the ideal CE device, open source or no open source. I only know one person who might be geeky enough get one of these high-tech Lego sets and actually design his own gadget (yes, Ryan, that’s you). But, hey, for the truly motivated, the only way to get something done right is to do it yourself, right?
Janice Chen has been covering technology for almost two decades. She got her hands on a Nikon Coolpix 900 back in 1998 and has been a digital camera enthusiast ever since. See her full profile and disclosure of her industry affiliations.
Subscribe to Digital Cameras via Email alerts or RSS.
