You Can Do It. Bug Can Help: Open-source hardware developer Bug Labs offers a game-changing solution for upstart gadget makers

摘要

SHORTLY AFTER SEPTEMBER 11, Peter Semmelhack, the New York-based founder and CEO of Bug Labs, began thinking about how great it would be if he could give his wife and young child a wireless GPS locator that would send him updates of their whereabouts during emergencies. No such device existed, and he couldn't figure out a way to hack one together. He found himself facing the same challenges that confront most entrepreneurs with a great idea for a new consumer electronics product: having to source parts suppliers, hire an electrical engineering firm, and spend a ton of time and money just to develop a working prototype. Rather than doing all that, he decided to build a toolkit for dreamers like himself. "When we got started, the notion was that we were going to target the early adopters of the world, software engineers who were frustrated that they had no hardware skills," he explains.