About Mobility

Check out Bugs Labs, a very cool company and set of products; isn’t that great when you get paid to build cool “toys”? From the Bug Labs Product page:

BUG helps you explore the realm of personalized devices and applications, and find ways to solve many of the problems current gadgets can’t.

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BUG is a collection of easy-to-use electronic modules that snap together to build any gadget you can imagine. Each BUGmodule represents a specific gadget function (ex: a camera, a keyboard, a video output, etc.). You decide which functions to include and BUG takes care of the rest, letting you try out different combinations quickly and easily. With BUG and the integrated programming environment/online community (BUGnet), anyone can build, program and share innovative devices and applications. We don’t define the final products – you do.

You code in Java, and it leverages OSGi:

BUG is built entirely with open source software. BMI, the BUG Module Interface, attaches devices to the BUG. Device-based services and applications are dynamically available based on which modules are connected to the BUG. Higher up the stack is Java, which hosts a service-oriented component runtime called OSGi. Java and OSGi make creating new BUG applications simple and intuitive, as BUG applications are essentially one or more bundles. In addition, each BUGmodule launches an OSGi bundle which in turn creates services for other components to consume. BUG applications are created using the BUG SDK (internally named Dragonfly), and are shared with other developers and users through BUGnet, our online community.

See Bugs Labs company website.

ceo

This announcement of BMW testing IP networks on cars is interesting… If you have spent time looking into the networking used in automotive you know of technologies such as Controller Area Network (CAN).

A BMW research group has tested the Internet Protocol to network automotive controllers. The engineers found that IP could well suit the real-time requirements even of safety-critical applications. But the most prominent benefits are in another area: With IP networking, costs for automotive electronics probably could be lowered.
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By using IP components and software routines, automotive OEMs could use standard components. “This would facilitate coordinating and matching processes with external partner since they would have access to hardware and software building blocks,” Bogenberger said.

Related to this see Internet Protocol – a world standard becomes automotive.

ceo

[Via the Raw Feed]

Microsoft has unveiled the Microsoft Robotics Studio, a development kit that includes visual drag & drop programming, simulation support, and set of APIs.

Apparently the Lego Mindstorms NXT can be programmed with the Microsoft's Robotic Studio software… and we know what's going to happen, right?

ceo