2. Why make hardware?
• The rapid advancement of open-source
software has created a need for open-source
hardware.
• Open-source hardware platforms, such as
BugLabs, Pachube and BeagleBoard give
developers and hobbyists robust open-source
resources to deliver new products to the
marketplace quickly and at low risk.
3. You can hardly get your hands on $100k in
seed funding without having a working
prototype of the thing you’re building
4. But… thanks to crowdfunding initiatives like
Kickstarter, as well as better, cheaper, more
widely available tools + proliferating expertise,
making hardware for profit is getting easier.
Entrepreneurs can now head to China with their
$50,000 in Kickstarter money and quickly watch
their products come off an assembly line
5. • On May 18th a small start-up called Allerta
became the talk of the tech community by
setting a new record on the crowd-funding
site KickStarter.
• They raised an astonishing $10.2 million from
individuals who pre-ordered, and hence
funded manufacturing of the $150 Pebble
smart-watch.
6. A look at the platforms…
• Arduino and Bug Labs are both open source electronics
platforms.
• TI’s Beagle Board, Qualcomm’s developer program and
Raspberry Pi also offer young hardware hacks an easy way
in to the space.
• Thingiverse is emerging as an interesting repository of
digital designs.
• While a full-on GitHub equivalent in the hardware space
has not emerged yet, it’s likely that this will happen.
7. BeagleBoard.org generates around 50,000
visitors every week, making it one of the largest
and most collaborative communities in the
open-source hardware world. Members are
posting 3-5 new projects each week and are
getting instant feedback.
8. New flexible and extensible open hardware
development platforms can effectively facilitate
a development team’s transition into the open-
source world.
We’re here to tell you how to source your tools,
bring your designs to life and then get them to
market in the least amount of time, with
minimal pain.
9. So, what’s a Makercamp, and how can you
participate?
The pre-SXSW Makercamp will be held the two
days before SXSW Interactive at a super secret
location deep in hill country. We’ll be showing
off our mad skills, learning new ones, and
hacking any cool stuff we can get our hands on.
