(I love the above comment as it both critiques the idea and explains why so many good things end up as POS -- mission creep)
Seriously, if you could order different colors, they lit up, and you could stick them on the walls? You could have a lot of fun with these things. (Think IFTTT)
I am also waiting for the reusable post-it notes that use e-ink.
How does the bttn user know what is happening after the bttn press?
The bttn has handy feedback lights for the end user: Flashing GREEN top means successful completion of the trigger, RED means error, and a circling YELLOW means wait. Pretty simple, really.
Not exactly what I was referring to. I would want a light to indicate some condition, then the button would perform some action. The two do not have to be related to each other.
So I walk in the house. The blue button on the wall is lit up, indicating that I have that email from my brother-in-law that I was waiting for. I push the button, launching a small nuclear strike against the country of Alfredamonia. (Or for a more prosaic situation, the light is lit up telling me my server is overloaded. I push the button to spin up another server)
It's a neat idea. 100 bucks is crazy expensive for something you should be able to order by the thousand from China. Going to need some serious early adoption folks. I would look to the Agile IT guys -- lots of those folks would want some big, physical indicator to show something and some simple way to interact with externalities.
$100 dollars?! $100 DOLLARS?! How? How do you justify that price? For a button? Admittedly, a button backed by a web service described in very flowery language, but still. A button for $100
I think it also has a built in GSM module so that you don't need to pair it to WiFi. If it's completely standalone then that's particularly nice for the shop/hotel use case. And makes it easier for average home users.
Yep, utter madness. It includes a GSM module and SIM card slot, amongst other unnecessary things. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they will be of use to some, but most aren't going to set up a cell account for a button. They really need to make a cheaper model without it. I'd hope for three variants:
Good ideas which we have also thought about. I not 100% convinced about the USB alone (requiring a computer does not fit well with our philosophy) but keep watching. I think you'll be positively surprised.
Well, they don't need to justify anything. And seems that even with this price tag they have at least 26 backers who are hipster enough to spend a hundred of bucks for this.
It looks pretty flimsy too, looking at the video. It seems like not that bad of an idea, but not nearly life-changing or revolutionary enough of an appliance that I'd spend $100 for it.
This seems like such a neat, simple idea. Perfect for integration with IFTTT or similar.
I'm a little surprised that nothing like this exists already. I can see how you could easily build one yourself. But that doesn't give you the IFTTT ecosystem, which is probably good for less technical users.
"Harri summoned an 11 member crack team around him, with the mission of bringing the increasing power of the Internet of Everything to reach everybody's reach. In September 2013 they started making the bttn a reality. Deliveries will start in October 2014."
11 people set out to build a standalone button that costs 100$... Am I missing something? Is this satire? Great idea, would love to buy one but both price and team strength seem to be off by factor of 10.
But even for backend access. The price is way up there for something this simple. That much talent shown in the video should probably be capable of bringing down the cost close to $35 or maybe even less. What they're doing takes time and effort, not that much technically complicated by these days standards.
My name is Jussi and I am part of the bttn team. So take my comments with a grain of salt ;-)
From my perspective, you are not wrong at all. At the moment, the product is pretty pricey - that is something we are working on.
It is just a fact of life (which you surely know) that in small quantities, hardware tends to be pricey. We are working our trim little butts off to bring down the price.
As for the simplicity, the product is very simple by design. However, we have some pretty cool things on our roadmap to keep the same magical simplicity of use while adding a whole lot of functionality. It is a balancing act we are hoping to handle the right way.
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for a plastic button
So wait... I configure the button through the bt.tn app, then press the button? Do I need to buy different buttons to do different things or go back to the app each time I need the big red button to do something else? Can I set it so it does different things at different times of the day?
I can't imagine a way this works in practice which doesn't seem slightly more complex than just using the app itself. Your presentation makes it seem as if you just press the button and magic happens. But, it's just a front end for the necessary complexity of the app itself. You have to interact with that at some point.
I've tinkered with a number of raspberry pi projects and one thing which blew my mind was how expensive many options for "adding a simple button" was.
I had in mind that I'd be able to find a simple usb connected button for next to nix. My research instead turned up prices from $25 to $100.
So rather than a simple single button connected via usb, I found the best options have been:
* a usb numberpad (~$10)
* a usb MCE infrared remote (~$15)
* an amazon basics wireless mouse (~$5)
* an rfid reader + 50 nfc cards (~$20)
In each case, the solution I landed on ended up being cheaper, more versatile and functionally superior to a single simple button.
For example, the wireless mouse is now an interface for a music playback machine. Originally I imaged just a single button which would start and stop the music. With the mouse I added the option of changing the volume using the mouse wheel.
I think the cognitive disconnect is that an on-off or momentary contact button is technically extremely simple if you know what you're doing and have a GPIO pin. But if you don't, you'll pay for bttn-like devices like you implicitly pay for IFTTT.
I'd be much more excited if you could have a single base station (that perhaps could be battery powered and GSM-capable if that was the neatest feature to people), and then non-powered (or rather, push-powered) wireless buttons which talk to the base station. Largely the same effect, but you never have to worry about dead batteries in the buttons. I suppose you wouldn't be able to have the light on the button without a more traditional power source.
I think the knob also acts as a button if you just press it down rather than rotating it. From that page: "It spins like a knob. It clicks like a mouse."
How does it handle feedback/errors? If I hit a button to execute a nontrivial task, I want confirmation that it worked. I don't care if it's a physical or digital button.
I dig the idea but the price point seems insane. I also don't quite understand why this needs to be kickstarted, why not just take orders and hand make the first N until you get enough profits to be able to mass produce?
I built a very similar button using an arcade button[0] and a raspberry pi, and it cost <$50 in total parts -- it would've cost a lot less if I didn't decide to use a raspberry pi that I already owned for it. Mine just does a POST to an App Engine URL, but since it's a real computer I can SSH into it and make it do absolutely anything on the planet too.
It can use cell network but SIM is not included... so no data plan for the 100 bucks.
It's certainly interesting.
I was having this discussion with someone the other day. So far the IoT seems to be 200 dollar Locks/Lightswitches, 100 dollar buttons and academic research on how to handle 10 gazillion devices.
63 comments
[ 3.5 ms ] story [ 137 ms ] thread(I love the above comment as it both critiques the idea and explains why so many good things end up as POS -- mission creep)
Seriously, if you could order different colors, they lit up, and you could stick them on the walls? You could have a lot of fun with these things. (Think IFTTT)
I am also waiting for the reusable post-it notes that use e-ink.
How does the bttn user know what is happening after the bttn press?
The bttn has handy feedback lights for the end user: Flashing GREEN top means successful completion of the trigger, RED means error, and a circling YELLOW means wait. Pretty simple, really.
Not exactly what I was referring to. I would want a light to indicate some condition, then the button would perform some action. The two do not have to be related to each other.
So I walk in the house. The blue button on the wall is lit up, indicating that I have that email from my brother-in-law that I was waiting for. I push the button, launching a small nuclear strike against the country of Alfredamonia. (Or for a more prosaic situation, the light is lit up telling me my server is overloaded. I push the button to spin up another server)
It's a neat idea. 100 bucks is crazy expensive for something you should be able to order by the thousand from China. Going to need some serious early adoption folks. I would look to the Agile IT guys -- lots of those folks would want some big, physical indicator to show something and some simple way to interact with externalities.
But still - $100??
But, in general, you are right. 100 bucks is not a sustainable price point and we certainly don't like it. Not a bit.
Which should give you an idea what we are trying to do.
- a really cheap USB one
- a more expensive Wi-Fi one
- a $99 Wi-Fi and GSM one.
Most things that need buttons already have them.
I'm a little surprised that nothing like this exists already. I can see how you could easily build one yourself. But that doesn't give you the IFTTT ecosystem, which is probably good for less technical users.
11 people set out to build a standalone button that costs 100$... Am I missing something? Is this satire? Great idea, would love to buy one but both price and team strength seem to be off by factor of 10.
From my perspective, you are not wrong at all. At the moment, the product is pretty pricey - that is something we are working on.
It is just a fact of life (which you surely know) that in small quantities, hardware tends to be pricey. We are working our trim little butts off to bring down the price.
As for the simplicity, the product is very simple by design. However, we have some pretty cool things on our roadmap to keep the same magical simplicity of use while adding a whole lot of functionality. It is a balancing act we are hoping to handle the right way.
It is a hardware product so I'd prefer they launched with a high but realistic prce and then dropped that latter than a more reasonable price.
Please enlighten me as to what on earth is novel (in the patent language sense) about a button on the internet.
For price, this could be re-produced for $3-4 on a low production scale, say 10000 pieces.
I can't imagine a way this works in practice which doesn't seem slightly more complex than just using the app itself. Your presentation makes it seem as if you just press the button and magic happens. But, it's just a front end for the necessary complexity of the app itself. You have to interact with that at some point.
I just had to push it - so jolly and candy like.
It is kind of expensive so I am looking for $50,000,000.00 in VC to develop an online version. Here's the first prototype:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/324283889/potato-salad
I had in mind that I'd be able to find a simple usb connected button for next to nix. My research instead turned up prices from $25 to $100.
So rather than a simple single button connected via usb, I found the best options have been:
* a usb numberpad (~$10) * a usb MCE infrared remote (~$15) * an amazon basics wireless mouse (~$5) * an rfid reader + 50 nfc cards (~$20)
In each case, the solution I landed on ended up being cheaper, more versatile and functionally superior to a single simple button.
For example, the wireless mouse is now an interface for a music playback machine. Originally I imaged just a single button which would start and stop the music. With the mouse I added the option of changing the volume using the mouse wheel.
Don't forget debounce. Debouncing can be tough. http://www.ganssle.com/debouncing.htm
http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/Debounce or http://playground.arduino.cc/code/bounce
https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/projects/raspberrypi/tutorials/robo...
You can also debounce on hardware with a capacitor. Really simple too and does not waste CPU cycles.
http://store.griffintechnology.com/powermate
(Which conceivably could function as a button, too -- just interpret sliding the knob all the way to the far side as a button press.)
Well, plus the PC with wifi and gsm cards connected to that USB port.
I have this vision of a wall with dozens or hundreds of buttons each with its own label and functionality.
And that voice on the video...she sounds completely stoned.
[0] my personal domain is bt.hn
I built a very similar button using an arcade button[0] and a raspberry pi, and it cost <$50 in total parts -- it would've cost a lot less if I didn't decide to use a raspberry pi that I already owned for it. Mine just does a POST to an App Engine URL, but since it's a real computer I can SSH into it and make it do absolutely anything on the planet too.
[0] http://www.adafruit.com/products/1190
[1]: http://www.amazon.com/SHARKK%C2%AE-Android-Smartphone-Unlock...
It's certainly interesting.
I was having this discussion with someone the other day. So far the IoT seems to be 200 dollar Locks/Lightswitches, 100 dollar buttons and academic research on how to handle 10 gazillion devices.
Something is missing.