Maker Movement’s Missing Networking 8-Bit Computer

I started my software developer career working for Atari. It was the 1980s and these were the first 8-bit consumer computer systems. They came with 4,000 bytes of memory and a serial port to connect to a printer. An ingenious engineer in my group wired the serial ports together to make a network. How fast it was not having to shuffle program code from one computer to another on 5 inch floppy disks.

Zoom forward 30 years later to the Maker Faire in San Mateo, California (Part of the California Bay Area). The Maker Faire is largely responsible for making popular 3D printers, Arduino hobby processors, and all that great pyro stuff you see at Burning Man. Arduino is an 8-bit computer in a ridiculously inexpensive form and with super easy programming.

“Where’s the Arduino network?” I would ask at the Maker Faire. There were networks – like Zigbee – that were too expensive, operated too slow, and were not well supported in the software developer community. Kind of disappointing until the Pinoccio project. Pinoccio is an Arduino computer with a LightWeight Mesh (LWM) radio network built-in (Plus Wifi and Bluetooth options). LWM operates above 1 megabyte per minute, so streaming music is possible.

All that was missing is the software infrastructure to combine LWM networks with Wifi and Bluetooth. And, an on-line scalable Web-based community to automate media downloads to the 8-bit processor.

Connected together these devices move the Internet Of Things (IOT) forward by connecting people on social media, interactive multimedia artists, and developers. Waves is a universal entertainment unit that opens greater meaning into our lives, and more love and fun for each other. While the initial product – now available through a Kickstarter.com project – is fun like a Lava Lamp, Waves uses all modern technology to make it truly cool!

And, while there are so many Bluetooth speakers out there already, they have hit a glass ceiling limit to their growth. Waves unlocks their potential by being a licenseable technology for Bluetooth speaker manufacturers to Web enable their products with an on-line community, Apple-iTunes-store-like marketplace for shows and content, music streaming, and light and sound animation shows. Imagine when Disney gets its branding hands on Waves.

The Votsh Waves project on Kickstarter would be a good way for you to get started. It’s at http://bit.ly/waveskickstarter and ships to your home or business by the end of 2014.

-Frank