11–20 of 32 posts
Can we stop naming things Spark already? There are - these guys - http://www.sparkjava.com - http://spark.apache.org Even worse, they're all high-quality projects. I can process data from my Spark devices on my Spark cluster and serve the results via Spark.
Well deserved. Their chip is practically the only chip that works and can be easily integrated into arduino boards.
They don't make a chip. They use a CC3000 from TI -- which costs about $10 -- and provide a thing wrapper around TI's own provided driver. You can take the same CC3000 from TI -- around $11 in low volume -- put it on your board and write your software with their driver. They basically make a good dev board but for anyone wanting to make anything in a volume beyond 1K they'd use the TI module directly. You don't put a…
"We use industry-standard components — chosen to be powerful, inexpensive, and widely available — that can be designed directly onto your own circuit board, bringing your Bill of Materials down for volume production."
Do these guys have any patents on their tech?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They don't make a chip. They use a CC3000 from TI -- which costs about $10 -- and provide a thing wrapper around TI's own provided driver. You can take the same CC3000 from TI -- around $11 in low volume -- put it on your board and write your software with their driver. They basically make a good dev board but for anyone wanting to make anything in a volume beyond 1K they'd use the TI module directly. You don't put a…
They recognize that it's more for prototyping and wouldn't be used at a production level: "We use industry-standard components — chosen to be powerful, inexpensive, and widely available — that can be designed directly onto your own circuit board, bringing your Bill of Materials down for volume production."
We tried hard to make sure the components on the Spark Core dev kit are really easy to source and buy in low quantities, so you can build the board yourself if you really want. Large companies often already have their own supply chain, so this makes things much easier for them, but you can also buy in bulk and get great discounts if you're a startup or building in lower volumes. :)
Thanks, David
Congrats to the Spark team. Sad to see the Twin Cities lose another IoT startup, but I hope this positions them in the best possible way for success. Welcome to San Francisco!
Do these guys have any patents on their tech?
Their product is open source: board design, firmware, and cloud software. The WiFi module is CC3000 from TI.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They don't make a chip. They use a CC3000 from TI -- which costs about $10 -- and provide a thing wrapper around TI's own provided driver. You can take the same CC3000 from TI -- around $11 in low volume -- put it on your board and write your software with their driver. They basically make a good dev board but for anyone wanting to make anything in a volume beyond 1K they'd use the TI module directly. You don't put a…
They recognize that it's more for prototyping and wouldn't be used at a production level: "We use industry-standard components — chosen to be powerful, inexpensive, and widely available — that can be designed directly onto your own circuit board, bringing your Bill of Materials down for volume production."
They can't make money on the hardware, because TI makes the chip and provides the reference design and drivers for free. Spark boards are all OSHW anyways. You'd spend the extra week and integrate the TI part into your device anyways.
Their cloud stack is open source, and is basically a transport. As the device maker you'd still have to write the cloud app that gathers data from different points and sends commands to the end unit.
Beyond the dev kits I'm having a hard time seeing the revenue stream and/or value proposition.
What am I missing? Maybe guys from Spark want to chime in?
If I use Spark to prototype, is there a product they are offering me that I would need to pay for at scale?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They recognize that it's more for prototyping and wouldn't be used at a production level: "We use industry-standard components — chosen to be powerful, inexpensive, and widely available — that can be designed directly onto your own circuit board, bringing your Bill of Materials down for volume production."
Right, I agree. That is what I gathered before but the article and their new splash page makes it seem like they want to supply this to large device makers (i.e. anyone not building things out of their basement) and I don't see how this could work. They can't make money on the hardware, because TI makes the chip and provides the reference design and drivers for free. Spark boards are all OSHW anyways. You'd spend the…
I'm from Spark, and I can try to answer! :)
If you're a business or a maker, using the Spark Cloud saves you from having to worry about building your own protocol, dealing with socket programming, spinning up servers, as well as worrying about encryption on microcontrollers, or wearing a pager. Having the source code available means you can keep your private things private by not going over the internet, as well as building things we haven't thought of yet.
Thanks!
David
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Their product is open source: board design, firmware, and cloud software. The WiFi module is CC3000 from TI.
my next project is going to be in this area and you seem like a good person to know. get in touch with me if you want. email address in my profile.