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Startup failed, giving away free Qwerty Arm7 mobile devices for cost of postage
- bri3d 15y agoFor what it's worth, these are based on the TI Locosto chipset which also integrates GSM/GPRS. We'll see if the released development platform includes enough TI blobs to actually use the radio (I suspect it won't, but I can always be pleasantly surprised). Locosto has a 104Mhz ARM7, no MMU, and I think in the configuration on the Peek has 4MB of RAM and 16MB of flash. In the Peek email/Twitter client configuration, it runs TI's embedded RTOS (Nucleus) with Peek-internal code (called, fittingly, PeekUX) on top. http://elinux.org/Peek http://elinux.org/Peek is the best source for data on the hardware, and http://www.geekypeek.com/ http://www.geekypeek.com/ is the blog of one of the engineers on the project - if you go back a year or two there are a few interesting tidbits about the device. (edited: 8MB of flash -> 16MB of flash per the eLinux Wiki)
- redthrowaway 15y agoReally cool, but unfortunately USPS won't let me create a shipping label from outside the US.
- gcb 15y agoalso, they specifically tell you not to include batteries...
- schiffern 15y agoLithium batteries installed in devices are OK. http://pe.usps.gov/text/pub52/pub52apxc_040.htm http://pe.usps.gov/text/pub52/pub52apxc_040.htm
- gcb 15y agothanks. TIL. they don't mention this on the huge banners they have at the post office that teaches you about not sending batteries and TNT.
- amolsarva 15y agoUPS? Fedex? Those work
- pavel_lishin 15y agoI wonder if they'll let me just stop by and pick one up, since I work about three subway stops away.
- switz 15y agoHow much should the shipping label be for? EDIT: From posterous: - a mailing label for a 0.5lbs envelope from Peek at 33 w 17th st, NY NY 10011 to you - maybe mention some of your mobile dev qualifications out of interest - maybe mention what you want to make
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- dpmorel 15y agohey - we didn't fail! We are "pivoting".
- amolsarva 15y agoFail, pivot... what's the difference? Our failed technology just won the most prestigious nomination in the mobile industry http://www.peek.ly/blog/buzz/gsma-best-technology-award/ http://www.peek.ly/blog/buzz/gsma-best-technology-award/ Amol from Peek
- samstave 15y agoFailing is falling on your face; Pivoting is turning right before you walk into a wall. :)
- zokier 15y agoIt's a cool looking device, and nice for them to offer them for free. We'll see if the community can invent some interesting uses for it. I couldn't begin to guess what you could do with such hardware
- bokonon 15y agoI walked out of my math class to go upstairs to the computer lab and buy a postage label to email them. I'm really hoping to get one. It will be fun to play around with.
- samstave 15y agoSo does this thing only have a mail application?
- bri3d 15y agoIt's got nothing. The mail application was a (relatively) thin client to a service that ran on AWS, and that service was shut down in January. The idea is that you'd write your own embedded code to make the device cool. I posted http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3544436 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3544436 with a bit more info on the hardware.
- amolsarva 15y agoWe still run the cloud-based mail service; these devices stopped working because of plumbing stuff mostly. There are tons of devices with thin clients hitting the cloud -- that's actually what we spend all our time on these days... But you are right about what someone would try to do with it
- bri3d 15y agoAh - sorry! I thought your more recent cloud offering was something totally new. Thanks for the clarification!
- drivebyacct2 15y agoIt's really a disservice to yourself when there is no way to see a picture of your product or get to a proper landing page from your blog without having to Google or manually manipulate the URL.
- melvinng 15y agoHere: http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2008/08/peek-laptopmag.jpg http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2008/08/peek-l...
- LearnYouALisp 15y agoWhen trying to follow the link here: > Use this site to coordinate your discussion – http://peekhack.posterous.com http://peekhack.posterous.com It gives a 404 Page Not Found error. Edit: Okay, the link from the site is actually: http://www.peek.ly/blog/news/old-peeks-testbeds/%20http://peekhack.posterous.com http://www.peek.ly/blog/news/old-peeks-testbeds/%20http://pe...
- yan 15y agoI'm like three blocks away from that address.. Can I just come by and pick one up? I'll bring you coffee :)
- adavies42 15y agosame here
- JJMalina 15y agoI live in NYC and also wouldn't mind just stopping by and grabbing one if possible. :)
- ilyvak 15y agoditto.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- veyron 15y agoadd me to the list of pick-ups
- slug 15y agoI'm uptown, but wouldn't mind to go down there to pick one up. So, what's the next project?
- amolsarva 15y agoYou are invited to drop by for a beer on Friday a 5 and you can take a Peek with you when you go :) 33w17fl9
- ashishgandhi 15y agoNow it looks like all of NYC HN is going to be there. Anyone wants to coordinate?
- 15y ago
- twodayslate 15y agoI requested one. Should be interesting. What is everyone going to do with theirs?
- rdl 15y agoI wish those things had some kind of signed bootloader and smartcard; they'd be awesome for a secure password management device. When I first saw the Peek, I was wondering what it would take to turn it into the ultimate drug dealer/activist/etc 2-way text device; everything proxied through a secure multi-stage relay (like Tor), anonymous flood-fill messaging (like posting an encrypted message to a usenet group; the key is the address), etc. Something with a hacked baseband to let you change the IMEI periodically would be better, though (or wifi with MAC rolling).
- AmazingBytecode 15y agoI have an old peek and a charger. Do I already have what I need to start hacking away when the dev environment tools are available?
- bri3d 15y agoYou'll need the "flash cable," which looks like a standard MicroUSB cable but actually provides 1.8V TTL serial to the Peek (the Peek doesn't support USB but rather exports its serial RX/TX ports over a MicroUSB connector). Peek themselves sold one for a while and you might be able to get an official one - otherwise they're not hard to build. See http://elinux.org/Peek#External_MicroUSB_Charge.2FUpgrade_port http://elinux.org/Peek#External_MicroUSB_Charge.2FUpgrade_po... for more information.
- angusgr 15y agoFor anyone interested in a similar, slightly higher specced, hackable ex-consumer device for next to nothing: ZipIt Wireless have been clearing their old "ZipIt Z2" messenger range for some time now. http://linux.zipitwireless.com/ http://linux.zipitwireless.com/ ARM9 ~300Mhz, 32MB RAM, wifi, QVGA display, keypad, mainline linux kernel support, etc. Decent sized hacking community: #zipit on freenode & sites like http://mozzwald.com/ http://mozzwald.com/ Believe prices are as low as $18 for a single one, or $10/unit if you buy 16. We bought around 20 in a group buy at our local Hackerspace. Not quite cost of postage, but still pretty cheap.
- joshu 15y agoDid you ever do anything interesting with one?
- angusgr 15y agoTo be honest, not as much as I'd initially hoped. - Fitting a USB interface is possible, but it's a bit fiddly, so not many got added. - I ported OpenWRT, as a good Linux distribution, but I haven't used it for anything after! :/ - There have been some cool projects made by others though, like the zipitbot: http://justinbox.aresgate.net/html/make_page.php?n=zipitbot http://justinbox.aresgate.net/html/make_page.php?n=zipitbot
- joshu 15y agoYeah. I have a terrible urge to get all these low-end machines and they inevitably are not terribly useful. I did just buy a TP-Link 703n which seems pretty useful for a low-end box.
- russfrank 15y agoare these still available?
- dotBen 15y agoI think it's great they want to open the system and let developers play around with these. But I'm just wondering - I don't believe there is a wifi chip in them and it isn't clear whether its possible for the customer to get the device onto the GSM network (is there a real sim card that is accessible, etc). With that in mind, I'm wondering if the functionality and possibility of these devices is rather limited?
- mrbill 15y ago... I threw away two still-new-in-box Peeks a couple weekends ago when I ran across them while cleaning out a closet. Used the service for a few months in 2009, it was pretty neat but finally moved to a real smartphone when I started bumping up against limitations.
- EricDeb 15y agoHave you written a post on why you guys failed? I'd be interested...
- wazoox 15y agoOK, how hard would it be to get enyo running on one of these? Doesn't that sound like a nice hack to do? ;)
- anoother 15y agoAnyone got recommendations on shipping to the UK?