12 ms·
Meet the BRCK
- TrainedMonkey 13y agoHello cellphone in a stick. Every single thinkpad I owned (grand total of 2) has a sim card slot. I guess macs don't?
- kennywinker 13y agoNope. It's actually fairly puzzling that there hasn't been a 3g/lte MacBook Air by now.
- Jtsummers 13y agoI think, in the US at least, part of the problem would have been Verizon/Sprint. Now with everyone going to LTE and using SIM cards for that it seems more viable (fewer network restrictions).
- jonknee 13y agoWhy is that a problem? Apple ships millions of 3G/LTE devices a quarter, they can certainly figure it out in the laptop form factor. Worst case and it doesn't support every network--still way better than not supporting any network. The bigger issue is probably not having OS X architected to play nice when you're paying by the byte.
- Jtsummers 13y agoThey shipped different models to handle different carriers and only recently are they shipping unified models for multiple carriers. As I said in another reply, that's bad UX for a device that's not quite at commodity level prices. You could always get a dongle or pair it up (still options), which prevents the computer from becoming obsoleted by changing network affiliations or protocols.
- jonknee 13y ago> which prevents the computer from becoming obsoleted by changing network affiliations or protocols. Which would never be the case... Right now no Macs come with any mobile data and I somehow still manage to find them useful. If my MacBook had come with 3G it wouldn't be obsolete now that LTE is the rage, the worst thing that could happen is I would tether with another device like I do now. I also have a Chromebook and I have to say it's nice not to even think about it--you're just online.
- r00fus 13y agoLTE penetration is still a huge issue. Then there's the question of band support (different carriers use different LTE bands - not all mobile data devices support all bands). There're two reasons why LTE isn't a panacea to cell standards bifurcation and modern cell phones still require fall-back data radios that support EVDO, HSPA, etc.
- ulfw 13y agoThey can make it work in an iPad, why would all your arguments be any different in a Macbook? For a $130 premium option no less!
- Jtsummers 13y agoThey can now. Before we had (and on iPhone still have?) different models to handle different carriers. That's not a good UX for customers, especially as computers are still not at the commodity level that phones and tablets are (refresh purchases are 3+ years apart).
- kalleboo 13y agoIt's a shame Apple are a US company, since the US is nearly the only country with this problem.
- aray 13y agoThey've been prototyped apparently. http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/17/3g-macbook-pro-auction-pulled-magsafe-antenna-detailed/ http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/17/3g-macbook-pro-auction-pu...
- AsymetricCom 13y ago>fairly puzzling Apple and telecom? I think the picture is pretty clear.
- venantius 13y agoI think the idea is more "cell-network based router in a stick", with extra hackability.
- icebraining 13y agoSo a rugged, hackable MiFi router? Could be useful, particularly as a communal hotspot.
- driverdan 13y agoWhy would you want to use a SIM card slot in a laptop? What if you want to use other devices? You'll have to power on your laptop in order to use them.
- w1ntermute 13y agoFor the same reason you'd want a SIM card slot in your tablet. But for some reason, I don't see anyone saying that iPads with LTE are a bad idea.
- interpol_p 13y agoI've always thought iPads with 3G/LTE were a bit redundant. Why not just tether to your phone? It takes a few seconds (which is a bit of a hassle) but you avoid paying an entirely separate monthly fee.
- Arelius 13y agoIt's not an entirely separate fee. On my plan it's $10 extra a month. Which is well worth it to not have to go through either the hassle of tethering a phone, or worry about killing two batteries at once.
- interpol_p 13y agoI would consider the extra $10/month far too much for the benefit of using my existing data on a different device (I pay $15/month for my entire phone service). A once-off fee for the SIM card is something I could handle, though.
- Arelius 13y agoI do think certain providers to allow this. Just not all.
- recursive 13y agoI've never seen tethering function successfully on my phone. That would be my reason if I did it.
- hipsters_unite 13y agoKinda cool actually. One thing: the 'features' overlays don't appear to work on Firefox.
- thu 13y agoYou have to mouse-over the icons.
- Ehersman 13y agoGood point. I'll see what we can do to make that more visible, the features are too hidden right now.
- hipsters_unite 13y agoI know, I tried it in Chrome. What I am saying is the mouse-over behaviour does not trigger correctly in FF.
- samstave 13y agoNot necessarily a revolutionary device, in that sim-hotspot devices are not rare... But - with shared onboard storage, that's cool... what would be interesting is having a device with, say, 4 radios and sim slots - and people could add in their sim to allow the device to aggregate data use from multiple sims in a torrented manner.
- BuildTheRobots 13y agoWith the right SIMs you could have a local [2g|3g] network so people can use their own handsets.
- astoltzf 13y agoThat I would buy in a heartbeat.
- ReadEvalPost 13y agoI am completely in love with the fact that this thing provides a GPIO breakout (and Arduino compatible, no less!). That immediately takes this product from a "neat, but I don't think I have a use for it" to a "holy crap, what can I do with this?" for me. So, so awesome. I hope more hardware companies start doing this.
- malandrew 13y agoWould this allow a satellite internet add-on if you find yourself going somewhere seriously remote? If so, does such a satellite internet peripheral already exist?
- unwind 13y agoI would guess it's at least possible, but not sure if it would be practical. The first (duplex, it seems in satellite it still makes sense to offer simplex data) modem I found was this: http://www.globalstar.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=23&products_id=81 http://www.globalstar.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_i.... Of course there is no price, and I find it mildly scary that the US sales contact is listed as "USA/Government", not just USA. This thing has a 20-pin header which they claim includes data connections, but there is no pin-out. There is a PDF (http://www.globalstar.com/en/docs/gsp1720/GSP-1720%20Sell%20Sheet_FIN.pdf http://www.globalstar.com/en/docs/gsp1720/GSP-1720%20Sell%20...) but it's more of a brochure and doesn't provide a lot of detail. The bandwidth for data over satellite modems is low enough (10s of kilobits/second) so I guess it seems reasonable to do over GPIO, though.
- Ehersman 13y agoIt would allow for this. We're talking with two different satellite providers about what this would need to do. The biggest problem seems to be that the satellite connections are pretty good standalone systems, but they don't do a good job of making a WiFi station, what would be helpful is a self-powered router to connect to - and this is where the BRCK sits. We recently ran a test of the BRCK up in the far northern reaches of Kenya, where the closest mobile phone tower was 160km away. The only option for internet was satellite, so we hooked up a BGAN terminal and ran that ethernet line into the BRCK to broadcast the signal as WiFi. (more here: http://www.brck.com/2013/11/brck-eclipse-day-7-home-again/ http://www.brck.com/2013/11/brck-eclipse-day-7-home-again/)
- dmix 13y agoScrolled all the way to the bottom (didn't hover over anything) and all I know is it connects to the internet and mentioned being used in Africa twice. So many product web sites are lacking a simple "how it works" section (I'd say 75%).
- cdcarter 13y agoIt mentions that it's SIM driven, but that bit is difficult to find.
- ChrisClark 13y agoThere is one part of the features section that mentions a SIM card. It must be a wifi hotspot using cellular data.
- bengotow 13y agoYep - was curious about how it connected to the internet and had to drill down through the dots (which at first I didn't realize were clickable) to find out. Would be good to point that out at the very top!
- smacktoward 13y agoNot to mention that Africa is kind of a big place, you know? With plenty of locations inside it that aren't untracked, howling wilderness. I understand what they're trying to get at, but it annoys me to see them say "used in Africa" as if that were functionally equivalent to "used on the Moon." And I'm American! I have to think it'd sound even more tin-eared to someone from an African country.
- mcbutterbunz 13y agoIt reminds me of broadband deployment hitting one house in a zip code which makes it look like that whole zip code is covered. If it works in Cape Town South Africa, it'll work anywhere.
- sidgup 13y ago
- pyrocat 13y agoAnother shitty parallax product site. It detracts from the message when your presentation has yellow on yellow text depending on where your scroll bar is.
- jcutrell 13y agoPerhaps this is nit-picky, but this isn't at all parallax. It's fixed elements mixed with non-fixed elements. For it to be simulated "parallax", it must have elements that move at different speeds that mimic the effect that real-life parallax would have.
- whackedspinach 13y agoThis was originally a Kickstarter project back in June: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1776324009/brck-your-backup-generator-for-the-internet http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1776324009/brck-your-bac...
- aray 13y agoLooks like they planned on shipping the early bird units last month. Did they actually ship on time?
- incision 13y ago>"Did they actually ship on time?" Nope. I'm an "early-bird" backer of this. The last update on shipping says they've pushed to January. Apparently, there were complications sourcing the 3G modems they intended to use. From the update: "Unfortunately, we live in a world where small, African, tech companies don't have the influence to get global component suppliers to meet our delivery deadlines. In particular, we have been unable to secure a timely supply of the 3G modems that are specified for the BRCK. Although it would seem straightforward to simply switch to another modem, the implications of this change effect mechanical design, board layout, and certification - all things that require time to adjust. We are now working with multiple suppliers to find a suitable alternative that we can source in sufficient supply to meet our production demands."
- Ehersman 13y agoThis is correct (and thanks for being a backer). We had some issues with the modem supplier and had to redesign the comms board to work with the new modem. This was after going around in circles with the original supplier and losing valuable time. It sucks being small when dealing with some of these large organizations, but we did eventually find a great modem and have been testing it out this month. I am sorry we had to delay the production, we all so badly wanted to get it out on time...
- incision 13y ago
- kumarski 13y agoWhat about yourkarma.com
- MichaelApproved 13y agoWhat about it? BRCK is marketed as an extremely rugged device with a strong battery that can charge other devices and onboard storage. How does yourkarma compare other than they're both wifi hotspots?
- Ehersman 13y agoI'm one of the BRCK team and I use the Karma when in the US traveling around. I initially bought it for testing and think it's a really well done device. What you should know about it is that it's only really good in US cities, as it uses WiMax backhaul. It's got decent battery as well. Their social mechanism for getting others to signup and get you free Mb really works (pro tip: Keep it on in the airport). The BRCK was designed for a different use case. It's designed to allow more connections and to have failovers for poor power and internet connectivity. It also allows you to extend it with both hardware and software of your own making.
- allsystemsgo 13y agoI was thinking about getting the Karma actually. The 14 dollars for 1GB is cheaper than tethering.
- Cieplak 13y agoIf you buy in batch, it ends up costing $10/GB. I'm connected via a karma device right now; as soon as Comcast asked me for my social security number to sign up in my apartment, I said f that and bought the karma. If I have to download large files, I generally download them to an amazon instance and sync locally when I have an unmetered connection.
- marquis 13y agoIf you are part of the Ushahidi team, I'd like to thank you and the rest of your team. It was an important part of my life for a short period of time during a difficult disaster recovery event. A product like the BRCK, with the power of Ushahidi, can genuinely make lives better during disaster deployment. I could have used quite a few of those devices myself.
- chris_mahan 13y agoPrice / availability? If it's Summer 2015 and $300 USD, that is different than January 2014 and $89. Or is this still too soon?
- hughes 13y agoThe kickstarter mentioned below had a price of $150 for backers, and delivery in Nov 2013. There has been no shipping update.
- chris_mahan 13y agoWell, I'm not a kickstarter backer. I want to order from amazon.com. So when and how much?
- ics 13y agoThe levels on Kickstarter were $150 for the first 50 backers and $200+ "v2". A comment above says they've pushed early-bird shipping to January. Given that knowledge you're probably looking at a minimum 1 year wait for $200-250 retail. I'd love to know the exact details too but it's unlikely even they will know until at least after the first round of production.
- AmVess 13y agoSites like this need a tl;ds (too long; didn't scroll) general info right up front. Also...why no price and availability? General Description: The BRCK is a rugged, cloud managed, full-featured router with built in failover and programmable GPIO expansion. BRCK can connect to the internet through RJ47, GSM, Wifi Bridge, as well as Ethernet Over USB via the GPIO Breakout. It’s rugged build and cloud managed interface make it ideal for “away teams”, monitoring systems in remote locations, and businesses with challenging infrastructure. BRCK’s GPIO breakout provides 20 pins for digital and alaouge Read/Write as well as I2C, SPI and UART. This, combined with BRCK’s Arduino Profile, make it ideal for quickly connecting hardware to the Internet of Things.
- scott_karana 13y agoAre you making that up as an example, or is that the actual description?
- AmVess 13y agoIt's from their website. I'm not sure why I'd make that up.
- scott_karana 13y agoThanks; I wasn't able to find it, which is why I was unsure whether you were quoting or paraphrasing. :)
- zedpm 13y agoThat's copied straight from the Specs section[1]. [1] http://www.brck.com/specifications/ http://www.brck.com/specifications/
- ye 13y agoSeriously, this hipster "design" insanity has to stop. It's hurting your business. A pretty picture of your product is not design, it's a dream of a first year art school student who doesn't understand business, who doesn't understand how to send the message and how to describe the product.
- Aloha 13y agoIt's buzzword compliant for sure.
- Aardwolf 13y agoDoes it support satellite internet access? Would it work on open sea? How useful would it be in a European country with expensive mobile data? Where can one buy it?
- rayiner 13y agoHey, BRCK dudes. They invented this thing called the "paragraph" some thousand years ago.[1] It lets you organize several or more sentences into coherent blocks of text expressing complex thoughts. Paragraphs allow you to get across multiple simpler points, expressed as individual sentences, in a succinct way that allows your reader to avoid excessive and unnecessary scrolling. Also, for something that apparently involves Africa,[2] the loading speed of that page over my iPad's LTE is shameful. [1] The paragraph was already in use in English by the time of Beowulf, between the 8th and 11th century. [2] Apparently. I didn't scroll all the way down.
- devindotcom 13y agoHey, commenter dude. This footnoting shit is getting way out of hand.
- smegel 13y agoAnd how reliable/widespread is the 3G/4G network in Africa that this device presumably relies upon?
- Ehersman 13y agoIt's actually very wide spread, especially in major towns and cities. Network maps are hard to come by, especially up-to-date ones, but you can get a decent idea on a lot of the countries from the GSMA data site here: https://gsmaintelligence.com/ https://gsmaintelligence.com/
- RayLau135 13y agoIt doesn't connect to the Internet, it is the Internet (The IT Crowd) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDbyYGrswtg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDbyYGrswtg
- hkmurakami 13y agoWould be nice to be able to perceive the form factor right away. It looked like a credit card sized device to me at first, and only after I scrolled all the way down to the picture of the device in use in Africa did I find out that the thing is quite big (which is what you'd expect from the features the thing has, but it's strange why the site starts out with a top down view of the thing that makes it seem like it's 1/10 the size it really is)
- Ehersman 13y agoIt's interesting that you thought it was so small at first. I've been talking to a number of people about the size over the last few months, and the most common reaction is, "I thought it was bigger". For some reason our early photography left the impression that this was the size of a shoe box or car battery. In reality, it's about the size of 3 stacked iPhones. We've got some pictures with it next to computers and on top, or near, other "stuff". That was the idea we were going for in that top header image on the site anyway.
- kassner 13y agoI thought it was an Iridium for web-access. Sadly I'm wrong, I'll have to continue use my 184Kbps EDGE connection.
- jwheeler79 13y agoA bit of interesting trivia - I knew I recognized the COO Philip Walton who has his picture near the bottom of the page. He's been on TV and in the news because his wife is a survivor of the Westgate mall massacre. Small world... http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/sections/news/world/kenyan-troops-caused-collapse.html http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/sections/news/world/kenyan-t...
- ceol 13y agoI don't think we have enough comments complaining about its web design. We probably need a few hundred more! I get that moaning about its design lets you feel smart by participating in the discussion without actually contributing anything meaningful, but at least just upvote a single person for it instead of posting the same damn comment over and over again. ---- I like that it seems as open and adaptable as they could possibly make it while also keeping it simple. It would be interesting to see just how rugged it is. I'd also like to see how this could be used in an environment that requires a little less "ruggedness", like a coffee shop or a community board room.
- waylandsmithers 13y ago|I don't think we have enough comments complaining about its web design I think the issue here, and we definitely saw this a ton with that Sailfish OS or whatever phone recently (probably fitting that I can't remember what it's called) is with some of these product launches, there is an extremely vague title submitted to HN that gets voted up to the top. There is something alluring about seeing that the community has voted this new thing, whatever it is, as the most important item of the moment. And when we get to the website, we are disappointed and/or annoyed when we can't figure out what exactly this thing is or why it was voted to the top of HN. So we talk about our experience on the website itself, as if it had been presented as a design critique.
- ceol 13y agoIt was pretty easy to figure out exactly what this was. It just wasn't handed to you like the majority of HN wants. All of the information was there, though. It just required you to gasp click something. The problem with all of those "design critiques" (if they could even be called that) is they derail any discussion about the product itself. As of this comment, three of the top four comments are complaining about the design or structure of the website, with the fourth being mine. You have to scroll halfway down the page to get to anyone talking about the actual product. That's shameful.
- 001sky 13y agocomplaining about its web design Are you ruling out constructive feedback? The difference between subtle, obscure, and obtuse design is not always evident to the designers (or creative teams directing them). Think of what horrors people used to do in the (low-bandwidth) Flash era.
- istvanp 13y agoOne key thing left out in the hardware specs: how much does it weigh? Does it weigh just as much as its name says? If I am to lug this around it better be as light as possible.
- vertis 13y agoI love the concept. It would be cool to see some form of mesh networking added to this as well.
- regorton 13y agoWe are on it, it won't be in the first release, but it we are working on a software upgrade (to the original hardware) that will support this.
- justplay 13y agoif i am not wrong it takes SIM network. What if the network is not available ? Moreover, why someone will take extra device with them if they can use mobile "wifi-hotspot" feature to connect.
- gnu8 13y agoI tried to scroll but I didn't see anything that told what the fucking thing is within 1.5 seconds.
- trustfundbaby 13y ago> IF IT WORKS IN AFRICA, IT'LL WORK ANYWHERE Nice little insult there. Way to start out on the wrong foot with Africans. PS: Yes I'm actually African, and that pissed me off.
- jcutrell 13y agoI think this is kind of like an air conditioning company saying, "If it can cool you off in the tropics, it can cool you off anywhere!" The facts are simple: there are significant parts of Africa that are very sparsely connected to what is commonly available in many (or most) other countries of the world. I get how this can be somewhat offensive, but I also think the point comes across and isn't directed at the African people. If it works in Africa, then, objectively, it works in sparsely populated and sparsely connected areas.
- derleth 13y ago> If it works in Africa, then, objectively, it works in sparsely populated and sparsely connected areas. If it works in a really nice hotel in Johannesburg, it's working in Africa. Your point is invalid.
- evan_ 13y agoIs that what they meant? Is that what most people will understand it to mean?
- jcutrell 13y agoMy point isn't invalid. Communication is messy, and this is an example of that. "I was in the middle of the ocean!" Did you think I was in water? You're wrong. I was on an island that is in the middle of an ocean. "I stayed in a hotel in New York." Did you think I rented a hotel room? No, I simply stood in the lobby. You can't say that because someone says something without constraining it with every detail, that the communicated point is incomplete. Communication is a loose protocol.
- mintplant 13y ago
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- jcutrell 13y agoSo many of the comments here can be answered with the specs page. http://www.brck.com/specifications/ http://www.brck.com/specifications/ The design is intended, as most marketing pages are, to capture attention and interest. Scrolling storytelling is a very effective way to do that. HN readers, in general, are very critical of emotional-impact-based decisions. The truth is, many people respond to things that are 90% aesthetic and 10% functional. Note: Jabberwocky[0]. If you want to dive in deep, you are a part of the crowd that doesn't make impulsive decisions based on marketing. Congratulations - click on the specs link to see an easily readable, fairly cold page. If you want to make an impact on the majority of people, consider that most people are less concerned with technical details or even descriptive language, and more concerned with how they feel. [0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnwBHVQJWJs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnwBHVQJWJs
- omgtehlion 13y agoScrolled really long promo page. Still no info. Look like this is a ruggedized GSM/WiFi/Copper hotspot. Like those you buy from china for $20. No satellite access, thats stupid.
- tomesch1982 13y agoWow. They did never load their site in Firefox. There is at least one JS Error and some features of the site simply do not work. Neither in Africa nor in Europe.
- OoTheNigerian 13y agoThe BRCK is a beautiful device which deserves much more attention and debate than the website. The overdosing of criticism on the website might have been somewhat justified if the BRCK was a web product. Yes, a simpler single screen presentation would have been much better. We do not need more than 4 comments saying it. I am really excited about the BRCK's (badass name)fail over technology and wonder and hope it could be deployed to POS and other devices like tablet and phones. Reliability of POSs are really hindering cashless systems here in Nigeria. Erik, have you spoken to the TECNO chaps or Huawei about licensing this technology? A minibrck* will not be a bad idea for urban areas that prioritize reliability over backup power. Good stuff guys, I am excited that a pure technical play is coming out from these parts. *Not sure you saw what I did there. we'll have the BRCK and the brck.
- knowitall 13y agoSo what is the special technology it provides, perhaps you could give us a quick summary? Any advantage to using my phone as an access point?
- darklajid 13y agoYour phone doesn't have the same ways to interface with the world, (probably) isn't happy with water/dust, cannot charge other devices and won't last for 8 hours straight (or more, acc. to the specs page, if you're using anything but the 'full power' mode). This looks a cross between an arduino, a d-link sortof appliance with multi-band support for mobile data, a decently sized flash storage device and a huge battery - in a rugged hull. Your phone isn't even close. If you just want to hop online for a short while: No advantage over using your phone, I guess.
- knowitall 13y agowater/dust: presumably the devices I want to connect to the internet won't be happy with that either, so I have to avoid those anyway. Charging: not sure about that one either. Either there is a power source or there isn't?
- kalleboo 13y agoSo this my cheap Huawei 3G/4G router plus an RJ45 jack glued together with a mobile battery? The Huawei is already glued together so it's as rugged as you'll get, and it has a microSD slot for disk storage. "Cloud" - every consumer router I've seen has a WAN configure option...
- ilitirit 13y agoI get that people don't like the site's layout (I don't either), but is it really that hard to click on "Specs"?
- jmotion 13y agoSpent over a minute on this stupid site scanning up and down and still have no idea what it actually does.
- gambiting 13y ago512MB of memory seems rather small? Or will people finally learn to use GB and Gb properly?
- ds9 13y agoWhat's the code licence? I didn't find any mention of it on the site. If it's closed-source, can it be flashed with something open?
- regorton 13y agoThe device is a bit of a hybrid, its closed source for some of the main firmware, but all the GPIO and sensor connectivity is open source (and open hardware). We are working to open more and more of it up!
- shayanbahal 13y agoThe design reminds me of "The Internet"'s desing from "The IT Crowd".