Our Friend, C.H.I.P.py Ruxpin! ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

Yep. We went there.

Alpha C.H.I.P.s arriving means C.H.I.P. powered projects!  With a love for reviving 80s animatronics, Andrew (newest member of the NTC team!) hacked the world’s first animated storytelling bear with the world’s first nine dollar computer.

Why make a bearmonster Frankenstein style?

Firstly, it’s FUN!  Secondly, it’s a wonderful way to test what C.H.I.P. can do!  Things like…

  • Search the internet and download files
  • Download, store, process, and playback files locally.
  • Control the motors in a bearmonster’s head in sync with audio.

Andrew’s C.H.I.P.py Ruxpin diagram. More documentation coming soon!

C.H.I.P.py Ruxpin is just a start and we can’t wait to see where our Kernel Hackers take us.

Kernel Hackers – Show us what you’re working on!

Excited about your C.H.I.P.?  Have an awesome C.H.I.P. project in the works?  Let us know! Tweet us at @NextThingCo! Use #MadeWithCHIP

Thanks for the C.H.I.P. flashing livetweet @futurejonesapps! Awesome to follow!

Want another C.H.I.P. (or PocketC.H.I.P.)?  Sign up for the pre-order announcement at nextthing.co.

Have a Kernel Hack? Submit a pull request on GitHub.

Join the community conversation on the NTC forum at bbs.nextthing.co.

For more tutorials, information and instructions, head to 42.nextthing.co, your home for all NTC official documentation.

Clarifying C.H.I.P. Shipping

First peek at packaging for Alpha C.H.I.P. round 2. Shipping Soon!

With C.H.I.P.s arriving into Kernel Hacker’s hands, we’re currently on track to meet our estimated shipping timelines from our Kickstarter campaign. 

December, January, February or March C.H.I.P.s are on schedule to arrive at your door by the respective month.  

PocketC.H.I.P.s, adapter boards, and batteries are estimated to ship by May 2016.

You can change your shipping address at any time by heading to chip.backerkit.com.We’ll also send an address confirmation email around 2-3 weeks prior to shipping for super final address accuracy.

 

Stay Tuned! M.M.M.T.C. (much much more to come)

ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ – Everyone at @NextThingCo

 

 

 

Holy Ship! Alpha Ships Have C.H.I.P.ped!!!

THAT’S RIGHT…ALPHA C.H.I.P.s HAVE SHIPPED!!!

This, clearly, is Gus’ happy face.

Our Kernel Hacker Backers, our brave StarC.H.I.P. Troopers, should see theirAlpha C.H.I.P.s arrive in 7-9 days. Keep your eyes on those mailboxes! These things are coming in hot!

More what? Keep reading!

ALL KHBs WILL RECEIVE A SECOND ALPHA C.H.I.P.!

This is a great opportunity for a shipping dress rehearsal as we test our shipping integration.  There will be two different Alpha C.H.I.P. shipments.  The first shipment of Alpha C.H.I.P.s will be shipped unflashed to get our Kernel Hackers hacking immediately.   Don’t worry, we have plenty of documentation to get you started.

First Run Alpha C.H.I.P.s: Safety Tested and Ready to Go!

The second shipment of Alpha C.H.I.P.s (estimated to arrive by mid-October)will be factory flashed with our buildroot image.

Alex, Wynter, and our friend Peter have worked diligently to give everyone a clean and simple C.H.I.P. experience out of the box. Get started with the C.H.I.P. Flashing Tutorial!

If you are a Kernel Hacker Backer, and have not yet confirmed your address, get on it! Shoot us your shipping address at chip.backerkit.com and we’ll shoot your Alpha C.H.I.P.s right back!

Documentation & Sharing

For more tutorials, information and instructions, head to 42.nextthing.co, your new home for all NTC official documentation.

Submit all Kernel Hacks by submitting a pull request on GitHub.

Join the community conversation on the NTC forum at bbs.nextthing.co.

Tweet us what you’re working on!  Find us at @NextThingCo!

GET HACKING!

Shipping Alpha C.H.I.P.s in September is a huge milestone for us.  Just as Dave screamed in the Kickstarter video, we are so excited to see what you can do with a 9 dollar computer! Get Hacking! And don’t forget to write!

We looked so much younger four and half months ago…

\m/(>.<)\m/ – everyone @NextThingCo

 

 

 

 

Green C.H.I.P.s

ALPHA C.H.I.P. ADDRESS CONFIRMATIONS

Kernel Hackers!!! September means you get your Alpha C.H.I.P.s!.  Shipping Alpha C.H.I.P.s means we need our KHB ADDRESS CONFIRMATIONS.  If we owe you an Alpha C.H.I.P., you will receive an email to confirm your address through BackerKit. Keep an eye on your inboxes! (and if you haven’t been through BackerKit yet, now would be a great time)

C.H.I.P. GOES OLD SCHOOL

While walking around the block to get coffee one day, we chanced upon a relic. Thrown away and forgotten.

One man’s trash. Now our pleasure to treasure.

An Apple /// monitor!!! But will it work with C.H.I.P.? (hint: yes! see the video!)

C.H.I.P.’s composite video output means it can be used to with countless old devices.  So hold onto your old tube monitors and televisions C.H.I.P.sters! Old tech is about to get new life!

 

TWITTER, TWEETS, AND THE LIKE

Are you on Twitter? So are we! Find us and follow along.  We are@NextThingCo.

A sample tweet.

Stay tuned!  M.M.M.T.C. (much much more to come)

╭( ・ㅂ・)و – Everyone at @NextThingCo

 

 

Go Go C.H.I.P. Alpha!

ALPHA C.H.I.P.s ARE BEING MANUFACTURED!

Our candles are burning from both ends and we’re leaving so many sheep uncounted, but Alpha C.H.I.P.s are being manufactured!  Gus, our ferociously brave honeybadger, has worked tirelessly to make sure our beloved Kernel Hacker Backers (KHBs for short) get their Alpha C.H.I.P.s in September.

This is Gus’ happy face.

A C.H.I.P.s BEST FRIEND IS ITS SOFTWARE

Wynter, Alex, and the Free Electrons team have been making great strides with C.H.I.P.s software, but our KHBs are our Marines, our StarC.H.I.P. Troopers.  The first users to help C.H.I.P. become all that it can be.  C.H.I.P.’s greatest strength really is its community, so we can’t wait to get the KHBs their Alpha C.H.I.P.s.

Wynter ponders tools and tool-making and is Too Legit to Quit.

HARD AT WORK HARDWARE TESTING

Manufacturing C.H.I.P. at scale requires tools and automation to ensure we’re shipping the functional C.H.I.P.s everyone expects. To that end, Gus and Wynter have designed a series of hardware fixtures and software tools to put C.H.I.P. through its paces.

Gus approves of the flashing fixture prototype he made.

DO YOU TWITTER?

We Twitter too!  Find us @nextthingco!  Tweet at us! We’ll tweet back!

A sample NTC Tweet.

Much much more to come! (M.M.M.T.C.) Stay tuned!

╭( ・ㅂ・)و – Everyone at @NextThingCo

 

 

 

 

C.H.I.P.ing Away!

Things are getting hot at the NTC office. Because it’s summer. Because our team is growing. And because this C.H.I.P. project of ours is HEATING UP!

Wynter, Alex, Free Electrons, and Jason (our wireless expert extraordinaire) are pushing C.H.I.P.’s software tools forward in big ways.  Big ways like C.H.I.P.’s WiFi is working!

MEET ARI!

She’s joining the team and is a master of “all things non-technical” (her words).She wants to get you your C.H.I.P.s and she HATES being tardy.

Ari has dextrous eyebrows.

ATTENTION KERNEL HACKERS

We’re stoked with the response to the open sourcing of C.H.I.P.  Your ideas and comments are why we love Open Source.  For all you Kernel Hackers and eager Chipsters digging through the docs, we’ve set up a forum on our website at bbs.nextthing.co

Let’s take the technical discussions there, where answers can be easily sorted and turned into a resource for everyone.  Check it out!

As always, the latest and greatest C.H.I.P. documentation will be available (and current) on GitHub.  (Good catch last update, Ricky.)

If DockerHub is your bag, Wynter has a fully automated C.H.I.P. SDK now available as a docker container.

Wynter is coding…

FOLLOW ALONG ON TWITTER!

In addition to Kickstarter updates, we’re posting micro-updates on Twitter.  Want to be the most up to date on C.H.I.P.’s progress?  Follow @nextthingco!

Much much more to come! (M.M.M.T.C.) Stay tuned!

\(•◡•)/ – Everyone at @NextThingCo