Small, loud, expandable! By Curious Sound Objects.
Up to backer #140!
Little by little I'm going to get all of these into your lovely hands :)
This batch included some to Thailand, Hong Kong, and Romania! That's exciting.
More to come! And happy summer everyone!
-Nick
I got a couple pokes from some backers, an update is in order!
I'm writing this update from Poland where we're visiting my wife's family for two weeks.
Last few weeks have been a whirlwind of client work, and I shipped another 30 Bitties last week (up to backer #120, a bunch of two packs in that set!)
If you've been wondering what Nick does when he's not shipping Bitties (besides wiping butts and putting monkeys to sleep) I work as a freelance designer mostly for startups doing brand/web/etc.
One client made it on Techcrunch a few weeks ago. They're a company called Pickle Robot making robots that can pick packages (my four year old keeps proudly telling me "they're green and the word 'pick' is in pickle" 😂). I made that video in that article, and their brand last year.
Separately I'm extra proud of this branding and packagin project I finished last week for a company in Canada working on growing meat outside of animals. (Sounds weird right, but they basically take some cells from a cow muscle and feed it all the same stuff a cows body makes, and viola, a burger).
This particular company has figured out how to use nature to make the food for the meat cells. This kind of thing makes me really excited about the future. Talked to two separate companies working on nuclear fusion too. If humanity manages to figure out food and energy, it could be transformational for the human race. I hope it happens in my lifetime.
(All this brings up the question of jobs, but isn't that the whole point? Like if things go well, wouldn't it make sense that not everyone would have to work? The invention of the plow freed up *some* people from having to till the fields all day, giving them time to think of math and philosophy etc.)
A few years ago, I was making the maker fest rounds with the Bitty prototypes (which ran on battery power for maybe 10 minutes) and was fortunate enough to meet a man named Lawrence Kraman at one. He runs a classical music record label and makes films and we started chatting up a storm.
He was one of the first backers and we’ve kept in touch ever since. So two weeks ago Larry introduced me to his friend David Amram (who is a legend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5v6MeanQ28) you can rent the full documentary about him here, totally worth it:
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/amram
We had a long conversation about music and instruments and all sorts of things! David can recall and sound out a beat with his mouth and hands from what seems like an infinite library of music in his head. And it was super special to get encouragement from a man so deeply thoughtful.
Larry and I filmed our conversation and will make a video of that too.
After handling over a hundred Bitties and the hardware appearing bulletproof (especially after reinforcing the headphone jack), I decided to go and order not the "next batch" but 500 of them (enough to fulfill all the backers and some extras for the future). Unfortunately covid supply chain stuff makes them 30% more expensive, which is a real bummer, but doing all this work enables me to cover it, so I'm pulling the trigger anyway. It's also a great relief to know that I'll have enough inventory to deliver on my promises (slowly I know, but surely). Next milestone would be to hire someone to help me assemble and ship.
Whoa I just looked at this entry and considered deleting half of it, but hey why not, a true journal. And I have to say it's been a real pleasure getting to know the people that have emailed me, and if anyone else wants to reach out, my door is always open: [email protected].
Love you guys,
Nick
Alright! We in three digits! Shipped backers #60-100 today!
One of the backers who received his last time, made this beautiful video running the Sunrise kit through his amp and some effects:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CNeZ-sEBVAt/
I've been preloading the Bitties with random favorite kits, but was inspired to preload this whole batch with this one :)
Except when people get a two pack, then I mixed it up.
Cheers everyone.
-Nick
Wrote an update on my phone on Friday and was surprised at the silence, just went to check on my desktop and looks like it disappeared into the ether.
So rather than rewriting I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves (long story short we’ve got an epoxy for the fragile jacks that works and looks decent - black)
No need to be careful with these. Everyone in the previous sets let me know if you have trouble.
Next set shipping within a couple days! -Nick
A quick one with some feedback and warnings.
Careful with the headphone jack!
One backer had his headphone jack rip off. For the backers who have one already, just be careful and insert the headphones/cable into the jack directly in and out. It's when it gets pulled at an angle that is the danger I suspect.
I'll be reinforcing them with some strong epoxy for the ones I ship from now on.
USB Cable
This is an easy one, some micro usb cables you might have are power only (for chargers or whatever), and others include data transfer (like for a phone). Bitty needs the data to receive the sounds from your computer. So if one cable doesn't work, try another.
Mac Software
Looks like the newest versions of Mac OS have extra security settings say "unidentified developer" when you try to run the software. If you hit that issue, right click on the App and say Open. Then you'll be able to ok it with the operating system.
Otherwise the feedback's been lovely, thanks you guys!
-Nick