Topic: Berg and Little Printer - Internet of Things Design Firm Closing

If you are unsure what this device is, it is basically a "Chumby-like" printer. It is always connected to the Internet. It has a cloud service serving it content.

I purchased one of these devices with the great hope of sitting it next to my Chumby devices. Well, it appears the company is going into "hibernation".

My question is, would Blue Octy have *any* interest in rescuing this service? (Please, with sugar?)

Details here:
http://littleprinterblog.tumblr.com/pos … le-printer

Re: Berg and Little Printer - Internet of Things Design Firm Closing

I remember when these showed up, since a lot of coverage tended to mention chumby.

I guess I'd have to know a lot more about this. It really depends upon the level of technical effort vs the size of the installed base, and what the expectations are.

The blog entry you've linked to says they're looking for someone to take over the whole business, including the hardware (including, presumably, repairs), which I'm not in a position to do.  At most I could see us bringing up the backend service to keep the installed base running, and I'd have to find some way for the users to offset the recurring costs.

As with Chumby, there's no point in setting up something that has the same economics that resulted in going out of business, so some revenue model would have to be considered.

Anyway, i guess I can reach out to see what the level of interest might be on their part to at least set up a compatible web service.

Re: Berg and Little Printer - Internet of Things Design Firm Closing

I was very much hoping that you would respond. Thank you for doing so. That said, I want to volunteer my time to you (or whoever) to assist with this. I have some level of technical sophistication.

Please keep me in mind as you decide to pursue this road.

Re: Berg and Little Printer - Internet of Things Design Firm Closing

I've sent them an email - we'll see what they say.

Re: Berg and Little Printer - Internet of Things Design Firm Closing

I'm no System Operator (besides that Dell P4 I have), but it may be easier to wait until whatever firmware update to allow the device to connect to operate on alternative servers is released, and then just use their code to make a server, for pay.

Re: Berg and Little Printer - Internet of Things Design Firm Closing

Well, I got a simple automated response to my email to their public account.  They don't make it easy to contact anyone directly.

Re: Berg and Little Printer - Internet of Things Design Firm Closing

Duane,

I have emailed their public account and received an automated response, as you did. However, a human did follow up through a Zendesk account.

Did a human contact you, as of yet?

Re: Berg and Little Printer - Internet of Things Design Firm Closing

Well, they sent me a questionnaire, because they said they were overwhelmed with similar requests, which I filled out and sent back.  The person who sent it said they were going to be out of town through September 22 and to not expect any additional response before then.

Re: Berg and Little Printer - Internet of Things Design Firm Closing

Just curious if they have followed up yet.

Re: Berg and Little Printer - Internet of Things Design Firm Closing

I have not received any response from them since I filled out and submitted their form.

Re: Berg and Little Printer - Internet of Things Design Firm Closing

Still no response, so I assume they're not interested.

Re: Berg and Little Printer - Internet of Things Design Firm Closing

Thank you for the update, Duane.

I very much appreciate your efforts and attempting to contact them upon my request.