Bug Labs' build-your-own devices get sound and wireless

If you know the basics of Java programming, you can use Bug Labs' lengthening list of pre-built components -- which now includes audio and four types of wireless, for instance -- to build devices that do exactly what you want.

At CES this week, Bug Labs is announcing the addition of five more component modules to its earlier five.

Three of the new components -- for Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, 3G, and Zigbee-controllable radios, respectively -- add wireless communications. Also new are modules for sound and Pico projectors, said Mehrshad Mansouri, marketing director, in an interview with Betanews at last night's Showstoppers press event at CES.

Bug Labs' Web site gives descriptions from users of some of the device applications they've created so far. A few examples include BugWeather, for displaying weather information based on device location; XmasTree2, for controlling the lights on a Christmas tree; and FlickrUpper, for detecting motion, snapping photos, and uploading the pictures to a user's Flickr account on the Web.

At this point, a lot of Bug Labs users are adults. But Bug Labs is also planning an "education initiative," to get its components and programming environment out into the schools as learning tools, Mansouri said.

Bug Labs also provides an Eclipse-based software development kit for programming the homegrown custom devices.