[HH] Matchstick: $12 TV stick running Firefox OS

[Tom Metro]

We've seen many dozens of thumb-drive-sized stick computers that attach
to a TV to make your TV "smart" (stream content from the Internet).
Almost all have ran Android. Here's the first one running Firefox OS,
Mozilla's mobile operating system also based on Linux:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/matchstick/matchstick-the-streaming-stick-built-on-firefox-os

They say it'll retail for $25, but you can buy-in to it now for a mere
$12...oh, wait, that was the early bird price that has sold out. Current
tier is $18. They've also sold out of "developer" units (prototypes
delivered in November) at $24 each. (They've already exceeded their
$100K goal by over 100%.)

They expect to ship in February. If this is the first TV project for
Firefox OS, that might be overly optimistic, as there will be a lot of
UI to build and TV-oriented apps. And that's assuming the hardware
development is borrowing heavily from an existing or reference design.
(Actually they say, "Hardware is done! It was actually previewed in June.")

As for the software they say:

  There are already hundreds of apps in the Mozilla app store, and as
  the developer program ramps up many of those apps and hundreds of new
  apps will become available on the Matchstick app store.

And:

  Matchstick currently is already binary compatible with a large number
  of existing Chromecast apps. ...apps...available at launch and
  include: Netflix, HBO Go, Pandora, ESPN, ABC, and many more.


They say the hardware and software will both be open:

  Our goal was to make a streaming stick that was low cost, high design,
  and extremely adaptable without the walled garden for app developers
  that tends to slow progress. We also approached the hardware as a
  break even, open reference design, creating an app ecosystem where the
  app developers drive the economy. It's what Chromecast WANTED to be...
  =)
  ...
  No need to jailbreak your Matchstick, the door is wide open! ...we are
  making the reference designs and hardware schematics available for
  download. (http://www.matchstick.tv/developers/hardware.html) ... The
  files we provide are manufacturer ready, including board design,
  electrical layout, and the bill of materials.

No mention of being powered via the HDMI port, as some sticks are.
Instead they have the usual (micro) USB port for power. (They address
this in an FAQ.)

They describe the hardware as an upgrade compared to the Chromecast:

  We selected the dual-core Rockchip 3066 processor, increased the
  onboard storage to 4GB, and dropped in 1GB of DDR3 memory. The bigger
  processor and increased memory gives you a much better video playback
  cache and increased performance for whatever games and custom overlays
  you might dream up.


They say you can "fling" content to it from apps and desktop web
browsers, which is similar to how you send content to a Chromecast, but
it is less clear whether the device will feature its own stand-alone UI
or be fully dependent on some other device to act as the controlling
interface, as is the case with a Chromecast.

They talk about how developers can easily port Chromecast apps to it,
but I wasn't aware that apps ran on the Chromecast. I thought apps ran
on the controlling device, and just sent URLs and playback commands to
the Chromecast.

They describe the software architecture here:
http://www.matchstick.tv/developers/documents/developers-guide.html

and apparently in addition to the "sender" applications that run on the
controlling device, you can also customize things on the Matchstick
receiving side, where it has an engine capable of running HTML5
applications.

 -Tom