Headworx

Seed Labs has now become official. After more than 5 years since the inception and almost 3 years after the original HomerSoft company was started, we start emerging from the hide. My LinkedIn followers may be a bit confused, since recently, embracing the failures, we've gone through several branding pivots. There was Sway, then there was ETC then Seed and now the Seed Labs. But hey, after all pivots are the privilege of startups. And BTW this is why startups are so effective: they can afford themselves to pivot as frequently as needed, validating the concepts quickly. Our business models pivoted too (this was mainly thanks to extremely valuable negotiations with investors: both private / seed and VCs) and - I am so happy to tell - after testing several alternatives, we have now firmly settled with what was my initial idea back in 2011: we are a software company. Our core product is software for the Internet of Things type applications. Starting with low level firmware imple...

Power delivery over a USB interface has been a frequently discussed subject on this blog, since I first called USB the Universal Supply Bus back in 2006 . And the story keeps evolving! USB 3.0 gives us not only the 5Gbps data speeds, but up to 100 Watt (20V, 5A) of power too. At this year's CES (back in January 2014) DisplayLink and ROHM Semiconductor demonstrated a universal USB dock capable of charging a laptop via the USB Power Delivery standard interface rated at 100W (10x what is possible today with USB 2.0). While this will make a 1-cable universal docking come true, the 100@ USB Power Delivery potentially has much further reaching potential. Such as being a standard in Home Lighting. Yes, your home may soon be running a USB bus to the lights. While 100W for lighting may not seem a lot, it actually is. We've been used to judge 100W by what a single incandescent or halogen light bulb can consume. But they are things of the past. LEDs are typically 10x more efficient. S...

A while ago I posted a story about the team and the leader taking over some of the tasks from the team members. This is what I do quite often. And some friends of mine, who are professional team managers advise me not to do it. This conventional / professional wisdom may be true for slow corporate behemoths. But when you are a startup aiming high to conquer the world, you have to violate the rules. You have to race like the Formula 1 team to win. The Formula 1 analogy is not that fa stretched. I recommend the 2013 movie Rush to every startup leader. Especially the scene when Niki Lauda enters the BRM garage and overnight revolutionizes their car, gaining the unbelievable 2.3 seconds advantage in race conditions: [the mechanics shows Niki his car, a red and white Marlboro sponsored car] Niki Lauda: How much does she weigh? BRM Mechanic: Six hundred kilos. Niki Lauda: But that's crazy. Why so heavy? BRM Mechanic: It's a V12 engine. That lump normally weighs a hundred and n...

IoT and Smart Home are two trends that do not need to be explained today. The proof I've found in the recent Time Magazine (May 5th, 2014): Tony Fadell made it to the 100 most influential people. And now almost everybody wants to back these trends, making the ordinary things in our life smart and connected. Suppose you are an appliance manufacturer and you want to launch a "Smart / Connected" line of products. What communication protocol would you select? There is plethora of them but there are two most likely candidates: WiFi and Bluetooth. The reason is they are the only two on board every smart phone, meaning a phone can connect directly to a WiFi or Bluetooth appliance an control it. All other protocols require an extra gateway in the middle. A gateway translates protocols (for example Philips Hue bulbs use ZigBee and they come with a bundled ZigBee gateway). But gateways add complexity and if you are a water kettle or a coffee machine or a door lock manufacturer,...