Exbiblio Blog - The Story of a Startup

Welcome Vaughn Jason Summers!

Ruth — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 20:54:21 +0000

We are joyous to announce the birth of Vaughn Summers — the 8 pound 10 ounce son of our Office Manager Lauren Summers and her husband Dusty. We believe that Vaughn is just about the cutest baby we have ever seen!

Happy Exbiblio Halloween

Ruth — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 19:46:11 +0000

We have been silent for a few weeks as we were preparing for a major demonstration of our technology (it went very well). With a few days off after the push, I went to Vermont to enjoy a fall weekend.

New England had the best foliage in years! While I was there, I went to PUB — a Friday night gathering of friends in Manchester, Vermont — where we do all sorts of fun things — including carving pumpkins. This Qi Jack-o-Lantern will be added to others in Bennington, Vermont to see if they can set a record.

Check it out!

Seeing the Forest for the Trees . . .

Hilary — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 19:51:52 +0000

For the last hundred years, Earth has experienced a rapid loss of forested area. Reports continue to indicate huge forests losses.

Almost half of the planet’s original forest has been destroyed, mostly during the last three decades. Between 1990 and 1995, the net forest loss equaled 33 football fields per minute (112 600 square kilometers annually).

About 47 percent of the world’s forests occur in the tropical zone, 9 percent in the subtropics, 11 percent in the temperate zone and 33 percent in the boreal zone. In the tropics, about half of the mature forests, between 750 to 800 million hectares of the original 1.5 to 1.6 billion hectares, have been felled. Between 1990 and 2000 alone, natural forests in the tropics disappeared at an annual rate of fourteen million hectares, a rate of loss of an acre a second. Between 1960 and 1990, about 20 percent of total tropical forest cover was lost.

Original forest extent

Remaining frontier forest (frontier forests are the world’s remaining large intact natural forest ecosystems – undisturbed and large enough to maintain all of their biodiversity.)

Current forest cover

We often think of the value of forests as the returns they provide in the way of firewood, office paper, newspaper, construction timber, plywood, and wood for furniture. We forget the other services they provide. Forests serve as the world’s major air filter removing carbon monoxide and other air pollutants. Trees also help perpetuate the water cycle by returning water vapor back into the atmosphere. Thus, forests modulate climate at local and regional levels through rainfall. Without trees to fill these roles, many former forestlands can quickly become barren deserts. By preserving watershed functions, they regulate water flows in terms of both quantity and quality. Here, in the Northwest we are well aware of how tree coverage protects the land surface against landslides, erosion, and sediment runoff into streams and shorelines. Finally, forests provide critical habitat for a significant number of species. For example, the tropical forests represent 6% of the world’s land surface but hold between 50% and 80% of the world’s terrestrial species of plants and animals.

Most notably, forests and their soils are a major sink for carbon, making deforestation a significant factor in global warming. After carbon emissions caused by humans, deforestation is a principle cause of atmospheric CO2. Deforestation accounts for roughly 20 percent of global carbon emissions. Halting deforestation over the next 50 years would protect important habitat while also providing around 15 percent of the carbon-emissions reductions needed to stabilize global temperatures.

Exbiblio’s recent grant to the Wildlands Project and Naturalia is just one example of the many efforts to protect critical forests worldwide. The grant goes to a project to protect 6,000 acres of old-growth forest in the Sierra Madres. The Sierra Madres in Mexico has some of the richest, rarest, and most endangered terrestrial natural areas on Earth. Indeed, scientists have identified this area as one of the most critical global regions for conservation. Through a partnership with the local eijido members and the Wildlands Project and Naturalia, these conservation organizations provide lease payments for 15 years in exchange for the eijido community agreeing not to log the forest.

During those 15 years, the organizations and the eijido will take steps to create economic value for the community through preserving the forest instead of logging it. Both parties are working to promote eco-tourism given half of the breeding population of the thick-billed parrot lives on the 6,000 acres. Additionally, a forest study will be completed for the remainder of the ejido’s land (approximately 35,000 acres), which will result in a sustainable logging plan. Finally, the ejido receives $597,000 pesos (approximately $60,000 US) over the next five years from a new program by the National Forest Commission that places a market value on environmental services provided by forests (such as clean water), and pays rural communities for providing those services. This combined with the lease payments, provides each ejido member with approximately $10,000 pesos ($1,000 US) per year for environmental services rendered – more than they would have received if they had accepted the logging contract. It is an example of how conserving the forest can provide environmental as well as economical returns for a community. It is an example of how trees have more value alive than dead.

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QuirQi: my analog solution to digital challenge

Bill — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 22:10:14 +0000

As the unabashedly analog guy in this resolutely digital company (heck, I used to be a banker before I became an honest business man!), I simultaneously marvel and despair at encounters with cutting-edge technology: How do software and hardware engineers do that stuff, and why can’t I? OK, so I’m pretty good now with my digital camera, and just succumbed to the siren song of Apple and bought an iPhone. But I still use a 70-year old fountain pen, a 50-year old Leica, and have a funky leather saddle (Brooks, of course) on my titanium road bike.

Having sat in on many meetings here at Exbiblio listening to the engineers discuss progress (and occasional setbacks) on optical scans, illumination pathways, processor speeds, memory, networking, etc., none of which I can contribute to, I decided I could quickly cobble together the analog version of the very sophisticated “Qi” device the team is building. Thus, the stunningly simple device pictured here, immediately and cleverly dubbed by Mark Sanvitale as the “QuirQi.” All the core, “Qi” features are here: scan camera with highly advanced sensor material (otherwise known as B&W Film), reliable illumination source (absolutely bullet-proof MiniMaglite), a compass to add location context to the scan, earplug with mic for voice annotations, “scan-in-progress” warning flasher, etc… And, of course, the “black box” inside of which strange and wonderful - if analog - things take place. All of the components of QuirQi were found gathering dust under my home workbench, thus proving that analog guys can hold their own in the digital age. Who needs C++ anyway?

TAKING THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED

Bill — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 22:06:16 +0000

In the conventional, “textbook” way of doing things, early-stage companies secure initial funding from “friends and family members” or angel investors, then through crisp and timely execution of a well-articulated business plan graduate to a stage of development, and level of sophistication where they are able to attract investment from venture capital firms. The company typically would be formed as a “C” corporation, would recruit a CFO or VP Finance to generate all the projections/spreadsheets and implement all the operational controls that VC’s expect, engage legal counsel to pull together the standard set of documents for a Series A funding round with the standard set of preferences, etc., etc. The company is then set on a standard three to five year trajectory towards either an initial public offering, or as a candidate for acquisition by a large, publicly traded technology or web services company. All bog standard, all terribly predictable and all terribly…uninteresting. But oh! so tempting to head down that well-trodden path as the lowest-friction, least risky way to bring a new idea to fruition.

But, what happens when the core idea of the company itself - how it should be structured, how it should behave in society, what it’s financial and human/social objectives are - is largely at odds with these conventions? Should the founders, board members and staff opt to head down the well-trodden “conventional” path and hope to preserve at least some of the core values and objectives of the company? Or take a chance in pioneering a new way of building a company; one that combines a resolutely for-profit technology business with a deep commitment to social issues?

Exbiblio was founded by Martin King with the notion that a company is no different than the people that inhabit it, give it life and purpose. Thus, the company has the same responsibilities and obligations that people have - towards their neighbors near and far, and towards the planet we all inhabit. It is also increasingly apparent that for-profit business is the most powerful, and the only truly sustainable catalyst for social change (good or bad).

This has been the foundational philosophy of Exbiblio from its inception three years ago as a Dutch company with a US-based development team. Operating under the far more strict personal data privacy regime in Europe was seen as a critical component of Exbiblio’s business strategy: after all, the information secured through the “capture” by users of their reading material is highly personal, and we need to ensure that this data is subject to the most rigorous regime of privacy. A European domicile best achieves that important objective. It is also felt that the merits of a US brand are diminished in a truly global economy.

During the past six months there has been more than the usual amount of early-stage company trials and tribulations at Exbiblio, all of which is openly chronicled in our blog. We produced our initial business plan, and embarked on the time-consuming task of raising our first outside capital. After much internal debate, we decided to re-incarnate the company as a US “C” Corp (see “conventional company standard procedure above!), on the assumption that investors from Peoria, Wenatchee San Jose and Tukwila would feel more comfortable with a familiar US corporate entity. The response from 25 or so individual investors was highly encouraging, with commitments topping $3 million received. As we approached closing of this fundraising, however, Martin - as the founder, and sole investor in Exbiblio to date - decided not to proceed with the round, and the related change in the company’s domicile. The result was the departure of several highly talented and experienced members of our senior management team, and a re-tuning of our gameplan to move forward sans outside investors for the time being.

So, dear reader, you might assume that this blog entry is Exbiblio’s epitaph, given all the ups and downs, twists, turns and reversals that have been revealed over the past year. But you would be sorely mistaken. Martin and other investors have committed additional funding to carry the company into the middle of 2008, and a smaller, core team of engineers is dedicated to bringing Exbiblio’s technology to the market, albeit with some delay, and on a more modest, targeted scale. The parallel development of Exbiblio’s .com and .org activities remains deeply embedded in our culture, and we continue to see this as a core strategic asset of the company.

Watch this space for updates on our progress towards first beta release later this year.

The road less traveled is, indeed, a bumpy one, but the view along the way is grand, the experience is exhilarating, and the destination is worth the trouble!

The Paper Renaissance

Claes-Fredrik — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 18:03:26 +0000

Quentin Stafford-Fraser (introduced earlier) recently spoke at the 2007 GOVIS conference.

His first talk, ‘Changing the Face of the PC’, tells the story of the creation of Ndiyo, DisplayLink, and Cambridge Visual Networks, the technologies and motivations behind them, and some thoughts about the future.

Quentin and Martin King are founders of DisplayLink (formerly Newnham Research) as well as Exbiblio.

The second talk was focused on Exbiblio—our vision, technology, company, values, and more. Please have a look, to see who we are, what we are doing, and how we intend to do it:

View on Google Video

Videos to download: (right-click to save to disk):
For iPod (71 MB)
High-quality MP4 (162 MB)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Rosencrantz Image Sensor Driver

Claes-Fredrik — Thu, 24 May 2007 00:51:25 +0000

We’ve been having trouble getting the image sensor data through to the main memory on the Rosencrantz form factor board, but today, Oscar, from Synapse, figured it out.

Getting the image processing unit (IPU) configuration right in the iMX31 has been a difficult task, and as of yesterday, we were getting images through, but only half an image frame’s worth of data per frame. Today, Oscar triumphantly sent us a picture of a gnome taken with the form factor board.

This takes a major concern off our shoulders.

oPen no mo pen?

Jeff — Mon, 14 May 2007 23:17:16 +0000

The “oPen™” name was originally assigned by the development team as a project name for our interactive, handheld scanning tool. Although the name oPen is certainly a clever double-entendre, it was never intended to be the name of the commercial device. In that capacity the name has a couple of major problems.

Calling it a pen plops it into a mundane category of existing products that embody only a small amount of our functionality. These handheld scanners (e.g. C-Pen, IrisPen, DocuPen, etc.) have a reputation for producing a frustrating and limited user experience. With all of that established baggage already out there, oPen may as well be shmoPen. Who will notice?

The value proposition Exbiblio offers to consumers goes far beyond the functionality of a hand-held portable scanner. That value proposition is likely to exist over time in other form factors like cell phones. Tying that value proposition to a brand name that evokes images of a “pen” is potentially shortsighted. Initial branding discussion within the company yielded the following with respect to oPen brand positioning.

Positioning - what we offer to each specific customer:

Brand Promise - What we stand for in the hearts and minds of our customers:

Key word:

Two insights came out of this discussion. The first was that that our technology should only be embodied in cool tools that are very user friendly. The second was that the product’s commercial name should convey that we are providing portal technology that links the paper and digital worlds.

An internal brainstorming session around naming yielded well over 100 names. The most popular of those are listed below. These and others will be tested for name recall, name pronunciation, top-of-mind associations and connotations, fit with core product positioning, preference and foreign language difficulties. A $1,000 finders fee will be paid to the first person not from Exbiblio who submits a name via the blog that ends up being used with the technology.

Internally generated names (so far):

oPen
Gotit
Nex
T10
Kai
PortaLink
Plink
Guru
Reed
Eight
Index
Linkit
Enki
Iye
Gato
TransPortal
Connex(io)

The Awakening

Hilary — Mon, 07 May 2007 23:29:43 +0000

Recently the New York Times released a poll that it conducted with CBS News. In that poll, 90% of Democrats, 80% of Independents, and 60% of Republicans all said that immediate action was required to curb the warming of the atmosphere and deal with climate change impacts. Only 1% said no steps were needed.

This poll, if representative of America, would suggest that we have arrived at a place of awakening. In part this is a relief. It is a relief that we no longer have to explain the science and numbers surrounding climate change to the masses. The public has become informed, and now there is a need for solutions.

Interestingly, when it came to solving the recognized warming crisis, the responses were more mixed. Respondents were willing to have higher gasoline prices to reduce our foreign oil dependence but not as a mechanism for reducing our consumption. And they were prepared to pay more for electricity generated by renewable sources like solar or wind energy, but not to pay even $1 more at the gasoline pump. On the other hand, the respondents overwhelmingly said that a higher priority should be placed on conserving energy than increasing production of petroleum, coal, and natural gas (68% for conserving energy, 21% increasing production). Nearly half, however, did not have faith in their fellow citizens that they would take actions to conserve gas or reduce heat-trapping gasses by changing driving habits. Finally, 92% supported requiring automobile manufacturers to make more fuel efficient cars.

Given political and social will is behind many of the solutions to our climate crisis, these numbers make finding a solution a little easier. First, the responses suggest that a solution to cutting CO2 emissions at least initially is finding alternative energy sources. If our use of alternative energy sources like solar and wind increased, we could significantly decrease our use of fossil fuels.

There have already been significant gains in securing alternative energy sources like wind power. A recent joint report released just two days ago projects that the renewable energy the United States can generate is around 635 gigawatts (GW) by 2025. The report projects that wind power can account for 248 GW, solar energy 164 GW, hydro, ocean and tidal energy 23 GW, geothermal energy 100 GW, and biomass and biofuels 100 GW. The conclusion is that renewable energy can meet the nation’s energy needs.

This was not the most critical element of the report, however. Instead, the critical point the report makes is that unless steps are taken at the policy level the opportunities these renewable energy solutions present for reducing greenhouse gases will be lost. The report concludes that “if we don’t change policy we cannot expect a substantial difference in the outcome.”

Fortunately, 21 states and the District of Columbia have taken the lead and adopted standards at the policy level. These states have adopted renewable electricity standards, which scientists project will reduce CO2 emissions by 108 million metric tons by 2020 – the same amount as taking 17.7 million cars off the road. The effect this leadership at the local level will have is to likely produce more than 46,000 megawatts of clean, renewable power. This translates into enough energy to power 28.5 million typical homes.

Nevertheless, despite these efforts at the state level, what is necessary is acceptance at the national level. This would eliminate the uncertainty of government policy on renewables, creating the research-push and market-pull policies necessary for growing this industry.

Steady, long-term policy support is crucial to sustain this growth and attract investment. A national renewable portfolio standard and a long-term extension of the renewable energy production tax credit are measures that can be adopted now and would unleash billions of dollars in new projects and manufacturing plants, create tens of thousands of jobs and generate revenue for farmers and rural communities, while jump-starting cost-effective action against global warming.- Randall Swisher, Executive Director American Wind Energy Assoc.

Other countries have already begun embracing renewables. Denmark has set a goal of 29 % renewable electricity output by 2010, France 21%, Finland 35%, Portugal 45.6%, Spain 30.3%, and Austria 78.1%. The Swedish government has set a goal of 60% renewable energy by 2010, and also announced the oil phase-out in Sweden with the intention to become the first country to break its dependence on fossil fuels by 2020.

Second, and maybe more important than alternative energy sources, the responses suggest Americans support conserving energy as a means to reducing CO2 emissions. Reducing our energy consumption would go a long way to reducing greenhouse gases. Other countries have come up with creative ways to make substantial commitments to cut consumption. Switzerland is planning to cut its energy consumption by more than half to become a 2000 Watt society by 2050. Presently, Switzerland uses around 5000 watts per capita. Europe as a whole is at about 6,000 watts per capita. Whereas Africa is at about 500 watts per capita. Under the 2000 Watt Society, the Swiss nation would move as a whole towards a 2000 watts per person goal. And the Swiss Council says it can do this not by cutting back on the Swiss standard of living, but by dramatically improving the energy efficiency of all aspects of life. Similarly, the United Kingdom is working towards a zero energy building standard for all new housing by 2016. To encourage this, an exemption from Stamp Dusty Land Tax is planned. Here, in Washington State Washington State, we have already seen the “zero-energy” home, but we have no local or national commitment to it.

The poll results also show a significant desire to increase fuel efficiency of cars. Obviously, this solution itself would significantly decrease our CO2 emissions. Our nation’s transportation accounted for over 1959.8 CO2 emissions in 2004. Only four nations in the world produce more CO2 than that produced by the cars that drive in the United States. The technology exists today for creating more fuel-efficient vehicles. If we implemented this technology in vehicles now, not only would we reduce our dependence on oil exports and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions from cars by more than 40 percent, but we would save our pocket books as well. This is important given the poll results show a significant reluctance to giving up ones car.

Overall, these numbers do not bring us a clear solution to the global warming crisis. They do bring us hope that the larger population will mobilize and demand a solution. The question is whether it will be fast enough. As Martin Luther King observed, “The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.” Unlike past movements, like the Civil Rights Movement, the movement to end global warming does not have the opportunity for patience and drawn out resistance. Time is running out.

Rosencrantz is maturing

Mathew — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 01:31:39 +0000

The past few weeks have seen huge updates in the Rosencrantz HW land. The project is clearly starting to come together. A few of the different components are now working, and it’s become easier to visualize what else we need to get working, and how we will get there.

There’s a magical thing that happens when you are building digital hardware, where the hardware grows up from a series of loosely connected circuits (that don’t tend to be functioning in any way) to a cohesive unit, working together to accomplish the task we put in front of it. The hardware can’t work as a unit until its sub components not only achieve self awareness (they know how to work themselves, usually requiring firmware), but they also start to have a small amount of awareness of others (they know how to interact with the other components in the system). Seeing your project grow up is very exciting, and it’s not that far fetched for engineers to see themselves as parents of their projects, both excited and slightly nervous to let them out in the world to live their own lives and leave their own marks (we all know about the iPod™, but who among us can talk about the engineers who designed it - no the iPod left its own mark on the world, a mark independent of the people who created it).

In the past few weeks our Rosencrantz has passed through a few phases of early childhood. I know I personally have not had as much sleep, and it’s true, bringing up a board is hard work. However, it’s also very exciting to see your work grow, and begin to give you hints on who it will be when it grows up - what it will be like to work with.

These past few weeks we’ve gotten our new power boards up, our hall effect sensor at least basically working, our flash system starting to work, and we believe our OLED isn’t far behind. Rosencrantz will require some minor surgery before the piezo buzzer begins to work, but it’s ready to buzz when that surgery occurs.

Goals for this week are to get the camera working (something that has proved much more difficult than expected), the display working (we think/hope we are close on this one), and to make real ground on the application code that will communicate with the Life Library application (Claes-Fredrik has made some ground on this already, so the framework is in place).

This is an exciting time, and in the next few weeks we’re going to see our little device come together a lot, it won’t be long till Rosencrantz will start exploring a little more of the world… starting with our desks.