Today I reversed engineered the core technology of a hardware company that recently raised a $20m+ Series B.

This just goes to show that keeping something secret doesn’t mean that others won’t be able to copy it or come up with something better.

The crazy thing is… I know next to nothing about hardware.

It was a depth sensor using a laser light source and an IR camera in a compact webcam-like enclosure. They made it sound magical, but it was really quite simple. They demoed it for about 15 minutes, and there were no pictures allowed. They shot down everyone’s guesses (structured light, time of flight, sonar), and didn’t really describe how the device worked. However, after a few minutes of thinking, extracting the trick behind the technology was pretty easy.

If their technology is really this simple, I’m guessing that their investors are actually investing in the business plan. Now I’m really interested in their strategy…

* Intel SSD
* full size keyboard
* Nvidia integrated graphics
* Decently high-res LED-lit screen
* Good antenna placement
* Nehalem generation mobile CPU
* Under $1000

ETA: Mid 2009.

(But, if my laptop broke today, I would get a Lenovo X200s, assuming there’s some discount code out there.)