S.NSA, January 2014 Statement

S.NSA has a total of 4`737`075 authorised shares outstanding. The total assets per share implied value is thus 0.00009980 BTC. The cash+tangible assets per share implied value is thus 0.00009828 BTC.

S.NSA realised no operating revenue this period, however is expected to realise operating revenue next period. The P/E implied value per share is so far 0 BTC.

S.NSA has Special Stock Warrants outstanding issued as per the IPO agreement, as follows :

Miscellanea :

The Cardano was going to go out before Xmas, but then didn't. Then we were going to start taking pre-orders sometime in January... but then didn't. This has progressed past the stage where a simple handwave is satisfactory, so let's review together a field report from the CTO.

Dear MP,

Presenting:

~ Cardano Tidbits (field report) ~

This was originally longer, but I snipped a bunch of crap. If you like circuit diagrams, you'll have them in the end regardless.

1) Mainboard power supply.
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Mainboard design was complete long ago - with the exception of one bit, which isn't trivial for the following reasons:

Cardano powers on via two paths: A) Trigger is pressed ; B) USB power applied (drive mount), and powers off via two respective paths: A) Trigger is released, operation complete ; B) USB power is removed (drive ejected, connector pulled).

In scenario (B), the microcontroller, SD, and block cipher ROM (distinct item from RSA ROM) operate on 5V from USB. In scenario (A), the entire device operates from battery. Note that perverse cases are possible - USB 5V is applied during (A), or removed during an incomplete (B). Thus it is necessary for the device to transition from one power source to the next, while also ensuring that certain components (RNG, RSA ROM) are powered exclusively from battery.

Mode (A) requires a 'soft power' toggler. The entire rest of the planet solves this problem by keeping a microcontroller in perpetual 'on with low power' mode. We cannot do this - Cardano must be honestly OFF when not in use - not only to preserve battery power and obliterate SRAM 'remanent' keys, but to establish 100% known initial state for all operations.

Finally settled on STM6600 to solve above. Handles switch 'debounce' (consult literature) and toggle, at the cost of ~$2/unit. Currently putting the finishing touches on the entire mainboard. Will source components (likely same vendor as previously) as soon as the design goes out to GP.

2) Firmware.
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2a) Crypto basics (RSA, AES, GPG format minutiae) complete. All being in ANSI C, this runs perfectly happily in a Linux-based 'test harness' (just a command-line blob that walks through basic operations.)

2b) Block device ops (FAT32) - tentatively working, in same test harness.

2c) USB Mass Storage. Largely based on manufacturer's example code; builds under GCC/MIPS, along with the above. Tentatively works; see below:

2d) SD. Fairly simple, draft version. Needs a working example of mainboard to test.

2e) I/O (incl. power) code. Not in any respectable state of completion, needs mainboard.

2f) CDC (aka USB Serial, consult standards docs) for 'raw RNG' mode. Not even started yet.

3) RNG.
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5 RNGs, as discussed previously. Appear to work. 65 remaining. Ordered paste stencils, on the cheap, they should be here by Thurs. of this week. /SMT assembly by hand is a first-class bitch./

4) Chassis.
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Chassis man (diametric) currently tweaking beam power settings for optimal reproduction of logo; sourcing materials (nylon screws, acrylic.) He awaits exact dimensions (incl. vertical protrusions) of the mainboard and mechanical switch daughterboard.

Yours,
-S

So : we are in fact making progress, and a lot of solid work has already been put in. The device is not exactly complete yet, but it's not particularly far off.

While complexity could still spring from the dark corners - devil in details and all that - the sum total of such dark corners has been steadily decreasing over the weeks. A lot of work has gone specifically into making the design easily scalable, so we could easily transition to mass production once Stan's carpal tunnels finally fall off.

We do not perceive any serious incentive to rush through any aspect of all this, not only because delivering a quality first product is important, but also because this is in a sense the prototyping of development processes that will happen again in the future, and so time, effort and attention to detail sunk into this project serve not only to make the Cardano a better product, but also to make No Such lAbs a better company. Especially this later consideration is liable to deliver lasting value to the discerning investor.

We could in fact have opened pre-orders with an incomplete product, at any point during January. S.NSA is not particularly cash starved, and so we enjoy the rare luxury of being able to make the correct choice there. We are nevertheless taking protective measures to help manage the workload - such as hiring a third party to handle the chassis.

In short : there will be a Cardano, it will be a minutely engineered piece of hardware. The rest is lost in Zooko's triangle.

1. See first comment. [↩]