3031
Researchers and Founders
I spent many years working with founders and now I work with researchers. Although there are always individual exceptions, on average it’s surprising to me how different the best people in these...
Top posts
Every blog post that took off on Hacker News, ranked by the votes of its best submission. 8,981 posts.
Tech Industry & Business
Any year
3032
Talent
“It is generally ill-advised to say 'never' and I'm pleased for you that your grafting has got you to where you wanted to be.”
3033
Tech’s Two Philosophies
Google and Facebook represent one philosophy, and Microsoft and Apple represent another; tech needs both, but ultimately platforms are more important than aggregators.
3034
Qualcomm, National Security, and Patents
The Trump administration blocked Broadcom’s acquisition of Qualcomm, and I think it was the right move. Understanding why means understanding Qualcomm and Broadcom’s plan for the compan…
3035
Netflix's Annual Reports (10-Ks) used to be a work of art. What happened?
Netflix put some serious design resources into its Annual Reports pre-2010. What changed?
3036
The US is winning the AI race where it matters most: commercialization
Energy matters for AI, but the decisive layers are cloud infrastructure, data, and commercialization. On those layers the United States is ahead by a wide margin.
3037
The U.S. housing market vs. the Canadian housing market
The housing market is even worse in Canada than it is here.
3038
Why the U.S. can't build icebreaking ships
I want to say thank you to all the people who sent condolences following last week’s post, especially those who shared their own stories of loss.
3039
SouthwestAirlines' Meltdown Shows How Corporations Pit Consumers Against Workers
Our system is set up to create mutual antagonism between members of the working class. Meanwhile, faceless corporate executives remain shielded like mob bosses.
3040
3041
The Double Irish Dutch Sandwich: End of a Tax Evasion Strategy
I wrote a decade ago about the Double Irish Dutch Sandwich, a strategy for corporations to evade taxes that was widespread and large-scale enough to come to the attention of the International Monetary Fund. But due to various changes in national and international tax agreements, the strategy seems to have faded…
3042
3043
Why is OpenAI buying Windsurf?
$3 billion seems high to me. Google is on a warpath. And Apple shoots itself in the foot, twice.
3044
Nobody Likes the “Idea Guy”
One time I had a “great” idea for a telephone company. Service would be free—all the calls you want! But you’d have to listen to advertisements before each one. I asked my friend what he thought the idea was worth. His answer: “I don’t know. Telephone companies make a lot of money. Maybe $1 billion?” […]
3045
Are we repeating the telecoms crash with AI datacenters?
Looking at actual token demand growth, infrastructure utilization, and capacity constraints - the economics don't match the 2000s playbook like people assume
3046
Andrej Karpathy's talk on the future of the industry
Transcript of Andrej Karpathy's YC AI SUS talk at Y Combinator on June 17th, 2024.
3047
Economists study what happens when people stop using Facebook
In the most recent issue of the prestigious American Economic Review, a group of well-known economists published a paper titled “The Welfare Effects of Social Media.” It ... Read more
3048
The Moral Economy of Tech
This is the text version of remarks I gave on June 26, 2016, at a panel on the Moral Economy of Tech at the SASE conference in Berkeley. The other panel participants were Kieran Healy (whose remarks are here ), Stuart Russell and AnnaLee Saxenian .
3049
Useful engineering metrics and why velocity is not one of them
Hot takes and cold truths on software, startups, and the lies we tell ourselves.
3050
3051
Japan's book scene is moving from bookstores to libraries
Small local libraries are now becoming travel destinations
3052
The Future of Startup Funding
August 2010 Two years ago I wrote about what I called " a huge, unexploited opportunity in startup funding:" the growing disconnect between VCs, whose current business model requires them to invest large amounts, and a large class of startups that need less than they used to. Increasingly, startups want a couple…
3053
In-App Purchase Rules
Your app must use Apple’s in-app-purchase (IAP) system for all purchases made in the app.
3054
3055
Sandwich Bill of Materials
SBOM 1.0: A specification for sandwich supply chain transparency.
3056
3057
After 7 years in production, Scarf has reluctantly moved away from Haskell
After 7 years in production, Scarf has reluctantly moved away from Haskell — Avi Press
3058
A Surprise AWS Bill
The tale of the July 4th surprise $2700 AWS bill. It is more nuanced than you think and might have exposed a bug.
3059
Estonia saved its citizens 820 years by moving public services online
The Estonian government estimates that going digital has saved the state and its citizens, 820 years in time and resources
3060
FBI Raids Big Corporate Landlord over Nationwide Rent Hikes
I’ll get to the good and bad news of the week, but first I want to note the big story - Donald Trump’s conviction by a jury in New York - and a little story with big implications - the Federal Bureau of Investigation raiding a corporate landlord in cahoots with a nation-wide rent-fixing cartel that affects up to 16…