31
Cruise
There is a long and sordid history of people coming out of the woodwork with bogus claims when huge amounts of money are on the line. This has just happened to Cruise, which is run by my friend...
32
Facebook is the new Excel
If you’re building a SaaS startup, then your biggest competitor isn’t a competitor. It’s Microsoft Excel. That was the mantra a few years ago. Add in Google Docs and it still holds true. Contact lists, mailing lists, accounts, invoicing, mark...
33
Dropbox Hasn't Learned Their Lesson
You would think less than a month after a very popular HackerNews article on how Dropbox hacks your Mac, the file sharing company would be careful about their software distribution. They just distributed an update that hacks your UI and presents a Yahoo-like banner from 2004.
34
35
Google May Be Stealing Mobile Traffic
Update 10/17/2016 6:30pm: You can read a response from the tech lead of the AMP Project for Google, in the comment area. Update 11/01/2016 10:40pm: After learning more about AMP, it became clear that…
36
We Hire the Best, Just Like Everyone Else
One of the most common pieces of advice you’ll get as a startup is this: Only hire the best. The quality of the people that work at your company will be one of the biggest factors in your success – or failure. I’ve heard this advice over and over
37
Google is Forcing Routebuilder to Shut Down
TLDR: Google suddenly claims a “terms of service” violation on a route plotting site that has been built on the Maps API for a decade.
38
One More Sign World Is Shrinking – eBay Is for Suckers
If you live in an economy where officials are corrupt, contracts are hard to enforce, and trust is scarce, everyday transactions are burdensome and time-consuming. If you don’t want to get scammed,…
39
The TSA Randomizer App Cost $336k
You may have seen the TSA Randomizer on your last flight. A TSA agent holds an iPad. The agent taps the iPad, a large arrow points right or left, and you follow it into a given lane.
40
This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley
With only three more years of savings, you can finally afford that two-bedroom condo
41
The 2016 Election
I am endorsing Hillary Clinton for president. I've never endorsed a presidential candidate before, but I'm making an exception this year, because this election is exceptional. Donald Trump...
42
How Google Is Challenging AWS
AWS seems to have a dominant position in enterprise computing, but Google is trying to change the rules to favor their inherent strengths.
43
44
45
Hard Tech is Back
First of all, congrats to Kyle, Dan, and the rest of the Cruise team. You all have made amazing progress and we look forward to seeing more in the future. A popular criticism of Silicon Valley,...
46
Developer hiring and the market for lemons
Joel Spolsky has a classic blog post on "Finding Great Developers" where he popularized the meme that great developers are impossible to find, a corollary of which is that if you can find someone, they're not great. Joel writes,
47
48
What I Learned Selling a Software Business
Some lessons learned in selling a bootstrapped software business. Relevant to buyers or sellers.
49
Income inequality is not the problem, it's a symptom
Paul Graham today published two essays in which he challenges the idea that economic inequality is a problem. Since the 1970s, economic ...
50
51
Microsoft Kills off ISVs by Foisting Its Own Products That Are No Better
Hi Folks! Meet David, the magnificent masterpiece sculpted by Michelangelo at the start of the 16th century. A photo of his face with that curious furrowed brow featured on our very first anti-cyber…
52
Is Facebook’s Massive Open Office Scaring Away Developers?
In Search of Silence Joel Spolsky is a well-respected figure in Silicon Valley. He created the popular Trello project manager software and is currently the ... Read more
53
54
A free shipping mystery
If you've ever purchased a physical good on the internet, you know that shipping is a big deal. And all online shop owners know that providing competitive shipping is a key part of their success. It is indeed one of Amazon's greatest strengths and they are famous for offering free shipping to their Amazon Prime…
55
A Facebook Sixth Sense
I use Facebook every day — probably too much for my own good — and I’ve always been tempted to dive into their internals. That is, the…
56
A Response to Paul Graham’s Article on Income Inequality
While perusing HackerNews today, I encountered this article and this comment thread by Paul Graham (PG for short), founder of Ycombinator. I think that a lengthy response is in order. I originally …
57
Housing in the Bay Area
Jerry Brown has proposed legislation that would allow a lot more housing to be built in the Bay Area, and hopefully significantly reduce the cost of housing here. More supply should lead to lower...
58
Almost 80% of Private Day Traders Lose Money
A few months ago, I wrote a blog post about how penny auction sites make you money. As a reaction, some readers sent me links to day trading brokers that promise easy returns. These brokers allow private investors to hold stocks or currencies positions for a short time which makes it possible to speculate on small…
59
60
