So Telltale Games is out of business. Like most of the rest of the industry – including the employees of Telltale – I had no idea this was coming. I looked at the popularity of their breakout hit The Walking Dead and the overall quality of some of their earlier adventure game offerings and just assumed this was a…
Recently, Steve Yegge published two rants, each of which has gone viral and moved the Internet conversation needle a bit. I liked both of them, thought they were generally well-argued and useful. Unfortunately, there are a few assertions of fact there that are just wrong, and may be damaging. So I thought that, first…
For the past 9 months I have been presenting versions of this talk to AI researchers, investors, politicians and policy makers. I felt it was time to share these ideas with a wider audience. Thanks to the Ditchley conference on Machine Learning in 2017 for giving me a fantastic platform to get ear
Running a remote company in the US requires using terrible government websites and filling out onerous paperwork. Tortuga [https://www.tortugabackpacks.com] has seven US-based employees across four states. Four of those employees have moved between states while working for Tortuga. In total, we've registered with…
Few investments can compete with the ROI of building a truly effective team, but finding the right people can be a challenging process.
Windows 10 supports syncing email, contacts, and calendars with all major providers. However, Microsoft chooses to close it down to a handful of providers.
How do fundamental, structural changes in TV, in retail and in advertising interlock and accelerate each other, and what cascading effects might there be?
In previous posts I wrote about visionary entrepreneurs, and how to constantly ask how you can 10X your business. However, many startups fail because the founding team thinks *too big* from day one, and doesn't take the time to really define the short term, immediate value their product or business provides.
Google and Amazon acknowledge benefits of SQL, Elasticsearch introduces SQL interface, and MySQL finally becomes modern…after 20 years. These are exciting times in the world of databases.
Duckspeak Vs Smalltalk The Decline of the Xerox PARC Philosophy at Apple Computers Malcolm Gladwell's recent piece, "Creation Myth" , in...
What happens when a society with a penchant for the cosmetic meets a medium dominated by it? “The medium is the message.” Or so goes the famous saying from media scholar Marshall McLuhan, widely re…
Paper presented at the 14 th Rhodes Forum: Dialogue of Civilisations Research Institute, Panel 2: Economic Alternatives when Conventional Models Fail, Rhodos, Greece, on 1 October 2016
United reportedly has an effort to go after customers specifically that utilize Skiplagged to fly hidden city itineraries on the airline. In one case they're demanding payment of over $3000 and threatening to shut down the member's frequent flyer account and ban then from the airline. They are also threatening to send…
Having just written rather a sad piece on my company’s blog, I thought I’d cheer myself up a bit — and explain a few things that have been hugely …
[Translations: Japanese] “Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution.” — Clay Shirky I think this observation is brilliant. It reminds me of the clarity of the Peter Principle, which says that a person in … Continue reading →
Apple’s case before the Supreme Court is about standing; Apple has a strong case. That, though, doesn’t mean the App Store isn’t a monopoly — and that Apple isn’t increasing…
Patrick Collison started Stripe, dropped out of MIT, and reads 1–2 books a week. In this episode, he breaks down how Stripe was built, what most orgs get wrong about bets, why speed beats precision in decision making, and how to actually learn from the right people. It’s a masterclass in clarity.
It's been five great years, but now it is time for me to move on and try something else. During these five years I've met and interacted with a large number of awesome people at Mozilla, lots of new friends! I got the chance to work from home and yet work with a global team … Continue reading I’m leaving Mozilla →
Car people often look at Tesla the way Nokia looked at the iPhone. “Nice ideas, but we can easily do all of that, and they don’t understand our industry.” Nokia was wrong - but will the car industry look the same? Maybe not.
A hallmark of startup companies, the tech sector more broadly, and certainly our portfolio companies, is that they include equity in their compensation packages for their employees, often all employees. If you work for a tech company, chances are good that you will get options as part of your compensation package. I…
Update, 3/6/21: 2.5 years after they gave me a wild ride with admin access to their forums, Tesla announced that they will be killing off the Tesla
See also Bitshares: Don’t walk away – run, Stablecoins are doomed to fail, Stablecoins are doomed to fail, part II, and Stablecoins are doomed to fail, part III. UPDATE, 4/18/18 –…
Read our latest update: What Really Happened to Apple's AirPower?. Visit our site for leaks, news, and reviews for technology and related trends, cars & more.
