361
Deadlines are pointless – what to do instead
Hot takes and cold truths on software, startups, and the lies we tell ourselves.
362
Facebook’s Libra is still dead – Diem to be sold off for spare parts
Maybe Libra was just very stupid. Because it was a blockchain project started by bitcoiners. Maybe it was always just dumb as hell.
363
We are still early with the cloud
Software development still has a long way to go until it fully embraces the cloud
364
500M Avira antivirus users introduced to cryptomining
Many readers were surprised to learn recently that the popular Norton 360 antivirus suite now ships with a program which lets customers make money mining virtual currency . But Norton 360 isn’t alone in this dubious endeavor: Avira antivirus — which has built a base of 500 million users worldwide largely by making the…
365
The disproportionate influence of early tech decisions
On how software that survives first encounter with production tends to live longer than we think it should.
366
Leveraging mispriced AWS spot instances
AWS creates a market for spot instance pricing, but this market is inefficient as customers don’t consider all instance types available. Leveraging this mispricing can save even more than spot pricing already does.
367
Money Stuff is Linear-ish
What was once a pre-market morning newsletter became an afternoon newsletter, 12 seconds at a time
368
Talk like a systems engineer: Yaks all the way down
Professional niches have – time immemorial – built their own special dialects and languages, sometimes using this as an…
369
370
371
Heroku: Core Impact
It’s been a rough month for Heroku. On April 15th, they opened a security notice that’s been active ever since – the status page, designed for incidents measured in hours rather than days or weeks, dutifully reads off a duration of “478 hours, 9 minutes” 1 .
372
Former officials say big tech monopoly power is vital to national security
When the U.S. security state announces that Big Tech's centralized censorship power must be preserved, we should ask what this reveals about whom this regime serves.
373
A Closer Look at the Lapsus$ Data Extortion Group
Microsoft and identity management platform Okta both this week disclosed breaches involving LAPSUS$ , a relatively new cybercrime group that specializes in stealing data from big companies and threatening to publish it unless a ransom demand is paid. Here’s a closer look at LAPSUS$, and some of the low-tech but…
374
375
The endless search for a crypto use case
Are we there yet?
376
On the Origin of the iPhone
As a product, the original iPhone exemplified Apple’s holistic approach to hardware and software that are designed for each other, yet, at the engineering level, the iPhone hardware and software teams were almost completely siloed, with only Jobs and a mere handful of his most trusted (and talented) senior executives…
377
A simple explanation of how money moves around the banking system (2013)
Twitter went mad last week because somebody had transferred almost $150m in a single Bitcoin transaction. This tweet was typical: There was much comment about how expensive or difficult this would …
378
Efficiency is the enemy? (2021)
If you ever find yourself stressed, overwhelmed, sinking into stasis despite wanting to change, or frustrated when you can’t respond to new opportunities, you need more slack in your life. Here’s how slack works and why you need more of it.
379
Why is every layoff 10-15%?
Changing economic markets suggests a shift in how some companies should operate, as well as what risks to assume for 2023
380
Cryptocurrency off-ramps, and the shift towards centralization
The 'off-ramps' from crypto—that is, the firms who will exchange your cryptocurrencies back into traditional currencies—are increasingly taking the position that is so common in discussions about privacy: 'if you're not doing anything wrong, what do you have to hide?'
381
Why your daily stand-ups don't work and how to fix them
Hot takes and cold truths on software, startups, and the lies we tell ourselves.
382
Separate Your Billing from Entitlements
Building your own entitlement service is key for supporting a modern, flexible SaaS product. Whenever I read about billing systems, there’s a lot of talk about the billing aspects but not so much around entitlements. In the spirit of sharing, and since I haven’t found any good articles about it, I decided to tell you…
383
Do Kwon in more trouble
He Sent $80 Million a Month to Secret Wallets Before Terra Luna Crashed
384
Microsoft Full Circle
Microsoft has come full circle from the company that cared more about Windows than Office; the retirement of the Office name is possible precisely because Microsoft gave up on Windows and went to t…
385
386
I'm Too Risk-Averse for Index Investing
Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Stock Market
387
Apple's feedback mechanism is broken
Apple's feedback system is fundamentally broken, and they don't seem to care.
388
389
Rights, Laws, and Google
Google is not bound by the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments, but its actions in a false positive CSAM case show that it is flouting the spirit behind them.
390
Why are nuclear power construction costs so high? Part III – the nuclear navy
This week we conclude our look at nuclear power construction costs. So far we’ve looked solely at conventional nuclear power stations that supply electricity to the grid for residential and commercial use. But civilian power stations aren’t the only sort of nuclear reactor that the US builds. The US Navy has been…