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Project Hammer: reduce collusion in the Canadian grocery sector
Project Hammer aims to drive more competition and reduce collusion in the Canadian grocery sector.
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We need to liberate the Postcode Address File
This is the Pentagon Papers for the UK address database
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A ChatGPT mistake cost us $10k
Edit: I want to preface this by saying yes the practices here are very bad and embarrassing (and we've since added robust unit/integration tests and alerting...
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Slashing data transfer costs in AWS
There are lots of ways to accidentally spend too much money on AWS, and one of the easiest ways is by carelessly transferring data. As of writing, AWS charges the following rates for data transfer:
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Pains of building your own billing system
Trying to cobble together your own billing system is like wrestling an octopus that's armed with tax codes and invoices instead of tentacles. It's a beast of complexity that can tangle up everything from customer support to compliance. I have 14 points on why it's hard.
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Facing reality about the EU is a core requirement for good management
Writing at the end of the world, from Hveragerði, Iceland
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Intel’s board, and an example of when boards and short-termism fail
Pat lost his seat because of an incompetent board. Let's meet them.
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How to build a $20B semiconductor fab
For the last several decades, one avenue of technological progress has towered over nearly everything else: semiconductors.
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Innovation heroes are a sign of a dysfunctional organization
A week ago I got invited to an “innovation hero” award ceremony at a government agency.
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Mistakes as a new manager
Transitioning from an individual contributor to a manager is tough but rewarding. The key is to delegate, find new sources of fulfillment, focus on quality over quantity, maintain proper engagement…
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The Rise and Fall of Silicon Graphics
or How a Rebellious Youth Briefly Conquered the World
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Story points are pointless, measure queues
Their creator has disavowed them. The measure and definition is different for every team that uses it. They sow confusion, create conflict, unreliable
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Paying people to work on open source is good
If you have a problem with maintainers getting paid then you have a problem with me and I suggest you let that one marinate.
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The OpenAI board was right
Even on little things, Sam is not consistently candid.
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CrowdStrike will be liable for damages in France, based on the OVH precedent
Hello, Today I am doing a quick post to cover the recent CrowdStrike incident that is estimated to have disabled 8.5M computers and caused more than $5.4B in damages since last week. Now a common q…
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What would it take to recreate Bell Labs?
For most of the 20th century, AT&T was almost entirely responsible for building and operating America’s telephone infrastructure.
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Home Screen Advantage
Cupertino's attempt to scuttle Progressive Web Apps under cover of chaos is exactly what it appears to be: a shocking attempt to keep the web from ever emerging as a true threat to the App Store and blame regulators for Apple's own malicious choices. By hook or by crook, Apple's going to maintain its home screen…
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Diseconomies of scale in fraud, spam, support, and moderation
If I ask myself a question like "I'd like to buy an SD card; who do I trust to sell me a real SD card and not some fake, Amazon or my local Best Buy?", of course the answer is that I trust my local Best Buy 1 more than Amazon, which is notorious for selling counterfeit SD cards. And if I ask who do I trust more, my…
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Hey, wait – is employee performance Gaussian distributed?
A data scientist’s perspective
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When did estimates turn into deadlines?
Tip: In complex software modernization projects treat estimates as guidelines, not deadlines.
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Mozilla Drops Onerep After CEO Admits to Running People-Search Networks
The nonprofit organization that supports the Firefox web browser said today it is winding down its new partnership with Onerep , an identity protection service recently bundled with Firefox that offers to remove users from hundreds of people-search sites. The move comes just days after a report by KrebsOnSecurity…
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Experts vs. Imitators
Learn how to spot the difference between and expert and an imitator with 5 key tells.
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OpenAI’s board, paraphrased: ‘All we need is unimaginable sums of money’
OpenAI is to this decade’s generative-AI revolution what Netscape was to the 1990s’ internet revolution.
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Why it's impossible to agree on what's allowed
On large platforms, it's impossible to have policies on things like moderation, spam, fraud, and sexual content that people agree on. David Turner made a simple game to illustrate how difficult this is even in a trivial case, No Vehicles in the Park . If you haven't played it yet, I recommend playing it now before…
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YC is wrong about LLMs for chip design
LLMs don’t make chips better. Good engineers do.
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Long Term Software Development
Recently the Dutch Electoral Board (where I am also a very part time advisor) invited me to do a talk reflecting on their open source Abacus vote tabulation software. Much software is now provided as a service, and is typically deployed continuously (CD, continuous deployment), surrounded by enough automated testing…
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Ticketmaster’s attempt to game arbitration services fails
In an effort to curb mass arbitration, Ticketmaster sought to switch arbitration service providers to New Era ADR, including for past ticket purchases. New Era incorporated some defense-favorable provisions to its mass arbitration provision. The Ninth Circuit holds those provisions...