11/06
Boo for me! Yay! for Massachusetts — Today my first Amazon order with sales tax. Too bad for me, but good for our state!
11/03
(De) bunking some myths about those $1b startups — I want to direct your attention ton interesting article about $1 Billion Startups – “Unicorns” – on TechCrunch today. Some myths debunked and others confirmed: > So, we wondered, as we’re a year into our new fund (which doesn’t need to back billion-dollar companies to succeed, but hey, we like to learn): how likely is it for a startup to achieve a billion-dollar valuation? Is there anything we can learn from the mega hits of the past decade, like Facebook, LinkedIn and Workday? (from: Welcome To The Unicorn Club: Learning From Billion-Dollar Startups | TechCrunch🙂
10/28
Do it for free! — Tim Kreider’s essay could apply as easily to all those people who complain that an iPhone app is not free, or is so so expensive at $5.99. Not too long ago a piece of software would get $99 or $495. Makes you wonder how long Adobe can keep on charging through the nose for Photoshop and Illustrator. ...
10/25
[FUNNY] Congress investigates problems with healthcare.gove — Really, this is NO JOKING MATTER > Rep. Upton said that “looking serious and nodding our heads a lot” contributed to the illusion that committee members had even scant comprehension of what was being discussed. “At the end of the day, a lot of it came down to not asking the questions you really wanted to ask,” he said. “Like, ‘What exactly is a Web site?’” (from Congress Spends Several Hours Pretending to Understand Internet : The New Yorker)
10/23
The Apple Store: Fascinating look behind the scenes — This was a fun read with lots of cool insights. If your blood pressure surges and adrenalin courses through your veins as you approach the big white electronic temple then read on. Here’s an excerpt from: [Retail Therapy: Inside the Apple Store](http://gizmodo.com/retail-therapy-inside-the-apple-sto...
10/21
Gripping story of restaurant — Who knew that a story about behind-the-scenes of a big restaurant could be gripping, but this one is. I guess it’s a combination of a fascinating operation with outstanding writing. Check it out. [22 Hours in Balthazar – NYTimes.com](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/20/magazine/22-hours-in-balthazar....
10/19
More about GreenGoose and the Brush Monkey — Amazing story of a great looking product, and awesome demo, on the spot investment of $100,000 and still… It didn’t work. The story was told by Scott Kirsner in the Boston Globe: > “Today, GreenGoose is out of business, and Krejcarek is grappling with $80,000 in credit card debt — his approach...
10/19
Amazon reminds me of Raiders of the Lost Ark — The only difference is that Amazon seems to know exactly every little item is in this crazy warehouse. Look here for a bunch more amazing pictures!
10/07
Bizarro News from Fox — Fox News debuts bizarre, giant tablets in its outrageous new newsroom | The Verge: > Fox News has just unveiled a breathtakingly ridiculous newsroom, complete with novelty-sized Windows-based touchscreens, a Twitter wall, and a wannabe Minority Report-style display, which it hopes will connect it with generations of viewers who use smartphones and apps.
10/07
Scary Tongue — [
](Y.Squarespace.Utils.lightboxAsset()Here’s how folks in Canada are convinced not to buy cigarettes. This is a box of cigarettes that I happened across in an airport in Canada. Pretty gross. yes, I am convinced!
10/05
Fascinating article about the technology behind Healthcare.gov — Pretty amazing that the govt is actually placing all the code for healthcare.gov on github for all of us to inspect. There’s only one commit, and it’s 3 months old. Also there’s a [reasonable amount of developer information available.](https://www.healthc...
10/01
Interesting behind-the-scenes look at NSA — Zegart joins scholars at NSA for rare briefing on spy agency’s woes – CISAC: > CISAC Co-Director Amy Zegart and nine other national security and intelligence scholars were recently invited to the headquarters of the National Security Agency in Fort Meade, Md., for unprecedented talks with high-ranking officials. They discussed cybersecurity, the plummeting public trust in the agency, its relationship with Congress and how to rebuild the agency’s reputation and rethink its program operations.
10/01
I wouldn’t put it past them — How much do you want to bet that somewhere someone in this country a malware or other attack is being launched against the new “Obamacare” Web site? I have great sympathy for the team(s) that put up that web site, back end and other support infrastructure for this site...
09/25
[security] Fascinating ID Theft saga — It is quite amazing (but not surprising) the degree of sophistication, care, and patience these hackers apply. Their engineering and business savvy are at the same level as the best of Google and Amazon. Data Broker Giants Hacked by ID Theft Service — Krebs on Security: > An identity theft service that sells Social Security numbers, birth records, credit and background reports on millions of Americans has infiltrated computers at some of America’s largest consumer and business data aggregators, according to a seven-month investigation by KrebsOnSecurity.
09/24
[teaching] A student’s perspective on course selection — I stumbled across this article while waiting for a meeting to start. It is a bit “inside baseball”, in this case “inside brandeis” but it was revealing to me at least. Students can “shop” for courses for the first two weeks of the term, attending classes and adding and dropping at will during that t...
09/20
30 Year TV Show — I just saw that the final “Season” of Mad Men will be delivered in two mini-seasons, 7 episdodes in 2014 and 7 more in 2015. I had this idea for a TV show that has not been done yet. Just like the contrivance of 24 hours is that it occurred over a 24 hour period, in real time, my show, called 30 Ye...
09/17
Engraving an iPhone knocks $25 off resale value — Good news: I looked up what the trade-in value is for my iPhone 4S 32Gig. Much to my pleasant surprise, it’s $195. Almost enough to pay for my new iPhone 5S! Bad news: If I hadn’t stupidly engraved it, the trade-in price would be $220. Word to the wise: Don’t engrave.
09/12
Looks like a fun book: “Cockpit Confidential” — The Many Mysteries of Air Travel – NYTimes.com: > If you’d like the answers, I highly recommend Patrick Smith’s new book, “Cockpit Confidential.” Mr. Smith is a pilot and blogger; much of the book’s format and contents are on display at his Web site, AskThePilot.com, or in the archives of the “Ask the Pilot” column he wrote for Salon.com for years.
09/09
Gender Equity at Harvard: great article — Harvard Business School Case Study – Gender Equity – NYTimes.com: > The administrators and the class of 2013 were parting ways, their experiment continuing. The deans vowed to carry on but could not say how aggressively: whether they were willing to revise the tenure process to attract more female contenders, or allow only firms that hired and promoted female candidates to recruit on campus. “We made progress on the first-level things, but what it’s permitting us to do is see, holy cow, how deep-seated the rest of this is,” Ms. Frei said.