A historical collection of our writing.
Last Tech Tuesday, I introduced the problem of concurrency: multiple programs executing at the same time. I used an example of a naive program for updating a vote count that could lose votes if multiple instances run concurrently. So how do we deal with this problem? There are many different […] Read more (opens Continuations in a new tab)
I am still in Europe now for a few days of skiing with some friends. Since I am also trying to get some work done at the same time, posts will continue to be super short. Today’s post is simply a suggestion to read this three part series by the Washington Post on the impact […] Read more (opens Continuations in a new tab)
At a dinner at DLD we were discussing the issue of libel and I was surprised to find one participant defending the UK law that allows Lord McAlpine to sue individuals who (re)tweeted an allegation against him. Apparently the amounts asked for depend on follower count. This approach seems to run […] Read more (opens Continuations in a new tab)
First time entrepreneurs often ask me what they should do to maximize their chances of raising venture capital. To which I invariably answer: “Not need it.” Why? Because raising capital or selling your company is all about having a credible alternative. If you have a credible alternative you will […] Read more (opens Continuations in a new tab)
When I first heard about SnapChat I was immediately reminded of the attempts of a friend of mine to establish a DRM’d email platform that would let recipients read an email but not do anything else with it that hadn’t been explicitly authorized (printing, forwarding, etc). There was some amazingly […] Read more (opens Continuations in a new tab)
Sorry, no Tech Tuesday today (due to my travel schedule). Quite fortunately that creates an opening for a brief post about Dwolla, Iowa and the Midwest more generally. I spent my first year in the US as an exchange student in Rochester, Minnesota and came away with a real fondness for the Midwest. […] Read more (opens Continuations in a new tab)
