Rutger Bregman is a Dutch historian who has written on of the best books about universal basic income with Utopia for Realists (which I highly recommend reading). He followed this up with Humankind, a strong and much needed push back against the pervasive idea that humans are predominantly selfish and cruel. I highly recommend reading both of these books. I also love that he went to Davos and used that stage to be openly critical of the World Economic Forum. Over the weekend I read his latest...

Rutger Bregman is a Dutch historian who has written on of the best books about universal basic income with Utopia for Realists (which I highly recommend reading). He followed this up with Humankind, a strong and much needed push back against the pervasive idea that humans are predominantly selfish and cruel. I highly recommend reading both of these books. I also love that he went to Davos and used that stage to be openly critical of the World Economic Forum. Over the weekend I read his latest...

I recently ordered and received a developer edition of Microsoft’s Hololens. This is me looking goofy wearing it at the USV office:TL;DR: the Hololens is a well executed preview of an amazing augmented reality future. Compared to the Vive and Oculus (VR, I know the difference) the Hololens ships fully ready to go. Unbox, put on your head and go. It even arrived with its batteries charged. Nothing to download onto a separate computer. No cables for tethering. Just put the Hololens on and go. S...

I recently ordered and received a developer edition of Microsoft’s Hololens. This is me looking goofy wearing it at the USV office:TL;DR: the Hololens is a well executed preview of an amazing augmented reality future. Compared to the Vive and Oculus (VR, I know the difference) the Hololens ships fully ready to go. Unbox, put on your head and go. It even arrived with its batteries charged. Nothing to download onto a separate computer. No cables for tethering. Just put the Hololens on and go. S...

I started writing this review last night with the Oscars still going on, having seen Zero Dark Thirty the night before (I will have some separate comments on other Oscar choices). I went to see it despite having some trepidation about doing so. On the one hand, I had enjoyed Hurt Locker a lot. On the other, I have resented the zealous pursuit of folks who illegally downloaded Hurt Locker (which still is *not* available for streaming on Vudu) and much more importantly was concerned about Zero ...

I started writing this review last night with the Oscars still going on, having seen Zero Dark Thirty the night before (I will have some separate comments on other Oscar choices). I went to see it despite having some trepidation about doing so. On the one hand, I had enjoyed Hurt Locker a lot. On the other, I have resented the zealous pursuit of folks who illegally downloaded Hurt Locker (which still is *not* available for streaming on Vudu) and much more importantly was concerned about Zero ...

I started the Tech Tuesday series on programming in April of this year with an overview post that compared programming to telling a person how to do something. At the time, I presented nine different questions that this raises, such as which language to speak and which words to choose in that language. Some of the early posts that followed dealt with the three foundational questions, such as the choice of programming languages, their syntax and semantics. The next set of posts addressed the f...

I started the Tech Tuesday series on programming in April of this year with an overview post that compared programming to telling a person how to do something. At the time, I presented nine different questions that this raises, such as which language to speak and which words to choose in that language. Some of the early posts that followed dealt with the three foundational questions, such as the choice of programming languages, their syntax and semantics. The next set of posts addressed the f...

On Saturday, I went to see Hugo by Martin Scorsese with our two boys and my Mom who is visiting from Germany. It was my Mom’s first 3D movie and she was thoroughly enchanted by the effects, reaching for floating elements several times and loudly oohing. The 3D was used well throughout and with only a few “poke at the audience” moments that all more or less worked. As an aside: I noticed that the 3D glasses these days are less strongly polarized than I remember them and the movie felt relative...

On Saturday, I went to see Hugo by Martin Scorsese with our two boys and my Mom who is visiting from Germany. It was my Mom’s first 3D movie and she was thoroughly enchanted by the effects, reaching for floating elements several times and loudly oohing. The 3D was used well throughout and with only a few “poke at the audience” moments that all more or less worked. As an aside: I noticed that the 3D glasses these days are less strongly polarized than I remember them and the movie felt relative...

Thanks to an early copy (full disclosure: provided by Alexis – thanks!) I just had the pleasure of reading Alexis Ohanian’s “Without Their Permission” on my flight back from SF to New York. The book will come out on October 1st, but you can pre-order it now and I highly recommend that you do. It is really a three for one deal: first, a brief and entertaining history of both Reddit and Hipmunk; second, a wonderful two chapter Startup MBA that contains advice that I wholeheartedly endorse; and ...

Thanks to an early copy (full disclosure: provided by Alexis – thanks!) I just had the pleasure of reading Alexis Ohanian’s “Without Their Permission” on my flight back from SF to New York. The book will come out on October 1st, but you can pre-order it now and I highly recommend that you do. It is really a three for one deal: first, a brief and entertaining history of both Reddit and Hipmunk; second, a wonderful two chapter Startup MBA that contains advice that I wholeheartedly endorse; and ...

Over vacation I read Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson. Unlike many other recent books tackling the climate crisis, it is entirely focused on the controversial issue of geoengineering through solar radiation modification (SMR). The basic idea of SMR is to let slightly less sunlight into the Earth’s lower atmosphere where it can heat things up. Even a tiny decrease in solar radiation will have a big impact on global warming. To put upfront where I stand on this: I first wrote about the need...

Over vacation I read Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson. Unlike many other recent books tackling the climate crisis, it is entirely focused on the controversial issue of geoengineering through solar radiation modification (SMR). The basic idea of SMR is to let slightly less sunlight into the Earth’s lower atmosphere where it can heat things up. Even a tiny decrease in solar radiation will have a big impact on global warming. To put upfront where I stand on this: I first wrote about the need...

This weekend I went to see “The Hunger Games” with our oldest son (12). His twin sister separately saw the movie as part of a friend’s birthday party. For anyone who has been behind a gigantic rock, er, I mean doesn’t have children who are fans of Suzanne Collins’s novel on which the movie is based, here is a brief plot summary. The Hunger Games is set in a post-apocalyptic version North America. The region is now divided into 12 districts and ruled by a dictatorship located in the “Capitol.”...

This weekend I went to see “The Hunger Games” with our oldest son (12). His twin sister separately saw the movie as part of a friend’s birthday party. For anyone who has been behind a gigantic rock, er, I mean doesn’t have children who are fans of Suzanne Collins’s novel on which the movie is based, here is a brief plot summary. The Hunger Games is set in a post-apocalyptic version North America. The region is now divided into 12 districts and ruled by a dictatorship located in the “Capitol.”...