If you have been following along, we are now on Step 5 of the web cycle where we find ourselves at the server that is answering an HTTP request. Because the HTTP protocol is well defined anyone in theory can implement a web server. In practice these days most people run one of less than a handful of servers with Apache, IIS (Microsoft) and more recently nginx accounting for the bulk of all web sites. The reason for this degree of concentration is that much like database software, the web serv...

If you have been following along, we are now on Step 5 of the web cycle where we find ourselves at the server that is answering an HTTP request. Because the HTTP protocol is well defined anyone in theory can implement a web server. In practice these days most people run one of less than a handful of servers with Apache, IIS (Microsoft) and more recently nginx accounting for the bulk of all web sites. The reason for this degree of concentration is that much like database software, the web serv...

Since I am still a bit typing challenged (but thankfully much improved), today here are two links to posts worth reading. The first is Vinod Khosla’s “The ‘Unhyped’ New Areas in Internet and Mobile.” While I may not agree with each of the twelve areas they all seem directionally interesting and Khosla does a great job distinguishing them from the more generic mobile and cloud which he characterizes as enabling technologies. The second is Jerry Colonna’s guest post over at AVC on “The Crucible...

Since I am still a bit typing challenged (but thankfully much improved), today here are two links to posts worth reading. The first is Vinod Khosla’s “The ‘Unhyped’ New Areas in Internet and Mobile.” While I may not agree with each of the twelve areas they all seem directionally interesting and Khosla does a great job distinguishing them from the more generic mobile and cloud which he characterizes as enabling technologies. The second is Jerry Colonna’s guest post over at AVC on “The Crucible...

Last year I mentioned Americans Elect twice as part of other posts. Since I am still typing mostly with my left hand, I am simply pointing everyone to Fred’s post about Americans Elect today. Americans Elect has the potential to be super important but only if more people know about it. I am particularly excited about the potential to have a campaign finance reform only candidate. In fact, Larry Lessig himself has been proposed as a candidate.

Last year I mentioned Americans Elect twice as part of other posts. Since I am still typing mostly with my left hand, I am simply pointing everyone to Fred’s post about Americans Elect today. Americans Elect has the potential to be super important but only if more people know about it. I am particularly excited about the potential to have a campaign finance reform only candidate. In fact, Larry Lessig himself has been proposed as a candidate.

Peter Thiel was interviewed by Francis Fukuyama (he of the “End of History”). The interview is well worth reading as it contains a lot of provocative thoughts. I agree with Thiel that the US government has lost its ability to achieve the kind of progress represented by the great public works projects or the Apollo program. I disagree though on the causes for this believing that it is primarily due to the pervasive influence of special interests and money in politics. I also don’t agree that w...

Peter Thiel was interviewed by Francis Fukuyama (he of the “End of History”). The interview is well worth reading as it contains a lot of provocative thoughts. I agree with Thiel that the US government has lost its ability to achieve the kind of progress represented by the great public works projects or the Apollo program. I disagree though on the causes for this believing that it is primarily due to the pervasive influence of special interests and money in politics. I also don’t agree that w...

Sorry, no Tech Tuesday today. Can’t type a long post until my right hand gets better or I get dictation set up. In the meantime: a huge thank you to everyone who contributed suggestions and help. I have received tons of excellent advice. Thanks!

Sorry, no Tech Tuesday today. Can’t type a long post until my right hand gets better or I get dictation set up. In the meantime: a huge thank you to everyone who contributed suggestions and help. I have received tons of excellent advice. Thanks!

In 2010, I wrote about ACTA several times. Essentially, ACTA was a behind the scenes effort to create a global copyright framework that would significantly strengthen rightsholders’ enforcement options. The initial ACTA process was held in secret for several years before drafts of the agreement leaked and finally the finished version was published. Somewhat belatedly the citizens of several European countries have woken up to the extent to which ACTA tries to influence domestic laws. The resu...

In 2010, I wrote about ACTA several times. Essentially, ACTA was a behind the scenes effort to create a global copyright framework that would significantly strengthen rightsholders’ enforcement options. The initial ACTA process was held in secret for several years before drafts of the agreement leaked and finally the finished version was published. Somewhat belatedly the citizens of several European countries have woken up to the extent to which ACTA tries to influence domestic laws. The resu...

Years ago I had a run-in with carpal tunnel syndrome. I stopped typing for a while altogether and then switched to a split keyboard and eased back into typing as slowly as I could. Thankfully the pain went away. After some time without problems I got sloppy, put away the split keyboard and happily banged away on the keyboard of my MacBook. Fast forward: towards the end of last week the problems in might right hand returned with a vengeance. So now I am back to: (A) Minimal typing, which means...

Years ago I had a run-in with carpal tunnel syndrome. I stopped typing for a while altogether and then switched to a split keyboard and eased back into typing as slowly as I could. Thankfully the pain went away. After some time without problems I got sloppy, put away the split keyboard and happily banged away on the keyboard of my MacBook. Fast forward: towards the end of last week the problems in might right hand returned with a vengeance. So now I am back to: (A) Minimal typing, which means...

So here is a very rare opportunity: a truly exciting manufacturing job in New York City. Shapeways is setting up a 3D printing facility here in a super cool location and needs someone to own that. They will have a completely awesome lineup of machines there that all seem like they have arrived from the future. The challenge of the job is not just to push these 3D “printers” to their performance envelope but also to structure a highly efficient post-printing operation that can deal with thousa...

So here is a very rare opportunity: a truly exciting manufacturing job in New York City. Shapeways is setting up a 3D printing facility here in a super cool location and needs someone to own that. They will have a completely awesome lineup of machines there that all seem like they have arrived from the future. The challenge of the job is not just to push these 3D “printers” to their performance envelope but also to structure a highly efficient post-printing operation that can deal with thousa...

One of the great sacred cows of the movie business has been the theatrical release window. First a movie is only in theatrical release. Then there may be a period where it is only on DVD. And finally it may be everywhere including various online options. Over the years the theatrical release window has compressed as described for instance in this 2009 Wharton piece. But it still exists and I believe is a major contributor to piracy. Maintaining a theatrical release window is really the perfec...

One of the great sacred cows of the movie business has been the theatrical release window. First a movie is only in theatrical release. Then there may be a period where it is only on DVD. And finally it may be everywhere including various online options. Over the years the theatrical release window has compressed as described for instance in this 2009 Wharton piece. But it still exists and I believe is a major contributor to piracy. Maintaining a theatrical release window is really the perfec...

We are continuing along with the web request cycle. Last week we took a look at the HTTP protocol. There I already mentioned that HTTP requests and responses travel over a TCP/IP connection. Today we will dive a bit deeper into TCP/IP. This is technically not really necessary for understanding the request cycle because these lower levels of the network are completely abstracted away when you develop for the web (which is a fancy way of saying you get to use it without worrying about how it wo...

We are continuing along with the web request cycle. Last week we took a look at the HTTP protocol. There I already mentioned that HTTP requests and responses travel over a TCP/IP connection. Today we will dive a bit deeper into TCP/IP. This is technically not really necessary for understanding the request cycle because these lower levels of the network are completely abstracted away when you develop for the web (which is a fancy way of saying you get to use it without worrying about how it wo...