On Twitter this morning I received a link to a Guardian piece titled “In the digital economy, we’ll soon all be working for free – and I refuse” by Suzanne Moore. What caught my attention was not so much the piece itself, which has many arguments that I have been making on Continuations for some time about technology being the driving force behind income inequality and the disappearance of work. Instead I was intrigued by the “I refuse” part. There is, unfortunately, not much elaboration on t...

On Twitter this morning I received a link to a Guardian piece titled “In the digital economy, we’ll soon all be working for free – and I refuse” by Suzanne Moore. What caught my attention was not so much the piece itself, which has many arguments that I have been making on Continuations for some time about technology being the driving force behind income inequality and the disappearance of work. Instead I was intrigued by the “I refuse” part. There is, unfortunately, not much elaboration on t...

We took a bunch of days off for a family vacation. We went down to the Turks & Caicos and had a fantastic time with a great mix between just hanging out / reading and sports / adventure activities. For the first time on a vacation I actually missed blogging, which I guess is a testament to the power of habits. Still as I was trying to minimize my time on a computer and had to do a bit of email it was blogging that took the hit (except for announcing our investment in Firebase yesterday). Book...

We took a bunch of days off for a family vacation. We went down to the Turks & Caicos and had a fantastic time with a great mix between just hanging out / reading and sports / adventure activities. For the first time on a vacation I actually missed blogging, which I guess is a testament to the power of habits. Still as I was trying to minimize my time on a computer and had to do a bit of email it was blogging that took the hit (except for announcing our investment in Firebase yesterday). Book...

I have so many thoughts buzzing around my head about surveillance and what is happening with the NSA and Edward Snowden that it’s hard to know where to start. So I have attempted to condense things down into the most important points as I see them: First, let me unequivocally state that I am personally grateful to Snowden for exposing the extent of surveillance itself and maybe even more importantly the ridiculousness that is the legal framework within which it is conducted. Second, Snowden’s...

I have so many thoughts buzzing around my head about surveillance and what is happening with the NSA and Edward Snowden that it’s hard to know where to start. So I have attempted to condense things down into the most important points as I see them: First, let me unequivocally state that I am personally grateful to Snowden for exposing the extent of surveillance itself and maybe even more importantly the ridiculousness that is the legal framework within which it is conducted. Second, Snowden’s...

I think it is super important in the current debate about government surveillance to separate two different arguments. First, I have stated and continue to believe that large scale secret programs without supervision and without checks and balances are unacceptable for a democracy. The potential for abuse and the cost in terms of a loss of rights (eg having a fair trial) are simply too large. Second, we should, however, not make the mistake of applying what Taleb would call a turkey argument ...

I think it is super important in the current debate about government surveillance to separate two different arguments. First, I have stated and continue to believe that large scale secret programs without supervision and without checks and balances are unacceptable for a democracy. The potential for abuse and the cost in terms of a loss of rights (eg having a fair trial) are simply too large. Second, we should, however, not make the mistake of applying what Taleb would call a turkey argument ...

The FBI is asking for an update to the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) which mandated a backdoor for communications gear. This revised version known as CALEA-II is asking for such a backdoor to be extended to all software communications services. I have been meaning to write about why this is a bad idea but Bruce Schneier does such an outstanding job explaining it that I simply recommend you read his post. The only thing I want to add is that all the evidence at...

The FBI is asking for an update to the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) which mandated a backdoor for communications gear. This revised version known as CALEA-II is asking for such a backdoor to be extended to all software communications services. I have been meaning to write about why this is a bad idea but Bruce Schneier does such an outstanding job explaining it that I simply recommend you read his post. The only thing I want to add is that all the evidence at...

At USV we look for businesses that have network effects and use the internet to do things that simply weren’t possible before. We are particularly thrilled when we can find opportunities that also have the potential of having a positive impact on society. This is why I am excited about what the team at amee in the UK has come up with over the last year: a networked approach to environmental and financial risk (amee is a USV portfolio company). Amee now publishes an amee environmental score fo...

At USV we look for businesses that have network effects and use the internet to do things that simply weren’t possible before. We are particularly thrilled when we can find opportunities that also have the potential of having a positive impact on society. This is why I am excited about what the team at amee in the UK has come up with over the last year: a networked approach to environmental and financial risk (amee is a USV portfolio company). Amee now publishes an amee environmental score fo...

The topic fo today’s Tech Tuesday is one that every startup I have ever seen struggles with: what to do about technical debt. First off, what is technical debt? The Wikipedia page explains it as “the eventual consequences of poor or evolving software architecture and software development” which result in more effort for subsequent work.This is actually quite good because it makes clear that technical debt doesn’t just result from mistakes (the “poor” part) but also from “evolving.” And as you...

The topic fo today’s Tech Tuesday is one that every startup I have ever seen struggles with: what to do about technical debt. First off, what is technical debt? The Wikipedia page explains it as “the eventual consequences of poor or evolving software architecture and software development” which result in more effort for subsequent work.This is actually quite good because it makes clear that technical debt doesn’t just result from mistakes (the “poor” part) but also from “evolving.” And as you...

One of the questions asked by a Tech Tuesday reader was about using multiple different programming languages for different parts of a site. Back in the early days of the web that wasn’t really an issue because you would write the page generation in something like Perl or TCL and that was all there was. Well, not really because even then you had to know HTML but of course early HTML was so minimal that it didn’t really matter much. Well along came more HTML, CSS and most importantly Javascript...

One of the questions asked by a Tech Tuesday reader was about using multiple different programming languages for different parts of a site. Back in the early days of the web that wasn’t really an issue because you would write the page generation in something like Perl or TCL and that was all there was. Well, not really because even then you had to know HTML but of course early HTML was so minimal that it didn’t really matter much. Well along came more HTML, CSS and most importantly Javascript...

By now it is no longer a secret that the NSA has been conducting a massive data gathering effort on US citizens. Let me say right up front: doing this in secret and reviewed only in closed door hearings and subject only to a secret court is fundamentally incompatible with democracy. The potential for abuse, especially when combined with other excessive powers given to government by the Patriot Act, is simply unacceptable. On the other side I completely see why having this data could in fact b...

By now it is no longer a secret that the NSA has been conducting a massive data gathering effort on US citizens. Let me say right up front: doing this in secret and reviewed only in closed door hearings and subject only to a secret court is fundamentally incompatible with democracy. The potential for abuse, especially when combined with other excessive powers given to government by the Patriot Act, is simply unacceptable. On the other side I completely see why having this data could in fact b...

I have been meaning to write about “internet exceptionalism” since I read a post titled “It Always Comes Down to Math” but various political and economic events intervened. The key quote summarizing the post is “but at the end of the day, regardless of what business you’re in, everything comes down to the same math problem. Revenue minus expenses must equal a positive number.” That is of course not much of an insight although it would have been useful to add something like “from some point fo...

I have been meaning to write about “internet exceptionalism” since I read a post titled “It Always Comes Down to Math” but various political and economic events intervened. The key quote summarizing the post is “but at the end of the day, regardless of what business you’re in, everything comes down to the same math problem. Revenue minus expenses must equal a positive number.” That is of course not much of an insight although it would have been useful to add something like “from some point fo...