I Evaluated Dozens of Blockchain Startups in 2018
What I learned doing technical due diligence on blockchain startups seeking funding. The technology works - for exactly one use case. Everything else fails the database test....
What BBS Culture Taught Us That Silicon Valley Forgot
1980s BBS culture created authentic communities through sysop relationships and local control. Taiwan's PTT still has 1.5M active users. First-person perspective from a former SysOp....
The ASR Privacy Paradox
ASR systems need training data. Training data contains sensitive audio. How federated learning solves the conflict between ML requirements and privacy laws....
The Day Netscape Changed Everything
Netscape's IPO established the template for modern startup culture: growth over profit, massive early valuations, and boom-bust rhythms. Understanding that August day in 1995 helps explain why startup...
Speaker Diarization: The Hardest Problem Nobody Talks About
Why Zoom transcripts attribute quotes to the wrong people. The cocktail party problem isn't solved - it's hidden. Multi-device synchronization as a workaround....
Why ICQ Died: Lessons From the First Instant Messenger
ICQ invented instant messaging and reached 100 million users. Then it died through corporate neglect, software bloat, and missed mobile transition. Every messaging platform today faces the same forces...
Write Your Own Build Scripts
Build tool complexity has gotten out of control. A 50-line shell script often does the job better than any framework....
The NFT Crash Was Predictable
NFTs crashed 95% from their 2021 peak. This was predictable from the start. Artificial scarcity of infinitely reproducible digital files was never going to hold value....
The Myth of Overnight Success
Every startup success story is a lie by omission. The media compresses years of grinding, pivots, and near-death experiences into a simple narrative. The 'overnight success' takes 7-10 years on averag...
Your Database Is Already the Best API You'll Ever Write
For decades we buried databases under layers of abstraction. Tools like PostgREST and Supabase show that PostgreSQL with Row-Level Security is often the best API you'll ever write....
Why Technical Interviews Test the Wrong Thing
Technical interviews optimize for competitive coding skills that rarely matter in actual work. What we should test instead - and how hiring could improve....
Why Engineers Should Own Their Build System
Build systems have become black boxes that nobody understands. When they break, teams are helpless. Here's the case for simpler builds that engineers actually control....
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