Post 13 min read
The thieves are upset about theft
AI labs trained on everyone's data without asking. Now they're furious that other AI labs are training on their outputs. The pattern is older than electricity.
Thoughts
-
- Post 4 min read
Configuring this Blog with a Delightful Example
A kitchen-sink post that exercises every typographic element — headings, blockquotes, images, code, lists, and more — so the design configurator has something real to chew on.
- Post 2 min read
A single data center drinks five million gallons of water a day
America's energy and water infrastructure cannot sustain AI buildout without radical change.
- Post 2 min read
Productivity is up, but is your time worth more?
Coding productivity metrics are rising, but the real question is whether human judgment is becoming more valuable.
- Post 3 min read
Toggle your inner critic
High taste is a superpower in review, but a liability during creation—separating judgment from making is the skill creators need most.
- Post 2 min read
The GPU accumulation era is ending
Raw compute scaling is hitting limits; the next breakthroughs require hardware-software co-design and specialization.
- Post 2 min read
How do you understand code you didn't write?
Code generation speed isn't the bottleneck—understanding and verifying AI-generated code is, and current tools optimize the wrong 5% of development.
- Post 2 min read
Will it work out?
Uncertainty has shaped human decision-making for millennia—from ancient dice to modern language models—teaching us to work with randomness, not against it.
- Post 2 min read
I could've been an awesome Dungeon Master
Reflecting on D&D world-building skills and what generative world models mean for the future of storytelling and creative expression.
- Post 2 min read
Building for myself first
Using agentic development to prototype Swift apps that solve personal problems with privacy, ownership, and connection at their core.
- Post 2 min read
A fundamental shift on AI opportunities
The real opportunity in AI is disrupting incumbents and creating new products, not building more AI platforms.
- Post 2 min read
The cave you fear to enter
As AI handles optimization, human superpower shifts to ideation and the courage to create badly—making and learning without measuring.
- Post 2 min read
You didn't need to predict the App Store
Mobile blindsided many companies that moved slowly; AI will repeat this cycle—start small, measure, and upgrade every quarter.
- Post 4 min read
AI autonomy level framework
Framework for understanding AI autonomy levels outside self-driving, from copy-paste to full autonomous systems.
- Post 2 min read
What the heck is Cy up to?
Learning at speed to build AI-enabled products that return people to the real world, moving beyond screens.
- Post 2 min read
You down with A.P.P.?
A rap parody celebrating AI Paired Programming—the synergy between humans and AI in software development.
- Post 2 min read
Willpower is not unlimited
Willpower and resilience are finite resources that must be managed strategically, not glorified into burnout.
- Post 1 min read
AI won't magically replace companies
Economic pressure and frozen job markets will drive a new generation to build, sparking another wave of founder-led disruption.
- Post 2 min read
Hot take on the future of coding
Most individual contributor developers will need to re-skill within five years as AI agents take over execution work.
- Post 2 min read
No team votes itself out of existence
Conway's Law shows why organizations keep building what they did yesterday—and why Tesla's system reimagining beat a hundred years of optimization.
- Post 2 min read
Hot take on Sora
Sora's outputs remain largely unusable at current pricing; the model needs dramatic improvements in consistency to justify its value.
- Post 2 min read
Will there be 10 billion humanoid robots?
The raw material constraints for 10B humanoid robots by 2040 are severe—especially lithium and rare earth elements.
- Post 2 min read
Excuse the nostalgic rant
San Francisco's tech community gathering places have vanished, taking with them the energy that built the startup ecosystem.
- Post 2 min read
1-bit models and the future of on-device AI
Binary neural networks achieve comparable performance to 16-bit models while using 3x less memory, 4x less GPU resources, and 100x less energy.
- Post 2 min read
AI is a new entity
Understanding that AI agents represent a fundamental shift beyond smarter tools—a genuinely new form of intelligence with exponential capability.
- Post 2 min read
Google's sloppy Gemma launch
Google's open-source Gemma launch failed to account for community infrastructure, creating a poor first impression with key stakeholders.
- Post 3 min read
On a personal note
Reflecting on a transformative period of recovery, exploration, and the decision to build something new in the age of AI agents.
- Post 2 min read
Projections on OpenAI after Altman
When risk-averse leadership replaces visionary founders, the focus shifts from innovation to asset protection.
- Post 2 min read
Stop romanticizing entrepreneurship
People aren't inspired by a hero's journey of suffering—they're inspired by movement and momentum. Entrepreneurship is just another path.
- Post 2 min read
It's hard to admit this
My first company failed because I tried to solve everything at once, lacked product-market fit, and didn't listen to users.
- Post 2 min read
I shut down Spine
After co-founder disagreement, shutting down the project in an evening freed me to find a new direction within a week.
- Post 1 min read
I was alone on AI ethics for a long time
In 2010, I left a great role to build a product focused on fair algorithms. Years before the movement existed.
- Post 1 min read
The last thing I said to him
A tribute to Allen Romero—a fellow founder who persevered for ten years on a mission to bring people closer together IRL.
- Post 1 min read
Shakespeare didn't become Shakespeare by studying Shakespeare
Compete with yourself, not others. Define you and be the greatest possible version of that.
- Post 1 min read
Prioritize your questions like features
If you manage a work queue, you already know feature prioritization. Apply the same discipline to open questions.
- Post 1 min read
2 billion people already have your distribution channel
Countless companies try to kill the spreadsheet. There's more value in doing the hard work within the legacy ecosystem.
- Quip
Being Suez'd
- Post 1 min read
If your team is apologizing for doctor appointments
You have a cultural problem. Leaders who skip self-care send a signal that trickles down into burnout and risk aversion.
- Post 1 min read
I had a sleeping bag in my office
A decade of hustle culture experiments that made me no more successful—just less enjoyable to be around.
- Post 1 min read
On CEOs using company channels for politics
Thoughts on the Expensify email blast—I agree with the message but object to the channel. Apply the inverse test.
- Post 1 min read
We're not going back
Written March 2020—the remote work shift has already happened. Employers who think everyone's returning to offices will find a rude awakening.
- Post 7 min read
Bias in AI: A problem recognized but still unresolved
Algorithmic bias is a known problem. Two years after Tyrant in the Code, the debate rages on but the demographics haven't changed.
- Post 12 min read
How autonomous vehicles and hyperloop are scooting along
Two years ago, Lime was a great addition to guacamole, rather than a sidewalk.
- Post 10 min read
Will tech companies change the way we manage our health?
The top 10 tech companies spent $4.7 billion on healthcare acquisitions since 2012. What are they after?
- Post 6 min read
Amazon isn't to blame for the Postal Service's woes, but it will need to innovate to survive
Trump blames Amazon for the Postal Service losing billions. The real story is more complicated.
- Post 6 min read
Dear United: Autonomous cars will pull you out of your seat
Autonomous cars will eat short-haul air travel. Comfort, price, and flexibility all favor the ground.
- Post 4 min read
With autonomy, commercial real estate could go mobile
The next land rush might not involve land. Autonomous fleets could replace storefronts and reshape commercial real estate.
- Post 5 min read
Autonomous cars will bring a moveable feast of products and services
Would you be comfortable buying glasses sight-unseen?
- Post 15 min read
Transport's coming upheaval
Americans spend 29.6 billion hours a year commuting. Hyperloop and autonomous cars will reshape where we live, work, and settle.
- Post 5 min read
Is Whole Foods a healthy option for Amazon?
Amazon is buying Whole Foods for $14 billion. It's not about groceries -- it's about fulfillment locations, delivery fleets, and drone landing pads.
- Post 11 min read
Tyrant in the code
AI isn't biased because it's evil. It's biased because its creators are a sea of dudes building scissors for right-handed people.
- Post 3 min read
Dear President-Elect,
You’ve won. Congratulations!
- Post 10 min read
Apple lays the groundwork to kill online advertising
Apple's slow-squeeze strategy against Google's search revenue is becoming clear. Four moves to check the king.
- Quip
What Lies Behind the Wall
- Post 2 min read
Being comfortable with the unknowable
Understanding that reality is constantly changing and absolutes are rare; learning to accept uncertainty.
- Post 5 min read
6 Ways Startups Can Design for Accessibility
Accessibility is a huge problem in the tech world that we don’t talk enough about.
- Quip
Silicon Valley’s Biggest Investors Prefer Their Wrist to Apple Watch
- Quip
Will Google’s Fi make you say bye to Verizon and AT&T?
- Post 8 min read
The Rise of Community Media
The story of why Social Media couldn’t scale to provide us all a voice.
- Quip
Unsolved and Uncharted Territory in Online Video
- Post 5 min read
Creating a Home for Intelligent Media
You’re too good for clickbait, so you should read this. Seriously. Because, Gigaom.
- Quip
AOL’s Original Mission.
- Post 1 min read
On criticizing Mayer
There isn't a pundit criticizing Mayer that has ever managed a turnaround at a large company. Turnarounds take time.
- Post 1 min read
Vanity metrics aren't the problem
More toxic than vanity metrics is the celebrity worship within the entrepreneurial community. We should challenge one another, not pander to celebs.
- Post 6 min read
You’re Not Ev Williams, Yet
When you read advice from folks like Evan Williams and others who have a well-known brand, it’s important to step back and realize that…
- Quip
The follow-up calendar invite
- Quip
Stop grabbing beers
- Quip
What does 'start-ups' mean as a skill?
- Quip
NASA and Bruce Willis
- Quip
LinkedIn let me in
- Quip
Which network would you drop?
- Quip
Executive punctuality is newsworthy
- Post 1 min read
The only product framework worth knowing
I'm not a fan of many models beyond: 1) talk to people, 2) build something, 3) try said something. But Nir Eyal's Hooked model is worth understanding.
- Post 3 min read
Almost There
The best is yet to come.
- Post 4 min read
Three Steps
I take a lot of steps every day.
- Post 2 min read
It’s their fault.
Us and them.
- Quip
The Greatest Social Network
- Post 2 min read
Being Grateful
Baby steps to happiness.
- Quip
Doors
- Post 13 min read
A Life Through Glass
Google Press Photo After spending some time with Glass, I wanted to address questions I’ve received, provide tips for new Glass owners, and share some of the shortcomings of the alpha device.
- Post 2 min read
Dear Facebook, let me tag people I’m “thinking of”
Posts and photos require more subtle notification methods.
- Post 3 min read
Starting with Hello
Learning to start cold conversations.
- Quip
Exercising the Mind
- Post 2 min read
Entrepreneurship is a Skill
AMOS NACHOUN Please, for the love of God or in spite of Her, stop reading and writing articles about the “Ten Best Ways to Launch a Company,” “Marketing Secrets of the Super Rich,” or the “Seven Biggest Failures You Never Knew About.
- Post 3 min read
How a fire-drill changed my outlook on life
via Flickr: thebutcherbaker 2am and there was a fire in my downtown San Francisco apartment complex.
- Post 2 min read
My Mother
I’m thankful for the fact that when I couldn’t speak, she understood me.
- Post 2 min read
What do you think I should do?
Photo By Cyrus Radfar We’ve all sat across from someone who’s in a bind and ends a story with, “What do you think I should do?