2014-02-20

Pathing.

• Christopher Mims/Quartz: "It's Official: Apple sells more computers than all Windows PCs combined." The crux of this is the realization that "computers" is a mushy term, the definition of which has shifted radically since the invention of the iPhone. A good quote from Benedict Evans in the piece: "Apple limits itself only to the high end of the mobile market but still sells more units than the whole PC industry."
• Gothamist: "Illegal Subway Signs Show Commuters How To Nail The Transfer." It kind of boggles my mind that Google Maps hasn't integrated this shit yet.
• The Byzantine Generals Problem. Something something bitcoin.
• Brad Feld: "Founder's Syndrome & Origin Stories." Good video characterizing different types of founding teams.
• Stewart Butterfield: "We Don't Sell Saddles Here." This internal document is the preface to the release of Slack. It's a great strategy/motivational read.

Manufacturing.

• Michael Vizard/programmableweb: "GE Plans to Expose APIs for the Industrial Internet." If anyone knows of a good resource for learning more about Predix, I'd love to know about it.
• Bunnie Huang/Youtube: "Getting it Made: Stories from Shenzhen." Fucking China is so cool, and Bunnie is a first class guide to the Shenzhen ecosystem.
• Rich McCormick/The Verge: "Self-assembling fungus tower will grow in New York this summer." This is the kind of art project I can get behind.
• The Wikipedia page for Metal Injection Molding. It's not DMLS, but it's pretty cool. Credit to the Shenzhen supplier who cold emailed me for making me aware of this.
• 3Ders: "EOS and Airbus team on aerospace sustainability study for industrial 3D printing." Additive manufactured metal parts are currently economical inasmuch as they reduce operating cost over the lifetime of a part. THIS IS KEY.

Logistics.

• Rolling Stone: "De La Soul to Make Entire Catalog Available for Free." This was a bit of a stunt (it lasted only 25 hours) but it's still pretty cool.
• Fast Company: "For Your Next Bike Ride, Bring Along This Friendly Drone." I want this future.
• Yaniv Feldman/Geektime: "Google acquires Israeli security startup SlickLogin." This sounds like a *great* application of audio beaconing.
• UPS Compass: "When in Doubt: UPS avoids left turns." Avoid simple inefficiencies.
• Ana Andjelic: "Anticipatory shipping isn't as sci-fi as it sounds." Sure, I'll endorse this.

Reflecting.

• Felix Salmon/Reuters: "Why bitcoin won't disrupt digital transactions." This fucking Felix Salmon/Ben Horowitz/Planet Money bitcoin bet is the *best.*
• Nicholas Chirls: "Saying No v. Hearing No." An investor goes back to building things, and recalls the difference between the two.
• Andy Baio: "Kind of Screwed." A look at the weird nuance of fair use law. Also, the chiptune album the article refers to is kind of fun.

Stuff that doesn't fit into my dumb/arbitrary categories.

• Numberphile/Youtube: "1+2+3+4+5+... = -1/12." This is really weird. Worth a watch for math geeks.
• The Dark Igloo "Contact Us" page. This is excellent.
• Ian Frazier: "Tilting at Tree Bags." It's good to remember that the things you build can be whatever size you want.
• TechCrunch: "If You Watch One Video Of A Robot Playing Air Hockey Today, Make It This One." No seriously, you should watch this.

And.