Steve Fischer's Random Blog

Category: Technology

  • Prescience

    I think this approach has wider usage…

    prescience_2x

    via xkcd of course…

  • Book Burner

    I can’t believe my 13 year old self didn’t think of this argument…

    (via SMBC, of course)

    First parent to admonish their kid to not create so much information gets 10 Weinersmith Points

  • Google Enhanced

    If you have Google Photos you know that Google has an algorithm that identifies certain photos and automatically “enhances” them for you. I don’t know if the algorithm likes sunsets or it’s just because our vacation is on a great sunset beach (so I took lots of sunset pictures), but I got a ton of enhanced photos. These are all basically the same picture from the same vantage point on different days.

    One of the great things about Skaket Beach is the crazy tides. At low tide you can walk straight out about a mile. I like going on Google Maps and taking a screenshot of my location…

    Screenshot_20190729-162432 (1)

    I wasn’t in a boat, I was standing on sand.

  • Le Labo Santal 33

    Om Malik has an interesting eclectic blog as well as a great url (om.co). He’s from New York but now lives in San Fran as a tech VC partner. It’s for paragraphs like this, about a visit to NYC, that I read his blog. It’s the strong smell of hustle…

    Back in my (current) hometown, I saunter. Here, like a pitcher who suddenly finds a reserve of energy in the middle of the season, my pace picks up. I smell the summer as I move. You know the smell of New York: a heady blend of stench from the gutters, cigarette smoke, and sidewalk stalls selling everything from hotdogs to kebabs. It’s the strong smell of hustle.

    And apparently, the Mayor has declared Le Labo Santal 33 the official fragrance of the season. Every girl walking on the street leaves a whiff of it behind. All the beautiful ladies (and they are all lovely) are lost in their own worlds, listening to their AirPods, which seem to be more commonplace now than white sneakers were a few seasons ago. It is no surprise that Apple’s earnings from wearables and accessories are going through the roof.

    He’s also a photographer. He splits that pastime into a separate blog:

    img_1712
    Caught in a downpour in Manhattan, New York

     

  • Rock Skip Robot

    This is super cool…

  • Immigration = Important to USA

    If you aren’t familiar with Mary Meeker’s internet trends report, she produces a hugely comprehensive report annually. As Vox says, “the most highly anticipated slide deck in Silicon Valley”. It’s super long, but well worth reading.

    Slide 259 simply states:

    IMMIGRATION =
    IMPORTANT TO USA TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP

    Slide 260 is this. 1.9 million employees work for tech companies founded by 1st or 2nd generation Americans:

    Immigrant1

    Slide 261 covers private tech companies founded by 1st generation immigrants:

    Immigrant2

    WeWork, SpaceX, Stripe, DoorDash, Instacart, Slack, that’s over $100 billion in valuation.

  • The Bing of Maps

    Ouch, but Om, as usual, is right.

    So when I think of Apple Maps, no matter how improved they might be, all it does is remind me of Bing — an also-ran that can never catch up to Google, because more people use Google’s search.

    apple-ios-13-look-around-screen-iphone-xs-06032019_big.jpg.large_2x-e1560437131803

    Two years ago I linked to an article talking about how Google Maps has about a 6 year head start on everyone else. I’m sure that gap has been closed somewhat, but probably not much.  Waze was a great acquisition for Google. If you are driving and using your phone’s navigation app you are using Google Maps or Waze or you are lost or late.

  • 0.38 Seconds

    New Rubik’s Cube record courtesy of an MIT robot:

    I like the, “oooh, yeahhhh” right after. And how they show it in slow motion so we can actually see it being done.

  • Some = 600 Million

    Well, in fairness 200-600 million. Not like it’s a lot or anything. Read this Facebook blog:

    As part of a routine security review in January, we found that some user passwords were being stored in a readable format within our internal data storage systems.

    Sounds kind of harmless, right?

    Or maybe not.

    The Facebook source said the investigation so far indicates between 200 million and 600 million Facebook users may have had their account passwords stored in plain text and searchable by more than 20,000 Facebook employees. The source said Facebook is still trying to determine how many passwords were exposed and for how long, but so far the inquiry has uncovered archives with plain text user passwords dating back to 2012.

    I think you should assume that your Facebook password is public knowledge at this point. And that their public statements are basically a lie.

  • Opportunity Rover RIP

    The NASA Mars rover Opportunity was finally declared dead after an amazing 14+ year run on Mars. The NY Times has a nice interactive visual: