under the microscope
Four amazing things gene editing did in 2017.
I love this! “Researchers are getting closer to using gene editing for disease treatments and organ transplants.” | learn more
better doing
The Quartz team created ‘user manuals’ for themselves.
I love this concept, and first tried it (minimally) during a mentorship program a few years ago. Most personality quirks and preferences require learning slowly over time – why not make them explicit up-front? The Quartz team did, and then […]
on the blockchain
What are blockchains and Dapps really good for?
Lightspeed partner Jeremy Liew is in some ways the opposite of Andreas Antonopolous – he’s living squarely in the present. He digs into use cases and applications, concludes what the tech is and isn’t good for today, and lays out […]
on the blockchain
Kevin Rose interviews Andreas Antonopolous.
Kevin is a great interviewer, and Andreas has a very interesting perspective and a deep knowledge of blockchain. I tend to shy away from podcasts, but this is absolutely worthwhile for anyone with interest in blockchain. Andreas is basically living […]
on the blockchain
Learn how to code in Solidity.
This is great: a step-by-step tutorial for learning how to code smart contracts in Solidity, the language of Ethereum. I’ve finished half already. Oh, and the game you build with this example is called CryptoZombies. How perfect for the internet. […]
tech, startups, internet
Thinking about the $150MM Rise of the Rest fund.
Steve Case (AOL founder and investor) announced a new fund investing in places that aren’t Silicon Valley. VC firm M25’s Victor Gutwein analyzes the pros and cons of this fund. | learn more
tech, startups, internet
The original long tail theory isn’t looking good.
VC Willy Braun uses two data sets to make the case that the long tail theory (e-commerce will fatten and stretch the tail because of endless aisles) hasn’t played out as expected. Instead, we’re seeing an even stronger emphasis on […]
tech, startups, internet
The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season.
Until very recently, anything voice-enabled tended to suck. When I first plugged in my Echo earlier this year, it sucked a lot less. I realized this is the start of a shift in how we interact with our homes and […]
oh, chicago
Some towns are getting hosed on their water bills.
“Residents of Illinois towns who get their water from a private company rather than a municipal supplier pay far more and say they’re being squeezed for profit.” | learn more
oh, chicago
More than 200 new Illinois laws to take effect Jan 1.
Some of them seem useful, and then there’s others like “cycling will become the state’s official exercise” that make me cringe. I guess the legislature needed to fill the time while failing to pass a budget for so long. | learn more