Technology

There are two major ways to make money on consumer Internet - subscription or ads. Also, unlike enterprise-world, usage-based subscription is hard and confusing for consumers. So, we end up with 10$ a month all-you-can-consume buffet or we end up with ads. Now, like it or not, not all users are created equal. Some are more valuable than others. And these valuable users indirectly pay more than the users with less spending power. In other words, these users subsidize the product for the less fortunate fellows. In fact, in some ways, ads are a transfer of wealth from rich to poor users of the same service. So, next time wonder when people complain about ads, they will always be rich and powerful. These rich users would prefer a minuscule 10-a-month price instead of being worth thousands, if not millions, for the advertisers. And if the product has network effects, like social media, then it is unavoidable for these richer folks. ...

The book consists of the learnings which the author had while working on his startup IMVU . The book focuses on the concept of validated learning and the build-measure-learn feedback loop. It tries to bring in a systematic approach to measuring the progress of a startup. A startup has a true north, its vision. It employs a strategy that includes a business model, a product roadmap, and a view of partners, competitors, and customers. The product is the result of the strategy. Products constantly change ( engine tuning). Strategy changes occasionally ( pivot). Vision rarely changes. In general management, failure to deliver results is caused by failure to plan or failure to execute. Both are frowned upon. But in the modern economy, both are useful tools for testing new ideas. ...

The authors are founders of 37Signals . The book talks about how to go about remote work, its advantages and pitfalls. Here are some key takeaways from the book.

The book is an insightful journey into the contemporary understanding of the human brain and how scientists are trying to replicate it. Major takeaways from the book are listed below.

The book Winners take all is a collection of interesting insights into how companies in the high tech sector succeed and fail. The book was written in 2006 (pre-iPhone era) so it’s interesting to see how some companies mentioned by the author (notably, Apple and Google) succeeded and how some others (notably, Symantec and Nokia) are struggling.

The book tries to reflect on an individual’s professional growth in the contemporary era of fickle employment guarantees. The best part about the book is that it tries to offer pragmatic, as opposed to principled advice, regarding career development and branding.

Just completed reading " The Tangled web: A guide to securing modern applications " by Michael Zalewski. The book is surprisingly small given the amount of information it covers about the interaction of web browsers, websites, and client-side web technologies. The book starts with a discussion of what a valid URL could look like ( https://yahoo.com:80@google.com/microsoft.com - think which site is being connected to here) and then discusses several fundamental building blocks of the modern web (like cookies) as well as standard technologies (like Flash) in depth. The issue of the same-origin policy and how it differs from DOM to the cookie to pseudo URLs are explained with amazing clarity. One of the best things about this book is that it makes regular references to RFCs for authoritative answers and the corresponding deviant [and undefined] behavior implemented by the browsers. The book also covers HTML5 security features in detail. While reading the book, occasionally I felt information overload but I think the “Tangled web” and not the book “Tangled web” is responsible for that. ...

An amazing book which describes Google’s journey right from its beginning in the Stanford dorm. The author interviewed several top echelons of Google and presented several interesting insider anecdotes and stories of Google.