Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
When the Japanese computer scientist Yukihiro Matsumoto decided to create Ruby, a programming language that has helped build Twitter, Hulu, and much of the modern Web, he was chasing an idea from a 1966 science fiction novel called Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany. At the book’s heart is an invented language of the same name…
Silicon Valley investors recently bet $50 million on a luxury sock company. And the most surprising part was how normal it seemed. Venture capital investment is at its highest point since the late 1990s. Funders are flying close to the sun. The stable of privately backed “unicorn” tech companies—those valued at more than $1 billion before their initial public…
About three days after it received a lavish new funding round, Meerkat died an ugly and embarrassing death. It is hard to decide whether the Great Meerkat Debacle that has unfolded over the past week is a tragedy or a comedy — probably a bit of both. The mobile streaming app that had whipped U.S….
Ellen Pao lost her gender discrimination lawsuit against her former employer Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers on all counts Friday, a closely watched trial by Silicon Valley’s elite that many saw as a referendum on the challenges women have faced in the world of technology and business. Since we last liveblogged two days ago, the…
The Ellen Pao-Kleiner Perkins trial, which went to jury deliberations yesterday, is a milestone case and it may well be a milestone verdict. Not just because $160 million in possible compensatory and punitive damages is an awful lot of money, but also because this is the highest-profile example yet of Silicon Valley’s boys club on…
On Tuesday, my fiancé and I took our daughters out of school, canceled my meetings for the day, and, for the first time, walked into the San Francisco Superior Court. Our mission: To hear the closing arguments of the Ellen Pao discrimination suit against Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Truth be told, I have been…
An algorithm that just went up for auction in New York. (Chris Maury, “Progression: Triptych, 2011-2013.” Available on Artsy.net.) Until about three weeks ago, Pinterest was — hands down, no contest — my absolute favorite social network. Yeah, I know it lacks the cachet of Twitter or Snapchat. I understand its associations with the bored…
Tesla basically just ignited the driverless car era Elon Musk discusses the all-wheel drive Tesla D in October 2014. Image: Ringo H.W. Chiu/Associated Press By Chris Taylor2015-03-20 01:22:19 UTC The computer-controlled driverless car is barreling down the road of the future towards us. We’ve known this for a long time, but the speed and the…
Ellen Pao is suing for both punitive and compensatory damages in her gender discrimination trial against the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins. Today, Judge Harold E. Kahn upheld the punitive damages claim, saying “There is sufficient evidence from which a reasonable juror could conclude that Kleiner Perkins engaged in intentional gender discrimination.” The trial is…
Story highlights David Wheeler: Silicon Valley doesn’t create jobs; it’s wiping out middle-class jobs Young college graduates are struggling with lack of jobs, yet many still idolize Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is tossing millennials aside like yesterday’s laptop. The commonly held belief is that with hard work and a good education, a young person in…