alphast0rm

Ethereum becoming the value settlement layer of Web 3.0 [1]. Stablecoins have proven to be the killer dApp and there are ~$10B in circulation currently [2].

[1] https://ethereum.org/

[2] https://stablecoinstats.com/

One of my last teams used gods from Greek mythology (e.g. Apollo [1], Ares [2]), and another nearby team used Pokemon names. Lots of folks started using similar naming conventions and eventually a clear naming manifesto was sent to all engineers to discourage this practice for new services.

It's much easier to discuss and reason about complex systems when the names are self-explanatory, especially when you get to 100s or 1000s of names.

[1] https://www.memsql.com/blog/case-study-scalable-sql-database...

[2] https://eng.uber.com/aresdb/

Ben Thompson wrote an interesting article "What Is a Tech Company?" on Stratechery [1] recently where he discusses the trademark characteristics of tech companies and makes a convincing argument as to why Uber could be considered one:

> Note the centrality of software in all of these characteristics:

> - Software creates ecosystems.

> - Software has zero marginal costs.

> - Software improves over time.

> - Software offers infinite leverage.

> - Software enables zero transaction costs.

> The question of whether companies are tech companies, then, depends on how much of their business is governed by software’s unique characteristics, and how much is limited by real world factors.

  ...

> Uber, meanwhile, has long been mentioned in the same breath as Airbnb, and for good reason: it checks most of the same boxes:

> - There is a software-created ecosystem of drivers and riders.

> - Like Airbnb, Uber reports its revenue as if it has low marginal costs, but a holistic view of rides shows that the company pays drivers around 80 percent of total revenue; this isn’t a world of zero marginal costs.

> - Uber’s platform improves over time.

> - Uber is able to serve the entire world, giving it maximum leverage.

> - Uber can transact with anyone with a self-serve model.

> A major question about Uber concerns transaction costs: bringing and keeping drivers on the platform is very expensive. This doesn’t mean that Uber isn’t a tech company, but it does underscore the degree to which its model is dependent on factors that don’t have zero costs attached to them.

He walks through a few other examples as well (e.g. Netflix, Airbnb, WeWork, Peloton), would definitely recommend reading the whole article.

[1] https://stratechery.com/2019/what-is-a-tech-company/

"There is no widespread undetected community transmission in New Zealand. We have won that battle," Ardern said Monday. "But we must remain vigilant if we are to keep it that way."

Asked whether New Zealand had eliminated COVID-19, Ardern replied: "currently."

[1] https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/0...

Hi HN,

Happy to share Inverse, a Chrome extension that empowers teams to have conversations and share knowledge on any webpage. Unlike email or chat applications like Slack or Teams, where information is siloed inside each app, Inverse lives alongside you in the browser so you can view and take part in discussions without leaving your current tab. These discussions are tied to specific URLs, so you can create a common thread that connects related pages, like a document, ticket, design, or dashboard.

Any feedback or comments are much appreciated!

Just an FYI but clicking on the link triggers Metamask's [1] Ethereum Phishing Detection, here's a screenshot:

https://i.imgur.com/p2m8nil.png

[1] https://metamask.io/

ETH's all time high is $1,432.88 [1], so 32 ETH has only ever been worth $45,852.16 max.

[1] https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/

A good resource for comparing different VPN providers is the VPN Comparison by That One Privacy Guy [1]. I personally use Mullvad [2].

[1] https://thatoneprivacysite.net

[2] https://mullvad.net/en/

Ben Thompson wrote an interesting article "What Is a Tech Company?" on Stratechery [1] recently where he discusses the trademark characteristics of tech companies and makes a convincing argument as to why WeWork is not one:

  So what about companies like WeWork and Peloton that interact with the real world? Note the centrality of software in all of these characteristics:

  - Software creates ecosystems.
  - Software has zero marginal costs.
  - Software improves over time.
  - Software offers infinite leverage.
  - Software enables zero transaction costs.

  ...

  - WeWork claims it has a software-created ecosystem that connect companies and employees across locations, but it is difficult to find evidence that this is a driving factor for WeWork’s business.
  - WeWork pays a huge percentage of its revenue in rent.
  - WeWork’s offering certainly has the potential to improve over time.
  - WeWork is limited by the number of locations it builds out.
  - WeWork requires a consultation for even a one-person rental, and relies heavily on brokers for larger businesses.

  Frankly, it is hard to see how WeWork is a tech company in any way.

[1] https://stratechery.com/2019/what-is-a-tech-company/

Square's now shuttered Order app [1] also used to offer just in time order preparation [2]:

> With the newest version of the app, Square will flip the model so that food will be prepared just in time for the customer arrive, thanks to a new arrival prediction feature. The technology is designed to track users as they approach a store they’ve ordered from and alert it when they’re nearby so an order can be made just in time.

> For the technology to work, sellers need to set preparation times for different items on their menu. The app then creates a sort of geofence around the business, and recognizes when a customer is nearby and someone should start on an order.

This worked particularly well for me every morning when I'd order a latte, it's great to see more businesses offer similar functionality.

[1] https://www.vox.com/2015/3/13/11560210/square-kills-square-o...

[2] https://techcrunch.com/2014/10/08/squares-order-app-arrival-...

If I click on any of the actual sponsor buttons it redirects to https://github.com/users/$user/sponsorship and 404's. Happening for anybody else?

Ouya is reaching its end of life on June 25th, 2019. [1]

[1] https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/22/seven-years-later-the-ouya...

Zoom is a profitable company that plans to IPO this year: "Zoom has the very rare and valuable financial profile -- it's growing at over 100% a year and it's profitable" [1], they're not extinct!

[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2019/04/11/zoom-has-...

For a single event, The International 2018 for Dota 2 had a prize pool of $25,532,177 USD [1] and "set the record for largest single tournament prize pool in esports history for the fifth consecutive year" [2].

[1] https://liquipedia.net/dota2/The_International/2018#Prize_Po...

[2] http://www.espn.com/esports/story/_/id/24429755/the-internat...

> Nobody takes BTC in exchange for goods and services, absolutely nobody.

I was simply trying to show that your original statement was hyperbole, as there are clearly notable retailers that do.

Also as a consumer, I don't see why your point about intermediaries is relevant (barring the marginal price difference between them). If you are planning on purchasing something from a business you don't really care if they are using Intuit or Square to process credit cards transactions, just that they accept credit cards for payments.

That's not true, there are large retailers that directly accept BTC, like Newegg [1] and Overstock [2]. There are also services like Bitrefill to purchase gift cards using various cryptocurrencies for use at places that don't directly accept BTC: Amazon, Ebay, Walmart, Best Buy, and Target to name a few of the 750+ supported [3].

[1] https://promotions.newegg.com/nepro/16-6277/index.html

[2] https://help.overstock.com/help/s/article/Bitcoin

[3] https://www.bitrefill.com/?hl=en

From Uber's Q4 2018 report [1]:

  Gross cash: $6.4 billion in unrestricted cash ($4.8 billion at end of Q3 2018, $4.4 billon in Q4 2017)

[1] https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/15/uber-reports-3b-in-q4-reve...

I believe you are correct that it's not fractional, their website claims "100% Backed - Every tether is always backed 1-to-1, by traditional currency held in our reserves. So 1 USD₮ is always equivalent to 1 USD." [1]

The whitepaper abstract also states "issued tokens are fully backed and reserved at all times." [2]

[1] https://tether.to/

[2] https://tether.to/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/TetherWhitePape...

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Notch's (the creator of Minecraft) entries into Ludum Dare, a 48-hour video game development competition [1]. I only looked briefly on Twitch and his entry for #22 [2] was the only one I could find--nonetheless, it's really insightful seeing him work.

[1] http://ludumdare.com/compo/author/notch/

[2] https://www.twitch.tv/videos/38122415

Isn't that something that can be helped by having a good standard library though (e.g. STL)? OpenZeppelin [1] is one example that comes to mind.

There are also other contract languages aimed to solve some of the limitations you mention, like Tezos/Michelson [2][3], which facilitate formal verification.

The issues you point out are certainly valid, but I believe people in the space are cognizant of them and are working on solutions.

[1] https://openzeppelin.org/

[2] https://www.tezos.com/

[3] https://www.tezos.com/static/papers/language.pdf

That's explicitly called out by miedzinski, the PR author, in the discussion [1]--although for some reason it's mentioned as PEP 512 but links to the same page you mentioned.

[1] https://github.com/python/mypy/pull/2761

This is a reference to the XKCD comic, Password Strength [1].

[1] https://xkcd.com/936/

Can you give some examples of existing companies you consider in that league?

A paper titled "Squaring Venture Capital Valuations with Reality" [1] was recently published by students at Stanford GSB that put forth a new model for valuing privately held companies [2]. If you consider "Table 8: Detailed Unicorns Fair Values and Post-money Valuations", Uber objectively has one of the smallest deltas of all valuations listed at 12% (bested only by Snapchat and Lyft out of ~100 companies).

[1] https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2955455

[2] https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/silicon-valleys-unicor...

This aphorism is called Hanlon's razor for the curious. [1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor

You can add this as a bookmark to circumvent the paywall (remove the parentheses in https though, works with WSJ/NYT/etc.):

  window.location.href='http(s)://m.facebook.com/l.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(window.location.href);

Wow--props for your persistence. I thought the original blog post was bad.

Hopefully this gets more visibility so it's escalated correctly.

Uber received a 17.5% stake in Didi as part of the deal [1], which is worth ~8.75B given their most recent raise at a ~50B valuation [2].

[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-28/china-s-d...

[2] https://www.wsj.com/articles/didi-chinas-uber-raises-5-5-bil...

> So, with that environment, company level discussion about family and fun just tend to ring hollow. The employer/employee relationship is transactional...we pay you to do what you do.

The most accurate way I've heard the employer/employee relationship described is by Reid Hoffman, who likens it to a tour of duty [1][2]. I think that lets both sides of the table set much more realistic expectations than the "we're a big family" ethos you mention.

[1] https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141023153633-1213-tours-of-...

[2] https://hbr.org/2013/06/tours-of-duty-the-new-employer-emplo...