Things I read last week… (WB 26 June 2022)
“One striking thing about that period [2000s] was the contrast between what smart founders and engineers talked about at dinner and on weekends and what the mainstream tech world took seriously during work days. For example, one popular mainstream trend was enterprise security appliance…. Many of the very same people would go to work and talk about the ‘serious’ products, and then go to dinner, or hang out on the weekends, and talk about consumer internet products and web 2.”
– Chris Dixon on lessons from the 2000s.
Running a startup in the 80s: How Microsoft beat Apple to buy PowerPoint for $14M. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
Bessemer on arguments for and against crypto.
Ethereum energy consumption post PoS merge.
Arthur Hayes on how crypto hedge fund 3AC began its slide towards insolvency.
"This process has been termed the 'holy grail of catalysis.' Instead of burning methane, it may now be possible to convert the gas directly to methanol, a high-value chemical that can be used to produce biofuels, solvents, pesticides and fuel additives for vehicles"
– Researchers have found a new way to convert methane into methanol.
How football shirts chart the rise and fall of tech giants
Kevin Buzzard, prof of maths at Imperial College on ‘teaching’ math to computers.
Kurzgesagt: The Last Human. [YouTube]
Veritasium: The 100 Prisoners Riddle. [YouTube]