October 2016

October 28, 2016

2016 is the year of VR in the same way that 1895 was the year of film

Lucid Streaming. I have no interest in virtual reality, but as a technologist, I feel like I should. This essay observes that we shouldn’t think of VR’s limitations as technical failings but rather as defining characteristics of a new medium.

Ilya

October 22, 2016

  • WARC: Four data lessons from history. Includes a great story about Abraham Wald from WWII on the importance of critical thinking when turning data into insight.

October 19, 2016

Is willpower overrated?

Is willpower overrated? Achieving goals requires willpower, but this study suggested that “the students who reported experiencing fewer temptations […] achieved more goal success.”

The researchers summed their results up, thusly: “Against popular and scientific wisdom, effortful self-control did not appear to play a role in goal-pursuit, suggesting that the immediate positive consequences of exerting willpower do not translate into long-term goal success.”

Ilya
  • Juozas “Joe” Kaziukenas: Becoming a CTO. “If you ever find yourself writing a blog post on why PHP sucks, you are not ready.” How’s that for a provocative opening?
    CTO is a job in business strategy, one which defines the direction of technology inside a company. It’s not the right job if you hate meetings, dealing with non-technical people and think that all managers sit all day and do nothing.
  • Ashley Baxter’s presentation Idea to launch in 11 years is fascinating. Would love to have it at Front-end London.

October 17, 2016


October 7, 2016


October 4, 2016


October 1, 2016

Yahoo Finance knew redesign would upset users

The head of Yahoo’s popular finance app says he knew the redesign was going to ‘piss some people off’. It always does.

Ilya