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Government-grade spyware hits Mexican advocates of soda tax

SAN FRANCISCO — Last summer, Dr. Simón Barquera’s phone started buzzing with a series of disturbing text messages from unknown numbers. One said his daughter had been in a serious accident. Another claimed to be from a friend whose father had died — with a link to funeral details.Yet another message...

Click to view the original at bendbulletin.com

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One Reason Staffers Quit Google's Car Project? The Company Paid Them So Much

'F-you money' awarded to veteran team members boosted parent Alphabet’s R&D costs, prompting comment from the company's CFO

Click to view the original at bloomberg.com

Hasnain says:

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Also worrying due to people expecting jobs to come back. No, inequality will only widen over time due to this.

Posted on 2017-02-13T19:22:34+0000

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Why Falling Home Prices Could Be a Good Thing

If we regarded our home like a TV or a car, instead of something we always expect to increase in value, there would be societal benefits.

Click to view the original at nytimes.com

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Most of the web really sucks if you have a slow connection

A couple years ago, I took a road trip from Wisconsin to Washington and mostly stayed in rural hotels on the way. I expected the internet in rural areas too sparse to have cable internet to be slow, but I was still surprised that a large fraction of the web was inaccessible. Some blogs with lightwei...

Click to view the original at danluu.com

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YC Research: Universal Healthcare

Today, we’re excited to announce that YC Research is funding Watsi for a project that will study using technology to improve the quality and reduce the cost of healthcare. Currently, up to 40% of all healthcare funding is wasted on operational inefficiencies, fraud, and ineffective care. Watsi’s goa...

Click to view the original at blog.ycombinator.com

Hasnain says:

"Today, we’re excited to announce that YC Research is funding Watsi for a project that will study using technology to improve the quality and reduce the cost of healthcare. Currently, up to 40% of all healthcare funding is wasted on operational inefficiencies, fraud, and ineffective care. Watsi’s goal is to improve the efficiency of funding, making universal healthcare possible"

Posted on 2017-02-08T05:28:58+0000

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Hasnain says:

"The problem we failed to anticipate was that sports fans ultimately had trouble making the leap from “Super Bowl” to “potato” to “Cards Against Humanity.” This was a real lesson in humility. In hindsight, our model lacked “external validity.” Instead of asking one person if the ad was effective 70 times, we should have asked 70 people one time. This left us susceptible to what statisticians call “correlated errors.”"

This is amazing

Posted on 2017-02-06T07:31:01+0000

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The High Cost of a Home Is Turning American Millennials Into the New Serfs

This isn’t about lifestyle choices. It’s about a system in which the boomers are protecting their wealth and views at the expense of the rest of us.

Click to view the original at thedailybeast.com

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48 U.S. Jewish centers received bomb threats in past month: 'Why is no one talking about this?' - U.S. News

The coordinated threats started on the East Coast and spread west two weeks ago, culminating in the evacuation of 14 centers on Tuesday. U.S. Jews insist the threats should not be dismissed just because no bombs have been found.

Click to view the original at haaretz.com