Hasnain says:

This is a really great Haskell reading list.

Hasnain says:

"Here is what went through all our spinning heads: We're fucked, it's over"

This is a good read on how to survive crises.

Hasnain says:

Some much needed innovation in the battery space.

Hasnain says:

"I would prefer Omid do it verbally since I don't want to create a paper trail over which we can be sued later"

I have an honest question. How does one become a CEO of a huge tech company and still not know to not send such emails?

Hasnain says:

"In February 2013, Google Flu Trends (GFT) made headlines but not for a reason that Google executives or the creators of the flu tracking system would have hoped. Nature reported that GFT was predicting more than double the proportion of doctor visits for influenza-like illness (ILI) than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which bases its estimates on surveillance reports from laboratories across the United States (1, 2). This happened despite the fact that GFT was built to predict CDC reports. Given that GFT is often held up as an exemplary use of big data (3, 4), what lessons can we draw from this error?"

Hasnain says:

This is a really interesting behind the scenes look at how computers from a previous generation were made. It's from 1981 but the story is still relevant and interesting.

(Part 2 at http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/81aug/8108kidder.htm)

Hasnain says:

"And part of their corrupt little game is to produce new editions every year or so, even though 95+% of the books are the same. So the "new and improved" book being pushed was hardly different than previous editions (I checked page by page). But it would help undermine the used book market."

Hasnain says:

"But the problem is much broader. Given the vast web of legislation and regulation that exists today, virtually any American bears the risk of being targeted for prosecution."

Hasnain says:

"Earlier this month a new paper by Naomi Benger, Joop van de Pol, Nigel Smart, and Yuval Yarom hit the news. The paper explains how to recover secret keys from OpenSSL's implementation of ECDSA-secp256k1 using timing information from "as little as 200 signatures"; ECDSA-secp256k1 is the signature system used by Bitcoin."

Hasnain says:

"Because of a legal quirk, SWAT raids can be profitable. Rules on civil asset-forfeiture allow the police to seize anything which they can plausibly claim was the proceeds of a crime. Crucially, the property-owner need not be convicted of that crime. If the police find drugs in his house, they can take his cash and possibly the house, too. He must sue to get them back.

Many police departments now depend on forfeiture for a fat chunk of their budgets. In 1986, its first year of operation, the federal Asset Forfeiture Fund held $93.7m. By 2012, that and the related Seized Asset Deposit Fund held nearly $6 billion."