Top 50: Technology

A track from the official God of War: Ascension soundtrack.

God of War: Ascension - The Marked One

Suppose you develop a new technology that is valuable to some industry. The old approach was to sell or license your technology to the existing companies in that industry. The new approach is to build a complete, end-to-end product or service that bypasses existing companies. Andreessen Horowitz’s Chris Dixon, Balaji Srinivasan and Benedict Evans discuss the reasons behind, and advantages of, going “full stack.”

a16z Podcast: The Rise of Full Stack Startups

Can technology companies show up and disrupt television with an onslaught of new gizmos and services, or is content still the controlling factor? What will it take in terms of money, business model and time to upend the TV model that has stubbornly persisted for decades? Will the old platforms and players dominate, or is now the time for new players to take charge? Andreessen Horowitz’s Benedict Evans and Zal Bilimoria discuss the future of television.

a16z Podcast: The Future Of Television

Managing enterprise networks with thousands of users and endpoints has been hard enough. Now that large enterprise networks routinely include hundreds of thousands of nodes it’s amazingly difficult and time-consuming (we’re talking days often)  to get definitive answers to seemingly simple questions like, how many PCs do I have running? Never mind, how many PCs do I have that could be at risk of the Heartbleed virus? Tanium, the most recent company to join the a16z portfolio, offers a systems management and security tool that allows administrators to ask virtually any question about the configuration, performance, and complexion of an enterprise network and get an answer in seconds. Tanium CTO and Co-founder Orion Hindawi and a16z Board Partner Steven Sinofsky discuss the origins of Tanium; the invention of  the “linear peer-to-peer communications” architecture that turbo-charges the Tanium solution; and with Internet of Things coming online fast, the prospect of networks quickly going to millions and billions of nodes. 

a16z Podcast: When Large Scale Gets Really Massive -- Managing Today’s Enterprise Networks

Please note: this conversation starts about 10 minutes in -- by this point my wife and I are both completely flustered by the oppressiveness of the rep.

So! Last week my wife called to disconnect our service with Comcast after we switched to another provider (Astound). We were transferred to cancellations (aka "customer retention").

The representative (name redacted) continued aggressively repeating his questions, despite the answers given, to the point where my wife became so visibly upset she handed me the phone. Overhearing the conversation, I knew this would not be very fun.

What I did not know is how oppressive this conversation would be. Within just a few minutes the representative had gotten so condescending and unhelpful I felt compelled to record the speakerphone conversation on my other phone.

This recording picks up roughly 10 minutes into the call, whereby she and I have already played along and given a myriad of reasons and explanations as to why we are canceling (which is why I simply stopped answering the rep's repeated question -- it was clear the only sufficient answer was "Okay, please don't disconnect our service after all.").

Please forgive the echoing and ratcheting sound, I was screwing together some speaker wires in an empty living room!

Updates:
7/15 - Comcast has issued an apology: http://corporate.comcast.com/comcast-voices/comcast-statement-regarding-customer-service-call
7/16 - I have continued to reiterate publicly that I do not want Comcast to terminate the rep, and that I believe the call itself belies a deeper, systemic dysfunction:
https://twitter.com/ryan/status/489576392250519552
https://twitter.com/ryan/status/489576399636676609
https://twitter.com/ryan/status/489576406301413376

Comcastic service disconnection (recording starts 10 mins into call)

For promotional use only. (c) & (P) 2015 Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

Buy Bloodborne

Bloodborne: Cleric Beast

Yes Yes No returns, and the story of two people who created a company designed to ghostwrite people’s emotionally difficult emails.

Don’t forget to participate in Email Debt Forgiveness Day! Leave us a voicemail at (917) 475-6668 about your most anxiety inducing unanswered email. All will be forgiven, we promise.

#20 I Want To Break Free

"Machine learning is to big data as human learning is to life experience," says Christopher Nguyen, the co-founder and CEO of big data intelligence company Adatao. Sure, but then, what IS big data? (especially as it's become a buzzword that captures so many things)... 

On this episode of the a16z Podcast, Nguyen puts on his former computer science professor hat to describe 'big data' in relation to 'machine learning' -- as well as what comes next with 'deep learning'. Finally, the former Google exec shares how Hadoop and Spark evolved from the efforts of companies dealing with massive amounts of real-time information; what we need to make machine learning a property of every application (why would we even want to?); and how we can make all this intelligence accessible to everyone.

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The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation.
 
This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by a16z. (An offering to invest in an a16z fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by a16z, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by Andreessen Horowitz (excluding investments and certain publicly traded cryptocurrencies/ digital assets for which the issuer has not provided permission for a16z to disclose publicly) is available at https://a16z.com/investments/.

Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Please see https://a16z.com/disclosures for additional important information.

a16z Podcast: Making Sense of Big Data, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning

By John G. Cramer, University of Washington: https://faculty.washington.edu/jcramer/BBSound.html

Related story: http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/1857/11/a-brief-history-of-noise/422481/

Frequency Spectrum From the Big Bang (WMAP Satellite Data)

Whether you think of it as a distributed ledger, decentralized database, computing infrastructure, open source/ software development platform, cryptocurrency, transaction platform, or financial services marketplace, the bitcoin blockchain is driven by two key features: that it is a peer-to-peer network, and that it unbundles trust. Imagine moving from Googling for things to offering proof-as-a-service instead (which itself begins with rethinking identity).

In fact, there's a lot of parallels -- both in evolution and development -- with the blockchain and the internet before it. Only the blockchain doesn't need the web. And that has profound implications for what applications and new businesses are now possible, especially in financial services. But if "the worst place to develop a new business model is from within your existing business model", then how can banks move beyond mere process innovations to offering entirely new services built on the blockchain? Many financial institutions are trying to get ahead of the blockchain disruption by exploring it proactively, but how do they overcome the innovator's dilemma and looking at startups like animals in a zoo?

In this episode of the a16z Podcast, William Mougayar, the author of the new book The Business Blockchain: Promise, Practice, and Application of the Next Internet Technology shares how traditional, established industries can overcome the innovator's dilemma in this case; what the future of banks might be; and what new applications, services, and startups are possible due to the features -- really, benefits -- of the blockchain. Because the blockchain, ultimately, is an innovation platform.

a16z Podcast: Banking on the Blockchain

One of the biggest misconceptions around network effects (which are one of the key dynamics behind many successful and highly defensible software companies) is confusing growth with engagement. So how does one tell the difference between viral growth and network effects? How does one create network effects in different businesses? (Hint: it's not by accident!) How do you know when to hang in there because you see signs of network effects or just drop it and move on to something else? And what are some examples of teasing all of the above apart?

In this episode of the a16z Podcast -- based on an event we hosted and slide deck we released all about network effects -- a16z partners Anu Hariharan and Jeff Jordan (who cover all things marketplaces, consumer, and more) share (in conversation with Sonal Chokshi) their observations, insights, and experiences. Because, why reinvent the, er, flywheel?


a16z Podcast: Getting Network Effects

Moore's Law -- putting more and more transistors on a chip -- accelerated the computing industry by so many orders of magnitude, it has (and continues to) achieve seemingly impossible feats. However, we're now resorting to brute-force hacks to keep pushing it beyond its limits and are getting closer to the point of diminishing returns (especially given costly manufacturing infrastructure). Yet this very dynamic is leading to "a Cambrian explosion" in computing capabilities… just look at what's happening today with GPUs, FPGAs, and neuromorphic chips. Through such continuing performance improvements and parallelization, classic computing continues to reshape the modern world.

But we're so focused on making our computers do more that we're not talking enough about what classic computers can't do -- and that's to compute things the way nature does, which operates in quantum mechanics. So our smart machines are really quite dumb, argues Rigetti Computing founder and CEO Chad Rigetti; they're limited to human-made binary code vs. the natural reality of continuous variables. This in turn limits our ability to work on problems that classic computers can't solve, such as key applications in computational chemistry or large-scale optimization for machine learning and artificial intelligence. Which is where quantum computing comes in.

But what is quantum computing, really -- beyond the history and the hype? And where are we in reaching the promise of practical quantum computers? (Hint: it will take a hybrid approach to get there.) Who are the players -- companies, countries, types of people/skills -- working on it, and how can a startup compete in this space? Finally, what will it take to get "the flywheel" of application development and discovery going? Part of the answer comes full circle to the same economic engine that drove previous computing advances, argues Chris Dixon; Moore's Law, after all, is more of an economic principle that combined the forces of capitalism, a critical mass of ideas, and people moving things forward by sheer will. Quantum computing is finally getting pulled into the same economic forces as well.

a16z Podcast: Quantum Computing, Now and Next

A special musical performance by Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, recorded live at PlayStation Experience 2017.

Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker - Wayfaring Stranger Live

Three themes from Detroit: Become Human, each focusing on one of the title's main characters, and each scored by a different composer.

Detroit: Become Human launches May 25, 2018 on PS4.

Detroit: Become Human — Kara Main Theme By Philip Sheppard

You sent us a whole lot of feedback about a recent segment on whether we spend too much money on education in the U.S. - and whether college educations are overvalued. Here’s some of it.

Listeners react to our "Why The Value of Education Is Overblown," segment with Bryan Caplan

This audio example relates to the sE Electronics/Rupert Neve Designs RNT Large Diaphragm Condenser Microphone review in SOS July 2019 issue.
https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/se-electronics-rnt

01 Female Vox

<img src="https://elroycdn.twit.tv/sites/default/files/styles/twit_album_art_2048x2048/public/images/shows/ask_the_tech_guy/album_art/audio/atg_albumart.jpg?itok=Dpos2oMd" align="right" hspace="20" vspace="20" border="0" width="300" height="300" title="Ask The Tech Guy" alt="Ask The Tech Guy"/>Leo Laporte on what you need to know about hi-resolution audio music: how the source of the audio and the way it was recorded matters, the Nyquist sampling theorem, how it relates to other lossless audio formats like FLAC, and why you probably shouldn't bother with hi-res audio. 
Host: <a href="https://twit.tv/people/leo-laporte">Leo Laporte</a> 
Download or subscribe to this show at <a href="https://twit.tv/shows/ask-the-tech-guy">https://twit.tv/shows/ask-the-tech-guy</a>
Sponsor:<ul>
<li><a href="http://LastPass.com/twit">LastPass.com/twit</a></li>
</ul>

Ask The Tech Guy 4: Should I Care About Hi-Res Audio?

What are the key pieces of a great portfolio? What are the best tools for building and launching one? And what are the pitfalls to avoid? In this episode, Martijn van den Broeck (Designer at Google) joins me to talk about the art and science of design portfolios. For years, Martijn has closely studied portfolios, developing expertise in everything from the ideal number of case studies to the right way to handle an NDA and beyond. He shares a comprehensive approach to building, launching, and leveraging a portfolio.

"I'm surprised by how few people actually have read their NDA and tried to understand it. One thing I did was write an article about what I learned while interning at IDEO. So I couldn't go into the specifics of projects, but I could still say, 'Hey, I went to IDEO and I learned all these amazing things' that weren't NDA protected." — Martijn at 22:56

Martijn's portfolio guide: https://medium.com/portfolio-principles

Martijn on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MartijnvdBroeck
Martijn's portfolio: https://martijnvandenbroeck.com/

Austin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ustinknight
More about me and the show: https://austinknight.com/

Subscribe on iTunes

Design Portfolios with Martijn van den Broeck (Designer at Google)

The official soundtrack of Ghost of Tsushima lands July 17. More details at PlayStation.Blog.

Top 50: Technology

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