Sunday, July 21, 2013

7 Links Every Sunday - July 21, 2013

Thanks for stopping by again for Sunday's 7 Links. If you missed Saturday's 6 Links, take a second to check them out.

Alan Turing to be Given Posthumous Pardon - The most important man in the history of computing was discriminated against and eventually destroyed because he was gay. This Radiolab podcast has the entire story and it's a heartbreaker. He's finally going to be pardoned by the British Government and it's about time.

$25 Gadget Let's Hackers Seize Control of Cars - Scary but not surprising. How are the car companies going to figure out how to patch the security holes in cars 5+ years old? It's going to be tough.

Do Things That Don't Scale - Terrific post by Paul Graham of YCombinator on how to build a startup. It's some of the best advice I've ever read for startups. One thing we did early on at Ben's Friends was we started greeting every new member. We still do that today. Each member get's greetings from at least 3 real people right when they join. That doesn't really scale, but that's precisely why the new members like it so much. It's the strongest signal we can send to them that this is a real place of support and friendship. :)

The Pixar Theory - An extensive blog post that seeks to prove one thing: That all Pixar movies exist in the same universe. Fantastic analysis.

New eCommerce Strategies Threaten UPS & Fedex - I've always thought that UPS and Fedex were two of the most unassailable companies in the world. After all, who would have the guts and capital to invest enough to compete with them? Well it looks like Amazon, Wal-Mart and some little guys are finally coming after them. Businesses with heavy fixed costs can be surprisingly vulnerable to competitors once their utilization levels drop. The marginal package is very important and that is where the new guys are starting.

A Man Acquitted in Romantic Bear Spray Squabble - You can't make this stuff up.

I'll leave you with two playlists that Rembert from Grantland put together on his cross country drive. There's something magical about a road-trip playlist. I still associate some songs with my drives back and forth from San Francisco to Chicago while at Kellogg. Good times.