Short Reads

Cramming More Components onto Integrated Circuits

In 1965, Gordon E. Moore, co-founder of Intel, penned a pivotal article titled "Cramming More Components onto Integrated Circuits," which appeared in *Electronics Magazine*. This article not only demonstrated keen observation and prediction about the future of computing hardware but also laid the groundwork for what would later be coined as "Moore's Law." In this concise yet influential piece, Moore outlined his observation that the number of transistors on integrated circuits had doubled every year since their invention and predicted that this trend would continue for at least another decade.

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Reflections on Trusting Trust

Ken Thompson, one of the co-inventors of Unix, originally recited this essay in his acceptance speech for the Turing Award in 1983. Thompson delves into the issue of trust in the context of software development, and demonstrates how a compiler can be subverted to insert malicious code into a cl

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Amazon First Letter To Shareholders

If you like profits, you shouldn't invest in Amazon. That was one of the provocative lessons Amazon shareholders could take away from Jeff Bezos' first letter til shareholders in 1997. Written during the nascent stages of Amazon, it laid down a blueprint for its long-term business approach, emphasizing customer satisfaction, long-term thinking, and innovation.

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Freeware: The Heart & Soul of the Internet

Tim O'Reilly dives into how freeware isn't just about getting stuff for free—it's a big deal in the tech world that's opening doors for more people to get involved and innovate. It talks about how freeware lets people from all sorts of backgrounds jump into using and creating digital tools without the hefty price tag, making the tech world a more inclusive place.

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Thoughts On Flash

In April 2010, Steve Jobs, co-founder and then CEO of Apple Inc., penned a poignant and influential open letter titled "Thoughts on Flash," which detailed Apple’s reasons for excluding Adobe Flash technology from its iOS devices, including the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. This public communication not only outlined technical and business considerations but also signaled a significant shift in web development practices and multimedia content accessibility.

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Aggregation Theory

"Aggregation Theory," developed by tech analyst Ben Thompson, offers a powerful framework for understanding how modern digital companies achieve and maintain market dominance. First articulated on Thompson's blog, Stratechery, the theory delves into the strategies that companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon use to attract vast numbers of users and leverage their attention for profit.

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Software 2.0

Coined by Andrej Karpathy, "Software 2.0" represents a significant shift in the way software is being developed and conceptualized in the era of artificial intelligence. In his insightful piece, Karpathy introduces the concept of Software 2.0 as the next evolution of software, where traditional programming languages and manual coding give way to a new paradigm where the software essentially writes and rewrites itself through machine learning models.

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