Because .com Wasn't Available

One of my favorite movies of all time is V for Vendetta . There’s a particular scene that sticks in my memory: it’s towards the end of the movie, when Inspector Finch is talking to his assistant Dominic Stone. Here’s the clip  (it's worth the 1-minute watch). This is how I feel about AI in 2026, specifically AI-assisted software development. Let’s start with a timeline of the last 18 months. These are just the major milestones that I’ve personally engaged with in a meaningful way; trying to provide a timeline of all AI launches over the last 18 months would make this post insanely long. Some quick points first: I reference a lot of Steve Yegge’s posts and work. In my view, he’s the current thought leader in AI-assisted development and literally wrote the book on Vibe Coding. He’s also pushing the envelope with the tools he’s building, as you will see later in the post. While this post was AI-assisted, of course, the vast majority of it was written by me. Let’s begin! Timeline June...

I get a lot of questions like, "You seem to know a lot about business for a technical CTO. How?" and "I'd like to be a CTO someday. Do you have any tips?" First and foremost, a CTO is a business-focused role. You must be able to do whatever the business requires most at any given moment, whether that's coding, technical architecture, hiring, raising money, selling, conducting a layoff, leading Product, being a stand-in COO, or otherwise.  One of my common responses to these questions is, "Read and be curious!" But read what, exactly? Since I'm a fan of scalable communication, I'm documenting my recommended reading list here for public consumption.  This list is current as of March 2024, and I plan on updating it ~yearly. Top Ten Business Books (Must Read) Ten might seem like a lot of books, but an executive should be reading 10-20 books a year, and when you multiply that by a 10-20 year career to become an executive, you'll have read hu...

I’ve always disliked this phrase, and it felt like a pure contradiction - you wouldn’t need to verify if you truly trust. It has come up recently in my life and work, so I decided to dig in and crystallize my thoughts. The phrase originated as a Russian proverb (doveryai, no proveryai) and is attributed to Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin . Inauspicious beginnings, to say the least. Ronald Reagan then co-opted it in 1986 to refer to nuclear disarmament, and from there, it entered the American lexicon. People often consider it a leadership principle or some fundamental truth, which needs more nuance.  As a leader, one must decide how to operate in different contexts. A good initial posture is to distrust and verify often until you have built up the appropriate level of trust over a long enough period. I’ve had so many occasions in my career when I heard some variant of: The code is terrible The code we’re writing is excellent! That’s impossible That will take months We’re in a good ...

My wife and I have driven a Model S for over 2 years, and a Model 3 for a couple months. We get a lot of questions about whether we like the cars, Tesla in general, and whether the “cheaper Tesla” is worth buying. This post is an attempt to answer those questions, clear up some misconceptions, and present a clear case why the Model 3 is a great buy if you are in the market for a new sedan. Cost Let’s start with the most important thing for most people who are buying a car - overall cost. The Model 3 is available in three trims right now (options add cost on top of this): Standard Range Plus: $39,500 and 240 miles of range Long Range: $49,500 and 310 miles of range (includes dual motor all wheel drive) Performance: $59,500 and 310 miles of range (includes dual motor all wheel drive) These numbers are all before incentives, if you buy the mid range battery and take delivery before the end of Q2, you will get a $3750 Federal Tax Credit, and whatever state incentives ...

I'm co-organizing  React Boston , the first react.js focused conference in New England this fall! The conference will be held on September 23rd-24th (this is a weekend), in the heart of Boston at Wayfair's main office. It will be a single track event with topics around React itself, Relay, GraphQL, React Native, and more. The CFP is open , and tickets are on sale now . We really want this event to be a success, and we'd love to see there!

This was originally a Facebook post, but I'm preserving it here in a slightly longer format due to the transient nature of Facebook. August 2016 was the hottest August ever . So was July. And June. And so on for the last 11 months. Here’s a scary animation . No country is taking this seriously , and if we continue on our current path the Earth will be uninhabitable in 100-200 years. Global warming may seem easy to ignore, because the effects appear far off and irrelevant to people living in first world countries. Climate change denial (or even acceptance without behavior modification) is perhaps the most extreme example of Hyperbolic Discounting  in the history of the human race. Partly this is because it can seem impossible to make any changes yourself that will have an impact. I hope I can convince you otherwise. I’m sure you’ve heard about global warming causing stronger storms , rising sea levels , and a variety of other long term downsides that may or may not impact yo...