Mind-Blowing Research Into Inserting Artificial Objects into Photographs →

Yeah, that's a phenomenally hard problem. And they do it very well. The headline's actually accurate in this case...

What I Didn't Write About When I Wrote About Quitting Facebook →

I hadn't written about feeling like Facebook was a job. Like I was running on a digital hamster wheel. But a wheel that someone else has rigged up. And a wheel that's actually a turbine that's generating electricity for somebody else. That's how I felt, which is what I should have written.

9 Equations True Geeks Should (at Least Pretend to) Know →

N.B. that "true geeks" != "math geeks". We vote for things like the Pythagorean Theorem. But, hey, at least Schrödinger Equation and Boltzmann's Entropy Formula made it on the list. Thanks, quantum mechanics!

Don't Call Yourself A Programmer, And Other Career Advice →

How much money do engineers make?

Wrong question. The right question is "What kind of offers do engineers routinely work for?", because salary is one of many levers that people can use to motivate you.

Your most important professional skill is communication.

People routinely assume that I am among the best programmers they know entirely because a) there exists observable evidence that I can program and b) I write and speak really, really well.

Communication is a skill. Practice it: you will get better. One key sub-skill is being able to quickly, concisely, and confidently explain how you create value to someone who is not an expert in your field and who does not have a priori reasons to love you. If when you attempt to do this technical buzzwords keep coming up ("Reduced 99th percentile query times by 200 ms by optimizing indexes on…"), take them out and try again. You should be able to explain what you do to a bright 8 year old, the CFO of your company, or a programmer in a different specialty, at whatever the appropriate level of abstraction is.

Co-workers and bosses are not usually your friends

You will spend a lot of time with co-workers. You may eventually become close friends with some of them, but in general, you will move on in three years and aside from maintaining cordial relations you will not go out of your way to invite them over to dinner. They will treat you in exactly the same way. You should be a good person to everyone you meet — it is the moral thing to do, and as a sidenote will really help your networking — but do not be under the delusion that everyone is your friend.

At the end of the day, your life happiness will not be dominated by your career.

Either talk to older people or trust the social scientists who have: family, faith, hobbies, etc etc generally swamp career achievements and money in terms of things which actually produce happiness. Optimize appropriately. Your career is important, and right now it might seem like the most important thing in your life, but odds are that is not what you'll believe forever. Work to live, don't live to work.

Good advice.

How Dr. Seuss Would Prove the Halting Problem Undecidable →

The halting problem undecidability proof in the syntax of a one Dr. Seuss.

Vulnerabilities Give Hackers Ability to Open Prison Cells From Afar →

Researchers have demonstrated a vulnerability in the computer systems used to control facilities at federal prisons that could allow an outsider to remotely take them over, doing everything from opening and overloading cell door mechanisms to shutting down internal communications systems.

Oh, Internet...

The Social Graph is Neither →

We have a name for the kind of person who collects a detailed, permanent dossier on everyone they interact with, with the intent of using it to manipulate others for personal advantage - we call that person a sociopath.

Take that, FaceboogledIn. Just one of the great lines from a pretty scathing analysis of how "social graphs" fail at being both "social" and "graphs".

Adobe to Cease Development of Flash Player for Mobile Browsers →

But how will Android differentiate?

Apple's Supply-Chain Secret →

Businessweek highlight's Apple's industry-leading supply chain. Also, lasers!