First crypto
Last night, I bought my first crypto: 500 ADA through the Voyager mobile app.
Many smart people I know have been investing in BitCoin or other cryptocurrency for years.
While I have a basic understanding of the blockchain technology, I never bought any cryptocurrency, as I didn’t understand the economics or how the market behaves.
Bitcoin may increase by 1000s of dollars in a week because of … speculators I presume? It is not because a company posted great sales results. And traditional currencies don’t see swings that big. So how this all really work economically?
The NFT or non-fungible token craze made me more wary of investing, as it is more stuff I do not understand. Why does one want to own “the original” of a digital asset, when that asset is never truly a one of a kind in the first place? In the physical world this is different: a Picasso is much different from a Picasso-reproduction. Jack Dorsey’s first tweet is no different on my computer than it is on your computer. Buying Jack Dorsey’s keyboard on which he typed his first tweet is different. Buying an NFT, doesn’t mean you own the asset completely. For example, as described in a great writeup by The Hustle, buying an NBA NFT of a videoclip of LeBron dunking does mean you get the broadcast rights to the clip.
On the other hand, I could understand how one wants to track ownership of physical art using smart contracts on a blockchain. But NFTs? They are complicated.
“On SuperWorld, you can buy NFTs in the form of virtual real estate. East 66th St. in NYC could be yours for just 500 ETH, or ~$822k!”
It is headlines like this that make me believe this is all a scam by some people hyping things up until they are rich and can cash out. Too bad for all the poor suckers who followed them. The crypto and NFT market appears to be a large cattle hall where everyone eggs each other on. Just type in a cryptocurrency into YouTube.
“Cardano will go to a thousand!”
“CARDANO BOTTOMED!! RALLY TO $20 IS STARTING!!!!! BITCOIN GOING TO $90,0000!!!
”The new Ethereal will be amazing!“
”How much ADA Do you need to be a MILLIONAIRE?
“Buy CryptoPunks art! @#$#@!!”
“CryptoKitties is going through the roof”
So if I am still such a skeptic about the crypto world, why did I buy my first cryptocurrency?
First of all, there are plenty of serious and smart people working on infrastructure and platforms underpinning this new world. Just as the first websites were silly - remember the Million Dollar Homepage - the first applications of a new revolutionary technology are often silly. Hello NFTs.
As I spent learning and reading about crypto technologies, scalable and distributed systems, it is a fascinating world with plenty of companies building great technology.
Cryto companies
Thus I decided to buy my raffle ticket at the church of crypto’s annual crabfest. I started with Cardano ADA, and am looking into buying another infrastructure, protocol or storage related crypto.
March 13, 2021
The need to improvise
I listened this morning to Pushkin’s industries’ Cautionary Tales podcast episode on the art of public speaking by Martin Luther King Jr. I recognize a bit of my own process. By no means am I an oratory marvel as Dr King was. However, just like during his early days preparing for a sermon, I prepare and over-prepare, and practice when I have to give a big presentation.
Several years ago, I was reading every post on Presentation Zen and elsewhere, of how to become a better presenter. I remember one which gave a behind the scenes look of how Steve Jobs prepares for a keynote. As simple and as authentic as his keynote looked, Steve Jobs would prepare a week long.
Steve Job made presentations look effortless because he put a lot of effort into making it great.
Thus I figured if I wanted to be any good on stage, I would need to follow a similar process: first focus on the story, then the slides, then the timing, and practice, practice, practice. I have seen good progress because this.
However, that leaves one important element out of it: the power and need to improvise as to connect better with your audience.
That’s what the I had a dream speech did. As the podcast episode covers, or as it has been described in a 2013 New York Times opinion piece one of the most famous lines happened because Dr. King improvised. It happened because he had both practiced it before, and because he improvised and adapted to the situation.
As King neared the end, he came to a sentence that wasn’t quite right. He had planned to introduce his conclusion with a call to “go back to our communities as members of the international association for the advancement of creative dissatisfaction.” He skipped that, read a few more lines, and then improvised: “Go back to Mississippi; go back to Alabama; go back to South Carolina; go back to Georgia; go back to Louisiana; go back to the slums and ghettos of our Northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.”
Nearby, off to one side, Mahalia Jackson shouted: “Tell them about the dream, Martin!” King looked out over the crowd. As he later explained in an interview, “all of a sudden this thing came to me that I have used — I’d used many times before, that thing about ‘I have a dream’ — and I just felt that I wanted to use it here.” He said, “I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.” And he was off, delivering some of the most beloved lines in American history, a speech that he never intended to give and that some of the other civil rights leaders believed no one but the marchers would ever remember.
February 28, 2021
And at the end, Kuurne means a sprint
Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne was an atypical race, with a familiar sprint finish.
MVDP attacked early and made it a long hard practice run. MDVP is getting ready for Strade Bianche. This made the race enjoyable to watch with multiple groups chasing each other. They only joined each other in the last few kilometers, setting us up for the typical Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne sprint.
Trek redeemed themselves with Stuyven leading out for Mads Pedersen’s win.
AG2R with Van Avermaet and Naessens disappointed. The Wolfpack took the day off.
Most steady and dangerous rider this weekend was the young crosser-now-roadracer Tom Pidcock. It could be a very interesting Strade Bianche with MDVP, Wout and Tom.
February 28, 2021
It will be another weird cycling season
It was 5:30am when my alarm woke me up to catch the first interesting race of the season: Omloop het Nieuwsblad. I was ready, and also ready to make a mountain of crepes while watching the race.
There had been lots of theories of how another weird corona season would commence. Would we see a more traditional season, although without supporters along the roads, or would it be another atypical season.
Today’s race proved the latter. It didn’t follow its traditional pattern and oddly enough ended in a group sprint. Davide Ballerini won with several lengths the sprint.
Thus far the conclusions are that many racers lack race form. For example, Trek with Jasper Stuyven wasn’t ready. The cyclocrossers are expected to be ready. Wout Van Aert, Mathieu Vanderpoel, and we already saw Tom Pidcock today in form. And Julian Alaphilippe is always ready. I was bit disappointed that AG2R with Greg Van Avermaet and Oliver Naeseen, and a number of teammates, weren’t able to put up anything against the Wolfpack of Deceuninck-Quickstep.
Tomorrow is Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, which ends traditionally in a group sprint. However, with Mathieu Vanderpoel starting, we may end up with a less traditional episode. My prediction: Alexander Kristoff in the sprint.
February 27, 2021
This is Jan and I am done speaking
After a week on the new audio-focussed social app Clubhouse, the most common phrase I heard was “and I am done speaking”. It sounds a little harsh, doesn’t it? The walkie-talkie “over” would have been a nicer way to pass the microphone.
After Clubhouse was mentioned regularly among my Twitter crowd, I was naturally curious. Was it just VCs yammering? What is Clubhouse?
“Part talkback radio, part conference call, part Houseparty, Clubhouse is a social networking app based on audio-chat. Users can listen in to conversations, interviews and discussions between interesting people on various topics — it is just like tuning in to a podcast, but live and with an added layer of exclusivity.” - Rafqa Touma, The Guardian
In my first week, my typical experience has been one where I join a room with over 200 people in listen mode, and about 20 people who have talk privileges. Just like at an in-person conference, you are invited to ask a question to the 20-people panel. It also reminded me of Talk Radio. Coming to the US in the 90s, I quickly became a huge fan of KGO810 talk radio in the Bay Area. Thus far, I’ve only been in lurker-mode.
I also joined a few rooms where the Premier League game of the day was being discussed. These rooms were smaller and a lot more chaotic, with everyone chiming in with their opinion. Those rooms lacked a real moderator, yet also came across more natural and fluid. Think Sunday-gameday or a passioned discussion in a sportsbar.
Although I originally heard about the app as a place where white-VC-bros meet, my experience has been much different. Perhaps many of the Silicon Valley venture capital discussion retreated to the closed rooms. Overall the audience is quite diverse.
We should not forget that Clubhouse is still a very young app. Just like Twitter, Facebook or Snapchat in the early days, important features are missing.
There is a lot of criticism about the lack of encryption, especially considering that the back-end infrastructure company, Agora, is in China. Fix this quickly, before a more-secure-Clubhouse pops up.. (If it is true that it took them a month or so to build the app, then others .. uhum … Facebook, Snapchat or Spotify won’t be far behind. Or a shark.)
Also privacy is an issue, as in order to invite people, you need to allow access to your contacts.
I had been invited to join Clubhouse, but my privacy wasn’t welcome.
Clubhouse Is Suggesting Users Invite Their Drug Dealers and Therapists
The Guardian only sees trouble with the app. I give it a few more months for the app to fix security and privacy. Let’s hope the investment and advice from Andreessen-Horowitz will steer them to do so.
February 21, 2021
Superbowl 2021
Today is the Superbowl or the summum of American football and of American advertising. People look forward to what the creative geniuses have concocted for commercials.
This year’s sportive battle is between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs. It is between a team without a true soul and one which is conflicted with its native Americanness. It is between the old guard, Tom Brady, and the young buck, Patrick Mahomes.
Being a Niner fan, it is hard to admit that the true GOAT is Tom Brady. He undoubtedly is the greatest quarterback of the decade. He supersedes Joe Montana and, my favorite, Steve Young.
That’s why I am rooting for Tom Brady. I want him to do extremely well today. His team needs him to do extremely well, to be able to counter the explosiveness and virtuosity of Patrick Mahomes and team. And most of all, I want it to be an exciting game. I want it to be a game where teams go for it on fourth down, every single time. I want it to be a game where the teams play to win, and not play to avoid a big loss. When you make it this far, you should go for the win. Too often finals are reserved games, and the half-finals is where the action is. Thus I wish this game will be a half-final final.
Go Niners.
February 7, 2021
Hardtalk
Hardtalk with Stephen Sackur
Recently I was introduced in the hard-hitting BBC television show/ podcast, Hardtalk. The host Stephen Sackur takes no punches. The exchange with Alan Dershowitz was awesome. On my run today, I listened to the episode with Lina Khan, a US lawyer who took on Amazon about whether the tech giants can be tamed.
The episode covered both Amazon’s position in a free market, as well as the power of Twitter to censor people. The comparison with Europe was quickly made, where European laws regulate these types of issues more strictly. It was a great observation by Sackur. Yet, he didn’t follow through on his train on thought: what’s the difference with US law, and what role has US congress played or failed to play.
The public focus right is on Twitter, Facebook, Google, Apple or Amazon. The debate is about banning Trump, or about removing Parler from their platforms. Yet, little conversation in the US happens about the role of Congress, or the enforcement of existing laws swiftly. The only talk seems to be about punishing tech companies by revoking Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996. Section 230 provides immunity to online platforms from civil liability based on third-party content.
Is anything online acceptable and must tech companies allow it? Free speech and the first amendment don’t apply here. A company doesn’t have to allow any speech on their platform.
I don’t know what the right answer is here. I surely don’t want to end up in an over-regulated system where one debates the curvation of a cucumber. Yet, I do think that we should discuss what online speech should be prosecuted and how, as not to rely on companies to have to create such guidelines on speech and moderation.
January 23, 2021
Google Sites, the missing link
In the olden physical library days, books were catalogued and numbered according to a common Dewey Decimal Classification system. Each book belonged on a specific shelf. You looked up books by author or by topic by consulting an index card system. The index card DDC information would then direct you to the right shelf. It worked! It worked because there were only so many books one could store in a library.
The scale of the internet made such a catalog impossible, even though Yahoo originally tried it. Altavista, Lycos, Excite and a host of other companies worked very hard at making finding information online easier through search engines. As we all know, it was Google who perfected finding needles in the internet haystack.
That is, for as long as the haystack is public. Once you within the confines of a corporation, all bets are off. Of course, Google’s web crawlers have no access to the servers behind the firewall. But what happens if a company hosts their files in Google Drive, a private cloud drive, hosted by Google? In my experience, astoundingly, search doesn’t work in Google Drive.
Also the cataloging in Google Drive folders is a problem. The Google Drive folder sharing approach is a mystery for many people. I have a My Drive view and can make portions of it selectively available in your My Drive. This can be confusing as we believe we are looking at the same shared information. Yet, it can be different. Only portions may have been shared, or it may have mapped it differently in your My Drive. There are many things which can screw it up.
Google Team Drives meant to solve some of this. They didn’t, as team membership and permissions can get complex. The more recent Shared Drive concept provides hope. I understand it as a set of corporation-wide shared and discoverable drives where everybody has the same view of the world.
In a corporate world where one has figured out a working folder structure, there remains the problem of findability. The true solution is to fix search.
A companion solution to this is a Portal, a landing place, organized by how the company operates, and with links to the right documents. It is a Dewey crutch, yet one which can be quite effective. It may even be key to fixing search. After all, Google Search started with the Page Rank algorithm applied to webpages and their links.
Google Sites is such a Portal solution. However it is clunky, has limited functionality, flexibility, and appears to neglected by Google.
As a result, I see folks build crafty workarounds using e.g., Atlassian Confluence. As Atlassian Confluence overlaps in functionality with Google Docs and Sites, you end up somewhere in an even more confused no-mans land. It is as if Dewey created both a catalog and a typewriter, wrapped in the same product.
By fixing Private Search and investing in Sites, Google could solve a lot of companies’ information sharing problems.
For information systems to work, you need to use single-purpose and simple tools. Every time, companies try to blend capabilities, it becomes a mess.
January 22, 2021
That day I got carried away
I avoided Election Night and fell peacefully asleep that night in November.
The next weeks I followed subduedly the legal jousting. It turned out to be a one-sided fight with team Trump and Four Seasons Total Landscaping biting the dust time after time.
January 6, 2021 Attack on the Capitol
Then came the disgraceful events of January 6th, and the attack on the Capitol. The first visual which came to mind was that of the attack dogs in Animal Farm. Regardless of the Trump’s admiration of Putin, that allegory is almost the opposite of what right-wing Trump is about.
That afternoon, my work productivity was declining rapidly. When I read Belgian Twitter commentary, in favor of Trump, I got carried away and waded into dangerous Twitter-war waters.
For context, there is huge political divide in Belgium between the Flemish-speaking North and the French-speaking Walloons in the South. In political terms, this translates largely to the Right-leaning N-VA and Right-Wing-populist Vlaams Belang in the North, and the Socialist Party PS in the South. Trump’s rethoric about the Radical Left immediately appeals to the right-wing Flemish voter. The difference between the GOP and Democratic Party is much more nuanced, and the mapping is not as direct.
With that background, one of the Flemish comments to the attack on the Capitol read
This makes sense when one has to cheat so blatantly to claim the president’s seat. 52k testified under oath to fraudulent cases. 74M people voted for Trump but Biden would get 80M to his name? More than Obama ever did? Think logical and rational.
I sheepishly responded with
And off we were to the races. I had been waiting to have a facts-based debate with a Trumpista for a long while. To each lie and falsehood article he posted, I responded with a fact-checked counter response. This was not an opinion debate or a troll war. Oh no, I wanted to call him and Trump on the lies. And I was ready to eat crow if needed. But let’s be honest, … this was too easy. I could have done it all night. What a rush!
Now back to my shell and staying on the right side of Twitter.
January 8, 2021
LinkedIn forgot to serve its “users”, and missed the opportunity to be a great professional community
Without a LinkedIn profile you don’t exist and you don’t have a career.
Your HR department probably has several LinkedIn recruiter licenses to find great candidates. You may even have asked your team to mine their networks for great candidates. For hiring managers, LinkedIn provides inspiration to specify the right job title or to describe the role. LinkedIn Recruiter appears to be serving companies well.
For many sales teams, LinkedIn has replaced the rolodex from over a decade ago. You may need some third-party add-ons to find the right email or phone number. The majority of the LinkedIn connect requests I receive turn into sales pitches. The introductory message “Hi, your profile looks interesting. I am looking to expand my professional network”, is quickly followed up with a sales pitch about the product or service the person is offering. It is as if I dropped of my business card at all the booths of a conference and told each salesperson, please contact me.
In the process of providing a great product for recruiters and account managers, LinkedIn forgot about the people volunteering their personal data. The saying “If you are not paying for it, you are the product” is more than ever true. Where is the value it offers me?
LinkedIn Groups often turns into a sales channel with a stream of press releases, or with news updates crossposted on Twitter and Facebook. I am sure we all have seen the Boston Dynamics robots jump and dance across all social media multiple times over. (Spot and Atlas are really cool nevertheless!)
LinkedIn experimented with a personal relationship manager (PRM) product. You could keep notes per contact, and schedule follow-up reminders. It was a really useful idea. It came and went away, pushing me to explore alternative Personal Relationship Managers: Ryze, Etch.ai or Followup.cc.
Peer-to-peer Career Advice was launched and is since no longer available either.
Slideshare used to be hot, but now feels on life support. It is no longer linked from main page. Instead, the $29.99/mo LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda) is promoted.
I understand LinkedIn is a for profit business and not a community service. I don’t mind paying for a great product. For example, after enjoying (free) Medium articles for a while, I signed up and became a member to enjoy the full set of articles.
Microsoft and LinkedIn are missing an opportunity to create a great professional community. My advice would be to invest in offering a great free (and premium) product to those who share their personal information.
For example, in addition to making student resumes available to recruiters, also provide a low friction path for those students to connect with a company or ask a question from more experienced people. I can see integrations with Calendly or features from Handshake or Doorways benefit students. To the more experienced, put the skill listings to good use, so one can more easily find a knowledgeable person to answer a question. Stackoverflow meets Skills. It doesn’t have to be just about technical topics, advise on the software skills can benefit many managers. Blind meets Skills. Perhaps a professional bookclub feature or a mentoring program with a free and premium option.
Start by making great services free. Continue making money with the services targeting companies: recruiting, sales and corporate training.
January 1, 2021
