Anil Dash

Unfollowing Everybody

At this point, there's nothing novel about noticing that social media is often toxic and stressful. But even aside from those concerns, our social networks are not things we generally think of as requiring maintenance or upkeep, even though we

cartoons

The Cartoon Kit

Anything worth doing is worth doing meta. And Tom and Jerry is no exception. I've been trying to learn a bit more about the various eras of the Tom and Jerry cartoon, from the mega-racist Hanna-Barbera originals to the extremely

music

It's like Shazam — for your face!

Today's most fun new Glitch app is Record Player, which lets you upload a photo, then uses Google Cloud's Vision API to recognize the image and play it on Spotify. It works really well, but the real fun starts when

tech

12 Things Everyone Should Understand About Tech

Tech is more important than ever, deeply affecting culture, politics and society. Given all the time we spend with our gadgets and apps, it’s essential to understand the principles that determine how tech affects our lives. Understanding technology today

tech

The Missing Building Blocks of the Web

At a time when millions are losing trust in the the web’s biggest sites, it’s worth revisiting the idea that the web was supposed to be made out of countless little sites. Here’s a look at the

music

Have the Hip Hop BBQ

I keep having to explain a principle I arrived at a few years ago when I realized the modern conservative movement is grounded almost entirely in a contrived sense of grievance, predicated on a false victimhood of its supporters. (That’

tech

Masters in Business

A few months ago, I got the wonderful opportunity to talk to Barry Ritholtz, who’s best known as a Bloomberg View columnist and for his excellent “Masters in Business” podcast, but whom I’ve known online for many years.

film

Every Last Jedi

This is a spoiler-filled first set of reactions to Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The ultimate courage of what Rian Johnson has done here, is that he fully embraced what it is to be a director who obviously grew up

web

Underscores, Optimization & Arms Races

A dozen years ago, the web started to reshape itself around major companies like Google. We can understand the genesis of today’s algorithmic arms race against the tech titans just by looking at a single character. This is all

Star Wars Minute!

In advance of the upcoming release of The Last Jedi, excitement is building for all things Star Wars, so I’m thrilled to share that I got to be a guest on the inestimable Star Wars Minute podcast. The show

4th Day of November...

I struggled for a long time when the nice folks at the Heat Rocks podcast asked me which Prince album I’d want to talk about on their show. Oliver Wang and Morgan Rhodes run an amazing podcast, where every

Best Of

Speaking at the Obama Foundation Summit

I’ve been fortunate enough to get to speak at a lot of events over the years, in front of an amazing variety of audiences around the world. But I can honestly say I’ve never been more impressed by

nyc

Sixteen is Letting Go Again

A couple of times a week, I end up walking by the World Trade Center, either the new train station at the site, or one of the new malls that’s sprung up flanking the memorial. It’s a normal

tech

The Printer We Need

Printers: They don’t work. Here’s my wishlist for one that might. I am really enjoying my work at Fog Creek Software, so I don’t have time to start a company right now, but I do have an

tech

Apple is about to do something their programmers definitely don't want.

Apple spent $5 billion on a beautiful new office, Apple Park. So it’s amazing they’re about to make an extremely costly, avoidable mistake: putting their coders in an open-plan layout. I work at Fog Creek Software, where our

The bar is so damn low.

It’s always great to reconnect with old friends, and that especially holds true for old Internet friends. That must be why it was such a delight to spend some time chatting with Ana Marie Cox, as a guest on

tech

The Importance Of Interaction

Developer relations and tech evangelism is one of those fields that just doesn’t get enough respect. Having done the work for years myself, I think it’s a wildly under-examined field and very few businesses do enough to properly

tech

We're just trying to be non-terrible!

This was so fun! I got another chance to host the Stack Overflow podcast, and this time did it in fine style with Jess Lee and Ben Halpern of the Practical Dev joining in for the festivities. Do give it

music

Dig, If U Will...

I was delighted to get to talk to Ben Greenman for an episode of “Dig If You Will The Podcast,” his series in honor of his book “Dig If You Will The Picture”. We go deep into Prince’s influence

Best Of

Tech and the Fake Market tactic

In one generation, the Internet went from opening up new free markets to creating a series of Fake Markets that exploit society, without most media or politicians even noticing. 1. The open internet markets American culture loves to use the

It's time to discover Prince

With the return of Prince’s classic 80s and 90s catalog to the most popular streaming services, now’s a great time to (re?)discover the breadth of Prince’s incredible body of work. The full scale of Prince’s

It's me, Bike Dad!

Until the Citibike bikeshare program launched here in New York City, I’d ridden a bike perhaps once in the prior twenty years. Since it launched, I ride almost daily. Because of the massive improvements in quality of life in

tech

Design Matters

I was delighted to get to speak with Debbie Millman for her venerable podcast, “Design Matters”. If you have an hour to spare, please do check out the conversation — we touched on a ton of topics that are near and

Best Of

On Being and Tech's Moral Reckoning

Back in November, I got to sit down with the amazing Krista Tippett for a lengthy interview in front of an incredibly warm crowd in Easton, MD. Now, that interview has been edited down and is available as the latest

A billion dollar gift for Twitter

Jack asked us for ideas on how to fix Twitter. A coherent plan for fixing Twitter would make millions of people happier, and pick up a billion dollars in market cap along the way. C’mon, it’ll be great!