PhoenixWright

He flippantly asked what to do with his 4 shares. Doubt he'd get a dcf analysis.

A couple of takeaways from this article:

Apple has a problem with leadership. When managers aren't buying into a vision, mostly because it's murky at best, that is a big problem.

SV hubris believing you can go into any industry and disrupt the incompetent incumbents is laughable. FB found this out with phones and it sounds like Apple and Google are now figuring it out with cars.

The Netflix idea works here too: Apple and Google have to become more like GM and BMW before GM and BMW become more like Apple and Google. GM will have an awesome electric with a better range than a Tesla Model 3 this year! If they ever figure out aesthetics and software they will win.

Finally this article highlights what Musk has done at Tesla. They are the closest SV company to actually figure out manufacturing. It still remains to be seen but if they do it Tesla will be the market leader in cars.

I was part of a meeting at retailerX where a VP or mid-level manager that was representing the company at CurrentC gave a talk. As she told it things were going swimmingly and she talked about her lead and how she and retailerX were respected by the other retailers for their IT prowess. After that meeting I knew CurrentC was dead. This lady was chosen to lead the project and most mid-level managers at retailerX were completely incompetent. RetailerXs IT department is staffed by H1-Bs and get things done through brute force. If that's the best they could find they were in trouble from the start.

Wal-Mart made the wise decision of going solo and launching their own app a little bit later. From what I hear Wal-Mart labs has a great staff.

Wow for an institution like MIT to offer a professorship to someone so clearly uncrdentialed sends a horrible signal to faculty and students. I will not talk about this persons lack of credentials because apparently that's a personal attack but I will say that academia and professorsship has everything to do with the philosophy of a subject not just its practice. I would never hire a surgeon who never went to medical school or a rocket scientist who didn't have a phD. Maybe they've achieved knowledge outside of academia, if that's the case that's where they should practice there skills, but to now have them share that unique and disorganized philosophy with students trying to learn structurally is unfair to the hard work and sacrifice those students have made to be able to get to MIT in the first place. They've earned the right to be taught and mentored by someone who has taken the same path they have and put in the time and admirable effort to study their subject academically.

Our prestigious universities like MIT are institutions that are aspirational to so many. Those who have taken the long and arduous path from student to researcher and then professors deserve the fruits of there labor. This is a slap in the face to so many people who have dedicated their lives to the advancement of knowledge.

Awesome site. Ever since I saw fivestar.io I've been wanting to do an Amazon affiliate site. He gave an update a couple of months after launch and said he was making a nice ~$300/month.

This is so on point. After graduating college I found myself in the "loser" layer surrounded by the "clueless." The org was so big I didn't even get to see the "sociopaths" at the top. 2 years of putting in the "bare minimum" I quit only to find the same structure in my new job. I'm now planning my second exit this time hoping to find a lower paying but cushier job were I can serve my 8 hour daily sentence without having to talk to anyone and in a real office probably browsing HN all day (I already have a couple of apps out there).

I've also been working on FIRE, entrepreneurship and hobbies that could provide income. But the most important thing and what I wish I knew when I was starting my adult life is that obtaining true happiness from a career is bullshit. I now enjoy spending my time with family and on my own interests. I just wish I had more of that time.

This is another reminder to be weary of strangers you meet online.

I'm really glad that the merger between Men's Warehouse and Jos A Bank's bombed. These were two great companies that constantly tried to one-up each other. I feel that level of competition led to both companies doing well. Then they got greedy and decided that competition wasn't easy and that collusion through merger would be better. Now they've killed the goose that laid the golden egg. Discount men's wear was Men's Warehouse and Jos A Bank's. I expect to see new companies enter this market to fill the void.

Corporate governance is a huge problem in the market right now. Like others have mentioned workers and stockholders will pay for the ineptness of this board. Short term gain via activist investors is leading to crappy mergers, stupid breakups, and what should be illegal inversions.

I actually believe this is another sign of a top in the market when you see "investors" trying to squeeze the last bit of gains though these types of schemes.

This is an interesting subject matter but he's a poor speaker. If his book is anything like this speech I'm sure it's long-winded and boring.

This is what happens when you pay ENGINEERS less than 100k in NYC! This is what happens when you hire a bunch of H1Bs! This is what happens when you don't invest in tech infrastructure!

Why aren't Vladimir Tenev and Baiju Bhatt being acquihired? Why isn't David Byttow making 1 million plus as a full stack engineer for the NYSE? It's because companies, even those heavily dependent on their systems, see tech workers as a cost instead of THE business.

This will more than likely never change. Underpaid engineers vastly outperform their salaries. But when things like this happen I can't help but feel a little glee.

Sounds like you bit off more than you can chew.

Same thing here. Sounds like an easy way to find valuable domains, have people tell them to you.

Since I was old enough to read I've been following the news. Politics, world, sports finance I am really well informed to the point that if someone mentions any recent headline I've read at least one source regarding the topic, usually two or more with updates as well.

During my freshman year of college I stopped following the news. I was so focused on starting off well in school that I avoided most distractions. I found that those months were some of the most focused and productive I've ever had. Sadly I fell back into the habit of reading news articles and catching cable news at night. But I've been trying to stop, although my smartphone is making it very difficult.

Like Aaron points out I can't point to one thing I've read or heard on the news that has turned into actionable information. I also agree that reading better developed thoughts on a specific subject would be more beneficial.

Lastly I'd like to say I really miss Aaron. This post is an example of his brilliance. Depression is a horrible disease and the circumstances surrounding his suicide make it all the more tragic.

RIP aaronsw.