ahulak

I think MCPs that can provide monetized content (for example bankrates or insurance quotes), will provide business value, but, like APIs, there will be compliance requirements as to how information is displayed on the front end. Getting access or credentials to the MCP will require completing this approval process.

That said, this only makes sense if the data provided by the API is proprietary in some way. If its free or open source data, being the mcp provider likely won't provide much business value aside from the insight as to what the LLMs/users are searching for.

The Mouse Driver Chronicles

Not totally game changing, but a great story that can help keep you motivated!

What exactly makes this privacy first?

Ability to accept payments is a feature, but no one would say Stripe wasn't a startup that's now grown into a large company.

Features can be viable startups if they provide enough value and hard enough to replicate.

Is there a reason you’d rather do this than live in a fully furnished rental?

This sums it up quite nicely. What is worse? The vaccine or covid?

Something that resonated with me... Which do you think is more likely to have a significant negative effect on your health? These vaccines or COVID?

We have plenty of reason to believe these vaccines will be effective with minimal adverse effects (including the relatively small study of 40k individuals).

Conversely, we have definitive proof that in the best case COVID can be asymptomatic and/or a nasty, but survivable, virus. At its worst, it kills you or leaves you with long-lasting health issues that we don't yet fully understand.

Personally, I'll take my chances with the vaccine. My biggest fear isn't adverse reactions, but rather lack of efficacy.

Honestly, while it's not perfect, javascript will likely give you most bang for your buck. You can use it client side as well as server side. It's not the perfect tool for every situation, but you certainly won't regret knowing it.

That's all there is to it.

Assets - Liabilities = Net Worth

Interest rate arbitrage. If you have $2M liquid net worth, you have access to investments that will perform much better than the ~4% you're likely paying on your mortgage. If I can make 6% on $400k vs the 4% I'm paying on said mortgage, why wouldn't I pocket that extra 2%?

How would you compare yourself to CrowdFlower or CrowdSource?

There are ~100M homes, ~3k counties, ~27k zipcodes, and ~300k neighborhoods and subdivisions that all have different market dynamics. A sample size of 9 make this analysis completely meaningless.

Equally important, is that the author of this article doesn't appear to know much about how the real estate data industry works (especially in regards to market trends and how they are used to generate the Automated Valuation Models (AVMs for short). A bit surprising given the nature of the business he is representing.

The Zestimate is one of a handful of Automated Valuation Models (AVMs in industry speak) - it's the only one with a consumer-facing brand, and as a result sees the most scrutiny despite the fact that the other AVMs on the market are the ones actually used by the banks during the appraisal process.

If you think the Zestimate is bad, you should see some of the other commercial AVMs.

The reality is that creating an automated valuation for the ~100M properties in the US is an incredibly difficult task given the availability of data (or lack thereof!). Zillow does a pretty darn good job and has a bit of a data advantage given its incredibly high coverage of for sale listings (though they lack the experience - some firms have been producting AVMs for decades!).

Another thing to note, is that AVMs (like any statistical model), usually aim for a sweet spot that covers as many homes as possible. As a result, ultra high-end properties are often incorrectly valued. E.g. that $25M mansion down the street will be very hard for the model to price. Additionally, certain luxury features, like say, a tennis court, are almost impossible to incorporate into these models on a national scale.

This post reminded me how much I miss Turntable.fm :(

Very cool - thanks for the answer!