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Podcast

Obi Nwankwo is Serious About This

Obi Nwankwo is chasing a dream in LA and he doesn’t care who knows. The corporate johnny pencil pusher post grad track got old real fast. He took a step back and said “I want to be a model, I want to be an actor, I want to be

Article

Robo-Advisors Eat the Old Guard’s Lunch

Investing is becoming ever more commoditized with the rise of index funds and passive strategies, forcing financial institutions to differentiate themselves on user experience. The Old Guard institutions like Black Rock and Vanguard were built in an age when user experience was not a priority. The New Guard institutions, often

Article

1000 Podcast Downloads, We Doing It

Brothers and sisters, I’m pumped to announce that the no gradient podcast has hit 1,000 unique downloads. I’ve talked with a marathon world record holder, a shamanic healer, a Marxist who tried to join the marines, a married couple in an open relationship, and just plain great

Prediction

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By 2040 bag and body scanners at airports will use machine learning to detect banned items, requiring intervention from security personnel only on an ad hoc basis. – Twitter

Prediction

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The following are my predictions for the one year adoption rate of future Android versions (+/- 2.5%): Android Oreo, 9% Android P, 15% Android 10, 19% Android 11, 22% Android 12, 24% Android 13, 25% Android 14, 25% – Twitter Resolved (each Android version is considered a separate prediction) • False.

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Project Treble, Coming into its Own

Project Treble is the biggest re-architecture of Android since it was born, and Google announcing that the Android P beta will be supported by nearly a dozen smartphones is the clearest indication yet that it is working. The following shows the one year adoption rate of each version of Android:

Prediction

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By 2050 terrorists will facilitate an attack using technology from a large cloud services company e.g. Amazon, Cloudflare, Google, IBM, Microsoft. – Twitter This attack will cause at least one top five GDP country to pass overbearing preventative legislation. – Twitter

Podcast

Scotty Holdridge, Still Here Baby

Scotty Holdridge- musician, bar manager, gentrifier- showing us he’s got more than enough life in him after getting the fuck out of tech. No agenda, no outline, no gradient, a riff session in every sense of the word. God bless him, Scotty put the ball in my court quite

Podcast

Donegal to San Francisco, A Niamh Donoghue Tale

Donegal to Edinburgh to London to SF, Niamh has an accent, Niamh is restless, Niamh wants to see the world, Niamh is mic’d up. A year ago she moved to The States after never setting foot here, let’s see what the deal is. Subscribe via iTunes, Google Play,

Podcast

Annalise & Ben, Married and Open

For Annalise and Ben, marriage doesn’t mean the end of other sexual partners or exploration of sexuality. They share the intimate details how they make it work- who knows, maybe you can too. Subscribe via iTunes, Google Play, RSS, or wherever podcasts are available. Stream on Libsyn and YouTube.

Article

Of Delusionists and Blochaters

For every popular phenomenon there is an equal and opposite group of detractors. This creates a positive feedback loop where the promoters become more fervent in their support as the detractors become more fervent in the opposite, and vice versa. This leaves us with two irrational groups. Blockchain is no

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Publications

The Economist – The 24 hour news cycle is exhausting and superficial. Published once a week, The Economist takes a step back covering events and trends shaping our world. It’s coverage of the United States is particularly impartial given it is based overseas. Benedict Evans Newsletter – There is a lot

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Books

The Alchemist – One of the simplest and most beautiful stories I have ever read. Sometimes you must let go of what’s comfortable. The Little Book of Common Sense Investing – This book will blow your mind. Conventional wisdom tells us that the best way to grow wealth is to have

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Podcasts

Naval Ravikant on Everything – Naval Ravikant has so many amazing perspectives on life and here shares them all in this interview. It’s long, but worth it, given the huge impact it can have on how you view your life and your time. The World this Week – The 24 hour

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Nonprofits

Wikipedia – Providing a repository of knowledge in dozens of languages for the entire world. A contribution to Wikipedia is an investment in humanity. EFF – Digital rights are more important with every passing day, the Electronic Frontier Foundation time and time again has proven itself not only as a watchdog to

Podcast

Pat Daly, Doing Pretty Good

Pat Daly mic’d up at 2am- coming at you late night style, late night theme, late night people. The reckoning of high school bullies everywhere, Daly cracks open his machinery to show us how he ticks- talking friendships, cyber security, and the future. Subscribe via iTunes, Google Play, RSS,

Prediction

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By 2030 there will be a financial services company offering a fully managed investment solution (e.g. saving for retirement, portfolio diversification) that charges no fees. – Twitter Resolved • Invalid. M1 Finance technically already did this at the time this prediction was published. The prediction should have been more specific as

Prediction

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By 2030, a major financial services company like Vanguard or Charles Schwab will offer ETFs with an expense ratio of 0.00%. – Twitter Updates • Mutual funds should have been included in this prediction as Fidelity announced  on August 1 2018 zero fees on their Total Market and International mutual index

Prediction

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By 2030 there will be a dominant social network built around user location. Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter use location, but have it bolted on the side. And dating apps are too use case specific. Location is too powerful to not take center stage in a social network. – Twitter

Prediction

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By 2070 domain names will be relegated to collectible items- bought, sold, and traded like pieces of art. – Twitter

Prediction

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By 2022, Amazon will release a router with voice activated Alexa built in. – Twitter

Prediction

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By 2022, Google will release a router with voice activated Google Assistant built in. – Twitter Resolved • True. Google’s Nest Wifi product has Google Assistant built in.

Podcast

Justin Dunn Goes All In

Justin Dunn, the kind of guy who sits back, observes, learns, watches people make the mistakes- then plays his hand. He talks sustaining himself on poker full time, his foray into the cannabis industry, and why he does his own thing. Subscribe via iTunes, Google Play, RSS, or wherever podcasts

Podcast

Mackenzie Angell, Call Him Mac Attack

Mac Attack let’s it all hang out. Along with live mixing on the show, he talks to me about his new music label Fuzzy Puddles, a rising event in LA he helps put on every month called Bass Waffles promising FREE WAFFLES and FAT BASS, and the art of

Podcast

Robbie Finnigan, When Tech Wasn’t Cool

A storyteller and advertiser, Robbie talks working for Playgirl magazine, working with Apple and Steve Jobs to bring tech to the people, rampant sexual assault in the ad business, and getting a vial of cocaine as a bonus. Strap in, welcome to the 80s. Subscribe via iTunes, Google Play, RSS,