Blog
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Note: This was originally published in the Hypocrite Reader in September 2014. Every morning Wentworth stakes out a corner of the Square because that’s where the out-of-towners congregate. He knows their patterns. With his pressed suit and slicked-back hair, clean shave and faint perfume, he gives these people exactly what they expect to see on…
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I apologize in advance for invoking Godwin’s Law, but as always, Nazism is such the prime historical example of snowballing fascism it’s hard not to bring it up. So I’ll get it out of the way with a brief look at Martin Niemöller’s well known and probably over-quoted poem: First they came for the Socialists,…
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I took a break from ReservationHop today to build a new chat program. EphChat, which stands for, you guessed it, “Ephemeral Chat,” is a chat program with a twist. No data is stored server side, and messages are only visible to participants for 60 seconds before they fade away into nothingness. Anyone can create a…
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It has been a crazy holiday weekend. In three days we went from relative obscurity to being the punching bag of the entire tech industry. I suppose some might envy me for all the media attention I’ve received for a side project I built in my underwear one night after waiting in line for a…
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In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of AMERICA. WHEN, in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another; and to assume, among the Powers Of The Earth, the separate and equal Station to which…
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This morning I put the finishing touches on, and launched, ReservationHop.com, a site where I’m selling reservations I booked up at hot SF restaurants this Fourth of July weekend and beyond. I built it over the weekend after waiting at Off the Grid for 30 minutes for a burrito from Señor Sisig, and realized that there’s…
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We all feel unproductive at times, some of us more than others. For me, personally, I have high expectations of myself and what I’m able to do, so I feel unproductive frequently. It’s very rare that I put in a solid 10- or 12-hour day of work and feel good about it. Sometimes it’s because…
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Like you, I’ve read Tal Fortgang’s piece, “Why I’ll Never Apologize for my White Male Privilege.” And like you, I’ve enjoyed watching him get skewered by blog after blog in the never ending one-upmanship that is the who-had-it-worse awards. As the internet froths at the mouth, I hereby declare that, like you, I think he…
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Yesterday I took part in a workshop on Design Thinking. The exercise that fascinated me most was when we paired up with strangers to create a product for them. We started by empathizing with the “customer” by talking to them. My partner was international and was carrying all these receipts in his wallet for reimbursements…
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I started keeping a list of what Google knows about me. Even knowing full well that I gave this information to Google freely, it’s pretty awe inspiring. Google knows every website I’ve ever visited (Chrome) Google knows who all my friends are (Gmail) Google knows who my closest friends are (Gchat, Gmail) Google knows what…
brian mayer 