David ex Machina

We've all heard the warnings: "Don't click suspicious links!" "Be wary of unsolicited emails!" But what happens when the scam isn't a glaring red flag, but a carefully woven web of trust and delayed tactics? What happens when a seemingly innocuous catch-up call nearly compromises your digital life? That's precisely what happened to me recently, and it was a chilling reminder of how vulnerable we all are to sophisticated social engineering. You never think you'll be the target – until you are. And when that feeling hits, the panic that you're about to lose everything is very, very real. From Conference Connect to Cyberattack It all started innocuously enough. Back in February 2024, I went to EthDenver and amidst the networking, I met a "Zoie Zhang", who worked for a VC firm, “Paramita”. We exchanged contact info on Telegram, snapped a quick photo to remember each other, and that was that. A crypto-standard conference connection. Fast...

     Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-iigN2WjvY&ab_channel=ProtocolLabs There’s a lot of hype about web3 , so much so that the New York Times recently ran a profile on the many tech executives leaving their posts to join the space . The article focuses on the financial leverage that cryptocurrencies offer and less so on why web3 matters as the next wave of computing. As a software engineer, and someone who recently joined the web3 space, I wanted to share my view of the excitement and challenges facing web3.  web Let’s start with the exciting stuff :) The Technology . Achieving consensus in an untrusted network is a technological breakthrough that the Bitcoin blockchain pioneered. It’s a real breakthrough, unlocking the digital ability to create scarcity, make guarantees in the future, and create the first resilient, real-world applicable version of digital money. Also, all of these protocols rely on some major advancements in the field of cryptography...

By Elkanah Tisdale (1771-1835) (often falsely attributed to Gilbert Stuart) [1] - Originally published in the Boston Centinel, 1812., Public Domain Tired of gerrymandering tilting the balance in favor of one political party and all the fake news propaganda focused on swing voters ( Cambridge Analytica’s “persuadables” ) to decide elections? Gerryneutering is a simple plan to neutralize the effects of both of these cheating strategies.  But before that, a quick recap of gerrymandering. Steve Nass [ CC BY-SA 4.0 ] Gerrymandering, is a funny word for partisan redistricting, in which those in power redraw the voting districts to give themselves a better chance of winning subsequent elections, and districts often end up looking like funny shapes. Districts get redrawn every 10 years with the Census, and the GOP strategy in the last two decades has been to implement Project RedMap , whereby focused efforts on winning state legislatures majorities gave them this power to ...

Having worked in the tech industry for the last 10 years, I have performed a variety of roles including: Software Engineer, Product Manager , and Engineering Manager . I often get asked by colleagues and friends to describe the differences between the roles. Many often wonder whether they should switch roles, and how I decided to switch roles throughout my career. Given the frequency, I decided to write down my take, so others may benefit and use it to better guide their own careers. Below is my primer on the role of an Engineering Manager in a software company. The primer is organized from high-level responsibilities (the what) down to the low-level tasks (the how) required for competency. It is not an exhaustive list, but should set reasonable expectations. Top Responsibilities Team Plan An EM is directly responsible for the long-term health and sustainability of the organization they manage; in terms of both people and product. This requires managing the day-to-day work and p...

Having worked in the tech industry for the last 10 years, I have performed a variety of roles including: Software Engineer, Product Manager , and Engineering Manager. I often get asked by colleagues and friends to describe the differences between the roles. Many often wonder whether they should switch roles, and how I decided to switch roles throughout my career. Given the frequency, I decided to write down my take, so others may benefit and use it to better guide their own careers.  Below is my primer on the role of a Product Manager in a software company. The primer is organized from high-level responsibilities (the what) down to the low-level tasks (the how) required for competency. It is not an exhaustive list, but should set reasonable expectations. Top Responsibilities Product Vision At the highest level, a PM’s main responsibility is creating a vision for a product and setting the direction for the team. The scale of the problem should scale with the PM...

Credit: Pictofigo I’ve written about the significance and value of time in a previous post , so this post aims to be more pragmatic, and will explore a decision making framework for time vs. money tradeoffs. Do you pay $20 to skip a 20 minute line at the airport? Many people would do the following math, take their hourly wage and compare it to the cost of the offer, and if their hourly income is greater than the cost, then it is a good deal. In this example, if you make over $60 per hour you would take the deal. Buying Time Formula v1.0 An offer is a good deal if, However, it is slightly more nuanced than that. Let’s start with the basics. The total number of hours in a year is equal to 365d * 24h = 8760 hrs/yr. But not all of those hours can be used because humans physically need sleep. Therefore, assuming an average of 8hrs of sleep a night, the average person has 5840 available hrs/yr. Some of those hours are for work in which you earn a wage, economists use the term “l...