Baby Names for Analytical Parents
Naming things is known to be one of the hardest problems in computer science. Naming humans is harder. While naming a child is no job for a machine, we can inform that decision by analyzing the frequency of given names over the years.
The Secret API of Banks
Interacting with bank data often requires customers to trust 3rd-party services with their username and password. What if there were a more secure way? A way to explore transactions in real-time without having to trust anyone.
Comptes de Campagne
La Commission Nationale des Comptes de Campagne et des Financements Politiques (CNCCFP) publie tous les ans un rapport d'activité. Voici un aperçu de ce que j'y ai découvert au sujet des élections législatives françaises.
5 Million Calories Later
I left eBay last June to focus on my own project in the nutrition and health space. I am now at the 6 month mark—as good a time as any to have a brief look back.
No More Calorie Counting
Last month, I talked at the NY Quantified Self Meetup about how I replaced calorie counting with a machine learning algorithm that learns about my diet over time. This is a recording of the presentation, along with an edited transcript.
Nutrition, Quantified Self, and Machine Learning
I have been tracking what I eat since September 2013. 22 months and counting. More than 3,000 entries. 230 espressos. Throughout that process, I learned a ton about what works and what doesn't when it comes to logging food.
Ask “Do You Like X?”, Not “What Do You Like?”
I recently sat in a user testing session for a project I am working on at eBay. This new product initially prompted participants to add their interests (e.g., handbags, comic books) to a list. This task turned out to be more difficult than we anticipated.
The Strange Case of Ellis v. City of Grand Rapids
While reading about the Constitution of the United States, I stumbled upon the following case. In 1966, the city of Grand Rapids demanded that a landowner sell his property to a Catholic hospital based on the Preamble of the Constitution.
3 Things I Believe
I have been working in the Web industry for more than 5 years—3 startups, 2 countries, 1 acquisition—but until now I never took the time to write down what I believe in (professionally, at least).