Udhay Shankar
@ushankar.bsky.social
Connector. Conversation starter. Counselor to entrepreneurs. Founder, The Goa Project.
www.digeratus.in
www.digeratus.in
No shit, Sherlock.
www.deccanherald.com/india/karnat...
www.deccanherald.com/india/karnat...
Bengaluru Traffic: ORR, Sarjapur Roads Over Capacity
Traffic Study: ORR and Sarjapur Road face severe congestion, with vehicle flow exceeding capacity. Discover solutions to ease Bengaluru's peak hour gridlock.
www.deccanherald.com
October 25, 2025 at 11:28 AM
No shit, Sherlock.
www.deccanherald.com/india/karnat...
www.deccanherald.com/india/karnat...
QotD (referring to the AWS outage, but can refer to many other things also):
"Once you reach a certain point of scale, there are no simple problems left."
"Once you reach a certain point of scale, there are no simple problems left."
October 23, 2025 at 7:05 AM
QotD (referring to the AWS outage, but can refer to many other things also):
"Once you reach a certain point of scale, there are no simple problems left."
"Once you reach a certain point of scale, there are no simple problems left."
QotD: "Ethernet: because cables are ugly, but packet loss is uglier."
September 13, 2025 at 5:54 AM
QotD: "Ethernet: because cables are ugly, but packet loss is uglier."
#MorningMusing : Removing the first letter from both words in the phrase "trick troll" yields a phrase that means roughly the same thing.
September 9, 2025 at 4:04 AM
#MorningMusing : Removing the first letter from both words in the phrase "trick troll" yields a phrase that means roughly the same thing.
This is basically Part 2 of a train of thought that @rohitkhare.bsky.social started a few decades ago. (link in comments) kk.org/thetechnium/...
The Trust Quotient (TQ)
Wherever there is autonomy, trust must follow. If we raise children to go off on their own, they need to be autonomous and we need to trust them. (Parenting is a school for learning how to trust.) If ...
kk.org
September 4, 2025 at 11:02 AM
This is basically Part 2 of a train of thought that @rohitkhare.bsky.social started a few decades ago. (link in comments) kk.org/thetechnium/...
"...the median prompt—one that falls in the middle of the range of energy demand—consumes 0.24 watt-hours of electricity, the equivalent of running a standard microwave for about one second."
www.technologyreview.com/2025/08/21/1...
www.technologyreview.com/2025/08/21/1...
In a first, Google has released data on how much energy an AI prompt uses
It’s the most transparent estimate yet from one of the big AI companies, and a long-awaited peek behind the curtain for researchers.
www.technologyreview.com
August 23, 2025 at 1:39 AM
"...the median prompt—one that falls in the middle of the range of energy demand—consumes 0.24 watt-hours of electricity, the equivalent of running a standard microwave for about one second."
www.technologyreview.com/2025/08/21/1...
www.technologyreview.com/2025/08/21/1...
This is not surprising. Without:
⁍ Training (of the humans using it);
⁍ Training Data (for the models); and
⁍ Use cases (of actual pain points);
this will just be another hypefest that will wither in the face of the inevitable backlash.
⁍ Training (of the humans using it);
⁍ Training Data (for the models); and
⁍ Use cases (of actual pain points);
this will just be another hypefest that will wither in the face of the inevitable backlash.
MIT report: 95% of generative AI pilots at companies are failing
There’s a stark difference in success rates between companies that purchase AI tools from vendors and those that build them internally.
fortune.com
August 21, 2025 at 4:23 AM
This is not surprising. Without:
⁍ Training (of the humans using it);
⁍ Training Data (for the models); and
⁍ Use cases (of actual pain points);
this will just be another hypefest that will wither in the face of the inevitable backlash.
⁍ Training (of the humans using it);
⁍ Training Data (for the models); and
⁍ Use cases (of actual pain points);
this will just be another hypefest that will wither in the face of the inevitable backlash.
Can't really argue with this. One only hopes the political appointee coach doesn't overwork him into premature retirement. indianexpress.com/article/spor...
Why Indian cricket doesn’t deserve Jasprit Bumrah
The fickle fans and rent-a-quote experts have been exposed by their insensitive criticisms of a player fighting his body to do his best for the country
indianexpress.com
August 10, 2025 at 5:23 AM
Can't really argue with this. One only hopes the political appointee coach doesn't overwork him into premature retirement. indianexpress.com/article/spor...
Art imitates life imitates art...
This seems to be the first case of a company developing a feature because ChatGPT is incorrectly telling people it exists.
www.holovaty.com/writing/chat...
This seems to be the first case of a company developing a feature because ChatGPT is incorrectly telling people it exists.
www.holovaty.com/writing/chat...
Adding a feature because ChatGPT incorrectly thinks it exists | Holovaty.com
www.holovaty.com
July 30, 2025 at 6:15 AM
Art imitates life imitates art...
This seems to be the first case of a company developing a feature because ChatGPT is incorrectly telling people it exists.
www.holovaty.com/writing/chat...
This seems to be the first case of a company developing a feature because ChatGPT is incorrectly telling people it exists.
www.holovaty.com/writing/chat...
Researchers have demonstrated that it is possible to detect cancer-specific DNA fragments in the bloodstream more than three years before a clinical diagnosis.
aacrjournals.org/cancerdiscov...
aacrjournals.org/cancerdiscov...
Detection of Cancers Three Years prior to Diagnosis Using Plasma Cell-Free DNA
AbstractTo explore how early cancers can be detected prior to clinical signs or symptoms, we assessed prospectively collected serial plasma samples from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study, ...
aacrjournals.org
July 21, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Researchers have demonstrated that it is possible to detect cancer-specific DNA fragments in the bloodstream more than three years before a clinical diagnosis.
aacrjournals.org/cancerdiscov...
aacrjournals.org/cancerdiscov...
I sure don't mind a change
I sure don't mind a change
Yeah, I sure don't mind
I sure don't mind a change
I sure don't mind a change
But I've fell on black days
I've fell on black days
I sure don't mind a change
Yeah, I sure don't mind
I sure don't mind a change
I sure don't mind a change
But I've fell on black days
I've fell on black days
Microsoft Retires Legendary 'Blue Screen of Death' After 40 Years of Frowny Faces
Meet its mournful replacement: the black screen of death, which won't have the same sad face.
www.cnet.com
June 30, 2025 at 3:47 AM
I sure don't mind a change
I sure don't mind a change
Yeah, I sure don't mind
I sure don't mind a change
I sure don't mind a change
But I've fell on black days
I've fell on black days
I sure don't mind a change
Yeah, I sure don't mind
I sure don't mind a change
I sure don't mind a change
But I've fell on black days
I've fell on black days
Just read an article where the writer had to use AI to filter out the flood of AI generated job applications he was getting. I am wondering what the net utility value is.
June 29, 2025 at 5:47 AM
Just read an article where the writer had to use AI to filter out the flood of AI generated job applications he was getting. I am wondering what the net utility value is.
24T tokens of organized web data arxiv.org/abs/2506.14111
Essential-Web v1.0: 24T tokens of organized web data
Data plays the most prominent role in how language models acquire skills and knowledge. The lack of massive, well-organized pre-training datasets results in costly and inaccessible data pipelines. We ...
arxiv.org
June 25, 2025 at 4:51 AM
24T tokens of organized web data arxiv.org/abs/2506.14111
#TIL: Add swearing to your Google request for AI-free results.
"How to paint a fence" will return AI summaries & recommended results, in addition to actual results.
"How to paint a fucking fence" will omit that & focus on actual results.
Not sure why, or how long this will last, but here we are.
"How to paint a fence" will return AI summaries & recommended results, in addition to actual results.
"How to paint a fucking fence" will omit that & focus on actual results.
Not sure why, or how long this will last, but here we are.
June 19, 2025 at 3:38 AM
#TIL: Add swearing to your Google request for AI-free results.
"How to paint a fence" will return AI summaries & recommended results, in addition to actual results.
"How to paint a fucking fence" will omit that & focus on actual results.
Not sure why, or how long this will last, but here we are.
"How to paint a fence" will return AI summaries & recommended results, in addition to actual results.
"How to paint a fucking fence" will omit that & focus on actual results.
Not sure why, or how long this will last, but here we are.
I sat down with Sandeep Balaji and Pushkar Singh of the Building in India podcast recently for a wide-ranging conversation about (heh) building a startup in India.
Give it a watch here, and feel free to forward it far and wide if you think it is useful.: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H-Z...
Give it a watch here, and feel free to forward it far and wide if you think it is useful.: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H-Z...
VCs Secretly Look For Founders With This ONE Skill | Udhay Shankar
YouTube video by Building in India
www.youtube.com
June 13, 2025 at 4:44 PM
I sat down with Sandeep Balaji and Pushkar Singh of the Building in India podcast recently for a wide-ranging conversation about (heh) building a startup in India.
Give it a watch here, and feel free to forward it far and wide if you think it is useful.: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H-Z...
Give it a watch here, and feel free to forward it far and wide if you think it is useful.: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H-Z...
The progeny : "The entire credit card business is based on people going into DEBT! Why would they DO that?"
A demo of
1. Admirable clear headedness
2. Amazing naïveté
3. All of the above
Discuss.
A demo of
1. Admirable clear headedness
2. Amazing naïveté
3. All of the above
Discuss.
June 12, 2025 at 4:23 AM
The progeny : "The entire credit card business is based on people going into DEBT! Why would they DO that?"
A demo of
1. Admirable clear headedness
2. Amazing naïveté
3. All of the above
Discuss.
A demo of
1. Admirable clear headedness
2. Amazing naïveté
3. All of the above
Discuss.
For those following the latest Meta privacy controversy. Here's a somewhat technical explanation of how they are evading Android's sandbox restrictions, and how it could lead to VERY LARGE liability. www.zeropartydata.es/p/localhost-...
“Localhost tracking” explained. It could cost Meta 32 billion.
You just can't finish off Zuckerberg.
www.zeropartydata.es
June 11, 2025 at 10:57 AM
For those following the latest Meta privacy controversy. Here's a somewhat technical explanation of how they are evading Android's sandbox restrictions, and how it could lead to VERY LARGE liability. www.zeropartydata.es/p/localhost-...
Moore's Law. Kryder's Law. Edholm's Law. These are the what that enabled business to move to the cloud. That also implies your business is at the mercy of someone else's server infrastructure. And when (not if) it goes down, there's not a whole lot you can do.
www.moneycontrol.com/technology/c...
www.moneycontrol.com/technology/c...
www.moneycontrol.com
June 10, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Moore's Law. Kryder's Law. Edholm's Law. These are the what that enabled business to move to the cloud. That also implies your business is at the mercy of someone else's server infrastructure. And when (not if) it goes down, there's not a whole lot you can do.
www.moneycontrol.com/technology/c...
www.moneycontrol.com/technology/c...
Coming back into town after a couple of weeks, started the car, which was throwing up scary messages about battery failure. Turns out the system needed to be rebooted. So the first law of tech support still holds. ("Most problems can be fixed by turning it off and on again.")
June 9, 2025 at 4:26 AM
Coming back into town after a couple of weeks, started the car, which was throwing up scary messages about battery failure. Turns out the system needed to be rebooted. So the first law of tech support still holds. ("Most problems can be fixed by turning it off and on again.")
This is tomorrow, 5:30 pm IST.
Next in our series: an ‘open gallery’ for early-career and amateur photographers.
Plus a new element: a feedback session with experts before the open gallery.
Our mentors are @mumbaipaused.bsky.social and Bharath Moro.
Read all about it at thegoaproject.wordpress.com/2025/05/14/e...
Plus a new element: a feedback session with experts before the open gallery.
Our mentors are @mumbaipaused.bsky.social and Bharath Moro.
Read all about it at thegoaproject.wordpress.com/2025/05/14/e...
May 31, 2025 at 4:24 AM
This is tomorrow, 5:30 pm IST.
For me, there's an easy answer: Judas Priest's Painkiller.
here's a fun game if you're a music dork: what is the best album released by a music act at least 15 years after its debut album?
May 20, 2025 at 11:09 AM
For me, there's an easy answer: Judas Priest's Painkiller.