Among the announcements coming out of OSCon, Mashery is releasing more open source tools for developers. Amazon is changing tactics, telling states that the online retailer will start to pay sales tax. Dalton Caldwell and Fred Wilson are getting into what it really means to be free. These stories and more are below.
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- Thursday
Mashery developer tools — I/O wraps — API client libraries
Just announced this week, Mashery has open sourced an I/O wrap generator to speed up the process of creating your own client libraries in Java and PHP. Mashery also offers I/O Docs and a suite of other open-sourced developer tools.
Fred Wilson is wrong about “free”
Dalton Caldwell has an interesting rebuttal to Fred Wilson’s stance on free services that dives deeper into what it means to really offer a service or an app for free to users.
500 Startups’ Paul Singh: 3 startup trends to watch out for
In his work with startups, Paul Singh has spotted some interesting trends you need to be aware of. The most important? It’s getting harder to found a startup in a lot of different ways.
15 things I wish I’d known before starting my first company
Neil Patel is a serial entrepreneur and has learned plenty along the way. He may not be able to go back in time and tell his younger self how to start a company right, but you can make use of his advice.
The story of how a business guy earned the opportuntiy to co-found a tech startup
The right cofounder will earn the right to come onboard with a new idea, if it’s the right one. The story chronicled in this article may be an example of the ideal cofounder, but it’s also a reminder that startups require people who take the initiative.
How to stalk your competitors in social media (so you can crush them)
The companies that you’re competing against probably put a lot of information online in order to market their products. Following them online can help you focus on how your product is different, as well as find the holes in their marketing.
I want it today: How Amazon’s ambitious new push for same-day delivery will destroy local retail.
Amazon is giving in on the sales tax war it has waged for the last several years against states like California and Texas. While local retailers are scared by this turn of events, anyone focused on ecommerce needs to take a look at these strategies to make sure that Amazon’s about-face doesn’t impact your tax burden.
Retro link of the week:
The difficulty of hiring truly great developers is not a new problem. In 2006, Joel Spolsky made it clear what the problem was — and the article he wrote is still a must-read six years later.
