Tag Archives: Swoop

Apache Spark native functions

Posted on November 14, 2018 by

There are many ways to extend Apache Spark and one of the easiest is with functions that manipulate one of more columns in a DataFrame. When considering different Spark function types, it is important to not ignore the full set … Continue reading →

Posted in Big data | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

JSON and JSONlines from the command line

Posted on January 21, 2014 by

At Swoop we have many terabytes of JSON-like data in MongoDB, Redis, ElasticSearch, HDFS/Hadoop and even Amazon Redshift. While the internal representations are typically not JSON but BSON, MsgPack or native encodings, when it comes time to move large amounts … Continue reading →

Posted in Code | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Anatomy of an online ad

Posted on April 17, 2013 by

I’ve been asked to explain how online ads are delivered many times and every time I’m surprised by the complexity of covering even the most basic elements of how ads appear on Web pages. Since Wikipedia’s article on ad serving … Continue reading →

Posted in Advertising, Swoop | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The fastest way to learn a new programming language

Posted on February 11, 2013 by

In school, I used to pick up new programming languages for fun. I could take my time to learn & explore them in whichever way felt right, without pressure. I implemented for fun and the code rarely ended up in … Continue reading →

Posted in Code, Swoop | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Swoop Credo

Posted on December 7, 2012 by

I just updated the Swoop entry on my Linkedin profile with the following: Swoop is a native advertising platform that puts users first. Web democracy is powered by advertising-supported content. Traditional online advertising makes the Web suck. Swoop can fix … Continue reading →

Posted in Advertising, Native Advertising, Swoop | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Raising money for revolutionary startup ideas

Posted on September 22, 2012 by

Between the work we do at Swoop and some big idea startups I’m advising, revolutionary innovation has been top of mind for me recently. That is why the following statement Richard Feynman makes in a lecture about the difficulty of … Continue reading →

Posted in startups, Swoop, VC, Venture Capital | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments