For newcomers: StartupDigest Reading List is the members-only weekly email newsletter of the best articles in the startup world.

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Happy Holidays! This week I’d like to introduce everyone to our new co-curator for the StartupDigest Reading List, Chris Burnor! Chris is our lead engineer and felt the reading list needed some more technical articles. Super excited to have him with us :)- ChrisStartupDigest Reading List is curated by:
Chris McCann – Co-Founder, StartupDigest
Chris Burnor – Lead Engineer, StartupDigest

 

 

StartupDigest Reading List is supported exclusively by:
Check out these sketchbook videos on “finding the magic sauce of entrepreneurship” and “three things entrepreneurs do” and more from the Kauffman Foundation.

 

 

What You Need to Read This Week

An interesting interview with Nick Swinmurn, the original founder of Zappos, about the company’s early days.

 

An internet of people
by Chris Dixon

 

A short post about why companies that have been tried before like Etsy, Kickstarter, and AirBnb are succeeding today.

 

A Tmux Crach Course
by JDClayton

For developers who spend most of their day in the terminal, tmux is a great GNU Screen replacement to augment your workflow.

 

Hiring the best people
by Scott Wiess

Why the best people join the best companies.

 

Finance for Geeks
by Eric Sink

A quick overview of financial statements, profit margins, and funding.

 

Exploring Client-side MVC with Backbone.js
by Jared Carroll

A rails developer tries out a different MVC framework: Backbone.js

 

Assessing a Company: Questions you need to ask in an Interview
by Michael Chen

This post will help you decide if the startup you are thinking about joining is right for you.

 

See all of the previous resources and articles we’ve featured here.

Welcome back to StartupDigest Social, the members-only guide to what you need to read in the social media industry every week.This week’s edition focuses on new financial details indicating that Facebook’s situation is more than good enough to go public, Google acquiring Zagat, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo revealing the company’s active users, and Google shutting down Aardvark.

 

 

What You Need to Read This Week

Woah, Facebook has huge 30 percent profit margins – IPO is looking pretty good
By Tom Cheredar, VentureBeat

A window into the possible financial numbers behind Facebook’s ad and credits business.

Google Buys Zagat Review Service to Target Local Businesses
By Brian Womack and Danielle Kucera, Businessweek

Google buys Zagat?

Twitter CEO: We have 100M active users
By Erica Ogg, GigaOM

Dick Costolo gives us the straight goods on how Twitter is doing.

Google Kills Aardvark, Which It Bought For $50 Million Last Year
By Matt Rosoff, Business Insider

First Slide, now Aardvark, I guess we can assume almost every social startup Google has ever bought will eventually be shut down. Who is next?