Mike Kiser

The high temperatures here in Austin have been hovering at 105F / 41C for a week or two, meaning that the simple invention of air conditioning shifts from a “nice to have” to a “must have.” The irony is that despite being an essential component of houses and businesses HVAC systems are often ignored until they break down. And once the heat starts climbing, air conditioning ...

I regret to inform you that by the time you read this article, you will have missed Burrito Day (and Rat Day?!). Not to worry, though, you still have Look Up at the Sky Day, Eat What You Want Day, and Axe Throwing Day. While the celebrations for these days vary widely (and most certainly should *not* be combined), they all serve to bring their focus to the front of people’...

What limits the size of a city? It’s not a particular industry, nor is it a favorable setting. What limits the size of a city is the speed of its transportation. As innovation accelerated transport, cities grew larger; people could range further for school, work, and community. But even this new growth, it created a new set of problems caused by the sheer scale of the urba...

It’s a time-worn adage: “What goes up must come down.” This took on a new meaning this past winter. On February 3, 2022, SpaceX launched 49 Starlink satellites. A day later, they were hit by a geomagnetic storm. By February 8th, SpaceX reported that 40 of the original 49 would reenter the Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrate, or they would soon. These precious resources last...

On this episode of Mistaken Identity, Mike Kiser is joined by Katherine Teitler, VP of Research and Advisory at TAG Cyber. Her recent research illustrates the shifting role of identity—from an IT process to a foundational approach for security. While that’s the starting point, the conversation roams into disinformation, “sources of truth,” identity profiling via personal mu...

Many people assume that there is some magic formula for success in identity. Is it having the right degree? Is it knowing the right people? Is it having a ”Particular set of skills?” Today on Mistaken Identity, Mike Kiser interviews three sets of people who are eminently unqualified at first glance. They’ve come from outside the expected backgrounds, the expected channels:...

When I was seventeen, I played one of the greatest roles of my life: “Mark Jannell.” A younger student who we’ll call “Tim” (not his name, of course) had just started at my high school, and after knowing me for several weeks, asked my name. Amused that he had forgotten it, I vowed not to tell him. I stepped away from the lunch table for a few minutes, and as I headed back,...