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1,100 | The Syma X400 Is a $55 Camera Drone That Fits in Your Palm | The Syma X400 Is a $55 Camera Drone That Fits in Your Palm
Images courtesy the author
I’ve always wanted to buy a drone, but I could never justify actually doing it. Professional drones, like those from DJI, are expensive. To use one for work (I’m a photographer), I’d have to get a complex license from the FAA.
I’ve also always assumed that if I bought a drone, I’d crash it. At the start of the pandemic, my personal trainer told me that he found a broken drone in his apartment complex’s trash room. He lovingly restored it — adding new propellers, sourcing a remote online, and swapping out its depleted batteries. After a month of work, he finally took it out to fly. On his first flight, it sailed over a fence, landed in oncoming traffic, and got crushed by a car. That story didn’t inspire confidence in the benefits of drone ownership.
I was excited, then, to discover the X400 drone from Syma. The X400 has many of the features of its bigger, pro-quality brethren. But at just seven inches square (about the size of your outstretched palm) and with a retail price of $54.99, the X400 provides a cheap, low-risk way to test out drone flying. (Syma provided me with a review unit of the X400 to test).
Syma’s Amazon page for the X400 says that the drone has a “professional camera” with “an HD lens that is natural and realistic.” It is not.
Professional camera drones can get hefty, weighing 10 pounds or more. At 14.4 ounces, the minuscule X400 weighs less than an iPad. It would make a great stocking stuffer — or if you’re like me, an adornment for your Chanukah bush. The drone comes with propeller guards, a wireless remote, two rechargeable batteries (each provides around six minutes of flight time), and a USB charger. Like most small drones, it has four propellers, which counter-rotate for stability. The X400 also has an onboard 720p camera.
Syma’s Amazon page for the X400 says that the drone has a “professional camera” with “an HD lens that is natural and realistic.” It is not. The quality of the videos and skills are more like a jerky home movie from the 1950s than the beautiful, high-resolution footage captured by a DJI Mavic. But for a tiny drone that costs $55 bucks, the fact that it has a camera and live video capabilities at all is impressive.
The X400 packs some other surprising features into its tiny frame, too. It includes a Wi-Fi chip, which lets you pair the drone with Syma’s mobile app to control its flight and see a real-time video feed from the camera. It also has gyroscopes and accelerometers, allowing it to hover relatively stably when you take your hands off the controls (you may need to adjust the drone’s trim functions if it drifts from side to side). Convenience features (like an auto takeoff and landing button) work well and make using the X400 easy for first-time fliers like me.
To begin a flight, you pair the drone either with Syma’s mobile app (to fly from your phone) or with the included physical remote. This resembles the remote for an RC car.
A third mode (the one I like best) allows you to see and record the drone’s video feed on your phone while flying it with the physical controller.
You then place the drone in a safe area, push the takeoff button, and after a momentary pause, the drone rises upwards to a height of about four feet and settles into a stable(ish) hover. You can then use the physical or virtual controls to fly up or down, rotate the drone around its axis, or move backward or forwards.
I find that the mobile app is too finicky for accurate flight. But with some practice, controlling it with the physical remote is relatively easy. Once you’re in the air, there are a few bonus functions you can use, like a stunt loop mode that causes the drone to execute an automatic barrel roll.
Syma says that the X400 is designed for indoor use. I can confirm that it works well flying around the lofted ceilings of my two-story home. With practice, I’ve learned to navigate it through doorways, to fly up and over a balcony on my second floor, and to hover above my dog Lance, who seems to view the X400 as a confusing but benign new presence in our home.
I’ve also found that that X400 works reasonably well outdoors. I’ve flown it around my backyard, and in a field at my local park (check for drone regulations and airspace restrictions in your own community before flying outdoors).
Syma says that the X400 has a range of 84 feet, but I’ve found that it’s more like 20 in reality. Still, that’s more than enough to buzz around tall trees and take aerial selfies. Be careful flying the X400 if there’s any wind at all, though — its tiny motors don’t have the power to fight even a light breeze, and several times my X400 has gotten caught in a gust and blown several hundred feet off course.
My favorite thing about the X400, though, is that I can crash it with impunity. If I had a $600+ professional drone, I’m sure I’d be carrying it around in a padded case, taking extensive flight lessons before I ever lifted off, and restricting myself to slow, level flight. No one wants to see six hundred bucks plummet into a lake or get stuck in a tree.
With the X400’s low price and simple design, I don’t have to be so protective. I can throw the drone in my son’s diaper bag unprotected, and have it ready when there’s a few idle minutes at the park. When questions occur to me like “Hmm, I wonder if this thing can fly under my patio table?” I can actually find out. If I damage the X400, it’s relatively easy to swap out a propeller (I’ve crashed it at least a dozen times during my testing). And if I totally destroy or lose it, I’d still only be out about the cost of a laptop charger.
For many of the same reasons, the X400 is a great drone for kids (with supervision). Syma’s promotional materials show a five-year-old gleefully flying the drone with its physical remote. I would not attempt this. But my son loves pressing the Auto Takeoff button, giving directions as to where I should fly his “little helicopter,” and then retrieving the X400 when it lands.
Syma’s X400 is definitely not a replacement for a professional drone. It lacks the stability, power, safety features, and video quality for professional use. But for a toy that costs less than a week’s worth of lattes, it packs a surprising amount of tech. And if flies into traffic (or gets mauled by a Bichon Frise) I won’t be too heartbroken. | https://debugger.medium.com/the-syma-x400-is-a-55-camera-drone-that-fits-in-your-palm-b5054f314404 | ['Thomas Smith'] | 2020-11-19 06:33:15.150000+00:00 | ['Gadgets', 'Consumer Tech', 'Cameras', 'Drones', 'Technology'] |
1,101 | Technology & the Future of Public Education | Elana Zeide, Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska College of Law, on the benefits and risks of emerging technologies in public education.
Elana Zeide teaches and writes about the legal, privacy and ethical implications of emerging technologies as an Assistant Professor at the University of Nebraska’s College of Law, after a recent stint as a PULSE Fellow in Artificial Intelligence, Law & Policy at UCLA’s School of Law. Recent articles include Student Privacy in the Age of Big Data, The Structural Consequences of Big Data-Driven Education, and Algorithms Can Be Lousy Fortune Tellers. Zeide received her B.A. cum laude in American Studies from Yale University, and her J.D. and LL.M. from New York University School of Law.
The following are her remarks captured from a public panel “The Inclusive Workforce: Strategies to Enhance the Future of Public Sector Work” hosted by the CITRIS Policy Lab.
1. In your piece “Robot Teaching, Pedagogy and Policy” you talk about the role of AI in displacing professional authority, institutional accountability, and public policy making in education. In what ways is AI displacing teacher labor?
It’s important to not only consider the potential displacement of teacher labor, but the displacement of teachers’ authority and autonomy. AI can displace teachers’ autonomy in deciding what students should learn, what is important, and what is “enough” to move students to the next level. Those types of decisions are historically grounded in local and state authority, which are now partly being made by the technology sectors developing AI-enabled teaching tools. The flipside of that is these systems might also be able to improve the kind of tasks that the teachers work on. The tools can eliminate some rote chores so that teachers have more time to focus on the more human-centric interactions and possibilities.
2. What is one concrete strategy that can be employed to better maximize benefits and reduce risks from emerging technologies in public sector work?
One strategy is to promote less traditional educational pathways that are more skill- or certificate-based to allow people to take on less student debt and adapt to changing workforce demands. It’s also crucial to give people an education in soft skills, including interpersonal relationships, critical thinking, communication skills. Those are the skills that are going to remain consistently in demand even as technology changes and they are central to being able to collaborate with technologists.
3. What do you think is the most valuable action the education sector can take to maximize AI’s benefits?
I think there are two actions that can be taken: one is to keep expectations and promises in check and the second is to engage multiple stakeholders. Often in education people become enamored of the next new thing that’s going to fix everything. The world is much too complicated for that. It’s also important for schools and technology providers to interact with a variety of stakeholders when creating and implementing AI systems. Not just the administrators, but teachers, students, and community members who may be impacted. When you create something only with a particular client in mind, especially in a sector like education that touches many different kinds of people, you may end up with solutions that are ineffective or have disproportionate impacts.
4. We are increasingly relying on technology during this time of crisis. Is technology a benefit or a harm to public education?
Technology is great, but we risk over relying on specific technologies. Not everyone has ready access to high quality and recent hardware and software and they end up excluded when technology facilitates most communication, education, and connection. At the same time, students who are learning online are much more aware that technology is not neutral and that nuances make a difference. I think they will start creating and designing systems and business models that don’t pose as many practical and ethical problems. I also think that the pandemic has shown us the need for community. I hope that after this isolation time period that we will create different ways for communities to come together and interact.
5. Would you say utilization of AI in public systems is better to start at the state level or at more of a local level?
From a legal point of view, local governments have been able to overcome legislative inertia and enact facial recognition bans or algorithmic accountability task forces. It’s more difficult to implement creative reforms through state or federal laws. That’s the benefit of the flexibility you can get from local communities. | https://medium.com/citrispolicylab/technology-the-future-of-public-education-be41dbcf4691 | ['Citris Policy Lab'] | 2020-10-30 18:43:34.928000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Internet', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Policy', 'Education'] |
1,102 | Tighten the security belt of your website: HTTP Security Headers | With the enhancement in technology and security, modern browsers now provide something that is known as, HTTP Headers that can improve applications against some common attacks such as clickjacking, cross-site scripting, and many more. Let us explore some methods you can tighten the security belt of your website.
Understanding HTTP Security Headers
Whenever a user requests a page from a server, it responds with the content along with some HTTP response header. Some of them consist of information such as content, encoding, status code, cache control, and many more. Along with these, there are some security headers that instruct your browser on how to behave when handling your website’s content, which is known as HTTP Security Header. It helps to preserve the privacy of your website as well as it’s users. It also helps mitigate some of the potential security vulnerabilities as well.
Let us now discuss some of the important HTTP Security headers that help you to tighten up the security belt of your website.
1. HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS)
Let suppose you own a website and you just installed SSL/TLS certificate and migrated your site from HTTP website to HTTPS. The “S” stands for security so you might think that your website is secured now. Now, the question is, what if your website is still available in HTTP? Now, this is where HSTS comes into action. What it does it, is forcing the browser to communicate over secure HTTPS, eliminating HTTP.
If the browser knows that the site has enabled HSTS, no matter what it only uses HTTPS connection even if the user entered HTTP or did not specify any header
There are semantically distinct ways to send HSTS headers, which are,
Applied only to the domain of HSTS host issuing it and remains in effect for one year.
Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000
Applied to the domain of the issuing host as well as its subdomains effected for one year.
Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains
Directs the browser to delete the entire policy.
Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=0
2. Content Security Policy (CSP)
Enabling Content Security Policy( CSP) header allows admin to specify which data sources should be permitted in your web application.
Can help mitigate or reduce the attack surface of Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks. However, later versions of the spec also protect against other forms of attack such as ClickJacking
Syntax:
Content-Security-Policy: <policy-directive>; <policy-directive>
3. X-Frame-Options
It tells the browser how to behave when handling the site’s content. This also provided clickjacking protection by not allowing the rendering of a page in a frame by whether or defining whether or not a browser should be allowed to render a page in a <frame>, <iframe>, <embed> or <object>.
Syntax:
X-Frame-Options: Deny
This “deny” instructs the site not to allow any domain to display this page within a frame. Some of the famous sites using this header are Facebook and Github.
There are some other values allowed for the X-Frame-Options header which you can use, they are:
SAMEORIGIN — allows the current page to be displayed in a frame on another page, but only within the current domain. Some of the most famous sites using this header are Twitter, Amazon, and eBay.
ALLOW-FROM URI — allows the current page to be displayed in a frame, but only in a specific URI
4. Expect-CT Header
Expect-CT Header prevents the usage of the wrongly issued certificate of a site by allowing sites to report or enforce certificate transparency requirements. The available directories are:
Syntax
Expect-CT: max-age=86400, enforce,
report-uri="https://ex.com/report"
Here, “enforce” instructed to refuse connections that violate Certificate Transparency policy. The “report-URI” directive indicates a location for reporting failures. And the “max-age” directive specifies the number of seconds that the browser should cache and apply the received policy for, whether enforced or report-only.
5. Cache-Control Header
Cache-Control Header is used to enable browser caching policies in both client requests and server responses. This includes policies such as how a resource is cached, where it’s cached and its maximum age before expiring.
Syntax:
cache-control: private, max-age: 266637262;
The “public” in the syntax indicates that a resource is user-specific, which means it can still be cached, but only on a client device. And, the “max-age” indicates, the amount of time it takes for a cached copy to expire. Once expired, the browser must refresh its version. There are other different directives, that can help tighten up privacy. You can find the list here.
6. Clear-Site-Data Header
Clear-Site-Data header ensures that no important confidential information from a website is not stored by the browser once the user logs out.
Syntax:
Clear-Site-Data: "*"
This will clear all the browsing data related to the site.
7. Referer Policy Header
The referer header consists of the information on your previous page. Such as the address of the previous web page from linked with the currently requested page. This could be used to track or steal information, or sometimes even inadvertently leak sensitive information.
Referer Policy header defines how much referer information must be included in the request.
Syntax:
Referrer-Policy: origin-when-cross-origin
This syntax, the browser will only reveal complete referrer information for same-origin requests. You can find some other list of headers you can use here. | https://medium.com/digital-diplomacy/tighten-the-security-belt-of-your-website-http-security-headers-8da586bef789 | [] | 2020-08-06 10:30:11.068000+00:00 | ['Information Technology', 'Information Security', 'Cybersecurity', 'Privacy', 'Awareness'] |
1,103 | How Much Does It Cost To Develop Your Own Mobile Application? | Mobile apps are about to become the next big thing in 2021. Here’s a guide that will help you estimate the cost of your Mobile App. In real-world examples, it can cost you between $15,000-$25,000 having single functionality as their core feature. Whereas medium-complexity apps fall in the range of $40,000-$100,000.
What to look for?
Development of your mobile app varies & totally depends on the factors that affect the cost, every feature & quality of your app can become a factor of the cost but here are some of the major key factors on which development cost depends in most cases.
1. The Functionalities In Your App: The more you need to integrate features in your mobile app, having multiple screens & complex UI, AI integration, user authentication puts your app in the group of basic application which doesn’t require much handling.
2. Your Development Team: Your development team can become the biggest factor for the development cost, the location & work environment plays a major role in it, where you need a team of UI/UX designer, programmers, project managers, and their geographical work location. These small factors change accordingly to the quality of your output in work.
3. The Industry You Are Targeting: Mobile App industry is a well-growing industry and will be a game-changer in upcoming years, as you are making product in a growing industry you have to add security requirements and protecting users data which requires a professional approach to advanced development & a higher cost of implementation.
4. User Support & Maintenance: At the end moment you have to provide a user support system where you will be collecting a lot of feedback from your users and managing this work requires a separate team, also you have to make sure about providing the right support system in case your users run into trouble because no amount of users will praise a Mobile-App which they can’t trust.
Your Development Platform:
Even cross-platform Mobile App Development is doing pretty good, choosing a native platform can produce a higher quality of Apps. Your development is more concise with a chosen native platform, as it provides a more engaged development team & which will give you a huge advantage.
iOS & Android:
The cost for hiring an iOS developer & Android is pretty similar, but the iOS ecosystem will be a great advantage for you, as the iOS ecosystem comes with a very narrow range of devices with different screen sizes, but in case you are towards Android you will be having a lot of devices with different screen sizes to focus on, it will be more complicated to make your app work on different screen sizes properly & that's why it takes more time to develop an Android app.
The time frame might be 3 times longer to develop an Android app as compared with an iOS, that’s why most companies focus on developing an iOS first, and once they are good in their business they move to the Android market.
Cross-Platform: Choosing cross-platform as your development can save you a lot of bucks, here’s why.
A single development team with higher engagement in the work.
2. Single codebase to maintain that work without any issues on both the platforms (iOS & Android).
3. Saves a lot of money with speedy development allows you to release your app quickly in the market.
Development Team:
According to Glassdoor & PayScale, here is what it might cost you to hire your developers.
Developers:
An hourly rate for mid-level developers can vary between $70-$100 in the US. Average Android Developers in the US expects $100K-$120K for their salary. iOS Developers get nearly $100K-$125K on average in the US, it can vary accordingly as high-end Developers expect twice this amount.
UX/UI Designers: The annual salary ranges from $60K-$130K in the US, whereas freelancers expect $100 per hour for good quality services. In European countries, the prices are around $30K per year. Project Managers: In the US software project managers expect about $125K per year. In Europe, it can vary between $30–35K per year. Mobile Testers: Around $60K-70K in the US market and half the value in the European market.
How Features In Your App Affects The Cost:
The way you plan to add features in your app affects the development cost, mobile apps can be more featured-packed as they are more hardware in Mobile Devices, GPS, Bluetooth, Fingerprint Reader & camera, having features related to these hardware makes the development more costly, so focus on making a simple MVP(Minimum Viable Product) out your app, remove all the unnecessary feature at first and test the core features, doing so will give you better clarity of what feature you actually need.
You don't need a well-polished & fully-fledged mobile app with all the fancy features in it, to start getting in front of your customer or investor you can learn a lot by building an MVP because no matter how good your apps are, premature scaling will result in a massive failure.
So instead of going towards a feature-packed app try building an MVP first.
Attracting investors should be one of your goals while developing your app, building an MVP makes this task a bit easy as you can modify the changes in your product to make it better even without making it cost you more. Building an MVP usually takes 310–330 hours, distributed among the entire mobile app development team accordingly to your app’s complexity.
The Reasons For Slow Development That Impacts Development Cost | https://medium.com/@mohit19/how-much-does-it-cost-to-develop-your-own-mobile-application-2c47cdb0cc61 | [] | 2020-12-22 11:55:20.433000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Technology', 'Entrepreneurship', 'App Development', 'Programming'] |
1,104 | Website Dashboard UI Examples Inspiration 82 | Digital dashboard is one of the key elements of today’s digital internet environment. We use them for tracking web analytics, for working with our sales leads, for managing our client base and much more.
Digital dashboard may be laid out to track the flows inherent in the business processes that they monitor. Graphically, users may see the high-level processes and then drill down into low level data.
Digital dashboards may be laid out to track the flows inherent in the business processes that they monitor. Graphically, users may see the high-level processes and then drill down into low level data.
This level of detail is often buried deep within the corporate enterprise and otherwise unavailable to the senior executives. So here are seven tips about Digital Dashboard Inspiration in UI/UX Design
Digital Dashboard is a useful website analytics and statistics tool for your website which will help you on how to increase your website’s conversion rates and help to optimize your website for highest conversion possible.
So here are seven tips about Digital Dashboard Inspiration in UI/UX Design
1. Take advantage of the Gantt charts and Schedule Drawings to visualize key tasks within the process and the critical path(s). Gantt chart shows the schedule for a project’s tasks, milestones, and activities.
2. Think about how to help the user recognize the impact of a delay in the process. These two charts — Critical Path and Cumulative Flow Diagram — are helpful. The existing PM tools are sufficient for visualizing and optimizing the existing workflows.
3. Visualization of the data is undoubtedly one of the most effective methods of winning the battle for the user’s mind. This one chart alone can be worth more than 10 pages of specification. Visualization of the data is undoubtedly one of the most effective methods of winning the battle for the user’s mind.
4. For simplicity, create one overview table for your dashboard. The tables with several dozen rows are not very helpful unless you need to compare several numbers. Each UI/UX Designer should have access to the raw data and be able to compare data and create custom reports.
5. So do all the hard work upfront. Always use summary (scatter) charts rather than the detailed table with 10⁶ rows. Always use summary (scatter) charts rather than the detailed table with 10⁶ rows.
6. Interpretative graphics (pie, bar, line) are most appropriate for showing results and making comparisons. Often it is not necessary to show all the comparisons, for example in a dashboard for 10 sales managers, it may be sufficient to show top 3 salespeople.
7. When you have the data, it is time to make it shiny. This is not about the fancy data visualization; what is most important is to make the data understandable. This is not about the fancy data visualization; what is most important is to make the data understandable. | https://medium.com/theymakedesign/website-dashboard-ui-examples-inspiration-82-3bd1cb12107f | ['They Make Design'] | 2020-12-24 07:03:25.956000+00:00 | ['Visual Design', 'Design', 'Inspiration', 'Technology', 'Business'] |
1,105 | What Is the Walrus Operator in Python? | Before and After: Implementing the Walrus Operator
Let’s take a look at a simple use case and how we can implement the walrus operator to improve the efficiency of our code.
We’re going to check the length of a given list and print an error message that includes the length.
my_list = [1,2,3,4,5] if len(my_list) > 3:
print(f"The list is too long with {len(my_list)} elements")
In case you’re unsure about the f before the string in the print statement, that’s called a format-string literal, f-string for short.
Now, the walrus operator will eliminate calling the len() function twice.
my_list = [1,2,3,4,5] if (n := len(my_list)) > 3:
print(f"The list is too long with {n} elements") | https://medium.com/better-programming/what-is-the-walrus-operator-in-python-5846eaeb9d95 | ['Jonathan Hsu'] | 2019-11-14 10:45:57.586000+00:00 | ['Software Development', 'Programming', 'Python', 'Data Science', 'Technology'] |
1,106 | Data Scientists Are Not Magicians | Why does this happen to data scientists so often?
Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash
Even after hearing horror stories from data scientists and analysts, I never believed it was too bad.
As a newcomer in the industry, I thought that a lot of what I was hearing was simply a gross exaggeration of events.
That is…until it happened to me.
My Experience
As a final year computer science student, all of us are required to complete a capstone project.
Since I major in data science, I was keen on taking up a project that involved data analysis and machine learning.
After reading the scope of the project, I had multiple ideas in mind and was pretty excited about moving forward with it. My teammates and I already had a list of questions mapped out for our project supervisor and client.
However, the first meeting with the project supervisor was a complete disaster. Without disclosing too much, here is a brief overview of how the meeting went:
Supervisor: “Client A has a lot of data they are collecting through a variety of channels. They don’t know what to do with the data. Can you do some data analysis on it?”
Student: “Alright, that seems fine. Are there any specific questions they want to answer with this data?”
Supervisor: “Not exactly, maybe just build dashboards and apply machine learning techniques on it.”
After realizing that we were stuck in the “data analyst and rock” situation, my teammates and I decided to just go along with the flow and work with what we had.
Student: “Sure, that seems doable. When can we have access to this data?”
The supervisor explained that it would take some time for us to get access to this data. In fact, we may never get our hands on it at all till the last few weeks of the project submission.
After trying to explain multiple times that it wasn’t possible to start without knowing at least the variables present or the type of data being collected, we gave up.
Based on the details given to us in the project description and sample datasets online, we created a vague proposal and presented it to the supervisor.
Just like the “data analyst and the rock” story, this didn’t go too well either.
Supervisor: “This is great and all, but can you create a generic machine learning model that the client can use?”
What this means: He wanted us to use supervised machine learning techniques to create a machine learning model that would work on data it has never seen before.
We don’t have labels, neither do we have any idea of what the data looks like or what prediction is to be made.
In short, he expected magic.
If one machine learning model could be created and used on any kind of data, and predict anything in the world, machine learning engineers wouldn’t have jobs. | https://towardsdatascience.com/data-scientists-are-not-magicians-130c3cdcdbeb | ['Natassha Selvaraj'] | 2020-09-24 21:54:58.853000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Technology', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Data Science', 'Programming'] |
1,107 | What’s the Point of Knowledge? | Rene Descartes, showing off his best Mona Lisa smile
The answer to this question (What’s the point of knowledge?) often comes back as if it was self-evident. The point of knowledge is awareness. The point of knowledge is a removal of ignorance. And certainly these are valuable tools. Though it seems obvious to me that human beings as biological creatures have limitations that prohibit constant awareness. A good example of this is Aldous Huxley’s book The Doors of Perception — where Huxley experiences psychotropic substances and details the way certain processes of human cognition were built specifically for our evolution as animals. The sober creature is always filtering information, on watch for danger. Which is also one of the problems with ignorance, as a word, it carries an agenda. For example; I might entirely understand another person’s point of view and yet still disagree. Our goals might not be in alignment. The other might accuse me of ignorance, but because I cannot literally be who they are, our perceptions will always be differentiated to larger and lesser degrees. Also, after this number of years of being alive — I’ve stopped judging willful ignorance. I am not here to be an enforcer of what people do or don’t want to know.
Of course it’s hard to form connections with people who’ve decided to imprison themselves in their own mind, but, honestly, we’re kind of in a prison anyway. Embracing that fact is like an exercise in freedom. But this is a metaphysical formula that I am not all that interested in exploring. On we go.
Does the word knowledge have an implicit value judgment? I think the answer is yes — isn’t it better to have more knowledge rather than less? How should this be measured? By a broad understanding of many subjects or a terrific amount of intricate detail about one subject? I think one can safely argue that these are not the same thing. While the amount of knowledge might be equal by volume the outcomes of specialization rather than generalization paint different daily activities. That’s the first problem of measurement. The second problem only gets stickier from here because now one can ask: does a person who has participated in a tragic event or felt the death of a close relation have more knowledge than someone who has never experienced something like this? The common parlance for a question like this is to say that this person who has experienced tragedy (or even simply travel) has acquired “worldliness.” It’s a type of knowledge that goes by many names. Experience is another one. In Platonic terms it might be called “knowledge of the composition of true belief.”
I’m going to call it personal knowledge. That is, knowledge that doesn’t give out diplomas or prove itself with social accolades. Personal knowledge is an arena largely dealt with by fiction writers who understand the tricky dichotomy of experience. Experience is often both general and specific. It’s general in the sense that we produce and expire in stages, and more often than not, those stages are repeated in similar patterns. Yet it is impossible to disprove the specifics of individual existence.
A few pieces of Socratic speech from Plato’s Dialogue ‘Gorgias’
“Does a person who teaches some subject or another persuade his pupils of what he’s teaching or not? Is there something you call — to have learned? And also something you call — to be convinced? Are these different? Here’s how you can tell that they are. If someone tells you that there is such a thing as true and false conviction you’d say yes, I’m sure. Well now is there such a thing as true and false knowledge? But truly those who have learned and those who have come to be convinced have been persuaded.”
I don’t mean to break down this dialogue — which is primarily an examination of rhetoric and oratory — I wanted to introduce Socrates’ words as a frame unto which, when I read them, their first popped into my mind this question of difference between personal knowledge and knowledge one acquires second-hand. One may at first be tempted to conflate all knowledge into the same category. The modern philosopher generally breaks knowledge down into three categories. Knowing that— knowing how — knowing by acquaintance. While I appreciate the fine distinctions that one can get into by categorizing knowledge this way — whole treatises have been written on defining knowing that alone — I want to set aside these categories. Mostly to give more favor to the personal, which seems often brushed aside compared to the clearer value positions offered by technology and medicine.
Whether or not one has “learned” anything from it, one cannot deny the immediacy of individual experience. The things that happen to you will always be, if even only slightly, differentiated from everybody else. I think here one can take a step and call this experience, knowledge. I call this — personal knowledge. Second-hand knowledge is something which one may or may not learn. Be persuaded of. There’s many different tactics that promote learning (tactile, auditory, visual etc) but there’s also a social pressure form of learning. Say if a teacher makes you stand and read in front of the class knowing full well that you have an ambivalence to the subject and have not done your homework. The teacher presumes this added social pressure will shame you into getting your act straight. While certain facts will become memorized, this form of learning is sub-optimal since it doesn’t really engage with why the subject was worth thinking about in the first place.
So here we have a windless sail in the realm of knowledge. Knowledge which one acquires without knowing why. I think with technology and the internet this is a problem which is only going to get more and more exaggerated. The increase of specialists means an increase in those who don’t understand why. Technology produces a basic estrangement from why. Think, for example, how many people would own a car if one of the basic requirements for their operation was to know how and why they ran the way they did. Operation of a computer or smartphone would be even less, surely, if one needed to know the why behind it. For modern technology to exist, second-hand knowledge needs to be the primary knowledge of discourse.
However, the creation of all second-hand knowledge comes from those who know why. These are people who are acting on their personal knowledge and then turning it into its communicable counterpart. Education, in a Socratic sense, needs persuasion. This is the way to turn personal knowledge into a thing that can be taught. Otherwise all knowledge would stay in the realm of the personal. This is to say; the explosion of second-hand knowledge has been a great feat. It has, I’ll repeat, become the primary form of knowledge. It is only right to expect that on any given topic there is probably a person who knows more about it than you. But this doesn’t necessarily suggest that they have learned how to think — learned how to transform their own personal knowledge into communicable second-hand knowledge. They may just simply be repeating something they’ve already heard second-hand. Yet by the act of transmission one can make an assumption that the knowledge presented has come from a true source. We should let this assumption stand as its the only way to keep this term, knowledge, meaningful. Obviously a person can try and transmit lies for personal gain or exaggerate the truth etc, but let us say that such actions have no bearing on true knowledge (though they obviously piggyback on the inherent value of knowledge).
If you’re with me so far, now we’re really going to get into the mire. We’re going to have to talk about value. Since, if you buy what I’ve said above; all second-hand knowledge comes from a place of personal knowledge. Yet there does seem to be a clear value system which currently gives more credence to this second-hand form of knowledge. But sublimating oneself to this knowledge doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the subject itself, though the knowledge has reached the optimal communicable pathway. (All personal knowledge becomes second-hand knowledge once it has learned to be communicated.) It is right to give second-hand knowledge value, but, I would argue, it is wrong to give it more value than personal knowledge.
I was always curious why college education needed to give out degrees. If you like learning and thinking you will keep doing this throughout a lifetime. It wasn’t until I dropped out of college that I heard an economics professor say that, “You get a degree so nobody can take it away from you.” I felt like I’d been slapped over the head. Obviously, you dummy. The knowledge needs stakes. For many people: that’s the point of the knowledge. This is one of the negative tendencies that we tend to favor in second-hand knowledge. If one is using their second-hand knowledge as a barrier or protective function they are far away from understanding the why of their subject matter — as far away as if they hadn’t learned the material at all.
On the other side however; it’s easy to recognize that most personal knowledge is meaningless. Meaningless in its capacity for communicable spread. There’s plenty of it that has value though, it’s just difficult to discover what exactly that may be. When Descartes decided to give up his position and go traveling — to meet a variety of people, he knew (at least unconsciously) that there was something to be understood in this personal knowledge space. What, exactly? That’s not so easy to pin down. But if I was to proffer a guess: hearing others’ personal knowledge helps you to understand thinking. It’s not about belief or having a position — you witness a variety of minds working and that helps teach you about the process of your own mind. Now obviously this does not make any single piece of personal knowledge meaningful. In order for that to happen it needs to be transformed into second-hand knowledge. Yet there’s an effect that happens in concert. It’s what is so fascinating about art — individual pieces creating a semblance of a whole. Because of this meaninglessness, personal knowledge does not come into competition the way second-hand knowledge does. This, I would argue, is its absolute value. Yet it often has no tangible social space for this to be expressed. Especially these days, where the sea of personal knowledge is so vast one needs a Vespucci like courage to even begin navigating the map.
One is not crazy to notice that second-hand knowledge has never been more stressed than it is these days. It has been imbued with social functions. I would put forth an argument that this is in no small part due to a hyper inflated valuation of second-hand knowledge. This hyper valuation also leads to a misunderstanding of knowledge which one wants to reinforce their own personal knowledge. If the primary value of knowledge is the tenacity of its communicability (part or parcel of what second-hand knowledge is) — one is incentivized to turn any piece of personal knowledge into second-hand knowledge. This in and of itself doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with technology. What does, what’s new is a kind of limitless availability. One can usually find the value of their personal prejudices somewhere. But again I must reiterate: those who know and are practiced communicants might not have even considered why they think they know what they know.
In this valuation I am making a categorical distinction between the consequences of inflation of second-hand knowledge and plain ‘ol lying. For it often seemed to me that the liar has to know when they are lying. And one of my favorite examples of one of the consequences related to the inflated value of second-hand knowledge involve those who are both experts and utterly misguided in their information. Of course here I am speaking about the recent boon of conspiracy theories. Over-valuation of second-hand knowledge creates an allure for the minority. Exceptionalism. The specialist and the expert. Perhaps this is necessary for the function of technology in society — but this seduction of having merit in an arena that only you understand; “I am one of the most educated people in the world on flat earth-bigfoot-chemtrails etc.” This is an overcompensation. These people absorb their second-hand knowledge and become “experts.” I actually hate to put expert in quotations because, in a way, they are experts. The presumption from which they start is obviously erroneous — but in the realm of second-hand knowledge they have absorbed the materials required for expertise. If the larger social system relies on merit to which they don’t have access; they take the value precept and magnify it to what they know. They create their own little microcosms of merit. Technology encourages this kind of specialization, though the social roots run deep as well. What would happen if people stopped standing up for themselves? I often find conspiracy theorists to be exercising a healthy impulse. Though there are much better ways to do this.
Not least of which is simply letting personal knowledge stand for what it is. In layman’s terms I’d call this — trusting yourself. Now obviously there’s problems here as well. The over-valuation of personal knowledge is an error that humans have been making for a much longer period of time. Here you find things like prejudice. An individual has a negative interaction with somebody outside their own class or race and a whole group of people become pigeonholed in the brain forever. I must accentuate this — absolutely — to give more credence to one form of knowledge over another is to commit an error. To ignore second-hand knowledge is stubborn and thickheaded.
But let us acknowledge for a moment that one cannot know the ultimate truth about everything. That acquiring all the knowledge is impossible. Recently I’ve become interested in social constructionism. This is a philosophical framework which argues that all knowledge exists because of the social need to express these ideas. If one had never heard a particular idea everything about their thought process would be different. One of the founding esoteric principles is one you’ve probably heard of before. If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it — does it make a sound? A social constructionist might expand this argument. Let’s say a human doesn’t hear it, but a bat does. Does it make the same type of sound? We’ve learned through technology that there are different ways to perceive universal excretions. We’ve built night vision goggles that help us understand energy expulsions that don’t manifest in Ultraviolet.
One can even go further. In the scientific argument of social constructionism there’s a notion that if we had made discoveries differently our entire science would be different. I know, I too initially found this difficult to get on board with. What’s the point of science if a quark isn’t a quark or an electron isn’t an electron? These things should fundamentally exist on their own. But let’s start with a more tactile example. What if we never discovered dinosaur bones? Would they still exist? Again, I would like to expand this train of thought. What if, for some reason, human inquiry was set back by a couple thousand years. And what if in that time, through tectonic movement or sedimentary build-up we discovered different things about dinosaurs. Let’s say we never discover large dinosaur bones — did they still exist? Would this change our general perception of evolutionary theory?
This is gonna get weird, here. What if, out in the universe you have a carbon atom floating in an ort cloud. What if after a certain period of time, say a couple million years, the atom takes on a small variation. A muon is replaced with a down quark (or something like that). Maybe it doesn’t fundamentally change the nature of how that atom operates — but can we really call it the same? And those who discovered it: have they not discovered something out of a cycle of which the knowledge we have is, cosmically (in the cosmic scales of time) always in flux?
I bring these social constructionist questions up to try and return to the question I asked in the title. What’s the point of knowledge? If you consider the social constructionist point — not only are we limited in our awareness, the measurement problem of knowledge can become infinitely complex. But, yes, I’m aware this is not most people’s primary concern. Maybe we’ve begun to favor second-hand knowledge because it has the highest efficacy for making our lives better. Technology that doesn’t do anything for anybody is soon discarded. Maybe it’s just about well-being. But as noted above, there’s a limit to this too. Many minds have begun to feel skeptical about humanity’s future. The invention of social media does not seem to be helping things. Out of the leftist side we have consciousness raising — which these days, to my mind, amounts to little more than brow beating and in-group bias. They largely seem to have run out of ideas and keep harping the same second-hand knowledge as if it was new. On the right you have over-indulgence in personal knowledge. Where everything that you can’t see in front of your face or you don’t want to believe is fake news.
Admittedly I don’t know how to solve this problem. But I do know that if our society gets entirely dependent on second-hand knowledge to solve all our problems this will result in stagnation and an ever growing misguided sense of knowledge. Who has it. The poetic answer of course is — everyone. Part of the point of knowledge is its pointlessness. My dad used to tell me that I should learn because, “knowing things is fun.” As I’ve gotten older I’ve begun to see that we have different conceptions of this “fun.” Since he often seems as convinced as anyone that knowledge has to mean something. Yet I’ve kept that phrase in the back of my brain and I give it to you now in a last ditch effort to try again to get some of the competition out of knowledge. Only then can you see the big picture and really ask why. | https://medium.com/@jandrist/whats-the-point-of-knowledge-8013a7617954 | ['Jonah Andrist'] | 2020-12-18 21:22:27.405000+00:00 | ['Social Construction', 'Technology', 'Knowledge', 'Personal Development'] |
1,108 | What! You can 3D print rockets? 🚀 | Here are 3 Startups that caught my attention in the past week 👇🏾
Relatively Space is taking 3D printing to infinity and beyond quite literally. Startup Rocket printer Relatively space is set to revolutionize the way rockets are traditionally made. Relatively space use of 3D printing is to allow for cheaper construction costs as well as making it a lot faster to build them. Of recent, it has raised a grand total of 500 million, and that’s just before it has even sent anything to space. The first orbital rocket is set to take off in late 2021. | https://medium.com/illumination/what-you-can-3d-print-rockets-7cbe81f8fb56 | [] | 2020-11-27 19:46:58.945000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Technews', 'Short Read', 'Space Travel', 'Technology'] |
1,109 | The job of the UX Designer is about to undergo radical change | Until the relatively recent past, our technology lived in a vacuum. If you’re old enough to remember, even our computers stood alone. Each device had its own life, its own goals, and didn’t care about its surroundings. Today, I can control my washing machine with my smartphone.
But controlling my washing machine from my smartphone perfectly encapsulates the gimmicky moment we’re living in now. Companies can get distracted with the glimmer of new possibilities without thinking about purpose and functionality. In the near-future, UX designers must steer the ship and make sense of what opportunities will actually improve our lives. The motto “just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should” is more relevant now than ever and will only become more crucial as the opportunities continue to expand infinitely.
Photo by BENCE BOROS on Unsplash
When conversation between machines meaningfully serves the user — rather than a marketing directive — it is not just fascinating but desirable. In the future of UX, we’ll need to be able to think about how a user can move fluidly between devices when designing experiences, and not just devices pertaining to the user’s private (or family shared) ecosystem, but on an urban scale, especially with the advent of 5G.
For the entire existence of the smartphone, we’ve kept adding new functionalities, making it the enabler of almost anything. Maybe we’ll need to move to a different approach where we let each device do what it does better. Jumping from one to the other must become as effortless as going from one app to another. Designing experiences that work in silos won’t be enough anymore; whatever product you design, you’ll need to shape it around a truly cross-device experience.
The natural consequence will be (it already is) a lot of questions regarding how to manage privacy issues. In this amazingly seamless work, I want to jump on a plane and find my Spotify, Netflix, and Google Stadia accounts logged in as soon as I take my seat. But I also want to be sure these services log out and forget all of my data as soon as I reach my destination. Last year, a smart TV in my Swedish hotel room offered me the possibility of connecting my streaming services, with quick access to a button for wiping my data off the system quickly. It was nice but still very manual as UX, as I had to input a user name and a password for each single service (with a daunting interaction via the remote) and then remember to log out when leaving the room. In a very near future, I expect the TV to immediately prompt me with the possibility of accessing all of my services using a biometric recognition system available through my phone (or smartwatch). When I leave the room, I expect it to automatically log me out, based on the fact that the logging device is not nearby anymore.
Photo by Ramón Salinero on Unsplash
Artificial intelligence will play a big role in this new hyper-connected universe. By AI, I don’t mean colorful blobs speaking in suave voices — the best manifestation of artificial intelligence is subtle and contextual. It’ll prompt the user with relevant suggestions of actions to take based on the moment, location, user habits and more. It’s my smartwatch (or another device) reminding me that it’s time to leave because I have a dentist appointment, getting into the car (pre-cooled/heated according to my preferences and based on my distance from the vehicle), finding the destination already set and, in a smart-city scenario, having a parking spot reserved and paid for as I approach my point of arrival. No gimmick, just life made more comfortable and more streamlined. The situation described is already happening in some form. But we’ll strive to get to a place where you won’t have to think about or plan around the system, it will already know what you need.
To go back to my “smart” washing machine, I expect to see all of my appliances talking to each other in a meaningful way, so that I will get a message on my fridge or even my stove when the laundry is done. The appliance giving me the message will understand I’m in front of it at that moment.
It will be a concert of devices talking to each other, and the job of the UX designer for this very near future will be writing the symphony.
AI will not only help users, but also help automate the wireframing and pixel-pushing processes so important to current UX design. AI will take care of the dirty job, and UX designers will need to embrace their strategic side. We’ll need to spend less time worrying about the contrast in buttons and texts — which can be automated — and care more about what new technology out there is relevant to each moment of the user journey. | https://uxdesign.cc/the-job-of-the-ux-designer-is-about-to-undergo-radical-change-2c074c636558 | ['Rubens Cantuni'] | 2020-11-03 14:51:26.356000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Future', 'UX', 'IoT', 'Design'] |
1,110 | In Search Of A Liberal Arts Education For The Modern Era | At this summer’s Exosphere Academy we had a wonderful participant by the name of Lucas. Initially a member of the Philosophy Stream, he decided to switch to Biohacking after learning about the cool stuff that its members planned to work on. So at the end of the orientation week he took his bag, moved into “the Biohouse”, and began to learn “how to science the shit out of nature.”
Rob, Lucas, and Felipe
One of the very first lessons saw him attempt to take meticulous notes on flora in the area surrounding the Campus. Unsatisfied with his skill in sketching a particular flower, he got frustrated with the laborious nature of this process and asked our Biohacking Fellow Gabriel Licina why they had to do this. “Can’t we simply take a picture and be done with it?”
The conversation that followed led him and the other members of his Stream to a number of profound insights about what it means to think and work scientifically. More than that, it revealed how much we humans struggle with perceiving the world around us accurately, building robust understanding out of it, how difficult we find it to communicate all of this to others, and how fragile this human enterprise we call “science” turns out at times.
Sketching the flower
“Why not take a picture?” 📸
Yes, why not take a picture of the flower instead of (badly) sketching it? After all, the fidelity of a photo dwarfs that of a sketch by several orders of magnitude and you can always print it out and stick it in your notebook. What do we gain by spending a lot of time for so little in return?
Well, Lucas, you gain a lot, but you won’t find it in your notebook. Instead, you’ll find it between your ears, in your fingertips, and your eyes. See, we can draw a meaningful distinction between seeing and remembering a thing. When you “lay eyes” upon that flower, the rays bouncing off of the thing hit your eyes and your brain forms an impression: a memory. But the story doesn’t end there, because what your brain does with that memory can radically change it.
👆Ah, memories: learning how to make cheese, butter, and yogurt! 👆
Every time you recall a memory, your brain alters that memory before putting it back. So seeing something once gives your brain very little to work with and makes errors in your perception that much more likely, and therefore consequential.
“But isn’t that the perfect argument against sketching and for photo taking?”
No, because the point of recording an impression of it lies not only in having that impression, sketch, or photo. Instead, it lies in practicing a number of skills, the mastery of which makes you a competent scientist and more effective human being:
practicing your ability to accurately perceive an object and commit it to memory, practicing your ability to build your own model with increasing fidelity and work with it, and practicing your ability to communicate your experience of that object via your model so that others can work with your experience as though they had lived it themselves.
In effect, we ask our students to practice the entire process of absorbing information (perception), processing that information (modeling), and then producing effective outputs (speaking). For the greater part of two millennia, this explicit process formed the framework of all education in the Western world. They called it the Trivium and taught these three parts as Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric.
Once an individual had “completed” his study of the Trivium, they moved on to the Quadrivium, consisting of:
– Arithmetic (number),
– Geometry (number in space),
– Music (number in time), and
– Astronomy (number in time and space).
Together, these sets of skills formed the “liberal arts”, a coin termed by none other than Aristotle. In contradistinction to the so-called “servile arts”, the liberal arts — as the term suggests — gave you all the necessary tools to earn an independent income and join the free citizenry, while the servile arts consisted of crafts that you carried out under a master for basic amenities. Taken together, the Trivium and the Quadrivium formed a lens for making best use of our five senses and conduct a life in defiance of circumstance.
Since Aristotle, the interconnected domains of human activity in technology, philosophy, culture, economy, and society have undergone certain changes — some minor, and some of a radical significance.
The question basically asks itself: what do the modern liberal arts consist of? Shouldn’t we update them to reflect those changes?
I submit that we find a clue in those dynamics so ingrained in our culture that pointing them out takes no special intelligence. I talk, of course, of the capitalist logic. Neither I nor Exosphere deny the role that the market has played in creating prosperity — heck, we’ve run entrepreneurship bootcamps and helped our students create their own businesses. But it increasingly becomes clear that in the modern age freedom means something slightly different.
“Today, one doesn’t gain independence from circumstance by leaving servitude and joining the market, but by learning how to leave the market at will and survive, nay! thrive outside it.” ~ Moritz Bierling, Director of Research at Exosphere
How to live happily in a world you don’t understand
We have heard a great number of reasons that participants have for coming to Exosphere. Some struggle more with self-efficacy, others would like to make a quantum leap in understanding the world, and most of the others have both of these kind of handled but want to make sure they haven’t missed something important, so they search out new people. All of this boils down to a genuine desire to “live happily in a world we don’t understand”, as Taleb puts it.
At the Academy we teach a specific set of skills, regardless of the domain a student chooses to earn a living in, because they make for valuable tools no matter what you do. Incidentally, they also constitute a solution to particular versions of modernity’s unique challenge:
transitioning all of our social systems from functioning only AT human scale to functioning BEYOND human scale.
I have already written extensively about this phenomenon in my Primer on Alternate Reality Design. Here’s the gist of it: thanks to the equalizing power of guns and their superior numbers, the common people overthrew the aristocracy and pretended that everybody’s individual contributions to society have equal value. Blinded by this falsehood and their own moral righteousness, and aided by mass media and mass transportation, they proceeded to spend down several millennia worth of economic, informational, normative, and many other forms of capital to pay for extraordinary levels of consumption.
Which leads me — and us — to the present situation.
Wouldn’t you agree that we currently struggle, on an individual and societal level, with problems that go beyond the abilities of an individual person to solve, or even fully comprehend? Global financial crises, growing inequality, crises in science, economic disruptions, failing social systems, corrupt political systems, environmental collapse — the list goes on. Clearly things need to change, and change soon.
Now, one way we approach this problem is by helping our participants at the Academy practice three specific skills:
Building and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships with people that think, work, and live entirely unlike you, seriously committing yourself to a lifelong process of learning, and doing the accounting, both literally and metaphorically through active note taking, thinking, and decision making.
(If any of this confuses you, watch this speech on YouTube or below👇
by Exosphere founder Skinner Layne) | https://medium.com/the-exofiles/in-search-of-a-liberal-arts-education-for-the-modern-age-cec21d635f24 | ['Moritz Bierling'] | 2016-10-26 20:24:37.549000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Liberal Arts', 'Society', 'Education', 'College'] |
1,111 | OKEx Academy Talks Recap: How to Ensure Security for DeFi Investors | In early May 2020, CertiK was proud to be a part of OKEx’s Academy Talks. The live online discussion on DeFi and Security was moderated by Boxmining with other representatives from SlowMist and SECBIT.
During this panel, Dominik Teiml, Security Engineer at CertiK, talked about ensuring security for DeFi Investors.
First, What is DeFi?
A new movement geared towards decentralized finance quickly gained momentum in 2019. Decentralized Finance, known as DeFi, further promotes the use of decentralized networks to reimagine traditional finance and blockchain technology.
As it stands many blockchain projects are still managed through centralized organizations, like exchanges that lack transparency and accountability. Protocols and consensus methods may be decentralized, but access points to the actual assets are still centralized.
Enter DeFi.
DeFi is now one of the fastest growing sectors in cryptocurrency and blockchain. Decentralized Finance is an effort to build infrastructure that allows people to take control of their own assets. By utilizing different methods, users are able to unlock new forms of value and build impactful products that are both secure and decentralized.
Via Giphy
Security Within DeFi
DeFi offers alternative methods to move control from centralized entities into the hands of the people. While the advantages of adopting this method are advantageous, security remains a large issue.
However, security is a matter of diminishing returns. Verification methods are not always 100% secure since there could be mistakes in the verification itself, resulting in a paradox of logic.
“However, I am very optimistic we can achieve high-security guarantees with the proper measures. Extensive and intensive audits, formal verification, generous bug bounties…” said by Dominik, Security Engineer at CertiK.
Formal Verification is the highly specialized process that CertiK uses to mathematically prove the security and correctness of blockchain smart contracts. Meaning, the source code only performs as it’s exactly intended to. While Formal Verification may not be able to protect against all attack vectors, this level of rigor is the only way to show immunity against some of the most critical and frequent vulnerabilities.
“The more interesting question is whether these methods can scale. Can we find a tool that automates security? Nobody has achieved that yet; it is still an open question.”
New Programming Languages
As new programming languages, like Vyper and Haskell, grow larger with greater adoption, blockchain security gets stronger and more robust.
During the early phases of blockchain, many underestimated security. Even at its best, many of the currently established blockchain systems are inherently insecure no matter how good the external protections are. Architectural decisions that were made are now extremely difficult to change.
“The EVM has dynamic jumps, which make any static analysis extremely cumbersome, but there are hardly any benefits at all. Solidity since 0.5, in my opinion, has become security-focused, reversing some of what was with hindsight poor language design decisions. Vyper is better, but unfortunately, it is not production-ready for big projects and lacks a lot of important features.”
CertiK’s DeepSEA, a new language to write verified smart contracts, is an EVM-targeted programming language that overcomes all imposed challenges and allows for a more seamless formal verification process. DeepSEA allows programmers to handle complex code when doing formal verification with the Coq proof assistant.
However, until DeepSEA is further developed, the current transition to eWASM (Ethereum-flavored Web Assembly) is great for security. Not only is WASM security-focused, but it’s also able to tap into its own ecosystem of security tools.
Takeaway and Final Remarks
The movement towards DeFi carries the potential to lead the next shift in blockchain technology. With security as a top priority moving forward, the applications DeFi could have are infinite. And there are many ways investors can be on the forefront of this movement.
However in order to make more informed choices, investors should conduct research and understand the risks associated. Reading an audit report could save thousands of dollars and help investors protect their assets.
“Read an audit report before using any decentralized application. From time to time we see vulnerabilities pointed out during audits, never corrected, and later exploited. Check if the last report issued mentions any critical or significant vulnerabilities.”
Prioritizing security within DeFi will be a key driving factor towards building true decentralized and permissionless products. To learn more about CertiK’s security offerings for DeFi products, reach out to us at [email protected]! | https://medium.com/certik/okex-academy-talks-recap-how-to-ensure-security-for-defi-investors-721388f2a986 | [] | 2020-06-26 17:36:28.721000+00:00 | ['Blockchain Technology', 'Blockchain Development', 'Certiknews', 'Defi', 'Okex'] |
1,112 | Understanding Random Forest | Ensuring that the Models Diversify Each Other
So how does random forest ensure that the behavior of each individual tree is not too correlated with the behavior of any of the other trees in the model? It uses the following two methods:
Bagging (Bootstrap Aggregation) — Decisions trees are very sensitive to the data they are trained on — small changes to the training set can result in significantly different tree structures. Random forest takes advantage of this by allowing each individual tree to randomly sample from the dataset with replacement, resulting in different trees. This process is known as bagging.
Notice that with bagging we are not subsetting the training data into smaller chunks and training each tree on a different chunk. Rather, if we have a sample of size N, we are still feeding each tree a training set of size N (unless specified otherwise). But instead of the original training data, we take a random sample of size N with replacement. For example, if our training data was [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] then we might give one of our trees the following list [1, 2, 2, 3, 6, 6]. Notice that both lists are of length six and that “2” and “6” are both repeated in the randomly selected training data we give to our tree (because we sample with replacement).
Node splitting in a random forest model is based on a random subset of features for each tree.
Feature Randomness — In a normal decision tree, when it is time to split a node, we consider every possible feature and pick the one that produces the most separation between the observations in the left node vs. those in the right node. In contrast, each tree in a random forest can pick only from a random subset of features. This forces even more variation amongst the trees in the model and ultimately results in lower correlation across trees and more diversification.
Let’s go through a visual example — in the picture above, the traditional decision tree (in blue) can select from all four features when deciding how to split the node. It decides to go with Feature 1 (black and underlined) as it splits the data into groups that are as separated as possible.
Now let’s take a look at our random forest. We will just examine two of the forest’s trees in this example. When we check out random forest Tree 1, we find that it it can only consider Features 2 and 3 (selected randomly) for its node splitting decision. We know from our traditional decision tree (in blue) that Feature 1 is the best feature for splitting, but Tree 1 cannot see Feature 1 so it is forced to go with Feature 2 (black and underlined). Tree 2, on the other hand, can only see Features 1 and 3 so it is able to pick Feature 1.
So in our random forest, we end up with trees that are not only trained on different sets of data (thanks to bagging) but also use different features to make decisions.
And that, my dear reader, creates uncorrelated trees that buffer and protect each other from their errors.
Conclusion
Random forests are a personal favorite of mine. Coming from the world of finance and investments, the holy grail was always to build a bunch of uncorrelated models, each with a positive expected return, and then put them together in a portfolio to earn massive alpha (alpha = market beating returns). Much easier said than done!
Random forest is the data science equivalent of that. Let’s review one last time. What’s a random forest classifier?
The random forest is a classification algorithm consisting of many decisions trees. It uses bagging and feature randomness when building each individual tree to try to create an uncorrelated forest of trees whose prediction by committee is more accurate than that of any individual tree.
What do we need in order for our random forest to make accurate class predictions?
We need features that have at least some predictive power. After all, if we put garbage in then we will get garbage out. The trees of the forest and more importantly their predictions need to be uncorrelated (or at least have low correlations with each other). While the algorithm itself via feature randomness tries to engineer these low correlations for us, the features we select and the hyper-parameters we choose will impact the ultimate correlations as well.
Thanks for reading. I hope you learned as much from reading this as I did from writing it. Cheers! | https://towardsdatascience.com/understanding-random-forest-58381e0602d2 | ['Tony Yiu'] | 2019-08-14 04:06:49.957000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Machine Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Data Science', 'Technology'] |
1,113 | Make Python Hundreds of Times Faster With a C-Extension | Photo by Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash
Python is one of the most popular programming languages. It’s learned and used by students, teachers, and professionals around the world. Python provides a simple, straight forward, interpreted language that fosters creativity and freedom. Programmers have access to a community of hundreds of thousands of developers that provides an immense selection of open source packages for Python. The language manages garbage collection. memory allocation, pathnames, file descriptors, and much more that a programmer would normally need to worry about in a lower level language. Yet, that’s both an advantage and disadvantage.
Python sometimes takes care of too many things. It blurs the fine details of whats really happening under the hood. If you feel that way, this post is for you. We will go over the basics and fundamentals of making a C-extension to the Python interpreter.
Why make a C extension?
C extensions are fast, performant python libraries that can serve several purposes. Those include:
High Performance:
C extensions can perform hundreds of times faster than equivalent code written in Python. This is because c functions are natively compiled, and just a thin layer over assembly code. Additionally, some tasks can be slower to perform in Python, such as string processing. Python has no concept of a character, just strings of different lengths. While C, has a very raw and efficient string composed purely of a block of memory terminated with a \0 character. Overall, C extensions provide a way to gain a powerhouse of performance in Python.
Wrapping:
Lots of widely used software libraries are written in C. However, many application level systems, like web development frameworks, or mobile development frameworks, are written in languages like Java or Python. C functions can’t be called directly from Python, because Python does not understand C types without converting them to Python types. However, extensions can be used to wrap C code to make it callable from Python. The building and parsing of Python types will be explained later.
Low Level Tools:
In Python, the degree to which one can utilize low level and operating system level utilities is quite limited. Python uses a Global Interpreter Lock (GIL), that allows only one thread at a time to execute Python byte code. This means that although some I/O bound tasks like file writes or network requests can happen concurrently, access to Python objects and functions cannot.
With C, a program has complete and unrestricted freedom to any resources it can load and use. In a C extension, the GIL can be released, allowing for multi-threaded python work flows.
The Python C API
The Python language provides an extensive C API that allows you to compile and build C functions that can accept and process Python typed objects. This is done through writing a special form of a C library, that is not only linked with the Python libraries, but creates a module object the Python interpreter imports like a regular Python module.
Before we get into the building steps, lets understand how a C function can process Python objects as input and return Python objects as output. Let’s look at the function below:
#include <Python.h> static PyObject* print_message(PyObject* self, PyObject* args)
{
const char* str_arg;
if(!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "s", &str_arg)) {
puts("Could not parse the python arg!");
return NULL;
} printf("msg %s
", str_arg);
// This can also be done with Py_RETURN_NONE
Py_INCREF(Py_None);
return Py_None;
}
The type, PyObject* , is the dynamic type that represents any Python object. You can think of it like a base class, where every other Python object, like PyBool or PyTuple inherits from PyObject . The C language has no true concept of classes. Yet, there are some tricks to implement an inheritance, polymorphic like system. The details of this are beyond the scope of this guide, but one way to think about it is this:
#define TYPE_INFO int type; \
size_t size struct a_t {
TYPE_INFO;
}; struct b_t {
TYPE_INFO;
char buf[20];
}; struct b_t foo;
// Fields are always ordered, this will work
((struct a_t*)&foo)->type
In the above example, both a_t and b_t share the same fields at the beginning of their definitions. This means, casting struct b_t* to struct a_t* works because the fields of a_t compose the same, prefixed portion of b_t .
Parsing Arguments
The function has two parameters, self and args . For now, think of self as the object at which the function is called from. As stated in the beginning, we will be writing our function to be called from the scope of the module.
The function parses the objects within args in this statement:
if(!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "s", &str_arg)) {
Here, the args parameter is actually a PyTuple , the same thing as a tuple in Python, such as x = (1, 2) . In the case of a normal function call in Python, with no keyword args, the arguments are packed as a tuple and passed into the corresponding C function being called. The "s" string is a format specifier. It indicates we expect and want to extract one const char* as the first and only argument to our function. More information on parsing Python C arguments.
Returning Values
In the last part of the function, we have the following statements
Py_INCREF(Py_None);
return Py_None;
In the Python C API, the None type is represented as a singleton. Yet, like any other PyObject , we have to obey it's reference counting rules and accurately adjust those as we use it. Other C Python functions may build and return other values. For more info on building values, see here
This particular function is only meant to print, by convention those usually return None .
C Extensions Structure
Now, we can explore the structure of how we compose the extensions that Python will actually be able to import and use within the Python runtime. To do that, we need three things. First is the definition of all the methods the extension offers. This is an array of PyMethodDef , terminated by an empty version of the struct. Next is the module definition. This basically titles the module, describes it, and points to our list of method definitions. Just like in pure Python, everything in an Extension is really an object. Lastly, we have a PyInit_ method that initializes our module when it's imported and creates the module object:
static PyMethodDef myMethods[] = {
{ "print_message", print_message, METH_VARARGS, "Prints a called string" },
{ NULL, NULL, 0, NULL }
}; // Our Module Definition struct
static struct PyModuleDef myModule = {
PyModuleDef_HEAD_INIT,
"DemoPackage",
"A demo module for python c extensions",
-1,
myMethods
}; // Initializes our module using our above struct
PyMODINIT_FUNC PyInit_DemoPackage(void)
{
return PyModule_Create(&myModule);
}
Note: The name in the PyInit_ function and the name in the module definition MUST match.
This code, along with our previous print_message function should be placed in a single C file. That C file can be built into a C Extension with a special setup.py file. Below is an example, which is also included in this repo:
from distutils.core import setup, Extension # A Python package may have multiple extensions, but this
# template has one.
module1 = Extension('DemoPackage',
define_macros = [('USE_PRINTER', '1')],
include_dirs = ['include'],
sources = ['src/demo.c']) setup (name = 'DemoPackage',
version = '1.0',
description = 'This is a demo package',
author = '<first> <last>',
author_email = '[email protected]',
url = 'https://docs.python.org/extending/building',
long_description = open('README.md').read(),
ext_modules = [module1])
This setup file uses the Extension class from distutils.core to specify the option, such as definitions for the C preprocessor, or an include dir to use when invoking the compiler. C extensions are always built with the compiler from which the running instance of the python interpreter was built with. The Extension class is very similar to a CMake setup, specifying a target, and the options to build that target with.
In this repo, you will also find a MANIFEST.in file. This is to specify other files we want packaged in the distribution of our Python package. But this is not required, this is only if publishing a C extension is desired.
Building and Installing
You can then build and install the extension with the following commands. | https://medium.com/swlh/make-python-hundreds-of-times-faster-with-a-c-extension-9d0a5180063e | ['Joshua Weinstein'] | 2020-07-26 19:36:13.491000+00:00 | ['Coding', 'Software Development', 'Programming', 'Python', 'Technology'] |
1,114 | Exceptional Blockchain Projects | Exceptional Blockchain Projects
For those of you just starting to pay attention to the different “altcoin” projects, I am going to attempt to summarize what I think are the more technically interesting ones out there. While fundamentals do matter, I am in no way insinuating any of these projects are “good investments” or not. So if you are a Crypto trader looking to get tips on what’s the next 100x altcoin in the next 2 months, you are probably reading the wrong post. However, if you are interested in getting the cliff notes of what I think is technically exciting out there in this space or looking for a post that will kick you off to further research for a long term investment with strong fundamentals, this post might just be for you.
Before I begin, I am going to first note that I am skipping the trending and technically interesting projects that are already super well known like Ethereum, Cardano, and Polkadot to keep my list under a controllable size. So without further ado, here are 12 of my favorites:
Cosmos Network
Cosmos is simply amazing for building your own proof-of-stake blockchain/dapp. To get started with a full blockchain template with tokens, accounts, and wallets ready for you to start developing with, all you need to do is execute 2 commands after installing Starport:
Voila! Everything is ready to go and you can checkout the localhost link it spits out and see what’s already there:
Pretty amazing right? It’s no wonder why some of the biggest projects out there are built with Cosmos. It scaffolds everything that would otherwise be reinventing the wheel and let you focus on the real innovations of your project. You will also notice that transactions are super fast and IBC will allow for robust cross-chain compatibility which is extremely important for building successful dapps.
For those who require “name dropping” to be convinced, Binance Chain and Binance Smart Chain were built with Cosmos. You can also see the rest of the projects built on Cosmos here.
There’s so much more to Cosmos that will turn this into too long of a post so I suggest that you start with their website and documentation and see what the hype is all about yourself.
Akash Network
Speaking of building on Cosmos, Akash Network, a Censorship-resistant, permissionless, and self-sovereign open source cloud was built on Cosmos too! If you are using Kubernetes or containers at work or for fun, you will love this project. It essentially allows for you to host your containers on some of the most robust data centers and compute resources around the world for a fraction of the cost of our existing cloud services like AWS, Google, and Azure. You can learn more about this project from one of my previous posts here or simply visit their website.
Skynet
Skynet AKA SiaSky is a really cool solution for building dapps but perhaps it’s most known for its storage capabilities and how fast the content delivery is. It even has a dapp store where you can monetize your app through them easily. It seems that there’s a lot of interest in the Akash community to use Akash for compute and Skynet for storage too.
Storj
Are you building a dapp coming from a lot of experience building on AWS with S3 or other cloud providers’ block storage services? Well, Storj is probably your answer. It’s a decentralized object storage solution that’s backwards compatible with S3.
IPFS + Filecoin
The IPFS and Filecoin combo has been one of the earliest leaders on building a decentralized internet. It’s also a great solution for storing/archiving files. Although many other similar solutions have popped up over time, this project with strong ties to Stanford University has been the one that remained strong and prevailing against all odds.
Solana
Solana has been one of the most talked about small cap gems lately. Some of my crypto investor contacts are all-in with Solana’s promise for being the blockchain that’s super fast and low cost on transaction. By concept, Solana can handle up to 65,000 transactions per second. It even has a live update on how many transactions has already occurred on chain which is constantly moving on their homepage. Akash also chose Solana as the tech to handle smart contracts since the CEO of Akash deemed Solana to be simply the best solution available.
The side effect of doing super fast transactions at low costs is that Solana’s blockchain is extremely huge in size. Understanding this downfall, Solana decided to partner with Arweave to handle the permanent data storage which seems like a great move on their part.
Theta
Theta is looking to disrupt the video delivery space with blockchain just like how Youtube and Twitch did in the web2.0 days. It already has a working product with a lot of things done right. The advisory team includes some heavy hitters too like Steve Chen (YouTube), Justin Kan (Twitch), and Fan Zhang (Sequoia Capital).
NuCypher
Security and encryption seems to always be the boring topic to the average person but yet, such a pertinent part of all technologies used in the real world. As proven in the past, while the concept of blockchains are more secure than its predecessors, it’s not invincible. NuCypher is looking to provide additional cryptography infrastructure (secrets management and dynamic access control) so that users are provided with more secure dapps that are also privacy friendly.
Brave Rewards
What can I say… Brave is hands down my favorite browser. Aside being a kick ass browser to begin with, it also comes with a privacy focused blockchain based advertising mechanism called Brave Rewards. You can literally earn money from just using your browser. There’s really nothing else out there that comes close to it.
Mysterium
Mysterium is not the only player out there in the dVPN space. However, it’s the only cross-platform solution that just worked when I tried it. The best part of it is that you get to try things out free before you start buying those myst coins to pay for their VPN service.
The Graph
The Graph provides a way for developers to create subgraphs (custom API) to access the open data indexed from Ethereum and IPFS. Need I say more? It definitely is a crucial piece of the dapp equation.
The Internet Computer
I have mixed feelings about this project due to the partial closed source nature and certain aspects of governance (permissioned and require standardized hardware) but nonetheless worth a mention. This project is launched by a non-profit out of Switzerland that has been around for quite some time so it has earned a lot of confidence as a legitimate project by both retail investors as well as institutions. Recently, it got listed on Coinbase and Binance and within just the matter of 24–48 hours, it went from US$0 to US$750. What a crazy bull run or what some of my other friends might call, “pump and dump”.
So what is Internet Computer? Think Ethereum but not just covering the application layer but it plans to replace the whole entire internet stack including networking to replace our existing internet all together. In the past, they have run a decentralized version of Linkedin that is just as fast as the centralized one.
They have been in the past criticized for their Network Nervous System (NNS) component. It has been said that this component has negative implications on privacy and that rather than solving the problem of the existing Internet that has a small number of tyrants ruling it all, it will have a new consolidated tyrant instead. Does this give one organization too much power? I leave that up to you to judge.
Needless to say, since the scope of the project is so large, I would suggest that you look at their website yourself to learn more as this post would turn into a book if I had to share all the underlying concepts of what the Internet Computer is all about.
That’s it!
Hope this list of 12 technically more interesting projects will be a good stepping stone towards your research on your next big dapp project or long term investment. | https://levelup.gitconnected.com/exceptional-blockchain-projects-7a1836d549af | ['Jeremy Cheng'] | 2021-06-24 03:18:59.759000+00:00 | ['Dapps', 'Web3', 'Blockchain', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Technology'] |
1,115 | HyperX’s Budget Cloud Stinger Lineup Gets New Surround Options | HyperX’s Budget Cloud Stinger Lineup Gets New Surround Options
Official Promo image provided by HyperX
This week, HyperX launched the $59 Cloud Stinger Core + 7.1 and the $79 Cloud Stinger Wireless Core + 7.1, adding two more models to the new family of surround-sound HyperX headsets. Their current surround sound software first debuted inside the Cloud Alpha S’s dongle, and has since also shown up in the Cloud Flight S.
Unlike some earlier HyperX surround solutions, their current software shows up as a true 7.1 audio device in Windows 10, and has custom surround profiles for a number of popular games. In order to use the software, you’ll have to download their new Ngenuity app from the Windows 10 store, but it’s a quick install and I haven’t had any issues with the app hogging my system resources in the background.
I haven’t tried a Stinger model since I reviewed the impressive Cloud Stinger Wireless last year. These newer “Core” models keep a lot of what made the original Stinger models an impressive value, but they sacrifice a bit on build materials and driver size in order to get the price down further.
I’m glad that HyperX is still pursuing a custom surround sound solution, in an era where platform-wide software solutions are becoming the norm. Both the Xbox One family and Windows 10 PC’s offer their own built-in spatial audio solution with Windows Sonic, and the upcoming PS5 has its own spatial 3D headphone audio system as well. I thought that bespoke manufacturer-developed solutions would die out, so it’s awesome to see HyperX still offering their own alternative that they can tune to match their devices.
The text of the full press release about these new models follows:
HyperX Expands HyperX Stinger Headset Lineup with Two New Gaming Headsets
HyperX Cloud Stinger Core Gaming Headsets Lineup Now Feature 7.1 Virtual Surround Sound
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif — April 20, 2020 — HyperX, the gaming division of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., today announced the release of two new headsets in HyperX Cloud Stinger family, HyperX Cloud StingerTM Core + 7.1 and HyperX Cloud StingerTM Core Wireless + 7.1 Gaming Headset. Both new Cloud Stinger Core headsets now feature 7.1 virtual surround sound(1) via NGENUITY software.
“HyperX is excited to expand its Cloud Stinger gaming headset family with two new 7.1 surround sound headsets for gamers looking for an economic headset,” said Nate Almond, audio business manager, HyperX. “With students, parents and gamers working and playing at home more than ever, HyperX has expanded the Stinger product line to offer more affordable headsets.”
The HyperX Cloud Stinger Core + 7.1 and Cloud Stinger Core Wireless + 7.1 both offer virtual surround sound to provide a more immersive in-game audio experience. 40mm directional drivers deliver high-quality sound with pinpoint audio precision. Both Stinger Core + 7.1 features a lightweight design with each headset weighing in at just under 245 grams. Both headsets utilize adjustable steel sliders, intuitive volume control on the headset earcup, and swivel-to-mute noise-canceling microphone.
HyperX Cloud Stinger Core Wireless + 7.1 headset provides freedom from cords with a reliable 2.4Ghz wireless connection. With a range of 20m and a battery life of 17 hours, the Stinger Core + Wireless 7.1 offers a cord-free gaming experience at an economical price.
Availability
The Cloud Stinger Core + 7.1 gaming headsets is backed by a 2-year warranty. The HyperX Cloud Stinger Core + 7.1 gaming headset is available for $59.99 MSRP and HyperX Cloud Stinger Core wireless gaming headset + 7.1 are available for $79.99 MSRP through HyperX online shop. For more information on the Cloud Stinger Core +7.1 headset lineup and global availability, please visit the Cloud Stinger Core + 7.1 product page.
Due to the current COVID-19 situation, HyperX may experience some product and shipping delays. HyperX is taking every possible measure to work with partners to minimize the impact on its customers and ensure product availability and timely delivery.
HyperX Cloud Stinger Core + 7.1 Surround Sound Specifications:
Part Number
HHSS1C-AA-BK/G
Headphone
Driver: Dynamic, 40mm with neodymium magnets
Type: Circumaural, Closed back
Frequency response:20Hz–20kHz
Impedance: 16 Ω
Sound pressure level: 103dBSPL/mW at 1kHz
T.H.D.: ≤ 2%
Weight: 240g
Cable length: 2.5m
Connection type: 3.5mm plug (4 pole)
Microphone
Element: Electret condenser microphone
Polar pattern: Uni-directional, Noise-cancelling
Frequency response: 50Hz-18kHz
Sensitivity: -40dBV (1V/Pa at 1kHz)
USB Adapter
Weight: 12g
Cable length: 0.15m
HyperX Stinger Core Wireless + 7.1 Surround Sound Specifications:
Part Number
HHSS1C-BA-BK/G
Headphone
Driver: Dynamic, 40mm with neodymium magnets
Type: Circumaural, Closed back
Frequency response:20Hz–20kHz
Impedance: 16 Ω
Sound pressure level: 103dBSPL/mW at 1kHz
T.H.D.: ≤ 2%
Weight: 244g
Cable length and type: USB charge cable (0.5m)
Microphone
Element: Electret condenser microphone
Polar pattern: Uni-directional, Noise-cancelling
Frequency response: 50Hz-18kHz
Sensitivity: -40dBV (1V/Pa at 1kHz)
Battery life(2)
17 hours
Wireless Range(3)
2.4 GHz
Up to 20 meters
(1)Virtual 7.1 surround sound effect output as a 2 channel stereo signal to be used with stereo headphones. Virtual 7.1 surround sound provided via NGENUITY software (PC Only).
(2)Tested at 50% headphone volume. Battery life varies depending upon the usage.
(3)Wireless range may vary due to environmental conditions.
About HyperX
HyperX is the gaming division of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the world’s largest independent memory manufacturer, with the goal of providing gamers, PC builders, PC, console and mobile power users with high-performance components. For 16 years, the HyperX mission has been to develop gaming products for all types of gamers — high-speed memory, solid state drives, headsets, keyboards, mice, charging accessories for console players, USB flash drives, and mousepads — to the gaming community and beyond. The award-winning HyperX brand is known for consistently delivering products that deliver superior comfort, aesthetics, performance, and reliability. HyperX gear is the choice of celebrity ambassadors, pro gamers, tech enthusiasts, and over-clockers worldwide because it meets the most stringent product specifications and is built with best-in-class components. HyperX has shipped over 65 million memory modules, 10 million gaming headsets and one million keyboards worldwide.
Join the global #HyperXFamily at facebook.com/hyperxcommunity, learn how HyperX products can enhance your console experience and boost performance for both you and your PC, console or mobile device at hyperxgaming.com. Whatever your skill level, whatever genres you play, we embrace all gaming enthusiasts everywhere with our core belief — We’re All Gamers.
Website: http://www.hyperxgaming.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HyperX
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hyperx/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hyperxcommunity
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/kingstonhyperx
# # #
Editor’s Note: For additional information or executive interviews, please contact Mark Tekunoff, Kingston Technology Company, Inc. 17600 Newhope Street, Fountain Valley, CA USA 92708, 714–438–2791(Voice). Press images can be found in Kingston’s press room here.
Kingston, the Kingston logo, HyperX and the HyperX logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Kingston Technology Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. All registered trader respective owners. | https://medium.com/@xander51/hyperxs-budget-cloud-stinger-lineup-gets-new-surround-options-2c4d336adec | ['Alex Rowe'] | 2020-04-23 17:23:27.663000+00:00 | ['Gaming', 'Gadgets', 'Technology', 'Technology News', 'Tech'] |
1,116 | A walk through blockchain — 24 hours using blockchain technology — Part 2 | Welcome back to Part II!
Reminder : This story follows a young man living in a fully decentralized world through an hypothetical 24 hour-scenario using solely current projects based on blockchain technology.
For a better experience — read Part I first.
01:00 PM
This morning of decentralized hard work and Colombian coffee have made me hungry. I am supposed to meet John and Elisa for lunch but we haven’t yet decided where to go. They are from America and are currently visiting France. I have taught them french on Ntok, a blockchain-based online learning platform connecting tutors and students where everyone can teach something.
I want to show them how good the homemade French cuisine is but I am a terrible chef myself… Luckily there is Feedchain. Feedchain is a decentralized mobile and web application platform on which people can use their houses as home-based restaurants. My American friends don’t really use it (I guess no one cooks wonderful French cuisine in America) but that doesn’t matter. They use Essentia, a modular decentralised interoperability and data management framework that allows them to seamlessly grant Feedcoin permission to their data stored on Medibloc, a decentralized healthcare information system where patients can save time and money by having easier access to their health data. They also share their location to Feedcoin blockchain using Foam, a decentralized protocol for Proof of Location. Proof of Location allows users to privately record authenticated location data at times of their choosing, and then reveal it at their discretion.
Essentia’s features as presented on their website
Thanks to this data interoperability, Feedchain only shows me home-based restaurants that suit Elisa’s and John’s nutritive preferences and allergies restrictions without me knowing those and without the need for them to be regular users of Feedchain service. It also shows me places near us so that no one gets fooled with the distance. I decide to go to Paulette’s place. She seems to be a very charming host, with a high reputation level and a wonderful boeuf bourguignon.
Well, as there is no need of decentralization and blockchain to eat and enjoy a lovely boeuf bourguignon, I won’t detail the lunch. But it was fantastic.
02:30 PM
The afternoon is dedicated to my passions. I’ve always been a big fan of soccer and I am now fully living this passion. I’ve been a sports content creator and investor for a while now. Thanks to Sportyco, a blockchain-based sports crowdfunding platform, connecting those with an active need for funding with contributing crowds on a micro level, I can invest in clubs or players in order to help them achieve their projects. If they actually reach success, I will be rewarded consequently, thanks to smart investment contracts. Here is what I can pretend to get:
a share of the future athletes’ image rights
a share of future sponsorship proceeds
commercial rights relationships
a share of transfer rights
other athletes’ economic rights.
For example, I have helped Marcus, a 15 years-old young player from Albania, financing his trip through Europe to train and find a professional training club. He has been recruited by one of the french top teams, Olympique Lyonnais, and is now a regular first-team substitute. My investment provided me great returns and I have helped a young player fulfilling his dream.
I also help local players getting noticed by national and international clubs by creating contents for them on a regular basis: videos, interviews, articles etc. This afternoon I am editing a video for Theo, a 15 years-old talented player from my hometown club in order to help him finance a private coach on Lympo platform (refer to Part 1) and improve his skills. I’ll be rewarded if an investment is done.
I dedicate the rest of my time to my other passion: art. I use Maecenas, a decentralized marketplace that allows art lovers like me to buy shares in famous paintings. For just a 2% fee, I can invest in any of the pieces in the gallery. And because I do not need to buy the entire piece of art, I do not have to spend thousands of dollars each time I want to support an artist I love. Today, one of my favorite galleries is planning on investing to expand its street art exhibition. I will help it fund this investment so that I can enjoy new pieces of art next time I visit the gallery.
06:00 PM
It’s time to buy some groceries. I have never been a big fan of supermarkets. I always lose myself and end up buying things I shouldn’t… Luckily I don’t have to go to supermarkets anymore. I can just go to the INS platform, a decentralized ecosystem that connects me directly with local and global grocery manufacturers. The INS platform is using Storj decentralized file storage network so that it allows me to browse through thousands of products. It also helps manufacturers to do cross-marketing and promote each other, based on the similar preferences of their customers, thus enabling them to compete with large retailers by forming their own ecosystem. The manufacturers share all the sensitive data about their products: origin, composition, supply chain information… There is no hidden information. Consumers can directly rate manufacturers in a private way so that the ones that are not transparent are penalized by the network. I select the groceries from my favorite manufacturers. They will be delivered tomorrow. I have saved 30% compared to when I used to go to supermarkets.
How the INS ecosystem works
As I told you earlier, I am not a great chef myself. I decide to order some food to be delivered on the Blockfood network, a decentralized food ordering & delivery platform. Unlike centralized platforms, revenue is distributed fairly between restaurants, ambassadors and couriers. I can still feel the weight of Paulette’s boeuf bourguignon so I’ll just have a salad for tonight.
07:30 PM
I am back at home. It’s time to relax and have some fun. My favorite blockchain-based game is Decentraland. Decentraland is a virtual reality platform powered by the Ethereum blockchain. Users can create, experience, and monetize content and applications. It is completely owned by its users. I have always been a big fan of campsites but I have never been able to own one. In Decentraland, I created my own campsite located near the river. Users can come and enjoy a relaxing atmosphere. I am rewarded based on how many visitors I have. I also enjoy visiting creations of other people. Today I am learning the fundamentals of mechanics within Mickael’s virtual garage. Mickael has reproduced hundreds of historical cars and motorbikes virtually and owns one of the most finest garages in Decentraland. It’s great to be able to keep learning at home in a completely different environment.
It’s almost 09:00 PM and an important soccer game is about to start. Time flies when you’re learning while playing.
I just have time to order my tickets for Kendrick Lamar’s next show on Guts, a ticketing platform that uses blockchain technology to create a transparent ticketing ecosystem, enabling artists and managers to get the revenue from both the primary and secondary market and consumers like me to avoid fraud. I’ll be able to sell them easily if I cannot make it to the show!
09:00 PM
My salad has arrived and I can now enjoy today’s game. This game is very important for me. First of all Marcus, the young player I invested in a couple years ago, is playing. Moreover I have placed a small bet on Wagerr. Wagerr uses distributed blockchain technology to execute betting contracts. It allows peer-to-peer betting: once the event is completed, the Oracle Masternode network records the performance result on the blockchain, triggering a payout to the winner. My favorite team, Olympique Lyonnais, is playing against Newcastle. I hope they will win, otherwise I will lose my bet against Eric, my British friend.
I watch the game on the Theta network. Theta is a decentralized video-streaming platform powered by users and blockchain. Theta Tokens are used as an incentive to encourage individual users to share their redundant computing and bandwidth resources as caching nodes for video streams. That allows solving the problem of bandwidth consumption that existed with centralized services such as Netflix and Youtube. On Theta, viewers can earn tokens from advertisers as engagement rewards, and can donate to their favorite influencers and content creators.
I have subscribed to a few decentralized entertainment networks on the platform. By doing so, I allocate tokens into incentive contracts which get parsed out between the content owners and the streaming/bandwidth providers. Theta’s decentralized streaming platform has allowed lowering the price of sports streaming. I can watch more games for less and keep on living my passion. | https://medium.com/crypto-writing-agency/a-walk-through-blockchain-24-hours-using-blockchain-technology-part-2-8d1d7fc0772f | ['Florent Moulin'] | 2018-10-08 12:46:46.009000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Technology', 'Future', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin'] |
1,117 | How to make mobile better with Mobile Keyboard & Accessories | How to make mobile better with Mobile Keyboard & Accessories
Today, people all over the world use mobiles, and use apps and accessories. These apps and accessories improve the performance and look of mobile. For e.g., we see today, in mobile people use a lot of attractive keyboards. These keyboards are not only special in appearance, but the features of keyboards make Mobile Keyboards special. Let us know about Mobile Accessories and Mobile Keyboards.
Mobile Keyboard
If you trust Google, then this only additional keyboard can complete your work. This provides glide/swipe typing. You can access Google search. You can translate content from Google translate. Google collects information about what you search for with the help of a keyboard. It offers a camera function.
Microsoft’s swiftkey keyboard provides features such as swipe to type with predictive text options. It has a choice of several languages. It provides a toolbar for searching gif and emoji and accessing clipboard. Allows you to delete your deposited data easily. However according to swiftkey, the more you type, its text prediction gets better.
Thumbly keyboard
Do you like to type with just a thumb? Then the Thumbly keyboard is made for you. It allows typing with one finger. You can easily switch hands. If you want, you can disable the autocorrect feature. You can swipe between characters. It has a unique swipe gesture to delete things.
The multilingual keyboard was only for iPad users earlier, but now it also supports iPhone users. The Padkey place the numbers and cursor in a row on the screen. It looks like a standard keyboard instead of the on-screen keyboard version of apple. It offers you dedicated keys for special symbols associated with the language of your choice.
This is a service that allows you to access your photos on almost every platform. You can see store photos on Instagram, Google Photos, Dropbox, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Its free mobile app offers a photo keyboard, which makes sharing in iOS messaging and note-taking apps easy.
Phraseboard
Have you worried to type the same thing over and over again in messaging? The Phraseboard produces a board of consecutive sentences. It sinks with iCloud for storage. It has to provide full access to save sentences.
Jiffy is an online world of animated gifs. This fun keyboard is part of the Jiffy app. This keyboard has to be installed. Installing this keyboard is easy. It helps to make a perfect animated commentary in a dialogue with someone.
FancyKey is a font changing the keyboard. This makes your text message fun. It allows you to access font character, fun sound, swipe input, and pre-mode emoji pattern
Mobile Photo accessories
If you like mobile photography, then you can get a better experience of mobile photography by using some Mobile Accessories. This will make your picture quality and video shooting easier and you will be able to shoot better photos and videos. Let’s know about these mobile accessories
Selfy Ring Lights
This ring light gives you great coverage. It is great for taking selfies and shooting selfies videos. You can choose any one of the 11 brightness levels according to the need. You can change the light temperature between white, warm yellow, or yellow plus white light. It can be used as a full light for taking Portrait or for live streaming/shooting of videos. This light provides free angle adjustment.
It gets power from USB. You can charge it from a portable power bank. This light is available in different sizes. You can get compact portable versions ranging from 18-inch circles to fix on Smartphones.
Now the number of video-sharing platforms like Tick Talk has increased. Many people have started shooting videos from phones. The problem with handheld devices is that when using them the device vibrates and the video does not get perfect. Tripods can be used to avoid this, but this limits your movement.
If you want to roam from here to there while shooting video and also like great stabilization, then Gimbals should be taken. There are many types of compact foldable gimbals in the market. Their price starts at ₹ 5000. These provide three-axis stabilization for smooth stabilized images. Some gimbals also provide features such as active trekking, hyper-lapse, and sports modes.
External microphone
Poor audio recording can be a problem with Smartphone-produced videos. Many people do not pay attention to the audio quality of the video, but later they feel sad. Some phones offer features such as audio zoom, which allows focusing on 1 point for audio recording. However, this feature is only available in premium phones.
So if an external microphone is the best option for other devices. You can take 199 lavalier microphones. You can take a buoy microphone which is a clip-on mic. This is an omnidirectional mic. It captures good quality audio and connects to your phone with the help of a 3.5mm audio jack.
Flexible microphone
Have you ever had a situation when you are about to shoot something with your tripod and you don’t have the space to set it well? To get rid of this problem you can take a tripod with flexible legs. Adjustable legs can be twisted around a pole or tree and shooting can be done by making an angle of your choice.
In this way, you get the freedom to shoot photos and videos with creative angles. The important thing is that it is very light. If you want great strength on a rough surface, you can use a rubberized fitted tripod. You can combine it with Bluetooth Sutter Remote for ease of work.
For reading the mobile technology-related article Click here
Add-on lenses
Some premium phones come with features like telephoto, wide-angle, and microlenses. For these, add an addon lens on the phone. There are many clip-on lenses in the market that give features such as super wide-angle, fisheye, 20 x microlenses, 14 x zoom, etc. These can add effects such as star filters, KPL, kaleidoscopes, and radials.
I hope you have understood about Mobile Keyboards and Mobile Accessories.
If you like the article How to make mobile better with Mobile Keyboard & Accessories, then comment in the comment box. And subscribe so that you keep getting notification. | https://medium.com/@suyjain/how-to-make-mobile-better-with-mobile-keyboard-accessories-bae581495327 | ['Suyash Jain'] | 2020-10-21 14:31:55.102000+00:00 | ['How To Make Mobile Better', 'Mobile Technology', 'Mobile Keyboard', 'Mobile App', 'Mobile Accessories'] |
1,118 | Standing At The Intersection Of Tech And Humanity | Last Sunday, my sister-in-law died. She and my wife’s brother had been married for 28 years. The day before she died was their anniversary. She died suddenly, riding in the car with her husband. In less time than it takes to post a tweet, she had a brain aneurysm and was gone.
Jeff and Rebecca live(d) in New York; Susan (my wife, Jeff’s sister) and I live in California. Try as we might to work it out, we couldn’t get back there this week. As you could imagine, Susan was heart-broken. Jeff is her baby brother.
It’s been a tough few days.
How user-friendly technology helps us
I’ve been a tech guy for almost 40 years; that’s when I first learned to program using punch cards. Over the years, I’ve watched technology insert itself into our daily lives and much of it, I appreciate. Some of it, I can live without, no problem.
But what I’ve come to appreciate this week is the extent to which technology has become user-friendly.
Voicemail
When we called Jeff Monday morning, it was as the result of a voicemail which had been recorded while my phone was turned off. Anyone who struggled through the years of voice messaging on tiny cassette tapes and a separate machine plugged into your phone remembers that Stone Age technology.
Even though I did not want ever to get a voicemail like that, I am incredibly grateful that it was recorded and stored for me to hear. All I had to do was turn my phone on, and the message was right there.
Facebook
The last few days have been a blur and a cauldron of emotions. My wife will be using her IPad and suddenly burst into tears. Sometimes this happens when she recalls a childhood memory. Most of the time, it’s because she’s read a post about Rebecca on Facebook.
Rebecca was a gregarious person. She had lots of friends, both online and offline. And it seems as if every single one of them has posted a picture of Rebecca along with a heartfelt memory. Rebecca loved her work, she loved The Yankees, and she loved getting together with her friends to share a glass of wine or a meal.
I’ve never seen anything like the outpouring of love I’ve seen this week. Ordinarily, I’m not the world’s biggest Facebook fan. But this week, I’m grateful to see the pictures and read the stories of a life well-lived. We didn’t need to do anything to make this happen except setting up our family connections years ago.
I know it’s not magic, but it is seamless and takes place with no overt user action on my wife’s part. There are a few glitches because of the way posts have been shared, and who has which permissions set, but those have been exceedingly rare.
This has been a way for Susan to start to come to grips with Rebecca’s death. She hasn’t had to track down friends who might have a few photos in a box somewhere in their attics; she’s been able to experience a part of Rebecca’s life. And while we yammer on about how fake and perfect life looks on social media, this week I am grateful that those are the pictures and the stories that have been shared.
They have been exactly what we needed to remember her.
Phones everywhere
This week, Susan has been talking with friends from the neighborhood where she and Jeff grew up. These folks are scattered all over the eastern seaboard but are still connected online. In times like these, people want to hear a familiar voice, and Susan has been able to talk with her former next-door neighbor, that lady’s daughter (who had a massive crush on Jeff as a kid) and half a dozen other people.
All those phone numbers were shared through emails and IM’s. Now those numbers are stored in the memories of all our phones and tablets. No running to get the paper address book kept in the closet, no need to erase or cross out entries in the paper book, just a few clicks, and those numbers are stored forever.
Yesterday afternoon, Susan spent some time messaging with friends who attended the wake. Everyone was very polite, no messaging while standing in line, but afterward, long phone conversations were held in the after-wake gatherings. Quiet, discreet, and precisely what Susan needed to fill the hole in her heart.
Livestream
The best part was today. The church where the funeral took place was set up to provide a Livestream of the entire service. Susan and I got to attend from our desktop here in our office, thousands of miles away from the actual event.
Livestreams do get wonky. The data passes through dozens of remote servers before it is displayed at the end user screen. The underlying tech that makes this a seamless experience is nothing short of phenomenal. For me, the best part is that it can be used by almost anyone with any degree of tech proficiency.
When I was first online, you needed a phone number written on a scrap of paper to dial into another computer; and then you could only read scientific papers or see porn gifs. Today made my heart sing because the technology worked easily.
Real life supported by technology
My wife spent the entire time in tears. That was fine because she was included in a once in a lifetime experience with her family and friends.
I spent just as much time in tears, but I still had to see to click the links to see the service.
I am so grateful for the time in which we live. I love being able to stand here at the intersection of technology and humanity. It is my firm belief that technology was created to serve human beings. I think tech’s chief task is to make life easy and to create possibilities where none existed before.
Yes, we have some work to do; especially in privacy and access, but this week, I am overwhelmed at the technological beauty of what we have created.
But mostly, I am grateful to be alive. | https://medium.com/1-one-infinity/standing-at-the-intersection-of-tech-and-humanity-11fb630898e6 | ['Michael Shook'] | 2019-06-16 21:55:01.317000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Culture', 'Death', 'Family', 'Technology'] |
1,119 | [Documentary] Men in Kilts: A Roadtrip With Sam and Graham Recap: Season 1, Episode 1 (2020) On Starz's | Streaming Men in Kilts: A Roadtrip With Sam and Graham Season 1 :: Episode 1 S1E1 ► ((Episode 1 : Full Series)) Full Episodes ●Exclusively● On TVs, Online Free TV Shows & TV Men in Kilts: A Roadtrip With Sam and Graham ➤ Let’s go to watch the latest episodes of your favourite Men in Kilts: A Roadtrip With Sam and Graham.
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⭐A Target Package is short for Target Package of Information. It is a more specialized case of Intel Package of Information or Intel Package.
✌ THE STORY ✌
Its and Jeremy Camp (K.J. Apa) is a and aspiring musician who like only to honor his God through the energy of music. Leaving his Indiana home for the warmer climate of California and a college or university education, Jeremy soon comes Bookmark this site across one Melissa Heing
(Britt Robertson), a fellow university student that he takes notices in the audience at an area concert. Bookmark this site Falling for cupid’s arrow immediately, he introduces himself to her and quickly discovers that she is drawn to him too. However, Melissa holds back from forming a budding relationship as she fears it`ll create an awkward situation between Jeremy and their mutual friend, Jean-Luc (Nathan Parson), a fellow musician and who also has feeling for Melissa. Still, Jeremy is relentless in his quest for her until they eventually end up in a loving dating relationship. However, their youthful courtship Bookmark this sitewith the other person comes to a halt when life-threating news of Melissa having cancer takes center stage. The diagnosis does nothing to deter Jeremey’s love on her behalf and the couple eventually marries shortly thereafter. Howsoever, they soon find themselves walking an excellent line between a life together and suffering by her Bookmark this siteillness; with Jeremy questioning his faith in music, himself, and with God himself.
✌ STREAMING MEDIA ✌
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a provider. The verb to stream refers to the procedure of delivering or obtaining media this way.[clarification needed] Streaming identifies the delivery approach to the medium, rather than the medium itself. Distinguishing delivery method from the media distributed applies especially to telecommunications networks, as almost all of the delivery systems are either inherently streaming (e.g. radio, television, streaming apps) or inherently non-streaming (e.g. books, video cassettes, audio tracks CDs). There are challenges with streaming content on the web. For instance, users whose Internet connection lacks sufficient bandwidth may experience stops, lags, or slow buffering of this content. And users lacking compatible hardware or software systems may be unable to stream certain content.
Streaming is an alternative to file downloading, an activity in which the end-user obtains the entire file for the content before watching or listening to it. Through streaming, an end-user may use their media player to get started on playing digital video or digital sound content before the complete file has been transmitted. The term “streaming media” can connect with media other than video and audio, such as for example live closed captioning, ticker tape, and real-time text, which are considered “streaming text”.
This brings me around to discussing us, a film release of the Christian religio us faith-based . As almost customary, Hollywood usually generates two (maybe three) films of this variety movies within their yearly theatrical release lineup, with the releases usually being around spring us and / or fall respectfully. I didn’t hear much when this movie was initially aounced (probably got buried underneath all of the popular movies news on the newsfeed). My first actual glimpse of the movie was when the film’s movie trailer premiered, which looked somewhat interesting if you ask me. Yes, it looked the movie was goa be the typical “faith-based” vibe, but it was going to be directed by the Erwin Brothers, who directed I COULD Only Imagine (a film that I did so like). Plus, the trailer for I Still Believe premiered for quite some us, so I continued seeing it most of us when I visited my local cinema. You can sort of say that it was a bit “engrained in my brain”. Thus, I was a lttle bit keen on seeing it. Fortunately, I was able to see it before the COVID-9 outbreak closed the movie theaters down (saw it during its opening night), but, because of work scheduling, I haven’t had the us to do my review for it…. as yet. And what did I think of it? Well, it was pretty “meh”. While its heart is certainly in the proper place and quite sincere, us is a little too preachy and unbalanced within its narrative execution and character developments. The religious message is plainly there, but takes way too many detours and not focusing on certain aspects that weigh the feature’s presentation.
✌ TELEVISION SHOW AND HISTORY ✌
A tv set show (often simply Television show) is any content prBookmark this siteoduced for broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, cable, or internet and typically viewed on a television set set, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are usually placed between shows. Tv shows are most often scheduled well ahead of The War with Grandpa and appearance on electronic guides or other TV listings.
A television show may also be called a tv set program (British EnBookmark this siteglish: programme), especially if it lacks a narrative structure. A tv set Movies is The War with Grandpaually released in episodes that follow a narrative, and so are The War with Grandpaually split into seasons (The War with Grandpa and Canada) or Movies (UK) — yearly or semiaual sets of new episodes. A show with a restricted number of episodes could be called a miniMBookmark this siteovies, serial, or limited Movies. A one-The War with Grandpa show may be called a “special”. A television film (“made-for-TV movie” or “televisioBookmark this siten movie”) is a film that is initially broadcast on television set rather than released in theaters or direct-to-video.
Television shows may very well be Bookmark this sitehey are broadcast in real The War with Grandpa (live), be recorded on home video or an electronic video recorder for later viewing, or be looked at on demand via a set-top box or streameBookmark this sited on the internet.
The first television set shows were experimental, sporadic broadcasts viewable only within an extremely short range from the broadcast tower starting in the. Televised events such as the 2020 Summer OlyBookmark this sitempics in Germany, the 2020 coronation of King George VI in the UK, and David Sarnoff’s famoThe War with Grandpa introduction at the 9 New York World’s Fair in the The War with Grandpa spurreBookmark this sited a rise in the medium, but World War II put a halt to development until after the war. The 2020 World Movies inspired many Americans to buy their first tv set and in 2020, the favorite radio show Texaco Star Theater made the move and became the first weekly televised variety show, earning host Milton Berle the name “Mr Television” and demonstrating that the medium was a well balanced, modern form of entertainment which could attract advertisers. The firsBookmBookmark this siteark this sitet national live tv broadcast in the The War with Grandpa took place on September 1, 2020 when President Harry Truman’s speech at the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in SAN FRAMen in Kilts: A Roadtrip With Sam and Graham CO BAY AREA was transmitted over AT&T’s transcontinental cable and microwave radio relay system to broadcast stations in local markets.
✌ FINAL THOUGHTS ✌
The power of faith, love, and affinity for take center stage in Jeremy Camp’s life story in the movie I Still Believe. Directors Andrew and Jon Erwin (the Erwin Brothers) examine the life span and The War with Grandpas of Jeremy Camp’s life story; pin-pointing his early life along with his relationship Melissa Heing because they battle hardships and their enduring love for one another through difficult. While the movie’s intent and thematic message of a person’s faith through troublen is indeed palpable plus the likeable mThe War with Grandpaical performances, the film certainly strules to look for a cinematic footing in its execution, including a sluish pace, fragmented pieces, predicable plot beats, too preachy / cheesy dialogue moments, over utilized religion overtones, and mismanagement of many of its secondary /supporting characters. If you ask me, this movie was somewhere between okay and “meh”. It had been definitely a Christian faith-based movie endeavor Bookmark this web site (from begin to finish) and definitely had its moments, nonetheless it failed to resonate with me; struling to locate a proper balance in its undertaking. Personally, regardless of the story, it could’ve been better. My recommendation for this movie is an “iffy choice” at best as some should (nothing wrong with that), while others will not and dismiss it altogether. Whatever your stance on religion faith-based flicks, stands as more of a cautionary tale of sorts; demonstrating how a poignant and heartfelt story of real-life drama could be problematic when translating it to a cinematic endeavor. For me personally, I believe in Jeremy Camp’s story / message, but not so much the feature.
FIND US:
✔️ https://www.ontvsflix.com/tv/104712-1-1/men-in-kilts-a-roadtrip-with-sam-and-graham.html
✔️ Instagram: https://instagram.com
✔️ Twitter: https://twitter.com
✔️ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com | https://medium.com/@awuj-e-ro/documentary-men-in-kilts-a-roadtrip-with-sam-and-graham-recap-season1-episode-1-2020-on-9c321b61ab3f | ['Awuj E Ro'] | 2020-12-24 04:13:48.916000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'Covid 19', 'Technology', 'Life'] |
1,120 | Simple Malicious Doc Analyst | Hi,
In October, we have received a strange file. This file is zipped with passwords. When we decompress file, TrendMicro engines is triggered and alerts that this is a strange file.
So I tried to inspect this file. First information:
File name: DAT 6021.doc SHA256 : FBA41FDD9A1E8B12844D2ED37A39199DBBC262040AF00488032CA8DD37D99AF8 SHA1:783A12021EB09E34B5E8C5670D9C3F475B420CA8
I tried to analyze with Virustotal and 38/64 engines detected this file as malicious.
I opened this document with OpenOffice. As show in this picture, it required users to enable macro to view the file content.
Digging deeper this file with oletool (oledump,olevba) by Mr. Didier Stevens.
So, 3 module macro were using on this malicious file
More analysis with Olevba, we got some evidence like :
This file is automatically executed when the file is opened
Showwindow is hidden,
VBA code is obfuscated.
CreateObject and Create
I tried to use option “— reveal” of olevba and exported to txt file.
The VBA string code is obfuscated. Then we more analyzed it further with Word VBA. | https://medium.com/mti-technology/simple-malicious-doc-analyst-8f9f956b24de | ['Christ Young'] | 2020-12-21 03:21:05.969000+00:00 | ['Mti', 'Malware Analysis', 'Technology', 'Macro'] |
1,121 | Synthetic Content | We have entered the age of fake news and deepfakes. It is more problematic than ever to find a useful piece of information among millions of websites with irrelevant or simply wrong content. How bad can it get and are there any upsides?
This dog doesn’t exist
Fake News vs Synthetic Content
As an AI entrepreneur and a scientist I follow machine learning research on a daily basis. With the recent outcry about fake news and deepfakes, I wanted to test what is really possible if you were to generate an entire website with every piece of content on it by artificial intelligence. The whole process, which I describe below, let me arrive at a concept of a synthetic content, a content which is made purely through AI and machine-generation.
First of all, not every synthetic content is a fake news and vice versa. Secondly, it is almost impossible to determine whether a given piece of content is synthetic, especially if it was generated in a narrow knowledge domain. Hence a basic criterion for evaluating a piece of content should be its quality and whether it’s true or not.
If you think about it, a synthetic content is not necessarily bad. Imagine synthetic research, new science discoveries made by machines, which would only enrich our civilisation and boost our growth. This is the good side and this should be a true goal of building complex AI systems.
The bad side is, you can synthetically create fake news, misinformation or spam, on the scale never seen before. And this is what this article is about. We are currently still before the discovery of machine learning 2.0, that is machine learning combined with logical reasoning, which would allow us to boost our scientific understanding via AI-research or AI-research assistants. However I believe that we are now able to create new pieces of content, regardless whether true or false, on a massive scale in a form indistinguishable to human eyes.
To test this hypothesis I have decided to use state-of-the-art text and vision machine learning models to create two websites in popular subjects purely automatically. No content was to be added by me or other humans, everything must come from AI, even the website itself on every single level.
I have chosen to create two separate websites: one about a healthy lifestyle and the other about money, which according to different statistics were among the most popular topics searched on the Internet.
1. WallStreetHack.com
This website was to be about money — earning, saving, insuring, taking a loan. From advice on how to get rich to texts about best loans and mortgage, written by experts in their fields (who don’t exist). Among most googled keywords and highest paid ads are ‘loan’, ‘mortgage’, ‘insurance’, so this choice was obvious.
2. PerfectLifeHack.com
A large part of the Internet is about selling goods, especially those related to being fit and healthy. Beauty products advertised by celebrities, lotions for quick weight loss, powders for growing your muscles, you name it. Skilled affiliate marketers earn millions of dollars through well-played campaigns and ad management. So a website with beauty, health and fitness advice seemed like another obvious choice.
Automating content production
After deciding on what sites I want to create, the rest was about setting a machine to deliver the content I want. The challenge was to make it automatic on every single level. So after I bought those two domains and installed Wordpress manually (but with a little effort that can be automated too), the rest was automated and written in Python. Roughly it consists of four component:
Scraping and organizing most googled questions in topics I have chosen. Generating a short text based on a question from the scraped database. Generating an image accompanying the generated short text. Putting it all together and posting it on Wordpress.
Long story short, technical details aside — the project succeed! You can see the results on those two websites: WallStreetHack.com and PerfectLifeHack.com. And while you skim through those sites, remember that none of this content was written by human, none of the people, animals or vegetables depicted on images exists in the real world. It is all artificial, generated by AI. Judge the results for yourself. Disclaimer: I don’t take any responsibility for advices found on those websites. Please don’t follow them and find another source of information.
In the end what I got was a perpetuum mobile — a machine for continuous content creation on any topic I want, which needs no further supervising. In other words, a flood of content coming in quantities only limited by computing power. With limited power I gave to it, creating a single blog post with relevant pictures and posting it on a website took up to a couple of minutes. With simpler models I’ve tested, and lower quality of text/images, the same process took less than a second. If you were to put the whole machine on a cloud powerful enough, you would be able to create hundreds of new genuine websites with unique human-level content every single hour. That means millions of articles per day if you perform computations in parallel.
Depending on your point of view that’s either fascinating or terrifying. It’s fascinating if you believe that shows how much progress we made and how much more there is to come. It’s terrifying if you are scared about potential malicious use of those algorithms to produce smart spam on enormous scale. For those reasons I have decided not to share what kind of models I have used. Although if you are a researcher in machine learning, you shouldn’t have a problem figuring them out or building similar ones. With time this knowledge will become more widespread and thus we should prepare for the world with synthetic content available on a massive scale. Let us ensure that it will be of good quality and fun to read.
Summing up, if you’d like to discern synthetic content from human-created content, I have bad news. It might not be possible at all. Synthetic content passed the point of distinguishability from human work, and there’s no reason to believe that we would be able to tell a difference between the two. On the other it doesn’t really matter, because what is important is whether a given piece of content brings any value to humanity, whether there’s an original thought or point of view in it. And to this goal AI will provide us with more valuable content, showing novel perspectives and compilations of ideas.
This is the future that is already here. | https://medium.com/swlh/synthetic-content-9cf5838d8e80 | ['Przemek Chojecki'] | 2019-07-05 14:13:35.038000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Technology', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Fake News', 'Content Creation'] |
1,122 | Should You Stop Using .forEach() in Your JavaScript Code? | Introduction
Coming from a PHP background, when I first saw people utilizing .forEach() method to walk through their arrays, my nooby self thought nothing of it — it’s the same exact implementation of a standard for loop, I told myself. After writing some JavaScript code, I quickly realized that the two had their differences.
In this article, I want to outline the differences behind the standard for loop and .forEach() method as well as comment on some of the benefits that each brings to the table. | https://medium.com/better-programming/should-you-stop-using-foreach-in-your-javascript-code-efe1e86c78e5 | ['Joey Colon'] | 2020-04-20 16:14:14.841000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Programming', 'JavaScript', 'Software Development', 'Web Development'] |
1,123 | Using TypeScript — Never and Unknown Types, Removing null from Unions | Photo by timJ on Unsplash
TypeScript is a natural extension of JavaScript that’s used in many projects in place of JavaScript.
However, not everyone knows how it actually works.
In this article, we’ll look at the use of the never type, unknown type, and removing null from a union.
Never Type
TypeScript provides us with the never type for situations where the type guard has dealt with all the possible types for a value.
Once all the possible types have been handled then the compiler will only allow a value to be assigned to the never type.
For instance, if we have a switch statement:
const getTax = (price: number, format: boolean): string | number => {
if (typeof price !== "number") {
return 0;
} if (format) {
return (price * 0.2).toFixed(2) as string;
}
return (price * 0.2) as number;
}; let tax = getTax(100, false);
switch (typeof tax) {
case "number":
console.log(`Number: ${tax.toFixed(2)}`);
break;
case "string":
console.log(tax);
break;
default:
let value: never = tax;
console.log(`Unexpected type for value: ${value}`);
}
Then we assign the value for the default case to a variable with a never type since we handled the string and number in the previous cases.
Using the unknown Type
The unknown type is a safer alternative to any .
It indicates that we don’t know the type of the value.
We can assign things to an unknown type.
For instance, we can write:
let tax: unknown = getTax(100, false);
tax can’t be assigned to a variable of another type without a type assertion.
Nullable Types
null and undefined types aren’t in the TypeScript type system.
However, we can create nullable versions of variables by using nullable types.
For instance, we can write:
const getTax = (price: number, format: boolean): string | number | null => {
if (typeof price !== "number") {
return null;
} if (format) {
return (price * 0.2).toFixed(2) as string;
}
return (price * 0.2) as number;
};
Now we can return null in addition to number or string .
For parameter, we can write:
const getTax = (price?: number, format: boolean): string | number | null => {
if (typeof price !== "number") {
return null;
} if (format) {
return (price * 0.2).toFixed(2) as string;
}
return (price * 0.2) as number;
};
We put a ? beside the parameter name so that we indicate that it might be null or undefined .
Restricting Nullable Assignments
We can restrict the use of null or undefined by enabling the strictNullChecks compiler setting.
If we set it to true , then we can’t assign null to something that’s not the type of variable that has other data types specified.
If we have that on, then we’ll get ‘Type ‘null’ is not assignable to type ‘string | number’.ts(2322)’.
So we’ve to add null to the type union as we have before.
Removing null from a Union
We can remove null from a union type with a non-null assertion.
For instance, if we write:
let tax: string | number = getTax(100, false)!;
Then we make sure that we don’t have null returned and assigned to tax .
We can also remove null s with type guards.
For instance, we can write:
if (tax !== null) {
//..
}
to do null checks before proceeding.
Photo by Joseph Gonzalez on Unsplash
Definite Assignment Assertion
If strictNullChecks option is enabled, the compiler will report an error if a variable is used before being assigned a value.
For instance, we can add null to the union type of the tax variable, and then assert it later.
We write:
let tax: string | number | null = getTax(100, false);
Then we can narrow it to the type we want in other statements with as or brackets.
Conclusion
The never type is used when we handled all the other types in our conditional statements.
unknown is a safer alternative to any . Variables of unknown type can’t be assigned to other variables.
There are various ways to remove a type from a union.
JavaScript In Plain English
Enjoyed this article? If so, get more similar content by subscribing to our YouTube channel! | https://medium.com/javascript-in-plain-english/using-typescript-never-and-unknown-types-removing-null-from-unions-81aa77842725 | ['John Au-Yeung'] | 2020-06-14 17:10:01.032000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'Web Development', 'Software Development', 'Technology', 'Programming'] |
1,124 | How bad data is weakening the study of big data | Gify
In a 2013 New York Times post, 2012 is the Big Data breakout year. The big data promise was appealing, digital web data too large for conventional data processing was collected, new software innovations were applied for mining, and infinite problems could be solved. Big data has a record of progress since 2012. Since then. By 2017 Gartner Research reported a failure rate of nearly 85% in large data projects. Another 2018 Gartner study found that 91 percent were not transformational market intelligence levels from the 196 firms interviewed for big data and analysis.
Big Data
A major problem facing many Big Data is that it is unstructured, often incomplete, and of poor quality. It is difficult to find evidence that demonstrates what it is meant by the proliferation of choices. Success can be deriving from fresh clean, privacy-friendliness, accuracy and direct customer responses sources of specific quality data.
While many were grappling with the Big Data Revolution, an ancient assertion was ignored: GIGO, waste in waste. It seemed that quality was not so important as quantity with all new technological resources for collecting, processing and analyzing the ever rising volume of digital data.
Today, the volume of data is high. In the last 2 years, it is estimated that 90% of the worldwide data has been produced. Data science and machine learning disciplines in worldwide business analysis are driven by exponential data development. Although mathematics is the only basis for each aspect and discipline that corresponds with data science, statistics and probability are both applicable sciences. In particular Big Data Applications, each of these “hard-science” will find digital data of highest value.
Don’t become a Data Scientist | Prerequisite for Data Science: It’s Not What You Think It Is💯🔥🔥
For example, a number of popular Big Data AI applications prefer applications relying on device data to predict processes governed by specified standards. Self-correcting, face recognition, chat bots, optical character recognition, medical diagnosis assistance and robotic applications, such as e-mail spam filtering. Each of these applications analyzes objects or images inanimately.
More possibly, the use of an anonymous survey method in the direct questioning of people would allow people to better understand and interpret human behavior. If the data is representative, it becomes more factual and not more likely to be invalid in the context of observed/monitor clicks because it comes “straight from the mouth of the horse.”
Real Talk with Data Scientist
We have completed one of the most painful years in history. A year in which Covid 19 and the consumer’s reaction disrupted all markets. There are also numerous predictive models that have been created by analyzing and predicting history data.
However, performance has fallen behind in respect of big data IA for humans and their actions, behaviors and ambitions, many guided by unconscious pulses that cannot be calculated by random digital clicks. The majority of businesses often strive to find broad data value by mining and analysing consumer and customer data transactions.
For starters, transaction details cannot identify why a consumer has purchased or whether it is a gift to someone. Customer data files contain incorrect details from individuals who travel, die, are married, separated or changed e-mail addresses and are replaced by incomplete, duplicate or mispelled data files.
The sectors of marketing/advertising and investment/hedge funds are two examples of how big data is not analogous to real-world customer behaviours.
Data Science Project’s
Digital ad spending currently constitutes the largest advertising sector in the United States for marketers/advertisers. Despite this haste for marketers to concentrate on digitally, advertisers’ highly profile lawsuits have covered the precision and effectiveness of automated targeting models. Also, numerous research studies have established the shortcomings of the ad targeting model Big Data. A 2018 research paper in Marketing Science Frontiers detailed how online browsing targeting models created and sold by Data Brokers and DMP’s are not only inaccurate but also unprecise.
When additional parameters are applied, reliability gets worse. Dr. Augustine Fou’s latest Forbes article points out that these models are poor because they are all derived from data obtained from behind-the-scene data without users’ awareness or approval. Moreover, there are plenty of these bot data sets.
Big Data
Also under the AKA of Alternative Dates, the investment community in particular hedge funds, was keen to embrace big data. Alternative data is distinct from conventional Wall Street data such as business financial statements or SEC notices. Credit card, social networking, satellite imagery, web browse etc can be used to provide alternative data.
The most successful and first firm to employ Alternative Data is a hedge Fund named Renaissance Technologies founded by Jim Simons. The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched a Quant Revolution is a book that describes how for the past 30 years Renaissance has delivered a 39% return to investors.
Privacy laws such as GDPR and MFID II have affected alternative data sources and consumers of Hedge Fund have many of the same issues that advertisers currently face with their data collection. Hedge funds risk: Threats for:
Risks of data origin. Can the data be collected from the originator of the information according to the relevant conditions? Scraping data-related websites can violate e-commerce data terms. Risks in terms of accuracy/validity. It is difficult to verify the accuracy of the data set and can lead to more unverifiable conclusions about the data. Risks to privacy. Users must be careful how the data is produced. Can the privacy regulation be breached by individual web purchases or by user browsing behaviour?
Bloomberg recently reported that models and returns to Renaissance technologies for their three main funds by October 2020 decreased from –20% to –27%. Some experts suggest that “sources” depend on models that do not represent the present climate. Historical data trains the models. Poor data again, bad data. Bad data again.
What to do. In order for data sets to be used as an input, data scientists first must consider the reliable, true representative and privacy enforcement. Bad data can hardly be accurately analyzed. Also agree that not all data is the same. Human beings are more than just a single click, and consumer data sources need to expand the distance between digital and consumers’ realities beyond surveillance techniques.
Unplash
If data consistency and validity are a task, the results should improve. It follows. Data scientists can move beyond the 85 percent failure rate for large data projects by paying more attention to accuracy, consistency and validity of the data at the beginning of ML projects.
Note: I am not a data scientist, but a data contractor who built several hundred customer data sets, helping to allow predictive analytics over the last three years. These data contributions have contributed over $1 billion in sales to some of the biggest and most recognized brands worldwide. My aim is to focus on the use of accurate and real-world quality data inputs, particularly in human behaviours. When a Big Data Project begins.
Prosper worked together with AWS to make their data accessible through AWS DataExchange to see how a quality and reliable data set can be applied to target marketing models and time series prediction. A number of US indications, leading indicators, predictive analytics and advanced models of marketing compliant with privacy for the US and China are included in the data:
My advice to you is to be open-minded and think outside of the box while you are looking for a career in data science. It will give you a competitive edge in your career in data science.
Bio: Shaik Sameeruddin I help businesses drive growth using Analytics & Data Science | Public speaker | Uplifting students in the field of tech and personal growth | Pursuing b-tech 3rd year in Computer Science and Engineering(Specialisation in Data Analytics) from “VELLORE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY(V.I.T)”
Career Guide and roadmap for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence &and National & International Internship’s, please refer :
More articles for your data science journey: | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/how-bad-data-is-weakening-the-study-of-big-data-9e4f23ab88d1 | ['Shaik Sameeruddin'] | 2020-12-28 16:39:00.380000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Big Data', 'Data Science', 'Machine Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence'] |
1,125 | How I landed my first internship at a San Francisco startup | As a college sophomore who had recently declared a computer science major, I knew that I wanted to find a summer internship, but had no clue where to start. In the past, I’d held jobs over the summer and developed some skills with web development and SEO, but I had only taken a few CS courses and didn’t know if I had the technical skills to land a software engineering internship. For the first couple of months, I did what many people do. I applied to as many internships as I could find. I waited around, got denied by some places, and got ghosted by others.
I knew that I didn’t have much experience, so what could I expect? When applying to these internships, I felt like I was putting my application into a black hole and was unsure as to if anyone even saw my resume.
What I decided to do next may come as a surprise: I looked for internships on Craigslist. I wanted to find a way to get my application seen by someone and knew that applying to job postings on Glassdoor, LinkedIn, and Indeed wasn’t working for me. I wanted to put myself into a smaller pool of applicants where I wouldn’t be competing with hundreds of others for a role.
While applying for internships on Craigslist, I would always follow the instructions in the job listing to a tee. This was important. Often, we are drawn to taking the easy way out, but showing that you’ve put effort into your application goes a long way.
I soon found a listing for a business development internship at a conversational AI startup called Augment CXM. In this role, I would be able to leverage my web development and SEO skills while learning more about business. I made it clear early in the interview process that I was also interested in data science and was ultimately able to work on some really cool data science projects as well.
Below are some key insights that I gained during my first internship search that I’d like to leave you with: | https://medium.com/dev-genius/how-i-landed-my-first-internship-at-a-san-francisco-startup-aaa70497e1e4 | ['David Peletz'] | 2020-06-14 19:48:33.142000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Software Development', 'Startup', 'Job Search', 'Internships'] |
1,126 | 16 Mind-Blowing Facts About Pakistan You Never Knew! | Like everything else, we as Pakistanis have become too negative about our country. We never try to see the positive side of anything, because ‘THEY’ don’t want us to know it, I mean why would they? Our land is so rich of of everything that anyone can fall in love with it and that’s the last thing any ‘Invisible hand’ would want.
These are some of the facts about Pakistan that will blow your mind and will make you realize that we’re in a bad condition because of ourselves. Our country has everything that it needs, to be called the best country in the world!
1. Fourth Largest Broadband Internet System Of The World Is In Pakistan
2. Pakistan’s Literacy Rate Has Grown By 250% In The Last Five Years
It is the largest increase any country has experienced to date.
3. Pakistan Is The First Islamic Country To Attain The Nuclear Power
4. Babar Iqbal From Pakistan Is Not Just The Youngest Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP)
He is also the Youngest Certified Wireless Network Administrator (CWNA) and Certified Web Professional Associate (CIWA) in the world.
5. Pakistan Has The Sixth Largest Military Force In The World
6. Pakistan’s National Anthem Tune Ranks First In The Top Three Tunes Of The World!
7. World’s Largest Deep Sea Port Is In Pakistan (Gwadar)
8. About 50% Of The World’s Footballs Are Made In Pakistan
9. Pakistan Is Notable For Having One Of The Best Trained Air-Force Pilots In The World!
10. Worlds Largest Man Made Forest Is In Pakistan (Changa Manga)
11. First PC Virus Was Created By Two Pakistani Brothers | https://medium.com/@muhammadabdullahkhan2002/22-mind-blowing-facts-about-pakistan-you-never-knew-6aa5696f6390 | ['Muhammad Abdullah'] | 2019-10-09 12:49:28.692000+00:00 | ['1 Million', 'Technology', 'Facts', 'Trending', 'Pakistan'] |
1,127 | How to Launch a Tech Startup in 2020 | But why is this happening? Why do some ideas work while others don’t? CBInsights conducted a study and found out what are the most common causes of failure among startups. The three leaders included the lack of demand in the market, lack of money, and the wrong choice of a team.
The results of the study make it clear that the idea is not everything for a successful business, and to achieve results, you need to make a lot of additional effort.
So how to launch your startup
Most articles on this subject contain voluminous paragraphs with tips on how to develop your brand, hire a sales team, start social networks, and so on. That’s right, but several other crucial stages precede these. Remember the main reason for startup failure? Lack of market demand. Therefore, the first stage depends only on you — test your idea.
Unfortunately, the idea is worthless if it doesn’t benefit people. The fundamental rule for creating any new product is to answer the question of what problem it solves. You must clearly understand who will use your product, how it will be helpful, how it will improve someone’s life. Otherwise, no one will pay for it just because it’s an interesting idea. Ask yourself as many questions as possible regarding the future product:
What problem do you solve?
Who are your future users?
Who are your competitors?
What market are you going to work on?
What result do you expect after launching your product?
After that, do market research to find out the main trends and determine if your startup will fit into the system. You can even ask representatives of your target audience if they would be interested in the product. Want to develop a retail app? Ask sellers about their challenges and offer your idea.
“If you’re competitor focused, you have to wait until there is a competitor doing something. Being customer focused allows you to be more pioneering.” — Jeff Bezos, American entrepreneur, founder of Amazon.com
You shouldn’t create a product solely for yourself, relying on your opinion if you want to sell it to other people. Tech startups always bring something new but try to turn your idea into an understandable, simple product that people will gladly use. | https://medium.com/ideasoft-io/how-to-launch-a-tech-startup-in-2020-c36895b7fc64 | [] | 2020-09-04 09:17:50.032000+00:00 | ['Startup Lessons', 'Software Development', 'Tech Startups', 'Startup', 'Technology'] |
1,128 | Following Through | Following Through
We’ve all got half-finished projects in our Github, here’s how to make sure your next project doesn’t become one of them
Photo by Niyas Khan on Unsplash
In my last two posts (which you can access here and here) I talked about some of the steps I took to execute a project.
In the first, I discussed how to “chase down” a project idea. Particularly I emphasized that project ideas don’t just come to you fully formed all at once. Or at least, that happening is extremely rare and shouldn’t be relied upon. There are a few routes, such as focusing on skills you want to acquire or domains you want to work in, that can help you zoom in on what you want. Also, in my case, just thinking about a tool you wish existed.
In my second post, I talked about the first steps to take to make that project a reality. In essence, you need a general direction and concrete steps to take, while at the same time being flexible in the event something goes wrong. Starting projects is a balancing act, you have to have direction but be flexible, you should research but also dive into coding as soon as you can.
Now, while each of those steps are difficult in themselves, I would argue this last step can be the most difficult of all: completing the project.
The beginning of a new project is always exciting. You’ve got these new ideas, either the final product feels straightforward, or the initial steps feel pretty straightforward. All you need to do is figure out how to do these three things and then you’ll have a shiny new project. Then you start working.
Get Creative
I liked to joke that for every actual step I took, I had five more issues I had to solve. This is not a unique experience. In fact, I’d venture to say anyone that’s ever done any kind of creative project has this experience to some extent. The fact is, maybe you’ve looked at some tutorials, but, if your project is any good, no one is giving you exact directions on what to do. This means you might go in one direction, but then realize you actually cannot go down that path because something takes too much processing power, or it’s just not feasible. Again, this is where that flexibility I talked about in my last post comes into play. You cannot complete a project with the mindset that there is only one possible way to do something and that you must complete something by executing these specific steps in this specific order. Solving problems requires creativity, not rigidity. Of course, being able to solve problems is a valuable skill unto itself, but it’s particularly vital to learn and get comfortable with problem solving while completing projects. The reason it’s so vital is that the more you get stuck on a problem, the higher the probability you’ll never actually complete that project. However, this creativity and imagination can be a double edged sword, which leads me to my next point
Eyes on the Prize
You start working on one step, then you think, “oh but wouldn’t it be cool if I enhanced this feature in all these ways too?” Then you spend even more time on this side quest, which then leads to another side quest, and then you realize you’ve spent a lot of time on things that you might have to completely scrap depending on the rest of the project. Or maybe, it’s not even that, but it’s, “well I got this thing to work this one way, but I’m sure I can find a better way to do it.” Again, you spend a lot of time obsessing over one thing, then realize later on you might have to completely rework stuff and scrap most of your work. If you end up doing this a lot, you’re going to get demoralized and that project is just going to become another abandoned repo. Additionally, it’s just not a good use of your time. This is why it’s important to keep your eyes on the prize. The first thing you want is something that works. Then you can make it something that looks good and is efficient. As much as it’s good to be a tenacious problem solver, it’s also good to be the person who knows when to move on and come back later. Even if something isn’t perfect, it’s ok! Chances are, by the time you come back to it, you’ll have enough experience to fix it or might not even need that specific feature or function. Remember, a good project is a done project. All of this said, it can be hard to stay motivated to solve these problems and move forward. That’s why I would argue this last point can be the most valuable
Collaborate
It can be hard to stay motivated to follow through. When you get stuck in the weeds with ten different bugs, it’s easy to just give up. By now, you’ve probably come up with a better project idea that’s all shiny and new. When you’re working alone, it’s incredibly easy to abandon ship. However, it’s much more difficult to do so when you team up with another person. While your collaborator (or collaborators!) can certainly be in the same field or have similar skills, I would argue it’s better to work with someone with completely different skills. In my case, my partner is a software engineer. While I knew how to put together the code that takes in a pattern and spits out a search url, I didn’t know how to build a website where someone could actually use that. She, on the other hand, knows how to build web apps, and make them so anyone can use them. In this way, we already have a clear division of labor, since it’s just divided by our complementary skill sets. Also working with someone provides you with accountability. It’s harder to abandon a project because you have to explain to someone, or multiple people, why you’ve decided you don’t want to do this project anymore. Even if you have the most understanding, chillest project collaborator, taking that step can be a huge deterrent from actually quitting.
These were three major factors that helped me take a project idea of creating a program to generate similar knitting patterns and turn it into a final product, which you can look at down below! I’m sure there are plenty of other tools people have used, and there’s probably plenty I’ll learn too. | https://towardsdatascience.com/following-through-7a7bb6ec021f | ['Kate Christensen'] | 2020-06-08 14:34:19.046000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Development', 'Technology', 'Computer Science', 'Software Development'] |
1,129 | #FigmaTip Roundup 10.0 | We have a special edition of the #FigmaTip Roundup for you this week folks. On Monday, Kiwi web designer Charli Marie released a YouTube review of Figma, which included a roundup of her favorite details in our web-based, collaborative design tool. She wound up inadvertently teaching a few Figma staffers things we didn’t know— like the fact our layers panel cleans itself up automatically.
Since we learned from Charli, we thought you might too. Without further ado, here’s Figma Tips 10.0, studded with quotes from Ms. Marie herself. (Watch her full, original video here and help fund her future videos by contributing to her Patreon here.)
P.S. We never pay for reviews of Figma, and Charli released this video without any Figma support.
Move layers with the shortcut Command + [
In Figma, shortcut keys appear on menus as reminders (screenshot courtesy of Charli Marie)
“In Sketch I was always having to find the layer I wanted and shift it up in the layers panel because I could never remember the shortcut for moving them forward and backward. I love that in Figma it’s the same as in Photoshop — command and a bracket. It’s a super easy shortcut to press, and it makes it really fast to rearrange layers as you’re designing something. I also like that in their menus they show what the shortkey is in case you’ve forgotten.” — Charli Marie
Helpful link: Shortcuts in Figma
Figma groups will auto-delete when empty
Charli’s video shows Figma groups disappearing automatically when she removes all elements
“If you delete all the elements from within a group in Figma, the group itself will disappear, because obviously it’s not a group anymore if there’s nothing in it. It’s a really small thing, but I would find that my Sketch files would get quite messy with lots of groups where I’d moved elements from them but the groups still existed.” — Charli Marie
Copy individual properties to another shape
Charli’s video shows how you can copy/paste a singular property between objects in Figma
“In Sketch you can copy the properties of a shape or object and paste it onto a new one, but when you do that you’re copying all of the properties onto the new shape. In Figma, you can copy all the properties if you want to, but you could also just copy just the fill or the font or the stroke. It means if you got something right in one place, it’s super easy just to apply it to other things.” — Charli Marie
Easily manipulate images using fill settings instead of masks
Charli demonstrates the fill settings in Figma
“In Figma when you drop an image in it actually makes it a rectangle with an image as the fill. So if you want to crop or tile it, you come into the fill settings and make your changes there. That was a little confusing at first, but it’s actually really handy. I’d find in Sketch a lot of the time I’d make a whole bunch of masks to get my image to be the right size. It’s much easier to do that if the image is already — when you put it in — a fill of a shape.” — Charli Marie
Use Figma’s vector networks instead of Illustrator to make complex shapes
“Figma handles vectors in a completely different way to what I’ve seen before — they use what they call vector networks. In usual vector programs a point can really only have two connections to it, but in Figma you can have multiple and it means you can create complex shapes. It just takes a little getting used to, but so far I’ve found that I can do most things I need to do in Figma without needing to open Illustrator.” — Charli Marie | https://medium.com/figma-design/figmatip-roundup-10-0-ebc2b4779296 | ['Carmel Deamicis'] | 2018-08-22 17:03:50.250000+00:00 | ['UX', 'UI', 'Design', 'Technology'] |
1,130 | Starship: SpaceX’s Eighteen-Wheeler to Space | Starship: SpaceX’s Eighteen-Wheeler to Space
SpaceX Starship at Starbase, Texas. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Starship_SN9_Launch_Pad.jpg. Author: Jared Krahn, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
The eyes of the world are on Boca Chica, and my eyes are included. In fact, I can’t take my eyes off of NASASpaceflight’s YouTube videos. I’m watching videos of a construction site. A construction site! That’s because it’s the most incredible construction site in the world. It’s where SpaceX is building spaceships! And my eyes are glued because SpaceX’s spaceship, Elon Musk’s dream, Starship, is going to change humanity forever.
I’m not exaggerating for clicks. I mean that Starship will change humanity forever. This is because Starship will be the first rocket that will enable humanity to take to space at a large scale. Elon Musk and SpaceX want to make humanity a multiplanetary species, and they plan to build a million-person city on Mars. That means that soon, you may be able to buy yourself a ticket and fly. It means that spaceflight is going to take off in ways that have yet to be imagined.
On the launch pad, Starship has a retro vibe. She’s shiny, as she’s made of stainless steel. With her fins, she looks like she came out of a Buck Rogers comic book. But Starship isn’t just a figment from the mind of a 1950’s science fiction author. Starship is real, and on the verge of making her first trip to space. SpaceX designed Starship to be reusable like an airliner. She’s planned to be capable of refueling in orbit and on Mars from local resources, giving her incredibly long legs. And she’s designed to be economical enough that ordinary people could afford to go to space.
Size
Starship is a monster and will be the most powerful launch vehicle in the world. When stacked, Starship and Superheavy are taller than the Saturn V, and her engines give her twice the thrust.
She comes in two parts: Starship and Superheavy (both the second stage and the complete rocket stack are named Starship.) Superheavy is the first stage, equipped with 33 Raptor engines to lift her off the pad and lob the second stage, Starship, out of the atmosphere. Then Starship lights her six Raptors and completes the trip to Earth orbit. She’s estimated to be capable of putting 150 tons of payload into orbit (source: Elon Musk, Twitter), while still being capable of reentry, landing, and reuse afterwards.
One of the reasons why NASA selected SpaceX to build HLS to bring astronauts to the moon is because its sheer size gives it capabilities that until now, NASA could only dream about. They asked for a subcompact to bring a pair of astronauts to the Moon, and SpaceX offered them a semi. HLS dwarfs the National Team’s and Dynetic’s offerings and enables Artemis astronauts to bring tons of cargo with them, such as habitats, rovers, and other gear.
Starship is big enough to bring dozens of settlers to Mars. She could perform Earth-to-Earth suborbital flights carrying hundreds of passengers. She could be left in orbit to be converted into a space station that’s bigger than the International Space Station. Or she could become an office-building-sized Moon or Mars base.
Engines
Raptor speaks! Source: Elon Musk, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Raptor-test-9-25-2016.jpg. Image is in the public domain.
To power such a beast of a rocket, SpaceX needs incredibly powerful engines, and they have built them. Raptor is the product of over a decade of development and has become the most technologically advanced rocket engine ever built.
The first thing that aerospace engineers will note about the Raptor is the words “full-flow staged combustion,” and those words make them drool. This design puts the fuel and oxygen through a pair of preburners that burn some of the propellants to spin the turbopumps that bring fuel into the engine. Compared to earlier gas-generator designs (that waste quite a bit of propellant), the full-flow staged-combustion design is far more efficient, can generate tremendous power, while being dependable enough for reuse. Admittedly, this design is complex, but SpaceX seems to have attacked this challenge head-on and won. For the curious, Tim Dodd explains Raptor and full-flow staged combustion in detail.
Raptor uses a fuel that’s new to spaceflight, liquid methane. In other words, it’s refined natural gas. This fuel solves a lot of problems for SpaceX. First, it’s relatively cheap, especially when compared with the Space Shuttle’s fuel, liquid hydrogen. Methane is much easier to work with than hydrogen, which needs to be kept extremely cold, requires gigantic tanks because of its low density, tends to leak, and is highly explosive. While methane also has its hazards, it’s not nearly as difficult to handle as hydrogen, and can be handled with equipment that’s similar to that used with its oxidizer, liquid oxygen. It doesn’t have the propensity to leak like hydrogen or cause problems like hydrogen embrittlement, and it’s denser, meaning a lighter, smaller fuel tank can be used.
Methane also is nice because it burns cleanly, which makes full-flow staged combustion possible, unlike RP-1 (refined kerosene.) It also has a higher specific impulse (ISP) than RP-1, meaning it burns with more energy for its mass, giving Starship “great gas mileage.”
In-orbit and Martian Refueling
With the fuel it brings off the launch pad, Starship is capable of getting about 150 tons to low Earth orbit (LEO). Normally, this would make Starship almost as limited as the Shuttle, which was limited to LEO. However, Starship is capable of being refueled in orbit by another Starship, purpose-built as a tanker.
This is one of the key technologies that make Starship a far more capable spacecraft than its predecessors. Eight tanker refueling flights for an orbiting Starship can fully fill its tanks. Imagine a fully-fueled Starship, already in orbit, pressing the reset button on Tsiolkovsky’s rocket equation. This is what gives Starship the ability to carry large payloads to the Moon and Mars. It is what turns this spacecraft into a true deep space vessel. A Starship can take settlers and supplies to Mars, mine asteroids, or send space probes out of the Solar System.
Even better, Starship’s propellants, liquid methane and liquid oxygen, can be made on Mars from water and carbon dioxide found there using the Sabatier process. This solves one of the show-stopping problems with crewed Mars missions; how do the astronauts get back to Earth? With Starship, an expedition can go to Mars with a dozen people, plenty of supplies, and once they arrive, they can make the fuel to come home.
Reusability That Works
The Space Shuttle was the first, but it didn’t exactly fulfill the promise of reusability. The Shuttle was insanely expensive, needed enormous amounts of repair and refurbishment between flights, was only barely reusable, and was downright dangerous. But the Shuttle served for three decades, built the International Space Station, and launched so many other things like the Hubble Space Telescope. The Shuttle will always have a place in my heart, but when it comes to reusability, we can do so much better.
Fortunately, SpaceX is already the first company to make rocket reusability economical. They’re recovering and reusing Falcon 9 first stages and Dragon capsules, saving them millions of dollars. They’re doing it while maintaining a grueling launch cadence to serve commercial and government customers, and to launch thousands of Starlink satellites.
Starship is SpaceX’s second reusable launch vehicle, after Falcon 9. The first stage, Superheavy, will fly similarly to Falcon 9’s first stage. After separating from Starship, it turns around, boosts back, and uses its Raptors and grid fins to land at the launch site. But to save weight, rather than using landing legs, SpaceX is going to catch the booster using “Chopstick” arms on the launch and integration tower.
The second stage, Starship, continues to orbit using a combination of sea-level and vacuum Raptor engines. At the end of her flight, Starship reenters the atmosphere belly first, using its hexagonal heat-shield tiles to survive the plasma and heat of reentry. Her tiles are made of ceramic and are similar to the Shuttle’s. Also, Starship’s skin is made of stainless steel, which is very resilient to high temperatures.
In the stratosphere, Starship has already demonstrated the “Bellyflop”, where she uses her fins to control her descent, much like a skydiver. At the very end, Starship fires up her Raptors, swings to a vertical orientation, and comes to a gentle landing. Musk said he also plans to catch Starships with the “chopsticks” on the tower in the same way as they’d catch Superheavy.
SpaceX intends to make Starship work like an airliner. Elon Musk wants Starship to fly multiple times every day, with less than an hour of turnaround time between flights. In other words, Starship is to be a workhorse like a Boeing 737. This is because Elon Musk understands what needs to be done to bring costs down and make spaceflight economical.
Manufacturability and Economics
Before SpaceX came along, the space launch industry was like the early automotive industry before Henry Ford and the assembly line. Cars were custom-made in small quantities, making them expensive. As a result, they were workhorses for a few large businesses that could afford them, and they were toys for the wealthy.
Then Ford came along with mass-production and the Model T. That is what Elon Musk is doing to the aerospace industry right now. Rockets until now have been mostly built on demand, bespoke for the customer, in low quantities, for the few entities capable of affording them. But Elon Musk cut his teeth on Ford’s industry, automobiles, at Tesla. He knows about mass-production. He knows about optimizing production processes, and he knows about value engineering. He knows how to get a product from concept to design to manufacture as efficiently as possible. In fact, he obsesses about that.
That’s why SpaceX abruptly switched from building what would become Starship with carbon fiber to stainless steel. Normally, carbon fiber is great for building rocket parts that are both light and strong. However, carbon fiber is both expensive and laborious to work with. Musk wants SpaceX to design and build with a rapid-iteration process, and carbon fiber was too slow. For the price of some mass, SpaceX built Starship with a material that was cheap, fast to work with, and resilient to the extreme temperatures of reentry and cryogenic propellants. Once the rapid iterations started, progress on Starship went amazingly fast.
Elon Musk isn’t just building a rocket. He’s building a rocket factory at Boca Chica. In an interview with Tim Dodd, the Everyday Astronaut (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3,) Musk stated that 90% of the work was creating the production processes and systems that build the rocket, rather than designing and building the rocket itself. Much of Musk’s work is similar to what he was doing at Tesla: planning the production process, identifying bottlenecks, creating optimizations, and getting processes to run efficiently and smoothly.
Starship isn’t designed to be a one-off, occasionally manufactured artifact from the traditional cathedrals of old-space. Starship and Raptor are going to be built like cars are built: mass-produced, efficiently, with automation, optimized processes, and in large quantities. This enables individual Starships and individual Raptors to be built and run at a small fraction of the cost of previous rockets and engines. To build his city on Mars, Musk said he wants over a thousand Starships, and he’s building the facilities to make them.
SpaceX also plans to launch Starships from sites across the globe. They’re already constructing the launch and landing facilities at Starbase, Texas. They’re also planning to launch and recover Starships at Cape Canaveral, Florida. SpaceX has also acquired two former oil platforms, now dubbed Deimos and Phobos to launch Starships at sea. One of the plans is to position offshore launch platforms near coastal cities for passenger service. In short, SpaceX has plans for Starship on a scale far larger than has ever been seen in the industry before.
What Does This Mean?
When I was younger, I read a book by Jerry Pournelle and other authors (the book was Cities in Space, and I’m going from memory, so forgive me if I miss some details.) It had a great point I read as I was getting my first college degree. This was in the 90’s when the spaceflight world was in the doldrums. Cities In Space pointed out that people lost interest because all they were able to do was watch people on TV go to space. It’s not that people didn’t like space, but they wanted to personally go to space, rather than watch TV people do it. I’m the same way. I want to personally go to space.
Starship’s the key to making that happen. Starship could reduce costs to the point where ordinary people can buy a ticket and go to Mars. This could finally bring us to the day where we all can go to space.
That’s why I say this spacecraft will change humanity forever. Starship can bring ordinary people to space. It can bring heavy industry to space. It can bring unimaginable wealth back to Earth (check out the asteroid 16 Psyche and the dollar value of the precious metals there.) Starship will enable humanity to finally take real steps off this pale blue dot, so now’s the time to really dream. Jeff Bezos talked about Gerard O’Neill’s space colonies. Elon Musk wants a million-person city on Mars. But I’m dreaming a little further ahead.
Close your eyes, and imagine humanity, a few centuries from now, with a population of ten trillion (yes, trillion with a ‘T’), spread through the entire Solar System: Earth, Mars, countless habitats built all over the system, settlements on the outer moons and the Kuiper Belt, and more. Think of a humanity that’s grown a thousand-fold from today, thriving, with no limits in sight.
I don’t know about you, but I want this future. Starship can help make it happen. Starship will become humanity’s eighteen-wheeler to space. With it, humanity takes the Solar System. | https://medium.com/@meldroc/starship-spacexs-eighteen-wheeler-to-space-678396355613 | ['Doug Holland'] | 2021-09-12 20:06:58.898000+00:00 | ['Spacex', 'Starship', 'Space', 'Technology', 'Elon Musk'] |
1,131 | US Senate Committee Approves the Blockchain Promotion Act | US Senate Committee Approves the Blockchain Promotion Act
Lawmakers from both parties on Capitol Hill are looking to define “blockchain” and see how government could use the technology.
The United States Senate committee of commerce, science and transportation approved the Blockchain Promotion Act on Tuesday.
The US Congress is moving forward on key piece of legislation designed to lay the regulatory framework for blockchain technology and to see how the government could benefit from its use.
The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Tuesday approved the Blockchain Promotion Act, bipartisan legislation that directs the Department of Commerce to come up with a standard definition of “blockchain,” the accounting ledger technology that underlies bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Blockchain distributes copies of the ledger across multiple computers so everyone in a network is working off a single record of all transactions, which is resistant to tampering and easy to audit.
“Blockchain is an exciting new technology with great potential and promise,” Sen. Ed Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts and co-sponsor of the bill, said in a statement. Markey noted that the technology is already being used in the private sector to expand access to renewable energy, enhance health care delivery systems and improve supply chain efficiency.
“This legislation will help further understand applications for this technology and explore opportunities for its use within the federal government,” he added.
The bill, which was reintroduced in February, has bipartisan sponsors in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. It’s meant to prevent a patchwork of blockchain definitions at the state level and to set the framework for future regulation of the technology. There are already several bills that have been introduced around blockchain technology.
Lawmakers also see opportunity to use the technology to make many governmental functions more efficient. The working group described in the legislation will help do that. Many experts consider blockchain to be a major innovation in double-ledger accounting that could be very useful to government agencies to help deliver services, prevent tax fraud, eliminate bureaucracy and reduce waste. For instance, it could be used to keep track of health care and Social Security benefits or improve document management and storage. Another potential use is helping agencies — for instance, the Federal Communications Commission in better allocating and managing wireless spectrum licenses.
“This bipartisan, bicameral bill will bring a broad group of stakeholders together to develop a common definition of blockchain, and, perhaps even more importantly, recommend opportunities to leverage the technology to promote new innovations,” Rep. Doris Matsui, a Democrat from California, said in a statement.
Specifically, the working group would provide recommendations to other government agencies, including the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the FCC to study using the technology to help manage wireless spectrum and provide other efficiencies within the federal government.
Matsui is sponsoring an identical bill in the House along with Rep. Brett Guthrie, a Republican from Kentucky. The bill’s sponsors in the Senate are Sens. Markey and Todd Young, a Republican from Indiana. | https://medium.com/hackernoon/us-senate-committee-approves-the-blockchain-promotion-act-2f36c4157c8a | ['Augusta Hitech Soft Solutions'] | 2019-07-12 17:38:40.276000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Blockchain Technology', 'Congress', 'Us Senate', 'Us Congress'] |
1,132 | How Drift transformed from Product-Led Growth to Enterprise Sales | Jungle recently invited members of our founder community to meet Elias Torres, co-founder of Drift. Chris Reisig, Jungle’s US-based Operating Partner, & Alice Besomi, VP Investments, chatted to Elias about his remarkable journey at Drift. A journey that has seen the company’s customer base transform & the average sales price triple in the past 6 months.
About 5 or 6 years ago Elias & his co-founder David Cancel saw the ‘Contact Us’ button on every website as a huge missed opportunity. It was not only the single entry point to the business from perhaps your most important corporate real estate — your website — but it was also clumsy & awkward. It failed to meet buyers where they are & meant the business risked missing out to rivals who were able to respond quicker. They saw that by automating the conversation using AI they could change the game for businesses looking to capture customer interest.
Drift is now a star of the US tech scene & specializes in helping businesses increase their revenue, shorten their sales cycles & strengthen their brand.
But, to get to this point, Drift has had to adapt & pivot. It has not been an easy journey. Elias, a passionate & dedicated founder, was refreshingly open with the mistakes made along the way & the learnings he has gathered as the business sought to accelerate into their next stage of growth.
Building your Product Led Growth (PLG)
For early-stage businesses, timing is everything. If your product is perfectly aligned with the fastest moving megatrends, then organic growth is a realistic goal. In Drift’s case, these trends were Messaging & Video. But being in tune with rapidly evolving behaviours is not enough. To drive product-led growth you need to…
Build a brand that grabs attention: From the word your brand needs to pull hard. Cofounder David was obsessed with investing heavily in developing a brand that was distinctive & differentiated. This not only accelerated awareness but also encouraged a pipeline of inbound customers in those first couple of years Focus on the problem you solve: The best test of your business model is whether people are paying for your product. If there is no pain, people will not pay. You need to listen to your customers, analyse their behavior & determine whether your product is really solving a problem Prove ROI to your customers: Demonstrating to customers the value of your product is not easy. People buy for 3 reasons. To make more money, to save more money, or for compliance reasons. Constantly ask if you are thinking enough about your customer goals & not focusing too much on the features you are passionate about Think beyond the inbounds: Inbound customers are invaluable in the early days. They help you accelerate sales, prove the business has legs & inform product development. But remember that businesses cannot survive on a diet of inbounds alone. When people come to you the relationship tends to be more transactional & feature-based. The sales cycle is shorter but the customer value is likely lower because you have not had a chance to ‘sell the dream’. So think early about how you could pivot from an Inbound to an Outbound model to attract higher value partners
Elias Torres in conversation with Jungle Ventures
Knowing when to Pivot
When you have a great start to your business & revenue starts accelerating it is tough to think about narrowing your target market. You & the rest of your leadership team need to step back & ask yourself the key question…Can you really maintain your current inbound sales motion for the next 10–20 years?
Are my retention rates strong? When customers come flooding in the front door it is easy to disregard the number leaving by the back. Keep a close eye on whether customers are renewing their contract because this is a great indication as to the sustainability of the business Are you attracting the right customers? When you go inbound you are not really controlling who comes in & not every customer is of equal value. Are they big or small? Have they embraced the product or have they failed to drive usage? Do they represent a window into a high value sector or are they more of the same?
What is the simplest way to determine how you are performing? Evaluate your Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) vs your Retention rates.
This level of scrutiny is even more important when your inbounds are largely SMBs. In the SMB world there are only two ways to survive. You either have zero cost of acquisition meaning no marketing dollars need to be spent to build your base, or you have a magic net retention cohort, meaning that every new customer you attract naturally automatically up the value ladder by 2–10x of their original acquisition price. If one of these motions is not in place then most likely you will not be able to grow your company to a >$100m revenue.
Drift encountered exactly this problem. They were building a large base of low-value customers but in the end Elias knew they could not survive with simply an SMB flywheel driving growth. He had to totally reimagine his ideal customer, target price, and acquisition process. To break through the ceiling every young business faces he had to change up his strategy.
The pivot to Enterprise Sales
Elias overhauled the entire organization & geared up to adopt an Enterprise Sales model. This involved fundamentally revisiting the company’s value proposition & investing heavily in areas like sales & marketing. For a technologist this role as transformer didn’t come naturally for Elias but his advice was clear…
Forget about features & focus on value: Since its inception Drift had always been a customer-first organisation. Everyone was encouraged to talk to customers as much as possible. This was invaluable as they began to look in more detail at the pain they solved & who they solved it for. Businesses need to understand where & how they build value & build their sales story around powerful case studies Structure your sales team: While in a PLG model, you can run with a VP of sales, a handful of managers & a lot of reps and team managers. Everyone sticks up their hand for the next lead & seeks to accelerate the sales cycle. Enterprise sale is a different beast. You need to bring on board senior reps, invest in training, segment teams & introduce product marketing
The shift to an Enterprise Sales model is a profound one. Everyone in the organisation, & every new iteration of the product, has to be focused on building a lasting relationship with the customer. The point of conversion becomes the first stage in the journey not the last.
This is now about ‘Sell & Nurture’ not ‘Sell & Forget’.
Completing the Transformation
A change of this nature demands that everyone is on board. The sell — up & down — is critical to get right.
Manage the cultural shift: Introducing hierarchies into a fast-moving, flat organisation is not easy. The ‘one for all, all for one’ culture is interrupted. Suddenly pay scales will exist, longer onboarding will be involved &, with a longer sales cycle, performance will be less straightforward to judge. As a leadership team, you will have to move from a light touch management style to a more hands-on approach Align with investors & the board: It is not an overnight transition. It will be almost 9–12 months before you start seeing ROI on your investments. This can make investors, & indeed other board members, uncomfortable. Elias advised that you add a slide each time you meet that talks about your top 20 customers & how much they are paying you before & after the transition. When they see the expansion & retention that you are generating among your customers, that will help validate your strategy Hire people with experience: As a founder you cannot lead Enterprise Sales. You need to hire experienced leaders who have done this over a long period of time. Take your time, don’t rush into it, find the right people & make sure they are fully engaged before bringing them in. Admitting you can’t do it all doesn’t come naturally for many founders but when an experienced leader joins to lead the transition to enterprise sales it makes all the difference
What next?
The move to an enterprise sales motion naturally reduces the rate of change & it clearly pained a guy like Elias to slow down. But he knows that taking your foot off the pedal comes naturally to no one at Drift. The teams are still engineers at heart & naturally restless innovators. They love the product & are eager to see where they can take it. Consequently, Elias is having to invest considerable time & effort in communicating to teams across the organisation that working with these big companies can be hugely exciting — even if the cycle is slower. The scale of their investment makes them great partners & their clear-sighted understanding of what they need can give the product team at Drift invaluable inspiration & direction.
Listening to Elias was an inspiration. His insight into the challenges he faced, & indeed the mistakes he made, along the way was invaluable to the Jungle community. He demonstrated to all our founders that they would eventually have to make the bold moves but that they themselves, whatever their background, could play a key role in driving the transformation. | https://medium.com/jungle-ventures/how-drift-transformed-a-product-led-growth-to-enterprise-sales-ee9959c64782 | ['Jungle Ventures'] | 2021-04-26 03:20:49.485000+00:00 | ['B2b Sales', 'Startup', 'Enterprise Technology', 'B2B', 'SaaS'] |
1,133 | The Future of Identity Records — Funded | Official records — birth certificates, academic records, professional licenses, and more — form the legal basis of who we are and what we have accomplished. Despite the critical role they play in our lives, legacy practices for creating, storing, transmitting, and verifying these records is sorely out of date, resulting in unnecessary time, expense, and sometimes even catastrophic loss.
It’s time for a change. The maturity of the web, mobile, and now blockchain networks have come together to make it possible for people to own their official records in a digital format that can be shared peer-to-peer and instantly verified anywhere in the world.
Creating a new normal for official records that contain all of the convenience we expect is going to require effort on multiple fronts, including standards bodies, open source communities, and commercial offerings that make everything easy to deploy. So today, Learning Machine is excited to announce that we’ve raised funding with strategic partners to bring about this new reality.
Our Story
Learning Machine was incubated within a previous company specializing in university admissions software. During that time, we saw firsthand the wasted time and expense of trying to get official records in place and validated. So, we began collaborating with the MIT Media Lab on an open source project that illustrated how to anchor digital records on a blockchain. Using the blockchain means that a decentralized network with APIs can provide reliable verification of any record’s authenticity in place of expensive middlemen or central authorities. Blockcerts was launched at the end of 2016 as an example of a technical standard aligned with other standards to ensure the approach to this new type of record wasn’t proprietary.
We deeply believe that digital records belong to those who have earned them and should have no ongoing dependence upon any vendor or the original issuer.
After Blockcerts was released, Learning Machine used 2017 to develop enterprise software for governments, companies, and school systems to easily deploy records anchored to any blockchain in a way that is standards compliant. The system is intended to work across any market that contributes to records of identity, learning, or achievement. With this approach, we empower individuals to become their own lifelong registrar of official records, which together form the basis for legal identity.
Investment Partners
We’re excited to announce that Learning Machine Technologies, Inc. has raised a $3M funding round to expand our product and service teams to more rapidly enable institutions to issue official records in this new digital format.
The round was led by PTB Ventures, and joined by Omidyar Network and Learn Capital, all of whom share our vision and validate our current progress. We are excited to have such enthusiastic partners who will be instrumental in helping us to grow both internally and through the strategic relationships so critical for social adoption.
Up Next
Learning Machine is working to expand its commercial offering for issuers of official records to support identity documents like electronic IDs, transcripts and stackable certificates for academic records, as well as various types of civic records.
We believe this future of recipient-owned records depends on issuers having convenient software for creating and issuing these records, paired with mobile apps for recipients with beautiful design and simple usability.
If you share our vision for the future of identity records, join the Blockcerts Community forum and consider joining our team full time! | https://medium.com/learning-machine-blog/the-future-of-identity-records-funded-2716d98d8047 | [] | 2018-07-09 20:07:05.160000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Funding', 'Identity', 'Technews', 'Blockchain'] |
1,134 | “That’s just what I needed to hear, thank you!”: | As a hopeless romantic, I contemplate the idea of love within the context of my generation quite often. Throughout my twenty-two years of life, I have enjoyed attempting to understand the idea of love and how it affects the world on both an individual and holistic basis. I have kept a diary of all my crushes since I could write, I have a list of all the boys I have ever kissed on my phone, and I ask every person I meet how they met their significant other (if they are in a relationship, of course). I feel a rush of excitement when I see a man carrying flowers or when I witness tasteful moments of PDA. I am a true lover of love.
As they have become more widely accepted, I am interested in how dating applications have shifted our ideas about initiation of love and how we navigate romance in an increasingly technological and emotionally isolated world. I live in a town with a population of just over 200 people in the Burren region of County Clare, Ireland. Here, pursuing a Masters of Fine Arts in Studio Art, I am simultaneously absorbed in the pursuit of my work and filled with emptiness fueled by the absence of people my age — particularly men. Though the college I attend is not an all-girls school, there are currently only women enrolled. Many of us who are single have resorted to Tinder and other dating applications in order to meet other young people within a reasonable radius.
Though I know it provides an avenue of greater opportunity for finding love, I can’t help but feel a little disappointed by the lack of romance associated with meeting via a dating app. I would much prefer the serendipitous, fairy-tale, romantic comedy start of a future relationship. I dream about coincidentally sitting next to a cute man on an airplane and sparking up a conversation that turns into a fast-forming adoration or becoming best friends with a guy and slowly realizing we care for each other romantically. Because of my hopes for an interesting personal love story, I have deleted and re-downloaded Tinder several times in the past few years. I have over 2,000 matches, but I have only ever met up with two men I “matched” with through the app. The first experience was odd, slightly uncomfortable, and made me question if I would ever do it again. It happened on the first night of a family trip to New Zealand. He picked me up from the hotel and we broke in to his old university dorm. He pulled a mattress out of an empty bedroom for us to sit on and popped open a bottle of wine. After chatting for an hour, he asked if it was alright if he Snapchatted a picture of me to his friends. I said “sure,” but felt weird about the situation. I counted down the minutes until he was willing and sober enough to drive me home. The second meet-up was too perfect. The guy checked all of my boxes, made me laugh, and treated me kindly. Unfortunately, he either felt differently about the experience or timing has gotten in the way of the relationship becoming something more than a couple of great dates.
As I was contemplating feelings of loneliness and longing for love on an early, misty morning run through my small village, I came up with the idea to ask my Tinder matches what they believe about love. Instead of the generic greeting that a guy may expect from a new match, my matches were greeted with “What do you believe about love?” Despite their response, all who replied received another message from me: “That’s just what I needed to hear, thank you!” Their responses were just what I needed to hear. Some were refreshingly thoughtful, others comical, and a few depressing or vulgar. An overwhelming amount of responses included the phrase “that’s deep” and I’ve received a lovely collection of confused GIFs. I’ve gotten the lyrics of many love songs, which offered great background music as I worked through the documentation process. I received many requests for dates, the reason I am asked such a “personal” question as an opening line, and for my beliefs. I told them that I was trying to figure it out, but I believe love is simultaneously beautiful, tragic, and holding our fragmented world together. As a whole, the responses are intriguing. Over the past month, I’ve documented 500 of them. I am grateful for the honesty and good humor I received through the process of this project and am thankful for the many men who put up with my curiosity. I believe many, if not all, of the responses are worthy of sharing. But, to save you some precious time, I’ve selected some of my favorites. Pardon any grammar errors or typos; these men likely sent these messages using their thumbs.
Ryan, age 24, said “Woah, that’s a unique first question haha. But to answer your question, I believe that love is a constant growing emotion. That it’ll continue until your end. Some people get confused by love and try to run away and end it. When the highs are highs and the lows are lows, two beings just need to be there for each other and allow their love and trust in each other to to grow and mold together. I see it like drawing, you can draw a circle a thousand times, it won’t always be a perfect circle. But it’ll be perfect to you when you get rid of all the defects of it. So in order to love someone, you have to accept their defects and love them for what they are and what they do for you.” As an artist, I appreciated his drawing analogy.
Sam, 23, replied “I believe that love is giving. Not in the since of ‘I gave you a car.’ But in the since I gave, so therefore there is something in you that is me. To me, most other kinds of love are self beneficial and full of self pleasure. Everything has to do with whether or not I am satisfied. Love expands that, it shows in actions and little everyday things. Often times, when one of course, truly loves, they won’t even realize they are. Great question.” I appreciated Sam’s thoughts on love — how it is for oneself and for others.
Lee, who doesn’t share his age on Tinder, said “I believe that despite the huge awful statistics surrounding love, that there are still enough people who truly believe that they will live happily ever after and find the right emotional, physical, mental connection with someone. I’m a firm believer in if someone is your rock, why would you cry on another person’s shoulder. If someone is fun in bed, why would you go to another person’s bed. And if someone is intelligent and exciting, why would you seed another person’s mind. Essay over, haha.” Lee addressed my own fears regarding today’s love statistics, yet affirmed my hope for the possibility of commitment.
Matthew, 25, responded “Well thats an actual question for a change, I appreciate that.
I studied philosophy so you’re getting an in depth answer. Love has many forms, different types of love exist, and most people cannot differentiate the difference between these types in our modern society, love is often misused with lust and usually overused and actual “”love”” is not taken that seriously anymore. I also think you can love everyone, but there are a lot of levels of love in terms of how you connect with people, I love animals, but also love my family and friends, it is a similar love but different none the less. Then there are the deeper types of love which I would only use or describe when with one person at a very intimate level. The problem often with love though is usually only one person is in “”love”” with the other in a relationship, but I think it is possible for both people to be fully in love together if they are able to understand each other fully and both feel a strong connection with one another. Could write more but thats enough for tinder, we can talk more in person if you want, real love cant happen through pixels after all 😉” I didn’t end up meeting up with him, but wouldn’t be opposed to the idea in the future.
One of my favorite responses came from a 28-year-old man named Engin. He gave me a three-point list, “”1. you cannot resist falling in love 2. love is never bidirectional. the one of two loves more. 3. the one loving more feels a lot more pain.” I think anyone who has been in love could relate to this list.
Charlie, 22, made me laugh with his response: “❤That feeling when you crack open a cold one with the baiz.” Stephen, 26, also gave me a good chuckle: “”I believe it kicks me in the balls 🤔.”Oisin, 22, made me smile with his innocent and honest reply. He said, “I believe love is one of the best things you can experience even though I’ve never been in love i do know people who are and when they’re around each other they seem like the happiest people in the world.” Sam, 23, reminded me of my Bible-belted Oklahoma roots: “True Love is Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. Love is my mom and dad being there for me no matter what. Love is never being afraid to show your affection. Love is true peace.”Sunil, a yoga instructor from India, said “Hi Perrin Hahahahaha I don’t believe. I do love 😉” He made me want to “do love,” and shift my focus from trying to understand it to making an effort to live in more lovingly.
Did I draw any major conclusions or come up with any fantastic revelations from this project? Probably not. But, I’m not disappointed. Even the men on Tinder have opinions, advice, stories of heartbreak, and perspectives spanning the entire spectrum of beliefs about love. They have dreams of finding love in their futures and many of them will, though I still hope the love story for me and my future partner begins off-screen. | https://medium.com/the-scene-heard/thats-just-what-i-needed-to-hear-thank-you-a-revelation-of-tinder-men-s-beliefs-on-love-901f6f897e41 | [] | 2018-02-26 13:14:46.410000+00:00 | ['Valentines Day', 'Online Dating', 'Scene And Heard', 'Nonfiction', 'Technology'] |
1,135 | Who and what to expect at Leetspeak 2019! | Now, before we announce the names headlining Leetspeak 2019, we’re going to give you a quick rundown of what to expect this year.
For those of you who are familiar with Leetspeak, you’ll know that it has always been a single track, one day conference with six one-hour sessions. We’ve remained true to that layout for the past eight years — well, except for one year where we attempted seven sessions in one day — however, this year the format of Leetspeak is changing slightly…
This year we’re trying something new, something we believe will make Leetspeak even better than ever. First of all, we’re freshening things up by going from six 1 hour sessions to five — something we believe will make the day more dynamic. These five sessions will be split into four awesome presentations by our main speakers, and one panel debate session. We are still sticking to the concept of being single track — I mean, it is Leetspeak, let’s not go too nuts! However, for those of you who simply can’t get enough knowledge, we are introducing something called “Campfire Sessions” in the newly extended half-hour breaks. Now, what is a Campfire Session you might ask yourself? Well, imagine hanging out by a campfire, listening and interacting with the speaker and the session. Pretty cool, huh?! These sessions provide a more intimate and relaxed way of filling your knowledge quota.
So, without further ado, let’s give you the rundown on the four fantastic names that will be taking to the hallowed Leetspeak stage this year;
First, all the way from the US and Microsoft, we have the very talented Jen Looper. Jen is a developer with 18 years’ experience. She has a passion for hardware hacking, mobile apps, Vue.js, machine learning, and discovering new things every day. You might have seen her explaining AI with the help of Mixology.
Next up, and also joining us from the US, is Eric Wastl. Eric is a software engineer with over 15 years of professional experience in software engineering, software architecture, web development, security, system administration, maths, developer education, and mentoring. But you’ll most likely recognise him as the creator of ‘Advent of Code’.
We are also especially proud to announce that one of our own colleagues at tretton37, Daniel Hindrikes, will be taking the Leetspeak stage. Daniel regularly produces the podcasts ‘App In The Cloud’ and ‘The Code Behind’, and is also co-author of the book; ‘Xamarin.Forms projects’. As if that wasn’t enough, he’s also a Microsoft MVP in Developer Technologies.
And — last but certainly not least — we are thrilled to welcome Lena Wiberg. Lena is based in Stockholm and has been in the IT-industry since 1999, where she started off as a developer. In 2009 she decided to take the step into testing full-time and has never looked back. During the past decade, Lena has held most roles related to testing. Currently, she is working as a consultant manager at Lemontree, a company specialising in testing, RPA and DevOps.
So there you go! 4 top notch names — Jen, Eric, Daniel and Lena — and some new things to get you even more excited for Leetspeak 2019. Not long to go now, and we truly look forward to seeing you in October. | https://medium.com/tretton37/who-and-what-to-expect-at-leetspeak-2019-1fec33487f16 | ['Marcus Mazur'] | 2019-08-12 08:17:48.145000+00:00 | ['Stockholm', 'JavaScript', 'Technology', 'Developer', 'Conference'] |
1,136 | A coping mechanism to one could be a way to relax on a Sunday to another | A coping mechanism to one could be a way to relax on a Sunday to another Olv Nov 19, 2020·6 min read
Life is a journey of twists and turns, peaks and valleys, mountains to climb and oceans to explore.
Good times and bad times. Happy times and sad times.
But always, life is a movement forward.
No matter where you are on the journey, in some way, you are continuing on — and that’s what makes it so magnificent. One day, you’re questioning what on earth will ever make you feel happy and fulfilled. And the next, you’re perfectly in flow, writing the most important book of your entire career.
https://okt744.medium.com/live-rafael-nadal-vs-stefanos-tsitsipas-live-mubadala-tennis-full-game-broadcast-119e7b3cfd2b
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What nobody ever tells you, though, when you are a wide-eyed child, are all the little things that come along with “growing up.”
1. Most people are scared of using their imagination.
They’ve disconnected with their inner child.
They don’t feel they are “creative.”
They like things “just the way they are.”
2. Your dream doesn’t really matter to anyone else.
Some people might take interest. Some may support you in your quest. But at the end of the day, nobody cares, or will ever care about your dream as much as you.
3. Friends are relative to where you are in your life.
Most friends only stay for a period of time — usually in reference to your current interest. But when you move on, or your priorities change, so too do the majority of your friends.
4. Your potential increases with age.
As people get older, they tend to think that they can do less and less — when in reality, they should be able to do more and more, because they have had time to soak up more knowledge. Being great at something is a daily habit. You aren’t just “born” that way.
5. Spontaneity is the sister of creativity.
If all you do is follow the exact same routine every day, you will never leave yourself open to moments of sudden discovery. Do you remember how spontaneous you were as a child? Anything could happen, at any moment!
6. You forget the value of “touch” later on.
When was the last time you played in the rain?
When was the last time you sat on a sidewalk and looked closely at the cracks, the rocks, the dirt, the one weed growing between the concrete and the grass nearby.
Do that again.
You will feel so connected to the playfulness of life.
7. Most people don’t do what they love.
It’s true.
The “masses” are not the ones who live the lives they dreamed of living. And the reason is because they didn’t fight hard enough. They didn’t make it happen for themselves. And the older you get, and the more you look around, the easier it becomes to believe that you’ll end up the same.
Don’t fall for the trap.
8. Many stop reading after college.
Ask anyone you know the last good book they read, and I’ll bet most of them respond with, “Wow, I haven’t read a book in a long time.”
9. People talk more than they listen.
There is nothing more ridiculous to me than hearing two people talk “at” each other, neither one listening, but waiting for the other person to stop talking so they can start up again.
10. Creativity takes practice.
It’s funny how much we as a society praise and value creativity, and yet seem to do as much as we can to prohibit and control creative expression unless it is in some way profitable.
If you want to keep your creative muscle pumped and active, you have to practice it on your own.
11. “Success” is a relative term.
As kids, we’re taught to “reach for success.”
What does that really mean? Success to one person could mean the opposite for someone else.
Define your own Success.
12. You can’t change your parents.
A sad and difficult truth to face as you get older: You can’t change your parents.
They are who they are.
Whether they approve of what you do or not, at some point, no longer matters. Love them for bringing you into this world, and leave the rest at the door.
13. The only person you have to face in the morning is yourself.
When you’re younger, it feels like you have to please the entire world.
You don’t.
Do what makes you happy, and create the life you want to live for yourself. You’ll see someone you truly love staring back at you every morning if you can do that.
14. Nothing feels as good as something you do from the heart.
No amount of money or achievement or external validation will ever take the place of what you do out of pure love.
Follow your heart, and the rest will follow.
15. Your potential is directly correlated to how well you know yourself.
Those who know themselves and maximize their strengths are the ones who go where they want to go.
Those who don’t know themselves, and avoid the hard work of looking inward, live life by default. They lack the ability to create for themselves their own future.
16. Everyone who doubts you will always come back around.
That kid who used to bully you will come asking for a job.
The girl who didn’t want to date you will call you back once she sees where you’re headed. It always happens that way.
Just focus on you, stay true to what you believe in, and all the doubters will eventually come asking for help.
17. You are a reflection of the 5 people you spend the most time with.
Nobody creates themselves, by themselves.
We are all mirror images, sculpted through the reflections we see in other people. This isn’t a game you play by yourself. Work to be surrounded by those you wish to be like, and in time, you too will carry the very things you admire in them.
18. Beliefs are relative to what you pursue.
Wherever you are in life, and based on who is around you, and based on your current aspirations, those are the things that shape your beliefs.
Nobody explains, though, that “beliefs” then are not “fixed.” There is no “right and wrong.” It is all relative.
Find what works for you.
19. Anything can be a vice.
Be wary.
Again, there is no “right” and “wrong” as you get older. A coping mechanism to one could be a way to relax on a Sunday to another. Just remain aware of your habits and how you spend your time, and what habits start to increase in frequency — and then question where they are coming from in you and why you feel compelled to repeat them.
Never mistakes, always lessons.
As I said, know yourself.
20. Your purpose is to be YOU.
What is the meaning of life?
To be you, all of you, always, in everything you do — whatever that means to you. You are your own creator. You are your own evolving masterpiece.
Growing up is the realization that you are both the sculpture and the sculptor, the painter and the portrait. Paint yourself however you wish. | https://medium.com/@olv772/a-coping-mechanism-to-one-could-be-a-way-to-relax-on-a-sunday-to-another-6b9dfbbdf334 | [] | 2020-11-19 17:10:22.891000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Sports', 'Social Media', 'News', 'Live Streaming'] |
1,137 | South Africa: E-hailing Platform Introduces Female Driver Option | Local, a South African e-hailing and grocery delivery startup have recently expanded their services by providing customers with the option of choosing female drivers.
The new option, called HER, is included within the main Local app and is a ride option exclusively for women.
HER will give women the opportunity to opt for female drivers for their trips. Aside from that, it will also cater for children and members of the LGBTQ community.
Launched in 2019 by William Moshabi, Local was initially focused on providing grocery and delivery services before expanding its operations to include “HER”, as the latest addition to its list of services.
Since its launch, the platform has also extended to Johannesburg and Cape Town with 7000 drivers.
“HER” is a female-only ride option that allows women and children to travel with peace of mind knowing that the driver is female and vetted to ensure they arrive at their destination safely and comfortably,” the company said in a press release.
Additionally, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), William Moshabi, also stated that his team has been employing a lot of female drivers to meet the increasing demand.
As a result of that, Local plans to add an additional 12,000 drivers to meet the growing demand for their service by the end of the year.
However, the option is restricted to a maximum of two passengers per ride or more at the discretion of the driver.
The app can be downloaded on the Google Play Store for Android and App Store for iOS users. | https://medium.com/@digitaltimes-2020/south-africa-e-hailing-platform-introduces-female-driver-option-3e09f43265ef | ['Digital Times Africa'] | 2020-10-07 14:46:16.111000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Women In Business', 'Technology News', 'Technology'] |
1,138 | Neurons in Spreadsheets | Neurons in Spreadsheets
Your own neural network on the cheap
In the previous post, we saw what a neural network is and how it works. Now comes the fun part. We’ll make one in a spreadsheet.
It doesn’t matter which spreadsheet you use. You can visualise such neurons in Excel, or you can equally well use LibreOffice, Google Sheets or any other spreadsheet application.
Image by the author
In the top line, the two yellow cells are the input values. You can change these to simulate various inputs. The next line contains the two synaptic weights by which we will multiply the input values. Here we put them to 0.6 to simulate a logical and. Like above, if you change both synaptic weights to 1.1, you will make the neuron behave like a logical or, since the threshold is put at 1, and if either input is 1.1, and thus greater than the threshold value, the neuron will fire. In the next line, we see the activation value, which is just the sum of the two weighted inputs. The next line contains the threshold, which in all these examples is 1. But there is no reason not to change it to any other value if you want to experiment. Finally, in the last line, the blue cell contains the output of the neuron. This will be 1 if the neuron has fired or 0 if the neuron has not fired.
You can also easily add additional neurons to your network and try to create more complex behaviours.
The only special thing you need to do is to insert two formulas into the spreadsheet:
Into cell C3 (the “activation” cell), we enter the formula for calculating the weighted sum of the two inputs: =(D1*D2)+(B1*B2). Into cell C5 (“output”), we enter a conditional statement: =if(C3>=C4, 1, 0). This is saying: if the sum of the inputs (cell C3) is greater than the threshold (cell C4), the neuron will fire (output=1); otherwise, it will stay silent (output=0). These formulas are written for Google Sheets, so if you use another spreadsheet application, you might need to change the syntax a bit.
That’s it! Your first, very own artificial neuron. You can now play with it. You can change the synaptic weights and the activation thresholds, and observe how it works. You can also easily add additional neurons to your network and try to create more complex behaviours. Of course, this doesn’t yet learn. It is pre-programmed by the fixed synaptic weights to do one thing only.
As an additional example, let’s look at how we would create a little network that can calculate the ‘exclusive or’, or xor, function in a spreadsheet. Here is the network we want to simulate (we discussed how this works in the previous post):
Image by the author
And here is the same neural network in a spreadsheet table. Again, the input is on top (yellow), and the output is at the bottom (blue). But now we have three neurons. The first layer (above) consists of two neurons (pink and green). Each of these neurons is connected to the two yellow inputs; this is why each has two synapses instead of one. Each of these neurons has its own (blue) output. Both intermediate outputs from the first layer feed into the orange neuron at the bottom. The orange neuron’s inputs are the outputs of the previous layer; this is why we don’t have yellow input cells for that neuron. The output of the whole network is the blue cell at the very bottom.
This neuron will implement an xor function between its (yellow) inputs in the first row and the blue output cell at the very bottom:
Image by the author
What you can see from this, is how the behaviour of a neural network is all encoded in the synaptic weights, which, in this case, we entered by hand. In a later post will see how an artificial neural network can change these weights by itself, and in this way learn new behaviours. Make sure to follow this series, so you don’t miss the fun!
Simulating neural networks in a spreadsheet is a great way to learn how they work and to get accustomed to the basic ideas and the structure of artificial neurons. I hope you enjoyed this and I hope to see you around here next time!
Thanks for reading! | https://medium.com/the-innovation/neurons-in-spreadsheets-e917c5c77a22 | ['Moral Robots'] | 2020-10-10 17:38:20.374000+00:00 | ['Neural Networks', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'AI', 'Programming', 'Education Technology'] |
1,139 | What is Serverless | Serverless: Image by pradpoddar
Back in the days if anyone want to run an application, they first would need to contact their company’s IT team. The IT team and the App team would go through multiple meetings, emails and come up with a list of things like servers, storage that would be required to host the application. Budget will be allocated. Work will be designated. Things will be bought or borrowed, then things will be done, then some more things will be done and then one fine day an email will come saying your server is ready. By that time, World has changed and people has moved on.
Everyone wanted a better and faster Infrastructure experience — what if I no longer have to rely on our scantly stuffed IT department to provision servers. Clients ask, someone provides. Enter Cloud. Companies started investing in Cloud, now they no longer worry about where the servers will come from. Just click, pay and you get the server from cloud. If you don’t need a server anymore — just click again and no need to worry on how to recycle or decommission the servers. It’s all being taken care by Cloud providers in exchange of rents. Data center got outsourced.
But wait, I want more. Today’s World changes at a faster pace than mouse clicks. So, how about no Infrastructure at all. I mean, I am a Product company, why do I worry about servers, clusters, patching. I want to do what I am best at doing i.e. Design and Development. Clients ask, someone provides — it was 2014. Enter Serverless. From now on, no one need to worry about infrastructure at all. No one need to know how many servers, how many storage arrays, what is the patching cycle. You don’t need to click for provision or decommission. Just code and deploy. It runs when it needs to run, it doesn’t run when it doesn’t need to run. It exists, but no one sees it. Developers run their code and they don’t see where it is running. Cloud providers run the infrastructure behind Serverless offerings, and they don’t see what is running there.
A Serverless compute service lets developers run their code
Without provisioning or managing servers
Managing runtime
Creating workload aware scaling logic
Maintaining event integration
Providing CICD capabilities
Providing monitoring and security tools | https://medium.com/pradpoddar/what-is-serverless-2f650d3215e9 | ['Prad Poddar'] | 2020-12-14 07:39:48.655000+00:00 | ['Serverless', 'Technology', 'Cloud', 'Software Development', 'Cloud Computing'] |
1,140 | Côte-des-Neiges (Chapter VIII) | THE GLORIOUS SUNSHINE AND THE GATHERING STORM
…I had no romantic designs whatsoever. She was a member of my study group and she asked for my help. Sooner of later, I thought, I may need her help in return. From a purely transactional point of view, I concluded, I was making an investment in the furtherance of my academic goals…Yeah, right. I didn’t believe that either…
Background
This is a work of fiction. Any similarities to actual persons and/or events is purely coincidental. The main character — and narrator — is Alejandro Zurita, a twenty-two year old bon vivant, studying Business Administration at Vanier College in Montréal in the early spring of 1996, just as the dot com boom and the Web 1.0 is about to start…
Author’s note: This chapter is dedicated to “Miss Animus Invictus”, for your inspiration, courage, and “middle finger to the world”. Keep on truckin’, Momma.
Oh every time the phone rings My mind goes
The same dream again. I was flying. I soared across the sky, flying the length of “Calle Primera”, first street, from the intersection of “Respaldo Luperón” all the way to “La Linea”, the train tracks belonging to the local sugar mill, “El Central Romana²”.
I saw our house, with its mismatched tin roof and slanted construction. “El Colmado Guillamo”, the corner bodega. I zoomed past “La Hebanisteria Hustrera”, the custom furniture factory at the corner of “Calle C”, or C street. I looked down at yard and cluttered loading dock area, with its half-finished pile of tables, chairs and the odd armoire.
I crossed the train tracks and stopped at “El Play” the wide open, empty field that marked the boundary between Villa Pereira, El Ensanche Quisqueya and Villa España.
I was high up in the sky, but I could clearly make out the discarded milk cartons we used to fashion our catcher’s mitts, the sticks — of various forms and length — used as bats and the old, moldy socks, filled with rags and bits of newspapers we used as baseballs.
I remember smiling at the sight of piles of chewed up and dried out sugar cane stalks. As the freight trains approached, loaded to the brim with sugar cane harvested from the bateyes, we would run alongside it, hop on board a hopper cart at a blind spot, yank as many of the tightly packed stalks as we could before the train carried us too far.
Once done, we had to jump off, tuck and roll, to join the other kids in gathering the loot. We would pile up the haul and spend the next several hours peeling the stalks with our bare teeth or a homemade knife, enjoying the fruit of our labor: sweet, ill-gotten sugar cane nectar.
The entire enterprise was not without risks, several kids, including some of my friends, had been injured or even killed — pulled down to the undercarriage by the train’s downdraft. An arm or a leg would get caught by the side flange, the whole body would be pulled under and crushed between the steel wheels and the steel tracks.
It could happen at any time, suddenly a piece of loose clothing would get tangled up while either hopping in or jumping out, and that was all she wrote. My father had made it very clear, under penalty of death, that I was not to go near that area. It was both a warning and a threat. One I routinely ignored.
Once hopped up on sugar, we would either play “beisbol” with our homemade gear, or if the winds were favorable, fly our “Chichigüas”, or homemade kites. These we made with coconut leaves’ stems tied together into a six-sided hexagon, and covered with a flattened and stretched out plastic shopping bag.
We would cut rags into long thin strips for the tail and used our mom’s sewing or knitting kit threads as the lines. In my dream, the corner of the field closest to the train tracks was always littered with piles of dried coconut leaves, all with their stems missing.
I looked up, trying to decide whether to turn right and fly over “El Hospital de Salúd Publica”, the public hospital and over to Villa España; or turn left and head on down to El Ensanche Quisqueya. El Ensanche Quisqueya was a sub-division built for the workers of the Central Romana and their families.
If your Dad worked at the Central Romana sugar mill in town — not the bateyes with the Haitian migrant workers — and he was a unionized, full time worker, then “La Associación Romana de Ahorros & Prestamos¹”, the workers’ union’s Credit Union would lend your Dad the money with which to buy a house — provided your family could cobble together the down payment — and, as they say, move on up from the slums.
The mortgage payments were automatically deducted from your Dad’s monthly pay cheque, along with his union dues and other payroll deductions. As long as your Dad did not get “parado”, or laid off — and your family could afford the mortgage — you all could continue calling El Ensanche Quisqueya your home, and rub the noses of the kids on the other side of the tracks in it.
I was about to head on down on “Calle Cazique Caonabo” when a bunch of other kids came out of nowhere and started chasing me. Grabbing my ankles and trying to pull me down to ground. I tried to fly higher and faster but they kept getting closer.
All of the sudden it was night and everything was pitch black. This was not uncommon since the nightly “apagones”, or blackouts were a feature of daily life on Hispaniola. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw a truck full of soldiers, bloodthirsty goons with their guns at the ready, coming to kill anyone violating curfew. I knew I had to run and hide. I tried to dig a hole on the ground but they were getting closer faster than I could dig deeper.
I had to get out of there and hide…but I couldn’t. Oh, my God, they were here. I saw one of them jump out of the truck, his face painted black, his carabine pointing menacingly at me. He was going to kill me, I was sure. Now he was running towards me, screaming, like a high pitched ring.
“Ring-ring-ring. Pause. Ring-ring-ring.” Somehow I realized I was dreaming, just as he lifted his weapon to fire it at me — I willed myself to open my eyes and wake up. “Ring-ring-ring. Pause. Ring-ring-ring.”
I woke up to the sounds of the house phone ringing on Candy’s side of the bed. I looked over to her, but she wasn’t there. “Ring-ring-ring. Pause. Ring-ring-ring.”
“What time is it?” I thought. “Ring-ring-ring. Pause. Ring-ring-ring.”
“Did I sleep in?” The bathroom door was closed, but I could see a shaft of light coming through the small space where the door meets the floor. I heard the shower running and realized Candy was already up, getting ready for work. “Ring-ring-ring. Pause. Ring-ring-ring.”
I rolled over to Candy’s side, resting my head on her pillow, wisps of her scent drifting by me. I picked up the receiver, not quite sure who would be calling at such ungodly hour,
“Oui, bonjour,” I spoke, in my best, neutral, “Yes, hello. But this better be fucking important” way I tended to use to answer the phone at 6:15 in the goddamned morning.
“Alejandro? This is Derrick. Derrick Hatfield,” came the response. The caller did not need to say more. Derrick Hatfield was my boss’ boss, “Il capo di tutti i capi”, The big cohuna, or Grand Poobah.
He was a quiet, easy going man who liked vintage printed shirts, younger, voluptuous women — with more than a passing resemblance to Anna Nicole Smith — and driving second-hand, dated-but-drivable Jaguar Sedans. You wouldn’t know it by looking at him, but he was loaded.
“Good morning, sir. How are you?” I asked, sitting up and waking the fuck-up in a hurry.
“I’m fine. Listen,” he began. Mr. Hatfield was easy going and polite, but he spoke with the frank assertiveness of someone who knows they have more money than God and the power to compel people to do their bidding.
“Sebastien tells me you’re going on holidays for two weeks,” he continued without waiting for me to answer. “You’re taking your girl to Hispaniola for some fun in the sun, eh?” The transparent double entendre hanging in the air.
“Pinche guevón,” Dirty old man, I didn’t Say. Instead, I answered as evenly as possible.
“Umm, yes, sir. We are leaving tonight at 7:00pm, after work. We return two weeks from tomorrow, on Saturday.”
“Nonsense. Take the day off,” he said. “You stepped up to the plate when Giuseppe couldn’t Cope. You kept the place moving and got the work done without bitching, unlike the other guys,” he added with muted contempt.
“Well, that’s the job, sir,” I assured him. “To get the customers their shipment on time.” I was wondering where this conversation was going. Was I going to get promoted, handed an early Christmas bonus or was he just blowing smoke up my ass.
“Out with it, man. Get to the point!” I yelled in my head. Sensing my impatience, he quickly added,
“Be that as it may, you handled it, so take the day off,” he ordered. “Go and enjoy your trip and when you get back, bring me the receipts. Coloumbe will write you a cheque for the total, Ok?” It may have sounded like a question at the end, but it was not. Mr. Hatfield had given me an order and he expected me to follow it.
“Eh, yes, sir. Thank you!” I said, hoping that what little excitement I had managed to muster this early – and in such short notice – was enough to convince the old coot.
“Don’t mention it,” he insisted. “Have a good time and bring me a large bottle of that Brugal Añejo rhum you’re always raving about. Oh, and a box of that Don Carlos’ Double Robusto cigars. None of that Cuban ‘legacy’ crap. I want the best Dominican stuff they got!”
With that, he hung up and I was left to plan a full day of me-myself-and-I while waiting for Candy to be done in the bathroom. Suddenly I had to drop a deuce real bad, considering what I ate and drank the night before, I thought it best if done in private. | https://medium.com/the-desabafo/c%C3%B4te-des-neiges-chapter-viii-613cfd753434 | ['Juan Alberto Cirez'] | 2020-10-15 08:04:55.482000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Relationships', 'Fiction', 'Erotica', 'Music'] |
1,141 | The Apple Car is Coming — kinda. New reports show Apple might take Tesla… | Photo by Taneli Lahtinen on Unsplash
The Apple Car is Coming — kinda
New reports show Apple might take Tesla on from a new angle
Digitimes, a Taiwanese tech publication, recently leaked that Apple is working with the chip TMZ (who makes Apple Silicon) to create a chip for cars. Before we dive into what this means, it should be disclosed that Digitimes has a record of around 65% accuracy at the time of writing this. So take everything with a grain of salt.
This isn’t the first time rumors have suggested that Apple has been reaching into Tesla’s lane (sorry). We’ve been hearing rumors around “Project Titan” for many years. Apple apparently at one time even tried to buy Tesla in 2013 for $230 a share. That’s about what it was worth in 2019. Apple was obviously trying really hard to get their hands around the budding car company.
Our current rumors point towards Apple not working on a new car, but rather self-driving silicon chips. These chips would be available to other manufactures to put into their own cars.
Photo by Laura Ockel on Unsplash
Why This Is a Big Deal
Tesla has, until this point, been really the only real innovator in the self-driving car game. Yes, there are plenty of other company startups that are trying to build autonomous taxi services and other likes, but Tesla is miles ahead.
Unlike other companies, Tesla is in the real world. And not just the streets of one carefully mapped out city but literally worldwide in the hands of any consumer who buys one. And that means Tesla has data. Lots and lots of data.
Apple’s “Project Titan” is the first real competition for Tesla, not because of data, but because it’s one of the world’s biggest companies. And now it turns out Apple probably isn’t working on an actual car. Just chips to go in other cars.
If true, this is bad news for Tesla. Other car manufactures will be able to now add Apple’s self-driving capabilities into their own vehicles, instantly making them on par with Tesla.
As for data, Tesla is still a relatively small car company. Yet, if Apple’s chips could be collecting data from cars produced by a bunch of manufacturers. With the whole team of models that will get Apple’s treatment, they can easily start collecting much more data than Tesla.
Photo by Tamara Chemij from Burst
This is Really Unlike the Apple We Know
Apple usually targets consumers. It’s odd that they’re making a part that goes into a different product they have no control over. Apple has historically never licensed out their operating systems or hardware (usually).
It’s interesting that Apple is choosing to make a part now. I wouldn’t be surprised that if Apple forces car manufacturers to go through a rigorous process before they have the ability to add the chip. This would be pretty much Apple’s only defense to making sure their products only appear in the top of the line cars. Apple is very worried about its image is and giving up these rains is… different.
Photo by Charlie Deets on Unsplash
Is This Going to Kill Tesla?
Let’s, first of all, remember this is only a rumor. From there keep in mind that just because Apple is developing something doesn’t mean it will actually come out. But let’s say Apple does develop this and does in fact release it to the world. Would Tesla be in trouble?
No, probably not. But it would defiantly give them some competition.
Tesla, to this point, has had basically no competition at the same level as them. They’ve been able to rule the world and get all of the spotlights in the techy-car world. This chip would not only be a new competitor but a really big threat.
Apple has a strong relationship with companies like TMZ and with many other production line companies. Tesla, on the other hand, is relatively young and still making relationships with other companies.
This will definitely be interesting to keep an eye on. I look forward to seeing what comes to fruition. | https://medium.com/macoclock/the-apple-car-is-coming-kinda-22ea8777dba9 | ['Henry Gruett'] | 2020-12-16 07:40:40.517000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Tech', 'Apple', 'Tesla', 'Cars'] |
1,142 | What is the Future of UX Design? | Postscript:
And this about AI impact on UX Design has been discussed a lot. So has the example of The Grid, who I refer to as a Clayton Christensen disruptive entrant. In some ways, The Grid is the hero (like the mini steel plants and mini computers.) Here is one great piece from UX Collective by Fabricio Teixeira — “How AI has started to impact our work as designers.” Fabricio is bang on about the impact of AI and that its well-suited to do the chores like cropping images, maybe sort and tag images. However, I believe this is the sort of productivity we will see in the short term, not wholesale, but in those large agencies with large stable accounts and steady budget flows. My point is that in the longer term, as technologies mature, they will be capable of doing good design maybe with 1000x more iterations, A/B test, iterate again and publish widely. During the early days of WWW, we had designers hand crafting attractive banner ads. In the future, these may just be the output of an AI driven ad serving platform that creates a campaign, negotiates and buys spots, runs the campaign, learns from it and repeats. Of course, the path to that has its trials and tribulations like Microsoft’s Tay! These are those patchy early version prototypes that will eventually disrupt.
Instead, UX professionals in future neednt be limited to UX or the stuff above line of visibility, which machines may replace. They ought to work closely with Product Managers and Engineers to re imagine product experiences.
For example let us consider the common, abstract five star rating feedback method. This UX is a legacy of OLTP (transaction) systems in its thinking. Feedback is captured in a manner that suits how its processed, which is rule based, rigid. Go with me and imagine how this feedback mechanism overhauled assuming the rigid rules are replaced by self learning AI systems.
Concept for an AI based feedback system where FEEDBACK is a RELATIONSHIP and not a TRANSACTION.
What if AI inverts the feedback from an explicit, overt system to an implicit covert approach, wherein, AI system observes and learns user relationship with products or services in a context that it determines as appropriate, to capture the feedback as a continuous ‘relationship’ with the product/service as against a ‘transaction’ with the product. This image is only a conceptual illustration wherein Feedback = relationship is constructed and changes with time. There can be an aggregate view or the splits to drill down. User has control on which view or all views to share. This is an example of how UXers can question the norm and reimagine the product to address power of new technologies, while allowing the same system to focus on the chores of generating ‘designs’ for UXer to choose from. In that sense, future of UX Designer would be part curator, part designer. The distinction between what a designer does and AI does is likely to be between rich organic memories (human) and artificial rules/graphs (AI). Those memories will be our strength and guide our hand and eye.
As you leave, read this brilliant piece by Mariana Lin on the distinction between an artificial persona and a human persona.
Caveat: I admit to overly optimistic and exuberant assessment here and this is an area of speculation. I am informed by my own 7 year journey as a designer co-founder at a Hadoop based big data startup (see - ramblings from a failed startup journey ) | https://uxdesign.cc/what-is-the-future-of-ux-designer-5832475ab454 | ['Sridhar Dhulipala'] | 2018-08-28 05:58:45.138000+00:00 | ['Automation', 'Technology And Design', 'User Experience', 'Careers', 'Future Of Ux'] |
1,143 | Why spending on technology is worth it? | Can we even think of living without our phones even for a couple of hours?
The answer is a big NO!
The technology is so widespread and has changed our lifestyle completely. It is us ourselves getting dependent by creating these things but technology is the future. It changes our perspective of doing things and widens our thinking process. There is a strict need to stay connected with the ongoing changes in the technology. Success without learning technology is unimaginable for the upcoming generations. Businesses that don’t show them up on internet will brutally fail. Even hospitals have started performing remote surgeries which also follows high accuracy. This would help the best talent to provide surgeries across the seas. Each of the sector is upgrading and automating their businesses with the help of technology so as to generate more revenue. So here, the businesses who adopt latest innovations will always grow at a faster pace. The only competition left is the business who leverages the technology first, wins.
Whether it’s an adult or a growing kid, learning about digital media is the best way to stay connected with the world. Media has grown up so vast that we come across a new tech update every minute or even less. Every individual must spend wisely on new gadgets and upgradations as it is our key to learning. Technology is owning large businesses these days just like “Uber does not own any car and Airbnb has no properties of its own.” Spending on technology is not really spending, but considered as investment for our generation. No identified business seems to work without computers and tech specially in 2020 as being digital is the only way to survive in this time of pandemic.
This has enhanced our thinking capabilities and made us more creative and problem solving. The ease of getting things done in seconds has lured us into using these innovations.
Who would have imagined the world of driverless cars without the sense of technology. The true skills lie in learning how the technology works because this is the future. No work would have been easily done without this in life. | https://medium.com/@arnav29gupta/why-spending-on-technology-is-worth-it-4ef3bef29379 | ['Arnav Gupta'] | 2020-12-16 11:24:34.034000+00:00 | ['Gadgets', 'Tech', 'Investment', 'Technology'] |
1,144 | The Tech Companies That Want to Cut Remote Workers’ Salaries | The Tech Companies That Want to Cut Remote Workers’ Salaries
Setting up a future battle between employees and management.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies may decide to make work-from-home a permanent option for employees. After all, remote work offers benefits to employees and employers alike. However, some of these firms may attempt to force those remote workers to take a pay cut of some sort, and it’s an open question how those workers will react.
VMware is the latest company to offer its employees the chance to work from home, even after the pandemic subsides and employees nationwide begin heading back into the office. However, if those employees choose to move to a place with a lower cost of living, they’ll face an adjustment in pay. According to Bloomberg, which quoted anonymous sources within VMware, an employee moving from Palo Alto, California (where VMware is headquartered) to Denver would need to take an 18 percent salary cut; moving to Los Angeles or San Diego would translate into an eight percent cut.
VMware senior vice president of human resources Rich Lang defended the practice by saying that employees who move to more expensive cities could get a raise to compensate for pricier rents and mortgages. When it comes to the U.S., though, Silicon Valley and San Francisco are generally viewed as the most expensive places to live (with New York City close behind), so any adjustments will likely be cuts. Will employees who previously made a certain salary in Silicon Valley see any kind of adjustment as fair?
ServiceNow, which makes cloud-based enterprise software, is also considering whether to adjust the salaries of employees who move from Silicon Valley. The company’s CEO, Bill McDermott, defended the potential to cut salaries. As quoted by Bloomberg:
“I don’t believe we should have an environment where management is not involved with those determinations, because what you could get into here is a situation where employees then become the decision-maker in working literally from anywhere, and you would have a hard time organizing and holding together a culture if that was the case.”
If we’re following McDermott’s logic correctly, not cutting salaries for remote workers in cheaper cities would somehow translate into a weakening of corporate culture.
Meanwhile, Facebook was one of the first tech giants to announce that its employees would no longer have to head into the office on a daily basis; it also stated that employees who moved away from Silicon Valley might need to take that cost-of-living cut. Contrast that with Twitter, which announced its own remote-work plans at roughly the same time — but hasn’t yet said whether employees will see their paychecks reduced if they move away from the West Coast.
And here’s where things get interesting: According to Dice’s ongoing COVID-19 Sentiment Survey, technologists everywhere are very highly opposed to taking any kind of pay cut in exchange for remote work, especially since the majority have already been doing so for months. In survey after survey, roughly 3 percent have said they’d be willing to take a 15 percent salary cut, while only 1 percent would take a 25 percent cut. Around 76 percent, meanwhile, have said they wouldn’t take any kind of cut in exchange for remote work.
Those numbers suggest that any company trying to take pay away from remote technologists will have a fight on its hands, especially if those technologists have in-demand skills that a company can’t afford to lose. Combine that with the cost of living on the rise in many cities, and things get really complicated.
“It doesn’t matter that ‘pay is always based on location,’” an anonymous technologist at Hulu recently told Blind, which surveys technologists about current issues. “That old way of thinking needs to die because it exploits labor. The employee’s labor provides the same value regardless of working location. The circumstances changed, so we need to force things to change as well. Don’t accept a pay cut for changing your location. Ask the company tough questions. Is my value to the company less if I live in North Carolina or Colorado? If they won’t budge, quit.”
But some technologists are willing to consider a company’s offer of lesser pay for more geographical freedom. “I’ll gladly do this,” a VMware employee also told Blind. “It’s only a reduction on base, and base makes up half of my TC [total compensation]. So a net 6.5% decrease in my TC to move to a place where houses are 20% of the price and taxes alone make up ~5–6% difference? Sign me up.” | https://medium.com/dice-insights/the-tech-companies-that-want-to-cut-remote-workers-salaries-22b0884a2ff4 | ['Nick Kolakowski'] | 2020-09-25 15:03:02.548000+00:00 | ['Remote Working', 'Technology', 'Salary', 'Silicon Valley', 'Job Hunting'] |
1,145 | Learning About BIM Coordination | Probably like you, I had never heard of BIM Coordination until I joined a digital marketing agency called Black Raven AFC in Chesterfield, Missouri. One of the first clients that I worked with was a company called Cadblox. Cadblox is a group of BIM Technology experts who provide 3D Modeling for Masonry Contractors. So what does that mean, exactly?
According to Autodesk, Building Information Modeling (BIM) is an intelligent 3D model-based process that gives architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) professionals the insight and tools to more efficiently plan, design, construct, and manage buildings and infrastructure.
Cadblox, specifically, has used this technology to work with Rice University, the Milwaukee Bucks, and the St Louis arch-grounds.
So basically at Cadblox, BIM technology / BIM coordination allows masonry contractors to speak to all other trades through their Cadblox 3D LOD 350 model. This will eliminate any potential conflicts between various MEP (mechanical, electrical, plumbing) and FP (fire protection) systems.
So it is through BIM technology that architects and engineers can evaluate design options and automatically generate accurate 2D drawings from the 3D models. | https://medium.com/@gatewaywebdesign/learning-about-bim-coordination-3975760efe45 | [] | 2020-12-24 13:50:23.257000+00:00 | ['Bim Coordination', 'Bim Technology', 'Cadblox', 'Milwaukee Bucks', 'Architecture'] |
1,146 | 8 Themes For The Near Future Of Tech 🔮 | As we pull ourselves out of the ditch that was 2020, there are a few major themes of the future I’m particularly excited about. Like previous years, I am sharing them as a way to connect more dots, meet more founders, and solicit input to further develop these ideas. No surprise, some of the companies I mention within these trends are in my own portfolio or related to my work. But I have challenged myself to share ideas still on the cusp of breakout rather than the obvious trends and winners.
“Decentralized” is spreading to unexpected places. The Era of Eduployment: Identifying a trade, getting an education, and getting a job (or starting a company) become fully integrated. A few seemingly quirky social apps will tune into the under 16 demographic’s distinct approach to creation as a form of self-expression and tolerance for transparency by default. Talent will increasingly own their audience, with the rise of “channels of one” and community-as-a-service. More and more niche functions of the enterprise will become multi-player, powered by a next generation of highly specialized, AI-bolstered, enterprise companies with consumerized product experiences. Creativity tools will be deployed across the enterprise, much like productivity tools were deployed in previous decades. New and disruptive interfaces will emerge that aggregate and connect the underlying services we use to live and work. Another round of “the roaring 20's” is ahead of us, where the pent-up desires from the pandemic will be unleashed in the form of fashion, travel, and culture-bending creative self-expression.
“Decentralized” is spreading to unexpected places.
Yes, Bitcoin and blockchain-powered solutions are all the rage these days. One side-effect is ideas for how other aspects of work and life can be decentralized. For example, Ben Rubin’s /Talk is developing ways to decentralize how teams work (it turns out the very notion of “meetings” may be an archaic and wasteful vestige of centralized workplaces). The team at Braintrust is using both the principles and technology of blockchain to build a user-controlled talent network. Rather than take any fees or percentage of the participating talent’s income, my understanding is that Braintrust plans to gain value alongside other participants via tokens that become more valuable as the network grows. And the team at CashDrop has built a way for anyone (from a taco stand to an apparel designer) to build a storefront without the fees and commissions from traditional marketplaces. Taking a step back, the traditional model of central owners of community-powered utilities (marketplaces, app stores, etc.) taking a percentage of everything (and central “bosses” for huge teams insisting on reviewing and approving everything) may finally be getting old. About time!
The Era of Eduployment: Identifying a trade, getting an education, and getting a job (or starting a company) become fully integrated.
Take Nana for instance, a company that will train you in appliance repair (think unique brands of dishwashers, etc), and then set you up in a marketplace to start getting jobs in your local area fueled by leads from the manufacturers of these appliances. Or take Main Street, who will train you as a painter, outfit you with everything you need, and set you up to be a successful business out of the gate within 30 days — essentially turning you into a franchise. Rather than enduring an expensive education only to assume the complete risk of your career, this new eduployment model, as I’ve come to call it, gives everyone skin in the game. The vertical integration of education and employment is upon us, and I think this trend will help address major systematic issues in our economy at scale while also minting a ton of new small businesses.
A few seemingly quirky social apps will tune into the under 16 demographic’s distinct approach to creation as a form of self-expression and tolerance for transparency by default.
I’m seeing more entrepreneurs starting social apps now than in years past, and they’re no longer building off of Facebook’s graph or emulating existing products with slight iterations. Nope, these are (finally) wildly original ideas. One of my favorites, under the radar but experiencing rapid growth, is ItsMe. Now approximately #24 in App Store under social networking, ItsMe connects you with others based on your mood, it MAKES YOU create your own appearance, and allows you to communicate with text, voice, audio, or drawing among other forms. And there are a few other new social models brewing that I am quite excited about. What do these next gen social platforms share? They combine ephemeral sharing with lasting reputation building, they lean towards default transparency and with a more liberal interpretation of “privacy,” and they have fewer creative constraints and are geared to reward those with the most creative self-expression. In the category of social, I am also quite excited about the rebirth of Gowalla as a wild social game still a bit under wraps that will take place in the real world, and Public, a social network for public market investing. Suffice to say, the future of social is exciting and, contrary to popular belief, will not be constrained to today’s dominant social networks.
Talent will increasingly own their audience, with the rise of “channels of one” and community-as-a-service.
Gone are the days when super talented people needed to sign a contract with a TV network to break through. But the ad-supported and algorithmically-driven alternatives, like YouTube and TikTok, still have the upper hand with talent. The pursuit to “own your own audience” will be a macro trend over the coming years. Equivalents to Substack (where you build and monetize your own email list) will emerge in video, communities, branded products (like Borgo, still pre-launch) and other ways to build, manage, and monetize your audience. Some early breakouts like OnlyFans and Patreon give us a sense of what is possible. But I am especially enthusiastic about products like Circle and Geneva that power fully-fledged community functionality for brands and individuals. If you’re a content creator of any kind, you can now spin up a community to gather your audience and spawn all sorts of offshoot services to delight (and monetize) your base. In such a world, the Instagram and YouTube type products simply serve as top-of-funnel marketing initiatives. The goal becomes simply converting everyone you reach on other platforms to your own privately owned and managed channel. We will see a massive acceleration of this trend in the years ahead.
More and more niche functions of the enterprise will become multi-player, powered by a next generation of highly specialized, AI-bolstered, enterprise companies with consumerized product experiences.
From procurement and security to financial planning and design, functions of a company that were once siloed to particular teams are being transformed by SaaS tools that are collaborative-by default, easier to use, and inclusive of stakeholders across the company. Those of you who co-invest with me know my obsession with this space. From companies like Globality for procurement, Sora for HR interactions, Meter for wifi and IT, Welcome for hiring, closing, and onboarding new employees, there are many approaches and the list goes on. These types of products will fundamentally change how big companies operate across functions while transforming the quality of life for employees. And to help fuel this transformation, WorkOS is building enterprise-readiness as a service, enabling new companies to start selling to enterprise customers with just a few lines of code, with the value proposition “Single Sign-On (SSO) to your app in minutes.” And Scarf is building tools for open source developers to service and monetize enterprise customers. So, lots of energy in this space up and down the stack. One side consequence of all this: increasingly crowded and outdated customer acquisition channels for enterprise SaaS. This is also a problem/opportunity to solve.
Creativity tools will be deployed across the enterprise, much like productivity tools were deployed in previous decades.
Until the age of AI, being more productive was the best way to stand out at work. But now, as bots and algorithms supplant mundane and repetitive labor in the workplace, the benefits of human labor will shift to the skills and capabilities that are uniquely human. Chief among them: creativity. Think compelling ways to visualize data, better ways to share a narrative with your co-workers, attractive graphics to spice up every presentation, and powerful prototypes that are worth a hundred meetings. These capabilities will drive outperformance at work (and in school, and on social) in the coming decades, and everyone must be outfitted to make it happen. Obviously, this is a major focus in my day job as Chief Product Officer for my creative teams at Adobe. We see this massive broadening of the market divided into two types of personas: content-first creators and collaboration-first creators. The former wants to start with something — an image, a video or a graphic — and remix or deconstruct. The latter starts by bringing together a group of people and leveraging shared assets (we’ve been gradually turning Creative Cloud into a “creative system” of sorts for this very purpose). Of course, this need requires new types of tools on modern platforms like the web. Adobe, along with a whole ecosystem of new apps, are working to make this happen.
New and disruptive interfaces will emerge that aggregate and connect the underlying services we use to live and work.
This is certainly not a new trend, and I’ve been writing about the “interface layers” and the “battle to be the default” since 2014. But the explosion of SaaS offerings for everyday work (enterprise trend noted above) and life is setting the stage for a new problem and opportunity: How do we stitch it all together? Consider the digital spaces in which we spend our days — the “home” page of our favorite apps, the finder on our desktops, the home screens of our phones. We’re creating different kinds of documents, files, folders, and teams all over the place! We have specialized apps for everything and must manage permissions in so many places. All of these various cloud documents and services have different schemas and don’t interact with one another — it’s a mess. Some companies are rising to the occasion, including Command E (an easy keyboard shortcut to open any document, contact, file or record from the cloud) and another early stage stealth company I am excited about. No doubt, all of these underlying services and resources WILL be stitched together, and whoever does the stitching will control the interface where we actually live, work, and make decisions.
Another round of “the roaring 20’s” is ahead of us, where the pent-up desires from the pandemic will be unleashed in the form of fashion, travel, and culture-bending creative self-expression.
My family and I endured a good chunk of the pandemic with our neighbor and dear friend Jenn Hyman, co-founder and CEO of RentTheRunway, and her family. Needless to say, the stay-at-home world made for a very difficult year for Jenn’s team. But now, with a light at the end of the tunnel, Jenn has a new energy. She believes that post-pandemic fashion will have more fun and edge than ever before. I agree, and imagine our vaccinated selves fervently jumping back into the world through travel, fashion, parties, concerts, and meeting new people. (After all, the last century’s Roaring 20’s also followed a pandemic, the 1918 Spanish Flu.) Our desire to fill the cultural void that has accumulated in us will result in a form of overcompensation that will make for an epic decade ahead (yes, i’m a relentless optimist).
Like all of you, I am eager to move past the challenges of 2020. I’m hopeful that we emerge more productive from the “great refactoring” we all endured, and that we can all reclaim the ~30% of cognitive load that has been consumed by political craziness, gaslighting, and a seemingly never-ending stream of things to worry about. With our newfound peace and capacity, may we all dream and build in equal parts!
~~~
(special thanks to a few friends who read/provided feedback before publishing, including Semil Shah, Jenn Hyman, Satya Patel, and my operating partner for the early-stage portfolio, Sheldon Wong)
Follow Scott on Twitter, get the latest book — The Messy Middle, read other recent posts by Scott, or sign up for an infrequent newsletter of insights. | https://medium.com/positiveslope/8-themes-for-the-near-future-of-tech-410dbb0b1afb | ['Scott Belsky'] | 2021-01-05 18:38:54.482000+00:00 | ['Product', 'Design', 'Technology', 'Product Management', 'Tech'] |
1,147 | Still Can’t Figure Out Smart Contracts? Read This | One of the amazing gifts the blockchain has given us is smart contracts. Blockchain technology has not only given us control over our money but also ensured that we can enforce agreements without middlemen. The purpose of this guide is to help you understand smart contracts and how they work. Keep reading to learn more.
Image source: Security Artwork
The History of Smart Contracts
The concept of a smart contract is not new. Back in 1994, Computer Scientist Nick Szabo proposed smart contracts for the first time. However, the developer world achieved the application of the concept in the 21st century. After Satoshi Nakamoto released the first successful use case of blockchain technology in 2009, he opened up the world to a lot of possibilities, including smart contracts.
With the blockchain, an idea that a Computer Scientist proposed about 15 years earlier can now run effectively!
Szabo is the creator of Bit Gold, one of the earliest virtual currencies. Additionally, the bitcoin community has suspected him of being Satoshi Nakamoto.
What Are Smart Contracts?
According to Szabo, a smart contract is “a computerized transaction protocol that executes the terms of a contract.” This type of a contract is written in code, executing the terms of a contract automatically based on an if/then condition.
In his smart contract paper, Szabo explains that the objectives of a smart contract are “to satisfy common contractual conditions (such as payment terms, liens, confidentiality, and even enforcement), minimize exceptions both malicious and accidental, and minimize the need for trusted intermediaries.”
You can use smart contracts to perform tasks like property transactions, car purchases, and to exchange shares. Since a smart contract runs on the blockchain, it benefits from transparency, the elimination of middlemen, and it does away with conflicts. It is for this reason that a smart contract is also called a blockchain contract. Other names include self-executing contracts and digital contracts.
Note that a smart contract can run on any blockchain. One of the most popular blockchains that run smart contracts is Ethereum.
How Do They Work?
A developer will create a smart contract based on conditional programming where it executes an agreement if the set conditions are met. Therefore, based on the actions of the parties involved, the smart contract will determine if the asset in question will go to the intended person or back to the seller. In addition, it will determine if it should refund the payment or hold the payment if the funds are sent earlier than the agreed-upon date.
To illustrate how such a contract would work, imagine that you want to sell your car. You have decided to use a self-executing contract because it will make the transaction smooth. Also, you have decided to use the Ethereum blockchain to make the transaction.
You might need the help of a developer to create a smart contract. However, you and the buyer have to create and agree on the rules of the transaction.
The other components of a smart contract are:
Digital signatures. These are the private keys for the parties involved. You will use the private keys to initiate the contract.
These are the private keys for the parties involved. You will use the private keys to initiate the contract. The Subject of the contract. The subject gives the contract access to the item that the parties are exchanging. In this example, the subject is the car.
Keep in mind that you will also have to upload to the blockchain all the necessary materials such as car ownership and personal identification documents to make the transaction a success.
To begin the transaction, the buyer will send the payment in ether for which they will get a receipt. The funds will be held in escrow. Next, you will send the digital key that gives the buyer access to the ownership documents. Once you send the documents, the payment will be released from escrow and into your wallet. Simple and fast, right?
From the above example, the buyer will only receive car ownership documents if they send the payment. On the other hand, you will only receive the payment if you transfer the ownership documents.
The parties involved cannot interfere with the contract because they will both get an alert. Additionally, the documents that you add to the blockchain are encrypted and kept safe thanks to cryptography.
Image source: tibco.com
Where Can You Use a Smart Contract?
You can use blockchain contracts in various ways. Here are a few possible applications:
Supply chain: a smart contract can reduce fraud, payment delays, and costs in the supply chain. For instance, a supplier can start creating a new product once he receives payment from the previous supply. Car insurance: insurance companies can use a smart contract to charge varying rates depending on the location and the conditions under which clients are operating the vehicles. Real estate: you can use a self-executing contract to conduct a lease transaction. If the tenant pays, then the landlord will release the lease documents giving him occupancy rights. For instance, the Tinaga Island Resort crypto project could use smart contracts during our villa pre-sale. The smart contract executes if the buyer sends payment, which is then held in escrow. We would then have to send the digital key that will give the buyer access to the necessary ownership documents to receive the payment. Health: a healthcare facility can use a smart contract to give access to personal health records to only a few people. Therefore, if you do not fit the eligibility criteria, the smart contract will deny you access to the data.
Is There a Downside to Smart Contracts?
Smart contracts offer trust, autonomy, security, speed, accuracy, and cost reduction. However, they have their downside as well. Think about it. How can you tax transactions taking place via a smart contract? How can governments regulate smart contracts? Is government regulation a good thing in this case? These are complex matters. Therefore, the difficulty of integrating regulations with smart contracts could inhibit faster adoption.
Another factor to keep in mind is that a court of law might not recognize a smart contract as legal proof if there is a conflict. Also, the role of lawyers is not eliminated when it comes to smart contracts. You still need them to help you create a contract that is feasible in court.
On the other hand, exposure to bugs is a possible barrier to an effective smart contract. That is because a bug will prevent it from working as it should. Lastly, you need a developer to create a smart contract for you, which could lead to increased costs.
As more development goes into smart contracts, these issues could be solved with time. For now, however, it is satisfying to have a solution to the trust and speed issues we face today when two or more parties are making transactions.
We are currently in the pre-sale stage of our project. At only $0.1 per token, you can own equity in an island property in the Philippines. To buy TIRC tokens, visit our website. Note that we have already distributed tokens to the initial buyers. So, hurry before they are sold out. | https://medium.com/@tinagaislandresort/smart-contracts-5b7913c023b0 | ['Tinaga Island Resort'] | 2020-12-10 15:55:58.334000+00:00 | ['Smart Contracts', 'Blockchain Technology', 'Nick Szabo', 'Blockchain Contract', 'Ethereum Blockchain'] |
1,148 | WebRTC 화상회의에서 로컬녹화 구현하기 | in Both Sides of the Table | https://medium.com/uprismio/webrtc-%ED%99%94%EC%83%81%ED%9A%8C%EC%9D%98%EC%97%90%EC%84%9C-%EB%A1%9C%EC%BB%AC%EB%85%B9%ED%99%94-%EA%B5%AC%ED%98%84%ED%95%98%EA%B8%B0-60a9395220ce | [] | 2019-09-09 13:06:07.321000+00:00 | ['Technology And Design', '로컬녹화', 'Uprismio Meetings', '유프리즘', 'WebRTC'] |
1,149 | A Proprietor’s Economy | A Proprietor’s Economy
City Building — Thomas H Benton
Here’s the premise: If everyone becomes their own boss, where can tech add value? Already, we see nearly 20M Americans participating in the gig-economy, with 20M additional self-employed or non-gig contractors. What kind of tools will become relevant in an economy of ‘Solopreneurs’?
A new class of no-code tools is being built to serve internal teams at SMBs and enterprises. However, the secondary effect is that these new tools will enable new, independent businesses by increasing the capabilities of the individual. As the line between developers and operators begins to blur, so too does the line between the SMB and proprietorship. There exists a long-tail of hidden entrepreneurs who have been unable to execute against a digital vision because the tools (JavaScript, Python, and C/C++) were too complex.
As @Naval suggested recently, the Information Age is going to reverse the socio-cultural effects of the Industrial Age as it relates to profession. Information technology is making it easier to outsource micro-transactions, which results in what Naval calls “the atomization of the firm”. Many startups are formed today by shaving little pieces of business away from larger companies and subsequently creating enormous markets by offloading that function across many enterprises.
“The information revolution, by making it easier to communicate, connect, and cooperate, is allowing us to go back to working for ourselves”
Simultaneously, the sun is rising on agnostic “Lego-Block” tools that allow non-developers to create databases, messaging apps, and marketing tools pointed at specific use-cases and customer segments. It is interesting to observe the way non-technical folks can leverage the power of programming to a greater extent. The recent launches of companies like Parabola, Glide, and Retool confirm this growing trend. Should we consider these tools to be “enterprise-grade”? It feels like the incorrect bucket.
Instead, these tools are for the individual regardless of the contextual enterprise, SMB, or proprietorship. Many folks posit that tools like Airtable and Zapier will contribute to a new-age Accenture or KPMG. Instead, I think it means that independent ‘no-code’ consultants will have a field day selling their services to enterprises in one-off engagements.
TLDR: More people are more leveraged.
This is also reflected in Product Design —
Siva Sabaretnam, Head of Product at Facebook describes the convergence in designing for enterprise and consumer.
“A lot of designers’ ideas about enterprise design are based on traditional enterprise software — the complex, clunky kind. Back then, CIOs made purchase decisions largely on the number of features offered, without much consideration for end users. Now that paradigm has completely flipped: the people using the software drive adoption [enterprise-wide]. Useful, usable software that plays well with the ecosystem wins the day.”
Request For Startups
Assuming the premise is correct and we continue to move to a self-employed economy, what kinds of business models will succeed?
“Business in a box” solutions
There are many segment agnostic, functional solutions. (Thunkable, Glide, Bubble, Retool, Airtable, etc)
There is also an opportunity to take this a click deeper and to develop plug-and-play, verticalized solutions for the proprietor. This means creating a simple, intuitive tool to help a sole proprietor complete a particular job function. Many of these begin with — or can transform into — marketplace models after enough proprietor aggregation.
Examples:
Struct Club: Helping fitness instructors design and manage their classes.
Streem Pro: Helping home service technicians provide remote support
Caterease: Helping event planners manage events and source catering
New Benefits Managers
Most proprietors who are fully self-employed must figure out a way to get access to insurance. For entrepreneurs, obtaining health insurance can be tricky. New regulations are in place that purports to make it easier, however, in reality, things have become more convoluted. Solopreneurs often only qualify for Individual insurance, which gives them extremely limited HMO plans to choose from. If they miss the open enrollment period, folks can go up to a year without coverage.
Health Cost Sharing
Health co-ops are not a new concept — akin to a local credit union or a thrift bank, a community comes together to share the costs of a system and diversify risk. Co-ops started as a way for people who are generally healthy to protect themselves against unexpected health events. Digitally enabled, co-ops can be far more accurate with risk pricing and reach a wider risk pool.
Examples:
Stride Health has made great… strides.🤓 Having gone through the process of receiving a quote, Stride offers insurance benefits pretty comparable to the package I receive through my employer today. The company had raised more than $40m at a post valuation near $90M (as of 2017).
Scale as a Service
As individuals step outside of traditional enterprise models, they lose the leverage that comes with being part of a large organization- Access to workspaces, health packages, perks, job security. The former -workspaces and healthcare- are being built today. Perks and job security solutions are less robust. Perhaps there are opportunities to build there? — Maybe, Gig-economy unions? Decentralized strike platforms?
Examples:
TopTal: The platform guarantees base pay even when contractors are between projects.
SafetyNet: Offers job loss insurance. This insurance will become more valuable when an economy hosts individuals with greater individual job risk.
Enterprise <> Consultant Interaction
Full disclosure, this one is half-baked —
Sourcing and evaluation tools might be necessary to evaluate the arm’s length workforce. Let’s imagine that today, approximately 2% of the corporate workforce is outsourced to independent consultants. Most decisions to hire independent contractors outside of the big consultancies are made at the functional/ departmental level. If this figure reaches 10–20% in the future, enterprises might need a centralized entity to review — This could look similar to preferred vendor lists or vendor management systems.
This list isn’t meant to be exhaustive. I plan to add additional thoughts as they come.
Thanks for reading!
I’m always open to chat, learn, and collaborate. Feel free to reach me — [email protected] | https://medium.com/@amritpaulsingh/a-proprietors-economy-135db894fad5 | ['Amrit Singh'] | 2019-06-09 15:21:49.133000+00:00 | ['Economics', 'Venture Capital', 'Technology', 'VC', 'Startup'] |
1,150 | Electric Vehicles, All sides | Engines to electric motors, Fuels to batteries, Is it the time for us to change our car’s fuel source by 2021?
Image via Unsplash
Electric cars or Electric vehicles aka (EV) run on batteries “energy stored in batteries”, Electric vehicles uses one or more than one electric motors or traction motors for driving force. Unlike those conventional vehicles, BEV’s (Battery Electric Vehicles) can be driven without any gasoline or diesel, they generate power from batteries fitted inside. However, all electric cars do not work the same way!
Varieties of EV
(HEV’s) Hybrid Electric Vehicle is powered by both electricity and fuel, it starts by using electric power and runs at a specific speed limit but as the load increases the internal computer automatically shifts it to petrol or diesel depending on fuel system. Electric energy in HEV’s is produced through its own braking system called [regenerative braking system] while braking it creates heat and store energy in batteries.
Hyundai Ionic hybrid, Honda Accord Hybrid and Toyota Prius Prime Hybrid are the finest examples of Hybrid Electric Vehicles.
(PHEVs) Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles comes with plug-in charging feature PHEVs can be recharged by plugging into an external source electricity. It can travel decent distances without using the internal combustion engine (ICE), PHEV out flow from car’s tailpipe to generators powering electricity grid.
Best-selling models of PHEVs are Mitsubishi Outlander P-HEV, Chevrolet Volt Family and BMW 330e.
(BEVs) Battery Electric Vehicles are complete electric cars without having any exhaust pipe, combustion engine and fuel tank. BEVs traveling range (miles) depends on the model, with plus 65 kilowatt hours Lithium ion battery BEVs are easy to charge/ fast charge wherever possible.
Jaguar I-Pace, Audi E-Tron and Tesla Model S are market leaders of fully electric vehicles.
Battery electric cars has been dominating the market for many years grabbing customer’s attention and growth in purchases:
Statistics from statista.com
In 2018 almost 3.3 million battery electric vehicles were in operation all over the world, the reason behind the growing purchase rate of BEVs is “less maintenance and less cost” ownership of electric vehicle will not cost much comparably to internal combustion engine.
Why do I switch to EVs?
Switching to EV is more than individual benefits, EVs lower emissions and save a lot of money, charging instead of fueling offers some profit in this case, which you can never get from ICEs. Electric cars response very quick, fast pick up acceleration and have a really good torque.
There are great names who has produced some quality models in last few years, and American electric car company Tesla Inc. is leading the market:
Statistics via statista
Climate view on EVs
Electric cars are not just attractive but beneficial too, with all smart features EVs are also harmless for environment, they radiate less air pollutants and greenhouse gases than a conventional car. EVs considered to be the most clean and green production from manufacturers.
With no exhaust silencers it is impossible to generate air pollutants, EV radiates no carbon dioxide while driving, in simple words use of EVs will result in clean and green streets all over the city.
Apart from this, it is for sure that covid-19 has already filtered climate in past months, such as lockdowns, and decrease in production of many major industries, the quality of air has ameliorated and same goes with water pollution which has also decreased this year, So it might be the perfect time for many firms to come up with the best of both worlds.
Pros and cons of EVs
Aside from benefits there are some disadvantages of electric vehicles as well, shorter range than fuel-powered cars, can be very costly if the battery fails, time taking while recharging the batteries, and they are usually expensive typically for a conventional car owner. PROS — the top of the list is that EVs are environmental friendly, “cheap” in sense of recharging batteries rather than filling the tank, Almost maintenance free — less maintenance required than gas-powered car, DC charging facility, Soundless drive comparably to conventional vehicles and at many routes, there are special lanes on highways for electric vehicles.
EVs in Pakistan
Similarly with fast growth of Electric vehicles globally, the global electric vehicle market is expected to reach 802.81 billion dollars by the end of 2027. Meanwhile in Pakistan EV technology counted less than 10% in all cities, but the country has plans to bring 30% of electric vehicles in use on roads by 2030,
Owning an electric vehicle in Pakistan can also be risky in many ways. The majority of people drive conventional cars because the country has full services for these cars, there are number of (HEVs) Hybrid electric vehicle users, driving Toyota Prius, Toyota Aqua and Honda Vezel. At the end of the year 2019 BMW launched its full electric car in Pakistan for the first time ever, around 95 lac rupees, costs an arm and a leg for residents and also it didn’t get any fame around natives.
Image via unsplash.com
EV freaks can face some major troubles in Pakistan as for example Lack of charging stations, fully electric vehicle in low budget, stressful road trips because of “if batteries depletes” and it’s heavy cost if batteries fail at some point, keeping rising petroleum prices in mind public would love to switch on EV technology as SAIC motors are launching an affordable MG ZS electric vehicle this year in Pakistan but the care services won’t be pleasing. The government has to work on EV infrastructures and invest in charging stations around all cities.
Besides all comfort seating, 5 star features and top notch technology a car driver need essentials and facilities for his car, I myself would love to have Porsche Taycan for fun and status but what about its necessities? Which my homeland is unable to provide at the moment. But the govt. has got your back if you step back from full electric vehicles and set eyes on Hybrid technology.
Will 2021 is going to be the year where people worldwide will be freed from noisy engines? | https://medium.com/@meerhummal/electric-vehicles-all-sides-37681c87920f | ['Meer Hummal'] | 2020-12-26 05:54:28.821000+00:00 | ['Vehicles', 'Technology', 'Battery', 'Cars', 'Ev Vehicles'] |
1,151 | The Inherent Flaw in Back Market’s “Tech to the People” Ad | Maybe your screen has been blessed with this anxiety-causing, seizure-inducing advertisement from Back Market. Sorry, it’s infectious. The Arby’s-like voice tells us Back Market is a “People’s Tech Revolution” and also an “online marketplace that is ruining Big Tech’s day.”
But, how true is that, anyway?
“Did we mention Back Market likes to make Big Tech Billionaires cry?”
That sounds great. Let’s take our money back from these trillion dollar companies. Lay down your pitchforks people, this is much more convenient. Okay Back Market, how are you going to “make Big Tech billionaires cry?”
What’s that? Speak up, Back Market. It sounded like you said you are going to ruin Big Tech’s day by just getting their products into the hands of more users. Well, okay, not just that. You are selling them at a discount. It is “renewed” merchandise after all. That’s splendid! What a great idea. No more premium prices for premium products. Surely their margins will drop now.
That is, if software and services weren’t driving the unprecedented growth — even during the pandemic — these companies are seeing.
Services are the Revenue Streams of the Future
When Apple’s iPhone growth started to slow in 2015, CEO Tim Cook reprioritized services as something valuable for investors. On August 2nd, 2018, Apple’s market cap closed at $1 trillion — with a t — for the first time. Just over two years later, on August 19th, 2020, Apple closed at $2 trillion.
How did Apple double their market value in two years? In part, they leveraged their services to drive profits. In 2017, Tim Cook set the goal of doubling their revenue from services by 2020. Not only did they hit that goal early, Apple’s services now make up over 20% of their total revenue.
To be fair, around half of Apple’s revenue is in hardware, but even if you aren’t buying from Apple, that iPhone that Back Market just sent you is still locked into the Apple eco-system. You still shop on the App Store, use their digital card services, purchase software, and ultimately, give Apple your money.
The same is true for the other Big Tech companies Back Market is pledging to fight against. Do you now have an Alexa-enabled device? You are using Amazon’s services. Are you shopping on the Play Store with your refurbished tablet? That’s money to Google. About to unbox that used Surface laptop? Microsoft has a whole suite of software for you. You get the point.
None of this is Back Market’s fault. They aren’t a government body failing to regulate the Big Tech companies. I even agree with the heart of their message. Something should be done so that consumers can take a little power back.
However, I fail to see how this is at all related to that movement. If anything, Back Market makes entering those services cheaper for the Big Tech companies. Apple doesn’t even have to manufacture a new phone, Back Market can just get the old ones in the hands of new people.
The Cultural Chameleo — er, Gharial?
Digital Image: “Tech to the People” ad, produced by Falon
I think I understand where this advertisement is coming from.
Do you remember when Nike announced a partnership with Colin Kaepernick (side note: he is also on the Medium Board of Directors now) and opinions were split about billion dollar companies tipping the scales in social issues?
And even back then, industry insiders like Scott Galloway were calling it a smart calculated risk that resonates with young people (a sentiment he probably didn’t receive enough credit for at the time):
And because Nike is such a large and successful company, and probably one of the best marketing brands on the planet, other companies took up the tactic, pushing marketing campaigns that were steeped in social reform while also posturing themselves as good companies to spend your money with.
This ad is essentially that, but less a calculated risk based on consumer data and more of a globally relatable argument. After all, lawsuits in the EU have proved that lawmakers across the pond are becoming a little fed up with the power Big Tech companies wield on commerce, governments, and citizens.
Thibaud Hug de Larauz, one of Back Market’s co-founders, did an interview back in 2017 discussing where his team sees Back Market going in the future. He said at the time:
We have many challenges, like any startups that scale. On the marketing side, we need to build a brand that resonates in many countries, to craft a message that will be efficient in different cultures.
Then consider that Back Market didn’t make its way to US markets until 2018 when it created a New York office. Before that, the French company operated in five countries: France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Belgium. Thibaud Hug de Larauz spoke to that transition too, saying:
We are heading to the US. It’s amazing to think that a European company will go and conquer the US and not the other way around.
Now, I’m sure this comment is said tongue-in-cheek, but to me, it reveals probably just as much as what launching a start-up does: the people behind the curtain want to “revolutionize” and “disrupt” the status quo. You know, startup speak. And they need a brand and message that appeals just as much to US markets as it does to the European ones.
Hence, in rides Washington crossing the Delaware, this time with a little more pizazz and some smart phones in the frigid waters (side note: don’t worry, they will renew those). And thus another Revolution begins under the sponsorship of our French allies.
“We do not sell digital freedom or tech equality, but we do fight for these things.”
Sure, the ad doesn’t explain how they are going to “fight” for digital freedom or tech equality (whatever that means), but it does make spending money on Back Market feel culturally important and closely ties consumerism into a way we can #Resist, something Americans love — Thanks, Nike.
Back Market needs you, and you probably also need Back Market.
Don’t let my cynicism dissuade you from believing in one the causes Back Market does seem more aligned with: reducing e-waste. In fact, one of the co-founders, Vianney Vaute, writes about the topic extensively for Forbes. Whether this should count as, like, guerilla advertising or something, I’ll let you decide, but having skimmed a few articles, it seems the founders (or at least one) of the company do at least care about reducing e-waste.
If we are to take the above as true, it follows that Back Market needs consumers to be interested in renewed technology. And if the old tech choking our Gharials and filling dumps in low- and middle-income countries is any indication, maybe Back Market is right, we probably do need them — or at least something like them.
“This is a call to action.”
Perhaps we have come to a crossroads here. I’m not entirely convinced Back Market is the end all solution for e-waste, or fighting Big Tech, or solving tech inequality (again, whatever that is). But they can be part of a new consumer-led movement about the importance of accountability.
As Scott Galloway later wrote in his blog about the Kaepernick situation:
Actions that address social justice are powerful messages. Messages about the importance of social justice are just messaging. We are the sum of our actions, not our words. Firms, and all of us, are learning we need to be more.
Amazon started as a humble online retailer too and ballooned from there, so who knows? Hopefully Back Market can reduce e-waste and play some role in fighting Big Tech before they become one of the villains — assuming the gharials don’t revolt first. | https://medium.com/swlh/the-inherent-flaw-in-back-markets-tech-to-the-people-ad-d4faf4547192 | ['Hunter Freeman'] | 2020-10-27 18:09:05.905000+00:00 | ['Content Marketing', 'Technology', 'Big Tech', 'Environmental Issues', 'Consumerism'] |
1,152 | Trust Is A Keystone Of Digital Transformation | Reputable and trustworthy authentication is a keystone of any digital transformation project. But for business to really make progress and successfully move towards remote working, passwords need to be made a thing of the past -Freepik
Even in non-Covid times, digital transformation in any organization isn’t easy. We’ve all seen how the pandemic has drastically accelerated the willingness of, and the need for, organizations to embrace new technology, but it has also added complexity.
All of a sudden huge swathes of the workforce are working remotely, and businesses have had to react quickly to support a new, more remote and more flexible workforce.
Aside from the various technical and logistical hurdles, many organizations are finding their biggest challenge is one of trust. With staff no longer physically present, how do you know your employees are who they say they are?
Creating trust in challenging times
I recently spoke to Andrew Shikiar, Executive Director and CMO, at the FIDO Alliance, who believes the answer lies in how organizations authenticate employees and end-users. And by solving this issue of trust, they will not only be able to move to a more remote model, but gain the confidence they need to push ahead with digital transformation projects.
Andrew says: “You can’t have digital transformation without security. What if you can’t trust anyone you don’t know? It undermines the whole ability to have digital transformation at scale. And to have security at scale, it needs to be easy. Fundamentally, technology needs to be easy for people to use.”
FIDO’s approach to addressing this problem revolves around a major shift in the way people authenticate themselves. In practice, this would mean users logging-in to devices, cloud-based platforms or online services using a biometric signature, like a fingerprint or their face, without the need for a password.
Farewell to the trusty password?
Phasing out passwords may sound counter-intuitive, but that is precisely what the FIDO Alliance was created to do. Its members include many of the world’s leading companies like Apple, American Express, Google, Microsoft and Samsung, who all recognize the pitfalls of the formerly trusty password.
Andrew explains: “The traditional way of authenticating is password-based, but the odds are that [your password has] been stolen, it’s sitting on the dark web already, or if not, someone can phish you through a replay attack… over 80% of data breaches are caused by passwords, either because the password is stolen or something has been left open.”
FIDO claims to solve this problem by moving away from the current dependency on server-side credentials, to one that authenticates users locally from a device in their possession, such as their PC or smartphone. Public key cryptography then enables the device to mediate the authentication process with the server.
Are biometrics the answer?
There will likely be many who are uncomfortable with the idea of providing biometrics to any private organization, let alone their employer. But due to the way the FIDO standards work, with data stored locally on the device as opposed to a server, it cannot be accessed by anybody other than the user. The bigger barrier to adoption may well be that large enterprises are unable to replace passwords in legacy systems that rely on them. But that does not prevent them from adding an extra layer of authentication, like that provided by FIDO or another form of second factor authentication, which could effectively remove the need to use a password for many employees in most circumstances.
As with any digital transformation project, you ultimately want to make life easier for employees, while increasing efficiency and productivity.
Passwords were designed to be simple but, as we have all likely experienced, they have become incredibly cumbersome, leading many to take short-cuts.
So any new authentication method, biometric or otherwise, needs to be simple and easy to adopt. When you’re in the midst of a major transformation project, the last thing you need is an added complication or a new process for people to learn on top of all of the critical changes the business is making.
Establishing trust
The pandemic has forced organizations to adapt to new ways of working, and there are certainly opportunities for them to improve the way they operate. But the pandemic has also introduced complexity and raised issues around trust. As business leaders adapt to the current circumstances and plan for the future, more effective ways of establishing trust and authenticating employees could become increasingly common. But it’s vital that they find solutions in keeping with the overall aims of their digital transformation project — make it simple to use, make it more efficient, and make it more effective.
Originally published at https://www.forbes.com. You can follow me on twitter | https://medium.com/@ctowersclark/trust-is-a-keystone-of-digital-transformation-3f482a232afc | ['Charles Towers-Clark'] | 2020-12-02 11:12:34.335000+00:00 | ['Passwords', 'Authentication', 'Digital Transformation', 'Trust', 'Technology'] |
1,153 | Smart Homes, Smart Cities | Members of households can all relate to the paranoia of leaving their homes. There are multiple responsibilities attached with owning a house. It can be dreadful to constantly carry this stress. Fortunately, the rise of smart homes attempts to address this exact problem.
Smart homes are ‘‘a residence equipped with a number of devices that automate tasks normally handled by humans. Some are built into the structure itself and some added later, and homeowners operate them with voice commands or by artificial intelligence.’’ (AndroidAuthority)
Smart homes are intended to make the lives of homeowners much easier. Tasks such as turning the oven off, making sure the kids are in bed, and setting the security alarm can be automated with smart homes.
The smart home industry has recently matured into a new consumer trend. There are many vendors that are in competition to design the best smart home. The highly complicated technology needs to work sleek at all times. One of the most successful vendors so far has been Savant Systems. Their application system, Savant, controls specialized devices, as well as offers customization options in the areas of lighting, media, climate, energy, security, and intercoms for authorized integrators. (Bloomberg) It is one the most advanced application systems in the smart home industry.
Nest Labs, owned by Google, has manufactured many products for smart homes. They have a smart thermostat, cameras, and smart alarms. Nest products offer interconnectivity — it does not attempt to change your entire home into an automated state. You can by separate smart Nest products and implement them one by one — they even have smart light bulbs.
Many people wonder how all of these products come together. How exactly does a smart-home work? What is the underlying technology behind this innovation?
‘‘Home automation describes a system of networked, controllable devices that work together to make your home more comfortable, customized, efficient, and secure. You “speak” with your automated home through a remote control or smart device.’’ (SomfySystems)
The technology of this network is called the Internet of Things (IOT). This allows the products in the smart home to be interconnected and work together. Rather than working as separate gadgets, they communicate with one another through IOT. If the smoke alarm goes off, smart locks unlock all of the doors, so anyone can easily escape or attend the hazard. The alarm and lock communicate with each other to find optimal solutions. Or, if you cannot wake up before the shades are on and heavy rock music is playing, the smart home can launch the stereo system and open the blinds for you as you wake up. This communication is possible with the Internet of Things. The web-like network keeps growing and improving each day.
Lets expand our imagination of smart homes even further: is it possible to create smart cities? It may sound far-fetched, but it is a trend that is on the rise. With the increasing demand of urbanization, there are many efforts of launching smart cities. International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that smart city technology spending will reach 135 billion$ by 2021.
The IOT technology we have described is exactly applied to the city in the same manner it is applied to a home. With IOT, the city derives data throughout connected technological devices to improve the lives of citizens and visitors. Some functions of a smart city are avoiding traffic jams, finding parking spots, reporting a pothole, and access to data for the improvement of the city. The possibilities are endless with the implementation of IOT. (TechRepublic)
Two great examples of smart cities are Dublin and Amsterdam. Smart Dublin is a project that attempts to turn Dublin into a smart city in order to solve urban problems. They are currently tackling illegal dumping, flooding, and wayfinding through innovative solutions in the IOT system. With the improvement of this system, Dublin is on its way to enjoy the benefits of 21st century innovation. Amsterdam Smart City attempts to solve energy and mobility problems the city faces through online community projects. There are more than 7000 contributors, and citizens get to vote online to assess which project is worth paying attention. The smart city solutions help build a sustainable Amsterdam and address multiple concerns that the citizens face. There are many more challenges before smart cities can have full impact on cities, but with the rapid development of Internet of Things, most of our daily struggles inside and outside our homes can be addressed soon enough.
“Company Overview of Savant Systems LLC.” Bloomberg, March 19, 2019. https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=47060518
Teena Maddox. “Smart Cities: A Cheat Sheet.” Tech Republic, July 16, 2018. https://www.techrepublic.com/article/smart-cities-the-smart-persons-guide/.
Rebecca Edwards. “How Nest Can Turn Your House into a Smart Home.” Safewise, November 29, 2018. https://www.safewise.com/blog/nest-can-turn-house-smart-home/.
JOHN CALLAHAM. “What Is a Smart Home — and Why Should You Want One?” Android Authority, October 21, 2018. https://www.androidauthority.com/what-is-a-smart-home-806483/.
MOLLY EDMONDS & NATHAN CHANDLER. “How Smart Homes Work.” Howstuffworks, n.d. https://home.howstuffworks.com/smart-home.htm.
“Worldwide Semiannual Smart Cities Spending Guide.” International Data Corporation, 2019. https://www.idc.com/tracker/showproductinfo.jsp?prod_id=1843.
“What Is Home Automation and How Does It Work?” Somfy Systems, n.d. https://www.somfysystems.com/ideas-insights/home-automation/what-is-home-automation-and-how-does-it-work.
https://amsterdamsmartcity.com/
https://smartdublin.ie/ | https://medium.com/@emrearduman/smart-homes-smart-cities-dedac0334e83 | ['Emre Arduman'] | 2019-03-20 23:50:05.404000+00:00 | ['Future', 'Technology', 'Internet of Things', 'Smart Home'] |
1,154 | Smart Contracts & Blockchain | Blockchain
Distributed ledger or blockchain’s great innovation is the ability to create distinct digital objects without the need for a central organizing authority. To do this, all participants in a network of unrelated parties manage equally-valid and continuously updated copies of a record of all transactions on the blockchain, making changes only possible with community consensus.
There are several well-adopted blockchain protocols, each with their own particular strengths and weaknesses. These include names such as Etherium, Stellar, Bitcoin, Ripple, Hyperledger, and others. Each of these has their own native coin and many allow for the creation of tokens within their blockchain (see below for more on the distinction).Through the creation of unique tokens, these blockchains enable the use of unique digital objects to represent fractional participation in a larger whole (such as investors in a company) or can power purpose-led ecosystems (such as using tokens to represent carbon offset credits).
Smart Contracts
While blockchain provides the foundation, smart contracts represent a tremendous innovation in the management of legal rights. In Hunit’s application of the technology, smart contracts are legally binding agreements that contain executable instructions that can serve to automate processes, determine how tokens can be traded or execute operations associated with binding commitments (such as calculating and executing an interest payment). Smart contracts are associated with specific tokens and are recorded on the blockchain, making them self-executing and indelible. So-called smart contract “legal tech” represents a key innovation area in the use of blockchain and promises to deeply impact a number of sectors. A critical issue for smart contracts has been their limited ability to interact with data, objects or entities that are not represented on the blockchain or available by API.
Smart Securities vs Tokens vs Coins
The prevalent blockchain protocols each have a native digital currency, or “coin”. These coins are sometimes (famously) used as alternatives to government-issued currencies or as a means for allocating technical resources within the blockchain network itself. Put simply, a coin is a digital object that represents itself.
Tokens are digital objects, recorded on a blockchain, that represent something else. This could be an equity share, a bond commitment, a portion of an asset or nearly any other real or abstract object of value.
Decentralized financial instruments result from: | https://medium.com/@hunit/smart-contracts-blockchain-cdcf5dd44f70 | [] | 2020-04-17 08:19:14.314000+00:00 | ['Blockchain Technology', 'Smart Contracts', 'Distributed Ledgers', 'Hyperledger', 'Tokenization'] |
1,155 | Interesting AI/ML Articles On Medium This Week (Dec 5) | Interesting AI/ML Articles On Medium This Week (Dec 5)
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning articles that might have flown under your radar.
We are officially in the last month of 2020, and what a crazy ride it has been.
I have to say that amidst lockdown and a year of limited to no social activity, Medium has been, and continues to be a platform where you feel connected to different areas of the world.
Medium is one of my source of connection to the world of Machine Learning. There’s no shortage of interesting AI/ML/DS articles written by machine practitioners and AI enthusiasts.
Below are four articles that have mainly stuck out to me for either the high quality of the information provided or the relevance of the content of the article to ML practitioners. There is definitely an article or two with information that is of value to ML practitioners of different levels.
Happy reading. | https://towardsdatascience.com/interesting-ai-ml-articles-on-medium-this-week-dec-5-a1ac1b8bad8c | ['Richmond Alake'] | 2020-12-05 04:55:37.605000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Technology', 'AI', 'Data Science'] |
1,156 | JavaScript Mistakes — Strict Mode | Photo by Becca on Unsplash
JavaScript is a very forgiving language. It’s easy to write code that runs but has mistakes in it.
In this article, we’ll look at the benefits of using the strict mode directive.
Add Use Strict Mode Directive in Our Scripts
If we’re using old-school JavaScript script files, then we should add the 'use strict' directive into the top of our script.
Strict mode eliminates lots of silent errors by changing them to throw errors.
It also fixes mistakes that make optimizing our JavaScript code hard to increase their performance.
Also, it bans syntax that may be used in future JavaScript versions. Keywords like class can’t be used to declare variables, for example.
Strict mode can be applied to the whole script by putting the directive at the top or just in the function level by putting it in functions.
However, we should just apply it everywhere since it brings lots of benefits.
For instance, we can’t declare variables accidentally with 'use strict' on:
'use strict';
x = 1;
Since we have the 'use strict' directive on top of our script, we’ll get an error with the x = 1 expression since we haven’t declared x yet.
Without strict mode, this would create a global variable called x and assign 1 to it and pollute the global scope.
That isn’t good because it may overwrite another global variable with the same name.
Also, we can assign values to another global value like undefined or Infinity :
With strict mode on, code like the following will throw a TypeError:
var undefined = 1;
var Infinity = 1;
Assigning values to a non-writable property will also fail with a TypeError thrown:
var obj = {};
Object.defineProperty(obj, 'foo', { value: 42, writable: false });
obj.foo = 9;
We also wouldn’t be able to add properties that has preventExtensions called on it to prevent that:
var obj = {};
Object.preventExtensions(obj);
obj.foo = 'a';
The code above would throw a TypeError.
Attempting to delete undeletable properties will also throw an error. If we write something like:
'use strict';
delete Object.prototype;
Then we’ll get a TypeError.
Strict mode also requires function parameters to be unique. For instance, if we write:
'use strict';
function add(a, a, c) {
return a + a + c;
}
Then we’ll get an ‘Uncaught SyntaxError: Duplicate parameter name not allowed in this context’ error since we have JavaScript strict mode on.
Also, it prevents numbers with a leading 0 from being used. The leading zero for octal numbers is rarely used and developers often assume that it’s still a decimal number.
Therefore if we have the following the strict mode throws an error:
'use strict';
var sum = 015 + 222;
If we run that, we get ‘Uncaught SyntaxError: Octal literals are not allowed in strict mode.’
The with statement is prohibited in strict mode. With strict mode, confusing code like this is prohibited:
'use strict';
var x = 17;
with(obj) {
console.log(x);
}
The code above is confusing because x can either be obj.x or just x . It’s hard to tell what it’s referring to.
With strict mode on as we have above, we get ’Uncaught SyntaxError: Strict mode code may not include a with statement’.
Doing anything to arguments or eval will also return syntax errors, so code like the following:
'use strict';
eval = 'foo';
arguments++;
Then we get ‘Uncaught SyntaxError: Unexpected eval or arguments in strict mode’ when we run the code above since we have JavaScript strict mode on.
We shouldn’t use these entities regardless of whether JavaScript strict mode is on, so it’s good that strict mode prevents expressions like these from running at least.
With strict mode on, the this value passed into call , apply , or bind aren't boxed into an object.
Therefore, the original value is preserved if we pass in a primitive value. For instance, if we have:
'use strict'; function fn() {
return this;
}
console.log(fn.call(1) === 1);
Then we get 1 returned from fn instead of new Number(1) , so we get that the console log output returns true .
Strict mode is enabled automatically for modules so we don’t need the directive on top of our code.
Photo by Mark Basarab on Unsplash
Conclusion
With so many benefits to strict mode, we should always enable it in old-school scripts.
If we use JavaScript modules, then it’s enabled by default, so we don’t have to worry about it. | https://medium.com/swlh/javascript-mistakes-strict-mode-567aebbad6f9 | ['John Au-Yeung'] | 2020-05-13 17:04:50.565000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'JavaScript', 'Software Development', 'Web Development', 'Technology'] |
1,157 | Hypothesis Testing Explained! | Hypothesis Testing Explained!
Let us try and understand the widely used concept of hypothesis testing and p-values.
Designed using Canva.
Let us consider you are asked to test whether the newly created navigation bar on the home page, of your company website, is attracting more users than before. How will you approach this problem? How can you be sure this change in traffic to your website is due to the addition of navigation bar and not something that happened by coincidence! This is where hypothesis testing comes into the picture.
A Simple Example
Designed using Canva.
Let us consider 4 friends A, B, C, and D who are in a dilemma of choosing the person who cooks every day. So they write their names on 4 chits and pick one chit every day. The person having his name on the picked chit is the person who is going to cook on that particular day. After 4 days, person A did not get a chance to cook. The friends got suspicious and tried to find the probability of person A not getting a chance to cook for 4 days which would be
3/4 * 3/4 *3/4 *3/4 = 81/256 = 0.31 = 31%(since 3/4 is the probability of person A not being picked on one particular day ie. out of 4 total outcomes there are 3 outcomes in which person A is not picked)
31% chance of not being picked for 4 days consecutively seemed fine for the friends and hence they continued the same way. But after 16 days, Person A still did not get a chance to cook. Now the friends again decided to find the probability of person A not getting a chance to cook for 15 days which would be (3/4 multiplied by itself 15 times) = 0.01 = 1%.
Now the friends really got suspicious about person A not getting a chance to cook because the probability is only 1% (which is less than 5%) and concluded that person A has committed to cheating.
Okay….Why did I mention less than 5% in the brackets?
In general, statisticians set a threshold value for things to occur by chance. If the probability is less than that threshold value they conclude that there is no chance for random occurrence. Like in the case of the 4 friends, after 4 days the case of A not getting a chance to cook might have occurred randomly and the probability of 31% denotes that. But after 15 days the probability became 1% which significantly reduces the case of A not getting a chance to cook being random. Here the 5% value is known as significance value. The 31% value for 4 days and the 1% value for 15 days are known as p-values. Here,
Null Hypothesis — Person A did not get a chance to cook purely due to random chance and did not cheat.
Alternative Hypothesis — Person A did not get a chance to cook not due to random chance and cheated
For the 4 days scenario, since the p-value, 31% is greater than the significance value of 5% we do not reject the null hypothesis.
For the 15 days scenario, since the p-value, 1% is lesser than the significance value of 5% we reject the null hypothesis. | https://medium.com/towards-artificial-intelligence/hypothesis-testing-explained-83fea2ee03f4 | ['Saiteja Kura'] | 2020-06-26 12:01:01.002000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Data Science', 'Hypothesis Testing', 'Statistics', 'Probability'] |
1,158 | How to get into technology as a high schooler | This article was written by Jamie Reichenberger.
Interested in pursuing technology? Not sure where to start? As a high school student, it can be difficult knowing where to start and how to find opportunities with little to no experience. Yet, starting to explore technology early on is an excellent way to get a head-start in your career and know which tech-related field is right for you.
My path to technology came from a drive to learn and heart to take as many opportunities that were available to me. I began programming in middle school with GameMaker, Unity3D, and Codecademy, learning how to create my own video games. In high school, my knowledge grew as I joined our school’s FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) team and our school’s Nanoracks Nanolab project. I then took all the available programming classes my school offered as well as a night course at a local university. My Sophomore Year, I began applying for internships at local companies, for any programming opportunity I could find, and landed a software development internship at Autodesk Inc. By my Senior Year, I initiated a humanitarian engineering club that won Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam funding. And through all of these learning opportunities, I knew that I had a sincere passion for technology and programming. My high school pursuit in STEM fields led me to make the decision with full confidence that technology was for me. I decided that I wanted to pursue computer science at a university and be a software engineer.
High School is a great time for students to explore many different fields and find their interests. It is an amazing time to try new things, fail often, and learn as much as possible about the world.
Seven Impactful Ways to Break Into technology in High School:
Read, Learn, and Get Certified
There are so many FREE resources online to learn about technology! (Even more now than when I was in High School). You can find free Tech-related content on Udemy, Codecademy, Coursera, EDX, Code.org, Codeconquest, Codewars, Udacity, MIT OpenCourseWare, Khan Academy, LinkedIn Learning, Web Fundamentals, and so many more! Research online, watch videos, and read textbooks. Seek a mentor to help guide and challenge you. When you start building your skill set, look for free (or cheap) certifications or certifications you can obtain to prove your ability. For High School students, the AP Computer Science Test is a great way to prove your coding knowledge and possibly get college credit.
2. Research The Different Fields of Technology
There are so many diverse fields in technology and so many different careers in each field! Start exploring what are all of your options and never stop learning about the ever-changing realm of technology. Expect your interests to change over time as you have more experience with different kinds of projects. According to Career Change Statistics, the average person will change careers 5–7 times during their working life. And with so many emerging technologies and an increasing number of career choices, expect that your opportunities will change too. You can find a list of different popular technology jobs through the U.S. News, Digital Trends, and Business Insider.
3. Take STEM Classes and Find College Opportunities
Does your high school not have any technology classes or electives? Then, take all of the available STEM classes. I know it’s not tech-related, but taking biology, chemistry, physics, etc. courses can help you narrow down your future field options and make a more informed decision when choosing your major. Take the time to understand your math courses, especially trigonometry, statistics, and calculus, because it will pay off in the end when you take more advanced math classes in college. See if there are classes you can take at your local university or community college to supplement your education. Some examples of technology programs for high school students can be found on BestCollegeReviews. Right now, during our nation’s COVID-19 crisis, there are more online boot camps and workshops available for technology and coding for high school students than ever before.
4. Buy Fun Hardware Or Just Start Taking Things Apart
Put some fun hardware, like Arduino, RaspberryPi, BeagleBone, Minnowboard Max, Waspmote, LittleBits, or etc., on your Christmas wish list! Start building things and learning how to make things from scratch. Go to Goodwill or a local thrift store, buy a cheap electronic device, and take it apart to see how it works. Challenge yourself to build new things and experiment!
5. Join a Tech-Related Club (Or Start One)
I mentioned a few available opportunities for high school students above in my path to technology, but there is a wide variety of options for you and your school. I would highly recommend exploring as many opportunities as possible and pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone! If your high school has no tech-related clubs, then start one! Recruit a few other people and a mentor/teacher and start building/coding/learning things after school. For more tips on how to start an after school STEM club, check VivifyStem or the STEM clubs handbook. Or, center your club around preparing and competing in local hackathons. There are many online and in-person hackathons and other competitions available that will be an excellent hands-on learning experience. Check Major League Hacking and High School Hackathons to find high school hackathons.
6. Apply For Internships (Yes, Now)
I know it seems too early and it feels like it is so much you have left to learn, but practical application through an internship is one of the best ways to learn! Many big companies designed internships just for high school students that you can apply for anywhere, but you are not limited to these opportunities. With a little extra initiative and creativity, seek out and ask smaller companies, organizations, or universities, to create an internship opportunity for you. Job search tools such as Indeed are a great resource.
7. Teach Others What You Learn!
When you start to learn programming, electronics, and other tech-related skills, don’t forget to mentor others along the way. Ways to share your knowledge include: blogging, leading an after school workshop, speaking at your school’s club, creating an online class, leading a camp or program for others, or simply mentoring one on one. Not only will you help bridge the learning gap for high school students to break into technology, but you will understand the content better yourself through teaching it. To grow your reach and resources, find an external funding source. For leading all-girl Tech camps, check out NCWIT’s ASPIREIT program or GirlsWhoCode.
Conclusion
There are many ways to break into the field of technology where you are right now, whether it is through your school or on your own. After finding a genuine interest in tech and pursuing various activities, think thinking about what your next steps are to pursue a career in technology. There are many methods to get advanced training in technology, such as taking college classes, attending boot camps, enrolling in trade school, or applying for any other technical program. And so, taking the time to pursue as many technical opportunities as you can in high school can help you decide what post-graduation plans are right for you. | https://medium.com/@codingforkidsnonprofit/how-to-get-into-technology-as-a-high-schooler-485a816ffe95 | [] | 2020-06-09 04:46:21.968000+00:00 | ['Education', 'Resources', 'High School', 'Technology', 'Tech'] |
1,159 | Evaluating TechnologyWho’s Really Inventing the Future of Public Transportation? | Written by Timothy Lane
This article was originally published on May 10, 2018
Every age feels like it’s poised on the edge of the future. The glimmering possibilities of our fantasies are always just about to be reached and realized. Your father, your grandfather, and his grandfather before him could all safely say that they lived in unprecedented times.
Public transportation is no different. And lately there have been splashy headlines prophesying the coming of supersonic trains, self-driving cars, and of course, the Hyperloop. Investor/celebrities like Elon Musk and Richard Branson promise advancements like an underground web of tunnels for getting around L.A. and supersonic jets to shrink the world even further. With visionaries and private companies invested in mass transit on an unprecedented scale, perhaps now is the time when we step into the future. Perhaps now is when the seemingly impossible becomes every day.
However, should the public be wary of charging headlong into funding dramatic moonshots in transportation? After all, many of the most futuristic and ambitious concepts — three-hour supersonic flights across the Pacific, 30-minute Hyperloop commuting between L.A. and San Francisco, and South Korean trains that approach the sound barrier — are announced with sexy mock-ups that are intended to capture and rouse the public imagination, in order to win its much needed support.
“When you’re spending billions of dollars, sexy is a really bad objective,” says Jarrett Walker, Ph.D., who is president of transit consultancy Jarrett Walker & Associates. “Sexy, by definition, is ephemeral, and yet what’s needed is permanence. Sexy is over fast and that’s not what we’re after when we spend billions of dollars.”
Public transit, a necessity in any metropolis where high densities of people live and work in a small amount of space, operates on simple principles: systems need to be designed and built to move people without taking up too much additional space. Which is why cars, most typically carrying one person, are less desirable than buses, which can carry many. Problems arise, however, when this basic equation is addled with too many unnecessary variables. When it’s also charged, for example, with being sexy.
P3s could pave the way (or lay the track, so to speak)
Of course Walker is referring above to the spending of public dollars, raised through taxes and municipal bonds. But what if much of the up-front funding for designing, building, operating and maintaining is coming from private sources? Much has been written about public-private partnerships (P3s), in which public transit agencies establish financial partnerships with private entities, such as investors and commercial developers, in deals in which both short-term risks and long-term rewards are shared among the partners.
The P3 concept seems like a no-brainer for financing big mass transit infrastructure projects like commuter rail. The practice is fairly common in Europe, yet there’s been only one P3 that included design-build, financing and long-term operation in the U.S. to date. With the Eagle P3 Project in Denver, a consortium of private companies called Denver Transit Partners (DTP) serves as the design-build, financing and operations concessionaire for a major expansion of the Denver’s Regional Transportation District (RTD) light rail network. The innovative P3 arrangement allowed the RTD to spread out what would have been large upfront costs over a longer period of time, and resulted in the winning bid coming in some $300 million below original internal budget estimates.
The $2.1 billion Eagle P3 Project was completed and went into operation in 2016. And while there have been several service hiccups since service commenced, passenger fares enable RTD to pay back DTP $3 million per month. So RTD passengers are literally paying for construction while they’re using the finished product.
Swing for the Fences, or Try to Get on Base?
While expansion of a regional light rail network may seem rather mundane, it’s the moonshot initiatives — like Hyperloop — that can play a larger role than simply moving people from place to place. Some would argue that by thinking, acting, and spending bigger, it energizes the public around the possibilities of public transportation, and helps pave the way for a better future.
Walker doesn’t buy it.
“Lots of money gets spent on big fantasies,” he says. “Either the project collapses or sometimes, even worse, the project gets built and then turns out to not be as useful as people thought. And those sorts of failures do not lead to greater support for transit.”
Also, a danger in following the dreams of the Musks and Bransons of the world is confusing what’s best for their private businesses with what serves the greater good. Walker calls this ‘elite projection,’ and defines it as ‘the belief, among relatively fortunate and influential people, that what those people find convenient or attractive is good for the society as a whole’. Last year he caused a Twitter stir by directly challenging Musk for this kind of thinking. Musk responded by calling him an idiot.
However, the core of Walker’s point is sound. The elite, by definition, are the few. Public transit, by contrast, is for the many. It’s crucial for a robust public transit system that the former prioritizes the latter.
To start, what Walker proposes is making better use of what’s already built unless absolutely necessary. This means using existing infrastructure in more efficient ways. By doing things like expanding light rail systems, increasing bike lanes, and improving the information technology around travel, public transit can reach and serve more of the public without burdening them with enormous cost.
“It cannot just be all about grand, expensive gestures,” Walker says. “It’s also about being sensible and working with what works.” | https://medium.com/move-forward-blog/whos-really-inventing-the-future-of-public-transportation-c33a159e765 | ['Move Forward'] | 2019-06-26 18:30:36.903000+00:00 | ['Mobility', 'Transportation', 'Moving People', 'Transit', 'Evaluating Technology'] |
1,160 | TechNY Daily | TechNY Daily
Keeping the NYC Tech Industry Informed and Connected
1. NYC’s Hibob, developers of the “bob” HR platform, has raised $70 million in a Series B funding. The round was co-led by SEEK and Israel Growth Partners, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Battery Ventures, Eight Roads Ventures, Arbor Ventures, Presidio Ventures, Entree Capital, Cerca Partners and Perpetual Partners. Bob, which has users such as Fiverr and VaynerMedia, provides basic HR functions (payroll, benefits and onboarding), as well as features related to performance and company culture. (www.hibob.com) (TechCrunch)
2. CNET has taken a look at the Battle of the New York Bikes: Soul Cycle vs. Peloton. Both bikes are around $2,500 and sell subscriptions to streamed live and recorded classes for about $40 a month. (www.soul-cycle.com/at-home) (www.onepeloton.com) (CNET)
3. NYC’s LeafLink, an online marketplace for the cannabis industry, has raised $40 million in a Series C funding. Founders Fund led the round and was joined by NYC’s Thrive Capital, Nosara Capital and NYC’s Lerer Hippeau. The company estimates that 32 percent of U.S. wholesale cannabis orders flow through its marketplace. (www.leaflink.com) (Ganjapreneur)
4. NYC’s Deduce, a platform that prevents account takeover fraud, has emerged from stealth and raised $7.3 million in seed funding. True Ventures led the round and was joined by Ridge Ventures. Deduce’s platform draws data from 150,000 partner websites to generate a user risk score based on fraud-related behaviors. (www.deduce.com) (Crunchbase News)
5. NYC’s Hydra Studios, a network of wellness studios, has raised $3.8 million in a seed round. Investors included Slow Ventures, Company Ventures, Courtside Ventures, CityRock Venture Partners, Hatzimemos/Libby and Fifth Wall. (www.hydranewyork.com) (PR Web)
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6. Brooklyn’s Cityblock Health, an Alphabet (Google) urban healthcare spinoff, has raised $160 million in a Series C funding at a valuation of over $1 billion.Investors included General Catalyst Wellington Management, Kinnevik AB, Maverick Ventures, NYC’s Thrive Capital and Redpoint Ventures. The company currently provides services to 70,000 Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries across four cities who live in neighborhoods that have traditionally gone without sufficient health services. (www.cityblock.com) (TechCrunch)
7. Reddit is acquiring NYC’s Dubsmash, a TikTok competitor. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Dubsmash had raised $20 million from investors including Sunstone Life Science Ventures, Lowercase Capital, Index Ventures, Heartcore Capital, Eniac Ventures and Balderton Capital. (www.dubsmash.com) (Press Release)
8. NYC’s Pico, a technology services provider for quant trading, has raised $135 million in a Series C funding. Intel Capital led the round and was joined by EDBI and CreditEase Fintech Investment Fund. The company’s Piconet is a low-latency network providing connectivity to market data and trading venues. (www.pico.net) (GlobeNewswire)
9. NYC’s Databand, an AI-based observability platform for data pipelines, has raised $14.5 million in a Series A funding. Accel led the round and was joined by Blumberg Capital, NYC’s Lerer Hippeau, Ubiquity Ventures, Differential Ventures, F2 Venture Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners. The company’s platform is designed to ensure the reliable delivery of high-quality data for businesses. Databand is one of the many Israeli startups in NYC. (www.databand.ai) (TechCrunch)
10. NYC’s Fakespot, a real time monitor detecting fake products and reviews, has raised $4 million in a Series A funding. Bullpen Capital led the round and was joined by Graph Ventures, Ty Shay, 500 Startups and Faith Capital Holdings. Fakespot’s Chrome plugin detects fake sellers and counterfeits on Amazon, Walmart, and Shopify sites. (www.fakespot.com) (Cheddar)
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Copyright © 2020 TechNY, All rights reserved. | https://medium.com/@smallplanetapps/techny-daily-1a523eb78d6c | ['Small Planet'] | 2020-12-18 21:17:19.349000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Technology News', 'Technews', 'Venture Capital', 'Technology Trends'] |
1,161 | We need 2 things to be great at what we do. | We need 2 things to be great at what we do.
From a writer’s perspective, we need to learn daily. Eating a slice of the humble pie goes a long way.
Next, we need working tools. We are not perfect. With working tools, we can get better.
Right? | https://medium.com/technology-hits/we-need-2-things-to-be-great-at-what-we-do-12cbe7f5918a | ['Aldric Chen'] | 2020-12-15 07:36:26.987000+00:00 | ['Productivity', 'Business', 'Writing', 'Short Story', 'Technology'] |
1,162 | Dreaming of an AI Christmas | Dreaming of an AI Christmas
Photo by Caleb Woods on Unsplash
The world’s population is rising rapidly, and just this year, Father Christmas needs to deliver no less than 2.1 billion presents in one evening. He will fly at a speed of 1280 miles per second and spend one millisecond in each of the 842 million households. Not a simple deed, especially for a man of his age. So how can we all help Santa in this epical feat?
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
First of all, I am sure many children are asking a million and one questions about Santa. Parents try to give them a reasonable answer even though let’s face it; we can’t explain the magic behind it. So why not get the old-man himself to answer? AskSanta (https://asksanta.com) is an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot which is ready to satisfy the queries of those little curious minds. Even the most difficult ones! All you have to do is register for free and start asking questions. It’s rather fun, and Santa is there to answer anything you want.
Photo by Tatiana Zanon on Unsplash
Second, it takes quite some effort to convince today’s kids. They understand technology better than some of us. Here is where personalisation can help. Portable North Pole (https://www.portablenorthpole.com) provides free mobile or video calls directly from Santa. He will not only call your child with his first name but also relate something that happened to him. Remember, he also knows if he’s been bad or good! In fact, through this service, the child can receive countless messages encouraging the child to improve his behaviour, congratulating him for a great job or even reminding him of Santa’s visit to his house.
Photo by Thomas Bennie on Unsplash
Third, on Christmas eve, children might want to track Santa’s journey across the globe. There are various programs to help you do that. The most famous two are the Google Santa Tracker (https://santatracker.google.com) and the Official NORAD Santa Tracker (https://www.noradsanta.org). They use some advanced technologies such as radars, satellites and jet fighters to track the movement of the flying sleigh. Although both systems are somewhat accurate, they cannot predict precisely when Santa will visit each house. However, as a general rule of thumb, if children are still awake when Santa arrives, he moves on to other homes. He returns later, but only when the children are asleep! Up till Christmas eve, these websites also offer various free games and educational activities. These include a Santa Selfie, Elf Maker, Penguine Dash, Build & Bolt, Map Quiz, Santa’s Canvas and much more.
Photo by Sapan Patel on Unsplash
Fourth, once the kids are asleep, grownups will do their utmost to gather proof of Santa’s visit. So far, it mainly consisted of discovering new presents under the tree, an empty glass of milk, bitten carrots and cookie crumbs all over the place. Unfortunately, it is somewhat circumstantial evidence for today’s kids. Our technology has not advanced enough to capture Santa’s visit (which only lasts 1 ms), until this year! Parents can now download an app called “Santa Was Here” (https://tinyurl.com/AI-Christmas-SWH) which makes use of your mobile device to capture a movie of Santa placing presents next to your own Christmas Tree. The technology behind it is called Augmented Reality (AR) and makes use of the camera system on your mobile device to place virtual objects over the real world.
Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
Finally, the real magic of Christmas does not happen when we receive the presents, but only if we manage to touch someone’s heart. It is even more powerful when we help someone in need whom we don’t even know! And this year, there’s a web application for this called Gran’s Post Office (https://tinyurl.com/GranPostOffice). Kids only need to write or draw a heart-warming message for an older person (whom they don’t know). Then they take a photo of the message and upload it on the website. The elves on the other side will get all of those electronic messages, print them out on paper and deliver them to all those elderly who will be passing a lonely Christmas. Like that, they will know that they’re no longer lonely because someone thought about them.
Photo by Almos Bechtold on Unsplash
As you can see, this special time of year is indeed magical. Of course, technology is playing an important part. AI is giving the personality to the Father Christmas, who is answering millions of questions online. It is personalising the mobile and video calls. Complex algorithms track Santa’s journey throughout the night. Augmented Reality is allowing you to take a photo of him in your living room and computer systems are managing the elaborate mailing room of the Gran’s Post Office. But we don’t need to wait for modern technology to do good. Use a telephone and give-a-shout to the relative you seldom call. Share a smile with your invisible neighbours. A simple greeting or even a phone call can go a long way to free these people from the spectre of loneliness. So, ask yourself whether there is someone who needs your help and begin to change the world, starting from your own backyard, one person at a time. | https://towardsdatascience.com/dreaming-of-an-ai-christmas-b127a41aeb6d | ['Alexiei Dingli'] | 2020-12-13 14:29:33.681000+00:00 | ['Fun', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Christmas', 'Children', 'Technology'] |
1,163 | On creating synergies | Enter Coletiv. They are a new tech company that approached us and we both saw an opportunity to create something special without compromising our identity.
Coletiv’s vision aligns perfectly with ours: to deliver quality driven products.
The first project we took together ran perfectly fine. Their developers are not only excellent coders but they actually fit like a glove within our culture.
Even though they are hardcore technical people with no design background, we all get along pretty well as we understand the value in each other.
By bringing everyone together in the same physical space we bring new perspectives to the table, create dialogue between different thought processes allowing us to keep things fresh. There’s also undeniable value in having close contact and merging teams together to fulfil the shared goals of a project, allowing us all to push the limits but, at the same time, adapt and pivot quickly around limitations.
By keeping things separate, we allow each other to keep focus on what we do best. It allows us all to become the best on what we love to do instead of trying to absorb every know-how into a single entity that wouldn’t correctly represent who we are. It allows everyone to grow at their own pace and to their own vision while keeping all the advantages of having no gap between design and development, the ability to share processes and, together, an overall amazing capability of being able to take on any kind of project — no matter how challenging it is. | https://medium.com/significa/on-creating-synergies-60cce7486296 | ['Pedro Brandão'] | 2019-05-21 21:16:11.366000+00:00 | ['Strategy', 'Technology', 'Business', 'Design'] |
1,164 | Best Smartphone under 20000 in India | Many of you want to buy a good smartphone for 20,000 rupees. There are a lot of good smartphones out there in the market for this 20,000 rupees which leave you in a dilemma as to which one to buy. So here is a list to clear up your confusion. Where the best 5 smartphones in the market at Rs 20,000 have been discussed. I hope this will remove your confusion in many ways.
5. Redmi Note 9 Pro Max
Display and camera
The Redmi Note 9 Pro Max has a 6.67 inches (16.94 cm) display with a bezel-less punch-hole. Its IPS LCD display has a pixel density of 395ppi and a screen resolution (1080 x 2400 pixels). There is also Corning Gorilla Glass v5 to protect the phone.
The camera setup of the Note 9 Pro Max has a 64MP primary camera with 10x digital zoom and a quad-camera setup. The primary camera is supported by an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens, a 5MP camera, and a 2MP depth-sensing camera with sensors like a CMOS image sensor and ISOCELL Plus. For selfie lovers, there is a 32MP primary camera in the punch hole of the display.
Performance and battery
The smartphone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G chipset and clocks at 2.3GHz with an octa-core processor. The smartphone also has 6GB RAM and Adreno 618 graphics as RAM.
The Note 9 Pro Max has a 5020mAh Li-Po battery and has a standby time of up to 492 hours. 33W fast charging facility is also provided for fast charging.
Storage and connection
The smartphone has 64GB of internal storage which can be expanded up to 512GB.
Note 9 Pro Max uses the Android 10 operating system. The smartphone has a 4G Volte network with Wi-Fi, dual-SIM, USB Type-C charging port, Mobile Hotspot, Bluetooth, and A-GPS with GLONASS.
4. Motorola One Fusion+
Display and camera
Motorola One Fusion + has a 6.5-inch FHD + IPS LCD display with a screen resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels and a density of 396ppi pixels. The ratio of the smartphone is 19.5: 9 which will give the users a cinematic experience.
The smartphone has a Quad-Camera setup with a 64MP f / 1.8 primary sensor, an 8MP f / 2.2 with 118 ° Ultra-Wide Angle lens, a 5MP f/2.4 macro sensor, and a 2MP f/2.4 depth camera. On the front is a 16MP pop-up selfie shooter that can take very nice pictures.
Configuration and battery
The Motorola One Fusion + comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G chipset and an Octa-core Kryo 470 processor with 2.2GHz and 1.8GHz refresh rates. The smartphone has a powerful 6GB RAM and Adreno 618 GPU which is a very good processor for gaming. This gives 23.0s time for bootup.
The smartphone has a 5,000mAh non-replaceable Li-Polymer battery and is equipped with an 18W Turbo Power Charging device. It takes 2hrs 17mins and 14sec to fully charge the smartphone.
Read more | https://medium.com/@sagor0175297/best-smartphone-under-20000-in-india-2c22158942c9 | ['Md Sagor'] | 2020-12-23 07:11:43.835000+00:00 | ['Mobile', 'Best Smartphone In India', 'Technology', 'Smartphones', 'Best Smart Phones'] |
1,165 | Meet the Team: Chad Russell | Name: Chad Russell
What do you do at Josh? National Sales Director.
Where are you from originally? Indianapolis.
Which office do you work in? Both, my position is inherently nomadic.
What do you love about the smart home? Parties. I love smart home house parties.
What are you most excited about over the next few years? Watching my son grow into a full sized human.
iPhone or Android? Recently moved to iPhone and turns out I prefer blue messages too.
What do you do for fun? Snowboard, whitewater raft, hike, play music, & change diapers.
If you could go anywhere, where would it be? Atlantis, Space or ADD-a-BALL in Seattle.
Favorite restaurant in the world? Shibumi in DTLA (which recently received a Michelin star!)
Favorite IoT / smart home product? This guy named Josh.
What is your favorite feature of Josh? Aliasing, offers flexibility and customization outside of Josh’s foundational NLP focus.
Favorite books / reading material / websites? Carlos Castaneda. Gary V. Infinite Jest. Just started — The Outward Mindset. | https://medium.com/@joshdotai/meet-the-team-chad-russell-ee562cf2bf52 | [] | 2019-08-19 17:12:53.973000+00:00 | ['Team', 'Connected Home', 'Tech', 'Smart Technology', 'Smart Home'] |
1,166 | Google Summer Internship 2020 | Apply! Be A Part of Google | It is to inform you that Google Summer Internship 2020 is now open for applications. This is a global program and is available for all international students worldwide.
What is Google Summer Internship 2020?
If you are a university student and don’t want to waste your time this summer, the Google internship 2020 is the one for you. The best thing about this internship is that these projects are open source and you will work with an experienced mentor.
You will receive a stipend and a certificate at the end of this internship. Also, it is a remote internship which means you can easily work from your home and be a part of this amazing online community.
Important Details
Here are some of the details of this internship.
Internship name: Google Summer Internship 2020
Google Summer Internship 2020 Countries: All people worldwide
All people worldwide Age limit: Above 18 years
Above 18 years Duration: 3 Months
3 Months Stipend: Maximum $6000, Minimum $3000
Maximum $6000, Minimum $3000 Internship dates: May 18, 2020, to August 10, 2020
May 18, 2020, to August 10, 2020 Deadline: March 31, 2020
Eligibility Criteria for Google Summer Internship 2020
The following criteria are required to apply for this internship,
The age of the applicant must be above 18 to apply.
The applicant enrolled in Bachelors, Masters or Ph.D. is eligible to apply.
The applicant belonging to any nationality is eligible to apply.
Benefits of Google Summer Internship 2020
There are a lot of benefits that come with this internship. Let’s take a look at them.
Selected candidates will have the opportunity to work for Google.
A stipend of Maximum $6000 and Minimum $3000 will be paid to the candidates.
The candidates will be given an Internship certificate on successful completion of the internship.
The amount of the stipend depends on the candidate’s country. To check the Google internship stipend for your country Click Here.
Some Useful Tips to get Selected for Google Summer Internship 2020
If you want to get selected for this internship, here are some things that you should keep in mind.
Submit a detailed proposal for the project. Discuss what you want to do and how you are planning to do it. Also, mention some additional features and changes that you want to see in the project to make it better.
All the projects are open source. So, start studying and contributing to them as soon as you apply for the internship.
Stay in touch with the online community. This will show your interest and dedication to a particular project.
Ask your mentor to review your project proposal before submitting it to any organization. They will provide you with useful suggestions and feedback.
How to apply for Google Summer Internship 2020
To apply for this internship, you will need to fill an online form. Click Here to apply right now.
Application Deadline
The last date to apply for Google internship 2020 is March 31, 2020. After this, no application will be entertained. Therefore, interested applicants are advised to apply before this date.
We wish you the best of luck for joining this internship and to improve your skills. People Also Read: Elon Musk Motivation Story | https://medium.com/codixlab/google-summer-internship-2020-apply-be-a-part-of-google-1498e17a34c2 | ['Mustufa Ansari'] | 2020-03-21 19:05:11.216000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Google', 'Tech', 'Internships', 'Summer'] |
1,167 | Open Source VC: Investment Opportunities in the New Normal | “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen” — Lenin
It’s not every day that a VC gets to quote Lenin, but it is hard to disagree with him in light of our current reality. In just five short months, Covid-19 has stimulated five years’ worth of digital adoption. Its impact on consumers and businesses will be profound and long-lasting.
My colleague Kevin Lu and I zoomed in on a few of these effects and presented our findings at AirTree’s Investor Summit in September 2020.
We thought the wider community might be interested in it too, so we’re sharing the presentation below. Topics covered include:
SaaS tools to support a remote-first world
A digital kick in the butt for healthcare and education
E-commerce was a wave, now it’s a tsunami
The blossoming of the creator economy
eSport is sport; gaming is the new social
You can reach
John Henderson on john[at]airtree[dot]vc, follow John on Twitter @johnhenderson
Kevin Lu on kevin[at]airtree[dot]vc, follow Kevin on Twitter at @kevin_jy_lu
—
A full list of AirTree’s Open Source VC resources can be accessed here. | https://medium.com/airtree-venture/open-source-vc-investment-opportunities-in-the-new-normal-bb492fb535d2 | ['John Henderson'] | 2021-03-22 02:42:31.664000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'VC', 'Resources', 'Investment'] |
1,168 | Better Iteration in Python— 6 Ways to Filter Iterables | 5. Conditional Abortion
Suppose that you start with an iterable, and for particular business needs, you need to iterate it and the iteration doesn’t stop until some condition is met. In this case, you should consider using a function called takewhile, which is also a higher-order function that is available in the itertools module. Let’s see its usage with some example code before I explain it to you.
Use of takewhile Function
In the above code, we have a stream of HTTP responses with the code and data saved. We want to log all valid responses until we encounter an error. To do that, we use the takewhile function with a predicate or evaluation function lambda x: x[0] == 200 , which means that the iteration will continue to run until the first element in the iterator can’t satisfy this evaluation criterion. In our case, the first three elements are eligible, while the fourth one isn’t. Thus, the iteration will abort at the fourth position.
One thing that can be confusing to beginners is how it’s different from the filter function. The filter function will go over the entire iterable and keep all the elements that pass the evaluation criterion. By contrast, the takewhile function has the conditional abortion feature, and it will stop the iteration completely once the next item evaluates True for the predicate. | https://medium.com/swlh/better-iteration-in-python-6-ways-to-filter-iterables-dde6c8969f89 | ['Yong Cui'] | 2020-06-26 15:01:01.449000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Technology', 'Data Science', 'Programming'] |
1,169 | MOTO RAZR foldable phone: Price, display, specifications. | The Moto RAZR 2019 foldable smartphone is slated to launch. November 13th. The handset, which will be unlike any other foldable smartphone so far, is the most-awaited offering from the brand. It’s expected to be a reboot version of the iconic RAZR V3 flip phone from 2004. The Moto RAZR 2019 is tipped to feature a clamshell design and a flexible display. The phone will reportedly sport a compact form factor that folds along the middle to slip into the pocket easily instead of opening up like a book such as Samsung Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X.
That’s not all we already know about the upcoming handset. In fact, the Moto RAZR 2019 price, design details as well specifications have been leaked, so take a look at everything you need to know about the upcoming foldable phone.
A new set of official-looking leaked renders has revealed the design of Moto RAZR 2019 from all corners. If the images are anything to go by, the handset will indeed look a lot like the classic RAZR V3 from 2004. The Moto RAZR 2019 will feature a second screen, just above the primary camera, on the flip-up lid of the phone. The secondary screen could be used for a quick glance at the settings or notifications. The primary display of the phone, which would fold vertically, may come with a notch on top. Apart from this, there will be a chin on the bottom to house the fingerprint reader that may double up as a home button and volume rocker and power button on the right spine. The signature hinge of the RAZR V3 will obviously be refreshed on this upcoming foldable smartphone.
The images are in line with the Moto RAZR 2019 schematics that were spotted by 91mobiles on WIPO, back in January. A concept render video also imagines how the folding mechanism might work.
As mentioned above, the Moto RAZR 2019 will sport two displays. The main foldable screen is expected sport a 6.2-inch OLED panel with 876 x 2,142 pixels resolution, and a cover display with 600 × 800 pixels resolution. The primary display could come with HDR10+ support and a standard notch atop to accommodate required sensors and microphones. The cover display can be accessed after the phone is folded and the same can used to access notifications, media controls, Google Assistant responses, etc. It’s also reported that the outer screen would support multi-touch and will also act as a scroll pad for the larger display.
Moto RAZR 2019 foldable phone will reportedly be powered by Snapdragon 710 SoC, meaning it will be a mid-range smartphone, unlike the competition which rock flagship chipsets. This will make the phone seriously underwhelming if just performance is considered. The Moto RAZR 2019 will most likely run likely to run on Android 9.0 Pie with a near-stock interface on top when unfolded. But once its folded, the software should be auto-adjusted to fit the smaller form factor of the outer display. Lastly, it may come with just 4G connectivity.
Motorola is likely to ship the Moto RAZR 2019 with two RAM and non-expandable storage configurations: 4GB + 64GB, 6GB + 128GB. It’s possible there could be another high-end storage model.
Moving to the cameras, the Moto RAZR 2019 appears to have a single camera placed on the outer screen. This means it will double up as the primary as well as the selfie snapper, similar to the Vivo NEX Dual Display Edition. However, the exact megapixel-count of the phone haven’t been leaked yet. In the ages of multiple camera sensors, it’s quite surprising to see Motorola settling with just the one.
The Moto RAZR 2019 is believed to be driven by a 2,730mAh battery, backed by Motorola’s 27W TurboPower charging support. Although the cell seems to be slightly subpar with the current standard, the smaller battery is expected to keep the dimensions and weight of the phone in check.
The Moto RAZR 2019 will reportedly be available in the black and gold.
The Moto RAZR 2019 price is said to be cheaper than that of Huawei Mate X and Samsung Galaxy Fold. As per a report, the Moto RAZR 2019 will cost $ 1,500, which roughly translates to Rs 1,07,000 in the Indian currency. This is a substantially lower than the $1,980 (Rs 1,64,999 in India) price tag of Samsung Galaxy Fold and EUR 2,299 Huawei Mate X.
Performance Octa-core (2.2 GHz, Dual Core + 1.7 GHz, Hexa Core) Snapdragon 710
6 GB RAM
Display 6.2 inches (15.75 cm)876x2142 px 373 PPI P-OLED
Camera16 MP Primary Camera Dual LED Flash 5 MP Front Camera
Battery 2510 mAh Turbo Power Charging
USB Type-C port
Motorola Razr 2019 Price, Launch Date
Expected Price: Rs. 108,290
Release Date: 17-Jan-2020 (Expected)
Variant:6 GB RAM / 128 GB internal storage
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — | https://medium.com/@sagardonssad/moto-razr-foldable-phone-price-display-specifications-69bdab50aa5c | ['Sagar Blog'] | 2019-11-27 05:57:13.311000+00:00 | ['Technews', 'Android', 'Technology News', 'Technology', 'Reading'] |
1,170 | Fresh Topics from ILLUMINATION | We are excited to share our insights coming from our hearts and minds. We focus our energy on delighting our readers who keep supporting us.
Our content is empowered by our core values: Diversity, Synergy, Fusion, Serendipity | https://medium.com/illumination/fresh-topics-from-illumination-ba7c0e20d562 | ['Dr Mehmet Yildiz'] | 2020-04-12 12:28:57.586000+00:00 | ['Entrepreneurship', 'Leadership', 'Love', 'Technology', 'Business'] |
1,171 | Why I Worry About Venture-Backed Mental Health & Addiction Startups | Why I Worry About Venture-Backed Mental Health & Addiction Startups
And My Ask Of Investors In These Companies
It’s frustrating if you’re a customer of an expense report SaaS startup and the company goes out of business, but it’s potentially devastating if your tele-therapist or addiction counselor suddenly disappears because the platform that employed them ran out of money. This is my most significant concern about the wave of mental wellness startups being funded with venture dollars — what happens to the clients of the ones which fail?
Photo by Matthew Waring on Unsplash
Traditional venture capital models lean into what’s called ‘power laws.’ Basically the idea that you are backing risky new ventures, many of which will stumble along the way, but one or two of the companies you back will be such outsized successes that the investment gains from those will more than offset the others.
Venture capital is a great instrument for high growth companies, or those who are very early in their development but intend to pursue a high growth strategy. If a normal small business must optimize for unit economics and profitability early in its lifecycle, a venture-backed business seeks product-market fit in a big industry and then trades nearterm profit-taking for long-term marketshare, with the idea that profits can be extracted later. I’ll pause for a moment now to emphasize that I don’t believe there’s anything fundamentally wrong with this tradeoff, which shouldn’t surprise you since I am a venture capitalist. If you’re reading this post because you think capitalism is a fundamentally broken system or that venture itself is evil, I’m sorry to share that I don’t agree. But I will absolutely acknowledge that companies which take any outside capital implicitly and explicitly incorporate the needs and expectations of that capital into their business planning. And for venture-backed startups this tends to be “get them customers.”
Which leads us to the fundamental difference between, say, a small self-funded online therapy practice and one that has taken millions of dollars in seed capital: the latter can acquire a larger number of patients much faster using investment dollars for both customer acquisition and to subsidize the economics of serving those clients. That’s what always gives me a little bit of pause in this particular area — the scale ahead of the sustainability
This post is an open question, not a conclusion, because there are plenty of startups which are trying to grow this market using technology and new approaches. Their success will mean that many more people can access mental wellness and addiction services than were potentially able to do so before. And hopefully the efficacy of these programs is even higher when software can be used to support provider matching, behavioral nudges and other extensions to what counselors themselves can do with patients. If we don’t have mission-driven entrepreneurs believing there are opportunities to dramatically improve the service and outcomes in these areas then we tragically don’t move forward. And if 2020 taught us anything it’s how important mental health is to our lives and how many more people who suffer from loneliness, depression, anxiety could benefit from proactively engaging around their health beyond pharmaceuticals.
So when a founder pitches me a business (and please do! [email protected]) in this market I’m simultaneously excited and conflicted. This is personal for me. Since 2011 I’ve been in therapy and seen great benefits in my life. I want others to have similar access ongoing or as needed and know that it’s difficult for many because of economics, time and access limitations. Startups can help fix these problems and we’ve seen a number who are solving infrastructure problems for therapists and clients (aka picks and shovels).
Whether you’re the platform providing the therapy or the software powering the therapist, entrepreneurs in this area should have their own version of the Hippocratic Oath. What I’d ask the investors in these companies is that they share the same values. Push for responsible growth and make sure patients are well-served. Realize that when you look at stats that involve quality of customer interactions, drug prescriptions, etc you’re talking about real people, not just percentages. And perhaps most essential, have a plan for what happens if the company doesn’t succeed. What does client offboarding look like, how long would it take and how much would it cost? The answer might be that in a failure-case you don’t use the remaining capital for one last growth hack but instead have a responsibility to get patients to a new provider. We, as investors, have to be very careful about unknowing exposing vulnerable populations to venture-risk.
Update: Coincidentally The Atlantic had an article out today about troubles at one such startup.
Notes and More
I’ve historically not been a “New Year’s Resolutions” type of guy, but have found a certain mindfulness in at least taking stock of what’s working well for me and what’s less useful. And then deciding whether it’s the recognition of these that matters or there’s work to be done to change my perspectives and outcomes.
📦 Things I’m Enjoying
Miley Cyrus’ new album Plastic Hearts, Haus’ sampler pack of delicious, low ABV spirits, and OMG these ImmuneSchein Ginger Elixirs are so good — you just mix in some hot water and yum.
🏗 Highlighted Homebrew Portfolio Jobs
Arthur.ai is a software startup making it easier for companies to manage and monitor their AI/ML models. This includes not just observability and explainability but fairness. A great, inclusive culture and team plus a brand new $15m Series A round means it could be your next job. They’re hiring lots of folks across engineering, product, design, marketing, sales and such! | https://hunterwalk.medium.com/why-i-worry-about-venture-backed-mental-health-addiction-startups-cb57ec146536 | ['Hunter Walk'] | 2020-12-29 04:20:02.057000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Tech', 'Addiction', 'Therapy', 'Startup'] |
1,172 | Certified Motorola Capri with 5000mAh battery, 19W fast charging | Motorola is preparing to release a new phone, and before that the device is certified. The phone, with the model designation XT2127–1 / XT2127–2, appeared on the FCC listing.
The phone, which bears the internal name Motorola Capri, will have a 5000mAh battery with support for 19W fast charging and will be available only in the 4G variant.
Besides, the new Motorola phone will have basic specifications, such as an HD + screen with a cutout for the front camera and a Snapdragon 460 chipset. 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage will be available. There are four cameras on the back.
See also: Light up the night with the new Motorola e7 smartphone
It only remains to find out what the Motorola Capri will be called when it becomes commercially available in the market. This could be the Moto G10 Play or a brand new device from the affordable E line. | https://medium.com/@jazzyk83/certified-motorola-capri-with-5000mah-battery-19w-fast-charging-3ef31be2bb3f | [] | 2020-12-17 13:00:57.903000+00:00 | ['Mobile', 'Tech', 'Technology', 'Smartphones', 'Motorola'] |
1,173 | 5G Technology and New Business Cases for Banking | Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more
Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore | https://medium.com/kbtg-life/5g-technology-and-new-business-cases-for-banking-ea5559c2cccd | [] | 2020-12-22 11:02:44.168000+00:00 | ['Internet of Things', 'Technology', '5g', 'Cloud', 'Banking'] |
1,174 | The Masked Singer UK < "Season 2 :: Episode 1" > FULL~EPISODE | ⭐ Watch The Masked Singer UK Season 2 Episode 1 Full Episode, The Masked Singer UK Season 2 Episode 1 Full Watch Free, The Masked Singer UK Episode 1,The Masked Singer UK ITV, The Masked Singer UK Eps. 1,The Masked Singer UK ENG Sub, The Masked Singer UK Season 2, The Masked Singer UK Series 2,The Masked Singer UK Episode 1, The Masked Singer UK Season 2 Episode 1, The Masked Singer UK Full Streaming, The Masked Singer UK Download HD, The Masked Singer UK All Subtitle, Watch The Masked Singer UK Season 2 Episode 1 Full Episodes
Film, also called movie, motion picture or moving picture, is a visual art-form used to simulate experiences that communicate ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere through the use of moving images. These images are generally accompanied by sound, and more rarely, other sensory stimulations.[1] The word “cinema”, short for cinematography, is ofITV used to refer to filmmaking and the film The Masked Singer UK, and to the art form that is the result of it.
❏ STREAMING MEDIA ❏
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a provider. The verb to stream refers to the process of delivering or obtaining media in this manner.[clarification needed] Streaming refers to the delivery method of the medium, rather than the medium itself. Distinguishing delivery method from the media distributed applies specifically to telecommunications networks, as most of the delivery systems are either inherently streaming (e.g. radio, television, streaming apps) or inherently non-streaming (e.g. books, video cassettes, audio CDs). There are challenges with streaming conITVt on the Internet. For example, users whose Internet connection lacks sufficient bandwidth may experience stops, lags, or slow buffering of the conITVt. And users lacking compatible hardware or software systems may be unable to stream certain conITVt.
Live streaming is the delivery of Internet conITVt in real-time much as live television broadcasts conITVt over the airwaves via a television signal. Live internet streaming requires a form of source media (e.g. a video camera, an audio interface, screen capture software), an encoder to digitize the conITVt, a media publisher, and a conITVt delivery network to distribute and deliver the conITVt. Live streaming does not need to be recorded at the origination point, although it frequently is.
Streaming is an alternative to file downloading, a process in which the end-user obtains the entire file for the conITVt before watching or lisITVing to it. Through streaming, an end-user can use their media player to start playing digital video or digital audio conITVt before the entire file has been transmitted. The term “streaming media” can apply to media other than video and audio, such as live closed captioning, ticker tape, and real-time text, which are all considered “streaming text”.
❏ COPYRIGHT CONITVT ❏
Copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to make copies of a creative work, usually for a limited time.[1][1][1][1][1] The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educational, or musical form. Copyright is inITVded to protect the original expression of an idea in the form of a creative work, but not the idea itself.[1][1][1] A copyright is subject to limitations based on public interest considerations, such as the fair use doctrine in the United States.
Some jurisdictions require “fixing” copyrighted works in a tangible form. It is ofITV shared among multiple authors, each of whom holds a set of rights to use or license the work, and who are commonly referred to as rights holders.[citation needed][1][2][2][2] These rights frequently include reproduction, control over derivative works, distribution, public performance, and moral rights such as attribution.[2]
Copyrights can be granted by public law and are in that case considered “territorial rights”. This means that copyrights granted by the law of a certain state, do not exITVd beyond the territory of that specific jurisdiction. Copyrights of this type vary by country; many countries, and sometimes a large group of countries, have made agreements with other countries on procedures applicable when works “cross” national borders or national rights are inconsisITVt.[2]
Typically, the public law duration of a copyright expires 2 to 1 years after the creator dies, depending on the jurisdiction. Some countries require certain copyright formalities[1] to establishing copyright, others recognize copyright in any completed work, without a formal registration.
It is widely believed that copyrights are a must to foster cultural diversity and creativity. However, Parc argues that contrary to prevailing beliefs, imitation and copying do not restrict cultural creativity or diversity but in fact support them further. This argument has been supported by many examples such as Millet and Van Gogh, Picasso, Manet, and Monet, etc.[2]
❏ GOODS OF SERVICES ❏
Credit (from Latin credit, “(he/she/it) believes”) is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt), but promises either to repay or return those resources (or other materials of equal value) at a later date.[1] In other words, credit is a method of making reciprocity formal, legally enforceable, and exITVsible to a large group of unrelated people.
The resources provided may be financial (e.g. granting a loan), or they may consist of goods or services (e.g. consumer credit). Credit encompasses any form of deferred payment.[1] Credit is exITVded by a creditor, also known as a lender, to a debtor, also known as a borrower.
‘The Masked Singer UK’ Challenges Asian Americans in Hollywood to Overcome ‘Impossible Duality’ ITVween China, U.S.
ITV’s live-action “The Masked Singer UK” was supposed to be a huge win for under-represented groups in Hollywood. The $1 million-budgeted film is among the most expensive ever directed by a woman, and it features an all-Asian cast — a first for productions of such scale.
Despite well-inITVtioned ambitions, however, the film has exposed the difficulties of representation in a world of complex geopolitics. ITV primarily cast Asian rather than Asian American stars in lead roles to appeal to Chinese consumers, yet Chinese viewers rejected the movie as inauthentic and American. Then, politics ensnared the production as stars Liu Yifei, who plays The Masked Singer UK, and Donnie Yen professed support for Hong Kong police during the brutal crackdown on protesters in 211. Later, ITV issued “special thanks” in the credits to government bodies in China’s Xinjiang region that are directly involved in perpetrating major human rights abuses against the minority Uighur population.
“The Masked Singer UK” inadverITVtly reveals why it’s so difficult to create multicultural conITVt with global appeal in 2020. It highlights the vast disconnect ITVween Asian Americans in Hollywood and Chinese nationals in China, as well as the exITVt to which Hollywood fails to acknowledge the difference ITVween their aesthetics, tastes and politics. It also underscores the limits of the American conversation on representation in a global world.
In conversations with seThe Masked Singer UKl Asian-American creatives, Variety found that many feel caught ITVween fighting against underrepresentation in Hollywood and being accidentally complicit in China’s authoritarian politics, with no easy answers for how to deal with the moral questions “The Masked Singer UK” poses.
“When do we care about representation versus fundamental civil rights? This is not a simple question,” says Bing Chen, co-founder of Gold House, a collective that mobilizes the Asian American community to help diverse films, including “The Masked Singer UK,” achieve opening weekend box office success via its #GoldOpen movement. “An impossible duality faces us. We absolutely acknowledge the terrible and unacceptable nature of what’s going on over there [in China] politically, but we also understand what’s at stake on the The Masked Singer UK side.”
The film leaves the Asian American community at “the intersection of choosing ITVween surface-level representation — faces that look like ours — versus values and other cultural nuances that don’t reflect ours,” says Lulu Wang, director of “The Farewell.”
In a business in which past box office success determines what future projects are bankrolled, those with their eyes squarely on the prize of increasing opportunities for Asian Americans say they feel a responsibility to support “The Masked Singer UK” no matter what. That support is ofITV very personal amid the The Masked Singer UK’s close-knit community of Asian Americans, where people don’t want to tear down the hard work of peers and The Masked Singer UK.
Others say they wouldn’t have given ITV their $2 if they’d known about the controversial end credits.
“‘The Masked Singer UK’ is actually the first film where the Asian American community is really split,” says sociologist Nancy Wang Yuen, who examines racism in Hollywood. “For people who are more global and consume more global news, maybe they’re thinking, ‘We shouldn’t sell our soul in order to get affirmation from Hollywood.’ But we have this scarcity mentality.
“I felt like I couldn’t completely lambast ‘The Masked Singer UK’ because I personally felt solidarity with the Asian American actors,” Yuen continues. “I wanted to see them do well. But at what cost?”
This scarcity mentality is particularly acute for Asian American actors, who find roles few and far ITVween. Lulu Wang notes that many “have built their career on a film like ‘The Masked Singer UK’ and other crossovers, because they might not speak the native language — Japanese, Chinese, Korean or Hindi — to actually do a role overseas, but there’s no role being writITV for them in America.”
Certainly, the actors in “The Masked Singer UK,” who have seen major career breakthroughs tainted by the film’s political backlash, feel this acutely. “You have to understand the tough position that we are in here as the cast, and that ITV is in too,” says actor Chen Tang, who plays The Masked Singer UK’s army buddy Yao.
There’s not much he can do except keep trying to nail the roles he lands in hopes of paving the way for others. “The more I can do great work, the more likely there’s going to be somebody like me [for kids to look at and say], ‘Maybe someday that could be me.’”
Part of the problem is that what’s happening in China feels very distant to Americans. “The Chinese-speaking market is impenetrable to people in the West; they don’t know what’s going on or what those people are saying,” says Daniel York Loh of British East Asians and South East Asians in Theatre and Screen (BEATS), a U.K. nonprofit seeking greater on-screen Asian representation.
York Loh offers a provocative comparison to illustrate the West’s milquetoast reaction to “The Masked Singer UK” principal Liu’s pro-police comments. “The equivalent would be, say, someone like Emma Roberts going, ‘Yeah, the cops in Portland should beat those protesters.’ That would be huge — there’d be no getting around that.”
Some of the disconnect is understandable: With information overload at home, it’s hard to muster the energy to care about faraway problems. But part of it is a broader failure to grasp the real lack of overlap ITVween issues that matter to the mainland’s majority Han Chinese versus minority Chinese Americans. They may look similar, but they have been shaped in diametrically different political and social contexts.
“China’s nationalist pride is very different from the Asian American pride, which is one of overcoming racism and inequality. It’s hard for Chinese to relate to that,” Yuen says.
Beijing-born Wang points out she ofITV has more in common with first-generation Muslim Americans, Jamaican Americans or other immigrants than with Chinese nationals who’ve always lived in China and never left.
If the “The Masked Singer UK” debacle has taught us anything, in a world where we’re still too quick to equate “American” with “white,” it’s that “we definitely have to separate out the Asian American perspective from the Asian one,” says Wang. “We have to separate race, nationality and culture. We have to talk about these things separately. True representation is about capturing specificities.”
She ran up against the The Masked Singer UK’s inability to make these distinctions while creating “The Farewell.” Americans felt it was a Chinese film because of its subtitles, Chinese cast and location, while Chinese producers considered it an American film because it wasn’t fully Chinese. The endeavor to simply tell a personal family story became a “political fight to claim a space that doesn’t yet exist.”
In the search for authentic storytelling, “the key is to lean into the in-ITVweenness,” she said. “More and more, people won’t fit into these neat boxes, so in-ITVweenness is exactly what we need.”
However, it may prove harder for Chinese Americans to carve out a space for their “in-ITVweenness” than for other minority groups, given China’s growing economic clout.
Notes author and writer-producer Charles Yu, whose latest novel about Asian representation in Hollywood, “Interior Chinatown,” is a National Book Award finalist, “As Asian Americans continue on what I feel is a little bit of an island over here, the world is changing over in Asia; in some ways the center of gravity is shifting over there and away from here, economically and culturally.”
With the Chinese film market set to surpass the US as the world’s largest this year, the question thus arises: “Will the cumulative impact of Asian American audiences be such a small drop in the bucket compared to the China market that it’ll just be overwhelmed, in terms of what gets made or financed?”
As with “The Masked Singer UK,” more parochial, American conversations on race will inevitably run up against other global issues as U.S. studios continue to target China. Some say Asian American creators should be prepared to meet The Masked Singer UK by broadening their outlook.
“Most people in this The Masked Singer UK think, ‘I’d love for there to be Hollywood-China co-productions if it meant a job for me. I believe in free speech, and censorship is terrible, but it’s not my battle. I just want to get my pilot sold,’” says actor-producer Brian Yang (“Hawaii Five-0,” “Linsanity”), who’s worked for more than a decade ITVween the two countries. “But the world’s getting smaller. Streamers make shows for the world now. For anyone that works in this business, it would behoove them to study and understand The Masked Singer UKs that are happening in and [among] other countries.”
Gold House’s Chen agrees. “We need to speak even more thoughtfully and try to understand how the world does not function as it does in our zip code,” he says. “We still have so much soft power coming from the U.S. What we say matters. This is not the problem and burden any of us as Asian Americans asked for, but this is on us, unfortunately. We just have to fight harder. And every step we take, we’re going to be right and we’re going to be wrong.”
☆ ALL ABOUT THE SERIES ☆
is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt), but promises either to repay or return those resources (or other materials of equal value) at a later date.[1] In other words, credit is a method of making reciprocity formal, legally enforceable, and exITVsible to a large group of unrelated people.
The resources provided may be financial (e.g. granting a loan), or they may consist of goods or services (e.g. consumer credit). Credit encompasses any form of deferred payment.[1] Credit is exITVded by a creditor, also known as a lender, to a debtor, also known as a borrower.
‘Hausen’ Challenges Asian Americans in Hollywood to Overcome ‘Impossible Duality’ ITVween China, U.S. | https://medium.com/the-masked-singer-uk-series-2-episode-1-4khd/watch-%E1%B4%B4%E1%B4%B0-s2-e1-the-masked-singer-uk-series-2-episode-1-full-episode-ab0b2e86bf3d | ['Natasha Hayes'] | 2020-12-25 19:40:12.418000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Lifestyle', 'Coronavirus', 'TV Series'] |
1,175 | 6 Top Use Cases for Neural Networks | Customer Experience Enhancement
(Example: Sephora)
Customer data is collected by different organisations for commercial or analytical usage. Customer data can contain information like demographical data, economic status, purchase patterns etc. Using these data, ANNs can be applied to segregate customers in multiple segments. Sephora , a big cosmetic company in the world, has already started to implement ANN in their marketing campaign and going towards becoming speciality beauty retailer. They are using Augmented Reality having ANN in the core to let customers try makeup virtually. They are also implementing ANN to produce virtual fragrance sample for their customers so that the customers can feel their products. These marketing strategies have been powered by ANN and is boosting Sephora in their sales.
Digital Marketing Enhancement
(Example: Starbucks)
Now-a-days, digital marketing is a huge thing as many customers prefer to shop online and browsing is one of the most sought-after method for a very large number of customers. ANN can be implemented in digital marketing strategies to increase the customer base.
Starbucks, one of the leading coffee shop brands in the world, has used ANNs in their marketing campaigns. They have used Supervised and Unsupervised Machine Learning methods along with ANN to divide their customer groups.
Based on these, they have been able to send customers targeted content over email and other social media and has been able to improve their sales.
Their Starbucks Rewards program has been successful, and they have been able to provide the customers with great personalised experience and it has increased their revenue by $2.56 billion.
Photo by Alexas_Fotos on Unsplash
Improve Search Engine Functionality
(Example: Google)
Search Engine Optimisation is a huge factor for Search Engine companies. To improve their search engine capabilities, search engine providers are now leaning towards ANNs . Google has already implemented a 30-layer deep ANN in their system to allow the search engine to process complicated searches such as shapes and colours.
There have been significant improvement in search experience already and as a result, the error rate has dropped to 8% from 23%, according to the company report.
Customer Loyalty
(Example: FedEx)
Deep Learning can be used to determine whether an existing customer can switch to a competitor or not.
Neural networks can be used to predict which customers are most likely to switch to another organisation and how to retain them using a tailored service. FedEx has implemented a neural network to enhance and personalise their consumer’s experiences.
With the help of neural nets , FedEx has been able to predict which customers are likely to switch to their competitors with an accuracy of 60–90%.
Market Movement Forecasting
Example: LBS Capital Management
Predicting the prices of assets has been one of the oldest professions as traders through time have tried to take goods from one market and sell them in another. Nowadays, this is sped up a lot by hedge funds who can trade electronically from their offices in London, Tokyo, or even in the middle of nowhere.
Given this technological jump, it’s also possible to introduce more complicated models into the mix. Statistics is the foundation to Financial Mathematics so it paved way for the developments in Machine Learning . This has been greatly beneficial as, companies like LBS Capital Management, who’ve implemented neural nets to get positive results. Based on neural network models that utilise 6 financial indicators, they’ve been able to predict the average directional movement over the last 18 days.
Note: This isn’t financial advice and nor do I recommend anyone to take these approaches.
Reference
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
Insurance Provisions
(Example: Allianz Travel Insurance)
Insurance providers often have to provide customised travel insurance and that’s no easy task. People generally have differing holiday plans in terms of cost, age, reason and length of trip.
Given these variables , it’s important to give the right recommendation because otherwise, the responsibility ultimately falls with the insurance provider.
Neural networks are being used by Allianz to help segregate different types of policyholders to customise and offer appropriate pricing plans and provisions.
Allianz Travel Insurance has implemented a neural network in their travel insurance system which analyses many factors like length of the trip, cost of the trip, traveller’s age, reason for travelling, air miles used etc. and then comes up with the best policy for the customer.
This has helped customers to get most relevant coverage for the trip and it also reduces the time to research for the trip, making the holiday planning a less worried item. | https://towardsdatascience.com/6-top-use-cases-for-neural-networks-197669b21b27 | ['Mohammad Ahmad'] | 2020-11-23 14:50:23.920000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Technology', 'Tech', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Data Science'] |
1,176 | Coding Should be Taught in Schools as a Unique Subject. Here’s Why. | Coding Should be Taught in Schools as a Unique Subject. Here’s Why. Seantarzy Follow Dec 18 · 3 min read
Computer science is an undeniable, omnipresent part of our lives, and there is no sign of it going away anytime soon. With such great demand for software engineers and data scientists, many schools see it fit to teach computer programming, even as early as elementary school. Schools that have implemented such programs are ahead of the curve and are appropriately shaping the next generation. However, there is one issue with regard to the manner in which schools are implementing technology education. Some schools are teaching computer programming within the framework of math classes, or even teaching it as a language. The problem is that coding falls under neither of these categories, and it should be treated as its own unique discipline.
Only a few days ago, neuroscientists at MIT published findings on the effects that computer programming has on the brain. They attempted to address a common coding conundrum: is it a kind of math? A language? Both?
In the course of their research, the neuroscientists found that reasoning through computer code activates a totally different region of the brain than the one activated by language-learning. Coding activates the “multiple demand network”, which is reserved for complex cognitive functions, such as math problems.
So now you may be thinking: “Oh ok, so it is a form of mathematics.” Well, while math also activates the multiple demands network, math and computer programming activate different parts of the multiple demands network. So, coding does not exactly cognitively translate to math. A brilliant mathematician will not necessarily be a proficient coder, and vice versa.
The implications of such unique brain activity is rather exciting. We now have the chance to evolve our brains. While math and reading have been pillars of traditional education for thousands of years, computer programming is a new human activity. Therefore, exercising the “coding muscles” of the brain can bring us new ways of thinking to advance society. Senior author of the paper Evelina Fedorenko states, “It’s possible that if you take people who are professional programmers, who have spent 30 or 40 years coding in a particular language, you may start seeing some specialization, or some crystallization of parts of the multiple demand system.”
Even with this finding, the researchers still ask the question, “Does computer programming fall under the category of math or language?” Sometimes the best way to answer a question is to remove the parameters presented. It’s neither. Not only is that a solid answer to the proposed question, but it also can have very progressive ramifications for generations to come. The world is full of problems. Let’s give the young generation the opportunity approach these problems with a fresh mindset by creating a new, exciting school subject. A subject that is not only sure to increase in relevance, but, because of its uniqueness, is likely to augment student minds and challenge traditional thought.
Sources: | https://medium.com/swlh/coding-should-be-taught-as-in-schools-as-a-unique-subject-heres-why-bf242803cb2e | [] | 2020-12-19 09:57:39.136000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Education', 'Programming', 'MIT'] |
1,177 | Top 12 Blockchain Development Tools to build Blockchain Ecosystem | Blockchain is well-known for underpinning cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum and Bitcoin, but it has the potential to transform various industries, including healthcare, logistics and supply chain, insurance, financial and much more. Reputed companies like Samsung and IBM are also adopting blockchain technology to offer innovative solutions and ways to enterprises and startups.
Source: GoodFirms
A report prepared by Upwork says that the blockchain seems to be the fastest growing skill on the platform, leaving behind the skills like Machine Learning and Tensor Flow. It has led to an increasing demand for blockchain developers.
Various blockchain development tools have been introduced to ease the process of blockchain app development. If you are interested in learning more about the blockchain or starting a blockchain project, you should know about the blockchain development tools used by the blockchain developers.
Here are some of the widely used blockchain development tools:
1. Remix IDE
Source LeewayHertz
Ethereum platform uses many tools for creating and deploying smart contracts on the blockchain. Remix is one of the easiest and browser-based tools to use for the creation and deployment of smart contracts. It can be used for writing, debugging, testing and deploying smart contracts using a programming language known as Solidity.
2. Truffle Framework
Truffle is a framework for Ethereum that offers a development environment for building Ethereum based apps. It includes support for the library that provides custom deployments for coding new contracts and links Ethereum applications. It offers the ability to perform automated contract testing using Chai and Mocha.
3. Solc
Source: karl.tech
Solidity is a loosely typed programming language with a syntax similar to ECMA script (JavaScript) used for the creation of smart contracts on the Ethereum platform. However, you need something to convert Solidity script into a format readable by EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine). Solc (Solidity Compiler) serves this purpose.
Solidity Compilers can be categorized in two ways, solc coded in C++ and solc-js that uses Emscripten for cross-compiling from solc C++ code to JS.
4. Solium
While developing a blockchain app, security plays a crucial role. It is essential to ensure that the Solidity Code is free from security holes. Solium tool is designed to format solidity code and resolve security issues in your code. It makes sure that the code is formatted and checks for vulnerability too. Use Solium by installing it with npm.
5. Geth
Source: LeewayHertz
Geth is an Ethereum client used for running Ethereum nodes in the Go programming language. Geth is basically a program which works as a node for the Ethereum platform and can be used for mining ether tokens, create smart contracts, transfer tokens and explore the block history.
6. Embark
Embark is a development framework for Ethereum based dApps. It allows developers to develop and deploy dApps based on decentralized technology. It enables you to create smart contracts which can be made available in javascript code.
It can also manage smart contract migration if the application has multiple contracts. By supporting the test-driven development of smart contracts with JS, developers can handle contracts on different blockchains like testnet, live network and private net.
7. Ganache
Source: Ganache
Ganache is a tool from Truffle Suite that allows developers to create their own private Ethereum blockchain to test dApps. Deploying a dApp directly on Ethereum can cost you a lot of gas to verify transactions.
On the other hand, Ganache allows you to do testing without paying any gas. It also enables you to manage the mining speed and gas costs within the test environment to test different scenarios for smart contracts.
8. EtherScripter
Ether scripting for new developers could be a complicated task. However, Ether Scripter presents an easy-to-use interface that can be used to code basic contracts. It has a simple drag and drop interface where developers connect jigsaw puzzle pieces to build the contract. Ether Scripter can only be used with the Serpent programming language.
9. Blockchain as a Service (BaaS)
BaaS is an offering that allows its users to use cloud-based solutions for building, hosting and using their blockchain apps, functions and smart contracts on the blockchain while the cloud service provider handles activities to make the infrastructure agile and operational.
This service can benefit companies who want to adopt the blockchain technology but have not been able to implement it due to technical complexities and operational overhead. To use blockchain as a service, users pay the BaaS service providers specific fees to maintain and set up the blockchain infrastructure.
10. Metamask
Metamask is a wallet that acts as a bridge between Ethereum blockchain and Chrome or Firefox by working as a browser extension. It can be used for saving keys for ERC20 tokens and Ether.
It can link with Shapeshift and Coinbase to sell and buy ETH and ERC20 tokens. It can also interact with different Ethereum test networks to make it an ideal wallet for developers.
11. Mist
Before you use Ethereum to build dApps, you should know a place where you can keep Ether tokens and run smart contracts. It is available for Linux, Mac and Windows and is an official Ethereum wallet built for smart contract deployment.
When installing Mist, always remember once you set up the password, you can never change it again. Make sure you set a strong password and never forget it. Also, you will have to enter that password every time you have to send Ether.
12. Blockchain Testnet
Source: LeewayHertz
While writing Ethereum Virtual Machine programs, you have to pay for the gas usage and launch of the app. Also, an untested program can lead to high costs as Ethereum blockchain is immutable and transactions added to it cannot be undone.
Therefore, it is required to test a dApp before deploying it on the main network. Use blockchain testnets which are copies of Ethereum blockchain except that their Ether is worthless.
The blockchain development tools mentioned above can help developers test and develop dApps in a better and easier way. At LeewayHertz, we have a team of blockchain developers who use different types of blockchain tools and technologies to build robust and risk-free dApps.
Visit LeewayHertz to know more about our blockchain work and technologies we understand. Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to stay updated with developments around Blockchain. | https://medium.com/hackernoon/top-12-blockchain-development-tools-to-build-blockchain-ecosystem-371a1b587248 | [] | 2019-06-03 08:12:12.647000+00:00 | ['Blockchain Application', 'Ethereum', 'Blockchain', 'Blockchain Development', 'Blockchain Technology'] |
1,178 | JavaScript Design Patterns — Composition, Inheritance, and Configuration | Photo by Luca Bravo on Unsplash
Design patterns are the basis of any good software. JavaScript programs are no exception.
In this article, we’ll look at the difference between composition and inheritance, and look at why we should make our program have some flexibility.
Composition Versus Inheritance
Composition is when our object contains other objects.
Inheritance is when we receive the parent object’s members in the current object.
They both have their place.
Composition is a has-a relationship while inheritance is a has-a relationship.
It’s very important to make distinctions between the 2 since they do different things.
In JavaScript, there’re various ways that 2 things are composed.
For instance, we can have functions that are nested in other functions.
We can write:
const foo = fn => {
//...
fn();
//...
}
We have a foo function that calls fn .
Also, we can have nested objects. For example, we can write:
const obj = {
foo: 1,
bar: {
baz: 2,
}
}
We have an object as the value of bar .
We can also have functions as values of object properties.
Composition is used for holding functionality that’s needed by something.
Inheritance, on the other hand, is an is-a relationship.
This means a child object is also a parent object. It’s just that a child object may have additional things.
For instance, if we have:
class Animal {
//...
} class Cat extends Animal {
//...
}
Then Cat is a subclass of Animal . Cat is an animal.
Cat shares all the members of Animal .
We can any methods of Animal and access any instance variables of Animal from a Cat instance.
For example, we can write:
class Animal {
speak() {
//...
}
}
class Cat extends Animal {
//...
}
The extends keyword indicates that Cat inherits the members of Animal .
Then if we create a Cat instance, we can write:
const cat = new Cat();
Then we can call speak by calling:
cat.speak();
Likewise, we can create an is-a relationship between 2 objects with the Object.create method:
const animal = {
speak() {
//...
}
} const cat = Object.create(animal);
Object.create takes a prototype object which will be the prototype of the child object.
So animal is the parent of cat in the example above.
Like with class instances, we can call speak by writing cat.speak() .
In both the class and object examples, the prototype of the object resides in the __proto__ property of the object.
Inheritance is good for creating multiple classes or objects that share things from the parent class or object respectively.
The general principle is that if we have volatile code, then we should use more has-a relationships rather than an is-a relationship since we assume that shared code between a parent and different children may change.
If we change shared code between parents and children, then we break all the children as well.
Photo by Omar Flores on Unsplash
Creating Algorithms
Once we decided on the patterns to use, then we’ve to devise our algorithm for our program.
This should be easy once we created some basic designs. Implementation is all that’s needed in most cases.
We can use existing libraries to make our lives easier, which is what we should do in most cases.
If we have an is-a relationship between classes or objects, then we need to think about which pieces of code are shared and which ones are unique to classes or objects.
If we use a has-a model instead, then we can create algorithms in different places and use them as we wish to.
We should think about making our program configurable so that we don’t have to change code to have slightly different functionality.
This way, we make our lives easier since code change always has some risks.
To reduce that, we should make things that change frequently be configurable so that we don’t have to deal with them.
For instance, we can read settings from a file or database so an algorithm can be selected according to settings that are set in those places.
Conclusion
Our programs should have some flexibility so that we don’t have to change code for it to do different things.
Composition is when we have something in an object or class so we can use them as we wish.
Inheritance is when we have some shared code that’s used by other objects or classes. | https://medium.com/swlh/javascript-design-patterns-composition-inheritance-and-configuration-e84d024f8fe3 | ['John Au-Yeung'] | 2020-06-09 17:54:27.423000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Web Development', 'JavaScript', 'Programming', 'Software Development'] |
1,179 | I got fooled once with my data. Not this time. | I got fooled once with my data. Not this time. Pawtocol Follow Jan 10 · 4 min read
Until recently, I never really thought about the value of data. Whenever I needed to let a new app get my info from Facebook, I agreed. It was just easier that way. I knew Amazon and Alexa were tracking every move I made when it came to their technology, and I let them. Then there is Google. I’d just about let them have everything only so I could make my life easier by using their suite of apps and software.
I didn’t mind Facebook selling access to my newsfeed only to use that data to show me specific ads I enjoyed or clicked on. I had no problem with Facebook reporting advertising revenue of nearly $50 billion last year. I mean, they are a for-profit business.
I never understood the value of it, but here is how they monetize data: As mentioned they use it to sell ads. Their data shows marketers you’re in a certain geographic region, recent searches (mine about white sneakers) and all other pertinent information about trying to make that sale to you. And it works because they know what you want. In a total act of brazen egregious behavior, they sell all your data outright to aggregators who are then able to do just about anything they want with it. They collect the data for their internal product development and then give you access to their products such as Google who has developed software we use every day thanks to our data points.
I never cared about any of this until I started noticing a growing trend in the news of some incredible abuses of our data that were downright scary:
Equifax data breaches of 150 million American’s credit data including social security numbers and bank accounts Capital One with 106 million banking and credit card records 4 Billion social media hacks in 2019 Cambridge analytical scandal where millions of Facebook accounts were surreptitiously accessed to sway an election
That last one was particularly troubling. Not because my Facebook profile contains sensitive information, but because I now questioned what was Facebook doing with all that profit if it wasn’t protecting me from something like this.
Then Andrew Yang came along and talked about the importance of data privatization and most recently, The California Consumer Protection act was passed which protects consumers’ data rights. All of this made me rethink data ownership. However, I was too far down the rabbit hole to backtrack, but now ahead enough not to make the same data privacy mistakes — both personally and professionally.
Now working in the pet industry that generates huge amounts of data (there are approximately 800 million pets globally) from the onset I know their data has value which makes me more motivated to protect their information.
At Pawtocol, pets own their data. It’s a complete 180 from everything we’re used to in the world of data.
With Pawtocol all your data is in one safe place.
Pawtocol is an online platform bringing blockchain and AI to the entire $100B+ pet industry, with privacy-first design principles that all users retain full custody of all platform data and the rights to anonymously sell their data for direct compensation.
These pet’s will keep their data and make money.
In this new pet economy that Pawtocol will introduce to the world, Pet parents can earn Universal Pet Income (UPI) by sharing their pet’s data with veterinarians, retailers, manufacturers, or researchers who can then use that data to improve their operations. In a way, this means pets can help to support themselves, and the community at large.
That UPI can then be spent by their two-legged companions on anything from treats to vet bills or traded on an exchange for cash. Read more here about data monetization.
We’re making this easy and familiar with our app. Our interface makes it simple to be part of this next tech generation by making it easy to input data and gather your results. You’d never even know you’re using a crypto app.
When it comes to that data, we don’t store nor do we manage it. Most importantly we don’t sell your data.
Learn more about Pawtocol: | https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/i-got-fooled-once-with-my-data-not-this-time-10a1473f5e00 | [] | 2020-01-10 17:22:40.744000+00:00 | ['Privacy', 'Technology', 'Pets', 'Tech', 'Startup'] |
1,180 | Weekly Digest: End of Google Home, Beginning of Voice-Powered Google Assistant Payments | This week in Conversational AI
Image Credit: Victor Seleykov/Just AI
Microsoft patent hints there might be a Surface-branded smart speaker coming
A Microsoft patent that surfaced recently shows that the tech giant may be working on its own smart speaker. This is particularly surprising in the lieu of Microsoft’s efforts to make its Cortana voice assistant part of its enterprise offering. In this patent for Smart Speaker System with Microphone Room Calibration, we see a standard smart speaker, featuring internet access, Bluetooth, and six microphones connecting to a built-in voice assistant along with the audio playing hardware. Find out more here.
Amazon’s Alexa now offers ‘Thought of the Day’ from Marshmello and Halsey Team
More celebrities choose Alexa as a way to reach their fanbase. So, voice assistants’ customers can say “Alexa, what’s Halsey’s thought of the day?” and “Alexa, what’s Marshmello’s thought of the day?” and get a glimpse into the random musings from both artists. Marshmello shares his thoughts on pretty much everything while Halsey muses on topics like learning to waltz and penguin courtship rituals. Find out more here.
Google Store no longer offers the original Google Home
Last week, Android Police has discovered that Google Home is “no longer available” in the company’s US and Japan Stores. At the same time, Canada’s store offers visitors to “join the waiting list.” Later, Google started offering free Nest Mini smart speakers to YouTube Premium, YouTube Music Premium, and Google Play Music subscribers in the U.S. While rumor has it, there is a successor underway, we have to wait and see. Find out more here.
Google is testing voice payments with Google Assistant
No matter what future holds for Google Home devices, Google is testing a new Voice Match feature for secure purchases made through its voice assistant. A company’s spokesperson confirmed to Android Police that “the functionality is new, and is designed to help secure purchases made on smart speakers and smart displays.” Currently, it only works for in-app digital purchases through Google Play and restaurant orders. Find out more here. | https://medium.com/voiceui/weekly-digest-end-of-google-home-beginning-of-voice-powered-google-assistant-payments-60629564a584 | ['Dasha Fomina'] | 2020-06-01 15:39:00.610000+00:00 | ['Voice Assistant', 'Digest', 'Voice Technology', 'Conversational Ai', 'Alexa'] |
1,181 | Lights, Camera, InterAction | Understanding what could be
Using the collective research insights we had gathered up to this point, we began the process of understanding what kind of solution could address our high priority user needs.
After discussing a plethora of potential solutions we decided that we wanted to explore how emerging technologies could be used to augment the theater-going experience in an effective way. We decided to go the route of virtual reality since it presented the most opportunities for recreating the best parts of the in-person experience at home.
Experience Prototyping
After choosing to adopt a VR solution, we wanted to bring our idea in front of our users to see if the solution would:
Satisfy people’s needs for in-person interactions Be a comfortable method for people to interact with others Be easy for people to comprehend and use
Building the prototype
Due to our time, monetary, and technical constraints, we created a low-fidelity prototype by designing various VR environments in Figma that were three A4 pages in width. We then printed out the environments and created cardboard models to simulate our “VR headset” that participants would use.
Testing
We tested three different environments with users. In the first, the users have the option to either interact with their friends to discuss and share their thoughts about the show. In the second, they are able to interact with other audience members and meet people who have similar interests or thoughts about the performance. In the final environment, users have the option to interact with members of the cast and ask questions.
Home Screen
Interacting with your friends
Interacting with other audience members
Interacting with cast members
We made the conscious decision to set have our experience available to users during the intermission rather than making the entire end to end experience virtual as we thought that it would be overwhelming to users and may become uncomfortable wearing a VR headset for an extended period of time.
Key insights
“Having spacial awareness of the theater environment and the people around you while engaging with others definitely beats the stacked video frames on zoom”
People had varying levels of comfort when it came to interacting with other audience members in the current experience People wanted to use this experience beyond just the intermission People wanted a higher level of interaction with that actors that really takes advantage of the of the affordances of VR People were worried about the gap in immersiveness of the experience based on the specific VR device they were using (Google Cardboard vs. Oculus).
Iterating
Based on our user feedback we made a few improvements to our experience:
We added more structure to the “meet the audience” by auto-assigning users into small groups to participate in a fun trivia game related the the show to give help them initiate the interaction with others We change the “meet the cast” experience to include more intimate interactions beyond asking questions such as receiving digital autographs that you could have mailed to you on a variety of memorabilia.
We also decided to focus on framing our solution as a service provided by the theater so that theater-goers would be able to receive a consistently high quality experience. We determined that the increased engagement with the theater would outweigh the cost of obtaining and maintaining these devices.
Presenting our findings
Future work
The next steps for this project include conducting additional user tests to refine our service as we move into higher fidelity versions. In addition, we would want to work with KST to figure out a plan for an initial beta run where we could actually build a simple virtual experience and test it with real audience members to better understand people’s perception of the service, hidden costs, further improvements that would need to be made to the experience, and how to effectively deploy this at a larger scale that supports KST’s long term business goals. | https://medium.com/@azizg/lights-camera-interaction-b3885b1634c5 | ['Aziz Ghadiali'] | 2021-01-22 19:45:37.445000+00:00 | ['Theater', 'User Research', 'User Experience Design', 'Emerging Technology', 'Hci'] |
1,182 | Outlook 2021: Forward Momentum | Gaming Eats the World
Ten years ago, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen published a seminal article in the Wall Street Journal, declaring that “software is eating the world.” His belief, which has guided the expansion of Silicon Valley investment over the past decade, was that software would eventually disrupt and transform every industry, replacing non-digital processes and transforming how business is transacted. And while we are very much still in the middle stages of this transformation, we would like to add to Andreessen’s prediction: a second wave of software is coming to eat the world, and this one is rooted in the technologies and platforms of the gaming industry.
We can think of industry verticals as divided into two broad groups, the first wave and the second wave. The first wave industries are the ones which have largely been digitized over the past twenty years: news, media, entertainment, and retail. While there are of course legacy components to all of them, they all also have clear, established digital business models, winners and losers, and paths to market for new entrants. They are digitally mature. The next twenty years will be about digitizing the second wave: mobility, healthcare, education, food and agriculture, government, finance, getting them up to speed with internet assumptions, business models, and new go-to-market strategies. But while that is happening, the first wave won’t stand still. Instead, it will begin adopting a set of next-generation tools from the forefront of tech, which just happens to be where the gaming industry lives. This will expand the toolmakers in the gaming industry well beyond entertainment, subsuming everything we do online today, from shopping to working to socializing, challenging the FAANG companies as the most influential platforms in the world. As large as gaming is as an entertainment industry, it’s about to get much larger.
A second wave of software is coming to eat the world, and it is rooted in the technologies and platforms of the gaming industry.
This new layer of the internet is commonly referred to as the metaverse — an interconnected set of three-dimensional experiences, which may be accessed in VR or AR, but will also be accessed on our smartphones, televisions, and computers. It will be separate from the web and separate from the offline world, but connected to both, with frequent hops between them. The true metaverse will take decades to come together. We’re in the equivalent of the AOL dial-up era, where the pieces are becoming clear, but the infrastructure is not ready, and neither are consumers. But in this march toward the metaverse, the gaming industry — and particularly the platform players with the grandest metaverse ambitions — will increasingly steal time and attention away from traditional websites. And the pandemic gave them a huge head start.
More than half of all Americans were playing video games during quarantine, and those who spent more than 5 hours per week grew by 30%. As traditional sports were forced to shut down, many fans turned to esports to fill the gap. NASCAR’s quick pivot to virtual racing and the NBA’s live broadcast of their teams playing the NBA 2K video game helping recruit new fans to both the style and the distribution platforms for esports. And with a live event platform already in place, proto-verses like Fornite and Roblox were ready to host live concerts on their platforms, reaching up to 33 million unique viewers for their in-game events. Even Complex turned their music and streetwear event into a virtual venue this year. All of these contributed to trends that were already developing: an expansion of the gaming audience, now almost evenly split by gender, and strongly represented in every age group under 50. And an increase in use of games and gaming platforms for social activities and events that are unrelated to the game itself.
As gaming expands to swallow parts of the internet, the most important players to watch are the companies building infrastructure, and the platforms that are aggregating users. From the establishment, both Facebook and Apple throw the largest shadow. Facebook acquired Oculus back in 2014 because they saw the existential threat of the metaverse. And while it was slow going for awhile, 2020 was a breakout year for sales of their flagship device, the Quest. Where Facebook has stumbled so far is in software — Facebook Horizon is the company’s third attempt to build a social space on the platform, and while it’s still in beta, it doesn’t seem to have enough compelling content to attract the initial audience necessary to jumpstart engagement.
While Apple has a rocky track record with social and gaming, they have a stellar history with everything else, and a keen interest in augmented reality indicates that they will take a stab at a metaverse platform of some kind. At this point, the industry is largely waiting with bated breath for the launch of some kind of glasses, which might provide an entry point to more immersive experiences on Apple’s platforms. Similarly to how the iPhone developed, it’s likely that Apple will create at least part of the hardware and infrastructure powering a metaverse, if not the actual services themselves.
The pure infrastructure upstarts to watch include NVIDIA, widely regarded as the world’s best graphics processor designer, who builds the chips and cards that power high-end gaming computers and consoles. But GPUs are already widely used for other purposes, as the most important hardware for artificial intelligence and machine learning, NVIDIA has secured a place in the future of computing more broadly, as well as in ML-intensive applications like autonomous vehicles. And on the software side, Unity is the game engine that powers a large number of existing games, and which is rapidly expanding into other 3D and immersive fields. Both NVIDIA and Unity’s broad use within the industry all but guarantee them a place at the table as metaverse platforms develop.
For brands, it is well past time to figure out a gaming strategy, both in terms of how to reach gamers as an audience, and how brands should show up in immersive spaces.
On the software side, there are four massively multiplayer games which currently dominate attention: Grand Theft Auto, Minecraft, Roblox, and Fortnite. They each maintain between 70–120 million monthly active players, generating 1–1.5 billion hours of gameplay per month. GTA is probably the least advanced in terms of metaverse ambitions, but that fact belies its longevity: originally released in 2013, it is the only major title to now span three generations of gaming consoles. Minecraft is of similar vintage, first available to the public in 2009, but it’s acquisition by Microsoft in 2014 is what gave it the sustainability it needed. With a firm foothold in education and Microsoft’s backing, it will likely make the jump to a metaverse platform, and provide one of the true family-friendly on-ramps that will be necessary.
Roblox is a creative game that’s akin to a digital toy box, and is currently played by over half of all kids under 16 in the US. It’s also the first major gaming platform to let users monetize their own creations, selling everything from aesthetic skins and objects to use in your own creation to fully developed games-within-a-game. They are well on their way to being a default marketplace for digital goods, and will be the first metaverse company to go public early in 2021 on the basis of that premise.
Epic Games, maker of Fortnite and the Unreal Engine, may be the farthest along with their metaverse ambitions, and is the only player who is currently pursuing a vertically-integrated strategy. Not only does Fortnite itself still command many hours of gameplay every month, and serves as a de facto social platform, it also has become a melting pot of pop culture IP, the default place where Disney’s valuable catalog of Marvel and Star Wars characters appear in gaming, and host to the most technically advanced virtual concerts from popular musicians. But beyond Fortnite, it’s the infrastructure that Epic is creating with it’s Unreal Engine that might change everything. Those concerts are created at a special soundstage designed for the purpose of modeling and motion-capturing the artist in real time, creating a “digital twin” that can easily be imported into the game. It’s the human equivalent of the work they’ve done with Hummer on their first electric vehicle, which has a high-resolution model of itself in the dashboard, to display information and controls. Perhaps most interesting is the digital twin Epic created with the city of Shanghai, which can import real-time weather and traffic data, and help city officials simulate proposed changes to infrastructure. Along with their contributions to the digital sets of The Mandalorian and Disneyland’s Galaxy’s Edge, Epic is quickly building out a toolchain for production of digital twins of people, places, and things, but also the means to deploy them in game and in the real world. These tools and processes will all be key components in the buildout of the metaverse.
For brands, it is well past time to figure out a gaming strategy, both how to reach gamers as an audience, and increasingly important is how brands should show up in immersive spaces. While the former will vary widely from brand to brand, for the latter, it’s time to build out a 3D asset pack in widely compatible formats. As more of the internet begins to look and behave like a game, it’s time to start thinking about games as the new social — unique channels where users gather to hang out online, and where they build reputations and personas that can and will include brand affinities. It will be important to think through not just product design for virtual worlds, but interactivity as well — can players interact with your product, or use it with a custom emote, to show off to their friends? Can you create demand with limited releases, or generate engagement by providing a more practical value? And as you look to your product and packaging development, identify whether the tools your designers are using can be upgraded to the ones that game designers use, embedding the creation of a digital twin right into your core creative process. | https://medium.com/ipg-media-lab/outlook-2021-forward-momentum-37175256c329 | ['Adam Simon'] | 2021-03-16 07:30:25.616000+00:00 | ['Innovation', 'Disruption', 'Marketing', 'Technology', 'Media Criticism'] |
1,183 | Hotmail Helpline Number or Hotmail Customer Service +1–844–832–5538 Technical Support | Hotmail Change Password Use Your Secret Questions
Also, remember that the server will determine which of the secret questions will be made available to you; for hotmail account sign in.
Contact Hotmail customer service for password reset, If you have forgotten your Hotmail password and wish to use your security questions, head over to Hotmail Contact page and select Password and sign in.
Under sub-topic two, select Forgot Password, under Recommended Option, enter your email address and click on Submit.
Click Next. If prompted, enter the CAPTCHA code.
Select Use my secret questions, followed by Next. Then enter the answers to your security questions.
If entered correctly, Hotmail will prompt you to enter a new password. And change your earlier Hotmail password enter your new pass-code and click on Next to finish your password recovery.
Note: If you do not have secret queries on file that reset possibility will not be out there in Sign-in Helper.
Finding it hard recalling what’s the answer to your security questions?
Try resetting it using your recovery email or mobile number.
Invalid ID or Password Message
If your attempts to log in result with an Invalid ID or Invalid Password error message, Hotmail change password this signals that you’ve entered a password and ID combination that doesn’t match what’s on record.
If you are certain that you are providing the proper sign-in data, there are a few scenarios as to why this is happening.
If your secret code contains numbers or letters, make sure that your caps lock or number lock keys are activated.
Case-sensitive codes are often entered incorrectly due to key stroke sensitivity.
Take a look at your browser’s auto-fill settings. If your browser usually fills-in your password for you automatically and you’ve changed your password recently, you’ll be required to enter your new password manually to override your browser settings.
If you’re sure that you’re entering the correct information, this could be an indication that someone else accessed your account and changed your password.
Reset your password immediately using the Password Helper tool. Once you regain the access to your account, review the steps to secure a hacked account to revert any changes made without your knowledge.
Important Note: If you can’t answer the secret question either and you do not have access to your alternate e-mail address or phone number also, there is nothing else you can do from here as Hotmail is not able to tell that you are the legitimate owner.
Find your Hotmail ID and restore access to your Hotmail account | https://medium.com/@jennypink958/hotmail-helpline-number-or-hotmail-customer-service-1-844-832-5538-technical-support-9c15ff0b3b98 | ['Jenny Underwood'] | 2019-07-24 08:25:39.362000+00:00 | ['Support', 'Hotmail', 'Technology', 'Security', 'Customer Service'] |
1,184 | Cibertucídides | Ph.D. and MG. in International Relations. Expert in International Security and War. Special interests in new technologies, productivity, and philosophy.
Follow | https://medium.com/estado-internacional/cibertuc%C3%ADdides-de2f566f1501 | ['Lautaro N. Rubbi'] | 2020-04-08 04:17:40.301000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Cyberattack', 'Cybersecurity', 'Foreign Affairs', 'International Relations'] |
1,185 | Do you stand by your data analysis? | Do you stand by your data analysis?
How we made sure our reports were watertight for COVID-19
Photo by Chris Liverani on Unsplash
When COVID-19 hit, many teams across Xero had to pivot their work to focus on immediate support for small businesses and their advisors (accountants and bookkeepers) around the world. A huge amount of change took place in a very short period of time, from government assistance packages to new ways of working.
To help our teams build features that supported these changes, we needed to provide more internal reporting. We also needed to share high-level insights to governments on the health of the small business sector.
Most data is not designed to be reported
A global pandemic is not the time to accidentally release inaccurate data analysis, especially when it’s also used by governments and industry analysts to measure the health of the small business sector. Our analysis was very much in demand, so we needed to make sure it was 100% accurate. That’s not to say we don’t normally check the accuracy of our work. We do. But data is complicated and often not structured with ease of reporting in mind.
In some cases, data that is customer friendly is not analysis friendly. For example, we allow customers to date invoices whenever they need to — today, next month, three years ago. This plays merry havoc on our ability to report on invoices, as invoices are always being entered in the past, causing historical numbers to change daily. Then there’s the fact that we don’t have one source of data — there are multiple streams of data for each product on our platform. And each stream is huge, often surpassing billions of rows of data. Like I said, it’s complicated.
We sadly don’t have a bank of pre-canned reports for every single eventuality. Instead, a problem arises and someone asks us to make a report with the data we have. We then combine data together to get an output. Sometimes the data isn’t designed to be combined, or needs to be combined in ways we couldn’t foresee when creating the data. For these reasons, it can be hard to make reports watertight. In some cases, the problem can’t be solved with the data we have.
At Xero, we’re very candid about the challenges we face when working with teams that ask us to do data analysis and reporting. This is especially true when we’re analysing something for the first time. We’re always doing our best and sometimes work with teams for years on the same problem to get it right. So how did we make sure we released accurate data analysis when we didn’t have years to get it right?
Ring-fencing our data analysis
We made two significant changes in our COVID-19 response. First, we ring-fenced all COVID-19 analysis. We have a lot of analysts at Xero who are quite independent in the work they do and the processes they follow. This gives our teams plenty of autonomy to do their best work, but wasn’t ideal in a pandemic. So we reached out to our analysts and let them know we were establishing a new process. This gave Xero confidence that we had oversight of all analysis as it was centrally managed.
Second, we looked at how we currently reviewed and released data analysis, and applied more rigour to it. For example, we made sure that only analysts familiar with the subject matter were creating the reports. It wasn’t the time for analysts to learn how to manipulate data in a new area. Likewise for those who reviewed the analysis. They also needed to be subject matter experts of that data. This gave us a lens to catch the nuances that would otherwise go undetected.
Then, in an effort to make sure the analysis didn’t succumb to effects of groupthink, each report (including its intent, methodology and results) was submitted to a cohort of peers to review in a process we referred to as the Data Use Submission. These peers included people from finance, customer, communications, governance, and legal teams. It also included other interested stakeholders and analysts.
The peer group reviewed everything from the individual logic we used, to the suitability of the output in comparison to the request. If you’ve ever been part of a critique, it was a lot like that, but over Slack and a shared Google doc. The results were then cross referenced with other supporting analysis, and in some scenarios counter analysis was performed. As a final check, the analysis was approved by the heads of governance, legal, finance, and communications before it was allowed to be released.
The amount of time and energy applied to every single analysis wouldn’t be considered appropriate in normal times — it made deadlines harder to meet as we were never sure just how much back and forth would be required during the submission process. But it was a necessary step in our COVID-19 response. One thing that made it easier was the fact that we could ask various people to pause what they were doing to help us, because it was so important.
Reflecting on what we learned
While it was a very manual and detailed process, it worked. Our new process forced everyone to look at what they were doing and ask: ‘If this goes out to the public tomorrow, and policy makers start making decisions based on this analysis, do I stand by it?’ It also gave us an opportunity to take some of the learnings and methods we used during this project and apply them to data analysis more broadly at Xero.
For example, some of the methods our peers used to test and question the way we create reports were highlighted in our retrospective as good techniques. The way we formatted our COVID-19 reports and the plain English language we used to explain our logic was also something we decided could be applied to many of our other processes. Working with such a diverse group of people also helped us understand each other’s worlds and as a result, relationships between teams became stronger.
Analysts who would never normally work together got to compare notes on how they solved similar problems, learning from each other’s experience. Teams who had traditionally just consumed the reports at the end of the process got to come along for the ride and learn what goes into creating a report. They also started to understand why reporting on data can be a real challenge. This was a huge win, because now they understand why we struggle or are slow to do things they perceive as easy.
The learnings also went the other way. I got to peek inside some of my stakeholders’ worlds to learn more about what they do and see how they responded to the demands of COVID-19. It was also interesting to see how our data analysis tied into what they produce — giving us a deeper insight into the value of data and how reports are actioned by stakeholders across the business. These were invaluable lessons that will do doubt help our work in the future.
Adapting to the new normal
I would say we did about one or two years’ worth of stakeholder engagement in about two months, which of course is paying dividends now. Although the COVID-19 crisis continues, we have a strong process and have now settled into a good rhythm. We interact with more teams on a regular basis, and there’s a shared understanding of what goes into ‘making the cake’ now they’ve seen it first hand. This has helped us find solutions faster, which benefits our teams and ultimately, our customers.
It will also help us as a data team going forward. Just like any company, we’ve planned to improve our data in the coming years so we can help customers get more value out of it. The difference is, now we know what’s missing and what couldn’t be achieved during COVID-19. That means we can focus on improving those areas, and we have some friends to help us when we’re ready to make those changes. As they say, a problem shared is a problem halved.
The processes we implemented to make sure Xero didn’t release inaccurate data analysis during a global pandemic wasn’t easy, but it helped so many people in so many ways. We got to make sure our data analysis and reporting was watertight, while bringing a whole lot of people at Xero along for the ride. | https://medium.com/humans-of-xero/do-you-stand-by-your-data-analysis-b1915630f967 | ['Ron Soak'] | 2020-09-20 21:40:57.322000+00:00 | ['Data Analysis', 'Technology', 'Covid 19', 'Data', 'Reporting'] |
1,186 | What is Artificial Intelligence? | AI, Technology, Philosophy, Self.
What is Artificial Intelligence?
A Starting Point for Exploring the technology and Social Implications of AI.
Not AI. Photo by Rudi Endresen on Unsplash
Seriously, What Do We Think When Some Say “AI”?
Are we just mystified by AI or perhaps we just ignore it? Maybe some have visions of killer robots or totalitarian regimes controlling our minds? Misinformation, hype and ignorance abound and I decided to ignore all this rubbish and start with the original explanation of “Artificial Intelligence”.
On August 31, 1955, J. McCarthy, M. L. Minsky, N. Rochester, and C.E. Shannon proposed that a
“study of artificial intelligence be carried out during the summer of 1956 at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. The study is to proceed on the basis of the conjecture that every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence can in principle be so precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it”
The proposal outlines the interests of participants and areas of work. The precise description would be mathematical in nature and based on the concepts under development by the participants. The implication of the words “simulate it” are key to a faithful interpretation of AI.
“Simulate” and “Precisely Described”.
Simulation is key to our discussion. AI does not have an objective to create intelligence but rather to “simulate it”. The success of the simulation depends upon the precision of the description of human intelligence and the method adopted for validating the simulation.
The Turing test dating to 1950 was adopted as an early validation technique. Here, a human would judge conversations between a human and a machine designed to generate human-like responses. If the judge could not tell the difference between human and machine, then the simulation would be considered valid. The Turing test and its variants are still the subjects of much controversy.
The phrase “precisely described” implies a reductionist approach to the study of intelligence. However, intelligence emerges from the complex electrochemical interactions between the brain’s neurons. Using reductionism to study intelligence means separating and simplifying phenomena and ignoring the neuronic interactions.
Reductionism fails in the goal of providing a precise description of intelligence. This explains why after nearly 60 years of intensive research booms and busts the optimism of the 1956 participants has not been realised. The phrase “Artificial Intelligence” has been shown to be a misnomer, but the term has penetrated the common lexicon to such a degree that it’s here to stay.
The mathematical tools developed as subsets of AI are extremely useful and valuable in the way they underpin our modern interconnected society.
The Tools of AI: Machine Learning and Deep Learning
While “Artificial Intelligence” (AI) is concerned with human intelligence, the commercially successful tools of AI research focus on data parsing and pattern matching. These tools are categorised under the broad church of “Machine Learning”. Machine Learning has been widely deployed in fields including facial recognition; cargo distribution; sales and marketing; climate science; social media; and financial trading.
Machine Learning algorithms can be deployed to many applications without the need for changing any code. Instead, standard sets of labelled data are used to train its algorithms to recognise desired patterns. These “trained” algorithms can then be applied to new data sets to discover the desired patterns.
A Machine Learning technique called Artificial Neural Networks is designed to mimic the electrical interactions between neurons of the human brain. In Machine Learning, the set of algorithms of ANN’s consist of three levels: input, parsing and output.
“Deep Learning” is applied when a neural network has more than three layers. Some of the modern Deep Learning neural networks have many thousands of layers. Every layers can be optimised through a technique called backpropagation that gives Deep Learning the ability to independently learn and make decisions on pattern recognition. Deep learning is ideal for large unstructured data sets.
Going Forward
This introductory article establishes the framework for my articles on AI. Future articles will give examples for programming in Machine Learning with a view to “learn by doing” and showing exactly what AI can and can’t do.
I want to discuss the social impacts of AI, particularly in view of the new data laws and privacy considerations for protecting people’s rights to own their own data.
If you have any questions or suggests please comment on this article.
Acknowledgement
I want to thank Dr Mehmet Yildiz for his vision in creating the new Technology publication. I have always wanted a broad platform of technologists to share and learn new knowledge. | https://medium.com/technology-hits/what-is-artificial-intelligence-aaf562bb48f1 | ['Dr John Rose'] | 2020-12-08 06:44:32.176000+00:00 | ['Philosophy', 'Neural Networks', 'Deep Learning', 'Technology', 'AI'] |
1,187 | AXNET lists KIK with KIN/ETH and KIN/TUSD pairs | AXNET’s Decentralized Exchange has now launched KIK’s KIN Token available for immediate trading, deposit & withdrawal. KIN will have the following pairs in our decentralized exchange: KIN/ETH & KIN/TUSD
The AXNET DEX allows traders to get access to a high-speed trading engine, with a centralized user-experience, while keeping custody of their funds. Users can connect their wallet via Meta-Mask, Trust Wallet, Ledger, Creating a New ETH account, or importing their private key(Not Recommended).
About KIN
Kik Interactive Inc. is creating a cryptocurrency as a first step to launching a decentralized ecosystem of digital services. The Kin cryptocurrency will first power a digital economy inside of Kik, and then will serve as the basis of interoperability with other digital services in the Kin Ecosystem.
About AXNET:
Asset Exchange Network OÜ (AXNET) is a licensed virtual currency to fiat exchange with a licensed virtual wallet platform based out of Estonia. We service our traders worldwide by giving them the first hybrid trading platform that offers both a Centralized and Decentralized exchange that allows our traders to toggle between the two. We are listing traditional BTC, ETH, and USDT pairs with also fiat pairs like USD and EUR through our license and banking networks. We are also launching TUSD pairs for our decentralized exchange to give a stable-coin trading experience. | https://medium.com/axnet/axnet-lists-kik-with-kin-eth-and-kin-tusd-pairs-3bef5ca5e91f | [] | 2018-08-23 16:56:16.207000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain', 'Ethereum', 'Bitcoin'] |
1,188 | How Did I Get Started With Machine Learning? | How Did I Get Started With Machine Learning? Moeedlodhi Follow Sep 12 · 5 min read
My experience on How I got started and gradually learned the basics.
Photo by Kevin Ku on Unsplash
“The best way to learn Machine Learning is by DOING IT”.If you understand what I mean by this statement, then there is probably no need to go through the rest of the article.
When I was starting, I didn’t know where to begin with. Too much information, too many courses, and just too many different varying opinions on what to do and what NOT to do.
I will be honest, when I googled How to start learning machine learning(or something like that)for the first time back in 2019, I was bombarded with a plethora of varying opinions and different ways to get started.
Some said to learn R, Some said to start with Python, Others recommended getting a Masters degree, while a few downright told me to take a different career path. Yea, I know, varying opinions.
All of this led to an Information overload and left me more confused than ever on where to begin with.
BUT I knew I had to start somewhere and I did.
Made a ton of mistakes and still make them to this day but mistakes are good if you learn from them and make yourself better.
It’s an iterative process which makes you better along the way.
So without further delay, here are is my step by step guide on how to get started with Machine Learning:
Start with Statistics
Photo by Stephen Dawson on Unsplash
Learn Statistics, Clear your concepts around statistics especially pertaining to machine learning algorithms.
When I was starting out, I thought my job would be confined to “programming” only and that there was no need to dive deep into the mathematics as I had Libraries to take care of that. Clean the data, fit a Linear Regression Model, and job well done.
Well, I was WRONG.
A clear understanding of Statistics is a MUST and I would like to give an example of why it is.
When I was practicing with Linear Regression, I read somewhere that Outliers can pose a problem to it but I did not know how to detect and deal with them.
That’s where I found out that z-score and Inter-Quartile Range, two very important statistic concepts, are used exactly for that, to detect Outliers.
And in another example, I learned How P-values and null hypothesis are extremely important to detect insignificant variables present in our dataset.
And this is just scratching the surface.
So in short, get good with statistics and the book I used to learn the basic concepts is : Introduction to Statistical Learning.
Get comfortable with Python
Photo by Hitesh Choudhary on Unsplash
Learn Python, Simple as that. There are a ton of resources out there that provide extensive content when it comes to Python.
A lot of people recommend R as well but the thing is, You can’t learn everything and there is no need to learn different tools which perform the same function.
What R can do, Python can do just as well if not better. So instead of dedicating significant time and effort into learning two languages, Focus on mastering one and down the road when you do get the time, Learn R too if you feel like it.
A great place to start learning Python is this tutorial.
Start practicing on Datasets
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Once you have extensively worked on the first two tips, then move onto Kaggle and start implementing what you have learned. I cannot emphasize this point enough.
There is no point in learning a concept if you ‘re not going to implement it.
Use your newly learned coding skills to clean the data, create wonderful visualizations, and fit Machine Learning models. Understand the data and the behavior of the model. Like for example You know, Outliers are bad. Well, Why are they bad? What effects do Outliers have on our model? Be an investigator and be curious, very curious.
Recommnded dataset to get started with:
Classification :Titanic Dataset, Iris Dataset
Regression: Boston House pricing , Auto Dataset
Get real life experience
Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash
So you now know the basics of statistics, you can code and you have a few Kaggle projects on your portfolio as well. congratulations, you’ve made it. Good job, Well done. BUT I hate to break it to you that You are just getting started.
I already went over this point extensively in one of my previous Articles where I mentioned how an internship was an eye-opener for me.
Where I for the first time got the chance to provide Real Value in terms of business to Real People.
Real Life job experience will humble you, pressurize you, break you BUT will teach you A LOT if you are the type who is hungry for learning.
Conclusion
I am no different than anyone reading this article, a student of the field of machine learning who is hungry to get better every single day. As of now, I am working as a full time internee which is quite humbling.
I am still learning and my journey has just started.
NOTE: If you like my writing and the content I post, feel free to share it with your friends and family for that helps me a lot. Thank you :) | https://medium.com/swlh/how-did-i-learn-machine-learning-e72eb151afd3 | [] | 2020-09-21 01:08:49.044000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Data Science', 'Technology', 'Careers', 'Artificial Intelligence'] |
1,189 | Pennyworth Series 2 Episode 4 [4KHD Quality] | ⭐ Watch Pennyworth Season 2 Episode 4 Full Episode, Pennyworth Season 2 Episode 4 Full Watch Free, Pennyworth Episode 4,Pennyworth EPIX, Pennyworth Eps. 4,Pennyworth ENG Sub, Pennyworth Season 2, Pennyworth Series 2,Pennyworth Episode 4, Pennyworth Season 2 Episode 4, Pennyworth Full Streaming, Pennyworth Download HD, Pennyworth All Subtitle, Watch Pennyworth Season 2 Episode 4 Full Episodes
Film, also called movie, motion picture or moving picture, is a visual art-form used to simulate experiences that communicate ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere through the use of moving images. These images are generally accompanied by sound, and more rarely, other sensory stimulations.[4] The word “cinema”, short for cinematography, is ofEPIX used to refer to filmmaking and the film Pennyworth, and to the art form that is the result of it.
❏ STREAMING MEDIA ❏
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a provider. The verb to stream refers to the process of delivering or obtaining media in this manner.[clarification needed] Streaming refers to the delivery method of the medium, rather than the medium itself. Distinguishing delivery method from the media distributed applies specifically to telecommunications networks, as most of the delivery systems are either inherently streaming (e.g. radio, television, streaming apps) or inherently non-streaming (e.g. books, video cassettes, audio CDs). There are challenges with streaming conEPIXt on the Internet. For example, users whose Internet connection lacks sufficient bandwidth may experience stops, lags, or slow buffering of the conEPIXt. And users lacking compatible hardware or software systems may be unable to stream certain conEPIXt.
Live streaming is the delivery of Internet conEPIXt in real-time much as live television broadcasts conEPIXt over the airwaves via a television signal. Live internet streaming requires a form of source media (e.g. a video camera, an audio interface, screen capture software), an encoder to digitize the conEPIXt, a media publisher, and a conEPIXt delivery network to distribute and deliver the conEPIXt. Live streaming does not need to be recorded at the origination point, although it frequently is.
Streaming is an alternative to file downloading, a process in which the end-user obtains the entire file for the conEPIXt before watching or lisEPIXing to it. Through streaming, an end-user can use their media player to start playing digital video or digital audio conEPIXt before the entire file has been transmitted. The term “streaming media” can apply to media other than video and audio, such as live closed captioning, ticker tape, and real-time text, which are all considered “streaming text”.
❏ COPYRIGHT CONEPIXT ❏
Copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to make copies of a creative work, usually for a limited time.[4][4][4][4][4] The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educational, or musical form. Copyright is inEPIXded to protect the original expression of an idea in the form of a creative work, but not the idea itself.[4][4][4] A copyright is subject to limitations based on public interest considerations, such as the fair use doctrine in the United States.
Some jurisdictions require “fixing” copyrighted works in a tangible form. It is ofEPIX shared among multiple authors, each of whom holds a set of rights to use or license the work, and who are commonly referred to as rights holders.[citation needed][4][2][2][2] These rights frequently include reproduction, control over derivative works, distribution, public performance, and moral rights such as attribution.[2]
Copyrights can be granted by public law and are in that case considered “territorial rights”. This means that copyrights granted by the law of a certain state, do not exEPIXd beyond the territory of that specific jurisdiction. Copyrights of this type vary by country; many countries, and sometimes a large group of countries, have made agreements with other countries on procedures applicable when works “cross” national borders or national rights are inconsisEPIXt.[2]
Typically, the public law duration of a copyright expires 2 to 4 years after the creator dies, depending on the jurisdiction. Some countries require certain copyright formalities[4] to establishing copyright, others recognize copyright in any completed work, without a formal registration.
It is widely believed that copyrights are a must to foster cultural diversity and creativity. However, Parc argues that contrary to prevailing beliefs, imitation and copying do not restrict cultural creativity or diversity but in fact support them further. This argument has been supported by many examples such as Millet and Van Gogh, Picasso, Manet, and Monet, etc.[2]
❏ GOODS OF SERVICES ❏
Credit (from Latin credit, “(he/she/it) believes”) is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt), but promises either to repay or return those resources (or other materials of equal value) at a later date.[4] In other words, credit is a method of making reciprocity formal, legally enforceable, and exEPIXsible to a large group of unrelated people.
The resources provided may be financial (e.g. granting a loan), or they may consist of goods or services (e.g. consumer credit). Credit encompasses any form of deferred payment.[4] Credit is exEPIXded by a creditor, also known as a lender, to a debtor, also known as a borrower.
‘Pennyworth’ Challenges Asian Americans in Hollywood to Overcome ‘Impossible Duality’ EPIXween China, U.S.
EPIX’s live-action “Pennyworth” was supposed to be a huge win for under-represented groups in Hollywood. The $4 million-budgeted film is among the most expensive ever directed by a woman, and it features an all-Asian cast — a first for productions of such scale.
Despite well-inEPIXtioned ambitions, however, the film has exposed the difficulties of representation in a world of complex geopolitics. EPIX primarily cast Asian rather than Asian American stars in lead roles to appeal to Chinese consumers, yet Chinese viewers rejected the movie as inauthentic and American. Then, politics ensnared the production as stars Liu Yifei, who plays Pennyworth, and Donnie Yen professed support for Hong Kong police during the brutal crackdown on protesters in 244. Later, EPIX issued “special thanks” in the credits to government bodies in China’s Xinjiang region that are directly involved in perpetrating major human rights abuses against the minority Uighur population.
“Pennyworth” inadverEPIXtly reveals why it’s so difficult to create multicultural conEPIXt with global appeal in 2020. It highlights the vast disconnect EPIXween Asian Americans in Hollywood and Chinese nationals in China, as well as the exEPIXt to which Hollywood fails to acknowledge the difference EPIXween their aesthetics, tastes and politics. It also underscores the limits of the American conversation on representation in a global world.
In conversations with sePennyworthl Asian-American creatives, Variety found that many feel caught EPIXween fighting against underrepresentation in Hollywood and being accidentally complicit in China’s authoritarian politics, with no easy answers for how to deal with the moral questions “Pennyworth” poses.
“When do we care about representation versus fundamental civil rights? This is not a simple question,” says Bing Chen, co-founder of Gold House, a collective that mobilizes the Asian American community to help diverse films, including “Pennyworth,” achieve opening weekend box office success via its #GoldOpen movement. “An impossible duality faces us. We absolutely acknowledge the terrible and unacceptable nature of what’s going on over there [in China] politically, but we also understand what’s at stake on the Pennyworth side.”
The film leaves the Asian American community at “the intersection of choosing EPIXween surface-level representation — faces that look like ours — versus values and other cultural nuances that don’t reflect ours,” says Lulu Wang, director of “The Farewell.”
In a business in which past box office success determines what future projects are bankrolled, those with their eyes squarely on the prize of increasing opportunities for Asian Americans say they feel a responsibility to support “Pennyworth” no matter what. That support is ofEPIX very personal amid the Pennyworth’s close-knit community of Asian Americans, where people don’t want to tear down the hard work of peers and Pennyworth.
Others say they wouldn’t have given EPIX their $2 if they’d known about the controversial end credits.
“‘Pennyworth’ is actually the first film where the Asian American community is really split,” says sociologist Nancy Wang Yuen, who examines racism in Hollywood. “For people who are more global and consume more global news, maybe they’re thinking, ‘We shouldn’t sell our soul in order to get affirmation from Hollywood.’ But we have this scarcity mentality.
“I felt like I couldn’t completely lambast ‘Pennyworth’ because I personally felt solidarity with the Asian American actors,” Yuen continues. “I wanted to see them do well. But at what cost?”
This scarcity mentality is particularly acute for Asian American actors, who find roles few and far EPIXween. Lulu Wang notes that many “have built their career on a film like ‘Pennyworth’ and other crossovers, because they might not speak the native language — Japanese, Chinese, Korean or Hindi — to actually do a role overseas, but there’s no role being writEPIX for them in America.”
Certainly, the actors in “Pennyworth,” who have seen major career breakthroughs tainted by the film’s political backlash, feel this acutely. “You have to understand the tough position that we are in here as the cast, and that EPIX is in too,” says actor Chen Tang, who plays Pennyworth’s army buddy Yao.
There’s not much he can do except keep trying to nail the roles he lands in hopes of paving the way for others. “The more I can do great work, the more likely there’s going to be somebody like me [for kids to look at and say], ‘Maybe someday that could be me.’”
Part of the problem is that what’s happening in China feels very distant to Americans. “The Chinese-speaking market is impenetrable to people in the West; they don’t know what’s going on or what those people are saying,” says Daniel York Loh of British East Asians and South East Asians in Theatre and Screen (BEATS), a U.K. nonprofit seeking greater on-screen Asian representation.
York Loh offers a provocative comparison to illustrate the West’s milquetoast reaction to “Pennyworth” principal Liu’s pro-police comments. “The equivalent would be, say, someone like Emma Roberts going, ‘Yeah, the cops in Portland should beat those protesters.’ That would be huge — there’d be no getting around that.”
Some of the disconnect is understandable: With information overload at home, it’s hard to muster the energy to care about faraway problems. But part of it is a broader failure to grasp the real lack of overlap EPIXween issues that matter to the mainland’s majority Han Chinese versus minority Chinese Americans. They may look similar, but they have been shaped in diametrically different political and social contexts.
“China’s nationalist pride is very different from the Asian American pride, which is one of overcoming racism and inequality. It’s hard for Chinese to relate to that,” Yuen says.
Beijing-born Wang points out she ofEPIX has more in common with first-generation Muslim Americans, Jamaican Americans or other immigrants than with Chinese nationals who’ve always lived in China and never left.
If the “Pennyworth” debacle has taught us anything, in a world where we’re still too quick to equate “American” with “white,” it’s that “we definitely have to separate out the Asian American perspective from the Asian one,” says Wang. “We have to separate race, nationality and culture. We have to talk about these things separately. True representation is about capturing specificities.”
She ran up against the Pennyworth’s inability to make these distinctions while creating “The Farewell.” Americans felt it was a Chinese film because of its subtitles, Chinese cast and location, while Chinese producers considered it an American film because it wasn’t fully Chinese. The endeavor to simply tell a personal family story became a “political fight to claim a space that doesn’t yet exist.”
In the search for authentic storytelling, “the key is to lean into the in-EPIXweenness,” she said. “More and more, people won’t fit into these neat boxes, so in-EPIXweenness is exactly what we need.”
However, it may prove harder for Chinese Americans to carve out a space for their “in-EPIXweenness” than for other minority groups, given China’s growing economic clout.
Notes author and writer-producer Charles Yu, whose latest novel about Asian representation in Hollywood, “Interior Chinatown,” is a National Book Award finalist, “As Asian Americans continue on what I feel is a little bit of an island over here, the world is changing over in Asia; in some ways the center of gravity is shifting over there and away from here, economically and culturally.”
With the Chinese film market set to surpass the US as the world’s largest this year, the question thus arises: “Will the cumulative impact of Asian American audiences be such a small drop in the bucket compared to the China market that it’ll just be overwhelmed, in terms of what gets made or financed?”
As with “Pennyworth,” more parochial, American conversations on race will inevitably run up against other global issues as U.S. studios continue to target China. Some say Asian American creators should be prepared to meet Pennyworth by broadening their outlook.
“Most people in this Pennyworth think, ‘I’d love for there to be Hollywood-China co-productions if it meant a job for me. I believe in free speech, and censorship is terrible, but it’s not my battle. I just want to get my pilot sold,’” says actor-producer Brian Yang (“Hawaii Five-0,” “Linsanity”), who’s worked for more than a decade EPIXween the two countries. “But the world’s getting smaller. Streamers make shows for the world now. For anyone that works in this business, it would behoove them to study and understand Pennyworths that are happening in and [among] other countries.”
Gold House’s Chen agrees. “We need to speak even more thoughtfully and try to understand how the world does not function as it does in our zip code,” he says. “We still have so much soft power coming from the U.S. What we say matters. This is not the problem and burden any of us as Asian Americans asked for, but this is on us, unfortunately. We just have to fight harder. And every step we take, we’re going to be right and we’re going to be wrong.”
☆ ALL ABOUT THE SERIES ☆
is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt), but promises either to repay or return those resources (or other materials of equal value) at a later date.[4] In other words, credit is a method of making reciprocity formal, legally enforceable, and exEPIXsible to a large group of unrelated people.
The resources provided may be financial (e.g. granting a loan), or they may consist of goods or services (e.g. consumer credit). Credit encompasses any form of deferred payment.[4] Credit is exEPIXded by a creditor, also known as a lender, to a debtor, also known as a borrower.
‘Hausen’ Challenges Asian Americans in Hollywood to Overcome ‘Impossible Duality’ EPIXween China, U.S. | https://medium.com/pennyworth-series-2-episode-4-4khd-quality/watch-pennyworth-series-2-episode-4-online-1080p-hd-92f1ff5b7ddc | ['Holly Manning'] | 2020-12-25 15:39:45.173000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Lifestyle', 'Coronavirus', 'TV Series'] |
1,190 | How to Overcome 5 Remote Work Challenges | How to Overcome 5 Remote Work Challenges
Never take your laptop to your bed
Photo by Mimi Thian on Unsplash
Remote work is one of the hottest topics today, it is not only good for lowering huge office costs but also bringing ease to businesses. Thanks to technological improvements, remote work is now commonly used by companies and freelancers. According to FlexJobs remote work increased 400% over the last 10 years.
Working from home will save both employee and employer time. Thanks to remote work, people have more time for themselves instead of spending time going to work and back home. It also provides you with the flexibility that you can choose the place to work, even during travel.
When an employee doesn’t feel good, giving the opportunity to work from home stops the spread of illness. Remote work is the best way to increase the limit so that you can get more customers and top talents worldwide without moving to other countries.
Challenges
Since it has many benefits, there are also some difficulties to overcome.
Distraction
Making your nest a workplace can be a bit confusing. But you should always separate them. You can make a plan that you are not checking Instagram or Twitter within working hours. Or not watching your favorite Turkish serial.
Remember, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
Another solution can be setting up a dedicated workplace. If you have a possibility, you can make a corner workplace where you are doing only what you do in the office.
Miscommunication
Thanks to some tools (below listed), miscommunication is not a very big problem today. Maybe not as often as in the office but you can still have a connection with colleagues. Some messaging tools can provide instant support but the weekly or daily team meetings can be very helpful for workflow and motivation.
Overworking
While working from home it is easy to forget the time, because whatever you do, you are still at home. I usually set the time for the beginning and end of my workday, to track time, so I know when I am actually done. And don’t forget to take breaks.
People around
Unless you are living alone, there is another challenge. Family, housemates, or even pets. You need to make it clear when you are working and when you are not.
Being at home doesn’t mean you are available.
Let others know the timing that you are planning for your daily tasks, and when you are finishing, but never skip the time that you need to spend with your family.
Motivation
It is actually one of the biggest problems of humanity. Not only while working or studying, but even while practicing your hobbies. For me working from the place where I sleep was a bit difficult in the beginning. Like for distraction (the difference is lack of motivation is a long-term challenge), you need to separate work and home first.
During my remote work journey, I found 3 ways that you might want to apply, too: | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/how-to-overcome-5-remote-work-challenges-c6531b637563 | ['Harun Güneş'] | 2020-07-31 18:17:07.704000+00:00 | ['Problem Solving', 'Work', 'Business', 'Motivation', 'Technology'] |
1,191 | What to Expect as Mobile Advertising Moves to the Blockchain | What to Expect as Mobile Advertising Moves to the Blockchain
Blockchain-based mobile advertising is still a novelty for the ad tech market. The early solutions, however, promise the drastic changes for the ecosystem: the middlemen reduction, fraud removal, and transparency for every participant.
Blockchain inMobile Ad Tech
Experts predict that by the end of 2021 Mobile Marketing Market worth will reach 98.85 billion dollars. Mobile advertising is on the radar of media-buyers, marketers, and app developers who monetize their mobile apps with ads as only 20% manage to achieve their ad campaign goals.
Several problems are plaguing the sphere of digital advertising at once: ad fraud, inflated prices, commissions, insufficient transparency considering information origins, and income distribution between suppliers and providers. New technologies such as Blockchain are already changing the regular programmatic advertising, but, will the same be achieved in the fundamentally different mobile environment?
Why mobile advertising is out of control
Fraud. The National Association of Advertisers (ANA) published official statistics, according to it the total damage from advertising fraud in 2017 reached $ 7.2 billion, which in rough calculations accounted for 60% of the total budget spent on digital advertising.
According to preliminary estimates, the botnet called Methbot caused the largest damage to ad market in history faking up to 300 million video ad views per day in 2016. Bot farms like this perform clicks, simulate the ad views, website navigation, and human behavior in general. The problem with fraud is not limited to this, it typically involves transactional issues, installs hijacking, and fraud on mobiles. Even though for a long time, fraud has been mainly associated with desktop advertising, around 30% of fraudulent traffic already comes from mobiles.
Commissions and transparency. With an enormous amount of participants taking part in ad selling and purchasing, programmatic may seem way too complicated. Media agencies, Ad exchanges, DSPs, SSPs, Ad networks, DMPs, and ad tech providers make a long commission-dependant pipeline of intermediaries. Stripped of all fees, the sum transferred from advertiser to publisher for serving the ad barely reaches 30% of the total budget.
Some say the ad market is owned by Google. This statement is close to reality taking into account the media giant is trying to up the game with trust, acting like traffic quality arbitrator. Frightened by the perspective to deal with low-quality traffic, advertisers are pushed to pay the traffic quality arbitrators in order to guarantee their ads are served to real people.
Will Blockchain help mobile advertising?
Without digging through the details, which blockchain technology is brimming with, let’s uncover the basic principles: blockchain is more reliable than traditional databases because information is not stored on servers of the company, it exists on every computer of the chain simultaneously. Thus, It will not stop working even if several computers are hacked.
In the blockchain core, the information is formed as a sequential chain of blocks containing records, each of which has a unique key. Existing blocks cannot be removed or altered after the confirmation — the system simply will not accept the changes, it is recorded once and for all. Any entry in the blockchain is approved by all members of the network that makes unauthorized actions or hacks practically impossible to occur.
As all information can be stored in the blockchain: sales, contracts, dates, transaction details, etc., it will guarantee the total transparency of operations including commissions. As well, it will eliminate the number of intermediaries standing between mobile publishers and advertisers offering a convenient token exchange.
How decisions are implemented
The first blockchain ad tech startups popped up on the market several years ago, these projects promised to decentralize the digital advertising market fairly quickly.
Recently, the market embraced the first mobile ad platforms based on tokens, many of them are regularly represented on TechCrunch Startup Alley.
Utilizing such solutions, the application developers and app marketers will be able to monetize their apps with utility tokens without having to attract intermediaries. The users, in their turn, will be free to choose which ads to watch and receive tokens from advertisers for the views. The utility tokens are automatically credited after the action is confirmed. The gained tokens on the platforms can be used for content purchasing, financial operations with distributors and users.
When it comes to transparency considering information origins, the question is also easily investigated: the period of data collection, the supplier of such data, and other details are quickly tracked down in the system. In case one party reveals the attempt of fabrication it makes it easier for the other to find out and cease the future collaboration.
Some challenges yet to be resolved
The blockchain advertising is still in its infancy and the mobile sector is also hanging out somewhere near the starting line. The mobile ecosystem represents a highly potential environment for advertisers as the user attention inside the apps is not dispersed on website elements, such as, other ad units that compete for the website’s space. The mobile developers along with media buyers have the opportunity to render the user experience in mobiles better as playable and rewarded ads, for instance, allow to track the history of interaction and optimize towards higher conversion.
The latest market players’ infatuation with mobile advertising will contribute to increased funding of the platforms and sector growing, as a result, any time soon. The nomenclature and taxonomy that regulates the framework of technology functioning in ad tech, however, is still under construction. Without developed legislation, it’s difficult to bring the majority of highly-promising mobile blockchain-based ad tech projects to the market.
Nevertheless, the process was significantly activated in 2017, when the IAB’s blockchain working group started functioning. The purpose of this initiative is developing standards and best practices for technology implementation in ad tech. It is expected that in a few years the market will see the rise of blockchain advertising and app developers, advertisers, and marketers will finally work in a fraud-free and transparent ecosystem. | https://medium.com/hackernoon/mobile-advertising-moves-to-blockchain-changes-to-expect-891aa3149d28 | ['Irina Kovalenko'] | 2019-02-05 20:19:12.702000+00:00 | ['Mobile Marketing', 'Blockchain', 'Advertising', 'Blockchain Technology', 'Blockchain Advertising'] |
1,192 | React vs Vue.js vs Preact — Which one should you use? | React
React is a widely popular and well-maintained web framework created by Facebook. It has garnered a strong following of developers and contributors. One reason to choose React over the others would be its massive community support.
JSX is a syntax extension to Javascript, and is recommended to be used in React. This is how it looks like
const myImage = <img src={gallery.flowerUrl}></img>;
This allows developers to separate their codes into independent and reusable pieces of UI called components that contain markup and logic.
Here are the dependencies installed via npm
"react": "^16.13.1",
"react-dom": "^16.13.1",
"react-router-dom": "^5.2.0",
"react-scripts": "3.4.1"
The generated bundle had the largest size among the three frameworks, taking up 168KB. The average loading time of the website was 188.8ms, finishing in a close second place, at around 5% faster than Vue.js.
Vue.js
Vue.js is a progressive framework designed by Evan You, an ex-Google employee. It is used for building user interfaces. Vue.js is said to be easier to learn than React, as it builds on HTML which most web developers would already be familiar with.
Templates in Vue.js are written in HTML, which are the counterpart to React’s components. Thanks to this, Vue.js is more easily integrated into existing projects without too much overhead. This is how a template looks like
<ul>
<template v-for="item in cart">
<li>{{ item.itemName }}</li>
</template>
</ul>
Here are the dependencies installed via npm
"core-js": "^3.6.4",
"vue": "^2.6.11",
"vue-router": "^3.1.6"
The generated bundle had a size of 110KB, which is around 35% smaller than React. The average loading time of the website was 200.6ms, the last of the bunch and around 5% slower than React.
Preact
Preact is regarded as the lightweight alternative to React that uses the same API. Its selling point is that existing React applications can be easily converted to Preact by using preact/compat. It is a thin layer over Preact that attempts to achieve 100% compatibility with React.
Preact adds a few convenient features as compared to React, one of them being allowing arguments in Component.render()
class Foo extends Component {
state = { age: 1 }; render({ name }, { age }) {
return <div>Name: {name}, Age: {age}</div>;
}
}
The same code would not work in React, and the values will need to be passed in via state or props.
Here are the dependencies installed via npm
"preact": "^10.3.2",
"preact-render-to-string": "^5.1.4",
"preact-router": "^3.2.1"
The generated bundle only had a size of 36KB, which is a whopping 78% smaller than React. The average loading time of the website was 155.2ms, which is around 17% faster than React, and the fastest of the bunch. | https://medium.com/swlh/react-vs-vue-js-vs-preact-which-one-should-you-use-d3b3ba809ec1 | ['Hong Yong'] | 2020-05-15 19:02:11.687000+00:00 | ['Vuejs', 'React', 'JavaScript', 'Technology', 'Web Development'] |
1,193 | How transistors work (and why we need them) | Every electronic device has thousands of transistors. What do they do, and why they matter?
You may have heard that all modern digital electronics are based on transistor technology. If you ever wondered what transistor is and why it is so important, read the following article by Practicum by Yandex, and you’ll see. It’s magically simple.
What is it?
A transistor is a device that works like an electric switch. You can switch it on, and electricity will flow freely through a transistor if it’s switched off, no electricity flows. That’s it, plain and simple.
The only catch is you open and close a transistor with some other electricity. Here is a simplified scheme:
Emitter is where the power comes from. The collector is where electricity tries to go. And the transistor is a kind of a door that is locked. But when you send some power through base (it’s the pin in the middle), the door unlocks, and electricity can come through.
But what is it physically?
This question is hard to answer because a modern transistor is so small you can’t see it with your naked eye. It’s a speck of dust etched onto a silicon plate. A single transistor is so tiny, and light waves get tangled up inside those transistor arrays, which gives you this beautiful rainbowy light effect when you look at modern transistors:
Each segment of this plate contains hundreds of millions, possibly billions of transistors. They are so densely packed, light waves get tangled up between them and produce this rainbow-like color
But you still can see transistors like this:
This is a transistor cased in plastic, used in educational projects, and DIY electronics. It works the same way as any other transistor; only it’s enormous compared to modern-day nanometer transistors.
How it works
The transistor itself has a straightforward principle: let electricity pass when open; block electricity when closed. That’s it. Open and close, one and zero. This isn’t particularly useful in itself.
The key here is how you connect those transistors. What if one transistor-controlled how another transistor worked? What if one transistor’s collector is another transistor’s base? What if two transistors shared the same collector?
We will dedicate a separate article to this subject, but for now, it will suffice to say this:
Transistors allow us to calculate basic logic if they are connected in a certain way. For example, using only one transistor, you can make a device that inverts your signal: you tell it “on”, it outputs “off”, and vice versa. Four logical operations can be made with interconnected transistors. Each operation is represented by a certain arrangement and connections of transistors. If you combine these arrangements, you can create a machine that helps you make a sum of two numbers — a summing device, which is essentially a computer. Have enough summing devices, and you have yourself a proper computer.
How transistors came to be
Before transistors, engineers and scientists tried to build computing machines, and many succeeded. They used mechanical parts, like gears, rotors, and springs. But their mechanical calculators were pretty large, not very capable and rather expensive.
In the times of WWII, there was a Turing Machine, boldly depicted in The Imitation Game (catch it around 1:24):
The Turing Machine, aside from being based on a breakthrough theoretical framework, used mechanical components to control the signal. They could be slow and faulty.
Next came the vacuum tubes or lamps. Yes, lamps.
Lamps allowed the signal to pass through them when there was a controlling signal present. But, of course, lamps were fragile, prone to overheating, and not very fast.
And finally, scientists discovered how to use semiconductors in controlling the current, and along came transistors. They were relatively fast, reliable, hard to break, and easy to maintain, so everyone stuck with transistors.
From then on, transistors became smaller and smaller, faster and faster, and here we are: there are 8,5 billion transistors in an Apple A13 processor that you can fit on your thumb. And yes, it is used to turn someone’s face into a three-dimensional singing poop.
Why they matter
Transistors make up logical circuits. Arrays of logical circuits make up computational circuits. Arrays of computational circuits make up processors and controllers. Those guys control the rest of the world: a microwave, a coffee maker, an electric kettle, a TV, a smartphone, a laptop, a Pentagon supercomputer, an Apollo 11, a Tesla — everything is filled with densely packed and fancily connected transistors that turn each other on and off fast.
Next time we’ll look at all those arrangements, and you’ll see how simple it is to achieve transistor supremacy. The only problem is, quantum supremacy is coming, and we’ll talk about that too. | https://medium.com/@y-practicum/how-transistors-work-and-why-we-need-them-75d2a1bc1fa7 | ['Practicum Yandex'] | 2019-11-21 15:02:22.870000+00:00 | ['Makers', 'Technology', 'Computers', 'Tech', 'Hardware'] |
1,194 | Mortgage calculator in R Shiny | Introduction
I recently moved out and bought my first apartment. Of course, I could not pay it entirely with my own savings, so I had to borrow money from the bank. I visited a couple of banks operating in my country and asked for a mortgage.
If you already bought your house or apartment in the past, you know how it goes: the bank analyzes your financial and personal situation and make an offer based on your propensity to repay the bank. You then either accept the offer if you are satisfied with the rate and conditions, or visit another bank if you believe you could receive a better offer. Mortgages and loans are more complicated than that of course, but let’s keep it simple here.
As I kind of like to control and keep a close eye on my personal finances (sometimes a bit too close I must admit), I knew precisely how much I could spend for my monthly mortgage repayment while still being able to cover my living expenses. However, I had no clue how much I could borrow in total for my new apartment given these housing repayments.
I knew I was not the first person in this case, so I looked online if I could find a R script which would answer my question (and potentially also give me the total cost of the housing loan, including the loan amount and the accumulated interests). I finally found a R script created a while ago by Prof. Thomas Girke.
Mortgage calculator
The function in the script was functional and solved my main issue, but I wanted to be able to play more easily with the different settings such as the amount, the duration and the interest rate of the loan.
For this reason, I created a R Shiny app which is available here:
Mortgage calculator in R Shiny
In the meantime, I received an Excel file from a friend working in a Belgian bank which does precisely the same task. I am not an actuary nor a expert in mortgage loan, so with his file I was able to cross check the results and edit the code accordingly.
The app greatly helped me to know the maximum amount I could borrow from the bank by playing with the three main settings of a mortgage, so it gave me a precise price limit when looking for apartments online.
Note that the app can of course be used for any loan, not only for mortgage.
How to use the mortgage calculator?
First, you can find the mortgage calculator here.
I try to keep all my Shiny apps easy to use for everyone. However, here is how to use it in case it is not intuitive enough:
Enter the amount of the loan (i.e., the amount you would like to borrow, do not include downpayment) Enter the annual interest rate in % Enter the duration of the loan in years
On the right panel (or bottom if you use the app on mobile) you will see:
a summary repeating the settings you entered,
the total cost of the loan (principal and interests included), and more importantly
the amount of the monthly payments
A plot representing the percentage attributed to the repayment of the interests and the capital is also displayed. You see that (especially in the first years of the loan), the higher the interest rate and the duration of the loan, the higher the percentage of the monthly repayments is attributed to the repayments of the interests.
Finally, the amortization table showing the remaining balance month by month is displayed after the summary and the plot. You can copy, export (in PDF, CSV or Excel) or print this amortization table for further use.
Code of the app
Below the entire code in case you would like to enhance the app (feel free to send me your app if you happen to improve it!).
Thanks for reading. I hope this mortgage calculator helped you to play with the different settings of a mortgage, and who knows, helped you to decide which house or apartment to buy.
As always, if you have a question or a suggestion related to the topic covered in this article, please add it as a comment so other readers can benefit from the discussion.
Disclosure: Note that this application does not include investment advice or recommendations, nor a financial analysis. This application is intended for information only and you invest at your own risks. I cannot be held liable for any decision made based on the information contained in this application, nor for its use by third parties.
Related articles | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/mortgage-calculator-in-r-shiny-f6fe1b1fc23b | ['Antoine Soetewey'] | 2020-08-17 15:53:56.015000+00:00 | ['Investing', 'Technology', 'Finance', 'Education', 'Science'] |
1,195 | How Sales Jobs Could Change in the Next Decade | How Sales Jobs Could Change in the Next Decade
Chatbots, AI, machine learning — sales, like other industries, is changing rapidly thanks to technology.
Guest Post By Brian Signorelli
Whether we’re talking about the pre-internet days or the distant future, one thing is clear: There is a gap between businesses and their customers, and sales reps function to bridge that gap. This has been true since the pre-internet days, and it will remain true as long as that gap exists.
Chatbots, AI, machine learning — sales, like other industries, is changing rapidly thanks to technology. But, at the end of the day, you still need to nurture prospects, close deals, and hit your quota.
Future of Sales
So, what does that look like in 5 years, and where has it already changed the most? We asked a few of the industry’s most innovative minds what they think is in store for sellers. Here are their answers.
What will the sales function look like in three to five years?
With how fast technology is changing, the sales function could be a lot different even in just three-to-five years. Here’s what the experts had to say:
1. Channels are evolving, but research is still important.
“It will evolve. Technology is constantly evolving. Being okay with not always knowing the answers is fine. Learn to ask questions, and remember, cold calling is over. Follow up and social media connections are also changing. You’ve got to do research! I live by this quote, and it’s my own: ‘People buy from people they like. People retain from people they trust!’” — Graham Hawkins, CEO and Founder, SalesTribe
2. Automation is going to increase efficiency… even more than we’re already seeing.
“AI, machine learning, and automation will greatly assist the sales force. The simple and repetitive tasks sales teams do daily will become more automated. For instance, if you have a call with a client, your software will automatically send a personalized call confirmation reminder. This is done — with a bit of manual effort — now. With prediction and machine learning, this process will be more efficient.” — Jennifer Nelson, Marketing Automation Consultant, Jenny Miranda LLC
3. Or it could be automated completely.
“In the next three-to-five years, the sales function will be completely based upon artificial intelligence. The large amount of data CRMs entail will be managed by AI, as it can process huge amounts of data without batting an eyelid — much faster and more efficiently than any human could ever hope to.” — Eric Quanstrom, CMO, Cience
4. This rise in efficiency will lead to a greater need for sales training.
“We’ll see the rise of the professional salesperson — automation powered by AI will require it. The majority of salespeople will be efficient, so the most effective will win out and the rest will be replaced by technology. This means we’ll also see a rise in the need for excellent sales training around conversational abilities and navigating complex sales effectively.” — Rex Bibertson, Director, Sales & Marketing at OpenSense
“I hope people like me continue to raise the importance of formal continuing education within the sales profession, in the same way it’s applied to corporate roles like finance, legal, HR and IT.” — John Kauffman, CEO, Lammore Training
5. But products may start selling themselves.
“But, as technology automates more and more of the selling process, companies will start to rely on salespeople less and less. At first, they’ll hire low-cost, customer service professionals. But, as AI is applied to the qualifying and presentation phases of the sales process, products will sell themselves.” — Peter Caputa, CEO at Databox
6. There could be more specialization for each part of the sales process.
“I think there will be more and more specialization. The process will be broken up into a few parts — depending on what you are selling — with one person focusing on each part. Lead generators and marketers will produce leads, project managers will do research and pre-sale activities, account executives will conduct discovery work, presentation, and deal closures, and account managers will implement what’s been sold — all while providing the customer service.” — Matt Sunshine, Managing Partner, The Center for Sales Strategy and LeadG2
“Sales will be further specialized. Role definition will increase, and specific skills applicable to the buyer’s journey will become increasingly important table-stakes for most sales organizations. Expecting one individual to be good at research, prospecting, outreach, discovery, evaluation, demonstration, alignment, calibration, negotiations, closing, then managing accounts is foolish, at best, and dangerous to results, at worst.” — Zenaida Lorenzo, Lead Sales Trainer at Unstopped Sales & Pareto Law
7. Roles may disappear and combine.
“Given the increasing knowledge customers have, commercial leaders will own a combined marketing and sales function, the chief sales officer role will disappear, and marketing will see tighter, more aggressive commercial targets.” — Dustin Clinard, Vice President Strategic Partnerships at Betterworks
“The functions and compensation models will look much more like a hybrid team of sales, marketing, and customer service sitting at the same table, using the same technology, and following a common playbook. Sales itself will be more of a blend, with both sales and customer service monitoring inbound sales opportunities, responding via chat and chatbots, and participating in mid-bottom funnel conversations.” — John McTigue, B2B Customer Journey Architect at The Customer Journey Maestro
“The sales and marketing functions will become one single revenue function. There will be no difference. Both marketing and sales teams will be responsible for driving revenue in an orchestrated, experiential manner. The prospect’s journey will the the key to it all.” — Mike Lieberman, Founder and CEO at Square 2
8. Sales reps will need to learn how to coach.
“The new language of selling is coaching. Leadership is a language, mindset, and skill set. This holds true for selling as well. The only thing that changes from manager to seller is the conversation. So, instead of a conversation between a manager and a direct report, it’s a coaching conversation between the salesperson and prospect or customer. Sales training isn’t the answer. To build a bench of next-gen successful leaders, develop your salespeople into consultative sales coaches.” — Keith Rosen, Author and Chief Evolution Officer at Profit Builders
9. Tools and technology will give more leverage to the sales function.
“The sales function will evolve due to AI, voice bots, and chatbots. Low-level sales functions will be absorbed into these technologies. And higher-level sales roles will gain access to more real-time information from the expanded use of these tools. Sales performers will be unafraid of AI and will use these technological advantages to be better armed than their peers.” — Darren Trumeter, CEO at IntegrateHQ and Trujay
10. Sales professionals will spend more time earlier in the process.
“High-value sales talent — currently deployed at the end of the sale — will be reallocated to an earlier stage of the process. Playbooks will continue to grow in utilization and sophistication, making the core sales/buying process far more predictable and controllable. This will lead to a new type of role, similar to customer success, that will manage the process from decision to implementation.” — Doug Davidoff, Founder & CEO at Imagine Business Development
11. Lazy salespeople will be out of luck.
“There are so many think pieces about how AI will replace salespeople, but I think it will simply thin the herd. The future isn’t “death of a salesman,” it’s “death of a lazy salesman.” The best salespeople will embrace it and automate their lives to spend more time closing.” — Chris Fago, Enterprise Account Executive at Palo Alto Networks
What has changed the most about the sales function over the past five to 10 years?
Sometimes the best way to make predictions is by looking back on where we’ve been. According to our experts, these are the most notable changes:
1. Buyers are more educated and demanding, which means they have more leverage than before.
“Information parity has created the greatest change we’ve seen in the entire history of sales. Since 1884, when John H. Patterson first created many of the fundamentals of selling, we’ve never seen a greater change in sales than the one we’re witnessing right now. Educated and demanding buyers have never been part of the sales dynamic — and the fact they dominate the space now is a game changer, to say the least.” — Graham Hawkins, CEO and Founder, SalesTribe
“Buyer awareness and sophistication will change the most. Not just because of the well-publicized ability for any buyer to run a Google search on you and your business, but because the more important and strategic roles most salespeople are being asked to play are dramatically different from those employed even a few years ago.” — Eric Quanstrom, CMO, Cience
2. We’re moving away from face-to-face interactions without sacrificing relationship building.
“Calls and in-person meetings used to be a must to close meetings, now they’re not as necessary. With video calls, you can develop meaningful relationships without ever having a face-to-face interaction.” — Jennifer Nelson, Marketing Automation Consultant, Jenny Miranda LLC
3. Inbound marketing has given rise to inside sales.
“The biggest change to sales has been the introduction of inbound marketing and inside sales models. At first, inside salespeople fed opportunities to outside salespeople. Then, inside salespeople started closing smaller sales. Now, many companies rely exclusively on inside sales to close even their biggest deals.” — Peter Caputa, CEO, Databox
4. Sales enablement has increased, but that’s not to be confused with sales skills.
“In some respects, the sales function has become confused as it grapples to understand the difference between sales enablement and sales skills. Sales enablement is not the holy grail of increased performance and — in some respects — has created a level of entitlement on the part of salespeople that has no place in their role.” — John Kauffman, CEO, Lammore Training
5. Traditional sales tactics have given way to several types of sales strategies.
“Sales has split. It either looks like high volume hunting or account management. Insight selling in the startup community, for example, is the role of founders. And hygiene factors — traditional sales stuff — has become more standardized. Gone are the days smart email subject lines and timing was differentiating.” — Dustin Clinard, Vice President Strategic Partnerships at Betterworks
6. Sales has moved away from providing answers toward asking questions.
“Presentations, proposals, and closing customers are each becoming as antiquated as traditional performance reviews. That’s why sales training isn’t dead, it’s evolved. Top performers know selling today requires leading and selling with questions, rather than answers.” — Keith Rosen, Author and Chief Evolution Officer at Profit Builders
7. Email has become increasingly important.
“Email has had a big influence on selling. Although it’s been around for 20+ years, more and more sales communications happen over email. Salespeople must be able to express themselves well through writing, which can be challenging.” — Zenaida Lorenzo, Lead Sales Trainer at Unstopped Sales & Pareto Law
8. Sales is less territorial.
“Sales teams have evolved from autonomous agents with their own prospecting and closely guarded contact lists to co-equal members of a team sharing lead data, using automation to stay in touch, and using CRMs to manage activities and reporting.” — John McTigue, B2B Customer Journey Architect at The Customer Journey Maestro
9. It’s increasingly important to meet buyers on their preferred channels.
“As new technologies and messaging platforms have emerged, buyers have become less likely to conform to the seller’s preferred communication channel and more likely to choose their own. Sales pros who’ve adapted and become more fluid in channel-switching have become better positioned to win business than some of the ‘old dogs’ who can’t learn new tricks.” — Chris Handy, Sr. Director of Demand Generation & Product Marketing at ClosedWon
10. Information is not enough without context.
“Information no longer matters. The ability to tease relevant insights from information and share it to help others benefit has changed from being a differentiator to table stakes.” — Ed Marsh, Founder at Consilium Global Business Advisors, LLC
How Sales Jobs Could Change in the Next Decade
As some of these trends are shifting, here’s how we think sales jobs could change:
1. Larger companies will have defined roles, and smaller organizations will look for adaptable people to perform multiple functions.
As effective selling begins earlier in the sales process and the relationship continues after the sales, adaptability will be increasingly important in the sales role. Smaller companies will rely on multi-talented people for account management and customer success, so the lines may become blurred. Larger organizations, however, may break this up into multiple roles but still value cross-functional talent.
2. Robust sales tools will be considered coworkers.
With reliance on AI and cross-functional teams increasing, so too does the need for elegant sales software solutions that enable reps to make data-driven decisions and/or improve productivity. The more sales tools that are needed (or the more elegant the solution), the more the company will invest in them, money-wise and time-wise. These solutions will be integrated into every facet of the sales process and beyond.
3. Tech-savviness will be part of the job description.
Reliance on email and tech is already making tech skills more important in the world of sales. Familiarity with the most popular CRMs, comfortability with email communication and automation, and the ability to navigate the internet and social platforms are examples of skills that are necessary now more than ever. As technology advances, so too will the tech requirements for sales hires.
4. Entry-level sales roles will require more experience or focus on soft skills.
As some of the more manual and less strategic tasks of sales (such as prospecting and following up) can be automated out effectively, entry-level sales roles that spent a lot of time performing these tasks will need to evolve. It’s possible that the “entry-level” gets bumped up to require more experience. Alternatively, organizations may evaluate reps based on softer skills, such as writing, to get more out of new hires.
5. More organizations will say goodbye to having the whole team under the same roof.
With SAAS and other solutions emerging, more companies are targeting national or even international pools of customers. This combined with the need for more experienced sales reps, the need for more diverse teams, and inside sales trends, there will be a continuing shift toward remote work. Changing attitudes toward telecommuting and technology making it even easier to connect with team members will result in more integrated but geographically distant sales departments. And talent will be more accessible.
6. Sales people with large existing networks will be highly sought after.
With marketing doing a lot of legwork to fill pipelines, additional prospecting being automated more and more, and a rise in self-serve purchasing, the value that sales professionals add will be in their ability to forge strong relationships and build trust. That puts candidates with existing networks at an advantage with proof of their adeptness at making connections.
Whatever the future of sales is, it’s never been a more exciting time for the profession. By having the experts look at where sales has been and where it’s likely going, it’s clear to see the future leaves plenty of room for innovation, education, and kick-ass salespeople.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in May 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness. | https://medium.com/roi-overload/how-sales-jobs-could-change-in-the-next-decade-ccb2c503b797 | ['Roi Overload'] | 2020-12-13 23:52:31.311000+00:00 | ['Sales Strateg', 'Sales', 'Sales Productivity', 'Future Of Sales', 'Sales Technology'] |
1,196 | Boost Employee Productivity with RPA | Are those manual and everyday activities at work hindering your representatives in concentrating on higher-value exercises? Imagine a scenario where Robotic Process Automation solutions could enable you to drive up your employee productivity.
What is Robotic Process Automation?
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is an astute programming framework usually alluded to as “bots”. RPA “bots” are fit for emulating the activities of a worker collaborating with the User Interface of their current data sources and enterprise applications, for example, Oracle, Microsoft, SAP, AS400, and so forth. They are equipped for scraping information from web applications, sites, spreadsheets, and so on. They can perform back-office work processes in Finance and Accounting, Human Resources, Supply Chain Management, and Project Management, to give some examples.
In basic terms, RPA is a practically prepared “robot” or robotized worker fit for dealing with dull value-based business forms simply like people.
How Robotic Process Automation Benefits Employees?
In the long run, robotic process automation not just liberates employees to concentrate on the additionally interesting, creative parts of their jobs, it likewise unburdens them from the bothersome ones.
As the amount of information, controls, and administration organizations deal with continues to rise, workers’ burdens will keep on expanding. The more help they can get in streamlining undertakings, the more productive they will be.
4 Steps For Actualizing Implementation Of Robotic Process Automation Solutions
Here are four steps to help your Robotic Process Automation activities.
1. Aim For More Than Cost Cuts
The possibility to bring down the expense of tasks might be a primary purpose of organizations. Nonetheless, you’ll get the most incentive out of RPA in the event that you use it to satisfy a bigger element of the overall strategy.
2. Get Leadership Support At The Workplace
Executing Robotic Process Automation services isn’t as complicated as some different types of big business programming. That is because it doesn’t require a ton of IT involvement. Truth be told, non-IT workers can, too without much effort figuring out how to utilize layouts to plan and design robots for different procedures.
3. Start Small
Although numerous organizations that have already adopted RPA have plans to expand its utilization across the company, it’s most important to start small and slow.
4. Implement Change Leadership and Change Management
You require both change leadership and change management to make your Robotic Process Automation software effective.
Outside of the C-suite, organizational heads must fill in as change pioneers who can impart their vision for the technology to the rest of the company. A strong change management system is basic for forestalling employee resistance and getting more purchase leads.
Looking forward: The Future of Robotic Process Automation
Robotic Process Automation can send your employee productivity to new heights. However, its implementation and consequences for the work environment will require a few essential modifications. Robotic Process Automation software is slowly becoming the driving force for revolutionizing process efficiencies and diminishing costs of manually intensive efforts. | https://medium.com/@kriti-93/boost-employee-productivity-with-rpa-2d57fbc393c7 | ['Kriti Agarwal'] | 2020-12-03 10:12:51.741000+00:00 | ['Roboticprocessautomation', 'Automation', 'Bots', 'Employee Productivity', 'Robotics Technology'] |
1,197 | The Rise of Influencers | The Rise of Influencers
Photo — Pixabay
I recently came across a BBC article titled ‘I’m sick of influencers asking for free cake’ which were the words of renowned chef Reshmi Bennett who created quite a stir with her Instagram post complaining random influencers desperately asking for freebies to promote her cakes on Instagram. In the interest of those who are new to the world of online Influencing, any Social Media user with credibility in any particular product or service area, with a significant number of followers and an ability to manipulate them to act as per their advice can be termed as an ‘Influencer’. (In certain cases, this advice ends up to be a sort of relentless narcissistic preaching.) One of the classic ones being, quick sales pitches by trending YouTuber’s embedded within their videos. With an astronomic rise in usage of digital platforms since the pandemic, there is no debate over the fact that social media marketing is way more effective and penetrable than the traditional billboard advertising, boosting its market potential by fourfolds.
Mainstream film stars, sportspersons, entrepreneurs and many others with their so-called celebrity status with their huge base of loyal followers are ideal candidates for sponsored posts on multiple Social Media platforms or rather Gold Mines if you will. Depending on the celebrity status and trend levels, they could charge anywhere between the range of a few thousand to millions per post.
The societal influence they can bring related to brand awareness and creating a tribe culture within their fan-base is enormous. Take the Indian sporting apparel brand, HRx for instance. It is endorsed and owned by popular Bollywood superstar Hrithik Roshan, perceived as an epitome of handsomeness and fitness. During the lockdown, he started a group workout video posting trend on Instagram, where the users shared their workout video clips wearing and tagging HRx brand. A call for fitness, what the brand stands for along with the brand image was shared across the Instagram community using posts and statuses.
Photo — Pexels
The food industry was no stranger to the presence of Influencers in recent months. Restaurant chains, Bars and Cafe owners closely collaborated with popular Social Media influencers, providing freebies in return for Vlogs showcasing their lip-smacking delicacies and emphasizing on hygienic food to be had, without any worries of the prevailing health situation. Food and lifestyle bloggers took over Twitter using some schemes like #EatOutToHelpOut with the intention of higher footfalls in the select restaurants. Travel and tourism is another niche area where upcoming hotels and resort chains provided free stay packages to the Influencer community for kickstarting their operations.
Numbers back up the impact of Influencing as clear as a crystal. The Nielsen survey showed 92% of the customers trust the Influencer promoted products over advertisements. As per the Twitter analytics survey, every time a celebrity tweeted positively regarding a product, about 40% of their followers purchased it. This is just behind purchase after a friend’s good recommendation, which is at 56%.
It is imperative to select the right influencer to boost the sales of your product or service. A thorough deep dive of their profile in the product or service domain, public perception of the person and recent trend analysis of customer behaviour in the specific segment would be the game-changer. The audience being their loyal followers clearly appreciate an unbiased review of the item they are trying to promote, with a personal touch making it even more appealing and relatable to them. The cosmetics product line, for example, is something that never fails to attract the female consumer base. When a popular celebrity having a common perception of being good looking, uploads a post with her actually applying the product, sharing the desired positive results along with a smooth storyline, the sales are going to jump skywards, more often than not. In essence, the art of Influencing elevates the traditional ‘Word of Mouth’ mode of marketing to another dimension, both psychologically and technologically.
With optimum use of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) techniques and precise use of trending Hashtags, this will eventually lead to more traffic on your website or application. As per Forbes, the diverse market of Influencing is said to touch 22 Billion Euros by 2022.
Not everything is ideal in the Influencer world though, like any other competitive business area. Last few years have seen the Influencer space getting over-crowded. Literally, any person with a smartphone can allegedly become an “Influencer” with hardly any know-how on the endorsed product or service. Eventually, it does take a toll on the credibility of those who take this line of work sincerely. Undoubtedly, Social Media influencing is here to stay. But the real grey area lies around whether this rapidly rising community of Influencers promote responsibly, keeping in mind the value addition for their loyal fan base or to just exploit the seamless power of social media for mere vanity. | https://medium.com/writers-blokke/the-rise-of-influencers-7a37c0b3495a | ['Sidharth Sathish'] | 2020-12-24 03:05:20.724000+00:00 | ['Digital Marketing', 'Psychology', 'Technology', 'Influencer Marketing', 'Social Media'] |
1,198 | Preparing Hardware for Outdoor Creative Technology Installations | Recently, I was tasked with choosing hardware for a creative technology installation that needed to live outdoors 24/7 in various climates and environments in the U.S. for a solid month. It was a fairly simple setup consisting of a screen, camera, and a computer. Having the challenges in mind from the previous project mentioned above, I knew that this would require a bit more research to do things the “right way”. If you’re just doing an installation for a day or two outdoors, you can get away with some more temporary solutions. However, longer installations need a lot of other considerations. You have to think about how you’re protecting the installation from:
Extreme heat or cold 🥵/🥶
Direct Sunlight 🌞
Humidity 💦
Precipitation: Rain/Snow 🌧/☃️
Dust and Debris 🌪
And the most challenging element of all: People 👹
In this article I’ll cover some research I did for outdoor installations. In general, I recommend locating some vendors who are experienced with this kind of stuff because there are a lot of mistakes to be made. I’ll briefly cover:
Screens and Touchscreens
Computers
Cameras
Screens
Let’s talk about outdoor displays first. For outdoor-capable displays, you really have two options: LED screens or commercial grade LCD screens. Projection is really not recommended for daylight, but if you just need it for nighttime you can look into outdoor projector enclosures. Unfortunately, I didn’t look into outdoor projection much, so I’m going to focus on LCD and LED this time around.
LCD
Samsung 0H85F Outdoor All-in-one — don’t worry. No one is paying me for this.
The biggest thing you’ll find is that outdoor commercial grade displays are going to be considerably more expensive than comparably sided consumer displays. Take my advice — Do not cheap out. Choosing a 65" consumer 4K LCD that costs $750 and is designed for a temperature controlled living room is not going to work well in a variable outdoor environment. You should look for commercial displays that are designed for this purpose, but you are looking at around $3000 for a 55" outdoor display. For commercial grade LCD screens, there are a few things to consider: brightness, ability to withstand the elements, orientation (landscape or portrait, and whether the screen will be in direct sunlight.
Brightness : You’ll probably want 2500nits or more if this is in full sun. As a comparison, most consumer indoor displays are around 500nits.
: You’ll probably want 2500nits or more if this is in full sun. As a comparison, most consumer indoor displays are around 500nits. Resolution : 1080p displays are still more common, and 4K can bring prices up a bit.
: 1080p displays are still more common, and 4K can bring prices up a bit. Size: the most common size will be 55" and you’ll start to max out around 85" due to manufacturing challenges. The market for smaller screens under 49" isn’t really there, and LED starts to take over at larger sizes.
the most common size will be 55" and you’ll start to max out around 85" due to manufacturing challenges. The market for smaller screens under 49" isn’t really there, and LED starts to take over at larger sizes. Orientation: switching from landscape to portrait isn’t always recommended and some displays are designed to be one or the other. More on this later.
switching from landscape to portrait isn’t always recommended and some displays are designed to be one or the other. More on this later. Duty cycle : Make sure that your display is spec’d to run 24/7. Some displays specify like 16 hours a day which means you’d need to have them turn themselves off overnight. Consumer displays are not designed to run 24/7 for long periods of time.
: Make sure that your display is spec’d to run 24/7. Some displays specify like 16 hours a day which means you’d need to have them turn themselves off overnight. Consumer displays are not designed to run 24/7 for long periods of time. Enclosure : Does the display need a weatherproof enclosure, or is it an all-in-one unit? Look for IP56 ratings for assurance that it can keep out water and dust. Here is a solid explanation of what the IP number system means. Ventilation also needs to be considered and whether you need an air filter. You may also want to consider displays that have impact resistant glass.
: Does the display need a weatherproof enclosure, or is it an all-in-one unit? Look for IP56 ratings for assurance that it can keep out water and dust. Here is a solid explanation of what the IP number system means. Ventilation also needs to be considered and whether you need an air filter. You may also want to consider displays that have impact resistant glass. Direct Sunlight: Some displays will specify if they can withstand direct sunlight. If this is a requirement, make sure you’re triple checking that it is supported.
If you want the Ferrari of outdoor capable LCD displays — LG-MRI is your source. They have been in the space for a very long time and they know their stuff inside and out. Chances are that if you have seen a really nice outdoor display in a major city, LG-MRI probably made it. They also supply high performance screens to the military. LG-MRI have done extensive research on how to make a display that can last for at least 10 years with very minimal maintenance. Remember how I mentioned my installation where the screens turned black? LG-MRI calls that phenomenon Solar Clearing — the liquid crystal in the display is getting so hot and essentially altering its physical structure and disrupting its ability to display an image. They also make setups that have embedded computers that they choose specifically for their ability to last forever, and they have systems for remotely updating the whole computer from the BIOS level (or something like that, it’s been a minute). In any case — if you have a super serious outdoor display need that needs to be running for years, they should be one of the first calls. (Also note, LG-MRI is actually not LG they just partner on some things.)
Keep in mind, for any high end custom display manufacturer you may be looking at long lead times (like 3–6months+), especially if you have custom needs. Most manufacturers in this space are designing for portrait-oriented screens, so asking for landscape orientation can actually add some additional engineering costs for certain projects. It’s actually not so simple to take a screen and just turn it sideways, especially when you’re working with much larger screens. You have to consider heat flow around the electronics, and the fact that liquid crystal is, well, liquid. Screens that are turned the wrong way from their designed purpose can start to develop a beer belly — where more liquid crystal pools at the bottom, and it can make the display look very unevenly lit.
One more odd quirk of outdoor displays is the stack of transparent materials between the glass outside and the LCD inside. If you want a buzzword to sound like you know what you’re talking about when speaking with a vendor, ask them if their screens are optically bonded (although it’s not always necessary). This means the glass is specially adhered to the LCD and this limits adverse effects like internal reflection between the LCD and glass and humidity getting between the layers and ruining readability.
As mentioned earlier, there are size limitations when it comes to outdoor LCD’s. In indoor environments, this is usually sidestepped by tiling multiple thin-bezel (3.5mm+) displays together. Outdoor displays typically have much thicker (25mm/1"+) bezels, so they will have huge gaps between the displays — it’s definitely not a recommended or standard usage to tile these this way.
For other sources that are more name-brand, Samsung also makes some great looking outdoor displays and commercial displays. Their 85" OH85F is a fantastic looking all-in-one option but will set you back about $40,000 (link to B&H). LG also has a great lineup of outdoor capable high brightness displays. Similar price points apply — about $4000 for the smaller screens, but $26000+ for a 75" all-in-one unit.
Other places to look at would be JCDecaux — I haven’t reached out to them before, but they have digital signs everywhere across the country and seem to have a lot of the digital solutions figured out. In NYC they have several displays that are high resolution LED displays in the 120"+ range that live in newsstand street kiosks. Outfront Media also works in this space.
If you just need a weatherproof custom enclosure for a commercial LCD display, you can look into the offerings from Armagard, but, as usual, keep several-week-long lead times in mind. If you need an AV partner to help navigate this whole landscape of commercial displays and enclosures for LCD or LED, WorldStage is a great resource as well.
As a final note on LCD’s — touchscreens are something else to consider. IR/Infrared touchframes are common for indoor displays, but they do not work in outdoor lighting. Most outdoor touchscreens are usually some form of capacitive touch (the same as in a smartphone). One small issue with capacitive touch is that it doesn’t scale to large sizes super well and it can result in a loss of precision or responsiveness. I haven’t found a lot of sources offering capacitive touch overlays at larger than 65" but there are a couple, like Displax that offer touchfoils up to 105" .
The following is a short list of other outdoor display manufacturers I came across. I can’t say one way or the other about how these stack up though, I haven’t done in-depth research on these vendors in particular. Keep in mind that some of them may be re-using components or repackaging screens from the larger display manufacturers rather than making their own display from scratch.
DynaScan (another industry leader after the ones mentioned above)
SunBrite
Mirage
SkyVue
Baanto (touchscreen)
LED
LED Video walls are the other main display technology to consider for outdoor displays. Outdoor LED is currently best used for much larger seamless displays that are viewed from very far away. However, you probably don’t want to consider LED if you: a) don’t have a lot of budget or b) need it to be viewed by someone closer than 15ft. At the time of this writing, Outdoor-ready LED is typically lower resolution than stuff made for indoor environments and you’ll have a hard time finding something finer than 5mm pixel pitch for outdoor LED, but there are some that are starting to get into 3mm and smaller. In comparison to LCD, a 98" 4K display has a pixel pitch of about 0.56mm compared to the 3mm of LED.
The primary reason for this outdoor LED limitation is physics. Outdoor LED panels need to be a lot brighter (5000–6000nits) than indoor LED (1000nits) to combat the sun. This added brightness means added heat. If you have higher resolution, you are trying to pack more and more heat generating elements into a smaller surface area that ALSO has to wick away heat from direct sunlight and keep components from melting or warping. Higher resolution also sometimes means the screens are more fragile — you also need some extra affordances to keep things waterproof and able to withstand minor impacts.
You will also need a pretty hefty budget for outdoor LED installations— think in the hundreds of thousands for a purchase of a decent sized screen. As for vendors, there are a few options depending on the pixel pitch range you’re looking for — but for most creative technology companies, you are better off sourcing through an AV integrator since they are more of an end to end solution and they have more relationships with these companies that tend to be based in China, Korea and Taiwan.
Vendors — mix of indoor and outdoor, but should give you an idea of the range of products
AV Integrators
I mentioned earlier that JCDecaux has some outdoor high resolution LED video displays in some NYC kiosks and those appear to be less than 2.5mm pixel pitch. These displays are also behind a layer of glass and likely have special cooling and ventilation between them and the glass to make sure they last for a long time. That’s a solution that requires a lot of engineering thought and lead time though — I’m not aware of an off the shelf option out there, so you’ll need to research or partner with an integrator for that kind of specialized approach.
Computers
Industrial computers are very cute.
Outdoor capable computers are a a different beast. Most outdoor signage solutions need to run very simple video playback or just serve up static images. This means they do not need to be particularly beastly machines that generate a ton of heat with cutting edge graphics cards. Since you’re likely reading this as a creative technologist, you might be planning on needing a high end graphics card to render your installation. After talking with some of the digital signage experts, they really had a hard time recommending using those kinds of cards in outdoor all-weather environments. The airflow and ventilation required means you have to suck in a lot of dust and humidity — not exactly the best friend to sensitive high-performance electronics. This means you’ll have to think carefully if you plan to do some GPU-melting machine vision that needs to live outdoors and run flawlessly. I would plan a lengthy test period.
From my research — you have a couple options: industrial fanless or fanned computers, or a computer enclosure that accounts for ventilation and filtering (filters have to be replaced eventually though). I found a couple decent looking providers for fanless and more “industrial” computers. Logic Supply was very knowledgable and had a lot of good customizable options in a range from fanless and sealed computers to just more industrial options but still ventilated. They have computers that can tolerate a really wide range of temperatures as well — in the outdoor ambient temperature range of -40ºC to 70ºC, and those sometimes require specialized CPU’s and RAM that are designed to operate that way.
For one of our outdoor projects I chose a special computer from CoastiPC. They had this little guy — the Neousys 6180 that seems that it was designed to be stored in the trunk of a car for autonomous driving purposes. It is a tank of a computer enclosure, built to withstand bumps and a wide range of temperatures, and can support a GTX2080Ti graphics card. The wide-temperature CPU option isn’t quite as high end as you could get elsewhere, so keep that in mind if you need a powerful CPU. Also note that the power supplies on these computers are typically external since they generate so much heat — and they can be quite large if you’re planning for space.
Neousys 6180 — a tank with a GTX2080Ti
I didn’t dig into these for outdoor capabilities, but have a look at Boxx — they build some quality machines for rendering and they have been used a lot in stage environments.
Armagard (mentioned above in Displays) could be an option to look at if you need an even larger enclosure for your whole computer and additional hardware. They can do active cooling and heating systems if necessary as well. You could also look into rack mounted systems and enclosures since they are designed for touring and moving around in multiple environments.
One last thing to consider for outdoor installations — internet. Many of the computers listed above have options to include 4G-LTE modems as PCI cards for the computers. I always prefer a hardline connection, but sometimes it’s not possible. Adding an LTE modem and SIM Card definitely opens up options for remote maintenance.
Cameras
Logitech Brio 4K Webcam
I’ll mostly talk about regular old full color cameras here. Specialized devices like depth cameras or thermal cameras are really in their own league and usually have some special challenges in outdoor environments anyway.
I primarily had the following requirements when researching cameras for outdoor use:
High Quality Image : ideally 1080p or 4K resolution — 30fps or 60fps was acceptable. We needed this because we were displaying the live feed and doing some processing as well. If we were just processing the image and displaying generative graphics, we probably could have been able to use a lower quality camera. Webcam quality images weren’t really acceptable for this
: ideally 1080p or 4K resolution — 30fps or 60fps was acceptable. We needed this because we were displaying the live feed and doing some processing as well. If we were just processing the image and displaying generative graphics, we probably could have been able to use a lower quality camera. Webcam quality images weren’t really acceptable for this Easy to get an image into the computer : connected via USB with standard UVC (universal camera control), or HDMI/HD-SDI into a capture card. Gig-E or NDI would probably also be fine, but we wanted to avoid dealing with any network and image compression stuff.
: connected via USB with standard UVC (universal camera control), or HDMI/HD-SDI into a capture card. Gig-E or NDI would probably also be fine, but we wanted to avoid dealing with any network and image compression stuff. Easy to control: with an outdoor all-day installation, your camera needs to have great auto adjustment features, but it should also let you easily override those and set them to be manually controlled
with an outdoor all-day installation, your camera needs to have great auto adjustment features, but it should also let you easily override those and set them to be manually controlled Able to run 24/7 unattended: not all cameras are designed for this. DSLR’s in particular have great quality images, but often overheat when used for live feeds for extended periods of time. DSLR’s are also a bit more fragile in terms of expecting them to run in hot/cold and humid environments.
not all cameras are designed for this. DSLR’s in particular have great quality images, but often overheat when used for live feeds for extended periods of time. DSLR’s are also a bit more fragile in terms of expecting them to run in hot/cold and humid environments. Lensing or zoom options would be a bonus in case we had to frame a shot a certain way
I considered many options in different families of cameras.
The market for high quality webcams isn’t something that a lot of manufacturers play in these days, so the options are fairly limited. The Logitech BRIO does have 4K, a USB-C connection, and a pretty good wide angle image, but it is still a webcam and had some limitations about how easily you could manually control it. It also had some fuzziness to certain details that was probably related to some kind of onboard compression. I tried some other webcams with interchangeable lenses and things, but none of them felt sharp enough or the image colors felt too muted or oversaturated.
DSLR’s weren’t really considered because of the overheating problem mentioned above. I did look into the Black Magic Pocket Cinema camera since it seemed a bit more rugged, but their customer support couldn’t really confirm that it was designed to run 24/7 in an outdoor environment.
Great camera, but maybe not for 24/7 unattended
I considered prosumer video cameras and broadcast style cameras like the Canon XF400 since they can run for long periods and obviously have great image quality, but I was concerned about how easily their image could be controlled from the computer.
There were machine vision cameras like the Point Gray/FLIR, E-con Systems, and Ximea —The live feed needed to be gorgeous, and I just couldn’t feel confident enough that their image quality would look great coming right off the camera without buying and testing a ton of them, so I didn’t end up working with them.
GoPro’s are good for certain extreme activities, but I don’t know that I’d trust them for this. We also looked at the Stereolabs’ ZED Stereo Imaging camera since we were doing some tracking, but didn’t find the image to be useful enough for us.
This brings us to security cameras. Most of them are designed for outdoor, 24/7 use which is great, but many of them aren’t required to have really high quality images since they are usually viewed on a security monitor with 15 other cameras feeds.
I eventually landed on the Panasonic UE70 — a sort of hybrid purpose camera meant for both unmanned broadcast quality cameras and high quality security cameras. The image is 4K, you can capture it with HDMI/HD-SDI, you can control the camera settings via ethernet and a simple HTTP protocol that is well documented (!!). It can also be run 24/7 and there is an optional weatherproof enclosure you can buy that has the option for active cooling or heating. Finally, it is a PTZ (point-tilt-zoom) camera, meaning you can remotely control its position and zoom (20x optical zoom btw!) — a huge bonus if you need to adjust your image from afar without physically re-mounting it. However, this camera doesn’t come cheap — about $5500 total. Unfortunately, for a situation like this, you shouldn’t try to cut corners as it could cause an issue and end up costing more than the whole project later on.
The winner — Panasonic UE70
There is a version of this camera — the Panasonic HE40 — that is 1080p, almost identical in features in image quality, and closer to $3300 if you need a cost savings option.
The Panasonic performed well overall, and the ability to reposition it and override automatic settings over the network was a great feature.
Closing Remarks
Really the last part of all of this is bringing all of these elements together into a well designed enclosure that has great ventilation (but not too much for dust and humidity!), is super secure but still easy to access for maintenance, and can stand up to bright sunlight and a wide range of environments. Finding a good fabrication partner that understands all of these pieces and can help you solve various issues is really important. I also suggest doing some trial runs for several weeks prior to launching for real, just in case you need to plan for other things.
Thanks for reading — please let me know if you have other vendors or war stories I could add to this so it’s more useful for everyone.
Also check out my other writing! If you found this helpful, this article about keeping software running forever would be a great companion: How to Keep an Installation up 4evr (Mac OS)cr
Advice for Creative Technologists
Survey of Alternative Displays
Experiential Activations and AI
History of Creative Coding
Guide to Projectors for Interactive Installations
Guide to Cameras for Interactive Installations
How to do projection in full daylight | https://medium.com/@laserpilot/preparing-hardware-for-outdoor-creative-technology-installations-b574fc6b40da | ['Blair Neal'] | 2019-09-14 16:35:07.039000+00:00 | ['Installation', 'Creative Technology', 'Technology', 'Audiovisual', 'Hardware'] |
1,199 | A practical approach to queering design | Queer design is collective
Although empathy has been packaged up as a neat little Design Thinking™ books, workshops, and proprietary consulting models, the queer designers I know have a lifetime of experience in empathy on even the most skilled sprint facilitator.
A lot of queer designers I’ve talked to feel they are able to more fully put themselves in others’ shoes because of how much time they’ve spent pretending to be someone else.
We’ve turned a survival mechanism of being able to move through spaces that aren’t for us into a professional adaptation. And we bring that outsider perspective with us when we enter the field.
In design today, people on the outside are considered edge cases and most large organizations don’t design for them. But as Eric Meyer says, “When you say ‘edge case’, you’re really just defining the limits of what you care about.”
A lot of queer designers I’ve talked to feel they are able to more fully put themselves in others’ shoes because of how much time they’ve spent pretending to be someone else.
So it’s not enough to bring outsider perspectives into the design process, we need to bring in people currently relegated to the edges of our practice and actually center them in our work.
One way to do that is having diverse teams. Studies have shown that diversity leads to increased productivity and innovation, although the queerer the design industry becomes, the less we should need to rely on business metrics to argue for what’s right.
We also have to expand our definition of a design to people who aren’t traditionally included in it and embracing a spirit of co-design.
We need to enroll our “edge cases” as our partners in the design process to create work that serves them as well as it does everyone else. We should do this not because products that accommodate users at the margins do a better job at meeting the needs of everyone in middle (although they do) but because we should be challenging the idea that the experiences we build should have margins at all—or that the business’s margins should define them.
We must also challenge the idea that we are the ones who should be building these designs. Communities can solve problems for themselves when they have the resources and designers from within those communities are empowered to do so.
Very often, what a problem calls for is not a designer to unlock the solution but the political will to enact what we know will work (usually money, usually controlled by people who’d rather not see the problem solved). Not every nail needs design thinking or an interface or a logo.
“I am not a beginning. I am not an end. I am a link in a chain.” ― Keith Haring
I think queering design means letting go of our egos as designers. There’s still such a cult of celebrity in the field. We’re taught to revere individual designers who make iconic work, like Milton Glaser and the I heart New York logo. We pay less attention to work created by teams or ephemeral work that eschews a sense of “timelessness” to improve people’s lives now. A lot of us are still chasing that FastCo Design spotlight, the retrospective of our work, or the seat of honor at an AIGA gala.
But some of the most memorable queer designs aren’t attributable to one person. The “Silence = Death” poster, which I think is one of the most striking designs in history was designed by a collective. Feminist activist artists the Guerrilla Girls work anonymously to keep focus on the issues their work addresses. | https://medium.com/queer-design-club/a-practical-approach-to-queering-design-f331bbc948a7 | ['John Warren Hanawalt'] | 2020-12-02 18:19:50.121000+00:00 | ['Queer', 'LGBTQ', 'Design', 'Technology', 'Diversity'] |
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