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Fighting fraud in the future: What banks need to do| Security Focus | ATM Marketplace
Customer behaviors changed radically during the pandemic lockdown which naturally changed the payments industry as well.
To avoid fraud, the financial industry has always had specific checks and balances in place to identify suspicious behavior or chart changes in customer behaviors. These checks and balances, which were based on logic and training to identify patterns, worked well for the most part until a pandemic that was based on anything but logic and patterns had customers who never used online banking or purchased goods and services through a digital wallet suddenly doing so repeatedly. And more customers online meant more fraud.
"The patterns and models that were always used to determine fraud are unfortunately, no longer relevant," James Heinzman, EVP of financial service solutions for ThetaRay, said in an interview with ATM Marketplace. "Banks are now generating 400-600 times the volume of alerts
James Heinzman, EVP of financial services solutions for ThetaRay
than they were before the pandemic and the models are identifying the new behaviors as suspicious, instead of recognizing that the fundamental behavior of the market has changed."
Heinzman explained because the industry never saw such radical changes before, the models that were used pre-pandemic have to be rewritten, retrained and re-calibrated to be in any way meaningful going forward.
"This is a very expensive and resource-consuming effort. Does it really make sense to rewrite legacy technology programs? We believe that unsupervised machine learning is a better solution to the problem. Advanced artificial intelligence solutions solves this issue because it's data-driven and automatically tunes to the new normal," Heinzman said. "It accurately distinguishes between wholesale market changes and real suspicious behaviors. Because there are no predefined rules or models, it can make connections and identify patterns even if there's been no prior example."
Q: If anti-money laundering and anti-fraud detection models been rendered nearly useless by COVID-19 what should a bank do?
A: The first thing [a bank] needs to do is take a fresh look at their AML programs. Check out the people, process and technology. They need to acknowledge that the world has changed forever; the virus isn't going away. It's time for banks to really adopt new technologies and modernize their infrastructure. A lot of banking was based on relationships —human interaction. That's changed dramatically. The banking of the future will be conducted primarily through web and digital channels. AML programs need to adapt to meet this change and modernize the technology.
Q: How are banks leaving themselves open to an increase in cybercrime?
A:The bank workforce is now working from home, security systems weren't designed for that, and new vulnerabilities have arisen. It's also forcing the banks to reveal sensitive information to these remote workers on their personal devices, thus exposing sensitive data. Banks need to adopt more modern approaches to cybercrime and look not just at perimeter defenses, but at business activity as well, in order to identify and mitigate these breaches that go undetected.
Q: What are the top cybercrimes that financial institutions have to watch out for?
A:There are a lot of attacks we've never seen before hitting these banks, and they're only getting more sophisticated. And now thanks to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network breach, they're better informed. Phishing and spear-phishing techniques are becoming more effective thanks to the remote workforce; the chances of clicking on a suspicious link increase when employees aren't in the office and supervising them proves to be difficult. Additionally, the fear of job displacement causes employees to do things they normally wouldn't do, which puts them at a higher risk for falling for this type of attack. The greatest threats in the post COVID era may well come from within the banks themselves.
Q: Can you explain the new intuitive type of AI?
A: Artificial Intuition enables computers to identify threats and opportunities without following a predefined model based on human experience or past events and being told what to look for. Just as human intuition allows us to make decisions without specifically being instructed on how to do so. Essentially, artificial intuition evaluates all the data points and how they are connected. It can create a dynamic view on what is happening and how everything is connected to everything else. In this way, it can mimic how the human brain processes information and makes decisions about what is unusual.
Consider what happens when you see a person approaching you. Most people don't take out a ruler and measure the distance between their ears, or how far apart their eyes are or the length of their chin. What they do is very quickly look at all of the information about this person. All the connections of data points and compare it to a memory. Is this someone I have seen before? Are they a friend? A threat? etc. In the same way, artificial intuition can make connections between data points that separately seem normal, but when looked at together arouse suspicion.
Q: Why is it referred to as artificial intuition and not intelligence?
A: When people hear the term "artificial intelligence," they tend to picture these extremely logic-based systems that follow rule-based programming. Yes, it's true that most real-world AI applications aren't HAL9000, but they still follow a set of rules they were trained on; "if X happens then Y will happen." Artificial intuition moves away from this rules-based approach and allows the system to act on its own using sophisticated algorithms to make connections between data points. It doesn't need to be taught every possible scenario, and let's face it, that would be impossible since it would require human beings to be aware and understand an infinite number of possible situations. It can go beyond human intelligence and automatically make inferences about big data that mimic a human's intuition, if they were able to process it.
Q: What are the benefits of this technology?
A: Financial institutions have increasingly begun to adopt artificial intuition to detect new and sophisticated financial cybercrime schemes, including correspondent banking, cross border transactions, trade finance, money laundering, fraud and ATM hacking. These crimes are usually concealed between thousands upon thousands of transactions that have their own set of connected parameters. By combining sophisticated, patented mathematical algorithms and user-friendly technology interfaces, artificial intuition automatically and accurately identifies real suspicious activity and presents it to analysts in an easily understandable format with full transparency, and expandability. It also provides all the tools and forensic data together in a single interface to investigate and resolve issues identified. It increases efficiency and reduces risk.
Q: What are the challenges?
A: The main challenges are not really with the technology per se, but they are more related to the paradigm shift the technology represents. This is new and it's different. It represents change that can be scary for some and hard to embrace for others. It can also be perceived as a threat to internal stakeholders who prefer to build and create technology solutions in house. These challenges can be dangerous for a bank and can inhibit their ability to find the best solutions to the current crises. Other challenges are not unique to this technology, but they do merit a mention here. Big data is still a big issue for banks. They have gotten better at having a cohesive data strategy and bringing in big data technologies, but they still have a way to go. Data acquisition, data quality, and the ETL process are still challenges for banks that inhibit their ability to rapidly deploy new technology.
Q: How does AI "sense" changes?
A: A system using artificial intuition senses changes by applying a qualitative model to the data it's analyzing, rather than the traditional quantitative model that rules-based AI solutions use. From there, artificial intuition analyzes the dataset and develops a contextual language that represents the overall configuration of the data. It's able to understand the "big picture" of what lies in front of it, rather than just the individual data points.
For instance, even if X, Y and Z data points look completely normal on their own, an artificial intuition-based model would identify that, when analyzed together, something just doesn't add up. The system would flag that. It also automatically identified "drift" in the data. As business operations and market conditions change, so does the data being presented to the system. By automatically identifying these drifts, the system can tune itself to the "new normal". In this way, it can continuously identify only those cases that are truly suspicious, future-proofing the bank's defenses and providing effective and efficient detection.
Q: Is it able to decrease alerts and separate the threats from just basic behavioral shifts?
A:Yes. In fact, the pandemic is a great example of this. As a result of COVID-19, banking habits of consumers have changed dramatically. In-person banking is not happening on the scale it did before COVID, cash payments have dropped dramatically (no one wants to touch it for fear of catching the virus), credit and debit card usage has spiked and online and mobile banking have exploded.
These macro changes in consumer behavior are automatically identified as "drift" in the data by the system and the technology relearns the "new normal" across the entire dataset. By understanding these macro changes and accounting for them, the system can continue to produce high quality, low volumes of alerts. Banks are reporting that they have decreased the total number of alerts by 30-40%, with 95% being "investigation worthy," while simultaneously reducing the overall investigation time per alert by as much as 50%. When you compare this with the spike of 400-600 times more alerts and 90+ percent false positives that banks are experiencing with their current systems, it speaks volumes.
Q: How does your company's technology work to combat fraud?
A: ThetaRay technology is designed to deliver end-to-end solutions from data integration through alert disposition and reporting. With a combination of market-leading big data technologies, microservices, API based architecture and cloud-ready capabilities the technology can be deployed on-premise or in the cloud. With full-stack detection capabilities, the system can bring together different detection capabilities in a single solutions. The user interface is designed by investigation experts for investigation experts and to provide a high quality, efficient user experience.
Q: Are there limitations?
A:The core technology is based on the human brain and really is limited only by the imagination of those who would use it. The technology runs on standard hardware and big data infrastructure, so it can scale up and scale out as necessary. It is designed to seamlessly integrate with existing systems and can immediately enhance and augment current systems and bring effectiveness through better identification of real results and efficiency through reduction of alert volumes and false positives. Over time, the system could either be integrated into the technology ecosystem at a bank, or it could be transitioned as a replacement of a legacy system.
Q: What does the future look like for financial institutions in your opinion post-pandemic?
A:The pandemic has accelerated a lot of curves. By that I mean the adoption of digital banking, the movement towards a checkless and cashless society, how consumers interact with their financial services providers and the real-time, self-directed approach to banking that younger generations are demanding will continue to fundamentally change the banking industry.
Fintechs that provide bank-like services, are gaining market share and pressuring banks to innovate. I think this is a difficult time for banks as they struggle to adjust and compete in the post-pandemic world. This change was in process well before the pandemic, but it has dramatically accelerated because of it. I think it will be a bit rough for banks over the next few years. With interest rates near zero (in some countries they are negative), profit centers and revenue models will be reevaluated, innovative new products will be developed, services and delivery methods will be created, and in the end, the financial sector will emerge from it better, stronger and more resilient than ever before. I see this period a bit like growing pains. It is going to be hard, even painful for a period of time, but the end result will be worth it.
Q: What is the most important thing a financial institution can do to protect itself against fraud?
A: Forget about the past. Whatever was working before the pandemic will not work anymore. Embrace new ideas, technologies, and methods. Don't be afraid to innovate. Try new things and "fail fast." The longer you wait, the worse it will be. Don't be paralyzed by analysis and inaction. Take a fresh look at problems and be creative in the approach.
Betterment Checking review: Reimburses 100% of ATM and foreign transaction fees, at no monthly cost


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Home > NCAA FB > College Football Picks of The Week
College Football Picks of The Week
Alabama Crimson Tide Football
Georgia Bulldogs Football
LSU Tigers Football
Michigan Wolverines Football
Oklahoma Sooners Football
No. 1 Clemson (-36) vs. Georgia Tech – 8 p.m. ET
Thursday, Aug. 29, Over/Under: 59
Trevor Lawrence and the Clemson Tigers should cruise in this one. Clemson has an embarrassment of riches at the skill positions and Georgia Tech is bringing their offense into the 21st century leaving the option attack behind. New offensive system, new head coach, and a defense that struggled last year is not an ideal situation heading into this matchup. The Tigers should cover.
No. 2 Alabama (-34.5) vs. Duke – 3:30 p.m. ET
Saturday, Aug. 31, Over/Under: 58.5
The Tide should roll in this one as Heisman hopeful Tua Tagovailoa looks to start the season off strong after a disappointing championship game performance. Bama has the obvious overwhelming edge on both sides of the ball. Duke will be breaking in a new starting quarterback, 5th year senior Quentin Harris. Look for the Tide to cover.
No. 3 Georgia (-21) vs. Vanderbilt – 7:30 p.m. ET
Saturday, Aug 31, Over/Under: 57.5
If Georgia has a weakness its at receiver due to players leaving early for the draft and suspensions. Combined this with the game being a road opener, the Bulldogs may start slow. Vandy is out matched at just about every position on the field so look for the Bulldogs to get it going in the second half and cover.
No. 4 Oklahoma (-24.5) vs. Houston – 7:30 p.m. ET
Sunday, September 1 Over/Under: 82.5
The Sooners and their new starting quarterback Jaeln Hurts shouldnt have a problem scoring. The question is on defense where OU has struggled in recent years. Houston QB D'Eriq King put up huge numbers last season. Look for that to continue even with new head coach Dana Holgorsen. Oklahoma brought in new defensive coordinator Alex Grinch to solidify the defense. Looks like this will be a high scoring game with Houston keeping it close at times. Take Houston with the points in this matchup.
No. 5 Ohio State (-27.5) vs. FAU – 7:30 p.m. ET
Saturday, August 31, Over/Under: 63.5
FAU ranked 92 in points per game allowed last season. This does not bode well for them in facing a team with elite talent like Ohio State. New transfer quarterback Justin Fields shouldnt have an issue in his first start. Look for OU to cover.
No. 6 LSU (-27.5) vs. Georgia Southern – 7:30 p.m. ET
Saturday, August 31 , Over/Under: 54
The triple option gives many teams fits. This definitely could be the case in an opener where LSU may not be up to the task of playing good assignment football. Look for Georgia Southern's option attack to limit LSU possession. Take the under in the one.
No. 7 Michigan (-33.5) vs. Middle Tennessee State – 7:30 p.m. ET
Saturday, August 31 , Over/Under: 53.5
Middle Tennessee State is breaking in a new starting quarterback and there is a huge talent gap between these two teams. Michigan has high expectations this season. This game shouldn't be much of a contest. Look for Michigan to cover.
No. 9 Notre Dame (-20.5) vs. Louisville – 7:30 p.m. ET
Over/Under: 57
Louisville is coming off a horrendous 2-10 season. Notre Dame is looking to re-establish themselves as a perennial power after last year's College Football Playoff appearance. New Louisville Head Coach Scott Satterfield is trying to establish a new culture but I don't see how they will be able to keep it close. Look for the Irish to cover.
No. 10 Texas (-20.5) vs. Louisiana Tech – 8 p.m. ET
Texas and quarterback Sam Ehlingher come into this season with a lot of hype. The Longhorns may be overrated this year but shouldn't have an issue with LA Tech. The Bulldogs bring in a new Defensive Coordinator so look for the Longhorns offense to cruise in this game. Take the over is this one.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


We've talked in the past about how you can't push prospects to buy through brute force.
Instead, the key to closing deals is to subtly yet powerfully influence prospects through emotional transference.
But the crucial point is this: you can't encourage people to adopt attitudes and behaviors that you don't exemplify yourself!
It's essential that you embody the emotion or action you are trying to impart; otherwise, your prospects will sense that you are inauthentic.
So what do you need to do to become more genuine?
– Am I treating myself with the respect I deserve?
– Am I being honest with myself?
– Do I practice what I preach?
Check out today's content where I delve deeply into this nugget of wisdom: If you have no self-respect, how can you possibly influence your prospects to buy?


The main goal of this research program is to explore the behavioral, physiological and neural bases of emotional processing in healthy humans and in individuals suffering from psychiatric and neurological disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia and epilepsy. To do se, we employ state-of-the-art techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging. Results from our research should help clinicians develop new treatments, as improve existing ones, for these disorders and therefore improve the quality of life of the patients and their families.


"For one to fly one only needs to.... Take the Reins"
A nonprofit recreational therapeutic riding program, founded in 2011 and incorporated in 2012, Take the Reins serves children 4-18 years of age with documented disabilities.
Take the Reins is a member of the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International (PATH Intl), the national organization that sets the standards for quality and safety.
Mission Statement: To bring joy and sense of accomplishment to people with special life challenges through therapeutic equine riding with the guidance of Christ.
We bring that mission to life by providing a year-round program on our 12-acre farm near Franklin, TN. For many of our riders, Take the Reins is one of the few recreational programs available to them.
To ensure the safety of its participants and a quality learning opportunity, Take the Reins requires all of its instructors to be certified by the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International (PATH Intl).
In addition, we provide special training for our dedicated group of volunteers, who come from all walks of life, age brackets and locations in the area to serve in the program.
Everyone involved with Take the Reins is exceptional. Our children, parents and volunteers are the strength and foundation for our accomplishments every day.
This year we will serve nearly 25 children and youth. They reside Williamson, Rutherford, Davidson and other surronding counties. Take the Reins can deal with more than 50 types of disabilities as defined by federal law including: Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Delay, Autism, non-verbal disorders, visual and hearing loss, developmental and learning disabilities, and many others.
For any child, mounting a horse can be a frightening prospect. But before long, all of the children are wearing heartwarming grins that lift the heart. The opportunity for them to leave behind the world of special classes, tutors, doctors, hospitals and medicine is often more therapy than the best educational or medical minds can deliver.
Our Parents are the strengh of Take the Reins. Brothers, sisters, parents, friends and extended family members gather to watch their rider demonstrate their riding skills. All accomplishments are greeted with fanfare and hugs!
Take the Reins couldn't function without the dedication of our nearly 40 Take the Reins dedicated volunteers. We know they are priceless! Their skills, expertise and passion make a difference in all that we do from governance by the visionary Board of Directors, to our dedicated volunteers who serve in lessons on a weekly basis, and to those who help with the care of our horse heroes and facilities. We're grateful to the individuals and groups that choose to serve at Take the Reins.
More Than Just a Pony Ride, Horses, and Hugs, this experience has multiple opportunities for students to increase physical skills, social skills and communication skills. Students develop muscle strength, balance and coordination during riding. They have the opportunity to develop increased communication skills and increased positive social interaction with their riding team. The thrill of riding a horse is an accomplishment that is immeasurable to students that have difficulty with mobility, self-control and/or communication. We have watched students begin the program that could not sit upright on the horse progress to independent riding. Parents report students have increased muscle tone. Instructors report students progressing from nonverbal status to voluntary greetings and conversations with horses and riding team members.
For our children, Take the Reins provides more than just a good time. Research shows that students who participate in therapeutic riding can experience physical, emotional and mental rewards. For individuals with impaired mobility, horseback riding gently and rhythmically moves their bodies in a manner similar to a human walking gait. The rider must continuously contract and relax muscles to re-balance, improving balance, strength and flexibility.
If you have a child within the ages of 4 to 18 years old and think they would be a good fit for the Take the Reins program, contact Jerry Clement at takethereinsridingcenter@gmail.com or 615-566-7534 to begin the application process.
Therapeutic riding that connects horses and children through the love of Christ.
Take The Reins. All Rights Reserved. Site proudly designed and hosted by Big Sky Internet Design.


With this data, the market has been flooded with Phytoceramides treatment products like Phytoceramides Rejuvenate Integrity claiming to reverse the aging process and leaving you with healthier, more youthful looking skin. With all of the available options, it's important that you select one with the right ingredients, dosage and price.
The manufacturer recommends taking one (1) capsule daily as the suggested use.
Internet pricing may vary from website to website. At the time of writing this review this product was found at a price of $29.97 for a bottle of 30 capsules, which under the suggested use should last about one month.
Phytoceramides Rejuvenate Integrity may be an effective Phytoceramides product, but when looking at the price of this product, its ingredients and that they do not offer a guarantee.
Jack Webster	reviewed Phytoceramides Rejuvenate Integrity	on February 4th	 and gave it a rating of 2.


This is the referring text [This is the comment I added to this text, PT].
Author's abbreviation would be optional; automatic highlight (optional) would be very highly appreciated.
Prompt "Converted $count comments to be inline."
It doesn't insert the initials of the authors, which I don't think is currently possible, but it does highlight the comments. You'll notice I used double brackets to [[surround]] the comments, so that the inverse macro doesn't slurp up all bracketed text. But perhaps that's not necessary for you.
Prompt "Found and converted $count inline comments."
There is one possibly significant limitation: the revived comments will all be marked as if they had been created by the current author (ie: the author running the macro).
The second macro does not work for me. Inline comments are just deleted..
I'll try these macros later today. In the meantime, thank you very much Martin, these promise to be real time-savers. Good idea to avoid using square brackets. I could eventually replace the double square brackets with a brace.
OK, tested both macros (after adapting them to the Italian version). They seem to work fine.
I'll post both the English and the Italian version in the Macro forum.
Hamid wrote: The second macro does not work for me. Inline comments are just deleted..
That was in Draft View.
In Page View the macro works fine.
That's odd, that shouldn't make a difference. I just tested it and you're right, the macro doesn't work in Draft view. For some reason the "Add Comment" macro command doesn't move the focus/selection to the comment area in Draft View. I'll have a look at fixing this.
Martin, may I ask you to move this discussion to the Macro forum? I would prefer to avoid duplicates, and I did the mistake to start it in the wrong one.
Sounds like a good idea to me- topic moved, thanks Paolo.


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February 22/12 12:55 pm - RE:FORM/Cyclepower Women's Team Announces Roster & New Sponsor
RE:FORM/Cyclepower Women's Cycling Team, an elite Canadian women's cycling team based in our National Capital Region, dedicated to promoting and providing high level competitive cycling opportunities for women, today announced that it will become Infinit Nutrition/CyclePower Women's Cycling Team with the addition of Infinit Nutrition Canada as a new co-sponsor of the team.
As the official drink manufacturer of the 2011 Team Garmin-Cervelo Pro Cycling Team, the official recovery drink provider to XTERRA Canada and the nutrition partner of the Canadian Cycling Association, Infinit Nutrition is a Canadian company uniquely committed to offering fully custom sports drinks.
"As the idea behind customized nutrition has become more widely accepted, we've had the opportunity to work with an incredible array of truly amazing athletes, and now this team of dedicated women cyclists," says Darcy Haggith, President, Infinit Nutrition Canada.
Cyclepower Pro Bike Shop, founded by Mr. Ken Power, with a location in each of Ottawa's vibrant communities of Westboro and Old Ottawa South, continues as co-sponsor of the team for the third year. Cyclepower will be supplying the entire team with high-end women-specific Fuji Supreme race bikes.
Former title sponsor, RE:FORM Body Clinic, an expert health care performance clinic in the heart of Ottawa's Byward Market, continues as a major sponsor. Dr. Martin Zollinger's commitment from the team's inception has been critical, not only in the team's development, but for each team member whom he has inspired.
"We continue to be a key partner in supporting this exceptional group of women in their elite-level sporting pursuits, and it is a testament to their success that they are attracting new sponsors", said owner Dr. Martin Zollinger.
Additional new 2012 sponsors include Clinique Podiatrique de l'Outaouais, Ed Brunet & Associates, and Geronimo Coffee. Committed returning sponsors are Logica Sport (distributor of Biemme and Diadora brands), Just B...Photographic and Jessica Spring (Graphic Design). The team expresses genuine gratitude to all of its sponsors, community, and friends who have been so supportive of the mission and vision of the team and of Velo-Femmes Outaouais, the team's managing non-profit corporation.
2012 Team Roster Unveiled
Infinit Nutrition/CyclePower Women's Cycling Team would like to officially unveil its 2012 team roster. Returning riders are Allison Lampi, Jennifer Stephenson, Michelle Gauthier, Alexandra Wilson and Courtnay Romkey. New additions include Heather Shearer, Veronik Bourgon and Nina Danielle Nesdoly, the youngest member, with an impressive Junior resume. Full rider profiles can be found at www.infinitcycling.com/about-the-team/.
"We have a great mix of both returning riders with a lot of success and experience, but also a number of highly driven riders, who are relatively new to the sport," said Allison Lampi, rider and team manager.
"I am so proud to work with such a dynamic and positive group of women who are so motivated to succeed together," said returning Director Sportif and Level II coach Samantha Warskett. Team mechanics are Nathan Underwood and Charles Plamondon.
For more information on sponsors, past results, and proposed schedule, please visit www.infinitcycling.com, facebook.com/infinitcycling and Follow the team on Twitter @infinitcycling.


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The Fuchs Mizrachi Junior High is dedicated to inspiring the intellectual, religious, and emotional growth of each individual student while galvanizing those individual students into a tightly-knit community. In addition to our rigorous dual curriculum, we have a three-year cycle of informal education programming designed to stimulate students' emotional and religious growth at this vital juncture in their development. In both the regular classroom and informal programs we strive to have students work together collaboratively, take leadership roles and construct their own knowledge. This style of active learning is most beneficial to students' academic and interpersonal skill development.
Our faculty and staff are dedicated to their roles as academic instructors on the one hand and religious guides on the other. While our teachers offer academically challenging courses, they also regularly invite students to their homes for informal programs. Our dedicated faculty and staff also spend time during lunch and after school helping students with coursework and offering personal guidance.
In order to foster the sense of learning community towards which we strive, our Judaic and General Studies classes are staggered over the course of our daily schedule, which begins at 8:00 am with tefilla and concludes with a 4:30 pm dismissal.
Junior High Step Up 2018!


Wyoming SBDC offers 'Foodpreneur' training tour in Wyoming - Oil City News Casper, Wyoming Community News Stream.
Entrepreneurs and startups involved in food-related businesses will soon have an opportunity to learn everything they need to know to be successful.
The Wyoming Small Business Development Center Network will host a series of events involving nationally recognized "foodpreneur" expert Marty Butts. Butts is owner of Small Potatoes, a boutique marketing, advocacy and consulting firm specializing in working with small-scale and startup food product companies.
The SBDC is a partnership among the University of Wyoming, the Wyoming Business Council and the U.S. Small Business Administration.
The University says that the SBDC focuses on educating small-business owners and potential owners on how to successfully start and operate small businesses. The SBDC's main office is located at UW.
Cody, Sept. 26, 8:30-11 a.m., Northwest College Center, 1501 Stampede Ave.
Lander, Sept. 26, 6-8:30 p.m., Central Wyoming College, 427 Main St.
Laramie, Sept. 27, 1-4:30 p.m., Wyoming Technology Business Center, 1938 E. Harney St.
Casper, Sept. 28, 8:30-11 a.m., UW Agricultural Resource and Learning Center, 2011 Fairgrounds Road.
Gillette, Sept. 28, 4-6:30 p.m., Gillette College Tech Center, 300 Sinclair St.
The workshop in Casper also will kick off the Wyoming Farmer's Market Conference, scheduled Sept. 28-29.
Each visit costs $15, and registration is required. To reserve a spot and learn more, go to the events section of the Wyoming SBDC Network's website at www.wyomingsbdc.org.


text:
Reading: Lessons Learned from Data Management Activities after the Great East Japan Earthquake in Mar...
Lessons Learned from Data Management Activities after the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011
A Kitamoto
Digital Content and Media Sciences Research Division, National Institute of Informatics, 2-1-2, Hitotsubashi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-8430, Japan PRESTO Project Researcher, Japan Science and Technology Agency, JP
This paper summarizes our effort towards managing the multi-disciplinary disaster-related data from the Great East Japan Earthquake, which happened on March 11, 2011 off the coast of Northeast Japan. This earthquake caused the largest tsunami in the recorded history of Japan, killed many people along the coast, and caused a nuclear disaster in Fukushima, which continues to affect a large area of Japan. Just after the earthquake, we started crisis response data management activities to provide useful information for supporting disaster response and recovery. This paper introduces the various types of datasets we made from the viewpoint of data management processing and draws lessons from our post-disaster activities.
Keywords: Disaster response, Data management, Meteorological data, Radiation data, Geo-tagging, Visualization
How to Cite: Kitamoto, A., 2013. Lessons Learned from Data Management Activities after the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011. Data Science Journal, 12, pp.WDS105–WDS108. DOI: http://doi.org/10.2481/dsj.WDS-017
Published on 24 Feb 2013.
Kitamoto, A., 2013. Lessons Learned from Data Management Activities after the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011. Data Science Journal, 12, pp.WDS105–WDS108. DOI: http://doi.org/10.2481/dsj.WDS-017
Kitamoto A. Lessons Learned from Data Management Activities after the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011. Data Science Journal. 2013;12:WDS105–8. DOI: http://doi.org/10.2481/dsj.WDS-017
Kitamoto, A. (2013). Lessons Learned from Data Management Activities after the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011. Data Science Journal, 12, WDS105–WDS108. DOI: http://doi.org/10.2481/dsj.WDS-017
1. Kitamoto A. Lessons Learned from Data Management Activities after the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011. Data Science Journal. 2013;12:WDS105-WDS108. DOI: http://doi.org/10.2481/dsj.WDS-017
Kitamoto A, 'Lessons Learned from Data Management Activities After the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011' (2013) 12 Data Science Journal WDS105 DOI: http://doi.org/10.2481/dsj.WDS-017
Kitamoto, A. 2013. "Lessons Learned from Data Management Activities After the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011". Data Science Journal 12: WDS105–8. DOI: http://doi.org/10.2481/dsj.WDS-017
Kitamoto, A. "Lessons Learned from Data Management Activities After the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011". Data Science Journal 12 (2013): WDS105–8. DOI: http://doi.org/10.2481/dsj.WDS-017
Kitamoto, A. "Lessons Learned from Data Management Activities after the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011". Data Science Journal, vol. 12, 2013, pp. WDS105–08. DOI: http://doi.org/10.2481/dsj.WDS-017


Recently I had a conversation with a long time social media friend at a swanky social media summit in NYC about the common failure of people who abuse hashtags. Twitter of course fully embraced the hashtag; a convention that pretty much spawn out of common usage on that social network. Further Twitter's built-in search engine allows you to search and filter tweets based on hashtags. In fact hashtags are so ingrained into the common psyche of the every user that the Twitterverse would not be the same without them.
Fortunately LinkedIn and Google plus also support hashtags, which is interesting considering that initially Google blocked them by default as part of their search algorithm. However when their own entry into the social sphere initially floundered they updated the system accommodate them. Recently LinkedIn also added support for the simple yet elegant method of marking content under a particular theme or classification.
If you are unfamiliar with the beauty of hashtags then you probably haven't ventured outside the realm of Facebook. Unfortunately, for whatever reason Facebook elected not to utilize hash tagging which is truly unfortunate. However the social media giant will do things in it's own way which may end up being it's biggest failure. That is for an entirely different discussion.
The above tweet is mired in a mess of numerous repetitive tags. Honestly filling your update with with so many duplicate hashtags reduces the retweetability of the update. It is also considered obnoxiously spammy and does not help a tag to become a trending topic.
So what's so wrong with this next tweet? Well for starters the #sharing tag is really pointlessly general and not very useful. However I'll cover general hashtags later in the article. The #smqueue tag is equally pointless because if someone is interested in searching for your twitter ID they will use your ID not a hashtagged version. So the only useful tag in this tweet is #SocialMedia, albeit overused.
Of the three only this one conveys useful information with the hashtags, however as useful as they are you have to agre that there are a lot of #hashtags. I would argue that 7 are too many.
How would we improve this tweet? I would drop the #shiny, #bling & #pretties hashtags. I would also weigh very carefully the use of the #trendy hashtag and analyze it's current usage via twitter search. I would convert the #etsy hashtag into a mention @Etsy as this will improve the tweeter's outreach. In addition it will yield a more focused search query. Finally I would either change the 'by ElementalKarma' to 'by @ElementalKarma' or replace it with 'on @Etsy' because this make more sense and will improve the retweet ratio of the update.
Remember that because there is now ownership of hashtags anyone may use them how they wish. This is one of the reasons I recommended the #etsy one be changed to @Etsy. Let's consider the #trendy hashtag previously mentioned. If you insist on using a generalized term then you need to perform a search to consider how others may be also using that term. Fortunately you can glimpse the terms usage with Twitter's search however you should perform this check often as tweet association will be constantly .
What are your feelings about hashtag abuse?


One of the things that any organization should pay attention to will be safety training. Safety training is essential for the company and its employees. Some companies teach safety training courses using old methods while some companies now make use of the internet with online safety training courses. Online safety training is becoming popular across organizations. Their popularity is because of the many benefits that they bring. This site will give you the top reasons to get online safety training courses now.
When you get online safety training courses, you get to enjoy some convenience. When it comes to getting online education, it is up to you how much of the lessons you can take at a time as well as where and when you will have them. There is the convenience in studying at your own pace. What is great about online safety training is training materials can be used for a huge number of people. Work time will not be disrupted because of their ability to watch and learn from them at various times. The ones that benefit the most from this set-up are those that work for the manufacturing industries.
You get to save more on your costs with a good online safety training course. If you consider the cost that you will be spending to send an employee to attend safety training somewhere, the costs can rise quickly. You have to consider the tuition fee, tolls, registration, food, and cost of lodging. The thing about online education is that you can already figure out the cost that is entailed upfront. What makes online safety training programs even better will be the dozens and hundreds of learners that can be trained altogether.
In terms of quality, online safety training programs never fail. Professionals are the ones who get to create these online safety training programs. If you look at quality online safety training programs, their content, video, and graphics are professionally made. This means that what you and other employees are getting are a well-managed and better quality of the material. The interest of the viewers is the main focus of online materials in this day and age.
Finally, a change of pace is what you get when you take a good online safety training program. One of the issues about getting the same safety training is that people turn complacent and get used to things. This is what sets online safety training programs apart because they can be made differently in terms of the training required for each employee. What makes changing of methods effective at teaching is that the attention of the learners will be captured more effectively first. Most people would be tuning out material given to them when that is the only same thing they get each year.


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Kenneth Lawrence Britt, connu sur le nom de Kenny Britt et né le  à  Bayonne dans le New Jersey, est un joueur américain de football américain évoluant au poste de wide receiver.

Biographie

Carrière universitaire

Il joue au niveau universitaire pour l'université Rutgers et son équipe des Scarlet Knights en NCAA Division I FBS de 2006 à 2008.

Au terme de la saison 2007, il est sélectionné dans la  de la Big East Conference et au terme de la saison 2008, il est repris dans la  All-American et dans la  de la Big East Conference.

Il renonce à son année senior pour se présenter à la draft.

Carrière professionnelle

Britt réalise une solide performance lors du NFL Combine, réalisant un chrono de  lors du 40 yards dash et de  lors du  20 yards shuttle, soulevant à 23 reprises  lors du développé couché, effectuant un saut vertical de  et un saut en longueur de . Britt améliore son temps du 40 yards dash lors de sa journée professionnelle du 23 mars 2009 en réalisant .

Il est sélectionné par la franchise des Titans du Tennessee en tant que  lors du premier tour de la draft 2009 de la NFL. Il y joue de 2009 à 2013 et passe ensuite chez les Rams de Saint-Louis/Los Angeles (2014–2016), les Browns de Cleveland (2017) et les Patriots de la Nouvelle-Angleterre (2017).

Vie privée

Britt naît le 19 septembre 1988 à Bayonne dans l'État du New Jersey. Marié à Sabrina Britt, il a un fils et deux filles. Le 12 avril 2011, Britt est arrêté dans le New Jersey à la suite d'une prétendue poursuite en voiture avec la police. Il est poursuivi de trois chefs d'accusation dont un pour crime mais les charges sont ensuite réduites.  Le 7 juin, Britt  plaide coupable de conduite imprudente et est condamné à une amende.  Le 8 juin 2012, Britt est arrêté à Hoboken, New Jersey et est accusé de résistance lors de l'arrestation.

Il a participé à une télé-réalité appelée Hollywood & Football.

Notes et références

Liens externes

Naissance en septembre 1988
Naissance à Bayonne (New Jersey)
Joueur américain de football américain
Wide receiver
Joueur de football américain des Scarlet Knights de Rutgers
Choix de draft des Titans du Tennessee
Joueur des Titans du Tennessee
Joueur des Rams de Saint-Louis
Joueur des Rams de Los Angeles
Joueur des Browns de Cleveland
Joueur des Patriots de la Nouvelle-Angleterre

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
How the Story of a Master Director Beat the Odds: The Making of 'Hitchcock'
9:00 AM PST 11/30/2012 by Gregg Kilday
Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren in the re-creation of the Hitchcocks' favorite restaurant, Chasen's. "They spent huge amounts on food and wine," says production designer Becker of the real-life couple.
That famous shower scene, a phone call to a heavy metal rocker, an untold love story: Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren and their director reveal how a new take on the master of suspense came together.
This story first appeared in the Dec. 7 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.
The scene is the premiere of Psycho, the 1960 classic that stunned audiences in its day by killing off its leading lady just a third of the way into the picture. Alfred Hitchcock, its director, unable to watch the film on which he has staked his reputation as well as a good chunk of his fortune, is hovering in the theater lobby. Through closed doors, he hears the famous first notes of composer Bernard Herrmann's shrieking violins, signaling the beginning of the movie's shocking shower scene, now indelibly imprinted on the minds of anyone who has ever seen it: the head-on shot of the shower head, the shadowy silhouette of a knife-wielding woman seen through the shower curtain, the furiously slashing knife. On cue, the audience screams can be heard.
PHOTOS: 'Good Evening': The Making of 'Hitchcock'
Hitchcock reacts as if wielding the knife himself, raising his arm and slashing the air. The violins and the audience screams are building to a crescendo. And suddenly Hitch is dancing about as if he is an orchestra conductor, anticipating every moment, summoning each new thrill.
Did it actually happen that way? Probably not. That bit of business was invented by Anthony Hopkins, who plays the iconic director, during one of the final shooting days on the new film Hitchcock, which Fox Searchlight released Nov. 23. "Being a musician myself, I appreciate those higher string harmonics, and I just went with it and started conducting the dagger thrusts," admits the actor.
But it does point toward a deeper truth about the renowned master of suspense: He certainly knew a thing or two about pressing the audience's buttons. As Helen Mirren, who plays Alma, Hitchcock's wife and behind-the-scenes support system, says in the new film, "You may not be the easiest man to live with, but you know how to cut a picture better than anyone." That knowing relationship between Hitchcock and his wife is at the heart of the new movie, which is set against the backdrop of the making of Psycho.
For Hitchcock, Psycho was a low-budget gamble, but Hitchcock, the film, is something of a dare, an attempt to rediscover what really drove the legendary director.
In 1959, coming off the glamorous romantic thriller North by Northwest, Hitchcock was determined to strike out in an unexpected direction. When Paramount rejected his proposal for a movie adaptation of Robert Bloch's novel, based on the story of real-life serial killer Ed Gein, Hitchcock mortgaged his home to pay for the $800,000 production. With Alma offering strategic advice, he battled the censors and a reluctant studio to bring the movie to the screen. In telling that story, Hitchcock faced even bigger hurdles, but in the end it has beaten the odds to become a last-minute entry into this year's awards season.
When in January 1980 a young journalist named Stephen Rebello scored an interview with Hitchcock at the director's Universal bungalow, he certainly didn't have a movie in mind. But Hitchcock would die three months later (Alma died in 1982), and Rebello's interview, the director's last, inspired him to spend 10 years researching a book, Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, which was published in 1990. It was another 15 years before producers Tom Thayer and Alan Barnette optioned the volume and began a long quest to turn it into a film.
VIDEO: Scarlett Johansson Talks 'Hitchcock,' New Tattoo on 'Today'
There were a number of false starts. The project was developed first at A&E and then at Focus Features, which brought on screenwriter John J. McLaughlin (Black Swan). "I found the idea of an aging artist who doesn't feel he's getting the respect he deserves interesting," says McLaughlin. But the story also belonged to Hitchcock's wife, a screenwriter and editor, whom he married in 1926. "Alma was threaded throughout the book. And anyone who is in this business who has a spouse knows that they are the person you go to," he adds.
As the screenplay evolved, McLaughlin also introduced the character of screenwriter Whitfield Cook, who had worked with Hitchcock on Stage Fright and Strangers on a Train. Played by Danny Huston in the film, Cook enlists Alma as a collaborator on a project on which he's working. Although speculative, "I wanted to introduce hints of a romance coming between Alma and Hitchcock," explains McLaughlin.
But the Hitchcock estate, controlled by the director's daughter, Patricia, and his three granddaughters, was uninterested in seeing a movie made about Alfred and Alma. (Patricia had published her own book about her mother, Alma Hitchcock: The Woman Behind the Man, in 2003.) And because Universal, Focus' parent company, is in business with the Hitchcock estate, handling distribution rights to five of the films the estate owns including Psycho, Focus dropped out. With Hopkins attached as a potential star, Media Rights Capital next became involved, and at one point Ryan Murphy looked as if he might direct until he moved on to other projects, visiting psycho territory himself with the FX miniseries American Horror Story.
Eventually the project found its way to Ivan Reitman and Tom Pollock's Montecito Picture Co. "It was a really good script," recalls Pollock. "There are very few movies made about long-term marriages, and there had never been a movie that I know about that deals with creative collaboration within a marriage, of which there are a lot in this town. Hitchcock deserves all the credit in the world, but Alma never got any credit."
VIDEO: 'Hitchcock' Heroine Helen Mirren Says Palm Reader Predicted Her Career Spot-On
While sorting out all the rights and clearances they would need, the Montecito team began looking for a director. As it happened, Pollock had seen Sacha Gervasi's 2008 documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil, the account of a Canadian heavy metal band's 30-year odyssey. He'd sent the director an e-mail under the subject line, "I Hate Heavy Metal," adding in the body of the message, "But I loved your movie." Still, when Gervasi was called in to meet with Pollock and Reitman, he figured that if there were a list of 26 directors they were considering seriously, he was probably No. 27. However, he thought Rebello's book was "a revelation" and that McLaughlin's screenplay astutely examined how a creative genius relied on a partner who, for the most part, remained in the shadows. And so, he says, "I pitched my heart out."
Pollock and Reitman were impressed. "Sacha had the best take on what we needed from the movie that still wasn't there yet -- the emotionality between Alfred and Alma," recalls Pollock. The U.K.-born director also emphasized that while he wanted to bring humor to the movie, it had to be exactly the sort of dry, whimsical humor in which Hitchcock specialized. Additionally, he suggested that Gein, the serial killer who inspired Psycho, be brought into the movie as a figure who haunts the director's psyche.
The next hurdle was selling Gervasi, who had never directed a narrative feature, to Hopkins, whose participation was key because The Silence of the Lambs Oscar winner brought not only a marquee name but also experience in playing historical figures like Pablo Picasso and Richard Nixon on the screen.
A lunch was set up at The Grill on the Alley in Beverly Hills to introduce the two. "He was so enthusiastic, that was the clincher," says Hopkins. "I thought it was actually good that he hadn't done another movie." But what might have actually sealed the deal was that Hopkins confessed he'd seen Anvil three times. "How's the band doing?" he asked. Why not ask Steve "Lips" Kudlow, the band's lead singer, suggested Gervasi, who immediately rang him up, passing the phone to Hopkins. "To hear those two talking back and forth was an extraordinary, weirdly beautiful connection," he attests.
With Hopkins' blessing in hand, Gervasi went off to meet Mirren for tea at the Chateau Marmont hotel. She'd passed on the project earlier, feeling it tried to juggle too many elements -- Hitchcock and Alma, Hitchcock's relationship with Hollywood, the making of Psycho. But Gervasi explained how he planned to bring the couple's relationship to the forefront, and Mirren could relate on a personal level. Although she's an Oscar winner in her own right for The Queen, she knows what Hollywood wives sometimes experience because of her long marriage to director and DGA president Taylor Hackford. "I had the experience with Taylor, when he was in a position to greenlight movies," says Mirren. "We'd go to parties and people would just elbow me aside to get to him, rather ruthlessly. And, of course, you always had to be polite."
STORY: Danny Elfman and Sacha Gervasi on the Music and History of 'Hitchcock'
With the major elements finally in place, the project, which had languished for years, was put on a fast track. Montecito put up half of the $15.7 million budget, with Fox Searchlight covering the rest. Production designer Judy Becker pieced together the Hitchcocks' home from three locations. She found the exterior, a Tudor house that suggested a bit of England relocated to Los Angeles, in Beverly Hills. A second house in Pasadena provided interiors. And to accommodate the needed camera moves, the Hitchcocks' bedroom and adjoining bath as well as a period kitchen were re-created at RED Studios in Hollywood.
Because Chasen's, the Hitchcocks' favorite restaurant, no longer exists -- it was reoutfitted as a Bristol Farms in 2000 -- the production took over another historic Hollywood restaurant, the famed Musso & Frank Grill in Hollywood, adding wood paneling to re-create Chasen's in its heyday.
Meanwhile, makeup artist Howard Berger and costume designer Julie Weiss went to work transforming Hopkins into Hitchcock. Berger at first created a prosthetic that copied Hitchcock's face down to the smallest details but decided "you lost Tony in it." So he refined the design until it consisted of what he called "the horseshoe," a large appliance that gave the actor jowls, augmented with smaller silicone pieces attached to his nose and earlobes.
Hitchcock "was known for his black suits, but that doesn't mean he wore a black suit every day," says Weiss, who added to the director's signature look by devising a lightweight fat suit. "She was brilliant, the Stanislavski of designers," says Hopkins. "It made it all very easy for me. When I put it on, the weight and shape of it would throw off my center of balance, so I would have to lean back slightly, just like Hitch."
Cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth, who had just finished the mammoth production The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, relished the idea of jumping into the quick, low-budget shoot -- the production, which began filming in April, spent just 35 days shooting around Southern California. Using the RED Epic MX digital camera, he aimed, he says, "for a mild Technicolor look" that recalled Hitchcock's work in the '50s. He and Gervasi also inserted sly references to Hitchcock's movies -- an overhead shot of umbrellas borrowed from Foreign Correspondent, a telephone in the foreground taken from Dial M for Murder.
"We had absolutely no time, so we had to make instinctual decisions and just go for it," says Gervasi. "But I think in one sense it helped the film, giving it the energy it has." Six months after shooting began, he previewed his director's cut in La Jolla, Calif., and the preview went so well, Searchlight quickly decided to add the film to its 2012 release slate.
VIDEO: Jessica Biel on Her Career and Starring in 'Hitchcock'
The Hitchcock who emerges in the finished film is more than the Alfred Hitchcock so familiar to audiences in the '50s and '60s from his droll introductions to the CBS and NBC series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. That itself was something of a performance. Born the son of a greengrocer, Hitchcock "was a good old London cockney," says Hopkins. "But when he went to Hollywood, he developed a persona. The way he would over-enunciate his words -- I think to Americans he sounded very posh. But when he and Alma are together, he drops all that a bit." Gervasi agrees: "Hitchcock wasn't an English snob; he just played one on TV." And while he and Alma often directed barbed zingers at each other, there was a playfulness there as well, says Mirren, contending: "I noticed in the photographs, she's always laughing. I think Hitchcock cracked Alma up, and I think that was very real."
BEHIND THE SCENES: Why the Psycho Shower Scene Looks Totally Different in Hitchcock
How do you make a movie about the making of Psycho when you don't own any rights to Psycho? With a lawyer's eye for detail, it turns out. Tom Pollock began his career as a successful entertainment attorney before running Universal Pictures and becoming a producer. So when his former studio, which distributes the five Alfred Hitchcock films controlled by the director's estate, declined to grant permission for Hitchcock to use footage, he knew how to fashion a workaround. Consulting with L.A. attorney Donald Gordon, an expert in reviewing films on behalf of insurance companies that issue "errors and omissions" policies, Pollock instructed that rewrites omit footage from the 1960 film or any direct re-creations of scenes or images. Fleeting pieces of Psycho probably could have been defended as "fair use," which allows snippets of copyrighted work to be used in other works in certain circumstances, but the filmmakers chose the safe ground. For instance, a creepy house seen in the background as Hitchcock walks around the Universal lot isn't the Bates Motel -- it just looks like it. And when shooting the key scene about the filming of the shower sequence, the filmmakers were careful to avoid copying the look of the original. "You don't see it the way it is in the movie," says Pollock. "There's a shot of Scarlett [Johansson] looking like Janet Leigh -- that's the closest we come, and it lasts for one second." To complement Danny Elfman's original music, the filmmakers were able to license the well-known Psycho score for the scene by Bernard Herrmann from Sony ATV Music Publishing, but the rest presented a fun challenge. "It did play to some of my old strengths," says Pollock. "I'm not exempt from the rules, but I at least know that there are rules and how to play by them." -- Matthew Belloni
VIDEO: 'Hitchcock' Featurette: Hitch and Alma
HITCH'S INSIDER SHOPTALK: Hitchcock is full of references to movies everyone in town was gossiping about in the '50s and '60s.
Winchester '73 (1950): By getting Jimmy Stewart profits on this Western, Lew Wasserman revolutionized star salaries. Played by Michael Stuhlbarg, the agent says the movie "was a dog."
The Greatest Show on Earth (1952): The film's Hitchcock says it's ironic that Paramount -- which produced this best picture Oscar winner, which critics knocked -- finds Psycho "distasteful."
North by Northwest (1959): The thriller was a big hit for Hitchcock. Studios asked for more of the same, but he refuses, saying he wants to make something without expensive stars like Cary Grant.
The Diary of Anne Frank (1959): Hitchcock claims Fox wanted him instead of George Stevens to direct, but the audience would have been "waiting for Miss Frank to discover the corpse I'd hidden in the attic."
Cinderfella (1960): "Thank God we've got Cinderfella for the holidays," says Paramount head Barney Balaban (Richard Portnow) in the film. Psycho proves a much bigger hit than the Jerry Lewis comedy.
Casino Royale (1967): In the movie, Hitchcock dismisses the idea of directing Grant in an adaptation of the Ian Fleming novel. By the time it hits the screen, it's a comedy starring Peter Sellers.
Gregg Kilday


Athletes, trainers and sports fans from across the globe are making their way to South Korea for the 2018 Winter Olympics. It's the country's second time hosting an Olympics game, and many of those who expect or want to attend might be wondering: is South Korea safe? It's a natural question to ask when visiting any unfamiliar place, and it's perhaps even more relevant in this case, given how much geopolitical tension there is on the Korean Peninsula.
A majority of the crimes that are reported are non-violent and non-confrontational, including: pickpocketing, purse snatching, and thefts from hotel rooms or homes. These incidents occur more frequently in major metropolitan areas, tourist sites, and crowded markets.
According to United Nations data, South Korea's murder rate in 2014 was just 0.74 per 100,000 people. By contrast, the murder rate in the U.S. that same year was 4.43 per 100,000 people — almost six times higher. The country also has low levels of other violent crimes, and gun violence in South Korea particular is especially rare, likely due to the country's strict gun control laws.
However, it's worth noting that though violent crime in South Korea is low by global standards, it disproportionately impacts women. During the first eight months of 2016, over 90 percent of people in South Korea who reported violent crimes were women, according to NPR, and a 2014 survey found that the country's women were twice as likely as their male counterparts to name violent crime as their top concern.
"It's not [that] gender-violence crime has suddenly erupted," Kim Hyunsoo, a coordinator at Korea Women's Association United, told NPR at the time. "It's a problem that's existed persistently in Korean society. It's a crime that's a result of discrimination and hatred against women."
So, while South Korea is a safe country by international standards, the data suggests that women are more likely to be victimized there than men.
Now, about those geopolitics. Despite its low crime rate, it would be incorrect to call South Korea a safe haven. This is because it's bordered by North Korea.
Korea split into two countries shortly after World War II, with the south allying itself with the U.S. and the Communist-controlled north siding with the Soviet Union. The two sides went to war for control of the peninsula in 1953, and though they eventually signed a ceasefire, both countries claim ownership over the entire peninsula, and legally, they're still at war with each other. Needless to say, this has resulted in an extremely tense situation between the two countries — and North Korea's nuclear proliferation has only heightened that tension.
On many occasions, the North Korean government has threatened to turn the south into a "sea of fire." Although it hasn't made good on these threats, the fact that it keeps making them highlights a crucial point: If North Korea ever decided to mount a serious attack on the West, it would be more likely to attack South Korea — a U.S. ally with over 35,000 American troops — than the U.S. mainland itself. After all, South Korea's capital is a mere 35 miles away from the border between North and South Korea — a border that's often referred to as one of the most dangerous places on the planet.
It's unlikely that North Korea will attack South Korea during the Olympic games. But it's not impossible, and so while the country is generally a safe place to travel, there is a small ongoing risk of nuclear war that's worth taking into account.


Ali Judah with instructors Sarah and Rob Byers after her USEF Adult Saddle Seat Medal National Championship win.
Stephanie and Allie Wellington, Lewis Eckard and Molly Crim after Allie's Jr. Ex. 3-Gaited Championship with Prom Dress at Lexington.
Georgia Bulmer Ferreira and Milady Huntly were Show Pleasure Champions at Lexington for Robert Bodart and trainer Mike Spencer.
Mandy Martin and Lillian Shively joined Courtney McGinnis after her Junior Saddle Seat Equitation Championship win.
Wendy and A.J. Bruwer with Vicki Reed after A.J.'s 3-Year-Old Fine Harness win with Kalarama's New York Lady.
Ali DeGray and Careless Fortune topped the Country Pleasure Championship at Lexington for Helen and James Rosburg.
The Lowry Stables crew was in a celebratory mood after a great Wednesday night on the Red Mile featuring two big wins.
Kim Cowart with her girls who finished top two in the 14-entry Hackney Pleasure Driving class, Tamra Arndt and Caitlin Leith.
Merrill Murray is 2 for 2 this year in Open Gaited Stakes on the Red Mile for Bill Carrington, Marsha Shepard and Larry Hartsock.
Kathy Capsuto-Walker and Tremendously Charming topped a field of 16 in Adult Country Pleasure at Lexington.
Matt Shiflet, Whitney Bennett, Pat Yeatts, and Kim Crabtree celebrated a great night for Matt Shiflet Stables at Lexington.


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A Nicarágua é a maior das repúblicas da América Central, ao sul do México, situada entre o Caribe e o Pacífico.

Geografia
A área da Nicarágua é de  km². É o mais vasto dos países da América central e encontra-se dividido em três grandes zonas geográficas.

Ao centro encontram-se elevadas as terras nicaraguenses, de uma altitude média de 600 m e recortados está oeste por pelas várias dorsais montanhosas, sendo que a Cordilheira Isabelia, excede 2000 m.

A oeste encontra-se o fosso tectónico, que protege o lago Nicarágua, situado a 31 m de altitude, o maior da América Central, e o lago Manágua (39 m de altitude), ambos ligados pelo rio Tipitapa.
A vertente pacífica é a segunda região natural da Nicarágua, constituída por uma cordilheira vulcânica que faz desta região uma zona cheia de riscos, com vários vulcões - o Chonco, o San Cristóbal (Chinandega), que culmina a 1745 m, e o Cosiguïna, situado sobre o golfo de Fonseca ao norte do país estão com efeito sempre em atividade. Este vulcanismo e sismicidade intensos provocaram frequentes catástrofes; em 1972, a capital Manágua assim foi destruída a 70% por um tremor de terra.

A leste por último, estende-se o Moskitia, grande planície costeira que dá sobre o mar das Caraíbas. Conhecida sob o nome de costa do Mosquitos e parcialmente coberta pela floresta tropical, estende-se por 72 km terra adentro. Quatro dos principais rios do país — o rio San Juan, o rio Coco, o rio Grande e o rio Escondido — lançam-se no mar das Caraíbas.

Hidrografia
Há montanhas vulcânicas ativas paralelas à costa ocidental. O sul é dominado pelos lagos Manágua e Nicarágua.

Clima
O clima é tropical, com chuvas em maio e outubro. A agricultura é a principal atividade econômica, com algodão, café, cana-de-açúcar e frutas como principais exportações. São extraídos ouro, prata e cobre.


text:
TA Playlist Wrap-up: Assassin's Creed
TAPlaylist5,443
Take a leap of faith and check out our recap of all the stats and community feedback for the TA Playlist game for April, Assassin's Creed.
Please click here to read the full story: TA Playlist Wrap-up: Assassin's Creed
Jimbo LaFleur576,093
When I played AC1 back in the day the gameplay was very good, but ultimately the repetitive missions and collectible-grindfest really turned me down. A few years later a friend convinced me that to try AC2 - and what a great game it was. That game was the starting point for me to play the series for a long time until I lost interest around the time Origins came out. I think a lot of people agree that AC2 really saved Assassins Creed and is one of the main reasons it's an established franchise now. Without it, AC1 would just be an obscure game like so many others.
ChiflaGoodluck288,963
The game's Wikipedia page mentions flag collecting only once, noting it as an "additional memory" that doesn't advance the plot
Brb, gonna vandalise the page by changing every word in it to 'flag'.
"Life is the universe experiencing itself." - Spirit of Lord Opengate, "Death's Door"
EarthboundX1,994,770
Posted on 11 May 22 at 11:21, Edited on 11 May 22 at 11:23 by EarthboundX
I would say of all of the AC I've played so far, this would be the second worst, after the actually bad AC Liberation: HD. This first game isn't bad per se, but even for a series that some consider very repetitive and the same game over and over, this was very repetitive, with you repeating a lot of the same missions over and over.
Once AC II came out, it was just a gigantic improvement. I say all that as someone who didn't get to this series until years later. Looks like I didn't start the series until 2016. Currently playing Black Flag, so I'm only I think about halfway through the series at this point?
Spa1h765,470
The wrap up is a treat like always! Huge thanks for the commitment. And thank you playlist for also making me finish this game after several years.
Nice wrap-up. I'll be going back to read some of the others.
REDWINGS05833,809
I still remember looking endlessly at the gameinformer issue that showed this game. I had just got my first 360 and mainly only played halo/cod so this game was a new thing completely for me. Fell in love instantly and I am glad that I went back a couple of years ago and got the completion. Some of the not so fun things aside, I do wish they would return to the story telling and history of this period of the series. It was some of the best.
Sounds great! Didn't realize the 360 version was in the same shape so that works out well lol
te5s3rakt518,217
ChiflaGoodluck said:
The word flag for every flag we were tortured with collecting!
Great wrap-up to a great game.
Rista B789,355
Played the game nine years ago and got all the achievements except for the collectibles and wasn't going to go back and spend time on those all these years later. But it's cool to see the wrap up and read the comments from people.
"There's never been anything, however absurd, that myriads of people weren't prepared to believe"
KJer25945,001
Posted on 11 May 22 at 13:02, Edited on 11 May 22 at 13:03 by KJer25
AC for me, started off as a great series that ultimately lost its way. The story became so convoluted and scattered. I do enjoy the core gameplay loop. I haven't played any from Origins on but I'm thinking about jumping back in to Origins at some point. The Ubisoft formula just got a little stale for me.
Separation from base 1000 and DLC lists would be great. I'd love to see them bring back avatar awards, and make some sort of level up process.
Ryuukishi634726,634
Great article! I came late to this game, only finishing it in 2020, and I though I do like the Ezio games more, I think it's brilliant. The things it did were so trendsetting that it feels strikingly modern for a 2007 release. I really love the Middle East setting too and I'm excited that the next game is rumored to return there.
XboxFreak36924,748
Glad to have helped! XboxFreak36 earned their first achievement in Assassin's Creed on December 7th, 2007, and got the completion on April 21st, 2022 – that's an impressive 5,249 days from start to finish, which appears to be the longest completion time for this game so far.
It's not quite a Playlist record, though…
Ooh! Challenge accepted!
BetaSigX20659,393
XboxFreak36 said:
Haha, yeah, this is a stat I'll be watching from now on whenever we pick an older game!
KJer25 said:
Isn't Origins when the series changed a lot?
Nukes A Lot 2497,287
I played this back in the day on PS3 but never beat it. In 2017 I finally sat down and did it on 360. Back when I replayed it I recall being VERY impressed by NPC density, draw distance, and world building. It has major flaws like an overabundance of collectibles and repetitive mission structures but the bones were solid.
Being an outspoken critic of modern Ubisoft, the ending depressed me because they were gearing up for a succinct trilogy which became overburdened by a desire to keep the franchise alive.
A shame we never got that true trilogy.
The Ferg
EarthboundX said:
For sure. I've never played it though. I hear it's more ARPG now, so seems like that'd be fun. It's just grinding I hear is awful in Odyssey and Valhalla is supposedly bloated/filler.
I could handle the grinding in Odyssey. At least Cassandra was charming and held the story.
Valhalla, I've never been more disappointed in a game. I love anything Vikings. And absolutely adore the AC series (it's in my top 3 gaming franchises). So combining Vikings and AC should've been an instant GotY for me. But what we got was just so, I don't know, just devoid of soul is the only way to describe it. It was a lifeless world, with a bloated grind, and a cardboard protagonist.
Same thing happened with Watch Dogs Legion. Ubisoft used to be accused of cookie cutting year over year, but at least they were consistent in delivering descent games, with somewhat serviceable stories. But their last few titles just scream of a developer that's given up caring on making these titles, and just doing it for the pay check.
Posted on 11 May 22 at 15:01, Edited on 11 May 22 at 15:14 by Ryuukishi634
For me, between Revelations and AC3 the feel of the games changed from being more sandbox-y, in the sense of, you could try stealth, but if you fail and get detected you can usually fight everyone and still pass the mission anyway, to being super constrained and demanding that you do the mission the exact way the devs expect, and any mistake means an instant desync. That sucked the fun out of AC3 and Black Flag for me.
Origins, despite the gameplay being different, the mission structure to me felt more like the Altair and Ezio games in that you have the freedom to experiment and/or mess up on you way to the goal but still ultimately pass the mission, rather than the game having a million fail states for not doing everything exactly right.
FiteTalk YT175,018
Posted on 11 May 22 at 15:42, Edited on 11 May 22 at 15:42 by FiteTalk YT
Respect. I picked the game up cause of TA Playlist but never was too interested to complete or progress but glad its in the library
"Be water, my friend" -Bruce Lee
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For a modern-day marketer, staying ahead of the curve and coming up with innovative ideas is inevitable. Engaging the customer with the right content at the perfect time and through their preferred channel of communication has become more important today than ever.
As marketers got closer to the users with an App, not only marketing opportunities increased but the need to impress became greater. In this rat race, push notifications came swooping in giving marketers a personalized and highly versatile way to get their user's attention. While some have over-exhausted this powerful marketing channel without yielding expected results, some are yet to explore its full potential.
If you are also still looking to solve this mystery called Push Notification, we are here with a detailed guide to understanding every aspect of it and how to make it work in your favor. Let's get started!
To start off, every App publisher needs to register with different Operating system notification service (OSPNS).
The OS service provides the App publisher with Application Programming Interface (API). This API becomes a medium for the App to communicate with the OS service. In order to trigger a push to the user's device, the API call is made at the backend through the GCM.
An App published then adds a Software Development Kit (SDK) to the app, which is a code library specific to the OS notification service. This allows App publishers to back their pushes with powerful analytics and segmentation.
Finally, the user downloads the App from App store to their device.
Once they provide permission or opt-in to receive the notification, it appears on their screens.
As marketing has evolved overtime, the approach of pushing a product to a customer changed into creating what they need or want. Although in this era of AI, it has moved beyond just supply and demand. This is the time where marketers are expected to know their customers and predict their needs in advance along with presenting offerings relevant to them.
Mobile Apps have been one such development that is closer to a user than any other platform. Staying closer to them, they are able to serve users firsthand for various needs.
There is major competition in the app market. Every week there's something new in the market offering something useful or unique to the users. As much as there is an instant attraction for a new App, their users are equally erratic.
A market where there is so much competition, marketers cannot afford to go easy with their marketing efforts. Precisely why push notifications are so valuable in the whole process! Unlike in-app messaging or an SMS, App pushes carry the power of reaching any particular user at their optimum time of influence, communicating only relevant messaging in the most precise and action-oriented manner.
Push notifications are a great way to keep users engaged, derive feedback from them, send them time-sensitive information and alerts, notify them about crucial events/updates and so on. They don't meet the fate of lying in the message folder, waiting patiently for the user to open and have a read.
They are also above and beyond the restrictions of SMS messaging as the wide variety of push notifications come handy in communicating various kinds of information for different industries.
This is the most basic type of push notification that marketers can use to talk business. A crisp & to-the-point text message covers the most crucial information that may or may not be sale-oriented in nature. These types of pushes are most effective to share information with users that require their immediate attention.
However, marketers can also utilize this 'no-nonsense' medium to convey some amazing deals and discounts focusing only on the information and getting the user temped at a single glance.
Justifying the expression, "a picture is worth a thousand words," an image-based push notification is able to communicate it's message boldly and effectively. This notification is highly relevant for brands that need to play the visual card to make their product or service speak its true nature. Through image based push notifications they can give their product the right exposure and lure the customer right through the notification.
With Gamooga, marketers can create the next level of image-based push notifications by turning them into Carousel Push Notifications. Carousel push allows the marketer to add more than one product or image to the notification along with clear call-to-action, making the notification highly conversion-savvy in nature.
With improving technology, today it has become possible for marketers to create push notifications with video embedded in them. It is a great way to communicate much more with almost no dependency on text and thus no word-limit holding back a great communication. Removing the need for the user to enter the App to see the video, such pushes provide the ease of playing the video inside the push thus saving the time of the user and shortening conversion cycle.
Pushes can be very different in nature. While few need to be communicated in an urgent manner and just once, others might be required to reach the customer in future and not just once but in repeated intervals. Recurring or scheduled push notifications provide this option to marketers where they can schedule a notification that is needed to be sent in near future or continuously on a recurring day/date/time. Such notifications are useful to convey notifications like Friday sale, Festive sale, or an offer that might be active during some particular time of the day. Once scheduled, marketers can forget about it and shift their focus to analyzing rather than just creating campaigns.
Targeting a customer based on their location has its own advantages. It can help businesses target consumers within their geographic premises and offer them their services or product while they are passing by a store or establishment. It is the perfect way to catch the attention of users that might benefit from your product or service as the messaging is highly personalized as thus also comes with high chances of conversion. This is done through a virtual parameter that an App sets for various geographical locations.
One of the most effective types of push notification is a segmented push. Designed specifically keeping in mind the relation between relevance and conversion, these notifications rule out the trend of standard messaging. Today, where personalization plays such a significant role in marketing, not customizing messaging as per targeted segments is an opportunity lost in itself. Segmented pushes allow the marketers to target very specific customers instead of all the App users and thus the chances of conversions also increase.
For example; if the communication is about kids' apparels, it would make more sense to send the communication to people who have kids rather than everyone.
Gamooga not only offers advanced push notification styles but also an easy and hassle-free process of creating one in a personalized and segmented manner. Here is how you can create a push notification with Gamooga's marketing automation platform.
Bring latent or less engaged users back into your app with powerful push messaging by running triggered push notifications based on the lifecycle events of the user or schedule batch push campaigns.
Tailor the push message as per the right audience group, and encourage them to visit your App. Create segments based on any custom user behavior or profile data or predictive intelligence or combine multiple parameters. Here, demography, geo-targeting and event-based segments help create meaningful user buckets. Engage with your users on a personal level. Address them by their names, include offers on their favorite products and give out unique coupon codes.
Use your product feed to deliver personalized recommendations. Show Bestsellers, Similar Products, etc. With a simple Push Notification, deliver the same personalized experience to the user that he had while browsing your App.
Now that you are sorted with the type of Push Notification that is most suitable for your business and the hassle-free way of creating it with Gamooga, here are some of the BEST PRACTICES of push notification marketing that will make it deliver results.
Building a strong friendship is about going from being formal with each other to reachfirst-name-basis. Similarly, you can make a friendly bond with your customers by going first name basis with them. This will make the user comfortable and more connected with the brand. Touch the next level of personalization by including customer's location, recent purchase pattern or current weather in the messaging to keep the conversation more engaging and real-time.
Personally, I would be amused (if not annoyed) if I received a notification about a discount on pet food and accessories, but only because I have no pets. Every individual is unique and they need to be reached out to, relevantly.
1:1 personalization is the key to superlative customer experience and subsequently, a higher conversion rate.
Would you like to receive notifications for "today's lunch offer" at 5pm? It is important to consider user time zones and schedule a timely push, rather than a random push across different time zones. A notification sent at the wrong time, especially during the busiest hours or sleeping hours of the customers might end up annoying the customer, resulting in app uninstallation and possibly loss of a customer.
Ill-timed push notifications are not a good experience for your subscribers, leading to fewer clicks and higher opt-out rates.
For example: If Netflix was to promote their new hit series to a working professional, doing it during day hours might not work as well as it might at around 6-7 pm. As this particular customer might not stream the series in the day, so a notification seen in the day could easily be ignored or forgotten by the end of the day. Doing it in the evening will keep the messaging fresh and has better chances of conversion.
Any marketing strategy no matter how strong it it is bound to fail after a certain point if it doesn't adhere to progressive norms. This is where being action-oriented comes in as a feature for push notifications. Even after you have done everything right to catch your customer's attention, they might not always find the time to open the app and perform the desired action. An action-oriented Push Notification allows you to skip this step and let the customer perform the required action within the notification itself.
A quick glance and limited attention, that's all a user gives to a notification, and with so many businesses trying to catch their attention, every user has one notification piled up on another. Let yours stand out with a precise message that's to the point and backed by a clear call to action.
Do you have an upcoming sale? Does your event's rock concert have only a few tickets left? It is almost always a sensible idea to build up the excitement with push notifications. Leveraging on positive emotions like excitement and curiosity also helps to engage the users in a better way and get higher in-app conversions from campaigns.
For example: Informing a person who might have forgotten something in cart that those items just went up on sale.
Emojis are also a great way to keep your content engaging, concise and as well as interactive. Use their color and adorable nature to make your notifications more striking instead of simply stuffing them with words.
Remember that intelligent push notifications are extreme value additions to a brand and are also regarded by many as the future of marketing. Once combined with the power of machine learning, they will open up a whole new world of possibilities for customer engagement and collaboration.
'Text only' notifications are great, but introducing creative banners along with them can make you standout in the crowd. Ensure that the design conveys the message boldly without appearing cluttered. Being restricted to smaller size, every element of the design has to come up crisp, clear and attractive so as not to overpower the messaging or overwhelm the customer.
Since push notifications are so intimate in nature; it's your chance to communicate something urgent in nature or very specific and useful for the user. A brand can use a lot of other marketing platforms to engage their customers like email marketing, social media, web notifications and so on. But, appearing on their mobile screen on a carefully calculated time slot is in itself a big deal. So, ask yourself here what is that particular communication you want to make through this great opportunity.
A Push Notification is only a successful one when it's offering some value addition to the customer's day in relevance to their browsing behavior, preferences and information requirement. In short, let their click turn into value for them before it does for you or the result will be a dissatisfied and disconnected user.
25% of users say they opt out if messages are too recurrent. While sending out frequent messages may look rewarding in the short-term since you will notice an overall increase in the numbers; in the long-term, sending push notifications too frequently will prompt an increasing number of subscribers to opt out.
Not knowing where to draw the line in optimizing the number of notifications per day/per user, might create more damage than benefits. Remember, quality has an edge over quantity when it comes to push notifications and so make each of them count. One of the best solutions in this scenario would be to set up a frequency cap that will restrict the number of notifications a user receives during a particular time period.
Great, now you know how to make your notifications the best in the business. But, wait! Do you really, unless you are analyzing the results. Yes, staying dynamic is the most crucial need of marketing nowadays. And this won't be possible unless you are continuously monitoring how your push notifications are performing.
Analyzing will further help you in creating an ecosystem of data through which you can do smart grouping, smart targeting and decode reactions to personalize the experience further and hit the right nerve.
When so many benefits come tagged along with a marketing medium, hassles are not left far behind. Same is the case with Push Notification marketing. Earlier we talked about practices that mobile marketers can follow to make their Push Notification marketing yield best results. But, even after doing everything right, most Push Notification campaigns don't deliver the expected results. Here are some of the challenges that mobile marketers face in terms of under-performing push notification campaigns.
90% of App users tend to uninstall an App between 3 to 30 days of installing it. For marketers, it's usually a task to figure out which user has uninstalled the app. In such cases, a Push Notification doesn't get through and ends up staying undelivered. With Gamooga, marketers have the option to convert their push campaigns into SMS campaigns as soon as the App is predicted as uninstalled. This ensures that a communication that might be able to re-engage the user reaches them one way or the other.
Not just this, but with Gamooga marketers can also overcome the issue of undelivered pushed owing to App uninstall with the help of following features.
Silent push is a hidden version of a normal push notification that is sent to a user's mobile device. But, unlike a typical push notification, the purpose of silent push is not to cause an interaction but to silently deliver a set of data to the App. The App acts upon that data and sends information to the marketers.
These pushes are majorly used by marketers to alert the App about some new information available. It might be to activate it back-up before a Push Notification is to be sent, particularly where it gets disconnected in the background. It is also helpful to gather information where an App might no longer be present in a user's device and a Push Notification campaign might have been set for them.
While 'Silent Push' helps marketers know if the App has already been uninstalled however for marketers to discover if a user is about to uninstall an App and take necessary measures to avoid it from happening, Gamooga has the 'App Uninstall Predict' feature. Here are some of the strengths of this feature that helps predict an App uninstall accurately.
The App uninstall predict module of Gamooga is powered by various Machine Learning prediction model combinations that allow predicting every App uninstall with a high level of accuracy.
The feature also helps marketers know what features of their App might be leading to uninstalls or driving users away like frequency or timing of communication or any particular campaign. By understanding the same they can make necessary product adjustments and avoid it from happening.
Gamooga's Machine Learning model calculates uninstall probability of every App user based on multiple prediction models through available data like last 30-day activities on the App, time spent, response to push notifications/emails/SMS etc. This keeps marketers a step ahead to engage those users on priority.
The module also provides thorough insights about factors or attributes that might build up an uninstall scenario for the majority of App users. Marketers can use this information to discover similar users and take actions to reduce App churn rate.
This is the most common block level for a Push Notification. It is the operating systems that actually allow various apps to send push notifications to users. In the basic permissions asked by the app, a user might simply deny an app to send notifications at the OS level.
Issue – GCM will not invalidate the tokens for such settings. Additionally, it also doesn't inform the server about the blocked notifications. The result being, no notifications get delivered.
A lot of times, users turn on the battery saving mode to make their device's battery last longer. Few devices' in battery saving mode make few apps to force stop. This might not be applicable for all the apps, but still, few are subjected to this. In such a case, the OS will fail to recognize the notifications, result being; no Push Notification for the users.
Many popular mobile devices in market present such restrictions where a push notification fails to deliver due to their uniquely designed OS. Such devices tend to disconnect all connections in the background while in battery saving mode. This cuts off the chord that connection FCM/GCM server to the device, thus making the push to stay undelivered.
A user might stay disconnected from the Internet for a long time due to many reasons. While they and their device is away from the Internet, the device sends data to the cell phone network atan interval of 28 minutes and to Wi-Fi in 15 minutes. In case this data fails to reach the GCM server, Google servers retry to make this connection. When the user's device stays away from the internet for a longer duration, GCM fails to deliver notification but doesn't discard them either. This results in either delay in delivery or no-delivery at all.
TTL or Time to Live is the duration during which the push notification is supposed to reach a particular device. This is usually in case of time-sensitive pushes where a particular discount, sale or personalized offer is to expire after a specified time or period. In case a notification isn't delivered within that period and the TTL expires, it automatically fails to deliver.
This is a common type of issue in the delivery of pushes. Often is the case where a user has uninstalled an App but the marketers still have the ID active with them. In such a case, when the notification is sent to GCM, it receives it as a valid one but due to App being uninstalled, it is not received by the user's device.
Firewall settings can easily block any notification from coming through a source to that particular device. This is usually seen in work spaces where certain sources are blocked to send a communication to devices. In such a case too, push notification sent to that particular device stays undelivered.
While few restrictions are hard to overcome, there are some restrictions that can easily be replaced, resulting in better Push Notification delivery. Gamooga's PushAmplify is the perfect solution to overcome such restrictions and deliver a rate of beyond 90%.
Today the prominent devices in the market like Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, Huawei, OnePlus, Redmi, Lenovo, etc. constitute almost 53% of the market share. Such devices have a uniquely designed OS that switchesoff all background connections including FCM in order to optimize the battery usage, thereby cutting off the only cord that makes the notification delivery possible.
PushAmplify works independent of GCM/FCM limitations and acts as a fallback in case of failure resulting in successful delivery of push notifications on all mobile devices minus the hassles as it comes with a pre-packaged SDK for fast-track marketing.
Here is a use case for one of PushAmplify users that witnessed a rise in numbers within a month of implementing it. Where the push notification delivery was happening only through FCM, the delivery on OnePlus, OPPO, Vivo is very poor. However, there is a huge bump on these devices when the pushes are being sent through PushAmplify. Majorly, these are the devices that do not receive push notifications in their dormant mode.
Get in touch with our experts to make your next campaign high on conversion.


These realistic pancake flatbacks are totally adorable! They're great for adding to your decoden designs, or use them to make rings, key chains, handbag charms and much more. Use screw eyes to turn them into charms, and E6000 glue to attach them to just about anything.


This process grants authenticity, integrity, trustability, readability and accessibility of digital documents, how requested by Italian regulations.
Authorized users can view digital archived documents through a web portal and request distribution packages for the financial auditing.
In order to certify this process the Chief Archiving Officer needs to sign digitally the documents and insert the time stamp into the document.
Our solution of digital preservation can be integrated with professional legal consulting services, thanks to our partnership with ANORC and Actalis, and with process consulting services, tailoring the organization change management.
We also offer the possibility of archiving the physical documents, in case it's requested, thanks to our document warehouse infrastructure.


Are You Polishing Your Skin With Plastic?
Are you polishing your skin with plastic? You are if your favorite facial scrub contains particles made from polyethelene. It's a common exfoliating ingredient in such popular products as Olay Regenerist Advanced Anti-Aging Regeneration Cream Cleanser, the new Neutrogena Rapid Clear Foaming Scrub, and even Bliss Lemon + Sage Body Scrub. Polyethelene beads are made from polymers of ethylene oxide (say that three times fast)—the same synthetic stuff used to make plastic grocery bags.