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Basketball without cable: A cord-cutter’s guide to the NBA | NBA norms have been upended like virtually everything else this pandemic-plagued year. The 2020-21 NBA season is set to start Dec. 22, just two months after the conclusion of the interrupted 2019-20 season.
The number of games will be reduced again—the league is aiming for a 72-game season running through May 16—but teams will return to playing in their home arenas (and receive daily COVID-19 testing), with the exception of the Toronto Raptors, who will play indefinitely in Tampa, FL, due to Canada’s COVID-19 restrictions.
Updated December 16, 2020 to report all your streaming options for the 2020-21 NBA season.
Although there has been talk of teams allowing some fans back in the stands, the safest place to view games this season if from your own home. Fortunately, there are plenty of options for cable cutters to stream games. As in the past, big matchups will be broadcast nationally on ABC, ESPN/ESPN2, TNT, and NBA TV; you can get most, if not all, of these covered with a single streaming package.
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the regional sports networks (RSNs) that air the bulk of teams’ games. Fox Sports, NBC Sports, YES Network, Marquee Sports Network, and other RSNs have been dropped from YouTube TV, Hulu With Live TV, Sling TV, and fuboTV, because of disputes with providers. If you’re mainly interested in following your local team through the season, your best bet is to determine which streaming service has an agreement with your team’s regional network and go with that one. Chances are it will also stream some or all of the cable networks mentioned above. A few teams can still be found on over-the-air channels—the Chicago Bulls on the windy city’s WGN, for one—but that arrangement is rapidly going the way of the two-handed set shot.
Over the air Martyn Williams/IDG Winegard’s Flatwave Amped antenna (model number FL-5500A) is one of our favorite indoor antennas.
The good news is you can access ABC for free if you have an over-the-air TV antenna (you’ll find our top antenna picks here) and are within the radius of a local ABC affiliate’s broadcast tower. The bad news is the network is scheduled to air only 10 of this year’s nationally televised games. These, however, include some of the league’s marquee matchups, including three Christmas Day games: Warriors vs. Bucks, Nets vs. Celtics, and Mavericks vs. Lakers.
You can watch the remaining games with some combination of the following services.
Sling TVThe easiest way to catch many of the cable telecasts is with the Sling TV streaming service, but you’ll need to pony up for a monthly subscription. For $30 per month, Sling’s Orange package will get you ESPN/ESPN 2 and TNT. With a digital antenna to catch the ABC broadcasts, that leaves only the NBA TV games to account for.
AT&T TV NowYou can also get ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and TNT with AT&T TV Now. All you need is the basic Plus package for $55 per month. But upgrading to the $80-per-month Max package will get you those networks as well as a host of regional sports networks including NBC Sports, YES Network, MSG Network, and Fox Sports.
Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TVBoth Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TV give you access to ABC, ESPN/ESPN2, and TNT, though as with other services, the exact channel lineup varies by market. But only YouTube TV offers NBA TV, making its slightly higher monthly price—$65 per month compared to Hulu with Live TV’s $55 subscription—worth the expense for hoops fans. With only the one channel package, though, you don’t get the customizability of Sling TV or AT&T TV Now, so keep that in mind if you plan to use your subscription beyond basketball season.
Jared Newman / TechHive YouTube TV uses a small number of menu sections to make navigation easier.
FuboTVFuboTV recently added ABC and the ESPN channels to both its Family and Elite bundles. Unfortunately, it also dropped TNT, and earlier in the year, Fox Regional Sports networks. If you’re a fan of the Kings, Warriors, Lakers, or Clippers, you might want to opt for the $80-per-month Elite package as it also includes regional networks NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports California. You can add NBA TV by purchasing the Sports Plus add-on for an extra $11 per month.
FuboTV Fubo has lots of appeal to sports fans, and it includes NBA TV. But your subscription won’t give you access to ABC, TNT, or ESPN.
NBA League PassIf you’re truly hardcore for the hardwood, you should consider a subscription to NBA League Pass, the league’s official streaming service. For $200 a year or $29 per month, you can watch every live out-of-market game that isn’t being broadcast nationally on one of the four networks we’ve mentioned.
A League Pass subscription allows you to watch up to four games at once in HD, and it works on computers, tablets, smartphones, and streaming devices. Games originally broadcast on ESPN, TNT, and ABC are available 24 hours after completion in the video archives. You also get anytime access to a curated selection of “classic” games.
For $250 a year or $40 per month, you can upgrade to NBA League Pass Premium, which adds an in-arena stream during game breaks.
NBA Media Ventures, LLC. With an NBA League Pass subscription, you can stream live out-of-market games to your TV, computer, or mobile device.
NBA Team PassTwo bills is a big investment if you only want to follow your favorite team. NBA Team Pass is one less-expensive alternative. For $120 a year or $18 per month, you get access to all your squad’s local broadcasts for both home and away games.
The rub is that NBA blackout rules still apply. If you live in your team’s “home” market—a Warriors fan residing in the Bay Area, for example—you still won’t be able to watch their games even with a Team Pass subscription (this goes for League Pass as well). Your team’s home market, however, isn’t necessarily defined by your town’s city limits.
In the NBA’s own words, the league determines blackout zones “using zip code (if watching via a satellite television provider), a combination of zip code and cable system distribution territory (if watching via a cable television provider), or by the IP address associated with your internet connection or your mobile device’s GPS coordinates.”
What that means is this isn’t a cord-cutting option for everyone. The only way to be sure of your situation is to enter your zip code in the Blackout Notice in the middle of this page before you sign up for one of the NBA subscriptions.
NBA streaming is still 50-50 ballStreaming live NBA games continues to be a mixed bag for cord-cutters. The availability of national broadcasts through streaming services gives you a courtside seat for some of the biggest matchups of the season. But local fanbases who want to follow their team continue to be left on the bench, for the most part. Until streaming options for regional sports networks become more widely available, you might want to dust off your radio.
Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read our affiliate link policy for more details. | https://medium.com/@lisa79760208/basketball-without-cable-a-cord-cutters-guide-to-the-nba-6b3ff1e727b3 | [] | 2020-12-16 20:52:20.707000+00:00 | ['Gear', 'Chargers', 'Electronics'] |
臉書廣告 2017 廣告尺寸指南 | Co-Founder of Chigyosha Marketing Copr. based in Taipei. Addicted in data mining and content marketing. Passionated by visions and dreams.
Follow | https://medium.com/chigyosha/%E8%87%89%E6%9B%B8%E5%BB%A3%E5%91%8A-2017-%E5%BB%A3%E5%91%8A%E5%B0%BA%E5%AF%B8%E6%8C%87%E5%8D%97-6c41009fd5f1 | ['Henry Hu'] | 2019-03-03 01:53:33.360000+00:00 | ['Facebook', 'Digital Advertising', 'Facebook Ads', 'Editors Pick', 'Digital Marketing'] |
Design Sprint: How to turn ideas into solutions! (Part 1: overview) | The 5 day process
Image Source: FreshTilledSoil
Day 0. Before the sprint (Preparations)
To start a design sprint you need to have the right team to work on the right challenge in a suitable space and time where interruptions are nearly non existent. The team will be spending a lot of time sketching, writing, conducting interviews and presentations, and that must be prepared for.
Once you have it all set up, it is time to get started.
Photo by Gautam Lakum on Unsplash
Day 1. Understand the problem
The first day of the sprint is all about understanding the problem to reach a shared perspective among the team. In your first design sprints you will be tempted to think of solutions at this stage, please don’t … day 1 is all about the user. At the end of the day, the team should have a comprehensive understanding of the users and the problems they are set to solve.
There is a concept in design sprint that is called start at the end. The idea is to have a future desired outcome, a goal which we aim to reach through our engagement.
Photo by Startaê Team on Unsplash
Day 2. Sketch solutions (Diverge)
Next is solutions. This day is all about coming up with ideas that will become the building blocks of the final prototype that you will test on day 5.
At the start of day 2, the team will do some digging on how other products in the market are trying to solve the problem. Afterwards the team will do series of exercises to put ideas into paper and sketch! Day 2 is all about sketching, because sketching will help you take an abstract idea and make it concrete. This will make it easy to evaluate and decide on direction (In day 3).
Each team member will work on their own sketches. Nothing fancy, just enough to express ideas in a clear way.
Photo by Bonneval Sebastien on Unsplash
Day 3. Decide on solutions (Converge)
This day, the team will come together to decide on the ideas they sketched on day 2. Rather than a decision meeting where discussion flare around the room, it is done in a structured series of exercises where get the time to review the notes and sketched from before then start voting on the ideas they and don’t like.
Afterwards, each team member will have time to discuss and critique to weight in their expert opinions. Then we are left with a filtered set of ideas that we would like to move forward.
These ideas (sketches) will be organized and stitched into a blue print (The storyboard) that we will use to prototype the experience on the next day.
Day 4. Prototype
The fourth day is where all your ideas and sketches will come together to create a prototype. A facade that will make it easy for your customers to experience your comprehensive solution and give you feedback.
Creating a prototype in a single day is not easy and many professionals will tell you its impossible!
All you need to do is build a realistic facade that you can put in front of customers, nothing fancy. You also need to pick the right tools that will enable you to rapidly produce the intended design, and this also depends on the skills you have on the team.
Divide and conquer
The idea is to breakdown the job among the team. You will need a writer, an asset collector who will collect the different stock imagery, icons, and other things you need for your prototype, and a stitcher who puts it all together.
At the end of the day, you will have a working prototype which you will test with the team to correct any mistakes and fine tune the prototype.
Photo by Halacious on Unsplash
Day 5. Verify
The final day! Today you will put your solution to the test. You have been working hard since the beginning of the week and now it’s time to realize the risks and devise an action plan through empirical data.
Photo by UX Indonesia on Unsplash
In this day, you will bring in your customers, usually 5 are enough, and you will conduct a series of interviews with customers as they try and experience your prototype. The rest of team will be watching from afar silently taking notes.
As you are done with the interviews, you will put all the notes on the wall and look for patterns to conclude what went wrong and what went right for the prototype.
From there you can devise a robust plan on what to do next. Whether its another iteration on the prototype, or an implementation plan, or design, every situation is different.
The great thing is that in just 5 days you moved from knowing nothing about a problem to having a solid MVP and a plan to build a solution for your customers.
… Final Thoughts
The concepts and values conveyed through design thinking and embodied in design sprint go beyond the 5 day process. If you live and work by these values, your product development will always be superior, and you will find yourself close to the customer being able to serve the best way you could.
In future articles, I will be presenting a detailed case study of a design sprint. Stay tuned! | https://medium.com/edraak-engineering/design-sprint-how-to-turn-ideas-into-solutions-part-1-overview-1b9c15fe076f | ['Salah Alomari'] | 2020-11-25 08:48:25.235000+00:00 | ['Design Thinking', 'Prototyping', 'Product Development', 'Design Sprint', 'UX'] |
Sedikit Tentang Kopi | in In Bitcoin We Trust | https://medium.com/@lutfifathulanwar/sedikit-tentang-kopi-ad89e58039f | ['Lutfi Fathul Anwar'] | 2020-12-23 20:34:49.407000+00:00 | ['Kopi', 'Indonesia', 'Teknik Industri', 'Unikom', 'Pascapanen'] |
Turn On The Donut Light | Like these donut-shaped lights @Dunkin’ Donuts.
You can’t eat them, but they reminds you why you’re there.
Donuts and coffee — make mine a signature latte, iced with some mocha and whipped cream — always yum.
Always, Dunkin’ delicious! ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal) | https://medium.com/@andyblumenthal/turn-on-the-donut-light-46839a259f24 | ['Andrew', 'Avraham'] | 2020-12-23 20:45:12.389000+00:00 | ['Dunkin', 'Donuts', 'Branding', 'Coffee', 'Light'] |
Mr. Biden, What in the Cabinet is going on? | Lloyd Austin, Secretary of Defense
While Gen. Lloyd Austin would be the first Black Defense Secretary, his terrible record should overshadow this feat, but we know that is going to be brought up in mainstream media. As Gen. Austin was tapped by Obama to begin the process of the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq in 2010, it was an unorganized effort leaving a depleted Iraqi government vulnerable with a military not trained or equipped to quell the rise of ISIS. The disaster did not stop there as Gen. Austin was then given the responsibility of overseeing a Syrian rebel program to combat ISIS that cost us $384 million, which ended in failure after the millions of dollars earmarked to build the training camps were rarely if ever used.
Shortly after all of these debacles, Gen. Austin sold out to defense contractors and wealthy investment funds becoming a board member at Raytheon and a partner at Pine Island Capital Partners, who both stand to profit immensely from a Biden administration. With this pick, Biden will be allowed to escape critics in the name of diversity and inclusion as his cabinet becomes an identity politics lottery.
Antony Blinken, Secretary of State
The nomination of former Deputy Secretary of State for the Obama administration, Antony Blinken is further evidence that not much will change when it comes to U.S. foreign policy. Blinken is also an investment partner at Pine Island Capital Partners—an indication to where Biden’s interests are. Building back our relationships with our allies, but also continuing military aggression in Africa and the Middle East to secure corporate interests.
We can expect an increase in hawkish-ness from Washington as Blinken has openly advocated for tougher stances on adversaries like Russia in an endgame of maintaining power and control. All signs point to the US imperialist machine to continue producing, but not in the name of democracy. In the name of multinational corporations and the almighty dollar.
Pete Buttigieg, Secretary of Transportation
With aspirations of a 2024 or 2028 presidential run, this is as clear a careerist move you can get for Pete Buttigieg. One of the main criticisms of Buttigieg during the Democratic primaries was his inexperience at the national level and working in the Biden administration would dispel that notion in the future. It will allow him to say that he knows what Washington is like, how to make compromises with the other side, and he knows how to get things done for average Americans.
Building America back has not just been one of the main focuses for the Biden transition team, but it has also been adopted as his transition team’s slogan—build back better. Buttigieg is also one of the most known figures on the Biden administration and he will be able to build more political clout as he reshapes and reimagines America’s infrastructure while relatively having no experience.
Denis McDonough, Secretary of Veterans Affairs
In a cabinet position that is traditionally served by a veteran, Biden opted to nominate former Chief of Staff to Obama, Denis McDonough who has never served in the military. Reports found that Biden did not consult with anyone from the veterans community before making this pick, which was a surprise to many senior officials. With the VA being the second largest federal agency, this will definitely be a learning curve for McDonough.
According to the U.S Census Bureau, post-9/11 veterans have the highest rate of disabilities connected to their military service. An indication that as our veterans become a larger share of the U.S. veteran population, there will be a growing number of veterans who will need VA resources. And with a raging year-long pandemic that has caused a backlog in thousands of benefits claims, McDonough will have a lot of work on his plate.
Neera Tanden, Head of the Office of Management and Budget
Arguably, one of the most divisive figures in American politics. Neera Tanden worked as an aide on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and is known for her staunch opposition and criticism of Bernie Sanders and the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. As a matter of fact, much of the sabotage of the Sander’s 2016 campaign is attributed to the work behind-the-scenes by Tanden and her liberal think tank, Center for American Progress.
However, Tanden will not likely face a confirmation challenge from progressives in the Senate, but rather Republicans who she has also gone through a myriad of hostile exchanges with in the past. The reason being that there were worst options for the position to pick from for Biden, such as Brian Reed, chief domestic policy adviser during the Clinton administration, who had a signed petition from progressive congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar opposing his appointment.
While Tanden is certainly not a pick that promotes party unity, progressives are choosing their battles wisely during confirmations. | https://medium.com/@odali/mr-biden-what-in-the-cabinet-is-going-on-b417d6f3f7cb | ['Steven Odali Rodriguez'] | 2020-12-21 13:02:40.890000+00:00 | ['Joe Biden', 'Congress', 'Democrats', 'Cabinet', 'Republicans'] |
Fog Catcher: Fog Nets In The Desert | Fog Catcher: Catch 10,000 Liters Of Water A Day
Desert
Where is this Situated?
These “fog-catchers” or fog nets are helping to supply safe and clean drinking water to impoverished families who live in the outskirts of Lima Peru, in the Atacama Desert.
These is known as the driest place on earth
The National Geographic Society considers the coastal area of southern Peru to be part of the Atacama Desert
This also includes the deserts south of the Ica Region in Peru.
What was it’s Need?
In Lima, one out of every five families, or
Almost 2 million people, don’t have access to safe drinking water, which can cause disease
Instead, they must rely on costly, outsourced water that’s delivered by trucks and aren’t often reliable.
This also has a high CO2 footprint.
Thanks to a compassionate and innovative project launched by the Dutch non-profit, Creating Water Foundation. | https://medium.com/@infostatix/fog-catcher-8bac213e9acd | ['Info Statix'] | 2020-12-22 16:22:17.305000+00:00 | ['Peru', 'Water', 'Innovation', 'Sustainable Development', 'Environment'] |
[Founder] Emmanuel, of Outsite on their latest coliving opening in… Lisbon! | Hey Emmanuel, nice to have you on Coworkies! Could you please tell us a bit more about you?
For sure! I’m from Belgium originally, and I’m the founder of Outsite.
Let’s talk more about Outsite, what is it exactly and how did the idea came to life?
Outsite is a members-based network of coliving spaces around the world! A few years ago, I was just another mid-twenties guy building my career in Silicon Valley. The Belgium travel tech company I was working for wanted to build out their U.S. branch in California. Dreaming of surf and sand, I eagerly prepped my passport for a new life. But there was one problem. Their office was in San Jose! A place that didn’t exactly fit the beach lifestyle I was seeking.
On a weekend road trip I stumbled upon Santa Cruz, and that was the moment that I fell in love with California. I packed my bags and set up a remote office where I could work between meetings and conferences. For the first time, I understood how you could find a balance between personal passions and work. | https://medium.com/coworking-people-spaces/founder-emmanuel-of-outsite-on-their-latest-coliving-opening-in-lisbon-54efea162670 | ['Coworkies - Coworking Communities'] | 2018-05-17 09:22:45.796000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Digital Nomads', 'Remote Working', 'Lisboa', 'Community'] |
The Future of The Entrepreneur is Grey | www.suppliertynews.com
The term Greypreneur is defined as an older person starting a business venture late in life. The factors that are driving the greypreneur trend are longer life expectancy and the desire of older people after retirement to continue to work and be productive.
An infographic created by Nowsourcing and commissioned by Best Masters Program titled “Re-Imagining Your Career Past 50” revealed that a quarter of the American workforce will be 55 years old and above by 2024 and 80 percent of baby boomers expect to work rather than retire because of financial needs.
The study also found that 60 percent of workers over 45 years old have seen or experienced age discrimination in the workplace. Around 8 percent were dismissed for unclear reasons, 12 percent were passed over for a promotion and 19 percent were not hired though they were qualified. As an example, IBM has dismissed more than 20,000 employees who were 40 years old and above since 2013 as part of its effort to correct its seniority mix.
According to career management coach Jane Jackson, these employees are left with no choice but to “pick themselves up” by starting their own business. Nowsourcing CEO Brian Wallace added that older people have several advantages in starting their own business including industry know how, communication skills and reliable credit for obtaining loans. | https://medium.com/supplierty-news/the-future-of-the-entrepreneur-is-grey-6efd70ba44a4 | ['Jaymie White'] | 2019-04-12 14:40:56.839000+00:00 | ['Entrepreneurship', 'Entrepreneur', 'Business', 'Millennials', 'Baby Boomers'] |
10 Simple Steps to Steady Blogging | Do you struggle to keep up with consistently posting to your blog, email newsletter, or even a podcast? Let’s solve that once and for all, right now. I’m going to share the 10 simple steps that will create an easily manageable system for your blog.
This is what I have learned after helping people launch thousands of blogs, and in writing my own weekly blog for 12 years. This is my best advice.
Okay, let’s dig in…
Step #1: Have a Clear Focus
You want to be laser-focused on what you write about, and who you write for. Create a mission statement for the blog, identifying exactly what you are focused on and why.
Be clear about who this blog is for. Have a picture in your mind of the exact person who will read this. Don’t write for “an audience,” write for one person.
Step #2: Mindmap the Themes
Now that you have a clear mission and sense of who this blog is for, create a mindmap of the basic themes. You can do this on paper, or via software such as Freemind.
Create a circle in the middle and write your mission. Then create a line extending out and write one primary theme of it you will dig into. Draw a circle around that. For that specific theme, create sub-topics around it.
Step #3 Create an Editorial Calendar
Create a basic schedule to adhere to. Get out a paper calendar or use software such as Excel to create a basic editorial calendar. Plan to post to your blog at least once per week, if possible.
Take each of the themes from the mindmap, and begin to place each general theme on a given day or week. Plan 6–12 weeks out. You do not have to stick to a rigid schedule such as this, but I find that it is a useful organization tool, and prevents bloggers from feeling that they are starting from scratch each week.
Step #4: Consider Different Types of Posts You Can Create
Consider how each theme you write about can take a different form. Would your mission and the person you are writing for benefit from a long story, or a short how-to post? Would they prefer a video? Would a quote be useful? Do they need links and research? Would a drawing be most engaging to them?
Don’t feel trapped by “best practices” you read about the blog content that works best based on “industry trends.” Instead, focus intensely how your themes and mission can best connect with an actual person.
On your calendar, you can color-code these different content types. Blue can be a poem, red a short how-to post, yellow a long essay, green a diagram, etc.
Step #5: Capture Ideas
Your mission and themes will be a general guide, but I encourage you to have a place to capture ideas for specific blog posts. If you prefer paper, buy a small notebook that will fit in your pocket and an equally small pen. Jot down ideas as you have them.
If you prefer digital, download Evernote on your phone and computer so that you can capture ideas when you have them, or even just save a photo of something that inspires an idea.
Step #6: Process Your Ideas
Process those ideas weekly. Review your notes, and begin to outline how they would fit into specific blog posts.
Use a writing tool such as Scrivener where you can outline multiple blog posts in one place, or create a folder on Dropbox (so you can access them anywhere) where you can keep these ideas organized.
As ideas slowly turn into potential blog posts, brainstorm potential headlines early. Create an outline of what a final blog post may look like. This can consist of a few key phrases that gives the post a narrative arc. Consider how this post could delight the person you are writing it for.
If you have a file of outlines such as this, you never have to worry about writers block. When you sit down to write, you can choose the outline that is most interesting to you. This gives you a massive head start. You are FINISHING, not STARTING.
Step #7: Create a Writing Routine
Writing isn’t easy, and it can be an emotional process. Prepare for that by creating a routine that includes some of these steps:
Ideation Outlining Writing Re-writing Editing Creating final headline Formatting Final proofing
You can even include these steps on an editorial calendar. Perhaps you want to focus on one post per week, and align each of these actions to a specific day. Or maybe you want to batch posts… outlining several at once, or writing several at once. Then processing them the next week through editing and formatting. It’s up to you.
Step #8: Find Collaborators
Consider if you need an accountability partner to keep you motivated. Or if you have a friend who will proofread posts. Or if you want to hire an illustrator on Fiverr.com to create diagrams for each post.
I have those things. I bounce ideas off of the people in my mastermind group every single day. I have hired someone to keep me accountable to certain aspects of my social media calendar. I have a friend I chat with once per week to talk about big picture plans, and keep me focused on item #1 above: the mission and who I write for.
I strongly encourage you to involve others in this process.
Step #9: Obsess About Engagement
Writing a blog is about sharing a message with someone. To do that most effectively, become more and more curious about who these people are, and what engages them. I wrote a whole book about audience research, and I suppose the short version is: care about those you hope to reach.
Give yourself a few months to experiment. Concern yourself with crafting the best blog posts you possibly can, and on meaningfully connecting it with others in a way that is welcome to them, not spammy.
Step #10: Celebrate
Throughout this process, you may feel uncertain. You may seek immediate validation of the work you post, and it may be difficult to receive that very quickly. You may hope for a lot of social media shares or page views, and you may be disappointed.
Keep going.
Celebrate what you do create each week. How your mission has become clearer. How you identified more ideas that inspire you. How you wrote more posts. How you connected with at least one person.
Because if you can make one person’s day better, you have changed their world.
Thanks.
-Dan | https://medium.com/creative-shift/10-simple-steps-to-steady-blogging-3f08ba7dacce | ['Dan Blank'] | 2017-11-03 10:47:25.680000+00:00 | ['Email Marketing', 'Marketing', 'Writing', 'Blogging', 'Writer'] |
#4 Eight Steps to Help Take Your SMB Abroad | Eight Steps to Help You Capitalize on International Markets
1. Be strategic about the international markets that you target. One of the worst things you can do is spray and pray. For as much as you want to conquer the world, adopting that strategy will lead to subpar results. Instead, invest time in doing some thorough market research and target nations that offer high demand for your product or service.
2. Create a clear sales structure. To actually succeed in foreign markets, you’ll need to create a clear sales structure within your organization. In all likelihood, you will need to reassign current staffers (or hire new staffers entirely) to fully focus on these markets. They need to be on the ground and work the phones, meeting prospects and delivering sales pitches.
3. Think about how your product or service will reach the customer. For as big an opportunity that a foreign market may provide, it is moot if those customers can’t access your product or service. Therefore, plan how you can get your product or service to the POS abroad in a cost-effective manner.
4. Mind your language. By this, I mean that you must break through any potential language barriers. Make sure that your marketing copy and sales pitches are extremely clear in the foreign language. Ignoring this step can lead to many lost sales.
5. Tap into the power of the Internet. The Internet can be one of your best tools here — both in terms of researching potential markets and marketing to potential customers. Feel free to rely on things like Facebook and Google Ads, as they offer sophisticated targeting options to reach your target audience.
6. Consult your lawyer. Entering a foreign market, there will be always legal requirements that will affect your business. Instead of rushing into the market and having to pay a fine or worse, have a meeting with your legal attorney. This can help you avoid significant mistakes.
7. Obtain the requisite buy-in. As with many things in business, you will need the full support of your team to take your business abroad. Therefore, establish regular strategy meetings with your team. Highlight the opportunity and address any questions or concerns.
8. Iterate & follow the inspect & adapt principle. Actually shipping your product or service into a foreign market isn’t the end of this process. Rather, it is the beginning. You’ll need to constantly monitor your progress and iterate step by step as necessary, whether it relates to your marketing, sales structure, service & maintenance ops or something else.
By following these tips and strategies, you will be well on your way to taking your SMB to new nations. Best of luck!
#30by50
Comments, thoughts?
You can find me on LinkedIn
and Twitter. | https://medium.com/@sb_30by50/4-eight-steps-to-help-take-your-smb-abroad-7bb2effd07eb | ['Steffen Bäuerle'] | 2020-03-25 12:51:25.306000+00:00 | ['International', 'Small Medium Business', 'Smb', 'Growth'] |
Events Impacting BTC This Week (March 16, 2018) | THE STATE OF BITCOIN
The bulls were stampeding in the final months of 2017. The month of December saw Bitcoin approach $20,000. The following month of January saw a correction of epic proportions concluding in February when BTC dipped under $6,000. This was a percentage decrease of over 70% from BTC’s December highs to their February lows. The bears seemed to have taken full control of the market back from the bulls.
Who Will Win?!
February through the beginning of March saw the bulls build some momentum with BTC building significant steam following the Chinese New Year. This was a short-lived rebound with BTC going from its February lows of under $6,000 to a March 5, 2018, high of $11,600.
By March 9, 2018, Bitcoin was back to under $8,400 and it seemed the bears had regained full control. Today, March 15, 2018, BTC resides at a price of $8,200, only slightly lower than where it was exactly a week ago.
The most important questions to ask are: What events are currently impacting Bitcoin and where is it likely to go in value from here?
EVENTS NEGATIVELY IMPACTING BITCOIN PRICES
The last ten days have been filled with multiple negative news events that continue to drive down the value of BTC in the short term. Much of this negative sentiment is caused unnecessarily by the light in which articles are written.
Other events are indeed negative, dramatically shifting the total numbers of buy and sell orders on the market. This prior bearish turn in the market has been precipitated by four large events:
These four events all dramatically shifted the price of Bitcoin and the overall cryptocurrency markets downward in the prior ten days.
To read the entire piece regarding the major events impacting BTC this past week feel free to check it out here:
Bitcoin & Crypto Markets Continue Their Slide
Tomorrow’s main article will be a special highlighting the Top 5 Altcoins of The Week! Some of the coins are exclusively available on either:
Binance
Cryptopia
Bibox
I appreciate all my loyal followers! I am trying to build a social media presence and would love if you followed me on Instagram and Twitter as well! For tips and strategy hours before being posted to the message boards follow on Instagram: JaketheCryptoKing and Twitter: JbtheCryptoKing.
Now the Kingdom is on Discord: https://discord.gg/qTjQp8W (join the group to reach me directly). | https://medium.com/swlh/events-impacting-btc-this-week-march-16-2018-e988a506eab1 | ['Crypto King'] | 2018-03-16 16:10:45.850000+00:00 | ['Tech', 'Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
I Am Embarrassed To Be A White Man | Embarrassment: This connects closely with the police violence thread from earlier in the piece, but I just can’t believe how ignorant white people are when they tweet or put up an “All Lives Matter” sign. The definition of embarrassment, these people are once again thinking about themselves instead of trying to understand the message that we are purveying to the world on a daily basis for years.
Saying that all lives matter is so obvious it should never need to be said. The problem is that all lives don’t matter to white men, otherwise they would take to heart the painful cries for help from minority sectors of society. All lives matter is essentially translatable to “white lives matter, everyone else should shut the hell up”.
If I had two children, and one of them was struggling mightily in school while the other one had straight A’s, I would focus on the kid who needs the assistance. I think everyone would. Does that mean that the successful tyke doesn’t need love and care? Absolutely not. It just means that they do not need the help from me at this moment in their schooling, but their sibling does. All of my kids matter, and that’s why the failing child will receive my help. It’s to get them on the same page as the A student.
Solution: Take the analogy I used above and try to find others in your own life related to struggle. Tell these metaphors to your friends and colleagues who need to garner a greater understanding about what it means to put your focus on a struggling group of people or a down and out person.
When someone is in pain, it’s not your job to say why they shouldn’t feel the way that they do. It’s demeaning and it’s inconsiderate to turn the topic over to you when you are not the one going through a struggle related to systematic oppression. I suppose when you’ve never had to overcome hatred directly tied to something innate and given to you at birth, like skin color, then it’s hard for white men to picture themselves on the lower rungs of the corrupt social ladder. This dissonance is key to the majority of white people looking beyond themselves and into the eyes of other people.
White people matter. They always have. For thousands of years. Saying that they do is fucking embarrassing. The solution is stop saying and thinking it.
Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash
If you are white, I hope that you have been able to look into your own soul throughout this read to see whether you do any of these things or demean these movements that matter to minorities.
If you are non-white, never feel bad for your anger and your anxiety that you face so frequently. Know that there are some white people out there who are embarrassed for the entirety of our demographic, and we will continue to give a voice to those who are in need of support.
White people in denial about the advancement of civil rights are the biggest obstacle to a world where we can all be proud of the diversity of our population.
If I can leave you with any one thing to think about after reading, it would be that listening to how the oppressed feel instead of your own inner thoughts is the basis for sympathy in any topic of life.
When it relates to racism, nothing is more important than white people admitting that you don’t get to decide how black people feel about their place in the world.
I will be proud to be a white man when we allow minorities to be proud of their roots and their struggles. You will be proud then, too. | https://aninjusticemag.com/i-am-embarrassed-to-be-a-white-man-53f4830ee30c | ['Shawn Laib'] | 2020-12-30 10:07:30.858000+00:00 | ['White Privilege', 'Politics', 'Trump', 'Equality', 'Racism'] |
The Perfect Sacrifice | As Dienno stepped solemnly down the dim corridor toward the towering doors ahead, his pulse quickened. He could already hear the echoes of deep, guttural chanting from the central chamber. He wasn’t sure how much he really believed in all this “gods” business. To him this ritual was merely a formality to placate the people over whom he would soon rule. Still, being here in the temple, approaching the ornate doors, smelling scents, and hearing sounds, it was hard not to get caught up in it.
The ritual had started two days ago. The priests were working themselves into altered states with fasting, the chewing of aunicum bark, and chanting in the sweltering heat of the fires stoked for the occasion. Dienno was not required to be present for those initial stages, but today his presence was an absolute necessity. Today was the day he would make his offering to the gods. Today was the day of sacrifice.
He paused before the dark, carved wood of the main chamber doors. The smell of smoke nearly choked him. He gazed up at the reliefs that loomed from the wooden portal. Otherworldly faces bared glistening fangs and stared furiously down upon him. In the low light, it was difficult to convince himself that they weren’t moving, breathing, straining to break free of the door and consume him.
Dienno shook his head and scoffed, “Get a hold of yourself, man.” He took a breath and pushed open the doors.
His entrance didn’t seem to capture the attention of anyone in the main chamber. Only the highest ranking priests were allowed inside during a ritual of this magnitude, and they were thoroughly engrossed. Fortunately, Dienno had been fully versed on his role in the ceremony beforehand. He walked toward the activity in the center of the room.
The main chamber was impressive. It soared a seemingly impossible height overhead, with arches and pillars all carved with similar reliefs as the door. The walls gave off a strange purple glow that Dienno was sure was some kind of trick, but everyone else claimed it was dark magic worked by the priests. Everything was polished and represented the height of craftsmanship in the kingdom. Everything, that is, except for the sacrificial pit.
The priests were gathered around the pit in the center of the chamber. It was a shallow hole that seemed to have simply been smashed out of the otherwise beautifully-tiled floor. A low fire now burned in it. The priests were circling it counterclockwise, chanting. Each of them carried a golden bowl filled with what Dienno guessed were entrails. At every quarter of the circle around the pit, they would throw a morsel into the flames, which would flicker a bit but otherwise continue burning unremarkably.
Dienno stopped at the southernmost point of the pit, just beyond arm’s length of the priests as they passed. They wore low cowls that mostly obscured their faces, but he could clearly see the sweat that beaded on every one. Their skin seemed pale, but their lips were all blood red, and their teeth were sharp and stained. They chanted in unison in a language that only they knew and that sounded like no human tongue. It made Dienno ill at ease to hear it.
The chamber doors opened again. This time everything stopped. The priests turned south and stood silently. The high priest entered with a woman draped in white. She was struggling impotently against his grip. When she saw the gathering near the pit, her eyes went wide and she redoubled her thrashing.
It was unclear if her efforts were successful or the high priest had merely released her, but she suddenly broke free and ran toward the group. “Dienno!” she called desperately.
Dienno reached out an arm and put it around her as she collided with him in an embrace. “I am here, Shanna,” he said softly.
“What’s going on?” she demanded. “Why was I forced to come here?” The disgust with which she looked around at the chamber was evident.
Dienno sighed impatiently. He had hoped to avoid this. “I’m sorry, Shanna. I had to,” he offered unrepentantly.
Shanna narrowed her eyes at him. “Had to what? What is this about?” she asked.
He turned toward the fire. “You know I am about to ascend the throne,” he said. “Since I am not King Elant’s heir by blood, there are certain duties I must fulfill before the people will accept me. There are certain…sacrifices I must make.”
His pause was not lost on Shanna. “Sacrifices?” she whispered with deep furrows forming on her brow. “You can’t mean…”
Dienno looked back at her. “As I said, I am sorry,” he said in a practiced monotone. “I really did think you were lovely. You might’ve made a great queen.”
She backed away, the disgust on her face grew ever deeper. “You cannot do this, Dienno.”
He shrugged. “I must. If my sacrifice has no value to me, it will have no value to the gods.”
“The gods?” Shanna spat. “You know as well as I do that they are a myth.”
Dienno did not answer.
Shanna’s face fell. “I see,” she whispered. When she looked back up, there was venom in her eyes. “Consider this, my love. I now carry your would-be heir.” Her hands traveled to her belly, which was not yet noticeably round.
Dienno’s jaw clenched.
“Confirmed just this morning,” she continued. “Would you really sacrifice your child as well?”
Again, he did not answer. For the first time, conflict flitted behind his eyes.
As if sensing his hesitation, the high priest stepped up and bowed to Dienno. “It is time, your highness.”
The effect of those last two words was dramatic. The future king’s eyes hardened. His posture straightened. The coronation was still a week away, but he could already feel the crown resting atop his head. He looked down upon Shanna with nearly total disregard.
“You cannot prove your claim,” he said icily. With that, he turned his back on her and watched as the priests resumed the ritual.
“No!” Shanna screamed defiantly. “You monster! How could you?”
When he did not react, she lunged at him, but the high priest snatched her out of the air and held her fast. She resisted with every ounce of strength she had, but the priest’s grip was like iron. In a last desperate act, she spat at Dienno.
He spun on her when he felt the wetness on his neck. He was met with a mad, triumphant sneer.
“That’s right, you fiend,” she growled. “You deserve so much worse. A curse on you! May your precious crown weigh heavy and crush your skull. May all your bastards rise up in nations against you. May the gods you so readily bow to now fold you up in their mouths at the end. I will wait for you in the underworld where my vengeance will be unending!”
The high priest cupped her mouth with his hand, which she rewarded with a bite that sank into his flesh and drew blood. If the priest felt any pain, he did not react to it. Instead, his voice rose up in a rapid chant that bellowed above that of the other priests. He dragged Shanna to the edge of the pit and flung his bleeding hand in the direction of the fire.
A few drops of blood flew into the flames. At first, nothing happened, but seconds later, an inferno burst forth from the pit sending a seething white column of flame up to the arching ceiling. The force knocked the circle of priests backward, and Dienno stumbled along with them.
Shanna stood perfectly still, seemingly undisturbed by the blast. Her head cocked slowly as if she were listening to something. Over the roaring flames, hints of a piercing whisper could be heard, though the words were indecipherable. Echoes of tormented screams reverberated throughout the temple.
Dienno watched in astonishment as Shanna lightly stepped down into the pit and walked towards the blaze. Within a few feet, her hair caught fire and burned away nearly instantly, leaving flickering little flames that danced on her red, bubbling scalp. Her white gown caught alight and enveloped her in luminous yellow tendrils. Still she walked on, entranced by the voices, immune to the pain.
At the threshold of the conflagration, Shanna turned. She was unrecognizable. Her sizzling skin oozed and popped. And yet, when she smiled at Dienno, he saw it clearly. It was a grotesque, haunting smile that would forever be etched into his mind. He would never again close his eyes without seeing that deformed, deranged grin.
Fiery arms reached from the fire and pulled Shanna in suddenly. Though the flames were bright, Dienno could see that she was being ripped apart by something inside the incandescent column. The spell over her seemed to abruptly end because her deafening wail filled the chamber all at once. It was an interminable scream that should not have been possible with lungs full of fire.
The sound faded away, though it seemed more like it was receding to some great distance than that it was finally ending. When it could no longer be heard, the column of fire promptly dispersed. The chamber immediately grew significantly cooler. The priests tentatively approached the pit. They climbed down inside and investigated the ground. All they found was bare, cool earth.
The high priest stepped up behind Dienno and put this hands on the aspiring monarch’s shoulders. “They were a prime sacrifice, highness. The gods are pleased,” he said.
Dienno turned. “They?” he asked blankly. It was clear he was in shock.
“Mother and child,” he clarified matter-of-factly. “Such a generous offering. The gods will return it manyfold.”
“Ah,” was all Dienno could manage. He stood there quietly for a moment before slowly walking out of the chamber, looking back to the pit one more time with great apprehension.
From beneath his cowl, the high priest smirked. It had been five long years leading up to this day. While that mindless twit Dienno had proven easy to groom, coordinating his whole plan — arranging Elant’s assassination, working secretly to position his successor, finding the perfect sacrifice to imprint upon his puppet — had been a monumental task.
And it could not have gone better.
If he had really cared about helping Dienno, he would never have let Shanna utter a single word. That curse, with all that power flowing freely through the main chamber, was the most unexpected, delicious turn of events. Every word would come true, he was sure of it, and the resultant chaos would be beautiful to behold.
The gods were indeed pleased, but Dienno would surely not be the focus of their gratitude. | https://medium.com/midnight-mosaic/the-perfect-sacrifice-5427bfca3c38 | ['Jeff Goguen'] | 2019-11-11 15:06:01.940000+00:00 | ['Fantasy', 'Short Story', 'Fiction', 'Dark', 'Sacrifice'] |
Tips for creating a great full stack developer portfolio | This Article Has Been Published First: https://www.crampete.com/blogs/full-stack-developer-portfolio/
A full stack developer is a competitive field. There is a lot of demand for full stack developers, but then there are equally a lot of people who are fighting for the same set of jobs. So how does one stand apart from other candidates? The first step is to learn skills that are in high demand. Read our ‘Ultimate guide to full stack web development’.
Then see what frameworks are trending. Check your skill profile and begin with technologies with easy learning curve. Start with the beginner’s guide to web development- HTML, CSS and JS. Mastering JS is a great way to become a full stack web developer fast.
JS is not only a fundamental building block of web development, it also has an easy learning curve and is a language that is used for both front-end and back-end development.
Read more: What is the salary drawn by a full stack web developer?
What is MEAN stack? How to become a MEAN stack developer?
What top web design tools should you learn/use in 2020?
What’s a portfolio?
A portfolio is a collection of documents or a sample of work that you have done. Maintained as hard copies as well online, portfolio are an important aspect of your professional career. A portfolio will showcase your execution and finished product. It is a great way to showcase your skills and experience that you have.
Why do you need a portfolio for your work?
It’s a great addition to take for an interview along with your resume. As a full stack developer, a good solid portfolio will set you apart from your competitors. The other candidates may also have their certifications and experience.
But, if you are able to show your talent and creativity along with the core skills that are required for that job, you have an almost sure shot chance at being selected.
Your portfolio should reinforce your resume.And, it is your best shot at impressing the recruiters. Know that the hiring managers take a close look at the portfolios,and sometimes, the candidate even lands a job that they might not be as qualified as the other candidates.
To have that competitive edge over others applying for the same job as you, a portfolio is the most important weapon.
There is a but… here. But, at the end of the day, even after impressing your interviewers with your mad developing skills, you need to clear the rest of the interview and HR interview. Check out our article on interview frequently asked questions and tips to answer.
How do you get your portfolio ready?
First, save all the work you do, finished and unfinished. For a full stack developer, it is not necessary for you to display an entire website. A single web page is sufficient. Do multiple projects, with different requirements. Also, you can create modular projects that highlights your particular talents.
If you are a fresher, these are great options for you. If you haven’t had a lot of time to practice, you would not have had the chance to do a complete project. But, that also means that you will not be skill ready in solving issues that come along with the integration part. Here is an article on building a chatbot with full stack web development.
When you have spare time, you should work on such projects and gain some experience on the same. That project will be a great addition to not just your portfolio but also your resume and a point to project in the interviews.
Then go through the job profiles that you want to apply for. Then, get together a portfolio that highlights your skills and experience with the tools that are expected of you from that listing. This means that you should personalise your portfolio to match the job for which you are going to apply.
Additionally, keep an online copy of your portfolio, and as a full stack web developer, give links to your websites or projects. Select projects and keep updating your portfolio each time you apply for a job.
Read more: All You Need To Know About Full Stack Developer Skills
Tips and tricks for a great portfolio!
Showcase your best
Remember to showcase your best projects. Save everything you do, but don’t include all of them in your portfolio. Select the ones that showcase your work related skills best. Use ones that display your creative strengths as well. These will help you score brownie points with the hiring manager.
Focus on your strengths
Learn front-end frameworks and tools. Learn back-end tools and languages. Learn full stack development tools and frameworks. These are the steps that you would have followed through.
But that does not mean that you have mastered them. It is easy to learn some new tech. But that is not the same at being great at it. Select one or two of each type of technology and become adept at it.
These core skills should be the focus of your job search. When you use your portfolio and resume to highlight these, you have greater chances at making a positive impression on the interviewer.
Find your own projects
Yes, you do need more projects. Taking online courses on full stack web development where you work on 5–6 projects is a good start. It is enough for a good portfolio. But, for a great portfolio, you need to have to find your own projects. Maybe, even create your own model requirements and work on it as a full project
And always mention first the project(s) that you are currently working on. They are good conversation starters. Also, current projects and interests is a topic that is broached in every interview that you attend.
Keep multiple portfolios
Keeping multiple profiles is smart work. The projects showcased in the portfolios may be almost the same, but the highlights will be different and can be made to work in your favour. A single portfolio of work experiences is not of any use.
Keep one portfolio for each position and each skill set that is required. Add or remove projects based on the skill profile. Check out the roadmap to full stack web development skills to learn.
Update job board profiles and LinkedIn profile to match your application
This might not relate directly to creating a portfolio, but it is a key hack to get a job. Your paper and online persona must match. Every recruiter will definitely go through your LinkedIn profile and visit our online portfolio. Mismatch in the details will look bad on your part.
Update your portfolio, often!
Ideally, you should modify/update your portfolio for every job you apply. Other times, update your portfolio periodically. Do not forget to update your LinkedIn while you make any changes to the portfolio.
Additionally, as a full stack developer, you are in a position to be learning new skills. You have to keep yourself updated with new technology and can add these to your portfolio.
Know the market
The requirements of every industry differs. The IT industry is not the only industry hiring web developers. Sort through job listings from various job boards. Search through the company’s professional presence. Research in-depth about their needs. Design your portfolio such that they see a solution to their requirements in your skills.
Keep track of your certifications
Portfolios are a great medium not just to showcase your skills but also informed of the fact that you have certifications for those skills. This is in addition to mentioning your certifications in your resume.
Include misc details about you
Add your career goals, work philosophy and resume and skill zone. Don’t forget to post your contact details as well as a link to your resume and LinkedIn profile. Also, link your portfolio to your git.
Certifications, degrees, awards, even transcripts of college, professional memberships are good to be mentioned. You can also attach about your community services experience( a flyer or some material regarding whom you worked with.
Practice speaking about it
Though not technically a part of creating a portfolio, this last step is equally important as the rest of it. You are done with your portfolio for that particular job. The next thing is to prepare how you’re going to explain it to the interviewer.
This is a very crucial step and is to avoid unintentional mistake of talking about projects that you have not used in this portfolio but have used for another job interview. This will also help you gain confidence and communicate more effectively with the hiring manager.
Summary:
A portfolio is a collection of your best works that you are going to send/show the interviewer along with your resume.
You need a portfolio to set you apart from other candidates.
Keep multiple portfolios depending upon the type of job you are searching for.
Your strengths and skills must shine through your projects along with your creativity.
Don’t forget to add your contact details and professional profile. | https://medium.com/@crampeteb/tips-for-creating-a-great-full-stack-developer-portfolio-dd7d6c7296d2 | [] | 2020-07-17 09:41:42.612000+00:00 | ['Careers', 'Front End Development', 'Full Stack', 'Backend', 'Framework'] |
Single Men Pitch Themselves To Me On Shark Tank | Trophy by Emily Clouse
Single Men Pitch Themselves To Me On Shark Tank
This Shark is ready to settle — I mean, invest!
Don’t worry. I don’t bite. (Photo by Moon on Unsplash)
Narrator:
Tonight, hopeful men will enter the Shark Tank with the goal of getting an emotional investment. The dudes must convince the Shark to invest the full amount they’re asking for, or they’ll walk away with nothing.
Who is the Shark? She’s a self-made thousandaire who’s helped hundreds of men nationwide realize their glaring lack of potential. The Shark is on a never-ending, painstaking quest to find the best guys in America, and if she hears a great idea or sees a fine-ass gentleman, she’s prepared to make a deal.
Narrator:
First into the tank is Ryan, a classic fuckboy seeking something casual in exchange for 10% of his time.
Ryan:
What’s up, Shark? I’m Ryan, and I’m the CEO and co-founder of MY DICK. Haha, naw, but really––I’m just here for some quality intercourse. I have 557 Instagram followers, so you know I’m legit, and I love women, but strictly in a sexual way.
Me:
Ryan, I’d likely invest in you on the packaging alone. But you are definitely never going to reply to my texts or let me come first, so for those reasons, I am out.
Narrator:
Next up is Alex, a people-pleaser looking for someone to walk all over him in exchange for unconditional love.
Alex:
My sole purpose on this earth? To please you, girl. I’ll never ask for anything in return––except…maybe the occasional handjob. No? That’s cool. I’ll still take millions of pics of you for Insta, and won’t even cry hard when you don’t tag me. Maybe a classic dry hump if you’re into it, though? No? Cool, cool. I’ll just be here, waiting for you, like a little human houseplant.
Me:
While I am very into the idea of an Instagram Boyfriend, what you have is a product, not a business. Plus, all my houseplants are dead. So for those reasons, Alex, I am out.
Narrator:
Next into the tank is Kevin, a self-described Jesus-lookalike with a six-pack. He is seeking shelter in exchange for sex with him.
Kevin:
Yo —
Me:
Kevin, your six-pack is actually just five Bud Lights and for those reasons, I am out…of your league.
Narrator:
Up next is Nick, a health-conscious short king seeking similar for 50% of his time.
Nick:
Hi, I’m Nick! I do Crossfit and eat paleo, but I don’t like to talk about it. I’ve been paleo for 2 years and 4 months, and I’ve been doing Crossfit for 3 years and 9.5 months, but that’s not like, WHO I am. My BFFs and I get together most days of the week to eat like cavemen and throw kettlebells at each other, but incredibly regimented dating is important to me, too.
Me:
Nick, your business model doesn’t work for me. While this investment would diversify my portfolio, I love carbs and hate working out too much to dilute my personal brand, so for those reasons, I am out…of shape.
Narrator:
Fred is a sensitive, recently divorced mama’s boy who wants any attention in exchange for literally anything.
Fred:
Me:
OK, you cannot stop sobbing. For those reasons, Fred, I am out…of tissues.
Narrator:
Carl is a seasoned creative director and Jessica is a crystal healer. They are seeking a third in exchange for weird glances at parties.
Carl:
We are a polyamorous pair looking to complete our throuple. In the last year alone, many have been eager to participate in our intimate bedroom gatherings, and —
Me:
While it seems you have a fair amount of sales, I don’t think this business is scalable. For those reasons, I am out…of my comfort zone.
Narrator:
Next up is Larry, a 31-year-old bachelor from Tampa —
Me:
No. Absolutely not. Larry, you are unironically wearing a shirt that says FLORIDA MAN, holding a jar of bath salts, and clearly in your late 50s. For those reasons, you are being escorted out of here.
Narrator:
Last into the tank is Paul, a subtle mansplainer with big dick energy, seeking a 50/50 partnership, 25% of the time.
Paul:
I’m Paul, and I’ll give it to you real quick — ha, said that before! I’m a go-getter in between jobs. I’ve got a few lowkey secrets, but I’ll surprise you with those once we’re exclusive. Moms love me. Dads, too — no homo.
Me:
Paul, you have a ton of red flags. But I’m willing to overlook them in exchange for a 6–12 month deal, as I am exhausted and ready to settle — er, invest. For that particular reason, let’s go out!
Narrator:
Shark, my, uh, wife is actually out of town this weekend, so I was wondering––
Me:
I’d literally, literally, rather be eaten by sharks. For infinite reasons, I am out…of the game forever! | https://medium.com/slackjaw/single-men-pitch-themselves-to-me-on-shark-tank-de5a77e43c46 | ['Sara K. Runnels'] | 2019-11-08 06:18:41.438000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Satire', 'Humor', 'Business', 'Dating'] |
Software Defined Instrument (AI based Software as Medical Device), CLARA case study | More AI based platforms are available for medical device development. Here is an illustration how to use such platform. Also, the product differentiation will be depended on the “content”.
Original post released on Oct. 20, 2020, at Linkedin.
According to Bio Taiwan committee conference on 9/1, this topic is introduced by Eunice Chiu of Nvidia shown as attached.
Cited from lecturer, any form factor is described for software defined instrument. My preliminary understanding may be analogous to Labview by NI (National Instruments).
Both Nvidia and NI can be considered as platform to integrate instruments as operational network. Nvidia integrates AI, IOMT (internet of medical thing), and edge in the platform basis. The scale is significantly different.
I was triggered with the concept, and conduct a walk-through analysis to see how to implant the idea and what can be explored? It is just for personal leisure.
Step 1. Understanding the platform
I went to the Nvidia’s page and try to under the core of platform, which is Clara as shown in the following.
https://developer.nvidia.com/clara
I choose Clara for Medical Imaging as my research top, and the following diagram illustrate the application flow clearly.
Step 2 Pick up my interest
First of all, I get rid of the embedded application as following.
It is due to the thought as below.
(1) I can not develop a universal embedded application for any brand’s imaging device since each system employ different framework, and it makes regulatory tasks extremely complicated with risk management and system validation. And it is just for one model.
(2) It is highly preferred to make front-end sensing instrument simple and reliable. Maybe some pre-processing tasks can be done in the front end, still, leaving complicated tasks to high power computing end.
Based on the above concept, I will prefer to develop software package in the high power computing end like cloud or dedicated GPU computer. To be precise, it will be a software module integrated to #PACS/RIS system to provide radiologist the aide of clinical assessment.
Step 3 Intended Use
By benchmarking the market available product, HealthPNX of Zebra Medical Vision is the one close to product of my interest. The 510K can be referred as the following link.
https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/cdrh_docs/pdf19/K190362.pdf
The intended use /Indication for use is shown as following.
The product code is QFM in FDA with following information.
https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfpcd/classification.cfm?id=5548
Step 4 Development
For those company familiar with FDA regulation, the first step is to follow FDA guideline, “Guidance for the Content of Premarket Submissions for Software Contained in Medical Device”.
https://www.fda.gov/media/73065/download
It is an “harmonized” standard for both FDA and IEC-62304 for CE. The idea is similar to the principle of design control for medical device by FDA. Risk analysis must be applied, and traceability analysis is needed.
Next, this AI application is based on the foundation of Clara, and then we need to check if definition of Off The Shelf (OTS) software is applicable. In fact, I am not familiar with the structure of Clara, and suggest every developer should check the following.
https://www.fda.gov/media/71794/download
Since FDA had started discussion paper regarding AI and Machine learning based software as medical device, it will be better to check what in FDA’s mind.
https://www.fda.gov/media/122535/download
There is a description of Total Product Life Cycle (TPLC) illustrated by FDA as below.
It is the extension of “Guidance for the Content of Premarket Submissions for Software Contained in Medical Device” in consideration of the nature of AI or Machine learning. According to FDA, This proposed regulatory approach would apply to only those AI/ML basedSaMD that require premarket submission.
Step 5: Submission for clearance or certificate and another life cycle
The previous step are focused with FDA clearance. However, for CE certificate, IEC-62304 must be followed, and above-mentioned “harmonized” standard for most firmware based medical device will not be sufficient. In IEC-62304, configuration management of software are highly emphasized. Thus, the developer must follow up the Clara framework quite carefully, and track down any update/upgrade of framework. As shown in TPLC approach, data re-training will be continuous work , and it hints importance of software configuration management.
Observations:
After this walk-through of software product development, there are some interesting findings.
(1) Clara appears to be a powerful tool. But it is accessible to everyone, and how does my work differentiate to others? It is believed that the annotation contents will make the difference. Thus, such platform may favor “content provider” most.
(2) Maybe there will be one more step for Clara as following.
https://www.fda.gov/media/119722/download
It is Software Pre-Cert Program and TPLC approach applied. It may be another corner stone for similar AI/Machine learning platform in medical application.
Note(10/24/2020): If NVIDIA’s goal is to provide a development platform for AI medical imaging, just like Microsoft’s Visual Studio Framework. In fact, the major difference will be regulatory issue like 510K since the end product is considered as medical device. In fact, such platform idea for medical device had been promoted by MCU supplier like TI. For example, application design and schematic had been provided. It is not quite a success, and regulatory issue is one of the main reason.
In this case, it is believed that this model will work better if the followings are provided. (1) A reference design with 510K clearance is available, which can be served for the purpose of substantially equivalence. (2) Then, based on above design, an “open source” regulatory reference package including IEC 62304 documents, ISO 14971 risk management report, pivot performance study report, and etc.
If Nvidia can be considered as the platform such as Netflix, then the developer of this platform will be content provider, for instance producer of Queen’s Gambit.
Thus, developers can focus the effort in product differentiation by introducing proprietary learning models, which will be the content of this platform. It may facilitate the fabrication of an ecosystem for medical imaging solution. | https://medium.com/%E9%86%AB%E7%99%82%E5%99%A8%E6%9D%90%E5%B7%A5%E4%BD%9C%E8%80%85%E9%9A%A8%E7%AD%86/software-defined-instrument-ai-based-sw-as-medical-device-27a313a404b0 | ['Vance Chang'] | 2021-04-26 13:40:14.398000+00:00 | ['Clara', 'Medical Device', 'Software Defined I', 'AI', 'Nvidia'] |
Data Analysis on US Foodborne Outbreak Incident in 1998–2018 | Food is one of the necessary things in our daily life. With economic growth, people value the safety of food more. Although the government had passed many acts related to food safety as time goes by, roughly one in six (or 48 million) people in the United States get sick from eating contaminated food every year. More than 250 pathogens and toxins have been known to cause foodborne diseases, and almost all of them can cause an outbreak. Through this analysis project, we can review the status of food safety in the US.
Photo from Yale School of Public Health (shorturl.at/beghC)
Outline
Introduction
Goal
Data Preparation
Exploratory Data Analysis
Model Training & Evaluation
US Heatmap
Conclusion
Introduction
A foodborne disease outbreak occurs when two or more people get the same illness from the same contaminated food or drink. While most foodborne illnesses are not part of a recognized outbreak, outbreaks provide important information on how germs spread, which foods cause illness, and how to prevent infection.
In this project, all the code was conducted on the Google Colab Notebook. The following links are the source code uploaded to Github.
FoodBorne Event Dataset
In all 50 states, public health agencies, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, and Freely Associated States have primary responsibility for identifying and investigating outbreaks and using a standard form to report outbreaks voluntarily to CDC. During 1998–2018, reporting was made through the electronic Foodborne Outbreak Reporting System (eFORS).
This dataset provides data on foodborne disease outbreaks reported to CDC from 1998 through 2015. Data fields include year, state (outbreaks occurring in more than one state are listed as “multistate”), the location where the food was prepared, reported food vehicle and contaminated ingredient, etiology (the pathogen, toxin, or chemical that caused the illnesses), status (whether the etiology was confirmed or suspected), total illnesses, hospitalizations, and fatalities. In many outbreak investigations, a specific food vehicle is not identified; for these outbreaks, the food vehicle variable is blank.
US Population dataset
The US population dataset comes from the US Census Bureau.
Goal
There are some question and goal we want to find out through this project: | https://medium.com/@cyc-tw/data-analysis-on-us-waterborne-outbreak-incident-in-4814d6b682a3 | ['Chi-Yun Chen'] | 2020-12-22 20:18:43.060000+00:00 | ['Public Health', 'Data Analysis', 'Food Outbreakdata'] |
Text can be beautiful | Identifying company commitments with SpaCy
In order to understand what companies are actively doing and committing to doing, we will need to create an intelligent way of identifying such commitments in each Modern Slavery return.
A typical return will include a lot of non-relevant information such as background on the Company and the Modern Slavery Act. Thankfully using the SpaCy NLP library, we can filter these out using its powerful matching features.
The problem with text matching is that it can quickly become burdensome, even when using techniques like regular expression. The issue is all of the different combinations of phrases you need to consider when looking to find even a simple pattern. For example, we are interested in identifying phrases which contain statements like:
"We are committed to..."
However the below phrases would be of interest as well, how can we include these in our analysis without having to write code for every example?
"We promise to"
"We have committed to"
"We will continue to"
"[COMPANY NAME] has committed to"
"[COMPANY NAME] has implemented"
Part of Speech matching
The matching engine in SpaCy allows you to use Part of Speech (POS) tags to match phrases to a specific pattern, for example, rather than searching for specific words, we could filter for a sequence of POS tags:
PRON, VERB, VERB
This matching identifies the following phrase from a snippet from a Modern Slavery return:
Even using a very simple POS filter we can identify phrases which denote commitments made from businesses in their Modern Slavery returns. The match here is highlighted in yellow.
SpaCy even provides an online tool for helping to build and review the results of different rules:
SpaCy’s rule based matcher
It does not take long at all to create a set of rules which produce good results. The below code implements these rules and returns the whole sentence where a result has been identified:
def collect_sents(matcher, doc, i, matches):
match_id, start, end = matches[i]
span = doc[start:end] # Matched span
sent = span.sent # Sentence containing matched span
# Append mock entity for match in displaCy style to matched_sents
# get the match span by ofsetting the start and end of the span with the
# start and end of the sentence in the doc
match_ents = [{
"start": span.start_char - sent.start_char,
"end": span.end_char - sent.start_char,
"label": "MATCH",
}]
matched_sents.append({"text": sent.text, "ents": match_ents})
matcher = Matcher(nlp.vocab)
#this type of pattern matching requires SpaCy >2.1: pattern = [{'POS': {'IN': ['PROPN', 'PRON']}, 'LOWER': {'NOT_IN': ['they','who','you','it','us']} },
{'POS': 'VERB', 'LOWER': {'NOT_IN': ['may','might','could']} },
{'POS': {'IN': ['VERB', 'DET']}, 'LOWER': {'NOT_IN': ['a']}}]
matcher.add("commit", collect_sents, pattern) pattern = [{'POS': {'IN': ['PROPN','PRON']}, 'LOWER': {'NOT_IN': ['they','who','you','it','us']} },
{'POS': 'VERB', 'LOWER': {'NOT_IN': ['may','might','could']}},
{'POS': 'ADJ'},
{'POS': 'ADP'}]
matcher.add("commit", collect_sents, pattern)
How are different industries tackling Modern Slavery?
Now that we have a set statements filtered for commitments and actions from company submissions what can this tell us about how different industries are responding to Modern Slavery?
For this analysis we will use the fantastic ScatterText library developed by Jason Kessler.
This uses a simple, yet powerful approach to find key words and phrases which separate two categories of text. The results can then be output easily into an interactive visualisation.
The below code filters our modern slavery returns to two high-risk industries: Construction and Retail. It then creates a corpus of text for use in the scatter text visualisation:
#select industries to compare:
ind1 = 'Specialty Retail'
ind2 = 'Construction & Engineering' #Filter into a new df with 3 columns one for industry, one for company and the third containing the text
ftr = (df['Industry'] == ind1) | (df['Industry'] == ind2)
df_corp = df.loc[ftr]
df_corp = df_corp[['Industry','Company','clean text']] #Create a scattertext corpus from the df:
corpus = st.CorpusFromPandas( df_corp,
category_col='Industry',
text_col='clean text',
nlp=nlp).build()
Once this is complete, we can run the below to create an interactive scattertext output:
html = st.produce_scattertext_explorer(corpus,
category='Construction & Engineering',
category_name='Construction & Engineering',
not_category_name=ind1,
width_in_pixels=1600)
open("MS-Visualization.html", 'wb').write(html.encode('utf-8'))
HTML(html)
This produces the following output: | https://towardsdatascience.com/text-can-be-beautiful-226ea089513a | ['Josh Taylor'] | 2019-11-22 20:55:41.251000+00:00 | ['Visualization', 'Modern Slavery', 'Machine Learning', 'Python', 'NLP'] |
Tableau vs Power BI | In a world that treats data as the new oil, investigation and representation have become the secret weapons. There is vital competition expanding as an ever-increasing number of business tools are entering the market. To remain on top, one single tool must be intended to convey a blend of characteristics, for example, brand acknowledgment, usability, and cost. Is it true that you are considering what all devices are actually coordinating these guidelines? Allow me to get into the detail of Power BI versus Tableau
Since their commencement, the two tools have progressed significantly in Data Analytics and have become the pioneers among Business Intelligence tools. The blog draws a correlation between the two and highlights their importance in the field.
Tableau
Data-driven narrating has become the new dialect for associations. Scene produces perceptions as reasonable dashboards, reports, and worksheets. This clears route for the simple perusing of complex data with no specialized technical knowledge and draws experiences valuable for the income and development of the business.
Power BI
It is a Business Intelligence tool that allows users to extract and modify data from a multitude of sources, be it Excel files, images, videos, etc., into insightful reports and interactive dashboards. Data analysis and visualization have various techniques and methods of conveying the information in data to the users. Power BI is deployed for the cleaning and integration of complex data and identifying underlying trends and patterns to run ad-hoc queries.
Tableau vs Power BI Trend
Contrast Between Power BI and Tableau
Each venture has its own arrangement of objectives and targets set to build its income and drive its development the correct way. We will talk about some significant regions where Power BI and Tableau show significant differences in assisting associations with accomplishing their objectives. We should get into Power BI versus Tableau in different particular perspectives.
Plainly, from the above Microsoft Power BI versus Tableau conversation, you can make out which tool will serve you more, obviously thinking about your prerequisites. A new user, who isn’t a Data Analyst, will incline toward Power BI over Tableau as the last isn’t as natural and orders more exertion in learning. Thus, Power BI victories as far as usability and simplicity. However, with regards to speed and ability to deal with complex data, Tableau is the sought-after one. There is an assurance on the nature of representations users can create utilizing Tableau, particularly for medium to huge endeavors that have no impediment on spending on human resources.
Here I have brought to you just the Power BI versus Tableau upsides and downsides. There are different choices too to browse as a Business Intelligence tool for your endeavor. In any case, presently you have enough information to pick Power BI or Tableau | https://medium.com/@vigneshthulasidass/tableau-vs-power-bi-71a3603b559e | ['Vignesh Thulasi Dass'] | 2020-12-24 16:09:53.201000+00:00 | ['Data Visualization', 'Tableau', 'Business Intelligence', 'Power Bi', 'Data Analysis'] |
E-COMMERCE CASE STUDY: HELP LOCAL BUSINESS TO IMPROVE THEIR ONLINE PRESENCE | Do you buy plants online? If not, now you will!
Unsplash
DISCOVER
Based in France, our team decided to focus on a French brand: Bergamotte.
Market research
Bergamotte is specialized in high-end plants and flowers selling online and engaged in sustainability.
Their customers are millennials and adults using online shopping, who wants to buy originals creations in a practical way.
Features Analysis
By looking into their competitors (Interflora, Aquarelle, France Fleurs), we noticed that Bergamotte differs in several ways:
The catalog does not include any filters to target the research on the website;
to target the research on the website; Score reviews from former clients are absent from the website;
from former clients are absent from the website; Though most of their competitors include live chat assistance , Bergamotte only provide an email address to contact them;
, Bergamotte only provide an email address to contact them; When ordering a product, the user account does not provide live package delivery tracking.
Brand Analysis
With the same group of competitors, we did a brand analysis to develop a Market positioning map.
Market positioning map
Based on the value proposition, audience, type of products, and brand guidelines we concluded that Bergamotte intends to provide premium quality products, as well as an innovative approach with sustainable choices.
Interviews
Now that we had further understandings of the brand and the market, we decided to deepen our understandings of the challenges by interviewing a stakeholder and four users.
Because of confidentiality matters, we could not gather a lot from the stakeholder but what we understand is that mostly the business works fine but the covid situation (especially the first lockdown) had great effects on deliveries.
In term of the user’s point of view, our interviews had lead us to several conclusions:
customers need precise information and transparency about delivery;
about delivery; filtering options are necessary to navigate efficiently in the website’s catalog.
DEFINE
Now that we gathered all of these useful insights, we wanted to create a persona that is a target user of Bergamotte’s website that we named Flower Flora.
Persona
And to visualize clearly her “ups and downs” emotions, we created a fictive journey map where she wants to buy flowers for her grandmother.
Journey map
This allowed us to understand Flower Flora's goals and frustrations, as well as where to find design opportunities to answer her issues.
As UX/UI designers our goals were to answer these questions:
How might we help her to find easily the flowers she wants?
How might we make her waiting time for delivery more enjoyable?
How might we provide her more transparency in the delivery steps?
DEVELOP
So we started brainstorming and ideate on different features to add to the website or the general experience of our user.
Because it is easy to get lost in the process and the huge amount of ideas everyone can have in this step, we decided to prioritize our ideas by using a MOSCOW matrix.
MOSCOW matrix
This allowed us to understand what the website must have no matter what, should have ideally, could have in a later launch, and won’t have because it is not that useful for the user.
So we had a clear vision of what our MVP (minimal viable product) is. The website must include a smooth research process of the products, and provide clear information on the delivery as well as quick access to client service.
In term of features, this implies:
filters to search in the catalog;
to search in the catalog; live delivery tracking (status bar / API) on every phase, directly on Bergamotte’s website;
(status bar / API) on every phase, directly on Bergamotte’s website; Live chat (first launch).
DELIVER
In order to deliver a proper prototype and test it, we firstly had to audit the actual website.
Information architecture
You can see below the actual Bergamotte’s site map.
Site map (As Is)
Later on, we thought about several user flows and how that would be illustrated in term of tasks for the user, and this is how it looks like:
User flow (To Be)
Prototyping
We now have a precise vision of the different tasks the user has to do in order to buy a plant (based on the user flow choose here).
Mid-Fi prototype
So as with any UX project, it is necessary to start sketching by hand prototype to be before going to mid-fi.
What is good by doing gradual fidelity is that before going on the next step, we can test and iterate without losing too much time and money. So this is what we did and we had to change several things such as button’s positions and title size before prototyping our high fidelity prototype below.
Hi-fi visuals including colors palette, typography, and screenshots of the prototype
This is how our final Hi-Fi prototype looks like: | https://medium.com/@carla-fischer/e-commerce-case-study-help-local-business-to-improve-their-online-presence-850a0db59146 | ['Carla Fischer'] | 2020-12-22 14:27:10.710000+00:00 | ['Website', 'Prototype', 'Plants', 'Design Thinking', 'Ecommerce'] |
The Bizarre Tale of Two Anagrams | On 25th July 1610, Galileo discovered that ‘Saturn has two moons’ and that they moved in unison with it. Still and sure of his unsubstantiated theory, Galileo wanted to reach out to Kepler for his opinion while still being secretive from the Church. Therefore, he sent Kepler a letter in a coded description of his latest discovery.
smaismrmilmepoetaleumibunenugttauiras
Which when rearranged forms: ltissimum planetam tergeminum observavi
English translation: I have observed the most distant planet (Saturn) to have a triple form.
Now, it was Kepler’s onus to decrypt. Kepler was a born riddle solver and after much hard work deciphered Galileo’s string of characters as:
Salve umbistineum geminatum Martia proles
Be greeted, double knob, children of Mars
In other words, Kepler deduced from the latter that, ‘Mars has two moons’.
Of course, Galileo’s message had nothing to do with Mars, but this bizarre coincidence resulted in Kepler deducing that Mars has two moons, which in fact is true! | https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/the-bizarre-tale-of-two-anagrams-f68a8ee7930a | ['Kamna Kabir'] | 2020-08-04 15:43:15.543000+00:00 | ['Trivia', 'Science', 'Coincidence', 'History', 'Astronomy'] |
A Free Instagram Automation Bot for Growing Your Follower Base | A Free Instagram Automation Bot for Growing Your Follower Base
The bot will follow people, like the posts and comment as well
Selenium bot logging in on Instagram — Image by author
Note: This bot was created purely for educational purposes. Bot creation on platforms such as Instagram is considered a violation of their terms and conditions. Doing so may result in your account being banned, and possible legal action taken against you.
I have been looking for a simple automation script/source code which I can just copy and use to automate my instagram account. The primary purpose of automation was learning but I also wanted to increase my following on Insta. Sure, there are online services that are selling Instagram followers and can give you 1000 to 5000 followers in a day, but soon I learned that most of these followers are useless because (i) When you have done the payment the follower count drops a lot later on (ii) Most of those followers are just bots and fake accounts so there is not much boost in engagement
So instead of buying followers, the automation is a far better option which will increase your follower base organically or technically semi-organically without spending a penny. I even found some automation scripts. But either they were paid, and the ones free were outdated or just performed basic steps like opening the browser or logging in on Instagram. So I decided to write a simplest script myself which will also like, follow and comment on the posts which will increase our visibility hence follower base and make easier for our target audience to find us.
Things to Remember About Instagram Automation
Instagram UI changes a lot a small change in the position of a button may cause your script to fail (that is the reason that only a couple months old script were failing to locate elements as well)
I have given some configuration variables in the script which you can alter to speed up the growth of your account, but that also makes your account vulnerable to be marked as spam. As I have seen people try to get 500 followers a day from new account. People get notifications and eventually get banned for spamming as well. So just keep it as slow as possible. Following 30 to 50 people a day is not a bad idea for a fresh account.
Plus Points of the Script
It is built on Python, one of the easiest programming languages. So you can understand this article pretty easily as well as run this script on your laptop and use your own instagram account
I have added the extensive comments in the script, so it will help you understand the code as well
I have used print commands extensively so you know which part of your code is executing
It pauses for few seconds after every action, but interesting part is that it waits for random number seconds and not just hardcoded number of seconds as seen in other scripts
Workflow of the Script
Here is the high level overview of what the script does:
Opens the browser Goes to instagram.com Tries to login using credentials you added in .env file Go to the first hashtag mentioned in the script Selects the first post of that hashtag If already liked moves to the next picture otherwise, proceeds to the next steps Likes the picture. Follows the user/author of the post, if not following already. Optionally comment based on the set probability. The bot will choose comment randomly as set in the commentsList (the more comments you add the better) Moves to the next post, and repeat actions 7 and 8 till the number of posts mentioned Moves to the next hashtag and repeat actions 5 to 9 until all hashtags are done Script completed. Prints a small report showing the number of follows, likes and comments
Before You Get Started:
Optionally, you have to set these variables in the script:
Install pip, it is used for downloading further python packages/libraries easily (you can install pip alongwith Python)
Once you have pip, you need to install required libraries. Open command prompt or terminal depending on your OS, and run the following command
pip install selenium python-dotenv
Install either Geckodriver (if you want to run on Firefox) or Chrome driver (if you want to run on Google Chrome)from the drivers list here. Here, we are using Firefox
Change the configuration variables of hashtag list (usually relevant hashtags, the ones that your competitors are using), generic comments list from which the bot will choose one for every post randomly (the more comments the better), number of posts you want to engage, and probability of commenting on a post in the configuration section as shown below
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.keys import Keys
from time import sleep, strftime
from random import randint
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv
load_dotenv()
import datetime ########## Change the below configuration variables hashtag_list = [ 'dailyquotes', 'quoteoftheday'] # 'deepthoughts', 'dailyinspiration', 'inpired', 'selfgrowth', 'motivationalthoughts', 'bepositive', 'dailymotivation', 'personalgrowth'] # Change this to your own tags commentsList = ['Really cool!', 'Nice work ❤️', '👏👏', 'wow 👏', 'well said', 'so cool! 🙌', '❤️', 'lovely 😍', 'amazing 👌', 'amazing', 'wow ❤️', 'well said 👏', '👏👏👏👏', 'Nice!', 'nice 🔥', 'feels good 😍', 'Good job! 😊', '❤️🔥🔥😍', 'thoughtful 👌', 'thatz deep', 'intense 💯', '😊😊', 'i will take it as quote of the day','too much motivation 👌','very inspiring ❤️🔥'] total_posts = 5 # per hashtag comment_percentage = 70 ########## Change above configuration variables
Running The Script
Now you just need two files. instabot.py (the main script) and .env file (where you enter your username and password), you can get both these files from this Github repo.
Here is the main portion of source code:
for hashtag in hashtag_list: print('===>On hashtag: ', hashtag) tag += 1 webdriver.get('https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/'+ hashtag_list[tag] + '/') sleep(randint(2,4)) first_thumbnail = webdriver.find_element_by_xpath('//*[@id="react-root"]/section/main/article/div[1]/div/div/div[1]/div[1]/a/div')
print("===>Clicking first post of the hashtag",hashtag) first_thumbnail.click() sleep(randint(1,2)) try: for x in range(1,total_posts+1): print('Hashtag: ', hashtag, 'Post: ', x) # If we already like, then do nothing with the post, go to next post alreadyLike = webdriver.find_elements_by_xpath( "//section/span/button/div/span[*[local-name()='svg']/@aria-label='Like']") if len(alreadyLike) == 1: print('===>Following the user if we have follow button') button_follow = webdriver.find_element_by_xpath("//button[text()='Follow']") if button_follow.text == 'Follow' : print("===following user now in few seconds") sleep(randint(4,6)) button_follow.click() followed += 1 else: print("===>No follow button available, so skipping the following") # Liking the picture print('===>Liking the picture') sleep(randint(1,2)) button_like = webdriver.find_element_by_xpath('/html/body/div[5]/div[2]/div/article/div[3]/section[1]/span[1]/button') button_like.click() likes += 1
# Comments and tracker comm_prob = randint(1,10) print('===>Trying to comment if probability is found to be more than',comment_percentage) print('===>Probability found to be: ', comm_prob*10) if comm_prob > comment_percentage/10: waitTime = randint(1,8) print('===>So commenting') sleep(randint(1,8))
webdriver.find_element_by_xpath( '/html/body/div[5]/div[2]/div/article/div[3]/section[1]/span[2]/button').click() sleep(randint(2,4)) comment_box = webdriver.find_element_by_xpath('/html/body/div[5]/div[2]/div/article/div[3]/section[3]/div/form/textarea') commentIndex = randint(0,len(commentsList)-1) print('===>printing comment number {0}, which is {1}'.format(commentIndex+1, commentsList[commentIndex])) comment_box.send_keys(commentsList[commentIndex]) sleep(1)
# Enter to post comment comment_box.send_keys(Keys.ENTER) comments += 1 print('===>Commented! now waiting few seconds') sleep(randint(3,6)) else: print('===>Skipping commenting, since probability is low')
Future Improvements
Here are the few things that I will improve upon, and if you want you can contribute as well by raising a pull request on Github repo.
Refactor and restructure the code
Add feature to unfollow people that we followed, in chronological order
Based on a given list of usernames (like that of celebrities or competitors), follow their followers and like their recent posts
Whenever a competitor post something on insta, like their post and add comments
Whenever the script raises exception, an email should be sent to the admin immediately with details of the exception
Conclusion
We have built an Instagram bot that is surely going to give you a followers boost. The usual follow back ratio on my account is one-fifth or one-fourth but it can be more or less depending upon how good your instagram profile is and how relevant audience you targeted. You can set the configuration variables to improve the growth, but just be cautious, don’t be greedy. You should increase the flux after a week or more. Stay tuned if you want more such scripts for automating your social media accounts.
Coming up next, automation of: | https://medium.com/python-in-plain-english/a-free-instagram-bot-for-growing-your-follower-base-f7c52d8ad0ab | ['Owais Ali'] | 2020-12-12 10:03:35.357000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Programming', 'Selenium', 'Automation', 'Social Media'] |
物聯網數據儲存與分析(下) | Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more
Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore | https://medium.com/softchef-blog-cn/%E7%89%A9%E8%81%AF%E7%B6%B2%E6%95%B8%E6%93%9A%E5%84%B2%E5%AD%98%E8%88%87%E5%88%86%E6%9E%90-%E4%B8%8B-c7195790f54 | ['Minche Tsai'] | 2020-11-20 10:13:36.559000+00:00 | ['Redshift', 'IoT', 'Tableau', 'Business Intelligence', 'Softchef'] |
On Writing: Deadlines, Discipline, and Dedication to Your Work | You wake up worrying about getting to work on time, about making it to that meeting, about turning in that work that has been piling up on your desk, and you ask yourself: “When have I written last?” I had a moment like this quite recently, when work seemed to take over my time, and before I knew it I had been completely submerged in everything I didn’t necessarily want to be doing, wishing I had a way to sit down and let myself be creative. I knew that it would be too difficult to try to implement a writing session after the workday, because I know how tired I am when I return home, and I also know how many other things I need to do upon walking through my front door, and how daunting they can all be. So, I decided it was time to make a change. I woke up one morning tired of the way my everyday life was progressing, so I made a decision to do more even if there was no time do so — or so I thought.
I got serious about my writing, I treated it like a job, not a hobby. I began by simply working on my current projects during my break/lunchtime at work, and that led into me waking a bit earlier to get back to work, or sectioning out a good chunk of my time every day to do the one thing that makes me the happiest and this had an incredible affect on my mood, productivity, and overall way of life.I stopped wishing “I could write” and started deciding that writing was exactly what I planned on doing. I worked hard at my novel, set a deadline to finish editing it so I could move forward, I take my time drafting blog posts and articles every week, and I exercise my creativity through short stories and poetry as much as possible. There was a time I felt that this wouldn’t be possible, that it was just wishful thinking, but I made the decision to begin and I remained dedicated to make it a constant in my day-to-day life. For such a long time, all I wanted to do was be consistent — and I found a way to do that by just changing my perspective, thinking of writing as something that needed to be done, but also something I wanted to do as much as I possibly could.
If you’re struggling to implement writing into your daily routine, and it is really and truly something you want, you will find the time to do so. Waking up an hour earlier may seem to be unsettling to some, impossible to others, but that extra hour of creative work can really change your entire day. Give your creative work the dedication, time, and effort it deserves to flourish. Even if you only have fifteen minutes to spare, those fifteen minutes could spark an idea that would eventually bloom into something you’re undoubtedly proud of.
So, set your deadlines. Schedule writing sessions in like meetings that cannot be missed, and find a way to incorporate it into your day-to-day life that works best for you. One thing that has noticeably helped me is that I set up my writing sessions like a meeting whenever I can. I take the extra time to lay out what I need, to make notes before I begin, to journal a bit to discuss where I’d like it to go (but only for about ten minutes) so that the chunk of my writing session is spent actually writing. I learned what worked for me from years of trial and error, and I can safely say that now that I look back on those times, there is no place I’d rather be, there is no work I’d rather be doing. I wanted to write, but I didn’t have the discipline to work at it — now I do, because I’ve decided it’s time that I started calling myself a writer and work tirelessly at all of those goals that have seemed to remain untouched all these years. | https://writingcooperative.com/on-writing-deadlines-discipline-and-dedication-to-your-work-d4b3e85a79c3 | ['Anisa Nasir'] | 2019-04-15 05:31:00.693000+00:00 | ['Productivity', 'Writing Tips', 'Writing', 'Writers Life', 'Inspiration'] |
Best Roadmap Templates For Your 2021 Strategy Planning | Roadmap Templates For Your 2021 Strategy Planning
2021 is nearing, and it is time to think about how you will make the best of it. No matter what 2020 brought you, planning, an aspect so inherent and innate to business is the only thing that will help you out of a rut or sustain the growth you are enjoying right now.
This year, although difficult, has given us so many things to think about. It made us examine our existing business practices while laying bare all the misconceptions and problems affecting us. Hence, it is about time that we do the needful and plans for the next year by learning from what we faced in these past months. As you are working on your 2021 Business Roadmap, it is essential to effectively showcase your goals, objectives, and milestones to get your senior management or customers’ approval. Roadmap PowerPoint templates precisely to serve that purpose.
So, What are the Roadmap PowerPoint Templates?
Roadmap PowerPoint Templates are great for strategic planning and help everyone in the organization be on the same page by evoking a sense of direction. Roadmap templates help you integrate everyone’s efforts to achieve a common goal by clearly defining everyone’s role in achieving the said goal.
We will see several roadmap examples and roadmap diagrams that could be used to build a winning roadmap slide for your presentation. There is nothing better than a good roadmap slide to convince the audience of your strategic plan.
You can use Roadmap Slides for various strategic presentations. Here are a few creative roadmap examples for you to use in a variety of situations.
To Showcase Short Term Long Term Planning:
This roadmap PowerPoint template will help you map your short, medium, and long-term plans in a single slide. Thus, giving your audience a complete picture of your growth plans.
Roadmap Templates For Your 2021 Strategy Planning
View Business Planning Template
Roadmap PowerPoint templates are excellent for giving short and long-term perspectives of your strategy. You can also add a brief description for each goal, and you can also edit the colors as per your brand.
To Showcase Strategy Roadmap:
This strategy roadmap template PPT is a great choice for your strategy and annual planning presentation. This roadmap slide is apt for those who want to highlight overall goals and initiatives while throwing some light on its vision/mission.
Strategy Roadmap Templates
View Strategy Roadmap template
You can use such roadmap PowerPoint templates for workshops, business pitches, induction events, and seminars, and it will surely fetch you some curious and engaged eyes.
To Showcase Roadmap Milestones:
Use this roadmap powerpoint template to describe the major milestones of your business plan effectively. You can also give additional information by adding some bullet points below each milestone.
Milestone Roadmap Template
View Milestone Roadmap Template
Project managers can also use such Roadmap PowerPoint templates to showcase the different phases of their project development lifecycle process along with the timeline and milestones.
To Showcase Product Planning Roadmap:
This product roadmap template will help you outline the vision of your product. You can showcase your product’s evolution, and describe the factors that influence your product development and growth.
Product Roadmap Template
View Product Roadmap Template
Product Managers will derive high value out of this product roadmap template. This is a perfect product roadmap template describing the factors as well as the generations of the product in one single slide.
To Showcase Past — Present — Future Roadmap:
Use this business roadmap template to highlight the contrast between the past, present, and future. You can mention key monthly highlights to showcase your action plan.
Roadmap Template
View Past-Present-Future Template
This is an excellent roadmap template for building context and giving your audience an idea of how the company or project performed in the past and how it plans to achieve plans, goals, and objectives.
To Showcase Growth Plans:
Use this roadmap PowerPoint slide to map the growth of your product/company. You can assign growth drivers to each stage and explain their importance in deriving growth for the company/product.
Growth Roadmap Template
View Growth Curve Template
This growth roadmap can help you showcase all the growth drivers in one single template effectively. This is a fully editable PowerPoint template, you can edit the icons and colors also.
To Showcase Product Roadmap:
This is a great product roadmap slide that will help you throw some light on the significant product milestones. You can map various characteristics of your product or product development on a month-by-month basis.
Product Roadmap Template
View Product Roadmap Template
This product roadmap template enables you to showcase the planned product development activities over a period of time. You can showcase a lot of information in this slide template in an effective way.
To Showcase Business Transformation:
Use Sun Ray’s roadmap PowerPoint template that you can use to showcase your current and future state’s transition. You can set four categories and explain their transformation over a period of time.
Roadmap Template
View Sun Ray PPT Template
This template will cover all your forecasting needs wherein you will easily explain changes in business approach, market conditions, and much more as you grow.
To Showcase Career Growth Roadmap:
This visually engaging roadmap template is excellent for outlining the career growth of a particular position in a company. Whether you are giving a presentation to newly-hired candidates or explaining the career progression in your HR presentation, this template will come in handy.
Career Roadmap Template
View Employee Growth Templates
Professionals can also use these templates to showcase their personal growth in a particular job or field in interviews or client meetings.
Here is a free editable roadmap PowerPoint template for you to try.
Free Roadmap Template
View Free Roadmap Template
Conclusion:
Roadmaps and timelines are all about planning and goal setting. They will help you immensely in your plan-making endeavors. You can showcase your current status, future plans, and other personal goals you want to achieve over a defined period.
Visual representation of your roadmap ideas can help align your audience with your goals and objectives far more effectively than the textual bullet points. Browse our broad collection of Roadmap PowerPoint templates to build winning strategy presentations.
Now you don’t have to scour the web to find out the right templates. Download our PowerPoint Templates from within PowerPoint. See how?
About SlideUplift:
SlideUpLift is an online platform to help professionals make compelling presentations using principles of vision science and storytelling. The platform contains an online library of pre-designed presentation templates that can be used across industries and functions
Check out our library of free PowerPoint templates which are weekly updated to serve the presentation needs of professionals. You will find out the simplicity and ease in downloading the editable template, filling it with your content, and building world-class presentations in just a few clicks. | https://medium.com/@slideuplifts/creative-roadmap-powerpoint-templates-for-2021-business-planning-plus-free-roadmap-template-34c184abdae9 | [] | 2021-03-14 15:14:22.388000+00:00 | ['Product Management', 'Strategic Planning', 'Business Strategy', 'Roadmaps', 'Management And Leadership'] |
Your Bride in Reverse 2020 Holiday Survival Guide 😃 | Photo by Jeremiah Lawrence on Unsplash
As most of you know, my philosophy is when the going gets tough, the tough get creative and resilient, and ultimately pull themselves out of the hell they’re in.
And this, my friends, is exactly how I’m approaching the holiday season.
I managed to fly home and spend two weeks with my family over Thanksgiving. It was lovely and life-giving, and it made up for not having spent any time with them for almost a year.
But now … sigh. Hunkering down for Christmas as coronavirus cases spike and doing the holiday season on my own! Staying put and hopefully staying safe and keeping everyone else, safe. too.
Not sure you’re in the same boat, but regardless, some resources I’ve written to provide some support and inspiration:
’Tis the season to miss our friends and loved ones — with a pandemic, many of us are opting to skip travel this year and stay at home rather than spend the holidays with them. This is all well and good if you’ve got a partner or a cool roommate, maybe some kids. But if you live by yourself, you may be worried about how you will make it through what will feel like a more silent night than usual. Read all about it in Flying Solo (and Socially Distanced) on Christmas Eve? I Got You, my latest post on Medium.
It’s that time of year when I get cards featuring photos of my friends and family and their adorable children in the mail. I put all the cards on my fridge and then look down at my cat, Matilda, the closest thing I have to a child. A furry child who tears up my furniture with her tiny claws, lovingly butts her head against my arm, and could care less if I put up my Christmas decorations or not. Feeling the same? Find more sympathy in It’s Okay if You Hate the Holidays a Little Bit.
Finally, I’ve rebooted my life more times than I can count — the death of a parent when I was in high school, unexpected job loss, financial uncertainty, an unfortunate marriage and ugly divorce that included my friend hooking up with my ex. It was horrible when all these things happened. But in a way, I’m thankful for these experiences because they taught me a lot about how resilience is more than being introspective and focusing only on yourself. You have to look outward, be generous and practice gratitude every damn day. Get your resilience and gratitude going in full force by reading Surviving Bad Times is About Thinking Beyond Your Own Life.
No matter how you’re celebrating (or not), grateful for each and every one of you, and determined to make good things happen as we reach the end of this shitty year and head into the next one.
Wishing you your hearts’ truest happiness, always, | https://medium.com/bride-in-reverse/your-bride-in-reverse-2020-holiday-survival-guide-9c81c1b40e38 | ['Becca Bycott'] | 2020-12-20 17:28:41.144000+00:00 | ['Gratitude', 'Self', 'Divorce', 'Resilience', 'Holidays'] |
A man on the move in the era of lockdown | Even in the era of remote work, it may come as a surprise that Grossblatt — once described as the real-life version of Silicon Valley’s Erlich Bachman — chooses to no longer live in the Bay Area. Why would he uproot himself and his family from arguably the global capital of all things tech for a tiny state capital where bureaucrats and civil servants far outnumber entrepreneurs and early adopters?
The answer, it turns out, is in that very question: his family.
For one, his 10- and 12-year-old kids were growing — and outgrowing the confines of one of the country’s most densely populated cities.
“For a change and a backyard” is how Grossblatt sums up the decision to move.
Mountains for neighbors: the view from the Grossblatts’ new backyard in Carson City (Photo courtesy of David Grossblatt)
Even for David and his wife Lesley, a backyard is a big draw. Being cooped up for 20 years in a city of now roughly 20,000 people per square mile has a way of making one yearn for extra legroom.
So, over the summer they hit the road in search of that legroom.
“We did what we did before: we started driving down [Interstate] 80, heading east,” says David, referring to how he and Lesley chose Sacramento in their previous (read: pre-children) lives.
“We didn’t want to go back to Sacramento. We’d already done that.”
They’re in good company: between July 2018 and July 2019, roughly 173,000 more people left California than moved there, according to U.S. Census data. Among the top recipients of this exodus was Nevada: in that time period, more than 47,000 people relocated from the Golden State to the Silver State. In fact, according to the Brookings Mountain West institute, there are now more adults in Nevada who were born in California than native Nevadans.
“We just kept driving, and eventually we got to Lake Tahoe and we realized, ‘Oh, this is very different.’…So, then we started deciding where we wanted to live up in the mountains.”
It came down to either Reno or Carson City. After visiting each, the capital city came out on top: “more ‘Tahoey,’ less ‘deserty’” is how David put his calculus.
Lesley was on board, too: “Carson City has a wonderful small town feel where neighbors are friendly and welcoming and have so much pride for their hometown and state,” she says.
“Capital cities, I think, are particularly interesting,” says David. “They tend to have a diverse population from across the entire state. Often, that’s where the museums are, and that’s where there’s interesting history.”
That history — both social and natural — comes in handy for the junior Grossblatts, who gladly spend more time in an exhibit hall or on the foothills of the Sierras than in any classroom.
In fact, they spend no time in a classroom at all — not because of distance learning in the age of quarantine (most public schools in Carson City have gone back to in-person instruction anyway), but because of a major decision that David and Lesley made a few years ago.
“We sent our kids to charter school, private school, tutoring,” says David, but none of that was quite the right fit for their kids.
With a dad around the house most of the time, homeschooling seemed like the logical thing to try out — why they did. But once again, the traditional approach of prescribed curricula fell flat.
Eventually, they came across a form of homeschooling paradoxically called unschooling. David describes it as “radical self-directed learning where the parent’s role is strictly as a facilitator.”
“When I’m in the role of facilitator, I have to push resources to them so they can explore what they’re interested in, empower them, and take them places together — something as simple as going food-shopping.”
The school day “never really begins or ends,” says David, who shares teaching — or rather, facilitating — with Lesley, whose job shifted primarily to remote work during the coronavirus pandemic.
Their kids aren’t the only ones learning. Lesley — the Chief Product Officer of San Francisco public media organization KQED — has picked up a thing or two about remote work from her husband.
“I’ve learned from David to constantly question the value of the time I’m spending on any given project/task,” says Lesley. “Am I adding value, or am I just marking time? Is what I’m doing the best use of my limited time and resources? When you’re not in an office and not worried about face time, you have the opportunity to reset your own expectations about how to best invest your time.”
And for his part, David is learning, too. When he’s in unschooling facilitator mode, David is just as likely to learn something from his kids as his kids from him. He gives the example of going on a hike with his son, when they stumble upon a peculiar kind of oak tree that David knows nothing about, but that his son has already researched online.
“They just spend so much time absorbing information, learning how to think, learning how to do stuff that they want to do. They have no governor on their learning. They never need to slow down for anybody. They never need to learn something they don’t want to learn. The totality of that is just exponentially greater, in my opinion, than having someone go through an organized lesson plan that they don’t care about.”
They may not need to learn something they’re not interested in, but they are learning how to tolerate opposing political views.
Whereas in San Francisco, Grossblatt knew conservatives who were afraid to voice their opinions in America’s liberal mecca, Carson City presents a decidedly more nuanced political makeup.
“In some ways, Carson City is a lot freer. I’ve seen multiple protests across the street. We have one sign on one side, one sign on the other side, and they’re screaming at each other, but everyone’s getting along. That may be a function of a capital city, because you get active people from all sides of the political spectrum in one location.”
Unique to this particular capital is the Carson Hot Springs, where Grossblatt likes to soak — and stew about where the digital economy is headed and how best to invest. While the pandemic has suppressed some industries, others are accelerating; it should come as no surprise that he’s bullish about his investment in a telemedicine startup.
Compared to powerhouse venture capital firms like Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia, Grossblatt’s bets are miniscule; he knows he must play his cards carefully.
“As I get older, I really try to emphasize making more mistakes in my head than in real life…And, I’m constantly at this stage trying to make small moves with big impact.”
Making small moves may be Grossblatt’s M.O. in his professional life, but when it comes to his family life, a big move may be on the horizon. As radical a relocation to Carson City may be for a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, it’s nothing compared to what may lie ahead once the pandemic is a thing of the past.
“We’re actually eyeing the possibility of moving to Europe in a few years,” says Grossblatt, who — ever the innovator — calls this his “working concept”: to show his kids the world well beyond the West Coast.
Like Grossblatt said earlier, working from the opposite of American time — in this case, at least seven time zones ahead of Pacific — would present a professional challenge. But although his work is in California, his heart is in family — a family ever on the move. | https://medium.com/reno-tahoe-business-report/a-man-on-the-move-in-the-era-of-lockdown-160e68b45ead | ['Benjamin Payne'] | 2020-12-14 20:02:45.835000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Remote Working', 'Nevada', 'San Francisco', 'California'] |
UNDERLYING CAUSE OF THE PANDEMIC: HUMANITY | Image Credit: Markus Spiske
Just one and a half years ago, we were faced with a virus called Covid-19, and unfortunately most of us didn’t know why it broke out. In the first place, some people thought it was a biological gun which was made in a laboratory, but it turned out that it wasn’t. It actually was an answer from nature to humanity. Human activities all over the world have destroyed the Earth, our home. That is why nature gave us a message with catastrophes like pandemic, locust swarm, fires and floods.
Almost all the disasters originate from the destruction of nature. We lost millions of trees and bush in total in the Australian, Siberian and Amazon fires. Plus, it is not over yet. We are continuing to increase global warming day by day. Experts say this upcoming year may be the hottest. Therefore, climate attributable risks did and will intersect with the Covid-19 crisis all around the world.
We use up the earth’s natural resources, and Covid-19 is one of the most destructive outcomes of this. Let us take a closer look, as I said, since we destroy the forests, it gives wild animals more opportunities to contact more people. Hence, we can say that a possible pandemic crisis is more likely to happen in the places which are deforested. As a matter of fact, not just deforestation, there are lots of reasons such as factory farming, pollution, or climate change. Like Hubert Reeves said once, ‘’We are at war with nature. If we win it, we are lost’’.
Nevertheless, it is never too late when we want to change something. It is time that we all need to look in the mirror and ask ourselves what we do to stop the destruction of our own home, and what can we do to rescue it? After that, our decisions should be made according to this. Small steps are the way to make big changes. For instance, we can purchase from nature friendly stores or firms, we can be careful or warn people about wasting water… Most importantly, we should know the more we change the environment, the more likely we are to disrupt ecosystems and provide opportunities for a disease to emerge. | https://medium.com/@nisaturgut/a-trigger-for-the-pandemic-humanity-ba335dfa89e0 | ['Nisa Turgut'] | 2021-05-23 23:04:48.759000+00:00 | ['Biology', 'Covid 19', 'Virus', 'Disaster', 'Pandemic'] |
How to create Carousel in Flutter | In one of my project, it is required to implement a carousel with Image and few text of different styles. I had started searching for some code and every time ends with a carousel code with single image, than i had developed a carousel with custom views for my project. I will explain step by step how i had developed it. You can easily customise it for any other type of view.
Add Dependency
In your flutter project add dependency in pubspec.yaml file
dependencies:
flutter:
sdk: flutter
carousel_widget:
Add Images to Assets
assets:
- assets/
- images/place1.JPG
- images/place2.JPG
- images/place3.JPG
Import Packages
import carousel_widget into dart file
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:carousel_widget/carousel_widget.dart';
Prepare Screens for carousel
Let us now create screen for carousel, you can create any custom design as per your requirement. Here we will create screen with one image on top, than a title and blow that description.
for that create list and populate data to them
List<String> titles = List();
List<String> description = List();
List<String> imagenames = List();
void initializeData() {
titles.add("Title of First Screen");
description.add("Description of First Screen");
imagenames.add("images/place1.jpg");
titles.add("Title of Second Screen");
description.add(
"Description of Second Screen");
imagenames.add("images/place2.jpg");
titles.add("Title of Third Screen");
description.add(
"Description of Third Screen");
imagenames.add("images/place3.jpg");
}
for creating screen i had created a function getScreen(index) where image, title and description are taken from List depending upon index. If in your case you want entirely different screens in carousel than write separate function to design separate screen with different components and layout.
Widget getScreen(index) {
return new ListView(
children: <Widget>[
new Container(
height: 250.0,
margin: const EdgeInsets.fromLTRB(20.0, 90.0, 20.0, 0.0),
child: Image.asset(
imagenames.elementAt(index),
),
),
new Container(
height: 45.0,
margin: const EdgeInsets.fromLTRB(20.0, 8.0, 20.0, 0.0),
child: Text(
titles.elementAt(index),
textAlign: TextAlign.center,
overflow: TextOverflow.ellipsis,
style: TextStyle(fontSize: 20),
),
),
new Container(
height: 100.0,
margin: const EdgeInsets.fromLTRB(50.0, 12.0, 50.0, 0.0),
child: Text(
description.elementAt(index),
textAlign: TextAlign.center,
overflow: TextOverflow.ellipsis,
maxLines: 5,
style: TextStyle(fontSize: 15),
),
),
],
);
}
Now according to index passed to getScreen we get a widget corresponding to a screen in carousel.
Creating carousel
Now we are having the screens designed we can create carousel.
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
initializeData();
return Scaffold(
backgroundColor: Colors.white,
body:
Carousel(
listViews: [
Fragment(
child: getScreen(0),
),
Fragment(
child: getScreen(1),
),
Fragment(
child: getScreen(2),
)
],
)
);
}
Complete Code | https://medium.com/@atul-sharma-94062/implementing-carousel-in-flutter-d8cad14215c6 | ['Atul Sharma'] | 2019-06-20 09:24:30.094000+00:00 | ['Carousel', 'Flutter', 'Dart', 'Carousel In Flutter'] |
How To Be a Great Photographer (and Maybe Everything Else) | I suck at photography.
I take a photo and, to me, it looks like puke. It looks dead. I wish I were better.
Chase Jarvis is a great photographer. He’s won all sorts of awards. I wanted to talk to him.
So I lied. He asked me if he could interview me for Chase Jarvis Live, his website where he’s interviewed 100s of people. I said ‘yes’ but I had only one motive.
I don’t like being interviewed. It feels embarrassing. I don’t think I have anything to teach anyone. I’ve fallen so many times that I’m now broken.
I’m ok with that. That’s not what this is about.
I went to the interview. There were lights, camera, action. Chase asked, “Who are you?” to get me talking.
So I changed direction, “But first, I have to ask you…what can you tell me so that within one hour I can leave here and take the best photo I’ve ever taken?”
He laughed. I didn’t want to answer any questions. I wanted to ask.
If I can’t listen, I can’t learn. If I am speaking, I can’t listen. If I am answering, I’m not asking.
“First find out what your filter is. Do you like taking pictures of people, buildings, nature, whatever.”
Easy.
“Sad people,” I said.
“Ok. Go out on the street. Find someone you feel some sort of connection with before you take their picture. But try to be as close to them as possible.”
“How do I get close up though. Won’t that be weird?”
“Here’s what you do. Just go and talk to them. Say, ‘I’ve been having a hard time lately with grief. When I saw you I felt an instant connection and felt like you could understand and I would really like to take your picture.’ ”
I never thought about talking to them. I always thought of photographs as somehow being taken secretly.
“Won’t that make them pose?”
“No, you’re building a connection. It’s almost like you’re sharing a story. They will relate to you. You have to get good at connecting with people in ten seconds.”
More important than technique. More important than equipment. More important than the angle or the sunlight or the details of the photo was simply the art of connection.
Two people connecting can create a work of art. Nothing else. I liked that.
People sometimes ask me, “What software do you use to write?” I use Facebook status update. And I make sure I have something to say.
After we were finished I went outside and saw a woman that looked interesting.
I asked her where she was from. She said Mexico. I asked her since she was from Mexico, what were her feelings about Donald Trump?
She said, I’m for Donald Trump.
I said, You might be the only Mexican ever who is for Donald Trump.
She said, Everyone is the same. I’m sick of the same. Maybe he will do something different. Change is important.
Not all change is the same, but I left it at that.
I said, show me your tattoo.
She had a tattoo of an elephant on her arm. She picked up her sleeve so I can see all of it. She told me sometimes she and her husband have had hard times.
I said, Can I take your photo.
Yes, she said.
So I took her photo.
It wasn’t a good photo. But it was my first attempt at taking a photo based on connection.
Today I will try again. And tomorrow. And then the next day. If I don’t get better, I will at least have fun trying. And what else is there in life but to play as much as possible?
Every attempt at art depends first on connection. Every business depends on connection.
When I tried the original iPod I listened to all of the music I loved as a kid. I was walking around with a smile all day.
Steve Jobs somehow connected with me through that iPod.
I’ve read my favorite book of stories over 300 times. I fall in love with it each time. It’s about characters that seem so lost but bit by bit they hang onto their lives through their connection with each other. I can relate to that.
If I want to sell an idea, if I want to convince, if I want someone to like to me, I have to figure out how to connect.
The only skill for survival and success is having that ability to connect.
I’m glad I learned something from Chase. My ego hopes he learned something from me but I don’t know.
I’m not going to post the photograph I took. I’m shy about it. But I’ll post one of my favorite photographs instead. My favorite changes maybe every day. But this is today’s favorite. It’s about fear.
This post. This photograph. You. Me. I hope we can tape this together. I hope we can connect.
“Everyone always asks me what camera I use,” Chase said, “But greatness is about storytelling.” | https://medium.com/the-mission/how-to-be-a-great-photographer-and-maybe-everything-else-71627b73df2c | ['James Altucher'] | 2016-04-25 20:13:25.801000+00:00 | ['Success', 'Marketing', 'Storytelling'] |
Query Lambdas: Increasing Developer Velocity for Application Development | At Rockset we strive to make building modern data applications easy and intuitive. Data-backed applications come with an inherent amount of complexity — managing the database backend, exposing a data API (often using hard-coded SQL or an ORM to write queries), keeping the data and application code in sync… the list goes on. Just as Rockset has reimagined and dramatically simplified the traditional ETL pipeline on the data-loading side, we’re now proud to release a new product feature — Query Lambdas — that similarly rethinks the data application development workflow.
Application Development on Rockset: Status Quo
The traditional application development workflow on Rockset has looked something the the following:
Step 1: Construct SQL query in the Rockset Console
For this case, let’s use the sample query:
SELECT
`event, event_time`
FROM
"User-Activity"
WHERE
userId = '...
AND event_time > CURRENT_TIMESTAMP() - DAYS(5) -- select events for a particular user in the last 5 daysSELECT`event, event_time`FROM"User-Activity"WHEREuserId = '... @rockset .com'AND event_time > CURRENT_TIMESTAMP() - DAYS(5)
Step 2: Substitute out hard-coded values or add filters manually using Query Parameters
Let’s say we want to generalize this query to support arbitrary user emails and time durations. The query SQL would look something like this:
-- select events for any particular user in the last X days
SELECT
event, event_time
FROM
"User-Activity"
WHERE
userId = :userId
AND event_time > CURRENT_TIMESTAMP() - DAYS(:days)
Step 3: Hardcode raw SQL into your application code along with parameter values
For a Node.js app using our Javascript client, this code would look something like:
client.queries
.query({
sql: {
query: `SELECT
event, event_time
FROM
"User-Activity"
WHERE
userId = :userId
AND event_time > CURRENT_TIMESTAMP() - DAYS(:days)`,
},
parameters: [
{
name: 'userId',
type: 'string',
value: '...',
},
{
name: 'days',
type: 'int',
value: '5',
},
],
})
.then(console.log);
While this simple workflow works well for small applications and POCs, it does not accommodate the more complex software development workflows involved in building production applications. Production applications have stringent performance monitoring and reliability requirements. Making any changes to a live application or the database that serves that application needs to be given the utmost care. Production applications also have stringent security requirements and should prevent bugs like SQL injection bug at all costs. Some of the drawbacks of the above workflow include:
Raw SQL in application code: Embedding raw SQL in application code can be difficult — often special escaping is required for certain characters in the SQL. It can even be dangerous, as a developer may not realize the hazards of using string interpolation to customize their query to specific users / use-cases as opposed to Query Parameters and thus create a serious vulnerability.
Embedding raw SQL in application code can be difficult — often special escaping is required for certain characters in the SQL. It can even be dangerous, as a developer may not realize the hazards of using string interpolation to customize their query to specific users / use-cases as opposed to Query Parameters and thus create a serious vulnerability. Managing the SQL development / application development lifecycle: Simple queries are easy to build and manage. But as queries get more complex, expertise is usually split between a data team and an application development team. In this existing workflow, it is hard for these two teams to collaborate safely on Rockset — for example, a database administrator might not realize that a collection is actively being queried by an application and delete it. Likewise, a developer may tweak the SQL (for example, selecting an additional field or adding an ORDER BY clause) to better fit the needs of the application and create a 10–100x slowdown without realizing it.
Simple queries are easy to build and manage. But as queries get more complex, expertise is usually split between a data team and an application development team. In this existing workflow, it is hard for these two teams to collaborate safely on Rockset — for example, a database administrator might not realize that a collection is actively being queried by an application and delete it. Likewise, a developer may tweak the SQL (for example, selecting an additional field or adding an ORDER BY clause) to better fit the needs of the application and create a 10–100x slowdown without realizing it. Query iteration in application code: Can be tedious — to take advantage of the bells and whistles of our SQL Editor, you have to take the SQL out of the application code, unescape / fill parameters as needed, put it into the SQL editor, iterate, reverse the process to get back into your application and try again. As someone who has built several applications and dashboards backed by Rockset, I know how painful this can be :D
Can be tedious — to take advantage of the bells and whistles of our SQL Editor, you have to take the SQL out of the application code, unescape / fill parameters as needed, put it into the SQL editor, iterate, reverse the process to get back into your application and try again. As someone who has built several applications and dashboards backed by Rockset, I know how painful this can be :D Query metrics: Without custom implementation work application-side, there’s no way to understand how a particular query is or is not performing. Each execution, from Rockset’s perspective, is entirely independent of every other execution, and so no stats are aggregated, no alerts or warnings configurable, and any visibility into such topics must be implemented as part of the application itself.
Application / Dashboard Development on Rockset with Query Lambdas
Query Lambdas are named parameterized SQL queries stored in Rockset that can be executed from a dedicated REST endpoint. With Query Lambdas, you can:
version-control your queries so that developers can collaborate easily with their data teams and iterate faster
avoid querying with raw SQL directly from application code and avoid SQL injection security risks by hitting Query Lambda REST endpoints directly, with query parameters automatically turned into REST parameters
write a SQL query, include parameters, create a Query Lambda and simply share a link with another application developer
see which queries are being used by production applications and ensure that all updates are handled elegantly
organize your queries by workspace similarly to the way you organize your collections
create / update / delete Query Lambdas through a REST API for easy integration in CI / CD pipelines
Using the same example as above, the new workflow (using Query Lambdas) looks more like this:
Step 1: Construct SQL query in the Console, using parameters now natively supported
Step 2: Create a Query Lambda
Step 3: Use Rockset’s SDKs or the REST API to trigger executions of that Query Lambda in your app
Example using Rockset’s Python client library:
from rockset import Client, ParamDict
rs = Client() qlambda = rs.QueryLambda.retrieve(
'myQueryLambda',
version=1,
workspace='commons')
params['days'] = 5
params['userId'] = '... params = ParamDict()params['days'] = 5params['userId'] = '... @rockset .com' results = qlambda.execute(parameters=params)
Example using REST API directly (using Python’s requests library):
"parameters": [
{ "name": "userId", "value": "..." },
{ "name": "days", "value": "5" }
]
}''')
r = requests.post(
'https://api.rs2.usw2.rockset.com/v1/orgs/self/ws/commons/queries/{queryName}/versions/1',
json=payload,
headers={'Authorization': 'ApiKey ...'}
) payload = json.loads('''{"parameters": [{ "name": "userId", "value": "..." },{ "name": "days", "value": "5" }}''')r = requests.post(json=payload,headers={'Authorization': 'ApiKey ...'}
Let’s look back at each of the shortcomings of the ‘Status Quo’ workflow and see how Query Lambdas address them:
Raw SQL in application code: Raw SQL no longer ever needs to live in application code. No temptation to string interpolate, just a unique identifier (query name and version) and a list of parameters if needed that unambiguously resolve to the saved SQL. Each execution will always fetch fresh results — no caching or staleness to worry about.
Raw SQL no longer ever needs to live in application code. No temptation to string interpolate, just a unique identifier (query name and version) and a list of parameters if needed that unambiguously resolve to the saved SQL. Each execution will always fetch fresh results — no caching or staleness to worry about. Managing the SQL development / application development lifecycle: With Query Lambdas, a SQL developer can write the query, include parameters, create a Query Lambda and simply share a link (or even less — the name of the Query Lambda alone will suffice to use the REST API) with an application developer. Database administrators can see for each collection any Query Lambda versions that use that collection and thus ensure that all applications are updated to newer versions before deleting any underlying data.
With Query Lambdas, a SQL developer can write the query, include parameters, create a Query Lambda and simply share a link (or even less — the name of the Query Lambda alone will suffice to use the REST API) with an application developer. Database administrators can see for each collection any Query Lambda versions that use that collection and thus ensure that all applications are updated to newer versions before deleting any underlying data. Query iteration in application code: Query iteration and application iteration can be entirely separated. Since each Query Lambda version is immutable (you cannot update its SQL or parameters without also incrementing its version), application functionality will remain constant even as the Query Lambda is updated and tested in staging environments. To switch to a newer or older version, simply increment or decrement the version number in your application code.
Query iteration and application iteration can be entirely separated. Since each Query Lambda version is immutable (you cannot update its SQL or parameters without also incrementing its version), application functionality will remain constant even as the Query Lambda is updated and tested in staging environments. To switch to a newer or older version, simply increment or decrement the version number in your application code. Query metrics: Since each Query Lambda version has its own API endpoint, Rockset will now automatically maintain certain statistics and metrics for you. To start with, we’re exposing for every version: Last Queried (time), Last Queried (user), Last Error (time), Last Error (error message). More to come soon!
Summary
We’re incredibly excited to announce this feature. This initial release is just the beginning — stay tuned for future Query Lambda related features such as automated execution and alerting, advanced monitoring and reporting, and even referencing Query Lambdas in SQL queries.
As part of this release, we’ve also added a new Query Editor UI, new REST API endpoints and updated SDK clients for all of the languages we support. Happy hacking!
More you’d like to see from us? Send us your thoughts at product[at][rockset.com] | https://medium.com/rocksetcloud/query-lambdas-increasing-developer-velocity-for-application-development-314a09a69a9e | ['Scott Morris'] | 2020-03-28 20:59:42.014000+00:00 | ['Sql', 'Application Development', 'Lambda', 'Database', 'Developer'] |
I Decided to Released My Father’s Sacred Kingfishers | Two days after my father bought them, we went home. On our way home from Magelang to Bogor, we have to stop several times at the nearest rest area to feed them. Even I have to put them on my lap and keep them warm on their tiny bamboo basket nest. While waiting for my father to perform Friday prayer somewhere in Bekasi mosque, some children curiously were watching me feeding those birdies.
I amazed by how fast they grow. Their mesmerizing metallic blue-green feather started to develop and their bodies were getting bigger rapidly. Moreover, they even start to fly around inside the house, so my father and I decided to move them into a larger nest as they grow bigger.
After they were fully grown, my father and I stopped hand feeding them and put them into a cage. However, I saw them ‘unhappiness’ in their eyes. I thought that they want to be free as they are in their natural habitat. Fly so high in the sky and catch a fish in a clear river and build their own ‘tribes’.
I told my mother that they need to be released, yet my mother was afraid whether will they get sufficient food? My father also disagrees with that idea because he wanted to train them like videos of sacred kingfisher owners he saw on YouTube. Unfortunately, one day, the smallest one died on the cage. After I necropsied his/her bodies, I assumed that he/she did not get enough food because he/she was uncompetitive rather than his/her siblings. It was a heartbreaking day for me.
After about two days of thinking, my mother finally agrees to release them rather than to see them unhappy locked up inside the cage. She told me that she remembers based on the Quran, God already granted sustenance for every living creatures in the world. I was relieved and then release them. I was watching them fly until they were gone.
“There is not a single moving creature on the earth but Allah is responsible for providing its sustenance. Allah knows where it dwells and where it will permanently rest. All this is recorded in a clear Book.” — (Surah Hud 11:6)
Indeed, at first, my father was upset, but he started to accept that because those sacred kingfishers continually perch on the high voltage electricity cable high above our house one or two times a week. Two weeks ago I started noticed that they already have another friend or maybe one of their mate. So now there are three sacred kingfishers again!
I might be a bit ‘successful’ to give them the freedom they deserve, yet I cannot lie that I am afraid with human activities which cause deterioration of air, water, and their natural habitat will threaten them. Furthermore, rampant poaching of this majestic bird will decrease their population in their habitat.
Their existence when they are singing happily once or twice in the morning far above my house become a friendly reminder for me to be more conscious about my action that will affect the environment. I think it is an obligation for every human not only to provide/prepare our future generation with a world they deserve but also for those critters that need our attention and protection. | https://medium.com/@estdhmyntp/i-decided-to-released-my-fathers-sacred-kingfishers-4961d41160d6 | ['Esti Dhamayanti'] | 2020-12-05 13:44:11.507000+00:00 | ['Natural Habitat', 'Birds', 'Environment', 'Conservation', 'Kingfisher'] |
3 Writing Prompts To Get You Out Of Your Writing Rut | 3 Writing Prompts from “Inner Ramblings”
1) Do you think love is something that we do or something that happens to us?
Both. I think love initially does happen to us, many times without our knowledge — hence “falling in love.” Because like falling, love is unpredictable, happens fast, and is often out of our control.
However, once love is recognized, it must evolve into something we actively do.
Falling in love is easy…staying in love is hard, and requires a lot of work.
The most successful relationships are those who choose to actively DO, and not rely on the unpredictable FALL.
2) If someone is lying to you, but they really believe what they are saying, are they still lying?
No. The reason lying is thought to be such a horrible thing in our society is because it is an action that often has been thought about to an extent.
You, as a person, are consciously deciding that the person you are speaking to does not deserve the truth.
THAT is why lying is so hurtful. Because once you realize you have been lied to, you start to question your entire relationship with the person who lied to you.
You start to wonder why they don’t trust you, and how they think of you as a person. Why did they deem you as being not worthy of the truth?
Lying is an active choice. So, if someone is lying to you but they really don’t know that they are lying, I don’t believe this is lying.
3) If you don’t take a random insult personally, can you still take a random compliment personally?
Yes. This is the act of choosing what you let into your life, and how you let it affect you.
The truth is, we are responsible for our own happiness. I know this can be hard to hear, and different from what we typically observe. Many times we think we need to rely on others to give us what we need. While having others in our lives is a wonderful addition, they can not be the sole reason for happiness. You have to learn how to control that for yourself.
I do believe you can choose to accept that someone is giving you a compliment. You can let it into your life and feel good about yourself. Compliments are fun to hear, and even more precious to remember in moments of doubt.
I also believe you can choose to understand that most times, an insult has nothing to do with you and everything to do with the person who is spewing out the insult. You can choose to be angry, and let it hurt your feelings. Or you can choose to be the bigger person, and take comfort in the fact that you know your worth, and your abilities.
YOU create your own happiness. YOU choose what you are going to let into your life. | https://medium.com/@ashlee-waters/3-writing-prompts-to-get-you-out-of-your-writing-rut-3d1b2019ad41 | ['Ashlee Waters'] | 2020-12-25 00:02:28.159000+00:00 | ['Thoughts', 'Writing Tips', 'Advice', 'Writing Ideas', 'Writing Prompts'] |
United by Ping Pong | Buddhism, mixed with my current interests in economics, privilege, immigration, etc. Email <my username>@gmail.com | https://medium.com/@kalensk/united-by-ping-pong-1e83c0d8a78 | [] | 2020-12-15 06:33:09.078000+00:00 | ['Ping Pong', 'Connection', 'Community', 'New York'] |
Unittesting Apache Spark Applications | Unittesting Apache Spark Applications
A PySpark case
Unittesting Spark applications is not that straight-forward. For most of the cases you’ll probably need an active spark session, which means that your test cases will take a long time to run and that perhaps we’re tiptoeing around the boundaries of what can be called a unit test. But, it is definitely worth doing it.
So, should I?
Well, yes! Testing your software is always a good thing, and it will most likely save you from many headaches, plus, you’ll be forced to have your code implemented in smaller bits and pieces that’ll be easier to test, thus, gain in readability and simplicity.
Okay, then what do I need to do this?
Well, I’d say we can start with pip install spark-testing-base and work our way from there. We’ll also need pyspark (of course) and unittest (unittest2) and pytest for this — even though pytest is a personal preference.
Spark testing base is a collection of base classes to help with spark testing. For this example we’ll be using the base SQLTestCase which inherits from SparkTestingBaseReuse , that creates and reuses a SparkContext.
On SparkSession and SparkContext :
From personal experience (using the currently latest spark version 2.4.+), I’ve found that I needed to make some minor adjustments to the SQLTestCase , which is a test case I use quite a lot in my current project. So, here’s an example of the adjustments I’ve made to suit my needs:
Example of a base spark test case, based on Spark testing base’ s SQLTestCase
To sum up the changes I’ve made:
I added a configuration to have the timezone set to UTC for consistency. Timezone consistency is something very basic to have throughout your code, so please make sure you always set spark.sql.session.timeZone
for consistency. Timezone consistency is something very basic to have throughout your code, so please make sure you always set Another important thing to set in the configuration is the spark.sql.shuffle.partitions to something reasonable for the machine that will be running the tests, like <= cores * 2 . If we don’t do that, then spark will use the default value, which is 200 partitions, and it will unnecessarily and inevitably slow down the whole process. <= cores * 2 is a general good rule, not only for the tests.
to something reasonable for the machine that will be running the tests, like . If we don’t do that, then spark will use the default value, which is partitions, and it will unnecessarily and inevitably slow down the whole process. is a general good rule, not only for the tests. Also added a method to sort the dataframes to be compared before the comparison. There is a compareRDDWithOrder method in one of the base classes, but I think it is easier to work with dataframes.
method in one of the base classes, but I think it is easier to work with dataframes. The schema_nullable_helper method should be used with caution , as it may end up sabotaging your test case, depending on what you need to test. The use case for this is for when you create dataframes without specifying a schema (which is currently deprecated), because spark tries to infer the data types, sometimes you have inconsistencies for the Nullable flag between the two dataframes to be compared, depending on the data used to create them. This method will update one of the two dataframes’ schema to what the other’s schema is regarding nullables only.
method should be , as it may end up sabotaging your test case, depending on what you need to test. The use case for this is for when you create dataframes without specifying a schema (which is currently deprecated), because spark tries to infer the data types, sometimes you have inconsistencies for the Nullable flag between the two dataframes to be compared, depending on the data used to create them. This method will update one of the two dataframes’ schema to what the other’s schema is regarding only. And lastly, I added a slightly adjusted version of the setUp for the appName and the config . The session instantiation is also different in the latest pyspark version. (There is a pending release for the support of 2.2.+ and 2.3.+ spark versions still open here and here, so, we’ll be subclassing to work around this) | https://towardsdatascience.com/unittesting-apache-spark-applications-b9a46e319ce3 | ['Maria Karanasou'] | 2019-11-06 13:05:20.126000+00:00 | ['Pyspark', 'Python', 'Apache Spark', 'Data Science', 'Towards Data Science'] |
It is mind-boggling to me that conservatives can look at all the ways they are attempting to… | It is mind-boggling to me that conservatives can look at all the ways they are attempting to subvert democracy and think THEY are being the patriots. They’re trying to game the system.
Oddly enough, I think Trump recognizes that with his claims he “won by a landslide.”
No, he didn’t.
But at least that’s not the same thing as I “bullied just enough States to give their Electors to me.” Because nothing would spell “democracy” like losing an election by 7m+ votes and still “winning.” | https://medium.com/the-daily-kerfuffle/it-is-mind-boggling-to-me-that-conservatives-can-look-at-all-the-ways-they-are-attempting-to-51e475edee48 | ['Matthew Spira'] | 2020-12-15 06:49:11.128000+00:00 | ['Trump', '2020 Presidential Race', 'Current Events', 'Politics'] |
How to Make a Blog Post on Your WordPress Site | We don’t all have an in-house web development/coding team, which is why WordPress has become the most popular website builder for businesses of all sizes. With WordPress, anyone can create and customize a website that will look just like the ones designed by the pros. Of course, if you’ve never used this powerful tool before, it may be a bit daunting at first. To help you get started, this covers one of the basics: how to make a blog post with WordPress.
Creating a New Post in WordPress
WordPress is designed to be simple enough for anyone to use, even if they’re not experienced with coding. To make your first blog post, you can use the top bar by clicking New > Post, or use the side bar by selecting Posts > Add New. This will bring up the interface for creating a new blog post so you can get started!
Add Your Content
Now comes the tricky part: designing your post. Start with your title and tags; if you’ve done any keyword research, this is the perfect time to put it to use! Populate your title, meta tags, and image alt tags with strong keywords for the best SEO results. Now is also a good time to search pexels.com or pixabay.com for a free stock photo to use as your featured image. Not only will this help your post catch the eye of anyone on your site, it will also give you more clout with search engine algorithms. With those formalities out of the way, it’s time to start writing! You want your content to be readable and have SEO value, so pepper in your keywords in places where they would come up organically and don’t spam them. You could be penalized for using too many keywords. Once you’ve written around 500 words, your blog post should be ready to go.
Use Yoast Plugin for a Quick SEO Audit
The great thing about WordPress is that it allows you to install plugins that help you perform certain tasks. Yoast is one such plugin, with free and paid versions that will evaluate your content for SEO value and readability. The free version should be enough to get started, but as you get more familiar with WordPress and blogging, you may want to take advantage of some premium features like social media previews, redirect manager, and internal linking suggestions.
Save as Draft, Publish, or Schedule
Your blog post won’t get much traction if you don’t publish it! Publish it now or schedule it to be published automatically at a later date. Of course, if you don’t think it’s quite ready for primetime, you can always save it as a draft and work on it more before publishing.
Share on Social Media
Once your blog is published, you’ll want to get as much mileage out of it as possible. Share it on all your social media accounts so you can get as many eyeballs on it as possible. With any luck, some of your followers will engage with your post or share it for a bit of free viral marketing. As we mentioned last week, blogging is an important part of maintaining your search engine rankings. WordPress makes it simple, so you’ll be able to focus more on your core business.
If you’re having trouble getting started, TIC Digital Marketing can help! We can be a valuable resource as you refine your digital marketing efforts and we can even provide white label blogging services for your business! Head over to our contact page to get in touch with us and find out more about all our services including WordPress development and branding, inbound digital marketing, and more! | https://medium.com/@ticdigitalmarketing/how-to-make-a-blog-post-on-your-wordpress-site-c77dccce69c | ['Tic Digital Marketing'] | 2020-12-18 20:48:03.485000+00:00 | ['How To', 'Blogging', 'Small Business', 'WordPress'] |
For All Who Read My Words | I become so uncomfortable when you call me a warrior, or brave. I feel uncomfortable when you send me love and hugs, or pray for me. I don’t feel special. I don’t feel brave. I don’t think I did anything to deserve your love. Praying for me freaks me out!
I’m a woman healing from a lifetime of trauma. I have spent more of my life being abused, than being safe and loved. I have neve felt that surviving was a choice. Except maybe when I was 13 and wanted to kill myself. It was a choice then. Not now though. I almost feel compelled. This is what I know I must do. For myself, my ancestors, my children, their children. This is my soul’s work. This is what I am here for. Not just for me, for all of us. For the ones who have no voice, to help the children who are currently being abused, the women or men in abusive relationships. I use my voice for all of us. So that everyone will understand.
And I couldn’t do this alone, my support network is the most amazing ever. Filled with women who love me, who support me, who don’t want to fix me, who want to cheer me on. Women that I in turn cheer on. And not for any other reason than because they are my friends and that’s what friends do.
I don’t want pity, I don’t want any sort of acclaim. I want to be heard. I want to make sure any other victims who see my words, know they aren’t alone. I want to make sure that anyone who hasn’t been abused, knows what we’ve been through, so they feel compelled to stand up, the same way I do.
Share the words that come straight from my soul. Share my pain. Share my joys. Share my realizations. Share it all! Please, whatever you do, don’t just feel pity for me and move on. Believe that you can make a difference. Because it’s true, you can make a difference. If you see abuse, call it out! If you see a child who can not protect themselves, protect them.
I’m not being ungrateful, every word of encouragement, all the love, the hugs and even the prayers you send to me, matter. Even if it makes me feel wierd! I appreciate every single one. If I can ask a favor? Share what I write. Stand up for those who can’t stand up for themselves. Dont’ look the other way. I know it’s horrific. I know it’s hard to believe abuse is happening all around you. But you are strong enough to fight it. You are strong enough for those that have no voice.
With gratitude and love,
Cary | https://medium.com/@cary.bach/for-all-who-read-my-words-5b6a45c2ca1f | ['Cary Bach Donahou'] | 2019-08-22 03:33:58.221000+00:00 | ['Sexual Abuse', 'Childhood Sexual Abuse', 'Metoo', 'Trauma Recovery', 'PTSD'] |
We Can All Use a Little More Happiness Right Now | Hey there, It’s Christine Bradstreet, the founder and editor of Change Your Mind Change Your Life.
Since you get value from the pieces here at the publication, I think you’ll also enjoy a new book.
Launching a new book during a pandemic? Is that a good thing? Who knows, but we don’t believe in limitations here, right?
I’ve published Happy Ever After: The Guide for Lifelong Happiness. It’s a book on growing genuine and lifelong happiness, the type of happiness that can’t be taken away from you no matter what sort of craziness is happening in the world. We can all use more of that right now.
(There’s also an optional companion journal to work through as you read the book.)
You can use the links within the letter above, or use this link to take you to happyeverafter.info.
Thank you for being part of this family. Stay well,
Christine | https://medium.com/change-your-mind/we-can-all-use-a-little-more-happiness-right-now-2098a811af70 | ['Dr. Christine Bradstreet'] | 2020-11-16 17:38:19.302000+00:00 | ['Happiness', 'Mindset', 'Self Improvement', 'Personal Growth', 'Spirituality'] |
Born to fly- A disruption of basic right | Born to fly- A disruption of basic right
I was four years old when I heard a parrot say “hello” and was absolutely stunned in the ability of a bird to speak a human language. My neighbour had a caged parrot named Meera for their little daughter. Like most other parrots, she was a beautiful emerald green bird with a reddish orange beak. Meera’s foster family had taught her basic greetings and salutations. Their little daughter would have her meals in front of Meera’s cage. She was a source of entertainment for the kid.
As years passed by, I noticed that my friend was no longer interested in the parrot. She loved her but Meera’s significance in her life had reduced drastically. Meera’s role in her foster family reduced to a mere ornament that was meant to be admired and appreciated by the visitors of the family. Whereas, Meera felt lonely, confused, anxious, bored and depressed. When the family used to talk to her, she experienced the warmth of companionship. But gradually, that faded as everyone got busy with the activities of their day to day life. Everyone in Meera’s foster family had something or the other to do which kept them busy apart from Meera. Her whole life was spent in a cage. She had no friends. She never met her mother. She cried when she saw the other birds flying freely in the sky. She had wings just like her other friends but alas this gift from God was wasted in a small cage. As she grew older, she no longer left loved by the family. They only interacted with her while feeding her. When the family went for vacation, we decided to keep Meera with us for a few days. That was the time when I realised how wrong this whole idea of caging birds are.
Just imagine how you would feel if you were sent to prison without committing crime and being kept there for the rest of your life. You are in a tiny cell where you can hardly sit up straight and you get to eat the same meal twice a day for the rest of your life. You have no source of entertainment and you can never see your family ever again. You ask yourself the question WHY AM I HERE? WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS? Birds in cages experience the same resentment but alas they can’t speak for themselves.
Most of these caged birds are separated from their mothers since birth, they are smuggled in tiny boxes or plastic bottles or even suitcases and brought to countries far away from their natural habitat. Then they are kept in tiny cages and sold to the wholesaler in the bird market. They wait half of their life cramped up in tiny cages with 100 other birds in it. Most of them die here due to suffocation and exhaustion. Some of them get picked up by customers who buy them and take them home. Here starts their journey from one cage to another which is akin to moving from a frying pan to fire. They need love but they don’t get any. They don’t know how to fly because they were snatched from their nest. They lack the natural instinct to search for food or protect themselves from danger because they were never given the opportunity to be taught about survival by their mothers. They spend their entire lives in a small cage. Out of loneliness and depression they end up plucking their own feathers. They make frantic cries for help but alas their foster families are totally ignorant about their mental well-being.
A bird symbolises freedom. Freedom to spread their wings and fly up and above the clear blue sky. freedom to wander about anywhere their instinct guide them, freedom to explore faraway lands and countries. But we think only about ourselves. For the sake of our entertainment we cage such beautiful creatures and keep them as a showpiece in our homes. Many exotic birds are caged and sold in India. The climate of India is not conducive for the survival of these birds due to which they suffer from various ailments. Their foster parents are ignorant about such diseases resulting in the death of such innocuous creatures.
Meera represents caged birds, desperately waiting to spread their wings and fly off from the shackles of human imposed captivity. Through this article, I would like to encourage the law makers of this country to ban the sale of birds and make stringent laws against the same. I would like to urge people to free their pet birds from their cages. Let these beautiful, vibrant creatures of our biodiversity who are born to fly experience this natural God gift. Please don’t buy birds for your amusement. I hope that people understand that it is wrong to cage birds and take away their basic freedom from them.
It’s been long since we shifted from the locality where Meera used to live with her foster family. Sometime back, I visited our old neighbourhood just to see if I could hear Meera’s “hello” again. I see an empty cage in my old neighbour’s veranda. I am unsure whether Meera died or they released her. But I pray that she gets to live another life as a free bird flying up and above in the clear blue sky. | https://medium.com/@sarina-pradhan15/born-to-fly-a-disruption-of-basic-right-2a7fa4e70b5a | ['Sarina Pradhan'] | 2020-12-24 07:41:19.335000+00:00 | ['Short Story', 'Cage', 'Freedom', 'Perspective', 'Birds'] |
Grief, Empty Nest, and My Relentless Longing for the Past | My girls in 2008, ages 4 and 7 (photo by author)
There is a moment each morning when, having just filled the bird feeders with black oil sunflower seed, I walk back toward my house, and feel the loss anew.
My daughter is gone.
I turn and stare at the feeders and fall into nothingness.
I remember that a swingset once stood near the spot where the feeders hang and a green sandbox (shaped like a turtle) sat beside it. I remember that a tetherball hung from a pole, askew in the hard ground. I remember the little girls who used to knock it around, laughing and running in circles.
Now there are only the feeders in the overgrown yard. There are three lawn chairs instead of four. The mornings are quiet — all my own — the way I’d once wished it would be when little feet rose at dawn, bringing little mouths to my bedside for their morning hugs and breakfast.
The dog nudges my leg, calling me back to the present. | https://jacquelinedooley.medium.com/grief-empty-nest-and-my-relentless-longing-for-the-past-54064f7bd08c | ['Jacqueline Dooley'] | 2020-09-13 16:42:37.539000+00:00 | ['Nonfiction', 'Parenting', 'Family', 'Self'] |
Profit Report 2018: What’s inside? | All cryptocurrencies mentioned in my posts go through my initial analysis process which you can find in my free guide: ‘7 Step Analysis To Quickly Spot High-Quality ICOs & Cryptocurrencies’. Get My Free Guide Here.
Today here in the UK, is the royal wedding. The dashing, Meghan Markle becomes a princess marrying Prince Harry.
I happy and sad about this at the same time. I’m happy for the couple and it’s great news, especially for UK culture to accept someone multiracial (this is not a politically correct blog) into the royal family, even though soon after they announced their relationship there was a slew of racism voiced against her and the couple. But they pressed on and here they are — congrats guys.
I’m sad because I’m a Suits fan, a TV show Meghan stars in as Rachel Zane. Even if they did go for one more season, which I doubt they will, the story would have to change a lot because I don’t think Meghan will be in it…they won’t be able to afford a Princess.
Anyway, as happy as I am, I won’t be watching. I’ll be hustling. Researching cryptos and putting together some more content for you guys.
In this post I wanted to share something a bit different, a new series. I want to give you (another) reason to follow me. Something tangible and something that I hope you will find valuable.
As you know I research ICOs and Cryptocurrencies and share my opinions on them with you. Not just that, I personally place bets and put skin in the game in the ones I think are ones to watch, so you know I’m for real…I want to take this to the next level.
Not only do I want share with you the ones I like and don’t like, I want to show you how they perform in the long run. Giving you a live track record on the profitability of picks this year. For me, with cryptocurrency investing, it’s not about being right all time, it’s about being profitable and I want to share the journey of my profitability this year with you.
So for now, the best name I came up for this is my ‘2018 Profitability Report’, this may change but all good for now. Each week, I will share my profitability report with you, whether here or in my network on telegram or somewhere else, so we can keep track of profitability of the crypto picks I invest in this year and you can judge for yourself if my content is something you want to keep following.
Here’s this week’s snapshot: | https://medium.com/cryptocurrency-orchard/profit-report-2018-whats-inside-2f91c13b352e | ['Jason Cameron'] | 2018-05-19 08:59:20.339000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Bitcoin', 'ICO', 'Ethereum', 'Crypto'] |
On Being Non-Binary | Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash
Before we start, hi! My name is Sparklle (and yes, it is my real name). I’m a non-binary queer writer who lives in Portland, Oregon. My educational background is in sociology and psychology. I am also a singer/songwriter, artist, lover of the outdoors, and bubble tea enthusiast!
I’ve known that I was non-binary long before I knew the word non-binary. At as young as age four, I gravitated to the word “unisex” because it was the closest term I knew of that described the way I felt. As an adult, I recognize and agree with the fact that everything is unisex. As a child, what I knew was that unisex referred to things that weren’t meant for boys or girls exclusively, and I knew that I was not a boy or a girl. At the time, that’s exactly how I described my gender — by saying, “I’m not a boy or a girl” or “I don’t feel like a boy or a girl.”
I echoed that statement until I was 17. When I was 17, I attended a local community college where I made a friend with a pride flag on his backpack. I already knew that I was queer at that point and had dated both girls and boys. Not everyone was so accepting around us, and in fact, there’d been several anti-LGBTQIA+ protests near our school as well as anti-abortion protests, so needless to say, I didn’t feel safe around everyone I saw, and I got pretty excited when I saw the pride flag.
After we’d hung out a couple of times, I said the same thing I’d been saying for years — “I don’t know what this is, but I don’t feel like a boy or a girl.” Without missing a beat, he said, “Oh, that’s non-binary! Some people use ze/zir pronouns. I can use those for you if you’d like!” I was elated. That was the first time I’d heard of pronouns outside of he/him and she/her. I then tried to open up to a couple more people — my friends and then-partner, to start — but it didn’t go quite as well with them. I don’t blame them; few members of the general public knew what non-binary was at the time, so when I told them, they laughed and said, “no, you’re a girl.”
For the following years, I kept my knowledge to myself. When I was 23, I started coming out to a few select people as non-binary, often by saying that I was non-binary but to keep it a secret or by saying that I am non-binary and would use they/them pronouns “if I could.” Now, I’m 26, and I use they/them pronouns exclusively. This is who I am, and it’s who I’ve always been. It never fails to amuse (and dishearten) me when people say that being non-binary is “new” in any way. It’s not new, nor is it a political statement of any kind. It’s an umbrella term that many people who exist outside of the gender binary use.
I came out publicly very recently. On 11/27/2020, to be exact. A major weight has been lifted off of my shoulders, which isn’t something that I expected. The intolerant reactions I received occurred prior to me coming out publicly and included a former partner (not the person mentioned above), a friend, and a former employer who was heavily homophobic and transphobic, not only toward me but toward other people. I have a lot of fear, but a lot of privilege, and I want anyone reading this who is not out yet to know that they’re valid. The pain that I experienced when keeping this inside and trying to “be a woman” was hurting me more than I realized (and I was pretty cognizant that it was hurting me a lot, hence why I came out despite what could/could’ve happened). I love women, but I am not one. It’s no one’s responsibility to be visible, but I am extremely grateful for the non-binary people out there who were visible before I was. You are the reason that so much pain is off of my shoulders, you are the reason that I am writing this, and I am so grateful for you. I hope to be that person for someone else someday. That’s why I write about my experiences in general, and the fact that gender gets to be a part of that now means more than I can describe.
I’ve always lived my life in a visible way — if you’ve watched the Spectrum/Jubilee video on mental illness that I am so lucky to have been a part of, you know that — and while it’s not for everyone, it’s a natural and fundamental piece of who I am.
For more information on what it means to be non-binary, here are some resources:
Here is the dictionary definition of the word non-binary.
Here is a GLAAD page that describes different relevant terms that may be used in this piece, including the word non-binary.
Here is a Wiki page that explains the term in-depth: https://nonbinary.wiki/wiki/Nonbinary.
I hope that you will take my experience as my own only. Coming out is a privilege, and I look forward to being able to talk about my experiences more moving forward. | https://medium.com/@sparkllerainne/on-being-non-binary-89012c49eb38 | ['Sparklle Rainne'] | 2020-12-03 21:50:13.901000+00:00 | ['Queer', 'LGBTQ', 'LGBT', 'Nonbinary', 'Gender'] |
Mapping the Songs of Bruce Springsteen | Mapping the Songs of Bruce Springsteen
Analysing geospatial references in The Boss’s lyrics using data science notebooks and Node.js
As Bruce Springsteen takes up residency at the Walter Kerr theatre on Broadway with an autobiographical show of songs and stories from his 45-year career, I decided to visualise the geographical references in the lyrics of his extensive back catalogue.
Not surprisingly, when plotting the locations of the places namechecked in his lyrics, most are in the USA:
A Mapbox rendering of Springsteen place name references.
Place name-dropping was there from the first recordings.
Growin’ Up
In his first albums, 1973’s Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. & The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle, the words were written before the music, and the lyrics tumbled out thick and fast. In amongst the mini-biographies of eccentric characters are place names from the area around his home town of Freehold, New Jersey. If we pick out and geolocate the references from these albums, we see the bias towards his childhood roots:
At the beginning of his career, most references were to the New Jersey-NYC area.
Most place names are in the New York / New Jersey area, with a sprinkling of other US references (and a solitary mention of “Zanzibar”, not shown).
Thunder Road
As Springsteen made it big with the hugely successful Born to Run album, the literal place names gave way to fictitious roads and colloquial references. The stories, although distinctly American, were not tethered to specific locations. If we look at the number of geographical references by year we see a steep decline from his two 1973 albums:
The place references decline after 1973, but feature some pronounced spikes from the 80s onward.
The place names come back in several peaks: in 1982, 1995, and 2005. What links these three years?
Looking at the top albums from those years.
They are the years when Springsteen released quieter, acoustic albums. It seems that when Bruce puts down his Telecaster and picks up his acoustic guitar, he tends to write songs in the third-person and is more likely to anchor his characters to a named place.
The Ghost of Tom Joad
The 1995 album The Ghost of Tom Joad, his second acoustic long player, has the most geographical references of any Springsteen recording. If we plot the distribution of those places we see that there is a shift from the New Jersey locale of his early recordings to the West Coast of the US:
In 1995, Springsteen moved west.
Springsteen himself had moved to California, and so the songs moved with him.
There is one location missing from that map: Vietnam. Of the four Springsteen songs in his canon that reference the war in Vietnam (Born in the U.S.A., Youngstown, Galveston Bay & The Wall), two appear on this album.
Devils & (Pixie)Dust
These visualisations were produced using data from a spreadsheet I found online. I only kept the main album tracks and added some latitude and longitude pairs for each place name found in the lyrics.
The data isn’t perfect but is here for reference.
I used Jupyter Notebooks and the PixieDust Python library to create the maps, tables, and charts. The queries I did were pretty crude. For example, here’s the query to get songs that namecheck Vietnam:
This uses the pixiedust_node library that lets you use Node.js code in Jupyter notebooks and the silverlining library that allows SQL queries to be run against a Cloudant database.
To do anything more complicated, we need the data to be in a GeoJSON format.
GeoJSON
Storing the data as GeoJSON is easy — simply store each geographical reference as a JSON object in a Cloudant database following this pattern:
In the Cloudant database, we can create a Geospatial index on the database, and Cloudant will automatically render the data on a map for us: | https://medium.com/codait/mapping-the-songs-of-bruce-springsteen-bb7eccb5cfe1 | ['Glynn Bird'] | 2017-11-22 10:31:00.960000+00:00 | ['Pixiedust', 'Mapbox', 'Data Science', 'Cloudant', 'Jupyter'] |
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Overview
Wealth, lust, and betrayal set in the backdrop of Regency era England, seen through the eyes of the powerful Bridgerton family.
Inspired by the bestselling novels, this series follows the eight close-knit siblings of the powerful Bridgerton family as they attempt to find love.
❏ STREAMING MEDIA ❏
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a provider. The verb to stream identifies the process of delivering or obtaining media in this manner.[clarification needed] Streaming refers to the delivery method of the medium, instead of the medium itself. Distinguishing delivery method from the media distributed applies particularly to telecommunications networks, as almost all of the delivery systems are either inherently streaming (e.g. radio, television, streaming apps) or inherently non-streaming (e.g. books, video cassettes, music CDs). There are challenges with streaming content on the Internet. For instance, users whose Internet connection lacks satisfactory bandwidth may experience stops, lags, or slow buffering of the content. And users lacking compatible hardware or software systems may be unable to stream certain content.
Live streaming is the delivery of Internet content in real-time much as live television broadcasts content over the airwaves with a television signal. Live internet streaming takes a form of source media (e.g. a video camera, an audio tracks interface, screen capture software), an encoder to digitize the content, a media publisher, and a content delivery network to distribute and deliver the content. Live streaming does not need to be recorded at the origination point, although it frequently is.
Streaming is an option to file downloading, a process where the end-user obtains the entire file for this content before watching or listening to it. Through streaming, an end-user can use their media player to get started on playing digital video or digital sound content before the complete file has been transmitted. The word “streaming media” can connect with media other than video and audio, such as live closed captioning, ticker tape, and real-time text, which are considered “streaming text”.
❏ COPYRIGHT CONTENT ❏
Copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to make copies of a creative work, usually for a limited time.[1][2][3][4][5] The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educational, or musical form. Copyright is intended to protect the original expression of an idea in the form of a creative work, but not the idea itself.[6][7][8] A copyright is subject to limitations based on public interest considerations, such as the fair use doctrine in the United States.
Some jurisdictions require “fixing” copyrighted works in a tangible form. It is often shared among multiple authors, each of whom holds a set of rights to use or license the work, and who are commonly referred to as rights holders.[citation needed][9][10][11][12] These rights frequently include reproduction, control over derivative works, distribution, public performance, and moral rights such as attribution.[13]
Copyrights can be granted by public law and are in that case considered “territorial rights”. This means that copyrights granted by the law of a certain state, do not extend beyond the territory of that specific jurisdiction. Copyrights of this type vary by country; many countries, and sometimes a large group of countries, have made agreements with other countries on procedures applicable when works “cross” national borders or national rights are inconsistent.[14]
Typically, the public law duration of a copyright expires 50 to 100 years after the creator dies, depending on the jurisdiction. Some countries require certain copyright formalities[5] to establishing copyright, others recognize copyright in any completed work, without a formal registration.
It is widely believed that copyrights are a must to foster cultural diversity and creativity. However, Parc argues that contrary to prevailing beliefs, imitation and copying do not restrict cultural creativity or diversity but in fact support them further. This argument has been supported by many examples such as Millet and Van Gogh, Picasso, Manet, and Monet, etc.[15]
❏ GOODS OF SERVICES ❏
Credit (from Latin credit, “(he/she/it) believes”) is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt), but promises either to repay or return those resources (or other materials of equal value) at a later date.[1] In other words, credit is a method of making reciprocity formal, legally enforceable, and extensible to a large group of unrelated people.
The resources provided may be financial (e.g. granting a loan), or they may consist of goods or services (e.g. consumer credit). Credit encompasses any form of deferred payment.[2] Credit is extended by a creditor, also known as a lender, to a debtor, also known as a borrower. | https://medium.com/@tocib44052/s01-e03-bridgerton-series-1-episode-3-online1080p-283948e1ca9a | [] | 2020-12-26 13:03:18.905000+00:00 | ['Series', 'Bridgerton', 'Netflix', 'Television', 'Drama'] |
Postifluence Review — Get Free Targeted Website Traffic Fast | POSTIFLUENCE REVIEW — IS IT WORTH USING?
SEO is a high paying niche and people are charging 100s of dollars for just one campaign. With Postifluence helping you build affordable campaigns, you can dominate this market and rake in clients by the dozen.
Backlinks are the “missing link” in most SEO strategies yet it’s one of the most important. Anyone with a marketing agency with SEO clients would be a fool not to jump on this offer! Because This tool cover two most important marketing goals. Reduce ads investment and rank our sites.
Influencer marketing lets you get your product message in front of thousands of people at once. And it provides an implicit endorsement of your product that builds your credibility and, ultimately, your sales.
PostInfluence gets your name associated with the names of these proven influencers. Getting a guest post on these influencers’ sites could be a dream come true for your business. PostInfluence can make it happen.
Let’s take a minute to recap the huge benefits come up with:
You will be able to increase the Google ranking for ANY business / client
You will be able to tap into an almost limitless supply of VARIED backlinks
You will be able to uncover where your clients competitors get their citations from
You will be able to retrieve and export valuable metrics and data for ANY URL
You will be able to carry out ‘SEO’ campaigns for clients in ANY niche or location
Are You Ready to Arm Yourself With the Most Valuable LOCAL SEO Software (Ready for 2018)?
Remember, full training on how to use the software, along with a strategy that you can follow, is available to you once you invest in Postifluence.
When it comes to ranking local businesses on the 1st page of Google, PLUS in the Google 3-Pack), the most effective ranking factors, are backlinks and citations. All the leading authorities such as MOZ, Search Engine Journal and EVEN Google themselves state this. It’s a fact!
Not only will this new software find you these sites, it will also retrieve all the vital ranking metrics such as ‘Domain Authority’, ‘Page Authority’ and even the number of backlinks that these sites have.
You can then sort and filter these results in a spreadsheet to quickly identify the most authoritive, powerful sites to use. (It’s a HUGE time-saver). Meaning it will open-up a world of opportunities for you in terms of ‘Local SEO’ and servicing clients.
Postinfluence is absolutely phenomenal and highly innovative. As online marketers, we all know that backlinks are extremely important for SEO because they provide a positive signal to Google that another resource finds your content valuable enough to link to it.
Google just simply loves this, especially if the 2 sites are related in terms of similar niche and/or fundamental messages. When a website earns additional backlinks, search engine algorithms make the connection that the website possesses valuable content that is worth ranking well for.
Postinfluence will undoubtedly assist in boosting any website on the Search Engine Result Pages, commonly known as SERP’s. It can help me with good organic site ranking that will rank all my so many websites that really need good organic feed…
This can also save all the Hussle when it comes to doing it manually and searching google for key words together with post influencers on any given Niche.. come to even think about this it helps solve all the brain storming involved with setting up a campaign and keeping up with influencers.
This just takes away all the time and stress involved by making it simple and Unique but yet very powerful with effective results that’s so Instant
I want to tell you WHY ‘Postifluence’ will help you multiply your results for your clients and prospects. The answer is ‘diversification’. You see, when you are building backlinks, adding your client’s business to OTHER websites, and citing their business on other sites… It is vital that you vary the way in which you do it.
You must tap into many different types, and styles of sites / platforms, to make it appear both natural and organic to Google. Postifluence is as diverse as it can get
With the backlink feature alone, Postifluence taps into 13 different ‘broad’ footprints. Allowing you to retrieve an almost endless number of sites where you CAN add your client’s business, to get a backlink, as well as CITE their business name, address and phone number. (This is what will get your clients to the top of Google and in the 3-pack).
It’s ALL about variety. There’s no other low-ticket software out there that does this, and provides you with an uncapped level of diversity.
After using it for about 2 weeks from beta version, Here’s my overview of what this software can do for you…
Uncover an almost endless number of sites where you can add your clients business and obtain a backlink from.
Find niche specific sites that are theme related to your clients business (golden links).
Uncover the sites where your clients competitors have got THEIR business cited.
Identify the ‘Domain Authority’, ‘Page Authority’, Backlinks and much more for ALL the retrieved sites, AND export that data into a spreadsheet that you can sort and filter later. Enabling you to pinpoint the most effective, high authority sites out there.
Find sites from specific ‘English Speaking’ countries. ie — UK, US, Canada, Australia etc.
Identify the ACTUAL pages where you ADD your clients details and backlinks.
If you do LOCAL SEO for clients, or are looking to get involved in this field, then this software will be one of your most effective assets.
What I like most about Jeet Products is that they offer real practical solutions that actually work and not just junk or theroy that you really can’t use in your business. Potifluence can help to add backlinks to my own sites, which in turn can add credibility when I offer SEO services to clients.
I am already imagining how to upgrade current clients in my agency that I have obtained with my otherJeet products like PersueApp, Pinflux, Tube Rank Jeet, Credi Response and others. Potifluence surely will add to the another solid solution that I can offer with suprme confidence to help build on the good reputation I already have with my clients. | https://medium.com/@officialindustrialproduct/postifluence-review-get-free-targeted-website-traffic-fast-d8fc97f00337 | ['Industrial Products'] | 2021-07-06 15:44:54.940000+00:00 | ['Postifluence Review', 'Postifluence', 'Website Traffic', 'Traffic', 'Software'] |
Interactive Neural Network Fun in Excel | Constructing CPPNs in Excel with PyTorch and PyXLL
After reading Making deep neural networks paint to understand how they work by Paras Chopra I was inspired to delve into some experiments of my own. The images produced were intriguing, and I wanted to play around and get a feel for how they changed in response to changing the structure of the neural network.
I encourage you to go back and read the original article, but as a brief summary it involves using Compositional Pattern Producing Networks (CPPN) with random weights to produce abstract images. The basic idea is that we construct a function c = f(x,y) that takes the input coordinates of a pixel x,y and returns the colour for that pixel, c using a CPPN.
Image via Generating Abstract Patterns with TensorFlow
As in the original article, we’ll use PyTorch to create a CPPN. The following code is the result of lots of work by Paras Chopra and will be our starting point.
Running the above neural network on a 512x512 input array results in an output image as shown below. The neural network is initialised with random weights, and the input array is scaled such that each input is between +0.5 and -0.5.
Created using a CPPN with random weights
There are a lot of variables to play with that will affect the resulting image. From the scaling of the inputs, the number of neurons at each stage, and the structure of the neural network itself. We could put this code in a Jupyter notebook and use change the inputs there, but each change we make is a change to the code itself and somehow doesn’t quite feel like a real interactive experience.
Microsoft Excel might seem like an odd choice for an interactive playground for this type of task initially. Bear with me though… What we want to do is enter some information like the number of weights and how many layers, and have a new image presented to us. In essence, Excel simply runs functions when inputs change — and those functions can do anything, even show us an image in Excel! If we could have a worksheet in Excel with the parameters we want to change, and as soon as we make a change have the image update that would be make a great playground for getting a feel for how the inputs affect the output.
Using Python in Excel
Neural networks in Excel might sound like a hard task, but we’re not talking about implementing it in VBA! In fact, we won’t need to go anywhere near VBA as we can continue to use Python instead.
PyXLL is an Excel add-in that embeds the Python runtime into Microsoft Excel. It allows us to write Excel functions entirely in Python, and so we can still use PyTorch for our neural network but all within Excel. Having access to all the Python tools really opens up what is possible with Excel. Rather than having complex logic encoded in VBA, software written in Python is simply exposed to Excel. Excel becomes our front end user interface tool, with Python taking care of the complex computation.
PyXLL is the highest performing and easiest way to write Excel functions entirely in Python, which is perfect for complex workloads. You can download a free 30 day trial from https://www.pyxll.com/download.html.
Building the Neural Network in Excel
Our goal is to be able to construct our neural network in Excel and have complete control over the inputs. We’ll start by writing some Python functions and exposing them to Excel. Roughly, the functions we’ll need are:
Create the layers (nn.Linear, nn.Tanh and nn.Sigmoid) Create a neural network from a set of layers (nn.Sequential) Run the neural network on a set of inputs and show the output
At this stage you might be wondering how we are going to represent some of these items in Excel. PyXLL lets us pass Python objects between Excel functions in a workbook, so having a function that returns a Python instance of nn.Linear or another Python function that takes a list of transformation layers is actually very simple. When a Python object is returned to Excel, what we see in Excel is just a handle to the Python object, and when that handle is passed to another Python function PyXLL fetches the object for that handle automatically. PyXLL also manages the life-cycle of these objects so when they are no longer needed they will be cleaned up automatically.
To expose a Python function to Excel we use the @xl_func decorator from the pyxll module. Here are the first functions we need for creating the layers:
Exposing PyTorch functions to Excel
The @xl_func decorator is all that’s needed to expose those functions to Excel! The nn_Linear function has type annotations which PyXLL uses to ensure the correct types are passed from Excel to the function, otherwise the numbers passed from Excel might come through as floats.
All that’s needed is to add this module to the PyXLL config file, pyxll.cfg. For example, if your code was written to a Python module named “pytorch_abstract_art.py” in the folder “C:\MyCode\PyTorch-Abstract-Art\Modules”, you would update your pyxll.cfg file with the following settings:
[PYTHON]
pythonpath =
C:\MyCode\PyTorch-Abstract-Art\Modules [PYXLL]
modules =
pytorch_abstract_art
We can now call these functions from Excel to construct all the layers required required for the neural network. All of the inputs are entered in Excel, and we can even change the number and order of the layers interactively.
To construct the neural network we just need another function that takes these layers and returns the neural network using nn.Sequential. PyXLL can accept arrays of arguments as well as just single values, so we can pass the whole set of layers as a single argument. The @xl_func decorator takes an optional function signature to tell PyXLL more about the argument and return types to expect.
To tell PyXLL to convert the range of cells passed to it into a 1d list of objects we use the object[] type. If we wanted to pass a range as a 2d list of lists of objects instead we could use the object[][] type. When flattening from a 2d range of cells to a 1d list of values PyXLL takes cells from left to right and so the ordering of our layers in the above image will result in the correct arrangement.
We can now add that new function nn_Sequential to our Excel worksheet and pass in the layers created earlier.
Creating the Output Image
The only things remaining now are to create an input set, initialise the weights, and show the resulting image.
To do that we’ll use Excel’s Object Model to manipulate an image in Excel. Excel’s Object Model is exactly what you may have used if you’ve ever written any VBA, but you may not have realised that it can be called from Python just as easily as from VBA! The guide Python as a VBA Replacement explains how to call Excel from Python, and also covers some of the differences between VBA’s syntax and Python.
The final function takes:
The neural network object The name of the image object in Excel Scale and offset parameters for the inputs A random seed
To add the image that will show our result, in Excel click Developer → Insert →Image (Active X Control). To the left of the formula bar you will see the name of the image object. This will default to Image1, but you can edit this to any name you like.
The following code gets the image from Excel, constructs the inputs, computes the outputs and updates the image.
With this final function complete we can now pull it all together. All of the inputs to constructing the neural network are exposed on the sheet, as are the parameters controlling how the input data is created.
We can add or remove layers, edit the number of features at each stage and even switch the activation functions. What’s really fun about this is that everything is in real-time. As soon as we make a change, the image updates.
A couple of functions were left out of the above code to make it easier to read. You can find them below, or you can also get all of the code from the GitHub repo https://github.com/pyxll/pyxll-examples in the pytorch folder.
Final Thoughts
Playing around with neural networks in Excel in this way has been really interesting and fun. More importantly than that though, it shows how even complex Python tasks can be integrated into Excel seamlessly.
Excel’s strength is as a user-interface tool and, in my opinion, should not be used to store data, algorithms or business logic that can be better managed elsewhere. Anyone who’s used Excel for a while or has worked with a team that depends on Excel know the pain of VBA macros that can’t be tested, version controlled or even be consistent between different users’ workbooks. By moving the code outside of Excel you not only get the huge benefits of a modern language like Python, but you can also apply modern development practices to the code behind your spreadsheets.
While not many people will want to actually construct and train neural networks in Excel, there is still value in being able to access neural networks from Excel. A large part of what makes machine learning useful is the ability to use it to assist decision making. If the decision makers are already using Excel, we can make it easy for them by exposing trained and tested machine learning solutions to them in Excel. This can be a much improved workflow over them using Excel to do some basic calculations, then breaking out to a custom tool or web app (or even worse, emailing someone in the data science group a spreadsheet!), and then putting those results back into Excel — which they will want to do, no matter how good you think your custom tool is ;)
You can download the code and the example workbook from the GitHub repo https://github.com/pyxll/pyxll-examples in the pytorch folder. You will also need PyXLL, which you can download with a 30 day free trial from https://www.pyxll.com/download.html. | https://towardsdatascience.com/interactive-neural-network-fun-in-excel-8bad2b3a5d9d | ['Tony Roberts'] | 2019-12-02 14:48:17.365000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Python', 'Neural Networks', 'Excel', 'Office'] |
Continuous testing for DevOps: a match made in heaven | Aren’t velocity and innovation the two buzzwords today? They emerged from the ever-growing demand for brisk software development and effective tackling of any production incidents. To smoothly design top-tier, easy-to-use solutions that appeal to customers, IT business leaders steadily undergo transformations. Adopting continuous testing (CT) for DevOps is definitely among them.
Continuous testing report 2020 by Capgemini surveyed half a thousand decision-makers. 55% of them have already embedded a CT approach into their development strategy while others are planning to do so in the future. Why? Testing early, testing as much as possible, and testing throughout all SDLC stages allows delivering more features rapidly and without detriment to software quality.
However, the path to CT is a tricky one, especially when it comes to its integration into the DevOps-based projects. How not to cause any process delays and seamlessly overcome arising obstacles? In this article, you will know about continuous testing benefits, its role in DevOps, and the ways to seamlessly embrace it for such projects.
5 pros in favor of continuous testing
Being a part and parcel of a software development life cycle, CT focuses on business risk mitigation at any process stage and provides quick results to developers on the latest features delivered. Thus, they have everything to improve code and guarantee overarching quality maintenance.
In contrast with traditional testing methods, CT serves to tackle issues early while creating software. With it, a company:
Accelerates product delivery. Applying automated tests each time an engineer presents a new part of code, helps streamline the testing process across the entire SDLC. Reduces cycles of risk-informed feedback. Due to the continuous nature of assuring quality and a focus on delivering non-stop feedback, the development team has enough time to fix spotted issues and make better code design decisions. Improves code quality leading to business continuity. Even one defect that occurred within a large-scale, interrelated system may lead to software downtime, which seriously affects the company’s productivity. Creates a reliable and consistent testing process. And rather fast. If done correctly, a little time is required to set up a truly agile, solid working mode, where test automation plays first fiddle by maintaining a configured environment for test execution. Eliminates #1 testing bottleneck in DevOps. Previously siloed from other parts of the process, QA turns into a cross-functional operation across the entire SDLC creating a robust testing flow able to unlock quality at speed.
With that in mind, due diligence to introducing CT into current development methodologies increases process productivity and efficiency.
Continuous testing: a fit-for-purpose approach for DevOps
DevOps methodology is all about close interaction between development and operations teams helping streamline decision-making, deliver stable product features, and introduce innovation briskly.
When supplemented with CT, the development strategy considerably enhances software quality:
Shift-left testing identifies critical and major issues earlier
Shift-right testing supervises software operation in production and spots those rare, minor glitches that still appear due to challenges in simulating precise production conditions.
Seemingly, what could go wrong? However, no pain, no gain. When trying to embed the approach in DevOps-enabled projects and evolve it, companies sometimes face a number of challenges:
Costs-related issues. To tackle them while creating and configuring an effective test automation solution that takes time and effort, a test management platform may be of help.
To tackle them while creating and configuring an effective test automation solution that takes time and effort, a test management platform may be of help. Achieving in-sprint automation. In order to fast-track repetitive regression testing by automating within a sprint, organizations can create less complex test cases and complement the definition of done with test automation.
In order to fast-track repetitive regression testing by automating within a sprint, organizations can create less complex test cases and complement the definition of done with test automation. Poor coordination between teams. To overcome a siloed structure that is so common to QA and Dev teams, companies may benefit from tailored employee engagement strategies focused on raising their awareness.
Thus, those obstacles that seem to be so complicated at first glance become simply a part of the process upon a closer look, when applying a thoughtful, individual approach.
Implementing continuous testing in DevOps: 4 steps to succeed
Companies undergo 4 compulsory stages to introduce CT on the project and get stronger code, raise the efficiency of testing, mitigate business risks, make smarter release decisions. Let’s have a closer look at them all.
Set up continuous integration and deployment pipelines
Each member of the software engineering team should download the code into shared repositories as often as possible. This is how a CI automation tool could immediately start running tests and providing the specialists with the first feedback on the passed and failed tests in real time. It fast-tracks the process of handling occurred errors and delivering novel features to production without interruptions.
2. Implement test automation
CT goes hand in hand with automated testing allowing businesses to speed up the development process, decrease operational costs, and optimize test coverage. Thus, the team briskly determines build stability while eliminating human risks. In addition, once up and running, test cases are reusable, meaning that they may be further applied for other use cases or even on diverse projects.
3. Ensure all-inclusive cooperation between teams
Product quality on DevOps-enabled projects is a shared responsibility of all its members. To ensure the success of CT, all specialists should work together as one focusing on the common aim. In particular, test automation solution architects (TASA) should prepare test cases prior to code creation and cooperate closely with software engineers to ensure code optimization for further automation.
4. Guarantee a pervasive quality assurance process
It means that tests should be carried out throughout the entire software development life cycle, from the stage of early planning to deploying to the production environment. Thus, the team steadily polishes product quality ensuring its high performance, reliability, and security.
A final note
Within an increased competition, companies are seeking more efficient ways of delivering top-tier products at short notice. Among them, continuous testing being integrated into the DevOps culture stands out clearly. When implemented right, it helps enhance software quality, improve interaction between teams, and accelerate delivery.
Therefore, to smoothly adopt CT on DevOps-enabled projects and avoid interruption in processes, companies should stick to CI/CD pipelines, benefit from test automation, enable close collaboration between teams, and test throughout the entire development cycle. | https://faun.pub/continuous-testing-for-devops-a-match-made-in-heaven-4cc452f3b022 | ['Mike Urbanovich'] | 2021-06-08 12:07:03.819000+00:00 | ['QA', 'Continuous Testing', 'Continuous Delivery', 'DevOps'] |
Scotland helped me rediscover my California backyard birdlife | Grab your binos, it’s time to birdwatch! || Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Do you know how sometimes you are reminded of a whole entire world of something that you had previously not considered to the degree it deserves? I’m talking about cheese varieties and their tasting notes… the grain patterns of different wood types in furniture… the genius inventions of double-sided sticky tape and post-it notes. They make you pause, and question, how those things came to be and how you didn’t notice them before. You can’t stop thinking about them now.
Well, for me, it’s the backyard birdlife of the San Francisco Bay Area home I grew up in.
I was raised in a scientific home by scientific parents and studied scientific things at universities. I was familiar with plants and animals, habitats, processes, etc. However, birds were just “birds” and the common and larger species e.g. mourning doves and scrub jays were basically the extent of my bird identification abilities.
This wasn’t a problem for my undergraduate degree in Marine Biology since fish and marine mammals were the stars of the show. I admit that albatross, cormorants, and terns were discussed, but not necessarily on the species level, nor extensively. | https://medium.com/@nataliemrhoades/scotland-helped-me-rediscover-my-california-backyard-birdlife-dbaae4e5d41c | ['Natalie Rhoades'] | 2021-02-22 07:27:40.180000+00:00 | ['Birding', 'Education', 'Discovery', 'California', 'Conservation'] |
The New Executive | An Interview with Ian Schafer
Increasingly, organizations are being held accountable for action on issues that include diversity, equity, inclusion, allyship, sustainability, violence, poverty, nutrition, education, and mental health. Business leaders often want to take action on these important issues, but lack the information and resources to know what decisions to make. Kindred bridges this gap as a professional network built to prepare executives for the future of socially responsible business. Launched in 2020 by Ian Schafer and Elyssa Byck, Kindred helps its members more intelligently and urgently close the gap between intent and action by providing access to a collaborative network of their peers, to renowned experts and training, and to the information, analysis, data, and research they need to make increasingly important decisions. Kindred’s founding members include executive and C-Suite leaders from organizations including Salesforce, Chobani, GM, Nike, HBO, Color of Change, Twitter, Comic Relief, Allbirds, Havas, Dentsu, and Wells Fargo.
We at Human Ventures share Kindred’s vision for the future and we are proud to be early investors in their company. As the world’s paradigms shift, so will the demographics of the founders building the future. The biggest businesses will have a deep sense of responsibility. Businesses will deliver value to all stakeholders, not just shareholders, taking care of employees, vendors, and customers alike.
We recently caught up with Ian to hear more about his vision for the future of socially responsible business — aka business. Read our conversation with Ian below.
Ian, tell us a little bit about your background and what led you to start Kindred.
IS: My background was largely in media and entertainment over the last 15+ years — which has been quite a rollercoaster ride. A lot has happened in that time including the advent of digital media and the decline of the movie theatre. Early in my career, I realized that the world of media and advertising was unprepared for how much digital transformation would impact their industries. I started my own agency called Deep Focus (an homage to the movie industry) to help companies figure out how to tame the advent of digital and social media and use them to their advantage. I sold that agency in 2010 and took it global while continuing to work for the parent company through the end of 2017.
All the while, I kept seeing the systemic issues in the various industries we were working with firsthand. I saw the disconnect between how companies portrayed themselves and the actions they took. I saw the groundswell of activism moving from the fringes into the mainstream. These issues had become a part of the cultural conversation and were rapidly integrating into corporate culture. It was clear that shareholder capitalism was moving toward stakeholder capitalism. For me, history seemed to be repeating itself or at least rhyming — I had witnessed paradigm shifts in business before.
I realized that these systemic issues in society would be as disruptive to companies as digital was, and that the next era of business generation would be about social impact. That’s what inspired me to start Kindred.
How does Kindred work with companies to take action around the cultural changes they are looking to make?
IS: Doing good is good for business. We now have the data to back that up. However, just like the rest of the world, business in general is in transition right now. So in order to get through it, everyone needs navigational help. I’ve found that one of the biggest reasons why companies are unsure of what to do to address their own systemic social issues is that they don’t have enough confidence. And often, a lack of confidence stands in the way of taking action. But companies don’t make decisions, people make decisions. Companies stand by them, but people have to get more comfortable making decisions that appear to be difficult. Otherwise, companies won’t be able to react to sensitive social issues decisively enough. I realized that the best thing that we could do was be the resource for helping leaders bridge the gap between intent and action at their organizations. We do that by providing access to the tools, resources, experts, and information that are necessary for leaders to make better decisions on behalf of their organizations.
Kindred produced an event in June 2019 for WarnerMedia, pictured above, aimed at reducing stigmas around mental illness.
Kindred originally launched with an events focus. Can you share more about your pivot in 2020?
IS: Kindred’s primary goal has always been to help business and nonprofit leaders make better internal and external decisions in areas ranging from diversity, equity, inclusion & belonging, to sustainability and the climate, to mental health and wellness, to food insecurity, financial literacy, and beyond. We built Kindred as a network of leaders who are empowered to make better decisions through a mix of education, access to experts, and one another. We originally launched as an event business to launch a conference that would catalyze the conversation about this new era of business transformation and were planning to host it in San Diego in May 2020. When COVID hit, it eliminated our ability to hold any events and we made the difficult decision to cancel the conference. We do plan to host events in the future, but in the meantime, we are addressing the increasing demand for this type of community head-on. The format may have changed, but the mission remains the same. In fact, COVID has catalyzed the conversation with an even greater sense of urgency. It highlighted many imminent, intersectional issues that were accelerated or exacerbated by the pandemic that businesses needed to respond to. People turned their trust to businesses and companies, not the government, to do something about these issues. Employees’ expectations of their leaders were different. Executives need to be equipped to handle these heightened expectations.
As groups of leaders come together, they are able to build confidence to make better decisions through validation. Kindred acts as an API for companies, organizations, and their executives to plug into to reinforce important and inevitable decisions. Members can talk about the issues that they are facing amongst peers in similar roles. We provide them with virtual research assistants, armed with data and research to inform their decisions. We help leaders break out of their bubbles — home, industry, work, network. For our first cohort, we invited over 100 members to join who were all senior enough to make decisions on behalf of their organizations. It was very important for us to work with a variety of organizations, ensuring that Kindred was able to include non-profits in addition to for-profit companies. Historically, non-profits were a recipient of philanthropy dollars, but now a lot of non-profits are solving logistical problems and corporate partnerships have become critical to their operations. Business leaders are more often taking leadership positions at nonprofits in their prime — not in the sunset of their careers — and bringing business rigor. They need support too — and they bring a lot to the community.
How do you think about supporting the next generation of leaders?
IS: Our members are business and nonprofit executives whose decisions can lead to systemic change. When you become a Kindred member, you can bring someone with you to the programming with a guest pass. This empowers our members to bring their organizations’ emerging leaders to participate — it’s one of the many ways we have learned to make an exclusive experience as inclusive as possible. The next generation of more representative leadership can’t just take power, it must be given to them. The leaders of today will be remembered for how they groomed the leaders of tomorrow.
We strive to create an inclusive, supportive environment that openly embraces the next generation of leaders who will be a part of every solution, for all stakeholders.
Ian recently shared more about The New Executive at Human’s Annual Summit — watch the full conversation here.
About Human Ventures
Human Ventures is a business creation platform, comprised of a venture fund, studio, and enterprise agency. We invest in ambitious founders who are building in what we call the “Human Needs economy.” Human Needs encompasses products and services that address material human problems — specifically those in the areas of health and wellness, the future of work and community. | https://medium.com/human-ventures/the-new-executive-fcd44808c8d2 | ['Human Ventures'] | 2020-12-18 14:29:22.715000+00:00 | ['Leadership', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Founders', 'Business', 'Social Responsibility'] |
How to change bad luck | A string of adverse fortune can lead you to believe you or an organization you care about is cursed. How do you alter a hard-luck period?
Many people don’t buy the concept of curses. But many do, especially those who seem to go through extraordinarily long strings of adverse fortune.
Take the Chicago Cubs and their fans. Many believe they existed under the “Curse of the Billy Goat” for decades. The misfortune supposedly originated in 1945 when local tavern owner William Sianis brought his pet goat to game four of the World Series. After fans complained about the goat’s odor — which was enhanced by rain — officials forced Sianis to leave. As he did, an enraged Sianis reportedly proclaimed that the Cubs wouldn’t win that series or any other.
The Cubs subsequently lost that game and the series. It took until 2016 for the Cubs to play in another World Series, which Chicago won and, by many accounts, broke the curse. By then, fans had been tortured by various mishaps, most notably the Steve Bartman foul-ball incident in 2003.
Many Boston Red Sox fans also thought their team was cursed after owner Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in 1919. Ruth had helped the Sox win three championships, and he was a key part, to say the least, in the Yankees winning four more titles between 1923 and 1932.
The Red Sox, meanwhile, would not win another World Series until 2004, when fans celebrated the team finally breaking the “Curse of the Bambino.” Sox fans, likewise, had gone through all sorts of hell, including the famed Bill Buckner World Series error in 1986.
Curse of the Griffiths
Then there are the curses under which numerous fans of Washington, D.C., MLB teams believed their team had played until Halloween 2019. Various D.C. teams in the National Association — the first pro baseball league founded in 1871 that disbanded in 1875 and contributed some teams to the newly-formed National League in 1876 — could not record a single winning season, let alone a championship.
The first Washington team in the National League — the Washington Nationals — began in 1886 but didn’t come close to a winning record, folding in 1889. A Washington Senators NL franchise continued the losing ways in the 1890s.
Then came a Washington Senators franchise that began in 1901 as one of eight founding teams of the American League. The team was so bad — losing a then AL-record 113 games in 1904 — that the owners changed its name to Nationals in 1905 in hopes of spurring more victories. But many fans and sportswriters ignored the change and still called them the Senators.
After two seasons, the team just put a “W” logo on uniforms but did not formally change the name back to Senators until 1956. Many fans called them the Nats — a reference to the NATionals and SeNATors.
Fortunes rose after signing a big Kansas farm kid named Walter Johnson in 1907. Nicknamed “The Big Train” for his pitching speed that clocked at a then unheard-of 91 miles per hour, Johnson became one of the best pitchers in MLB history — he still holds the record for most career shutouts and is second in career wins.
He almost single-handedly lifted the Nationals from the cellar to respectability, as Washington placed second in 1912 in its first winning season. But only one team from each league made the playoffs back then, and the Nats would not make it to the World Series until 1924. Johnson was a key part of the team’s first and only championship, winning the league’s MVP award with a 23–7 record and 2.72 ERA. He also won the deciding game 7 in the World Series.
The Nationals returned to the World Series in 1925 but lost. Soon after Johnson retired, owner Clark Griffith hired him as manager. Despite coaching the team to three straight winning seasons in which the team finished as high as second place, Johnson was fired by Griffith after the 1932 season. Supposedly, the reason was Johnson was being paid too much by the notoriously tightwad Griffith, who thought a change was needed to move the team into first place.
The Nats made the World Series the following year, but they lost again. That franchise would not play in another postseason game until after Calvin Griffith — the adopted son of Clark — moved the team to Minnesota in 1960. To the sorrow of many Senators/Nats fans, the Twins made the World Series in 1965 and won it in 1987 and 1991.
Some say the firing of DC baseball legend Walter Johnson as Nationals’ manager in 1932 sparked a curse that has hampered baseball in the nation’s capital to this day. The Nationals erected a statue for Johnson outside the current ballpark, but some say the curse remains. [Kevin Shay photo]
While the low-key Johnson made little waves about being fired as manager in 1932 and even reportedly told Griffith it was a “good idea,” some fans believed that Griffith cursed the team with that move. It was akin to Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones firing legendary coach Tom Landry in 1989. Perhaps it was the right move, as the Cowboys won three Super Bowls between 1993 and 1996. But the firing of a legend still stung to many fans.
Unlike in the Cowboys’ case, the Nats did not win multiple titles shortly after the move. And when the team went back to being laughingstocks to the point that the Broadway play Damn Yankees poked fun of the Nats/Senators’ plight, the Johnson firing became a sore point for decades.
Other D.C. baseball fans were sure that Griffith’s adopted son cursed D.C. baseball when he moved the franchise to become the Twins. Perhaps it was the right move for him as the franchise found more success in Minnesota than in Washington.
The AL installed a new franchise in D.C. in 1961, but that one was as bad as the previous two decades’ version with one winning season in 11 tries. It moved to Texas in 1971, becoming the Rangers. Numerous Rangers fans believed a curse stayed with the franchise, as it came within a strike of winning its first World Series in 2011 before losing in torturous fashion.
Curse of the Expos and Strasburg Shutdown
Washington would not gain a baseball team again until 2005, when the Montreal Expos moved south, becoming the Nationals. The Expos had a cursed history of its own.
Since forming from scratch in 1969, the Expos made the postseason once in 36 seasons. They did win a playoff series that year, making the NL championship round in 1981.
The Expos’ best year came in 1994, when they held the best record in the MLB and a six-game lead in the NL East division in mid-August. That’s when players went on strike, and officials canceled the rest of the season. The Expos never recovered, and owners unloaded key players.
So that team came to D.C. Building through the draft with picks like Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg, the Nats blossomed in 2012. Under the guidance of veteran manager Davey Johnson, who benefited from the Red Sox curse in 1986 as the opposing manager of the World Series winning New York Mets, the Nats started strong and built a substantial divisional lead.
But in late August, general manager Mike Rizzo announced that Strasburg, who was having his best year and showed little sign of wear from Tommy John surgery in 2010, would be shutdown for the rest of the season, including the playoffs. Rizzo cited a seasonal innings limit and spoke about saving the ace for “future playoff runs.” Never mind that the upstart Nats were on their way to putting up the best record in the MLB and had as a good of a chance as any team to reach the World Series that year.
Davey Johnson knows a thing or two about curses. Some say his team benefited by one in 1986 and was plagued by another in 2012. [Kevin Shay photo]
Johnson publicly supported the move, but he privately opposed it. He later said that Strasburg’s workload could have been reduced, that he had effectively managed pitchers for years. The Nats would likely have reached the World Series with Strasburg, Johnson contended. Even missing their ace, the Nats held a 6–0 lead in the deciding Game 5 of the NLDS against the Cardinals, only to see pitchers like Gio Gonzalez and Drew Storen fritter that away.
The “Curse of the Strasburg Shutdown” was born.
While many baseball experts proclaimed the Nats to be paper champs, living up to those expectations was another matter. In 2014, 2016, and 2017, the team again got bounced from the divisional series in the most cruel and creative of ways. The Nats lost two more Game 5’s by one run, games where they again held early leads.
They lost in 18 innings after rookie manager Matt Williams took out Jordan Zimmermann in the ninth inning with a 1–0 lead in favor of Storen, who again blew the big-moment save. They lost in an inning when four consecutive Cubs batters reached base on an intentional walk, a passed-ball strikeout, catcher’s interference, and a hit-by-pitch — a special set of voodoo events that hadn’t been duplicated in MLB history.
Little wonder many Nats fans scoured the Internet, searching for clues on how to lift a curse.
How to change your lot
Changing a string of bad luck can seem like swimming against a rip current. There is little limit to what is done to remedy such situations, but does it help? Who knows?
Basically, the idea is to make enough changes from what you are currently doing until something goes your way. Move to another city. Change jobs or partners. Buy a new wardrobe. Do the opposite of anything you’ve been doing.
When mired in a World Series title drought for more than a century, the Cubs and their fans did everything they could. A restaurateur blew up the Bartman foul ball after having to buy it from a lawyer for more than $100,000. The team paraded goats across Wrigley Field and allowed a Greek Orthodox priest to bless the field with holy water. Some fans donated goats to families in Africa. A group even forced a goat named “Wrigley” to march from Arizona to Chicago.
Eventually, the Cubs got enough breaks on the field to end their World Series title drought. New players who hadn’t heard much about the curse contributed.
In the Nats’ case, many fans tried similar means to break a seeming curse as Cubs fans, though they stopped short of walking with a goat for several thousand miles. Some performed an exorcism rite and burned sage in the stadium. Others wore different jerseys, including ones with pointed messages to Bryce Harper, a star player who left early in 2019 to join the rival Phillies. Players started a dance routine after home runs and “Baby Shark” motions.
To help the Washington Nationals reach the World Series for the first time in franchise history, this writer broke out a cap signed by two former Nats he hadn’t worn since a heart-breaking playoff game in 2014. [Shay photo]
I broke out a Nats cap I hadn’t worn since the 2014 heart-breaking, 18-inning playoff game in which Drew Storen again couldn’t hold a ninth inning lead. Ross Ohlendorf, a Princeton-educated pitcher who played for the Nats in 2013, had signed it then, hopefully as good luck. The hat had seemed to bring the opposite in 2014.
So I shelved that cap until last year’s All-Star Game. I took it to FanFest to get it signed by a former Nat player who seemed to run into more than his share of rotten luck. Justin Maxwell, a University of Maryland alum, had been drafted by the Nats fairly high in 2005 after a good career with the Terps. In just his third MLB at-bat, Maxwell hit a grand slam. He would hit two more grand slams for the Nats, but injuries slowed his development, and the team traded him to the Yankees in 2011. The Yanks let him go the following year. He played for five other MLB teams, but injuries and other factors held him back.
After Maxwell signed the hat, I kept it in a bin until going through some items before the 2019 playoffs. The Nats had made the playoffs as a wildcard team for the first time, with the other four times since moving to D.C. being as a division winner. So it seemed like it was a good time to try something different. I wore the hat while watching that winner-take-all game at a local bar.
When Juan Soto — a 20-year-old Dominican-born budding star who had no ties to D.C. before signing with the Nats as an international free agent in 2015 — broke the team’s string of playoff round losses with a big-moment hit, people went crazy. A D.C. team advanced in the playoffs for the first time since that 1924 World Series win, the first time since Griffith fired the legendary Walter Johnson, whose name in the D.C. area adorns everything from schools to parks and roads.
Then, Soto and Rendon and Kendrick delivered some more big hits during Game 5 of the NLDS against the Dodgers, propelling the Nats to the NL Championship Series. Stellar pitching performances by Sanchez, Scherzer, and Strasburg, as well as big hits by Kendrick, Rendon, and others, put the team in the World Series, the first time for a D.C. MLB club since 1933. And in a story line too unbelievable for even Hollywood, the team that had one of the worst records in baseball back in May won it all.
I wore that hat whenever I watched a Nats playoff game, including to the World Series watch parties at Nats Park. I like to think it helped. Thanks, Justin Maxwell.
More cursed teams
No matter how bad you think you or a team you follow may have it, someone inevitably has it worse.
The Seattle Mariners haven’t as much as made the playoffs since 2001 and are the only MLB team that has yet to make a World Series. Several teams have yet to make a Super Bowl, including the Browns and Jaguars.
Here is a list of some currently “cursed” teams:
Team …………..…. Number of years since championship
Cleveland Indians, MLB ………….. 71 [1948]
Sacramento Kings, NBA …………. 68 [1951]
Detroit Lions, NFL ………………… 62 [1957]
Atlanta Hawks, NBA ………………. 61 [1958]
Minnesota Vikings, NFL ………… 59 [Never]
Texas Rangers, MLB …………….. 58 [Never]
Los Angeles Chargers, NFL ……… 56 [1963]
Cleveland Browns, NFL …………… 55 [1964]
Buffalo Bills, NFL ………………….. 54 [1965]
Atlanta Falcons, NFL ……………. 54 [Never]
Cincinnati Bengals, NFL ………… 52 [never]
Toronto Maple Leafs, NHL ………. 52 [1967]
Phoenix Suns, NBA ……………… 51 [Never]
San Diego Padres, MLB …………… 50 [Never]
Milwaukee Brewers, MLB ……… 50 [Never]
Buffalo Sabres, NHL ……………. 49 [Never]
Vancouver Canucks, NHL ……… 49 [Never]
Los Angeles Clippers, NBA ……… 49 [Never]
Seattle Mariners, MLB ………….. 42 [Never]
Washington Wizards, NBA ……….. 41 [1978]
Ottawa Senators, NHL …………. 27 [Never]
Colorado Rockies, MLB …………. 26 [Never]
New York Red Bulls, MLS ………. 25 [Never]
New England Revolution, MLS …. 25 [Never]
FC Dallas, MLS ………………….. 24 [Never]
Tampa Bay Rays, MLB …………… 21 [Never]
Here are some previously “cursed” teams that took a long time to win their first championship or another one:
Team …………………….. Years between titles or to win first
Chicago Cubs, MLB ……………. 108 [1908–2016]
Boston Red Sox, MLB …………… 86 [1918-2004]
Philadelphia Eagles, NFL ……….. 57 [1960-2017]
St. Louis Blues, NHL …………… 52 [1967–2019]
Washington Nationals, MLB …… 50 [1969–2019]
Houston Astros, MLB ……………. 48 [1969–2017]
Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA ………. 46 [1970-2016]
Los Angeles Kings, NHL ………… 45 [1967–2012]
Washington Capitals, NHL ……... 44 [1974-2018]
Dallas Mavericks, NBA ……….…. 31 [1980–2011]
And on the other side, here are some teams that won championships in short times:
Team ……………….. Year won title …….. Year founded or entered league
Cleveland Browns, NFL ………. 1950 ………………. 1950
DC United, MLS ………………. 1996 ……………….. 1996
Chicago Bears, NFL …………… 1921 ………………. 1920
New York Giants, NFL ………… 1927 ………………. 1925
Los Angeles Lakers, NBA …….. 1949 ……………….. 1947
Arizona Dbacks, MLB ……..…. 2001 ……………….. 1998
Milwaukee Bucks, NBA ………. 1971 ……………….. 1968
Florida Marlins, MLB ………….. 1997 ………………. 1993
Los Angeles Galaxy, MLS ……… 2002 ……………… 1996
Philadephia Flyers, NHL ………. 1974 ……………… 1967 | https://kevinjshay44.medium.com/are-curses-real-bae13f3a3db9 | ['Kevin Shay'] | 2019-11-09 03:11:35.218000+00:00 | ['Luck', 'Sports', 'Superstition', 'Baseball', 'Psychology'] |
Organization and wellness tips for balancing family and working from home | However, by combining creative problem-solving with an unapologetic focus and time management framework, we can successfully manage our conflicting duties and busy schedules and take back our lives, even during the pandemic.
Drawing from the intersection of positive psychology, design thinking, habits, and behavioral change, we uncovered through our research nine daily “win the day” tools. They are:
1. Bring awareness to the here and now.
Begin by wiggling your toes, bringing awareness to the now. Research shows us that being more present increases our happiness and well-being. Remind yourself that you are right here, and you have a choice for how you want to show up as an employee, parent, partner, or friend.
2. Limit your choices — perfect is no longer trending.
Worrying and reacting to social comparison can quickly creating FOMO and choice fatigue. Satisfying means knowing when to stop, even if something may not be perfect. Limiting our choices and comparisons makes us happier. So, think twice and restrain yourself before opening up your social media, signing up for another activity or even deciding where to order dinner.
3. Create unapologetic boundaries.
Juggling work, family, and distractions is like a circus act with no intermission. Some interruptions occur when our brains become overactive or unfocused, while others are caused by external factors, like technology, a coworker or child. Research shows us that boundaries help us protect our emotional energy and give us more control.
Consider using awareness apps, time-blocking, or rules around your toleration limits. Also, consider saying no sometimes. Remember that saying no is saying yes to something else.
4. Be your own environmental designer.
Research demonstrates that a small change in what we see daily can make a positive difference. Uplifting online and offline environments can spark your sense of connection and vitality and help lower stress.
Design your workspace to thrive, with colors, lighting, air flow, visuals, and scents that you enjoy. Make sure your office and computer are free of clutter and organized, and that connecting with others is part of your routine.
5. Find freedom in planning and prioritizing.
Continuous distractions and multi-tasking can waste time and wreak havoc on our daily productivity and stress loads. Given limited time and energy, focus on pruning and prioritizing your to-do list. Complete the most important tasks early in the day, and consider chopping work into 25-minute blocks, focusing on one task at a time.
6. Charge your well-being battery.
It’s essential to recharge your batteries. Think of your top energy-giving and energy-draining activities and observe the patterns. Rearrange to maximize your timing of certain tasks.
Allowing for mini-breaks increases your overall productivity while helping to consolidate memories and new skills. So, when daily fatigue sets in, consider a stretch, a walk outside, or friend-calling instead of another cup of caffeine.
7. Choose and invest in your friendships wisely.
Friendships fill us. They boost our self-esteem, quality of work, and decrease illness. To improve well-being, focus on quality and frequency rather than quantity of friends. Social media often doesn’t fill this void. Take a thoughtful approach and consider consistently investing in fewer, quality friendships that will fill your friendship tank (not drain it).
8. Rinse and repeat for happy habits.
Establishing consistent habits can help reduce stress by freeing up time spent worrying or overthinking. Make your habits small, easy, and specific.Consider focusing on tiny habits that improve your overall well-being — like physical movement, healthy friendship, and sufficient sleep.
Let’s improve our happiness and well-being by beginning with more unapologetic awareness and focus. Don’t forget to celebrate your accomplishments along the way, as few female superheroes are decorated with the accolades they deserve.
Clare Davenport is a positive psychology expert, life design coach, CEO and published author. She began her career at Goldman Sachs, followed by over 20 years in management consulting for Fortune 500 companies and managing businesses. Davenport works with business leaders, women’s groups, teams and individuals undergoing life transitions to evaluate and improve their well-being.
Elizabeth (Liz) Koehler, CFA, has been in the financial services industry for over 18 years and is currently the head of BlackRock’s Advisor Insights team. Her team develops and delivers educational programs and new insights for financial advisors and the investor clients, focused on business management, team leadership and organizations, portfolio and financial market insights — including women and investing.
For more great stories, visit Business Insider’s homepage. | https://medium.com/business-insider/8-organization-and-wellness-tips-for-balancing-career-and-family-while-working-from-home-845e6f20b117 | ['Business Insider'] | 2020-12-28 16:03:23.089000+00:00 | ['Friendship', 'Mental Health', 'Wellness', 'Working From Home', 'Women'] |
Give Them RUBYs! Ruby Play Network Partners with Blockchain Wallet Provider Venly to Bring RUBY Tokens to the Market | Give Them RUBYs! Ruby Play Network Partners with Blockchain Wallet Provider Venly to Bring RUBY Tokens to the Market Rob Carroll Aug 10·3 min read
Christchurch, NZ. August 9, 2021 — the digital games wizards of Ruby Play Network engage premium blockchain wallet service provider Venly to offer their loyalty rewards program partners and millions of customers a seamless platform to securely store RUBY Tokens.
Ruby Play Network, part of the Gaming Rewards Group, is expanding the company’s gaming verticals with their new loyalty rewards platform and token. (Their verticals already include well-loved Charchingo.com and Wild Ruby Casino as well as other online gaming products.) Ruby Play Network is proud to announce that Venly’s innovative wallet services will provide secure storage for their Ruby Tokens.
Yan Ketelers, Venly CMO, said: “We’re excited to service Ruby Play Network as we share the same vision on the future of loyalty rewarding. With their years of expertise in digital games combined with our tech solutions they now have all the building blocks to grow their innovative products.”
Ruby Play Network leverages 15 years of combined experience in building successful world-class mobile, social and casino gaming products to create a next-generation solution for businesses to fluidly engage and grow vast customer pools. Providing a fast and secure decentralized loyalty platform that can be plugged into any organization means that network partners can now easily reward and retain their customers with RUBYs.
The agile Venly products let Ruby Play and their network partners make it possible for customers to store their RUBY Token along with popular non-fungible tokens (NFT’s).
“We’re very happy with the integration of the Venly wallet,” announced Ruby Play Network CGO Rob Carroll. “It has allowed us to seamlessly provide our community with both secure storage of their RUBYs and the option of adding NFTs to our network.”
Built on the Binance Smart Chain architecture, RUBY Tokens give customers ownership and control over the rewards they earn. RUBYs have an immediate, tangible utility for customers in a way that other reward points cannot. Customers know the value of RUBYs, and they can save, use, or spend the tokens across the network straightaway. Customers hold RUBYs in their own secure wallet and have many choices in how to use their rewards, on the Ruby Play Platform, within the Binance ecosystem or other partners in the network. With Venly in place, players can cache their RUBYs with their other digital assets and access new value streams Ruby Play Network brings.
About the Ruby Play Network
Ruby Play Network is a team of experienced developers brought together by the minds behind CerebralFix, one of the largest outsource partners for digital gaming products to the Walt Disney Group, and LootWinner, an innovative real money gaming company. Part of the Gaming Rewards Group launched in 2018 in Christchurch, New Zealand, Ruby Play Network harnesses honed content creation superpowers and serious customer engagement know-how to forge the next generation of customer loyalty and retention rewards. The Ruby Token and Ruby Play Platform provide a new kind of reward that grows in value with the expanding network.
Contact: Ruby Play Network at [email protected]
Learn more about RUBY: https://www.rubyplaynet.com/
Hear the tweets: https://twitter.com/RubyPlayNetwork
Join the Telegram community: https://t.me/joinchat/axBVv4-VeiQ0MzBh
About Venly
Venly offers users of blockchain projects digital wallets to store assets with a native solution that also works on mobile devices.
Venly also recently launched the Venly Market, positioning itself as a holistic user-friendly solution to help blockchain projects scale faster and more securely. The Venly Market is the first-ever peer-to-peer NFT marketplace on Polygon. Now also supporting Avalanche and soon Binance Smart Chain and Hedera. On the Venly market, users can then trade these NFTs in a fully compliant environment.
Thanks to the Venly Wallet, Market and NFT-tools, blockchain games, projects, and decentralized applications can tap into an entirely new revenue stream without having experience in blockchain engineering or a complex regulatory framework.
Learn more about Venly here. | https://medium.com/@Ruby_Play/give-them-rubys-806a0dff7989 | ['Rob Carroll'] | 2021-08-10 04:15:47.016000+00:00 | ['Venly', 'Cryptocurrency News', 'Blockchain', 'Nft', 'Ruby Play Network'] |
Artificial Neural Networks for Machine Learning | Part 5 of a Series on Introductory Machine Learning Algorithms
We’ve covered k-nearest neighbor and k-means clustering, and naives bayes classifiers, and random forest algorithms, today we’ll cover artificial neural networks.
Introduction
Artificial neural networks (ANN) are a buzzword in machine learning right now — both for the technical expert and the everyday user. We see these algorithms at work everyday to classify security images, recognize your face when you go to unlock your phone, and interpret your voice commands. In today’s technology-driven world, we use neural networks every day, in all kinds of places, and you probably don’t even realize it!
However, while the application may be new, the technology itself has been around awhile. ANNs have been around since 1943, when they were first introduced in Warren McCulloch and Walter Pitts’ paper “A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity”, describing how networks of artificial neurons could be used to solve various logic problems. However, they were not widely used until 1969 when a technique called backpropagation was created. This technique allows the artificial neurons to adjust themselves when the solution they come up with is not the solution that was expected. It increased accuracy in networks by allowing researchers to create self-adjusting networks that modify their own connections between neurons.
Today, ANNs are growing in popularity due to the increased amount of data and computing power available. In the past, these were two things that prevented researchers from using them in academic settings. Now that we have more data than ever, and faster computer-processing, we can properly apply ANNs in more practical settings.
You are probably wondering, “Well, what exactly is an artificial neural network?” They are systems modeled after the human brain, mimicking the ways we learn and make decisions. These networks consist of input and output layers, as well as hidden layers, similar to the neural networks in our brains.
Each of these layers is simply a group of neurons. The input layer represents the data that we feed the ANN. The output layer is where the results of the algorithm are displayed for us to examine. In cases with greater information and more complexity, there are hidden layers between the input and output layers performing additional computations.
ANNs with more than one hidden layer are classified as deep-learning and their depth is determined by the exact number of hidden layers.
Pros:
High-performing.
Solves problems humans may not be able to conceptualize.
Can be used with regression and classification problems.
Can handle large amounts of data.
Cons:
“Black box” nature, meaning it’s hard for researchers to understand why ANNs make the conclusions that they do, since it’s hard to trace back the numeric values these models produce.
Longer time to train the model.
Requires lots of data, more than a typical algorithm.
Expensive due to the amount of computational power required.
ANNs are extremely powerful and accurate, especially with the amount of data we now have at our disposal. However, they are still supervised learning models, meaning researchers must properly label the data in order to train the model and achieve results.
Where to Use Artificial Neural Networks
ANNs are used in not only cutting edge machine learning applications, but in situations and applications that have been around for decades. An ANN with the name of MADALINE was actually the first one ever applied to a real world problem back in 1959. This model eliminates the echoes produced by telephone lines using a layer to act as a sound filter.
One of the more recent uses of ANNs is in voice recognition technologies. For this application, the ANN must be trained to accurately understand what people with different voices and accents are saying. This data is trained by looking at the mathematics behind sound waves and what constitutes a certain word. Once this data is properly trained, you can input data into the model and allow the hidden layers to compute. These layers learn to prioritize the wave patterns that mimic language. Once these hidden layers output accurate information, the model is ready to be used to recognize different voice commands that humans give it.
The Mathematics Behind Artificial Neural Networks
Today, there are multiple programs that can build out ANNs for you. When using them, the developer’s main task is to determine the number of layers, the number of neurons in each layer, the activation functions, and the epoch values (or reference points of time). This requires a deep understanding of linear algebra, but I will try to keep it simple enough to understand if you aren’t too familiar with this kind of math.
First, let’s start off with the mathematics behind a single neuron.
Each neuron has a column vector of weight (wT) and bias, each of which changes as the neurons learn from the training data. Each time the model runs z (the weighted average values of the vector), is recalculated. This result is then passed into an activation function.
Now, let’s look at layers of neurons. In order to determine the mathematics behind the layers, you must look at the z values found from the individual neurons and use them to create matrix equations.
This is pretty complicated if you aren’t familiar with matrices, so I will show you a picture.
If you want to do an even deeper dive of linear algebra, read this.
ANNs depend highly on activation functions, which allow them to follow a non-linear model and learn data very quickly. Here are a few of the most popular ones that you can choose to implement:
There is also something called a loss function that is used to determine how accurate the ANN’s results are or how the network converges. The function is used to determine how close we are to achieving accurate predictions, based on the training data and the output layer.
As you can see, the values of a neuron, and therefore the layers of neurons, are determined by the value of the weight and bias of each neuron. In order to determine these values we must look at the gradient descent function, a popular function used in calculus. The gradient on each calculation can help us determine whether we need to increase or decrease our w and b values by looking at the loss function. This gradient is calculated using backpropagation, which I mentioned briefly in the introduction.
Conclusion
As you can see, artificial neural networks depend on linear algebra and calculus, making them very mathematically focused. If you have a further interest in these models then you must study basic vectors, matrices, and derivatives. A deep understanding of these concepts is needed to build and implement an ANN. It is impossible to calculate the formulas behind ANN without strong skills in this subject.
Artificial neural networks will only continue to grow in popularity as we develop new technology and the amount of collected data and computing power increases. Developing a deeper understanding of this algorithm will be extremely important for those interested in the world of machine learning.
For more resources, check out some projects using artificial neural networks: | https://medium.com/capital-one-tech/artificial-neural-networks-for-machine-learning-79c67d0681e9 | ['Madison Schott'] | 2020-02-27 16:02:59.249000+00:00 | ['Artificial Neural Network', 'Neural Networks', 'Artificial Neuron', 'Machine Learning'] |
Don’t enter username and password every time for GitHub activity in ubuntu. | If we use GitHub on command prompt through the HTTPS then every time have to use username and password. It is too irritating for us. This the solution to this thing.
Just follow these steps.
Open terminal. Run this on the terminal.
$ cd ~
$ sudo nano .netrc
3. Paste this content there.
machine github.com
login YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME
password YOUR_GITHUB_PASSWORD
4. Save and exit.
5. Close the terminal.
Now you can do any activity of GitHub on command prompt without typing the username and password.
That’s it for this time! I hope you enjoyed this post. As always, I welcome questions, notes, comments and requests for posts on topics you’d like to read. See you next time! Happy Coding !!!!! | https://medium.com/@rajputankit22/dont-enter-username-and-password-every-time-for-github-activity-in-ubuntu-7a93c248ef1 | ['Ankit Kumar Rajpoot'] | 2020-12-20 12:33:10.079000+00:00 | ['Username', 'Git', 'Github', 'Passwords'] |
60 days to become a game developer. Day 56. | Hi. Today is Day 56 of my 60 day challenge to become a Unity Game Developer!
We got some news today that the state might not extend funding for our program past the end of this week. All of us interns were devastated. Although my challenge was for 60 days, as an Oahu resident we were under the impression our program was scheduled to run through the end of this month, maybe longer. I am hopeful that the state will recognize the tremendous value this program brings to our lives. If you’ve been following my and/or any of teammates’ journey, than you know how much this program means to all of us and how much we’ve grown thanks to GameDevHQ. It’s more than just building games and learning to code; it’s learning soft skills, it’s the energy, it’s the community, it’s the enthusiasm to be here and put in the work. If the program is cancelled prematurely it would be nothing short of tragic. Only time will tell. Just have to wait and pray on it.
The news definitely put a lot pressure on our team to make sure we push forward hard to make a great product. Here’s just a glimpse of what we got so far:
Not sure why I wasn’t moving my player here 😅 but check out the enemy animation!!
There was quite a bit that was done today.
Here’s some of what I worked on:
Credit Screen
Today I was in charge of creating the credit screen for our game. For this all I needed to do was create a new UI Image on the main menu canvas. From there I set the anchor presets so that they stretched out towards each side, set all points to 0 and decided to make the background black.
I wanted to keep it pretty simple and clean so I added in the logo as an image and set the alpha channel to 25 so that it was fading into the black background. Next I just added in all the text fields and voila!
Big ups to my teammate Ryan for his wonderful UI skills!!! The smooth transition between the background and the buttons were implemented by him. For the credits button I created I just had to record my button fade in on the timeline he created.
Health Update
Our game is really hard or as our marketing material will say, you’ll be delighted by it’s challenging game play 😏. The original rules of the game was to have the player’s health and weapon level determined by the number of powerups the player collects. If the player gets hit once, he has one life left but loses all his weapon levels…. kinda like Sonic with his rings. This is great in theory but whoever wrote the rules didn’t realize he (or she) was talking to a team of developers ready to go ham sammy on enemies, animations, lasers, the whole nine…. which has resulted in an army of enemies and a near impossible game to beat. Near. Impossible. But fun! So, instead of toning down the enemies too much what we decided was we would tweak the health/powerup system a bit and only make the weapon downgrade one level upon damage. We also decided to increase the player’s health by however many weapons the player has available to them. In this case it is 6. This helps to create a nice gradual decline down to 0 regardless of what weapon level you’re on as well as keeps in line with the original rules as the player’s health/weapons will still be reliant on powerups. Just as before the powerup will still fully restore health and bump the player’s weapon up a level when collected.
Here’s what the code looks like now:
Other things I worked on:
↠ Debugged Big enemy to fix issues with weapons and spawn point.
Challenges:
↠Really hoping that everything works out and me and my teammates can stay in the program. Not worrying about it is the challenge.
Tomorrow we should be all through or pretty close to polishing up this game and unveiling it to the world! Can’t wait to show you.
See you then. | https://medium.com/@mar-mcrae/60-days-to-become-a-game-developer-day-56-b082d0f3b483 | ['Mar Mcrae'] | 2020-12-15 17:47:00.474000+00:00 | ['Challenge', 'Unity Game Development', 'Game Development', 'Gamedev Noob', 'Challenges And Growth'] |
Insulin Resistance: America’s Hidden Epidemic | ……..points to ponder while being tempted by christmas cookies
Are you prone to low blood sugar (feeling “hangry”, dizziness, headache) if you don’t eat frequently?
Are you struggling to control your cravings for sweets?
Do you try to eat less but just can’t to overcome your intense feeling of hunger?
Do you carry extra weight around your middle that you can’t seem to get rid of?
Did you know that people start to develop metabolic dysfunction years before they are actually diagnosed with Diabetes (type 2)? Common causes of metabolic disease run rampant in our culture and include a diet high in refined carbohydrates and processed foods, toxins, lack of exercise, and stress. During the 10+ years of metabolic dysfunction that precedes a diabetes diagnosis, oxidative damage is occurring in the body (which can lead to problems such as hypertension, fatty liver, pancreatic damage which affects digestion, visual impairment, kidney damage, and neuropathy). Insulin resistance is symptomatic, and if you answered yes to the above questions, you may be experiencing it.
In the past, I didn’t diagnose diabetes until fasting insulin was above 126 or Hgb A1C was 6.5%. At that point, I provided education on some lifestyle changes- general diet and exercise information- and prescribed medication. Diabetes typically progresses to a point where insulin is needed, which is adjusted to keep blood sugar in a prescribed range. Eventually, without significant lifestyle changes, diabetes will progress to overt cardiovascular disease, because while the blood sugar outside of the cell is being lowered, the blood sugar inside the cell is not, and oxidative damage continues.
Now, I understand that metabolic dysfunction is occurring much sooner (fasting glucose above 90, triglycerides above 100, Hgb A1C above 5.3%), and I check fasting insulin in addition to other well known lab markers. I make very targeted diet, lifestyle, medication, and supplementation recommendations so that the client can REVERSE the metabolic dysfunction, not just slow down its progress. I am aware of other common dynamics at play that perpetuate metabolic dysfunction, such as hormone imbalance and lack of essential nutrients, and address these as well.
If your goal is to lose weight in the New Year, simply focusing on calories and pounds, statistically speaking, will most likely not result in sustainable wellness and metabolic health. I encourage you to focus on wellness, not pounds. By reversing metabolic dysfunction, you will not only look better, you will feel better, too, and be equipped and empowered to be a healthier you for years to come. www.abundantcareandwellness.com | https://medium.com/@abundantcareandwellness/insulin-resistance-americas-hidden-epidemic-7eed5431d303 | ['Abundant Care'] | 2021-12-16 00:34:28.514000+00:00 | ['Insulin Resistance', 'Functional Medicine', 'Diabetes'] |
Radiant MLHub in 2021: Realizing a Data Ecosystem | By Hamed Alemohammad, Executive Director and Chief Data Scientist, Radiant Earth Foundation
In December 2019, we publicly launched Radiant MLHub, the first open-access cloud-based repository for geospatial training datasets. Since then, we have continuously published new datasets and expanded the ecosystem around Radiant MLHub.
The idea of Radiant MLHub was born in Spring 2018 after several discussions and feedback from members of the community and funders. We had started a new project to develop a global and geographically diverse land cover training dataset using human verification called LandCoverNet. Soon after the launch of LandCoverNet in 2018, we identified a gap in the ecosystem to facilitate publication and uptake of training datasets in our community. That gap in the data value chain led us to the design and implementation of Radiant MLHub.
Data Value Chain
Based on the description articulated by Open Data Watch, the Data Value Chain has four major stages: Collection, Publication, Uptake, and Impact. Figure 1 shows different processes in each of these stages and highlights that the data value increases as it moves from collection to impact.
Figure 1- Data Value Chain (source).
While there is interest from various sectors to work in the data collection stage, there is less interest in facilitating publication and uptake, particularly with providing infrastructure and standards. Data collections are usually centered around a project, or in the case of some commercial organizations, around a product. The next step in these cases is the internal use of data and potentially publishing the research results or releasing the end product.
To maximize the value of a dataset, philanthropic and government organizations mandate open publication of data and research results from grantees. In the case of projects that use machine learning (ML) on geospatial data, such a mandate requires infrastructure and an ecosystem to enable easy sharing of the data while giving credits and incentives to data publishers. Such an infrastructure should also follow FAIR data principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable).
Radiant MLHub was established to fill this gap. It’s designed around the FAIR principles, and it is empowered by community standards such as SpatioTemporal Asset Catalog (STAC). While Radiant MLHub is focused on the publication and uptake of geospatial training datasets, we will work closely with organizations in data collection and data impact stages to better inform our design choices. At the same time, we will provide feedback to those organizations to ensure data interoperability across multiple data value chain stages.
Since its launch, Radiant MLHub has gathered a large, diverse user community who have used the API to search for and access ML-ready training datasets. Moreover, we have regular inbound requests to host new datasets. Building on users’ feedback, we have designed the 2021 roadmap to expand our services and enhance the usability of Radiant MLHub.
Roadmap for 2021
Enhancing user experience
Our main goal is to make data search and download from Radiant MLHub seamless for users with varying experience levels. So far, users have been using the API and writing their own code to search for data and download individual items or datasets. We are now developing a Python Client, compatible with STAC API, to help users interact with the API in Python without writing basic API calls. This is the first Python Client for a STAC API to our knowledge, and we hope that it will also encourage other groups in our community to contribute to it. Look for announcements around the first release of Python Client in March 2021.
Defining metadata for model cataloging
Radiant MLHub is beyond just a data repository. We think of Radiant MLHub as a set of commons to advance applications of ML on Earth observations. Therefore, we aim to expand its services to answer the needs of the community in this respect. One such need is a library of existing ML models that users can easily find and put into practice (either for inference or using it as a pre-trained model).
While there are some examples of such model catalogs within the ML ecosystem, they do not support metadata related to geospatial ML models. For example, one might be interested in models that detect surface water at a specific spatial resolution or a model trained on data from a certain geographical region. Therefore, we are developing a geospatial ML model catalog that users can 1) register and publicly publish their models and 2) search for existing models using various query parameters. This catalog would require a standard definition for model metadata that we will develop in consultation with various groups in all community sectors.
Training and capacity development
One of Radiant Earth’s three pillars is education and increasing awareness and capacity to inspire better use of Earth observations in addressing international development challenges. Our initial focus since the launch was on building the infrastructure and expanding the data catalog. In 2021, we are expanding our training and capacity development activities. We are going to have our first virtual training bootcamp focused on ML for EO and organize two more competitions on challenging new training datasets, which we will release on Radiant MLHub.
We look forward to working together to strengthen ML on EO in the coming year! | https://medium.com/radiant-earth-insights/radiant-mlhub-in-2021-realizing-an-ecosystem-a4f45d4979ee | ['Radiant Earth Foundation'] | 2021-01-27 13:31:08.894000+00:00 | ['Earth Observation', 'Machine Learning', 'Geospatial', 'Training Data', 'Radiant Mlhub'] |
Former Careem Growth Team Experiences | When I landed to Dubai back in 2017, we were bunch of people starting to put the first foundations of the term and mindset of Growth in Careem before it was acquired by Uber . Through out the journey, we had tons of experience learning's, successes and failures. How we built the team, what were the situation at that time, what would it be different if we started now.
In this article I would like to touch base, what this amazing team has achieved during their tenure and what they are doing now to continue the same energy, mindset, experience to other start-ups in the MENATP region and abroad…
You will find a long story of How a growth team was formed back in 2017, how evolved with different sub departments and organizational changes… I thought this could be helpful for everyone to get inspired, find their own way of operating and learning from our experiences
Lets jump in…
Customer Growth and Digital Marketing team back in 2019 forming sub departments of Acquisition, Engagement, Martech, Growth Operations, Performance Marketing, CRM and Analytics
The story started April 2017… When I accepted the offer from Mudassir Sheikha, I was knowing less on the Growth but more of Product Marketing, Management and core product disciplines. Luckily enough, there was a small group of amazing caliber colleagues were already in place already kicked the basics of growth initiatives , Furkan, Baris and Michel…
PHASE I — Engagement Efforts (Started 2017 April)
Teamed up in an open space on the 40th floor of Shatha Tower of Dubai Media City, there were already basis of Growth A/B testing experimentation was there, by pulling data via SQL, working on huge excel sheets and DB to understand and understand users behaviors. There were tons of topics we have to do; help countries to expand to cities by acquiring users, engaging customers that we have already have in existing cities, decrease CAC, increase trips, GMV and revenue…
We had to prioritize… We picked the big bets.
We have and they were mostly related with increasing retention rate.
The second topic is we needed engineering and product support to launch our ideas such as focusing on High Value Customers and giving them an amazing service. This was a silver bullet over our competition with Uber.
For both we needed source. Therefore we have brought Ahsan from Pakistan to deep dive with his technical skills on building the first bits of automation learning from Furkan, Radhika landed to the UAE from India to look at retention and Heidi internally transferred from Careem Egypt Finance Team. Furkan with the above colleagues formed the first bits of Engagement Squad inc by inch.
The logic was :
Educate the team with deep technical skills
Make them pure full stack growth hackers whom can do multiple things at the same time (forecasting, budgeting, hacking, A/B testing, building bits of triers automation and understanding customer’s journey end to end)
Build the resilient growth mindset and spread this to the countries they work
and spread this to the countries they work Work literally 2–3X :)
Building the tech skills and getting the necessary approvals made us to move fast rather than waiting engineering and product support on any basics of automation, triggers, integration with CRM or other tools.
This (later I will explain in detail) resulted with building Growth Engine, prediction, forecasting abilities which resulted in efficiencies. Marketing Tech and Growth tech teams were working on mainly Automating the flows such as:
Building/selecting or leveraging new or existing marketing automation or tools to drive automated long-term growth
Coding Events/triggers and following users’ journey by full automation to do re marketing/churn prevention and predicting
Implement connection between CRM Tools, Paid Performance Marketing, SMS/Email Notifications with Data Science Models
Build Lifetime Value of the Customer based on strong Data science & Experimentation
I highly recommend visiting Barış Karaman’s blog on Medium to read series of articles on Data Driven Growth.
During 2017–2019, we had vast competition with Uber. during these times, they had more promotions budget and aggressive growth tactics. To survive and keep growing there were 3–4 steps we were focusing on:
Keep the High Valued customers aka commuters inside our platform via subscription or promos that offer multiple ride discounts
Grow with amazing on ground, driver, payment, registration and on boarding experiences as well as in care by collaborating with other teams
Efficient spending and not spend to customers who would intentionally abuse your promos (use promo and leave)
Increase the overall lifetime value of the customer in all segments and breakeven profitability
To do that we used very detailed A/B tests to find the utter efficient incremental upticks for increasing trips and revenue
A set of suggestion to startups or founders who are reading this article is hiring is the only one part of the equation but education, showing the way, teaching your colleagues and making everyone share their knowledge by documenting a heritage (playbooks) is the one very important another .
In Careem we have published many playbooks each have possible tens even hundreds of pages. These led every new joiner to have an amazing on boarding and they are spreading this culture where ever they go in their future Career. some topics we were working on :
Engaging customers at a sustainable cost. (CPAU: Cost Per Additional Usage) Calculating the incremental cost difference to change user behavior
Retaining Customers by amazing experiences and offers (Retention Rate, Churn Rate)
Building Mechanisms for locking and increasing usage (Loyalty) (# of loyalty Customers/Total Customer base)
Former Careem Martech Lead Baris, took the best blurred picture of the team, during my surprise birthday party. He is the VP of Growth in SWVL (They dont care of course how quality photographer you are but more how strong you are at growth :) )
PHASE II — Growth Ops. Joining to Customer Growth (October 2017)
One of the most challenging times we had was coordination with countries aka Mountain Peaks. (HQ was named as Base Camp in Careem) . If you ask me again would you be having this much of work related debates about how to use promotions, incentives to do growth marketing in the countries, I would possibly answer differently. We had quality discussions, tough times debating but it was always about work and never about disrespect, that was not part of Careem culture. It was more of disagree but commit.
During these times, coordination with countries managed by Aurora, and each country had it’s HQ Growth Operations counter part basically serving the countries AARRR Customer funnel needs and spend in an efficient and effective incentive budgets.
We started dedicating and of course hiring colleagues from different backgrounds, countries and started to create servant growth mindset to drive metrics of the countries. If they win, we win, we are in one big boat. Mustafa was leading Pakistan, Mille caring for UAE, Fahad as being a Saudi national solving problems in KSA, Sameh as being EGyptian for EGY and later IRQ, Sercan for experiencing multiple countries TUR, MOR, QAT, BAH, KUW in GCC and Tugce emerging Markets in various geographies. Later in the stages Yousra for EGY and Ansar for Pakistan joined the team…
With this org, all country campaigns, per cities orchestrated with the local teams every week with a standup type multiple meetings and slack/email/phone coordination. Local GMs and Marketing managers were the counter parts of Country Growth Operations Leads explained in above paragraph. The team provided all insights to countries and worked with local and other teams to orchestrate 360 Marketing initiatives under the P&L ownership of countries.
Moreover, when Growth Ops team landed to the specific country, they would be supported by local teams to understand high density locations such as airports, city centers, congestion and real time commuter experience to have qualitative and quantitative insights.
Sercan in Kuwait …
PHASE III — building the Acquisition Squad (November 2017)
After engagement, there were needs to focus the organic side of the acquisition. at these years digital Performance marketing was in another silo in the organization all paid channels, CRM, SEO and digital marketing analytics were managed there. When we figured out that the funnel drop-offs are very important especially during Signup, activation, On boarding and first 30 days, together with Furkan, we have decided that its time to build a dedicated Squad and , Secil Joined us. She teamed up with Ashiq and Alishan to form the Acquisition Squad of customer Growth team.
Team focused on doing months of analysis and came out of an idea called “Honeymoon program” to improve the experience during the first 30 days journey of a Careem Customer. They identified the reasons of drops such as not adding payment method, not proper nudging and education on the first 30 days, adding favorite address locations and understanding the app better. These automated, local language constructed 2–7–14–28 day triggers engaged the customer and won the MMA MEA Smarties Marketing Silver Award. Business analytics and internal analytics for serving countries became important, we hired Partha to look at our analytics area. Later Sakshi joined him forming analytics mini team.
Responsible for the Acquisition of right customers through paid and organic channels at optimal cost. (CPA/Cost per first usage)
Properly building the best on boarding experience and flow
Activating users with compelling offers or differentiated experiences (Activation Rate, DAU/MAU)
Increasing GMV, number of usage, & net revenue of new users
Team even met after work to have fun showed their analytical skills in the card and board games :)
PHASE IV — Performance Marketing merges with Growth (Aug 2018)
Around March 2018, we were mainly focusing on scaling retention via subscriptions, improving first part of the funnel and seeding the first bits of the Intelligent Marketing Technology solutions to the company such as Growth Engine. We had to hire technical growth teams to help Baris and Ahsan therefore, Sinan joined the team.
During 2018 series of internal discussions led the leadership to decide to look at the paid and organic side of the customer funnel could be logical. Digital Performance marketing team merged with Customer growth, moved to same floor, same sitting space. Now it was time to bring people under same direction and OKRs as well as culture. We did some tests for this.
We organized the same logic of Country Servant mentality to digital performance teams. If a person was helping a specific country to organize their paid ads, they teamed up with a Growth Hacker and Growth Operations Lead.
This lead seamless Digital Marketing, organic uplift and hassle free operations happening 7/24 365 days.
Growth Ops teams also worked to coordinate with countries any needs on analytical reporting and CRM coordination if they needed to send any marketing campaigns through SMS, Push and Email channels apart from their automated daily campaigns.
SEO/ASO handled centrally along with Adnetworks, CRM tool relations, API connections , attribution, re-targetting efforts and channel provider relationships as well as Supply team driver (captain) digital acquisition efforts.
Through out this journey Setu, Sathiya, Mougi, Hazal, Sakshi, Noor, Syed, Wisam, Zeerak, Haris, Arpit, Passant, Akash, Michael, Aditi and Unais. Our leader for this Performance marketing squad was Simon.
Typical Customer Funnel view that we were applying and following the KPIs and metrics for over 100 cities in an automated way. %90 of the campaigns to pick these drop-offs were done automatically by the Growth engine
PHASE V — Tribes and Squads Organization (Dec 2019)
In my last year, with the growing team I was fortunate enough to witness on top of what we build , we have teamed up cross functionally with Product, Design and Tech( Engineering) teams to form Customer team under my responsibility. Was one of the toughest, fun and full of learning time. How it happened?
Work Hard Play Hard… We obviously thought it could be too easy to go nearby so picked up end of Deira to commute to reach a Bowling tournament :)
We have organized the structure of the way we work in squads. we focused on:
Acquisition and Activation. This squad hold the front for the first 30 days of the customer from sign up, registration, and till first ride.
This squad hold the front for the first 30 days of the customer from sign up, registration, and till first ride. Engagement and Retention. After 30 days all things related with increasing revenue, loyalty, retention of the user as well as cross sell to food and add payment methods were here. Decreasing cash usage increase wallet usage was also important
After 30 days all things related with increasing revenue, loyalty, retention of the user as well as cross sell to food and add payment methods were here. Decreasing cash usage increase wallet usage was also important Growth Operations, Digital Marketing and Martech teams were supportive on these squads. Product marketing ran by Shahrukh …
teams were supportive on these squads. ran by Shahrukh … Payment related topics, care related areas from customer’s app were coordinated with separate teams. We had great time working with colleagues from Product, Design and Engineering teams such as Asma, Sven, Yasser, Luke and many to list down would be long…
Working Rhythm for Growth Teams
If you want to be successful managing Growth teams, focus on the below manifesto for your cadence.
All Team Members carry the Team OKRs together %100
All Team Members have min 15% of Personal Development and Learning OKR on Growth related topics aka attending the Growth Academy
All Squads have their stand-up meetings (Preferably min 3 times a week)
Weekly meetings on Sunday/Monday mornings for learning from past, planning the current and vision for future
Catch up Meetings Weekly (All)
Monthly Presentation of progress to Leadership as well in Company All Hands/Town Hall
Monthly OKR Review Meetings with the accountable teams (countries, interior departments such as finance, people team etc. )
The morning where the team is preparing to launch necessary comms about Uber buying Careem for 3.1B $, the highest acquisition MENATP saw till that time. Left to right; Furkan, Asma, Aditi, Sven, Wisam, Aurora, Simon and me.
Where are they now…
You can click the names above inside the article to look at the profiles of my ex colleagues. some of them are leading, building growth and digital teams, some of them making their hands very dirty again being swiz-knifes in start-ups, some of them founded their companies and some pursued more corporate career paths.
Nothing is right or wrong. But one thing is very obvious that all learned super well, not only from Careem culture but the culture we tried to build inside the growth team. Now their main duty is to spread this to the new teams to seed the Growth Mindset…
Culture tips and Tricks
During the journey we tried to do apply a set of initiatives to improve the colleague engagement and build the growth mindset. Here are they:
Growth Academy. Everyone in the organization attended this. People learnt SQL to Python, Digital performance advertising to Business intelligence. It was a set of trainings with coffee and pizzas at nights after work. This led the team to harmonize the knowledge levels.
Everyone in the organization attended this. People learnt SQL to Python, Digital performance advertising to Business intelligence. It was a set of trainings with coffee and pizzas at nights after work. This led the team to harmonize the knowledge levels. Best Practice sharing. Every Growth lead and hacker had extensive tests conducted for over 100 cities. every week these are shared and applied to other countries. No body worked in silos.
Every Growth lead and hacker had extensive tests conducted for over 100 cities. every week these are shared and applied to other countries. No body worked in silos. Meeting frequently outside work. Dinners, Lunch, bowling, cricket, football, American football, cooking together, celebrating birthdays in small and large groups was fun and made everyone have fun.
We even went to a restaurant, cooked for 40 people from scratch a 3–4 meal course :) Including a desert and hand made Gnocci :)
Country owners traveling to countries. We made sure the budget is allocated quarterly so people can go and meet with their counterparts. This made difference in country teams aka mountain peak and HQ coordination.
We made sure the budget is allocated quarterly so people can go and meet with their counterparts. This made difference in country teams aka mountain peak and HQ coordination. Hiring Tests and Cases. We had our own unique set of tests, cases and the way of hiring. All squads had also asked to see the people even they are joining to other squads.
We had our own unique set of tests, cases and the way of hiring. All squads had also asked to see the people even they are joining to other squads. Hackathons. We had 2–3 in 3 years. People had the chance present infront of founders or VPs. Careem Whatsapp Booking was launched during this hackathon as MVP and in less than a month was live.
We had 2–3 in 3 years. People had the chance present infront of founders or VPs. Careem Whatsapp Booking was launched during this hackathon as MVP and in less than a month was live. Diversity. Customer domain was formed with 30 different nationalities of 80 colleagues. The diversity span was one of the best in MENATP region. We had the Flags of everyone on the floor making them remembering their countries all the time. Male/Female ratio at some point was 40% women again a good ratio for MENATP.
A Customer Growth 24 hr Hackathon in 2019 spring that cost us 50 pizza boxes :) The team ate like Gremlins… Customer domain was formed with 30 different nationalities of 80 colleagues. The diversity span was one of the best in MENATP region
Growth Mindset
The below is the example slide, I was using while I was building teams, consulting and it reflected the days we worked together as Customer Growth Team of Careem. We truly lived the logic by our hearts
Success Factors of the Most Effective Growth Teams
Culture of A / B testing
Strategic experimentation framework/guideline
Accept the risk of experimentation. Ok with failing if it’s a learning
Growth is a process, a marathon not a sprint
Deep understanding of customer’s pains and desires is essential
Move not fast but super fast
Flexibility to change as you learn
Cross-functional teams; multiple eyes are always better
Growth is building like a Cathedral.
Growth is building like a Cathedral. While building a magnificent Cathedral you must lead a significantly well-organized, highly skilled creative mindsets of individuals that is running by the clock to deliver… They need to constantly and very quickly fail and learn during their journey to their north stars which is a Masterpiece that will be remembered by generations….
Before I close, these are the factors I guess everybody will align. I had the most precious days learning from the team and everyone in Careem. I always say, we guided teams as their leaders and never lost out autonomous way of taking responsibility. Giving huge responsibility asking to take risk to even new joiners were in our DNA. This made everyone owning the company truly from ground up being the pillars. This now lead people to even get more responsibilities in their second part of their careers, including myself.
I am so proud of where they are now…
They are the former Careem Growth Mafia :)
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
My passion are:
Blitz scaling Growth
People Engineering
Building hi performance growth teams
If you want to read more feel free to subscribe to my https://emretok.substack.com/ email letter and also follow me on http://www.twitter.com/emretok and http://www.linkedin.com/in/emretok or know me in detail here http://www.emretok.com | https://medium.com/@emretok/former-careem-growth-mafia-175aba638587 | ['Emre Tok'] | 2021-06-01 06:26:54.740000+00:00 | ['Digital Marketing', 'Growth Hacking', 'Careem', 'Product', 'Growth'] |
The Team Night Out: Due South | So, you fancy a noight darn sarf d’ye, geezer? Well, let us remind you old sport that Castletown is a fine, upstanding town and indeed, the former capital of our fair isle. We’ll have less of the Danny Dyer speak dear boy. Or soon enough you’ll be brown bread.
Chim Chim Cheroo!
Moving on from such tomfoolery! Our next stop on this Isle-trotting tour is, well, if you hadn’t guessed: the South! Yes, the Southernmost point of our fine Island has a wealth of history behind it. Not to mention its understated beauty, too. A day out can be spent lording it up in Castle Rushen pretending you’re a battle-hardened Viking — we’d go for ‘ODIN THUNDERBEARD’ if we had to choose a name — or long, gentle strolls towards the beautiful shore, where sparkling seas kiss the nape of the beach. Naturally, we’re focusing on a team night out on the lash. You’re welcome.
The Beautiful South. Not the band.
In all seriousness, there are so many variants here. The South of the Island has something for everyone.
Steaming into C-Town
The Dining Car Experience. We’re pretty sure it’s a train but hey, we’re no experts.
Right. You need a plan. The Dining Car Experience has a wealth of cuisine options that will surely keep everybody happy. Even Fussy Phil from Compliance who you’ve only ever seen eat fizzy Haribo. Themed nights are sprinkled throughout the month. Whether it be Mexican tapas, the Christmas Party Train or Festive Pie & Mash, there’s plenty of choice. Plus, the bar is most certainly open! Excellent foodstuffs, a few drinks to get the merriment into gear and all within the comfort of the genteel train. You’ll feel like Michael Palin in a Christmas jumper.
Next up? A spooky Isle of Man ghost tour is not only a right good laugh…it’s a perfect way to sober yourself up through cold, merciless terror. Mwahahaha. You’ll walk the streets of C-Town and hear vivid, creepy tales of when Manx witches were burnt alive and public executions were Saturday evening entertainment. Aka “The pre-Netflix” era.
Situated on the famous ghost walk and perfect for a beverage to calm those nerves is The George. You could even reserve a room for the night! You may be somewhat dissuaded by all the talk of beheadings but still…it’s an option.
The George. Fine ale will get you through its horrific past.
Resist the urge to invade Castle Rushen or the Calf of Man, and instead stand down soldier! The Glue Pot has a frothy pint of Bushy’s waiting for you. Not literally waiting for you…it’s a pint.
Bottle Monkey have commandeered control of the Old Castletown Fire Station and turned it into a live music-playing, creatives market-displaying, craft ale-quaffing paradise. It’s a Christmas miracle!
You can then finish up back on the Steam Train Dining Car, to continue apace in Douglas. Like a passing of the Olympic torch from old capital to new. But with an uproarious team sing-song of Wizard to finish off. Or Slade. One of the mutton-chopped Christmas hits, anyhow.
Crafting in the name of
Lockdown: Making crafting great again.
Perhaps you’re less ‘lads lad lads’ and more ‘crafts crafts crafts’. Don’t you worry, kiddo. Tis the season for market-wares! This Saturday 5 December there’s a Chrimbo market on in Castletown and indeed, the Port Erin festive extravaganza too! Held at Erin Arts Centre, the extravaganza — sorry we just love using that word — will have a fun-packed day of raffles, games and the ubiquitous presence of Santa himself. Also, there will be so many craft stalls you’ll be forced to bellow out “YOU ARE HAVING A CRAFT, MATE” which may not go down well but still! Lots to enjoy. Lots of home-made bargains.
Or…
As Monty Python would say, ‘And now for something completely different’.
What about…snooker? Hear us out! Castletown’s new Cue Zone is the Island’s largest snooker and pool venue. Dd we mention it’s run by former professional snooker player, Darryl Hill? We didn’t? Who’s answering us back? ARGHHH THE VOICES. Sorry about that. Where were we? Ah yes. Darryl has a great set-up and even offers some of his expert coaching too. Give it a try and see if you can top our best break of 4! Aim high.
Food Glorious Food!
Secret Pizza Co: No secret anymore.
There are lots and lots of wonderful food and drink outlets in the South. Foraging Vintners bring the classy vibe with their home-brewed craft winery. We can confirm the Rhubarb Sparkling wine tastes heaven-sent. Secret Pizza Co are the self-proclaimed mother-funkers of stonebaked delight. And, if a Biscoff Cake Jar doesn’t sound like the greatest invention in the history of mankind then not only are you certifiable, you best avoid Cupcakery then.
There’s only one place to finish…
You guessed it: Twilight Glow Paddleboarding! Yeah, we really signposted that one. Boasting the UK’s only illuminated stand-up paddleboarding experience…can you really picture a more fitting end to your day than paddling through charcoal-black waters, the tranquil sea alighted by your LED-lit board? Other than a 3am donner kebab and hour-long search for your house keys, obviously…
Next week? Won’t you stay another day? We’re getting our East 17 on! | https://medium.com/@loveiom/the-team-night-out-due-south-10ce79057d94 | ['Love Iom'] | 2020-12-03 11:35:49.322000+00:00 | ['Drinking', 'Isle Of Man', 'Christmas', 'Eating', 'Team'] |
INSTAGRAM ACCOUNTS FOR SALE | Instagram account sales are relatively new phenomena that are emerging. Businesses promoting the sale of their Instagram accounts to other people are using it. There is an advertising endorsement on the profile of the Business, which is why it attracts buyers. The essential thing to note with these sales is the validity of ownership of the account. The vast amount of quality followers on an Instagram account, the more lucrative it is to sell. It becomes a million-dollar business in a relatively short period. Another thing for customers, it allows verifying who they are buying from further-more they will have the authority to manage the account.
Instagram account sales have been around for some time now. However, the actual value of the account was non-attributable until now. Definite parameters determine the worth of Instagram accounts. These include the number of followers, likes, and engagement on each photo posted on an Instagram profile. A successful sale comes with a high price tag because it takes into consideration all three metrics.
Having the right followers is a significant determinant of an Instagram account sale. These must be high-quality followers. It includes having a large number of likes and comments on each photo posted on the Instagram page. The more it has, the higher its value increases. That means the better the quality of its followers, the more expensive the Instagram account sale will be. Many strategies go into getting followers to like and comment on photos shared by an Instagram profile. Some ways include using hashtags, tagging popular accounts, or using location-based tags. These are crucial factors that determine how much an Instagram account is worth. For the desired results, multiple posts should build on an Instagram profile.
Another huge determinant of the price tag of an Instagram account sale is its engagement metrics; it matters how many likes and comments each photo gets. The more engagements, the better the price tag becomes for that account. That means every consecutive day having a good number of followers liking and commenting on photos posted by an Instagram page is key to attracting potential customers. The more popular an Instagram profile is, the better the sale of the account becomes.
The final factor that determines how much an Instagram page can sell for is how many followers it has on its page. More follows mean a higher price tag for this social media platform. It is important to note that not all the followers on an Instagram page need to be targeted customers. It is still counted as a sale if the account has bought or earned followers. We perceive that it does not matter where the followers come from; all that matters is how many there are and their engagement levels. Having more than millions of followers is very convincing to potential customers who like to spend large amounts of money on these social media accounts. The number of followers that an Instagram page has is the extensive determinant of its worth. It is even more lucrative when the engagement metrics are high. | https://medium.com/@mary76006/instagram-accounts-for-sale-2fb88c39eec9 | ['Rose Mary'] | 2021-09-08 15:29:07.157000+00:00 | ['Instagram Marketing', 'Instagram Followers', 'Instagram', 'Sales', 'Followersoninstagram'] |
Introducing 3 Small-Big Books You Need to Read the Correct Way | Photo by Author
There’s a genre of books that relates to Holocaust stories. This book is not one of them.
There’s a genre of spiritual books and books related to life’s philosophies. This book is not one of those either.
Rather, this book teaches you to seek value and meaning in the worst situations you face in life. Because it is meaning in living that empowers the human mind to keep going even in life’s toughest situations. This book is about finding that meaning.
Psychologist Viktor E.Frankl was one of the survivors who came out alive out of the Nazi concentration camps in the Spring of 1945 and lived to tell the tale of its horrors. However, his profession granted him a unique perspective on the extremities of life in those situations. He used his insight as well as those of other people around him to decipher and confirm some of the ideas that humans believe helps them live a more purposeful life through the highs and lows of it.
The correct way to read this book
The book is divided into two parts: the first narrates the account inside the concentration camp and the second is a brief introduction on Logotherapy- Frankl’s own school of thought aimed at helping people find meaning in life.
The first part is more of a story. It narrates Frankl’s and his inmates’ thought process in the most extreme situations they face in the camp, such as lack of food, or working in extreme conditions or watching people die. You can sail through this part as you sail through a story. This part also contains some really uplifting one-paragraph recollections and anecdotes you can mark to read when you need motivation in life.
You need to pay attention when Viktor gets freed from the concentration camp. This is when he speaks about man’s search for meaning in his life. And how focusing on something in the future is a powerful anchor that gives him that meaning to survive.
Then, the second part of the book describes logotherapy as a psychological branch, where he describes the nuances of the meaning of human life in various situations.
In essence, the first part conveys through the story what the second part conveys in theory. Both parts are equally enriching but even if you read the first part of the book attentively, you will have derived the intended value from the book.
Also, you might want to note down certain important principles Viktor mentions in the book to refer to later. These are gems and should not be passed without letting it sink in. One of the examples is this quote: | https://medium.com/books-are-our-superpower/introducing-3-small-big-books-you-need-to-read-the-correct-way-447c28bae14e | ['Ruchi Das'] | 2020-12-25 18:56:50.184000+00:00 | ['Ideas', 'Book Recommendations', 'Self Improvement', 'Books', 'Reading'] |
What Is Customer Engagement? The Ultimate Guide | When you search for Customer engagement, the internet is full of articles presenting a variety of information. But I feel that there is always something more I want to know.
In this article today I will try to explain everything that is essential in terms of customer engagement. Customer engagement is a comprehensive and elusive term that has a variety of definitions out of which some say that is the emotional connection between a brand and a customer. Others consider it as the process of interaction of a brand and a customer.
The interaction will eventually be unique as is your company, or, Customer engagement is the ongoing interactions between company and customer, offered by the company, chosen by the customer.
Another one is, Customer engagement is an estimate of the degree and depth of visitor interaction against a clearly defined set of goals
.So, what is customer engagement? And why does it matter?
Let’s take a high level view and figure out what customer engagement really is and how to do it right.
Table of Content
What is Customer Engagement?
Customer engagement can be defined as the interactions a customer has with your brand. It’s a process that begins the instant that a lead comes across your company and extends beyond the point of sale.
And this can include a lot of different types of interactions, including:
Landing on your website
Reading your blog posts
Checking out your product demo
Looking at your pricing information
Subscribing to your newsletter
Following your brand on social media
Speaking with your sales reps
Turning to your customer service reps for assistance
Interesting Read : Your Conversion rate can grow 2x more than it is currently: Here’s how
A Real-Life Customer Engagement Example
Lets walk you through the entire customer engagement process using Chili Piper as an example.
Let’s say that a company is looking for an inbound lead conversion and scheduling software to get the most out of their leads and move them through the sales cycle more efficiently.
They search for the same and reach the Chili Piper homepage and this would be considered as their first engagement. They scroll and reach the Chili Piper pricing page and check out the plans, which eventually hypes their interest but they still want to learn more about the ins and outs for which they request a demo.
While using Chili Piper they like it and decide to buy an ideal Chili Piper plan, this is considered the official sales. For updates, they follow us on Facebook and Twitter and keep pursuing the Chilib Piper resources section.
They even decide to download a free eBook on increasing speed to lead time. There is also the possibility that while using Chili Piper the customer has some query which is answered by our helpful customer reps.
As you can see, customer engagement takes a lot of different forms, but the overarching theme is that it involves interactions between the customer and the brand.
Why is Customer Engagement So Important?
Let’s begin by saying that customers now have immense power than ever before. This is mainly because of the ease with which information can be found on Google, social media, review sites etc. and there is all the more comeptition in the industry.
2019 shows 15500 SaaS companies in the world. It is very easy for anyone to start a new company today, but to make it successful you need customers and that is where customer engagement strategies and techniques come into play.
Currently, the most saturated SaaS markets are:
CRM (23.9%)
Human capital management (13.9%)
ERP services and operations management (7.9%)
Collaboration (7%)
Procurement (4.6%)
A key ingredient of growth and longevity is creating positive interactions, where there’s a genuine emotional connection.
To illustrate how important this is, here are some stats that put things into perspective.
“Up to two-thirds of a brand’s profits might rely on effective customer engagement.”
“64% of customers expect tailored engagements that are based on past interactions.”
“86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience.”
And here’s the kicker.
“54% of customers think companies need to fundamentally transform how they engage.”
Salesforce stats show that there are major flaws in the level of customer engagement in most of the brands, but, by knowing what customers expect and revving up your customer engagement strategy can instantly give you an edge 46% of your competitors.
What Exactly Are Customers Looking for With Engagement?
Salesforce breaks it down into three key points.
Customers want a brand to figure out what they want before they ask. Creating proactive, personalized engagements and preventing potential issues from arising. When you are already prepared with the information regarding the needs of the customer, you also prepare how to talk and appeal to the customer, which attracts them. Customers want to engage with a brand that uses their preferred channel at a time convenient for them. “In fact, Omni-channel customer engagement is preferred by almost 78% of customers.” Customers want their engagements to be smooth and easy, where giving information is effortless. For example, if they have a conversation with a marketing rep, they expect the sales rep to have a record of what they talked about.
Besides that, B2B tech company Outgrow makes some other good points, saying:
64% of customers want personalized engagements based on prior interactions they had with a brand.
67% are keen to use self-service and actually prefer to do so rather than talking with a company rep.
The willingness to engage further with a company drops for 52% of customers once they have a poor mobile experience.
How to Develop Customer Engagement Strategies Based on Customer Expectations
Here are some actionable steps you can take to improve customer engagement and keep your customers dialed in.
1. Personalize the Customer Experience
For starters, you’ll want to make the process as personalized as possible.There are a ton of ways to go about this, but here are a couple of ideas to get you started.
Use copywriting that appeals to your exact audience and caters to their specific needs, veering away from generic options to one-size-fits-all copy.
Another way could be to let the lead personalize their own plan that fits perfectly according to their needs and their unique budget. That’s what we did on the Chili Piper pricing page, where a lead can choose how many users they will have and choose if they want additional features like Concierge.
For more on SaaS personalization, I suggest reading this post from ChartMogul and this one from Baremetrics. They’ll get you up to speed.
2. Create an Omni-Channel Customer Experience
There is another huge part of the formula that is allowing the customers/leads to choose from the channels they want to use and also when they want to use them.
As I mentioned earlier, customer engagement can occur across a plethora of different channels — everything from blog posts to videos to social media to live chat to browsers.
So, it’s essential that you create an omni-channel experience, where customers can seamlessly shift between whatever works best for them. Ultimately it’s the customer that needs to be appealed and satisfied. I already provided examples of some of the channels we use at Chili Piper above, which you can reference.
And one other vital thing that needs to be pointed out is being open to new ideas, where you’re willing to try out new technologies to stay ahead of the game. You should always be ready and open to changes and improvements, also cope with the new technologies of the coming time.
Salesforce writes that “75% of customers expect companies to use new technologies to create better approachable experiences,” and “62% of customers are open to the use of AI to improve their experiences,” which is something to keep in mind when exploring different customer engagement options, as to increase the customer engagement you need to know what are the customer tendencies.
I’m not saying that you should force it just for the sake of being hip and cool. But as long as a new technology enhances the customer experience, why not use it? It will only end up being in your benefit.
3. Perfect Customer Handoffs
Next, there are handoffs. Handoffs are transferring the customer from one department to another in the process. Remember the handoffs process can make or break the customer experience.
Throughout the sales cycle and customer engagement process, a customer may interact with multiple members of your team.When this happens, you need to ensure that handoffs are silky smooth, where a customer encounters zero friction.
How do you do this?
It starts with lead routing, where marketing qualified leads (MQLs) seamlessly make the transition to becoming sales qualified leads (SQLs).
Chili Piper makes this possible with lead routing, where qualified leads are automatically routed to reps based on predefined criteria.
Here what happens is, a lead chooses whatever meeting time works best for them, and it’s scheduled into the calendar of the appropriate rep to make bookings a cinch. This also gives the customer the impression that you value their experience with this personalized rep system.
The other main part of the equation is creating a framework where information is never siloed. One of the easiest and most convenient ways to prevent this from happening is to use a lead conversion and scheduling app that integrates with your CRM.
That way the team member that’s dealing with a customer at the moment has instant access to critical information, like their:
Industry
Company size
Location
Products they’re currently considering or using
Preferences
Prior engagements
Besides that, they can see whatever notes other team members have left in the past, so they can have a smoother conversation without asking needless questions. With proper updates and teamwork this system is very effective.
4. Have Self-Service Options
Like I mentioned before, over two-thirds of customers want to use self-service instead of having to speak with a company rep whenever they have a question or issue, as every time going to a sales rep with a problem can be tiring and time consuming and two/third is a big number, so this is a feature you’ll want to include in your site design.
For instance, Chili Piper has a robust support section where customers can quickly find answers for admins, users, events and conferences, and so on. Or, they can simply enter a custom search term and look through our knowledge base.
This is sufficient for answering a lot of questions, and we find that our customers love the convenience of having it. After all, it’s there 24/7. Otherwise, there is always an option to reach out to someone via the contact box.
5. Create a Killer Mobile Experience
Finally, there’s mobile. There is a mobile experience for everything. With engagement for more than half of customers basically ceasing once they have a bad mobile experience, this is obviously something you need to get right.
So, mobile optimization is insanely important.
Everything from easily browsing through your site on a mobile device to having it load quickly to being able to seamlessly use your SaaS product across multiple devices — it’s all essential.
I suggest starting by running a basic mobile-friendly test from Google, as this should help you work out many of the kinks on your site, this would surely give you the farsight that you will be needing.
And it’s also not a bad idea to have crowdtesting done on your site and SaaS product for an in-depth overview of specific improvements you can make. Crowd tests increase your credibility.
For a quick overview of what crowdtesting is, check out this post from Applause, it will help you understand the concept better.
Interesting Read : Unveiling the Top Secrets Of Creating A Successful Text Messaging Campaign
Customer Engagement FAQs
1. What is customer engagement?
It’s the interactions a customer has with your brand, also the emotional connection between the brand and the customer.
2. What are some examples of customer engagement?
Landing on your website.
Reading your blog posts.
Checking out your product demo.
Looking at your pricing information.
Subscribing to your newsletter.
Speaking with sales reps and customer service reps.
Following your brand on social media.
3. Why is customer engagement important?
It can:
Create a better overall customer experience.
Increase profits.
Result in higher customer retention and less churn.
4. What are some key customer engagement strategies?
Personalize the customer experience.
Create an omni-channel experience.
Create smoother customer handoffs.
Offer self-service solutions.
Ensure your website and SaaS product are fully optimized for mobile.
Exceeding Your Customers’ Expectations
Customer engagement is an incredibly broad term with a boatload of different definitions that vary depending on who you ask.
Various critics have different definitions and meanings for Customer Engagement. But at the end of the day, it’s about one main thing — interactions.
Creating better, smoother, more satisfying interactions is your ticket to winning over customers, and more importantly, keeping them around for the long run.
The above mentioned techniques have proved to be very helpful in increasing the customer engagement, because these are some basic ways which encircle important key areas that require immense focus. | https://medium.com/@limecallapp/what-is-customer-engagement-the-ultimate-guide-5caf58ad2e4 | [] | 2021-01-06 05:17:44.015000+00:00 | ['Customer Experience', 'Customer Engagement', 'Lead Conversion', 'Mobile Friendly', 'Customer Service'] |
How to create and manage Mongo DB Materialized Views using triggers. | The Mongo DB Atlas cloud now supports triggers. These triggers come in two flavors — scheduled and database ops linked. Scheduled one runs at its own periodicity , eg. every 5 minutes. The “Database” type watches for events on collections — ‘INSERT’, ‘UPDATE’, ‘REPLACE’ and ‘DELETE’. When an event occurs, a configured Java Script function is called with “ChangeEvent” as parameter. This function can do anything it wants — including calling the Queen. I was only interested in keeping my materialized view updated. Let me tell you how.
MongoDB now has materialized views.
Recently we hit a performance problem with some reports. All of them were using a heavy aggregation logic through a query. The rate at which core data was growing was reaching a tipping point where users were losing it. This caused us to explore a solution that uses pre-processed report data. Luckily for us MongoDB now has a semblance of materialized views through “$merge” aggregation step. Which looked a very promising starting point.
To validate the performance gains story, we first did a baseline of the old code and then wrote a maintenance script that populated this materialized view using $merge aggregation step.
$merge aggregation step needs to be the last one in the pipeline.
Running reports against this materialized view gave 10x performance gains because many of the many costly $lookup in the original code got eliminated. This gave us confidence that materialized view is a good way to go.
How to keep this materialized view updated.
These views don’t update by itself. When the underlying data changes the view needs to be updated. Rebuilding the whole view was not a practical solution for us. I am sure it is not a practical solution for any reasonably busy system. So it is important for us to find a solution that can scale.
Solution 1 : A Queue + Listener Processor:
This approach has many advantages. The approach is to add small pieces of code to send a notification whenever you are updating relevant data. A queue can have an attached listener. This listener can trigger unit level update of our materialized view. The advantage here is that you get full control over when your view should be updated. This is better than blindly refreshing your view on every update to underlying data. You also can batch the events and update your view only when a minimum threshold of pending transactions are reached.
If your solution is in a cloud environment like AWS you will have a Queue management system that like AWS-SQS handy. In other environments stand alone products like Rabbit MQ or Active MQ fits the bill perfectly. The common factor here is the Publish-Subscribe mechanism that gives easy constructs to deliver messages to Queues and consume messages from Queues.
On the negative side you need to consider the code complexity involved in wiring together apt notification constructs to different parts of your software. If all the data updates you are interested in are passing through a common layer then it might be easy for you to manage. But if your data update touch points are many and is managed by a large team you may want to consider the Solution 2.
Solution 2 : Mongo DB Triggers (Atlas Realm):
This is not a standard solution that is available in standalone MongoDB. Database triggers are available if you are using Atlas — the cloud hosted MongoDB solution. It is paid and it will cost you if your usage goes above the free tier. It is NOT available if you are using a standard MongoDB community edition running on your server.
If your database is indeed an Atlas cluster you are in luck. You can create a database trigger to watch for modifications to your collection. The change is then delegated to a javascript function that runs within Atlas runtime. This function receives a ChangeEvent — either with minimal information of the change or with the full document attached. In any case it has sufficient details to do whatever you need to do on that trigger. In our case it was simply to read the ‘_id’ of the document that changed and the refresh the materialized view only for that document. Thus within milliseconds of any change to the underlying document, the materialized view also got updated. Reports ran happily against this updated materialized view.
This approach has a few negatives we need to consider as well.
This costs extra. Each trigger run consumes some processing time and Atlas will add it to your bill once the usage crosses a monthly free tier. The trigger event is blind. Some of the updates into your underlying collection may be harmless in nature and may not require refreshing your materialized view. This intelligence should be built into the trigger to reduce unnecessary refresh. When you want to add or remove fields from your view you need to make multiple changes. First you need to change your initial priming script to re-populate your view based on changed requirements. You will also be modifying the trigger code as per the required field or logic changes. While there will be overlap in these two programs, since each runs in different environments you will be maintaining separate files. Since there is no common library that defines the common part of the aggregation you always run the risk of logic discrepancies. It is a technical debt. Updating the Trigger code can happen only through Atlas Dashboard. This adds a manual step to CI-CD pipeline.
Other ways to update materialized view:
You can consider a periodic rebuild of the view using a scheduled task. The scheduled trigger of Atlas will come handy here for the cloud mongodb users. For others a Crontab like technique that runs a program to update the view may work. Here the trick is to define periodicity of the job. You can further optimize the rebuild by saving the state of previous run. For example you can introduce an ‘updatedAt’ field into your source collection. Then you can compare the last run time and the ‘updatedAt’ time for source collection records to decide which records need refreshing.
Conclusion:
Introduction of materialized view in mongodb helps to speed up certain queries that needs costly joins across collections. The lack of built in mechanism to update such a view leaves developers vulnerable to risky homegrown alternatives to a core database service that should have been part of the materialized view feature. It would seem, mongodb missed a trick here. By using ‘Database Triggers’ available with Atlas Cloud clusters it is possible to manage materialized view update effectively. Still lack of developer tooling to update the triggers leaves some engineering flaws that should be fixed for wider adoption.
That being said, Materialized View + Database Triggers bring home a brave new world for mongodb users. | https://bonigopalan.medium.com/how-to-create-and-manage-mongo-db-materialized-views-using-triggers-a2fb58a4d1a0 | ['Boni Gopalan'] | 2020-12-02 12:37:55.370000+00:00 | ['Mongodb Atlas', 'Mongodb'] |
2020 12 23 — Weeknotes. 2.48 — the final weeknotes of 2020…No… | 2.48 — the final weeknotes of 2020…No words to describe how proud I am of the team…
Well what a year that has been, probably the biggest understatement ever.
It continues to be busy right to the end of 2020.
We are recruiting at the moment — still time to have a look at the roles we have available — https://hounslow.digital/careers/. Last week we ran a recruitment fair to open our virtual doors to those thinking of coming to work for us. We ran a few sessions over a few hours and have some great questions and interest in the roles. These role close on 3 January so still time and if you have any questions do let me know. It really is a great time to be joining us with so much amazing work and transformation over the next few years.
I attended a session with UK Authority on Thursday evening with the theme — “2020 was ‘unprecedented’, but what have we learnt that will make our services and efficiency better in 2021?”. This was the first session that I was able to attend with them having not been able to attend the last couple I have been invited to. It was an excellent session and great to see colleagues from across the Country coming together to share their experiences — there are a number of things that I will take from the session. One of the main things is how important personal resilience is at this time, lots of other councils having an increased focus on wellbeing and mental health — which is really important and was interesting to hear the different approaches.
It is also really easy to fall in the trap of 2020 being a really bad year and being negative, which of course it was certainly a very different year. Now I am a glass half full person anyway but so many positives have and are coming from this year that we really need to embrace and drive forward in the future.
We had the Hounslow Leadership Group on Thursday where we spent a bit of time thinking on how well the virtual Leadership Group meetings have gone over the past 9 months. Colleagues feel more engaged and involved with the virtual meetings than they were previously — which is great to hear. Looking forward to these sessions going from strength to strength in 2021 — I have been continuing to host them and really enjoy being part of the organisational development / change side of things.
On Tuesday of this week we had an end of year gathering / virtual Christmas party with the Digital team to celebrate the year and a chance for us to get together to think about the last 12 months and everything we have achieved. Was actually a really emotional evening. We got everyone to write their positive word and the word cloud below is the result. Very clearly collaboration came out on top (with toilet roll, netflix, it’s ending and wine also making an appearance)…
But even up to the last minutes of the year we are still continuing to support the organisation in the response to the pandemic. This is going to continue over the festive period as well as we are involved in the set up of the vaccination and the lateral flow testing sites.
I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved as a team and an organisation over the past year. And as I said to the team last night at our virtual party there are no words that can describe how I feel with everything we have done, how we have pulled together, how we have delivered! As one of the team described it last night — we kept the council going… we really did! Often when we ourselves were running on empty… we kept going… And continue to do so as well…
Another great quote from last night is:
To achieve something with others is better than achieving it by yourself…
Not only have we enabled the council to respond to the pandemic; we have kept the day to day activities going; we have kept the lights on; we have delivered multiple projects; we have progressed the council transformation programme; we have an approved digital strategy; we have a reshaped team and recruiting to roles; we have transferred a leisure service back to the council and the list continues….
There are no words to describe how proud I am…
Wishing you all a very happy and safe festive period. Normal weeknotes service will resume
Weeknotes — Kylie Minogue — Christmas wrapping | https://medium.com/@marklumley3/2020-12-23-weeknotes-a753833321c9 | ['Mark Lumley'] | 2020-12-23 00:00:00 | ['Collaboration', 'Digital', 'Hounslow'] |
Getting In Touch With Your ‘Why’ and Pushing Past Your Limiting Beliefs | In this episode of Invisible Stories, I speak with diversity and inclusion entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and author Bernadette Smith. Bernadette’s work in the field of LGBTQ+ Inclusion with her company, Equality Institute, has empowered businesses through elearning, consulting, and training in the field of DEI. Bernadette is also a prolific writer, and has published three books, relating to inclusion in both LGBTQ+ wedding planning and in business.
Bernadette and I talk about our similarities when it comes to our businesses, as well as her solutions for writing and accountability. Bernadette shares: | https://medium.com/@hello_70943/in-this-episode-of-invisible-stories-i-speak-with-diversity-and-inclusion-entrepreneur-keynote-72f07321bf03 | ['Jenn T. Grace', 'Publish Your Purpose Press'] | 2020-12-15 15:30:20.576000+00:00 | ['Publishing', 'Authors', 'Diversity And Inclusion', 'Podcast', 'Gay Weddings'] |
What would you pay for attention? | Photo by Vanilla Bear Films on Unsplash
Although it’s said that any news about your company is good news, the reality is that all entrepreneurs hope for the best.
As Christina Nicholson says, the best good coverage is earned, and not necessarily expensive. She specializes in landing free exposure in mainstream media.
The owner of Media Maven, Nicholson is a TV host, podcaster, TEDx speaker and former reporter and anchor. She has written for Inc., Fast Company and Business Insider.
Nicholson talked with digital marketing expert Madalyn Sklar about getting media attention for your business.
“What do you think when you hear someone on a podcast, see them in the news or read about them in a magazine?” Nicholson said. “The perception is that person is smart, successful and deserves to be there. Now, that is who you want to do business with.
“Think of press coverage as a referral,” she said. “It’s not you saying you’re great. It’s someone else saying you’re great. Your credibility is instant when a known, liked and trusted source features you.”
The proof is in the research.
“When people Google you, what do they see?” Nicholson said. “To build your brand, it’s important for trusted people and media outlets to share your product, service or expertise. Potential clients and customers should have a good impression when they look you up online.
“If you’re into vanity metrics and all that online, you can’t get a blue check mark without press coverage that is earned, not paid for,” she said.
Nicholson is puzzled by the notion that media coverage might come too soon.
“Everyone makes the excuse that they’re not ready,” she said. “If you’re ready for one customer or client, you’re ready for press coverage. It’s how you get the know, like and trust factor fast.
“People can’t do business with you if they don’t know about you,” Nicholson said. “Press coverage will get you in front of the most amount of people, in the quickest amount of time, without spending a dime on ads.”
Success in the millions
She recalled one of her nationwide success stories.
“One of my clients had a business that was a side hustle,” Nicholson said. “He worked full time, had no customers and little money, but the Today Show loved the story and told it to millions.”
Pitching business for media coverage is an everyday affair.
“The news cycle changes every minute,” Nicholson said. “If you sit on an idea too long or don’t jump on an angle that is newsworthy right now — like public health, for example — you’re going to miss your chance.
“Block time in your calendar at least twice a week to interact with journalists on Twitter,” she said. “It’s where we hang out. Also, use HARO, but use it right.”
Twitter affords several ways to establish media relationships.
“That’s where members of the media hang out,” Nicholson said. “It’s how I met Madalyn and so many others. After I email a pitch, I’ll tweet people to let them know I’m in their inbox to stand out from the many others there.
“Get to know journalists by following them, sharing their articles — very important to them — retweeting their content, and replying to tweets,” she said. “Then you can have a two-way conversation.”
Rewards are even better when you look after reporters’ interests.
“Help them do their job,” Nicholson said. “Can you refer them to a source? Can you share a story with your audience? Can you give them a shout out? Don’t reach out only when you have something to gain.”
Beyond control
Those who believe they can master the media are in for big disappointments.
“When you earn media, you have no control over it,” Nicholson said. “It’s not the media’s job to promote you or give you a free commercial. It’s their job to tell a story that will educate and entertain their audience. It could or could not be positive for you.
“If you want to control the message, you need to advertise,” she said. “It’s expensive, people don’t pay a ton of attention to ads, and you don’t get the know, like, trust factor. Instead, share your expertise. Be open and honest. Nothing is all 100 percent positive.”
Much as the experts try, bad coverage in the media is inevitable and not easy to overcome.
“You can’t ‘fix’ bad coverage,” Nicholson said. “Again, it’s not the media’s job to promote you. That’s what ads are for. Just keep earning positive coverage to push the bad down, if it happens.”
She listed three kinds of media: owned, earned and paid.
“Two you can control,” Nicholson said. “Earned you can not. The media has a job to do. If you want coverage, help them do their job as it relates to your expertise.
“One more thing, if something bad happens, never say ‘No comment,’” she said. “It makes everyone else think you’re guilty.”
Her career on both sides of the media equation has given Nicholson a healthy dose of caution for entrepreneurs tempted to try do-it-yourself public relations.
“When I was a TV reporter, I hated people in PR. Sorry,” she said. “They were so promotional, micromanaged me doing my job, and had no idea what it was like to work in news. If you hire, hire carefully.”
Costly proposition
Hiring public relations services is not to be taken lightly, costing an average of $6,000 per month in the United States.
“If you can’t swing that, you must learn how to handle it yourself,” Nicholson said. “I share tons of free resources on social media, YouTube and on my podcast: Become a Media Maven.
“Many journalists don’t like working with people in PR — I didn’t — because they can be overbearing,” she said. “In some cases, you can get further by pitching yourself, but you must know how to pitch because most get it wrong.”
People make common mistakes in their public relations strategy.
“They are way too promotional,” Nicholson said. “Stop promoting yourself and focus on helping the journalist, booker, producer or podcast host give their audience what they want. Then you will succeed. You will get your promotion by default.
“People have unrealistic media goals to begin with or media goals that don’t align with their business goals,” she said. “You’ll get more leads by being on a smaller, niche podcast than by being on a network TV show, for example.”
Basically the non-experts don’t know what to do.
“I offer so much for free that there is no excuse,” Nicholson said, giving a media pitch that landed a client on local TV for a live segment.
“People do a lot of little things instead of one strategic thing,” she said. “Sending one pitch to 500 people at the same time does not work. Sending 10 pitches to 10 people you’ve interacted with on Twitter will get you further.”
About The Author
Jim Katzaman is a manager at Largo Financial Services and worked in public affairs for the Air Force and federal government. You can connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/what-would-you-pay-for-attention-e5a863c074f0 | ['Jim Katzaman - Get Out Of Debt'] | 2020-04-07 08:42:58.464000+00:00 | ['Entrepreneurship', 'Social Media', 'News', 'Public Relations', 'Marketing'] |
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Best of Luck! | https://medium.com/@maryemma960/prepare-to-pass-the-hpe0-s52-exam-with-examarea-90c0c87200a7 | ['Emma Mary'] | 2019-06-20 07:42:44.400000+00:00 | ['Exam', 'Huawei', 'Helping Others', 'Education', 'Certification'] |
Renegade Retrospective 2020 | Spaceship economy
A key feature of 2020 has been Covid-19 and its impact on society and economy. Friend of Renegade Inc., Steve Keen, predicts that the pandemic will result in a bigger economic shock than 2008 and says it could result in the entire production system breaking down leading to possible shortages of food and medical supplies.
Citing William Baumol’s conceptual understanding of the spaceship economy, the economist argues that the pandemic has unveiled the fatal flaws in what was already a fragile economic system. Pandemics and other unpredictable tragic events highlight the limitations of a hollowed out capitalist economic system that we are told is the most efficient and effective available. Invariably, though, it’s the poorest who end up paying. the price for such a system.
Fellow economist, Richard Wolff, reiterates that the level of displacement is stark:
“The system isn’t working. And that’s not because we have a virus. None of it was planned for. And the reason is simple. In a private profit system, no producer of a test kit or a mask or a ventilator or anything else has any incentive to produce them if they’re not profitable to stockpile them. It turns out that capitalism’s profit system is a very inefficient way to cope with fundamental threats to public health”, says Wolff.
Whilst society suffers as a result of the system’s erosion of public health, author and journalist, Gerald Posner, argues that it’s Big Pharma who end up as the beneficiaries:
“There are parts of the pharmaceutical industry that are salivating at the pandemic, not because they want people to die or because they engineered the pandemic in a secret lab, but because this novel virus gives them a possible once in a lifetime opportunity for enormous profits”, says Posner.
Too much war, not enough investment
As Brexit looms on the horizon, profiting from the NHS appears to be the focus for American health care and insurance companies. Guest, Dr. Bob Gill, argues that the objective of these companies is to bleed the service dry by introducing a pay to play system, lumbering UK citizens with massive administrative and medical costs.
Gill notes that insurance-based system’s create perverse incentives which he says inevitably lead to the breaking of the relationship between doctor and patient. As Gill makes clear, the transformation of what is an amazing public health investment story into a US based health care system, would be a disaster for universal free at the point of delivery health care provision in the UK.
Writer, and guest of the show, Indi Samarajiva, says that successive US administrations since the Reagan era have prioritized war. Alibaba founder, Jack Ma, has similarly argued that in the US there has been too much war and not enough public investment.
One of the by-products of so much US military adventurism overseas is an oversupply of troops arriving back in the country and looking for work, many of whom end up in local police forces. “The military teaches you how to close with, and destroy, the enemy through firepower and manoeuvre, which is the last thing you want a cop to be doing”, says former Intelligence Officer, Scott Ritter.
The killing of George Floyd is not only emblematic of what happens when a militarized US police force gets out of hand but also, as human rights activist, Ajamu Baraka argues, is a trigger point in response to the structural contradictions inherent to neo liberalism that gives rise to systemic police brutality.
More broadly, the inability of the country to manage it’s domestic affairs in a just way relates to the exceptionalism the establishment in Washington has confected for itself on the global stage. As editor and columnist, Margaret Kimberley, succinctly puts it: “You can’t have injustice abroad, but have justice at home. The two are linked. When you have a country that sees itself as having the right to do whatever it wants to anyone, then that ethos is repeated here.”
Barbarism begins at home
One of the most confusing and barbaric events in 2020 has been the Julian Assange trial. Surely journalists and the public can foresee the ramifications of not standing up for freedom of the press? Independent journalist, Richard Medhurst, argues that not only have the corporate and independent media been inept in this regard, but they have engaged in a decade-long smear campaign against Assange.
Medhurst states that if the WikiLeaks publisher is extradited, he will almost certainly be convicted. This will set a precedent for other whistleblowers and mean the end of journalistic freedoms as we know it. Fellow journalist, Taylor Hudak, concurs that the political persecution of Assange and any life sentence handed down to him in a federal supermax prison will deter others into publishing information that is embarrassing to the United States government.
A media blackout is a prerequisite to exporting so-called democracy globally at the point of a gun. But that playbook is beginning to look dated, especially as we see that Imperialism 2.0 has little or no regard for the people it’s meant to be liberating. Author and professor of law, Daniel Kovalik, explains how Washington’s post-WW2 tactic of maintaining its historically dominant role has shifted from direct and indirect control pre-Iraq, towards a strategy of chaos and plunder. This strategy has been retreat under Trump following the killing of the Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani.
Investigative journalist, Gareth Porter, outlines the logic:
“The US national security state really needed Iran as an adversary in order to partially, at least, try to make up for the loss of the Soviet Union as its primary adversary and primary excuse for the Cold War level of spending on the military and intelligence”, says Porter.
Business as usual?
But now with the American election jamboree out of the way, many believe that the US will return to ‘business as usual’ under president-elect, Joe Biden. Indeed, as CODEPINK National Co-Director, Ariel Gold reminded us, Biden himself promised the American people a return to ‘normal’ during his election campaign:
“Normal, is the problems that we know all too well of neo liberalism. Normal, is a bloated Pentagon budget. Normal, is our endless wars. Normal, is corporate control of so much of the American politics. Normal, is in a massive infusion of money in politics. So normal is not something to look forward to”, says Gold.
The question is, can society afford the kind of phenomenal scale of financial stimulus needed to maintain the status quo?
Author and Educator, Graham Brown-Martin, argues that we need to adopt a different economic model to the ‘extractive’ one introduced following WW2:
“We simply can’t have an economy which damages the environment, creates gross inequality, and also, ultimately, does lead or creates the environment or the conditions for a pandemic to thrive”, says Brown-Martin.
At the end of a year like 2020, it’s easy to feel hopeless. But this misses the point. The real heroes of the year weren’t the presidents, politicians, prime ministers and corporate CEOs. The real heroes have been the workers — teachers, doctors, nurses — in short, all those people who create real value. They’ve kept our society and our economies moving. And what belies this is a new understanding that we are collectively way more powerful than we think.
Economist, Ann Pettifor, explains:
“I want us to understand that we have power, that the private finance sector, Wall Street, is dependent on the public institutions. These are public servants. They’re heavily reliant on public institutions, not just in times of crisis, but all the time. The thing that the banks want more than anything in the world is our debt. And so therefore, we can say, yes, OK, but if you want this stuff, these are the terms and conditions. So I want us to feel that power”, says Pettifor.
Watch the full episode now | https://medium.com/@renegadeinc/renegade-retrospective-2020-472e2f853df | ['Renegade Inc.'] | 2020-12-27 18:26:04.385000+00:00 | ['Wikileaks', '2020', 'Covid 19', 'Brexit', 'Capitalism'] |
Re-approaching the Digital Supply Chain: Are We Ready for an Enterprise Digital Marketplace and leveraging Service catalogue enterprise wide? | Re-approaching the Digital Supply Chain: Are We Ready for an Enterprise Digital Marketplace and leveraging Service catalogue enterprise wide? Arvind Mehrotra Follow May 30 · 6 min read
In my last blog, I wrote about how the cracks in supply chains are beginning to show due to COVID-19. Surprisingly, the same holds true for digital supply chains as well, which often mimic the inefficiencies of their physical counterparts. Forrester recommends IT infrastructure and operations (I&O) leaders evolve their #service catalog into a strategic control point for the business to enable visibility, agility, and control. Without one, your business will struggle. Working with some of the world’s leading digital companies in the last few weeks the fault lines are developing internally, as organizations co-locate to WFH or operate from temporary offices the internal teams struggle to deliver seamless service to business functions. Expectation from IT organization is no longer just to keeps the lights on or a successful execution of business continuity, rather digitally enabled and successful IT organization are expected to enable the business with technology, along with it partners so that the business is able to achieve organization wide goals.
To facilitate this shift, IT organizations must now focus on the support, delivery, and operations of services rather than just IT technologies service. IT organizations must have an expanded view of the service catalog to encompass all shared services groups in the organization (e.g., HR, finance, facilities, etc.) extends the cost savings of service catalogs while also providing employees with a single, intuitive interface for requesting any type of enterprise service. But most service catalogs today simply describe the capabilities and available services that IT offers to the business. Service catalogues are never ‘complete’ because they become out-of-date the minute a new service is deployed. It’s better to think of them as continually evolving but with information that is as-complete-as-possible at any given moment.
Specific service components are left in the lurch, unable to move full steam ahead with the momentum you would need for business continuity.
Could an Enterprise Digital Marketplace come to rescue? What are some of the tools and solutions you can use to deploy a full-scale Enterprise Digital Marketplace to tide over this period of crisis?
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Planning for a More Evolved Marketplace Environment
To begin with, one must acknowledge the disruption that COVID-19 has introduced. Supply chains have gone from “digital-first” to “digital-only” almost overnight, and enterprises without the requisite agility saw significant cracks. But your customer needs (and by the “customer,” I mean every service consumer — from employees to partners and vendors) have not gone down.
Therefore, an enterprise digital marketplace must continually evolve to bring in the functionalities and capabilities you need to offer a stronger value proposition to “customers.” This value proposition has two prongs:
● Better offerings — New capabilities available in the marketplace for customer use, which could include freemium products, loyalty programs, on-demand services, ins-tore integration for purchased services, conversational interfaces for support, and so on.
● Better availability — The ability to onboard new partners to replenish your offerings/add to them, which includes complimentary product providers, local logistics partners, payment gateways, third-party developers, and so on.
The goal is to achieve an Enterprise Digital Marketplace that has all the convenience of a physical storefront with none of its inefficiencies — and actually enhancing value via digital technologies.
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The Technologies You Need to Power this Hyper-Resilient Marketplace
At the heart of the enterprise digital marketplace lies a next-gen ITSM platform coupled with a marketplace layer on top.
For instance, CloudFX has a digital marketplace platform that provides customers with secure and easy access to multi-cloud services. This comes with SSO protection as well as built-in identity access management. You can integrate the platform with your existing financial management and information management stack, effectively building a unified marketplace for physical products, packaged services, SaaS — the whole nine yards.
An enterprise digital marketplace like this enables a “single pane of glass” visibility that you’d need to anticipate customer demand, gauge supplier capacity, and align your logistics.
For enterprises starting from scratch, however, I would recommend a digital commerce solution with native marketplace functions. Think on the lines of Broadleaf Commerce (an open-source platform for B2C/B2B marketplaces) or StoreHippo (a SaaS platform for enterprise e-Commerce).
Several enterprises have seen impressive results from developing a resilient marketplace. In 2015, ServiceNow launched its own app store that would strengthen its customers’ ROI from ServiceNow. The company is constantly adding to its catalog, with solutions from a diverse spectrum of vendors like Cisco, Deloitte, IBM, and of course, ServiceNow’s own offerings.
As you can imagine the revenue generation possibilities here are immense.
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Reaping the Benefits with a Best-Fit Revenue Model
When it comes to monetization, there are several options to consider. Here are some of my recommendations:
● A commission-based structure — The enterprise levies a percentage or a fixed fee for every transaction.
● Purchasable features and tools — Like ServiceNow’s own offerings on the app store, these bring in direct revenues.
● A subscription model — Customers become recurring members (akin to a loyalty program) to access products/services.
● Monetizable support — The enterprise offers monetizable support services like implementation, customization, integration, etc. to complement a marketplace offering.
● Ad revenues — Monetizing the website real estate of your marketplace through advertising.
● Logistics services — The enterprise looks after the distribution aspect, charging marketplace vendors a fee for warehousing, shipping, and returns.
● Commercial services — The enterprise offers vendors support like customer service, payment gateways, and financing for a fee.
● API calls monetization — For marketplaces offering digital assets, enterprises can charge a recurring fee as per the number of API calls.
Needless to say, your choice of monetization approach will depend on the nature of what you’re selling, who you’re selling to, and who is your partner/vendor. In my experience, not every marketplace will extract a positive ROI from day one — it is advisable to wait until there is a critical mass of users/transactions before hitting monetization.
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It is Time to Rethink Operational Processes for an Enterprise Digital Marketplace
A digital marketplace can be an effective way to achieve and sustain your market leadership — especially during a time of crisis. Now that our traditional supply chains and distribution networks are starting to fall short (I’ll amidst the occasional exception to the rule), enterprises can reimagine their operations, to unlock fresh opportunities.
First, one should look at partner selection and onboarding processes to streamline the very base of your marketplace. Next comes the payment workflow — defining your transaction processes, payment collection, and revenue distribution. Logistics is also a vital area if your marketplace features physical products.
This will help you improve efficiency and lower costs in the short term, as you are eliminating the typical inefficiencies of B2B marketing, sales, and distribution. In the long run, you are looking at an exponentially better customer and partner experience that reduces churn to a bare minimum.
To continue this conversation, please drop me a line at <<[email protected]>>. | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/re-approaching-the-digital-supply-chain-are-we-ready-for-an-enterprise-digital-marketplace-and-cd5d9a0bd14f | ['Arvind Mehrotra'] | 2020-09-11 03:11:00.347000+00:00 | ['It Strategy', 'Service Catalog', 'Supply Chain', 'Digital Strategy', 'Digital Transformation'] |
Study in Turkey for Foreigners | The name of the field of education in recent years, Turkey has become an important country in the world to announce location. The facilities it provides to students, increasing the quality of education and healthy living standards of foreign students for university education are among the factors that influence the choosing Turkey.
Although foreign students have the same entrance requirements to state or private universities, there may be different document requests and entry requirements between universities in some cases.
Located over 170 universities, all universities in Turkey; With its high-quality education, campuses in social life and many different opportunities, it plays an important role in both Turkish and foreign students’ preparation for life and gaining professional competence.
Here, foreign students are required to do to get university education and study in Turkey…
Admission Requirements for Foreign Students to Undergraduate Programs
Foreign nationals who want to getuniversity education in Turkey as students must first complete the required documents and submitted to the relevant authorities. The following documents are required from foreign students who want to study in Turkey at university;
Student acceptance form
Each university has its own admission form and these forms must be filled in completely and submitted.
High school or equivalent school diploma
High school diploma; It must be approved by Turkish Foreign Representatives or notarized and translated into Turkish.
Transcript
The transcript must also be certified by the school or by the notary and foreign representatives and translated into Turkish.
Financial Guarantee Letter
Registration fee
These documents required for registration to the university must be submitted to the relevant departments of the university by the deadline specified in the academic calendar. Registration cannot be made for problems such as document delay or missing documents.
Foreign nationals entering the students’ language proficiency in order to receive university education in Turkey and should take the points qualification required by the university. Students who do not get the required score in the language proficiency exams receive language preparatory education for one (1) year. After these trainings, students who achieve language proficiency are eligible to take the department courses in university programs.
Applied University Entrance Examinations for Foreigners in Turkey
Today, every university holds the exam for foreign students in Turkey.
Exams for foreign students of the university to be preferred are shared on the official website of the universities in detail. Students can easily access all information such as exam dates, base scores and requirements to take the exam through the university.
University entrance exams for foreign students; It is done within the body of each university .
What are the Legal Requirements for Foreign Students?
Student Visa
An acceptance letter is sent by the university to foreign students who succeed in the exams and gain the right to enter the university. Students must obtain visas in foreign embassies students going to Turkey with the acceptance letter. If students can get a student visa in Turkey by foreign representative.
Student visa is among the mandatory documents at the university enrollment stage.
Residence permit
Foreign nationals who want to take university education in Turkey must obtain a residence permit of students. Residence permits are issued by the Immigration Administration in the cities of residence.
Residence permits of foreign students are renewed every year.
Health insurance
Turkey will be validated and students should be made to include the whole of the health care costs of health insurance. Some universities can afford the health and medicine costs of foreign students.
However, if the university does not have such a scope, all health expenses of foreign students will be covered by them.
Study Sehir Educational Consultancy provides education services on university registration for foreign students and provide all necessary document to be enrolled in universities. | https://medium.com/@jameslexico/study-in-turkey-for-foreigners-38ffddd6d6b7 | ['James Lexico'] | 2020-12-11 13:17:23.422000+00:00 | ['Study In Turkey', 'University', 'Education In Turkey', 'Turkey', 'Education'] |
The best way to buy a used car or sell your second-hand cars online. | The best way to buy a used car or sell your second-hand cars online.
Find the details of online platforms, where you can buy or sell your second-hand cars online. Get the tips to verify the websites. Check the seller details, also check the availability.
There are multiple no. of platforms, where you can buy or sell your second-hand cars online, but before that, you need to know the important points of difference. The big difference between the while buying an old car and purchasing a new car. While you are buying a new one, the major parameter considered by the buyer is the brand, it’s an after-sales network, and then comes to real value. It’s exactly not the same with a used car. While buying, keep in mind, it’s the listings that will indicate the rising demand for an Individual product, though, the brand also plays a crucial role. For instance, a Maruti Suzuki or a Hyundai product will have more demand in the car, segment because of the availability of spare parts, efficiency, and more availability in the second-hand car space.
Is it safe to buy a modified car?
Since “it may sound like too old, but if you think deeply, you get to understand the major points behind this. Buying a car remains an aspiration for the Indian middle-class family and is the second most important buying decision done by a family after property. A report on India Blue Book says that the second-hand market size is about 3.6 million units in 2017 that has gone up by 9% from 2016. Demonetization did restrict the growth by of its 6%. The report also further proves that there are about 30,000 cars on rent in India.
In India, about 60% of cars for secondhand sold is less than 5 years old that indicates that car owners are willing to change a car in 5 years.
Buy the best second-hand cars in Bangalore
Are you staying in Bangalore or other states in India? Anywhere you stay in India, you can buy or sell cars and also bikes online, If you are staying in Bangalore and looking to buy a second-hand car then don’t worry, now you can buy second-hand cars in Bangalore, you can find their most no. Of cars online, you can choose the car. You can also search for modified bikes, if you are interested to buy or sale your you need to explore over the internet about the car model or brand name, whenever you want to purchase. The key changing trend in the car market is the rising demand for SUVs. Trends released by Cifiyah Cars and Bikes says that the SUV segment saw a 24% spike in demand in the pre-owned vehicle space. The report further proves that the demand for compact SUVs including Maruti Vitara Brezza, Renault Duster, Hyundai Creta, and Ford EcoSport is steadily rising 70% YoY. Those people opting to buy a used car have searched more for SUVs/MUVs over the last year. Most SUVs searched were Toyota Fortuner, Ford EcoSport, Maruti Vitara Breeza, and Maruti Gypsy. The search results also got on Maruti Eeco, Maruti Omni.
How to buy a car online?
There are more than 10000s the online platform in India, you can visit it online, and you verify the websites online, last time I have visited Cifiyah, I have a good experience from it, I bought a beautiful car, and got attractive offers from them, there are other platforms also providing the services, but when you’re visiting there are many fraud sites, which taking your personal data and publish it in everywhere. Keep in mind that verify the website before any deal. | https://medium.com/@priyupriyupriyu/the-best-way-to-buy-a-used-car-or-sell-your-second-hand-cars-online-eb65902fa8bd | ['Priya Mehuta'] | 2020-12-19 09:53:58.346000+00:00 | ['Vehicles', 'Cars', 'Cars For Sale', 'Used Cars', 'Cars For Second Hand'] |
Silicon Valley: It’s Not the Garage, Stupid! | The HP garage in Palo Alto
Silicon Valley: It’s Not the Garage, Stupid!
Many cities around the world have tried replicating Silicon Valley as an innovation hub. They find fancy names for their ecosystems: Málaga Valley, Silicon Beach, or Silicon Roundabout. None of these garages have led to tech giants of the same caliber we’ve seen in SV.
Countless words have been written, seeking to find the secret to Silicon Valley’s unique success, the most common being Stanford University and its brilliant students; Sandhill Road and its VCs lined up to pour massive capital into said students’ ideas; and garages, large innovative corporations like Intel, Cisco, and the like. All share a mindset of embracing failure as part of the learning process… While other systems replicated the mindset, all of them have failed consistently.
Something is missing in the formula, a secret sauce out of plain sight. I remember when I first thought about traveling to Silicon Valley. I had to a map just to see where it was located. Was it in Berkeley? How far away is San Francisco from San Jose? From all the cities in between, where should I stay? How much would my stay cost per week? Should I stay in Sunnyvale? (hint: Don’t).
What is Silicon Valley’s Secret?
But other than the boring logistics, which kept me reading for days, I vividly remember a dream of living with other driven people in a hacker house. I wanted to meet the famous garage-born Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs. I naively assumed that there was a breed of native Bay Area entrepreneurs. I assumed people born and raised in the Bay Area knew so much more about startups, and I wanted to learn via association.
I can’t express my excitement when I thought about meeting these superhuman entrepreneurs; I would, at last, find my tribe. At the same time, I was pretty worried about rejection due to my obvious lack of experience.
Silicon Valley entrepreneurs?
Of course, what I learned was almost the opposite. There is no such thing as a “Silicon Valley native entrepreneur,” or at least, they are a minority. It’s the entrepreneurs from all around the globe that make up the Valley. They pack their stuff and move to the Bay Area as artists did five centuries ago when they moved to Florence for inspiration and camaraderie.
So, one day while thinking about what makes Silicon Valley unique and why it’s so difficult to replicate, it hit me: “it’s not the garage, stupid!”
The tip of the iceberg
When referring to the garages as a critical element of the Valley, it becomes romanticized and spread without much basis, in fact. HP indeed started in a garage, and you can still walk around Palo Alto and visit it from outside. And sometimes, if you’re lucky enough, it might be open for visits. My daily routine was to walk by, changing my route only slightly so I could feel inspired.
But, here’s the thing — the garages are a consequence of something not that obvious: entrepreneurs living together. To save housing costs, they are forced to maximize occupancy and share the rent. As the Valley is a global magnet, there is a tremendous amount of diversity, all of them hungry to change the world. But as packed as the houses are, oftentimes, the only space left to set an office is… you guessed it, the garage.
So, when talking about the HP garage as a key element to SV success, we’re just scratching the surface and overlooking the real reason why garages are essential — even today. Remember, these garages were soon-to-be companies that were formed organically because of resource-limited entrepreneurs. They had to scrape by and eke out existence where they could, and this meant sharing a tight space.
That’s why I started my own hacker house
I lived this situation myself when I moved to the Valley for my first startup: Yabo Inc. The cost of living was so high that my only option was to sublet the extra bedrooms we had in our rental house. Thankfully, I experienced this from my time living in the era’s best hacker house: Blackbox Mansion.
Blackbox Mansion in Silicon Valley
But I didn’t want just anyone to share our space with us; they had to be entrepreneurs. That’s how Startup Embassy was born. It was a matter of finding my tribe. This was seven years in the making, but at the time, it was still challenging to capture in words. If you need help explaining the drive for coliving to friends, have them watch the Silicon Valley HBO series where a group of entrepreneurs share a house in Palo Alto and start a company. The antics are funny, but I promise you, real life is often weirder than fiction.
The Coliving Secret in Action
Two thousand entrepreneurs from ninety countries have lived at Startup Embassy, sharing rooms (sometimes beds) with us. There are so many anecdotes I wouldn’t even know where to start. But I can say that the best part of every day was after 7 pm when people would gather around the kitchen to cook and have dinner. Long conversations went for hours, often until well past midnight. Strong friendships formed, and some of those entrepreneurs ended up being accepted into top startup accelerator programs like YCombinator, Techstars, 500 startups, Launch accelerator, and many others. Many were named Forbes 30 under 30.
Two thousand entrepreneurs from ninety countries have lived at Startup Embassy, sharing rooms (sometimes beds) with us. There are so many anecdotes, I wouldn’t even know where to start, but I can share with you my favorite part of the day. After 7 pm, people would gather around the kitchen to cook and have dinner. Long conversations went for hours, often until well past midnight. Strong friendships formed, and some of those entrepreneurs were accepted into top startup accelerator programs like YC, Techstars, 500 Startups, Launch Accelerator, and many others. Some were even named in Forbes 30 under 30.
Accolades like those are great, but I loved watching startups merge; when someone was so inspiring, they would draw a roommate into their plans. That happened with Mashgin Inc. and others. Honor guests (ambassadors we call them) are Matternet, Fellow AI, Shapescale, Mashgin, Spray Printer, and many, many others. Collectively they have raised more than $700M, and most arrived when they were at the idea stage.
Dinner at Startup Embassy
Not everyone loves hacker houses
You may be wondering if local landlords were okay with all of this — they weren’t.
I found that out myself when I first tried to rent a house for my team. The conversation with the realtor went something like this:
Realtor: “So…ahem, yeah, so you want to have your team working from the house, right?”
Me: [excited, this is Palo Alto, Silicon Valley!]: “Yes!”
Realtor: “Ok, so, how many of you will be there?”
Me:[ trying to look professional and hiding the fact that I was planning on bringing more people to lower my costs]: “Ehm, we’ll be a team of four.”
Realtor: “And how many cars will you have?”
Me, puzzled: “I don’t know, two?”
Realtor: “You see, this is a quiet neighborhood, and people don’t like to see an increase in traffic. I’ve watched Facebook’s movie, and I’ve seen what they did to the house…”
Me, thinking: “Fuck. No way I’m getting a house, and my team arrives next week!”
The Hacker House Dark Side
Spaces like these have been traditionally called hacker houses. They’ve been around forever, and like in nature, they have life cycles. As entrepreneurs seek financially friendly spaces to focus on their startup, hacker houses form. Then, as they inevitably succeed or fail, the houses die off as new companies emerge. The cycle continues.
Once the entrepreneurs raise capital and start hiring people, they move on to larger spaces that are better suited to run a company (and to live!). If they fail, they leave and close the space. Nobody wants to run these houses for the sake of running them. If they do, most become opportunistic businesses, and their tactics are predatory, often skirting legality.
To be blunt, these opportunistic coliving operators don’t give a damn about the people inside, don’t “get” the startup world, and are just there to profit off of people already struggling. They’re driven by money and just money; therefore, costs are minimized at the expense of their guests’ experiences, ending in horror stories. I’ve seen my fair share and will update you in future posts, so you know what to look for.
All amazing stories have a dark side; in this case, these self-centered businesses have unfortunately made the term “hacker house” quite negative. Fortunately, it’s been rebranded to coliving, and I have both a better term and support for my passion. So, let’s focus on the bright side: properties with authentic, helpful, and exclusively entrepreneurial communities.
My Proposal and Why It Was Successful
I want to raise awareness that the startup community should switch their focus to hacker houses, not garages, as they explain and replicate Silicon Valley.
What I’m proposing here is the use of these coliving spaces as high-performance centers for entrepreneurs. We’ve done the same thing for driven athletes with gyms, arenas, and other programs that connect good sportsmanship with a broader network. If the global startup ecosystem wants to democratize Silicon Valley, it needs these dedicated spaces.
Yes, to replicate SV, you need capital. You need business angels, VCs, incubators, and accelerators. We’ve seen all of these factors come together before, but there’s one thing missing that will bind it together.
Mama Carlos says
Go start an affordable coliving space for entrepreneurs in your city if you want to connect the ecosystems, increase diversity, or want real innovation, essentially, if you want the abundance of Silicon Valley. | https://medium.com/coliving-from-the-trenches/its-not-the-garage-stupid-c433cbeecfbd | ['Carlos De La Lama-Noriega'] | 2021-04-09 12:50:56.866000+00:00 | ['Silicon Valley', 'Startups', 'VC', 'Coliving'] |
Breastfeeding Pain — What to Do?. Breastfeeding pain is something that… | Breastfeeding pain is something that should not happen. Several reasons may cause unpleasant feelings; some of them are easy to solve; others require visiting a specialist.
What are the most common situations causing the issue? What should you do if you’re feeling discomfort during breastfeeding?
First things first
The first thing to do — check your baby’s latch. Your baby not latching correctly is number one of the most likely causes of breastfeeding pain. Luckily — it is also the one that you can fix pretty quickly.
Breastfeeding problems don’t mean you are doing something wrong; you and your baby just need a little practice!
Positions
Try different breastfeeding positions. In myHow to make breastfeeding pleasant and easy, you will find few different methods of breastfeeding with drawings. A back-lying, cross-cradle, or football hold may take the pressure off the most painful areas of your breast. You can also read the whole guide, just to be sure you’re doing everything right.
Take good care
Wipe damaged nipples gently with several pieces of water-moistened cotton wool after feeding to remove any debris that could lead to infection. Always remember to protect your nipples. Consider wearing breast shells, preventing your clothes from rubbing against sore areas.
Soothe your nipples. Gently apply a few drops of your own breast milk or natural moisturizer of any kind.
Free your boobs!
Seriously. Air-drying nipples help to cure the infection.
Mental approach
Be patient. In the first days, soreness is normal; your body needs to get used to breastfeeding. Most probably, your breastfeeding pain will go away in just a few days! Your baby, you and your nipples will eventually get used to a new situation.
Although, if you can see something is wrong, or you used to breastfeed previously, and now you can tell that the problem is something else then improper latching, don’t hesitate to contact a doctor!
Susan Urban | https://medium.com/@contact_96166/breastfeeding-pain-what-to-do-671e3dd4d2d4 | ['Susan Urban'] | 2019-09-05 10:14:37.773000+00:00 | ['Breastfeeding', 'Moms', 'Baby', 'Breastfeeding Tips', 'Parenting'] |
Simplifying India’s Payments with Nitya Sharma, CEO & Co-Founder of Simpl | In our latest episode of the Wharton Fintech podcast, Anchit Gupta (WG ’21) sits down with Nitya Sharma, CEO and Co-Founder of Simpl. Simpl is a technology company that offers Pay-later solutions in India. Simpl has revolutionized online checkout in India by creating a market-leading Pay-Later platform, empowering e-commerce merchants to offer their consumers 1-click checkout, a line of credit at POS, and full buyer protection.
Before starting Simpl, Nitya worked on Wall Street for more than 10 years, where he structured, traded, and risk-managed structured credit portfolios at Bear Stearns and Goldman Sachs. Before that, he was a co-founding portfolio manager at JNF Financial, a distressed credit hedge fund from 2010–2014.
Nitya initially moved back to India with the objective of starting an emerging-markets focused hedge-fund. However, he experienced the shortcomings of the Indian payments and credit stack first-hand when his credit card application was declined. This experience prompted him to dig deeper into the Indian payments landscape and subsequently led to the founding of Simpl.
In this interview, Nitya shares:
His educational background and journey as an entrepreneur
His motivations for launching Simpl
Simpl’s business model and the challenges of underwriting risk in a cash-first economy like India
Differences between banking infrastructure in India and theUS
Simpl’s plans to compete with financial incumbents as well as big tech firms such as Amazon and Google
The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on Simpl
Nitya’s future plans for the organization
Nitya has his B.E. in Mechanical Engineering from Punjab Engineering College and his Masters in Financial Engineering from the University of Michigan. | https://medium.com/wharton-fintech/simplifying-indias-payments-with-nitya-sharma-ceo-co-founder-of-simpl-a7ede569909a | ['Ryan Zauk'] | 2020-09-02 16:44:40.417000+00:00 | ['Banking', 'Payments', 'Fintech', 'VC', 'India'] |
AirBridgeCargo posts 3% increase in volume carried through ‘abc XL’ | The airline saw the biggest surge in oversize and heavy shipments on the trade lanes it serves to and from Europe and North America.
May 21, 2019: AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC), part of the Volga-Dnepr Group, has confirmed that the volumes carried on the %u2018abc XL’ product were up 3 percent year-on-year over the period to more than 11,000 tonnes.
The B747F operator’s demand for its %u2018abc XL’ product dedicated to oversized and heavy cargoes continued to grow strongly in the first four months of this year. Reflecting the growing importance of this business, ABC has now rolled out a freighter painted in an %u2018abc XL’ aircraft livery.
“For the first four months of 2019, the growth in ‘abc XL’ shipments also included a more than 10 percent increase in out-of-gauge cargoes being loaded through the swing-up nose cargo door of our 747 fleets, amounting to more than 2,000 tonnes,” said Vasiliy Zhukov, global director, heavy & outsized cargo at ABC.
Noting the use of the new ‘abc XL’ livery, he also noted, “The Boeing 747 freighter’s capabilities and efficiency including its nose cargo door loading feature significantly ramps up the volume of different oversized and heavy shipments we can transport across our international network.”
The airline saw the biggest surge in oversize and heavy shipments on the trade lanes it serves to and from Europe and North America.
Between these two markets, there was a doubling of these specialist shipments out of Europe and a growth of 45 percent out of North America.
The ‘abc XL’ liveried freighter complements the abc pharma branded freighters within ABC’s fleet. Moscow Sheremetyevo International Airport-based ABC’s fleet currently consists of 18 B747 freighters. | https://medium.com/@logupdateafrica/airbridgecargo-posts-3-increase-in-volume-carried-through-abc-xl-11dfc2074194 | ['Logistics Update Africa'] | 2019-05-21 07:19:09.311000+00:00 | ['Airplanes', 'Aviation'] |
Faith Advice From a Nonbeliever. Especially now, we all need to trust in… | Faith Advice From a Nonbeliever
Photo by Anna Shvets from Pexels
Typically, people who based their lives and decisions on scientific facts and probabilities don’t give too much space to hope in their lives. This article is for them.
The facts:
Yes, we are about to enter a second worldwide lockdown. So, if we want to maintain our mental health intact, there are some changes we all need to make.
We all need to embrace the possibility that things will get better over time.
Hey! Don’t jump to conclusions that fast. I don’t even go to church, and I’m not here to ask you to convert to any particular religion. I’m not even going to tell you that you should believe in any deity.
It’s a fact that western civilization is undergoing a very peculiar process over the past decades: a crisis of beliefs. I have no intention of trying to change that. Being a nonbeliever myself, I concluded that there is a practical utility in believing in a higher power that can benefit us heathens. I call that higher power HOPE!
This article will show you why a God-Goddess-Gods idea has been present since the beginning of time… But most importantly: why.
In a way, It’s part of who we are:
You are born, you grow up, and you find out that life is hard. The struggle of getting everything done, earning money to pay the bills while maintaining the patience necessary to work for your dreams shows how hard life can be. Many agree that life’s so hard that no one gets out of it alive, wink.
The certainty of death is one of the leading human experiences that equalizes us all in the face of uncertainty. When is it going to be my time? How can I stretch that unknown amount of time I have left? And, the most popular of all, is there life after death?
We rarely know what’s going to happen tomorrow. Or the next day, week, month, or year. It is said that nothing is certain except death and taxes. We can only expect everything is going to go according to plan… We can only hope.
Hope and time for more questions:
So what does the concept of a God have to do with this?
Well, the concept of good and evil is somewhat inscribed in our DNA. In Western cultures, we shaped our beliefs into two antagonistic frames: either purely perfect or devilishly imperfect. On either side, there is no room for combinations, permutations, or transformations.
Yet, Lucifer is a fallen angel, and we also have a lot to learn from that concept. Some societies have managed to accept that their gods can also be destructive, envious, and vain. Depending on their circumstances and appetites, they will even make bad decisions, just like us!
African, Latin American Indian, and Hindu religious traditions are full of fantastic examples and stories that recreate that “imperfection.” This ability to make mistakes also makes the gods, in some ways, closer to us and our vision of humankind.
Do I have to be perfect?
Perfection is one of the main things that differentiate us from the western concept of an all-knowing, all-powerful God. Striving to become perfect is one of the main reasons for us to become frustrated with our lives. Achieving perfection is a race against ourselves that no one ever wins.
So, why am I writing about God if it’s an elusive concept that does not exist in the realm of scientific knowledge? Reconciling with our finitude and fallibility helps us reconnect with the “higher power” concept.
Why? Because understanding that things are out of our control, not obeying any logic or reason is devastating. The only thing we have left is the hope that things will be better if we work for it.
And that concept is known to many as Faith.
Hope, a concept that can transform your life:
Being a believer can take many forms. For some, it means lighting candles; for others, it means praying or volunteering. The crucial aspect is that hope can help you get different, more positive results.
In what way? Don’t get mystical with me. Candles won’t change the world, you say.
I know, I know! If the world is ruled by chaos, how can my actions make things better or worse? I’ll give you four proofs that having hope can change the world:
Being pessimistic takes a toll on you:
Stress causes us to change our habits, typically for the worse. Smoking, unhealthy eating habits, substance abuse… All these factors increase the probability of developing cancer at some point in your life. Moreover, having a pessimistic mindset can also impact your chances of getting better.
2. You’re not a magical being:
If you can accept that controlling things is impossible, your life will improve. Especially if you’re a nonbeliever, you shouldn’t fall for the idea of having magical powers and the ability to control things. Freeing yourself of that godly role will make your life easier, no doubt.
3.Stories are Stories, and you can learn a lot from them:
All the believers in the world agree on one thing “the deity they worship is the right one.” Another thing believers usually can be inclined to agree upon is that other religions have great metaphors and stories too, and they are correct.
Getting in contact with other belief systems can help you understand the world from a fresher new perspective. Yes, churches and religions have been institutions of social control for thousands of years. But that doesn’t imply you should automatically reject EVERYTHING about them.
On the contrary, you can learn many things about other societies by understanding their approaches to the concept of hope and their visions regarding life and death.
4. Hope will help you grow:
As counterintuitive as it may sound, accepting the small role we all play in the grand scheme of things will get you closer to greatness. Greatness being self-awareness and appreciating the opportunities you’ve had so you can share them with others.
You don’t have to be alone, nor prove anything to anyone. Life’s only worth living when there’s a purpose. That’s one of the main things that makes us humans.
There’s no need to be the smart ass who only formulates their decisions on observable facts. We can’t see or touch so many things, yet they have transformed our lives, haven’t they?
Life’s only worth living when there’s a purpose.
Hoping for things to get better by understanding that our actions can affect others is the first step. The second step is accepting a very reasonable and logical probability: relationships are mirrors. If you treat others well, they will also treat you better in return.
Finally, I’ll let this idea sinking in: Isn’t this the ideal time to practice love?
That and HOPE will change the world. | https://medium.com/illumination/faith-advise-from-a-nonbeliever-b92fd28f7206 | ['Nataly U'] | 2020-12-29 19:29:36.677000+00:00 | ['Hope', 'Belief', 'Faith', 'Gratitude', 'God'] |
Python packages with AWS layers — The right way | Step1: Requirements
Basically, we are going to be using Serverless framework for our deployments on AWS (both layers and the lambda function itself)
Install AWS CLI
Download AWS CLI, then just to run and configure your AWS credentials
aws configure
Install Pipenv
We are going to use Pipenv to manage your local dependencies working with a virtual environment and allow serverless to know what needs to download before deploying the layer
Install Docker
You must have Docker up and running to allow a serverless-python-requirements plugin to build dependencies in a dockerized environment
Install NPM
In order to install Serverless framework you must have installed NPM before
Install serverless
Finally set up Serverless framework to make AWS lambda and layers deployments
Step2: Splitting your dependencies on separates folders
The idea is to have a separate folder for every dependency just to keep every AWS layer light as possible and to be able to reuse those dependencies.
So go to your root directory and make your folder layer dependencies
mkdir -p Layers/Pandas && mkdir Layers/SQLAlchemy
Step3: Create your Pipfile for every dependency folder
Working with Pipenv, we are going to install and create python dependencies files. Those Pipenv files will be consumed by serverless-python-requirements plugin. We will create two files, one inside Layers/Pandas folder and another one inside into Layers/SQLAlchemy folder, both under ‘Pipfile’ name.
To do it you can just execute into Layers/Pandas
pipenv install pandas
And the same into Layers/SQLAlchemy directory
pipenv install sqlalchemy
Step4: Create your serverless file for every dependency folder
Before working with a serverless framework we are going to install a serverless-python-requirements plugin. Go to the root folder and execute
npm i --save serverless-python-requirements
Then we need to create a serverless.yml file to be able to deploy on every layer directory. So for our example create the ‘serverless.yml’ file into Layers/SQLAlchemy and Layers/Pandas and copy on those the next configuration
Then replace YOUR-LAYER-NAME with panda and Sqlalchemy on each file respectively
Step5: Deploy your layers
To be able to consume those layers on our lambda function we need to make dependency deployment first. Ideally, you need to do this process just once, however, if you want to renew or change a python package version you need to deploy it again
To deploy, execute inside Layers/SQLAlchemy and Layers/Pandas directory
serverless deploy
Grab both deployment layer ARN outputs that will be used on next steps. Both ARN will look like
arn:aws:lambda:AWS_ACCOUNT_ZONE:AWS_ACCOUNT_ID:layer:LAYER_NAME:REVISION_NUMBER
Step6: Create your lambda function to consume those deployed layers
We will be creating a pretty straightforward lambda function just to consume those dependencies
On your root directory create a simple python script file called your_lambda_fn.py and paste there the next content
Finally, we need to create the deployment file for the lambda function itself. So again, on the root directory create a serverless.yml file and paste
At the bottom, you must replace both layers ARNs with those you grabbed before
Remember that every time that you decide to change a python dependency you need to update the REVISION_NUMBER
Step7: Deploy your lambda function
Again, on the root directory just execute
serverless deploy
You can go to your AWS Lambda Console and execute manually or using AWS CLI instead
Conclusion
You will not have any dependency issue when deploying to AWS
Your lambda functions will be pretty light
Working on this way will be able to reuse those AWS layers across multiple lambdas functions
If you keep working with layers, AWS Lambda console will allow you to edit onsite, so doing tests will be pretty straightforward if something happens
You can clone or fork this final repository where you can check how everything should go
https://github.com/JicLotus/python-aws-serverless-dependencies
Resources
Support my content by buying me a coffee
Please write to me at [email protected] | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/python-packages-with-aws-layers-the-right-way-1cff618e0772 | ['Jose Ignacio Castelli'] | 2020-11-29 13:42:51.334000+00:00 | ['Serverless', 'Python3', 'AWS', 'Python', 'AWS Lambda'] |
Mexican Footprints | “if an amazing new discovery is found I probably will have nothing to say about it” I’m used to being proved wrong, but it would be nice to get through 24 hours before it happens. After posting this on July 5, I flicked across to the BBC news site and found the item Footprints of ‘first Americans’ which is interesting in itself. What is more interesting is that these footprints are early.
Very early.
In fact they’re about 30,000 years earlier than the previous earliest known evidence of occupation of the Americas.
A foot and an ancient footprint. Photo from the Mexican Footprints media section.
The footprints are from volcanic ash layers by a volcano in Mexico. This may seem odd. The favoured theory is that humans crossed into American via the Bering Straits. However the early occupation of the Americas has a habit of appearing in awkward places.
The earliest widely accepted human habitation site in the Americas isn’t in North America at all. It’s found at Monte Verde in Chile and dates to about 10,500 BC. There is another controversial site in Brazil whose name I’ve sadly forgotten which dates to about 40,000 BC, but that’s been ignored as a poorly excavated site. We know it’s poorly excavated because it was dated to a freakishly early time. The reason assumed for finding sites so far south is two fold. The northern sites may not have survived the ice age. The mainstream would also say that the spread to what is now Chile shows that early peoples moved very quickly down the coast.
A map of proposed routes for American colonisation. Taken from the Mexican Footprints media section.
It still doesn’t explain why the lack of sites in the north well. The strongest reason for pushing Bering Strait colonisation is that the other explanations seem implausible to most archaeologists and the Bering Strait is the default choice. If these footprints prove to be accurately dated then it would suggest that archaeologists need to exercise their brains a bit more.
One possible reason for this impasse may be an unchallenged Eurocentric assumption about colonisation. A lot of early colonisation theory is based on how Europe came to be colonised, which suggests Europe was a goal rather than a backwater for colonists. No one is suggesting that Europe was the conscious target of peoples who had no idea of what the world was like and didn’t even know of Europe. Simply that Europe is the nicest part of the world. It has a pleasant climate and nice animals and so on, so more people would be attracted north. The Romans and Greeks both had a similar view of the world. They were in perfect place because it was neither too cold nor too hot and was perfect for growing olives or figs. So they must have lived at the centre of the world.
This view of colonisation is being challenged. The recent publication in Science argues that early colonisation went along an east-west axis faster than north-south. Why? East-west would take colonisers into broadly similar ecological environments. Foods should be similar to what is already known, so it’s the easier path. There are also mechanical advantages. To take a wildly anachronistic example the Polynesians found it much easier to colonise east-west because of currents and winds than north-south. This is why Easter Island which is terribly remote was colonised before New Zealand. Frustratingly I’ve lost the web address of a news page where an Australian student was happy to be an excavation in the UK because “they didn’t have a lot of history” in Australia. Modern humans colonised Australia about 50,000 years ago, or about twice as long as they’ve been in the British Isles.
So all terribly exciting, but even more so when you see what the discoverers have done with the information. They’ve put up a pretty comprehensive website at http://www.mexicanfootprints.co.uk/ which not only has pictures, but also explains why this discovery is so exciting by placing it in the context of what we already think about American colonisation.
Now so far I haven’t seen the news pick up on what I thought would be the obvious question. They may have been humans, but are these the footprints of Homo Sapiens? If there are non-Sapiens communities in Indonesian from 15,000 years ago should be automatically expect the first human colonisers of North America to be modern humans?
Who made the footprints? Image copyright Bournemout University. Photo from the Mexican Footprints media section.
Counter to this is John Hawks’s comment from six months ago: “Out of Africa” jumps the shark?. There another take on the story at New Scientist.
Update around midday:
Further blogs discussing this are: | https://alunsalt.com/mexican-footprints-4ec34841302d | ['Alun Salt'] | 2016-04-13 10:42:35.778000+00:00 | ['Archaeology', 'Mexico'] |
5 Considerations for Building a 5-Star FireTV App | The Android operating system (OS) is being used across multiple devices and platforms and is currently the most popular mobile operating system. At the moment, Android powers more than 2 billion devices and many of those devices operate on variations of the Android software development kit (SDK), such as Amazon’s FireTV OS, Nokia’s X platform, and Alibaba’s Aliyun OS, to name a few. As a result, with multiple architecturally various applications that can be built, they share the same set of application programming interfaces (APIs) from the Android SDK.
After years of experience developing exclusively for Android mobile devices, I’ve come up with certain development patterns that can be replicated to help bring a quality mobile app to market. On the other hand, FireTV development requires some additional review and slight adjustments to those patterns based on the specifics of this platform. In this article, we will look into some aspects of FireTV development and some of the lessons learned from our experience developing a 5-star app for one of the biggest media providers.
Performance
At the time of writing this article, from the hardware perspective, FireTVs are less performant devices compared to the most up-to-date mobile Android phones. This means a developer will need to take a more diligent approach with regards to memory allocation, data processing, and algorithms while developing a FireTV app. These technical limitations often cause image stuttering and slowness. To avoid these issues, the best approach is to make as much data processing work as possible on the server-side, and send only the necessary data through the RESTful API. This will avoid unnecessary sorting and filtering on the client side that is both memory- and processing power-expensive.
Power Supply
Unlike mobile devices, FireTVs have uninterrupted access to a power supply and at first sight, may not require battery saving related optimizations. However, most of the battery-expensive work is related to the central processing unit’s (CPU) usage and network connectivity, which are the same factors that impact performance. This means that even though FireTVs do not have batteries and have permanent access to a power supply, implementing the necessary optimizations will considerably help with performance and will help avoid any lags in the user interface (UI) rendering.
Network Connection
Another out of the box advantage that comes with FireTV devices, unlike mobile phones, is the reliable, fast, relatively inexpensive and large bandwidth network connection that gives developers a bit more freedom in architecting the app. Depending on the case, engineers can reduce caching size and can rely more often on data updates from the network. They will not need to worry about network costs, bandwidth or reliability. However, consider making non-urgent network updates while the app is closed with Android’s WorkManager, this will help refresh, process and prepare the data before the user opens the app, and will avoid additional resource allocation when the user re-opens the app.
Overall App Architecture
FireTV applications have similarities and differences relative to “traditional” mobile application architectures. Networking and caching layer architectures can be lifted and shifted. These components can be used as is and do not require any adjustments or modifications. The major adjustments and differences revolve around the user experience (UX) and user interface (UI). FireTV does not have touch screen functionality and works exclusively with the remote. This fact requires engineers to follow guidelines for the cursor movement and UI for the selected states. The fastest way to include the UI elements into the app is by using the Leanback library, which has built-in navigation, however, it may be a bit limited in terms of customizations.
User Interface
FireTVs have a so-called “10-foot” user interface because the screen is roughly 10-feet from the user’s eyes, versus the 2-foot distance of a computer screen. This means some additional considerations must be taken into account in order to accommodate the distance and provide the right user experience. Developers should consider using appropriate (i.e.: larger) sizes for UI elements and fonts so they can easily be seen from a relatively longer distance. Also, make sure that every remote input can easily be reflected on the screen and is visible from a 10-foot distance. However, do not use larger assets than what is needed as this may negatively impact the performance and slow down UI rendering. | https://medium.com/tribalscale/5-considerations-for-building-a-5-star-firetv-app-8d2456a81513 | ['Tribalscale Inc.'] | 2019-06-20 14:37:50.729000+00:00 | ['Mobile App Development', 'Technology', 'OTT', 'Fire Tv', 'Android'] |
UN PRI gets new leadership! CEO Fiona Reynolds steps down | This is our weekly newsletter we deliver to educate our readers on ESG. We aim to curate content on responsible investment to educate and surface relevant news articles, academic papers, best practice reporting guides and latest industry developments. We have a strong ESG community and if you have feedback to share reply to this email to let us know what’s on your mind!
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Issue #82: A weekly update on responsible investment.
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\\ Weekly Insights \\
UN PRI, one of the most influential organisations in ESG and Responsible Investment announced this week that its CEO, Fiona Reynolds will be stepping down. Reading her statement on the matter, it is remarkable learning just how much that key organisation has grown. She shares:
“When I first joined the PRI at the beginning of 2013, we were only 37 staff and had just over 1,000 signatories to the Principles. Fast-forward nearly nine years and the PRI is now supported by over 170 staff and we are getting ready to celebrate reaching 4,000 global signatories, collectively representing more than half the world’s institutional assets.”
Did you hear that… More than HALF the world’s institutional assets!
Why is she leaving? As she so eloquently puts it, we have all seen that those of us who have chosen global lives, the trade-offs with lack of travel have become more and more. She shares:
“With the ongoing closure of borders… The trade-offs of not being able to spend time with my family (In Australia), or even being able to reach them if I needed, have simply become too high for me.”
Who will be the next to lead this fantastic and influential organisation? They are currently recruiting for Fiona’s replacement.
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Female Founder seeking investment? Join Grow F!
Our team loved the chance to be a part of the Grow F program. If you are a female founder and would like to join the next cohort, apply here -> https://www.female-founders.org/grow-f/
Reach Out!
\\ People in ESG to watch \\
Kathy Matsui: Kathy Matsui is the former Vice-Chair of Goldman Sachs Japan & founding General Partner at MPower Partners. Kathy recently launched MPower Partners Fund LP, Japan’s first ESG-focused Global Venture Capital Fund.
Kathy Matsui is the former Vice-Chair of Goldman Sachs Japan & founding General Partner at MPower Partners. Kathy recently launched MPower Partners Fund LP, Japan’s first ESG-focused Global Venture Capital Fund. Shaheen Contractor: Shaheen Contractor is an ESG Research Analyst at Bloomberg LP. Shaheen’s role includes analysing #ESGrisks and opportunities. Shaheen recently delivered a presentation on ESG integration & trends in a webinar on ‘The Future of Sustainable Investing.’
Shaheen Contractor is an ESG Research Analyst at Bloomberg LP. Shaheen’s role includes analysing #ESGrisks and opportunities. Shaheen recently delivered a presentation on ESG integration & trends in a webinar on ‘The Future of Sustainable Investing.’ May J: May J. is Managing Director and European Head of Sustainable & Impact Banking at Barclays Investment Bank. May has been at Barclays for just under 19 years and took over as Head of Sustainable & Impact Investing in 2019.
May J. is Managing Director and European Head of Sustainable & Impact Banking at Barclays Investment Bank. May has been at Barclays for just under 19 years and took over as Head of Sustainable & Impact Investing in 2019. Lareina Yee: Lareina Yee (she, her) is a Senior Partner and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at McKinsey & Company. She leads McKinsey’s research initiative on Women in the Workplace and their series Race in the Workplace.
Lareina Yee (she, her) is a Senior Partner and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at McKinsey & Company. She leads McKinsey’s research initiative on Women in the Workplace and their series Race in the Workplace. Lisa Jackson: Lisa Jackson is the Vice President of Environment, Policy, Social Initiatives at Apple. Formerly the Environmental Protection Agency administrator under the Obama Administration, Lisa is now helping to make Apple’s supply chain and products #carbonneutral by 2030.
\\ Top Stories \\
Sustainable Investing Boom and Net Zero Pledges Drive ESG Talent War
The push for businesses to be run more sustainably is driving a surge in demand for professionals with environmental, social and governance expertise, according to consultants and recruiters. Demand for ESG experts is booming across professional services, including at management consultancies, boutique advisory firms and property companies. But, companies face rising competition in attracting and retaining ESG-focused staff as more companies and fund managers commit to cutting their carbon footprint and place a greater emphasis on non-financial performance.
Financial Times.
Britain’s steel industry faces up to climate challenge
In the UK, steel is the biggest industrial emitter of carbon dioxide. The Climate Change Committee, the government’s independent advisory group, has suggested steel production needs to be “near-zero” emissions by 2035 — a hugely ambitious target. However, domestic steel producers have struggled to stay competitive compared to cheaper alternatives as viewed above. Now they face the additional burden of cleaning up their emissions. The potential costs are eye-watering and cannot be met by industry alone. Chris McDonald at the Materials Processing Institute, a steel research group, estimated that to make green steel a reality would require £6bn-£7bn of investment on sites themselves, on top of supporting infrastructure.
Financial Times.
Ex-Goldman’s Kathy Matsui Starts ESG Venture Capital Fund
Kathy Matsui, former vice chair of Goldman Sachs Japan, launched a venture capital fund to help startups enhance environmental, social and governance values. MPower Partners Fund will focus on investing in growth- to late-stage Japanese startups, with the rest going into earlier-stage firms overseas in areas like healthcare, fintech and sustainability. Matsui retired at the end of last year from Goldman Sachs, where she was known for her so-called womenomics research that influenced government policy on female labor participation.
Bloomberg.
G7 Supports Moves Towards Mandatory Climate Reporting
Discussing the need to mobilize trillions of dollars of private sector finance, and to “green” the financial system on the road to meeting the nations’ net zero commitments, the G7 communique said: “We support moving towards mandatory climate-related financial disclosures that provide consistent and decision-useful information for market participants and that are based on the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework, in line with domestic regulatory frameworks. Investors need high quality, comparable and reliable information on climate risks.”
ESG Today.
Don’t divest dirty businesses, Deutsche Bank and BlackRock CEOs say
Public companies shouldn’t go green by divesting their dirty businesses because in the end this doesn’t have an impact on the overall carbon footprint. Instead, companies should clean up their operations to be more friendly to the environment. Larry Fink, chief of asset manager BlackRock, challenged the view that it is good when companies sell their dirtiest assets, particularly given those assets might then be less available to public scrutiny. Divestment doesn’t change the world, Fink noted. “It just goes from a transparent organization to an opaque organization that is not going to get us to where we want to go as a society.
Reuters.
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\\ Research Feature \\
Americans Support ESG Objectives but Unfamiliar with Term
Gallup Poll.
84% consider how a company treats its employees when becoming a customer
81% say a business’ impact on its local community matters
Despite valuing its goals, 64% are unfamiliar with the term “ESG”
Three-quarters of U.S. adults care about a company’s impact on the environment when making purchase decisions, and 68% say the same of efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in a company’s workforce and customer base.
While most Americans support the broad objectives associated with ESG initiatives, they remain largely unfamiliar with the term itself, first coined by business leaders, institutions and academics and now discussed in boardrooms across the globe.
Read about the results.
Other interesting reading:
The double-materiality concept. Application and issues.
GRI
This paper considers the appropriateness of the EU’s double-materiality concept and how it can be used with the GRI approach to materiality. It draws on academic research that investigates how double-materiality and materiality in sustainability reporting are implemented and the benefits and challenges of doing so.
“Robust identification of material impacts of an organisation on sustainable development must be the starting point to determining sustainable development risks and impacts on the financial statements. Research findings are clear — organisations tend towards prioritising financial materiality.”
Read the paper.
Swiss Sustainable Investment Market Study.
This paper breaks down exactly what is happening in the sustainable investment market in Switzerland as the market moves completely mainstream.
How much has the market grown in Switzerland?
Read the report.
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Visit Nossa Data | https://medium.com/@nossadataadmin/un-pri-gets-new-leadership-ceo-fiona-reynolds-steps-down-7ffe005e5ba9 | ['Nossa Capital'] | 2021-06-08 08:37:02.495000+00:00 | ['Esg Investing', 'Responsible Investment', 'Covid 19', 'Esg', 'CEO'] |
Coronavirus: Prevent Seeding and Spreading | Countries are reopening. They want to imitate the success of countries like South Korea or Taiwan. We now know they can do that with great testing and contact tracing, isolations and quarantines, by mandating home-made masks, with hygiene, physical distancing and public education.
These measures are all extremely cheap compared to closing the economy, but are they enough? Do we also need to keep schools shut? Businesses? Music festivals? Tourism? Are there other measures that are expensive for the economy but necessary to keep the virus under control?
The bad news first:
We will likely need to heavily slow down national and international tourism for months
Big events like business fairs or music concerts will need to remain closed for now
The good news:
We should still be able to travel for one-way or very long trips
There are ways we can accelerate the reopening of tourism
We can probably reopen schools
A clear order is emerging for which businesses should reopen. The most important to keep open are likely banks, grocery, and general stores, and the least important are likely cafés, dessert parlors, and gyms
Ok, let’s do this.
Imagine that your country has applied the Hammer reasonably well and now it’s getting ready to Dance. Some areas are still in quarantine, but the rest of the economy is slowly opening. Authorities are careful: mask-wearing is strongly enforced, all contacts are traced, all sick people are isolated in hotel rooms, and quarantines are enforced by tracking mobile phone movements.
Your country now has two goals:
Protect safe areas from infections coming from outbreak areas. I’ll call that “prevent seeding” of new cases. Prevent these seeds from developing into outbreaks. We can call that “prevent spreading”.
Countries must prevent seeding and spreading.
To prevent seeding, you need travel restrictions.
To prevent spreading, you need social gathering restrictions.
Since most countries are opening their countries and starting to allow social gatherings, it’s more urgent to talk about spreading. We’ll cover that first, and then we’ll explore seeding through travel.
The Coronavirus’ Favorite Events
Super-Spreaders
As I’ve already covered, you’ve probably heard of the superspreader from South Korea:
A single person, Patient 31, caused over 5,000 cases. That was the vast majority of cases in South Korea at the time. As of the middle of May, this figure still represents over 40% of the cases in the country — not counting all the spreading that might have come from it since. If this person hadn’t caused this outbreak, maybe South Korea would never have had one, like Taiwan.
You might have heard that this was caused by Patient 31 going to a megachurch twice. What you might not know is what such a service might look like.
Service at a Shincheonji church. Source.
At this church, thousands of people sit close to each other for long periods of time, forbidden to wear eyeglasses or masks, singing and praying loudly. The church doesn’t allow them to miss the service, even if they’re sick. That’s why patient 31 went two Sundays in a row to a service while sick.
In Part 2 of this article series, I explained how the virus spreads, via droplets and droplet clouds, expelled by coughing but also singing, or even talking. We also discussed how the virus prefers confined spaces shared for long periods by people who interact closely with each other.
This megachurch environment met all the requirements that increase the rate of transmission — talking, singing, and being in confined spaces for long periods of time — especially since nobody was allowed to wear masks or glasses.
As we have also seen in Part 1, something similar happened in Singapore’s dormitories.
As a reminder, this is a picture from the main dormitory, taken after the lockdown in that country.
Same thing: These are places with lots of people in close quarters having heavy social interactions that likely include lots of talking.
Migrant workers in their room at the WestLite Toh Guan dormitory in Singapore. Photo: EPA. Source: South China Morning Post. As you can see, the spread might not have been their fault, but rather an unavoidable consequence of their living conditions.
The brutal spread of coronavirus at social gatherings includes many other such examples. One is a choir in Washington State, where people sing loudly, close together, for a long period of time. 45 out of 60 people fell sick.
Over 4,000 people were infected across Europe through what might be a bartender in Ischgl, where apres-ski events are common.
Trofana Alm, an après-ski at Ischgl
The German area around Gangelt suffered 1,500 infections after a carnival, where people commingled, talked, sang, and kissed each other on the cheek.
This is an image of the event:
Source. Photo: Heinz Eschweiler
The other biggest outbreak in Germany was also due to a festivity. The German district of Tirschenreuth, with 600 cases, has the most cases per capita in the country after festivities to celebrate beer.
The list keeps going:
At Bondi beach in Sydney, at least 30 people became infected after attending a crowded dance party the night before gatherings of 500 people or more were banned.
In France, a four-day celebration at the Porte Ouverte Christian church gathered 2,500 worshippers, infected many, and seeded outbreaks across the country, including 250 people working at the Strasbourg University hospital or 263 cases in Corsica.
A soccer game in February between Italy’s Atalanta team, from Bergamo, and Valencia, from Spain, seeded what later became Bergamo’s outbreak, one of the biggest in Italy.
Even in Seoul, South Korea’s capital, which has some of the best coronavirus management in the world, 2,100 bars and clubs closed in the middle of May after a single infected person visited five clubs over a long weekend, infecting at least 100 so far. Over 1,900 contacts are currently being traced.
This is not limited to massive celebrations.
Weddings, funerals and birthdays generated 10% of early spreading events in the US. For example, this man from Chicago infected 16 other people at a funeral and 3 of them subsequently died. This makes sense, since people at these types of events often spend hours together, touching one another, hugging, talking. In this 50-person party, over half got infected, and these individuals then spread the virus across the US and the world.
These super-spreader events also happen in the business world.
At least 115 meat processing plants have had outbreaks in the US, affecting at least 5k workers.
Packing plant workers ( USDA ). Source.
A Biogen conference in Boston in early March caused around 100 infections and spread the virus to six states. At a fish factory in Ghana, one worker infected over 500.
And it’s not limited to blue-collar work. An call center worker infected around 100 coworkers (~45%) in South Korea.
Say goodbye to the open office.
All around the world — we see the same pattern time after time. Close proximity, social interaction, singing, talking, dancing, hugging, kissing, all for long periods of time in a confined environment… A pattern consistent with the model that most infections happen through droplets or droplet clouds while coughing, talking or singing. We have not heard of outbreaks coming from movie theaters, for example, where people are mostly silent and stay in one seat the entire time.
A scientific paper (pre-print) led by Dr. Carl Juneau, PhD — I’m a co-author — reviewed hundreds of other papers. For the flu, the evidence was mixed, but it looks like the type and timing of events mattered. What we found was that the flu is more likely to spread in events that are long, crowded, and indoors. Another study suggested that, for flu, limiting mass gatherings was only helpful just before or at the beginning of an outbreak (but would have little effect 20 days after the infection peak). Here are some relevant quotes from more recent publications:
“The best-available evidence suggests multiple-day events with crowded communal accommodations are most associated with increased risk. Mass gatherings are not homogenous and risk should be assessed on a case-by-case basis.” Nunan and Brassey (March 2020), Oxford University, not peer-reviewed. Results demonstrated that event cancellations can reduce COVID−19 infectiousness by 35%. Sugishita et al. (March 2020), not peer-reviewed.
Ferguson et. al. from the Imperial College believe the impact of limiting public events is a reduction in the transmission rate of around 12.5%.
With all this evidence, it’s clearer and clearer that the coronavirus loves social gatherings and crowded spaces. For those of us who love feeling part of a large group and meeting new people, we might be forced to say bye to them for the next few months. This is especially true if we are meeting lots of new people.
The Social Network
Another paper looked at how infectious diseases actually spread in social groups. The bigger the group, the faster the infection spread to the entire group.
Let’s look at the green line that says n=20, which represents a group with 20 people. This line shows that, as the transmission rate of a virus increases, so does the share of individuals in the group that become infected. And it does so faster than the normal population (the bottom dotted line). However, a group of 100 people will get most of them infected, even with a low infection rate.
Let’s compare a music concert with 10,000 people with a classroom of 20. In the concert, there’s a higher probability that at least one person is infected than in the classroom. On top of that, each person will interact with many more people, whereas in a classroom it’s capped at 20. And on top of that, the people in the music concert don’t know each other. They come from very different social groups, so the virus will then spread across all these groups, and these people will take the virus back to their groups, infecting them. Conversely, in the classroom, since it’s always the same group meeting, if somebody gets infected the infection largely remains contained in that group.
Big events are not just worse than small events. They are much, much worse.
Over the next few months, better research might shed light on exactly how much different social gathering events are impacting the spread of the coronavirus. In the meantime, what we can guess is:
Social gatherings should be avoided if a lot of people are close to each other, sing, talk a lot, or commingle.
Indoor, confined areas are much worse than outdoors activities.
Time matters. A short time is probably ok. Hours probably not.
Mixing different social groups is especially bad.
Conversely, small outdoors events where people don’t talk or interact are probably safe, especially if combined with measures such as masks, physical distancing and hygiene.
How can we use these insights to decide what types of events to allow?
Social Gathering Restrictions: Prevent Spreading
We can establish some rules of thumb. For example:
Cinemas or classical music concerts are probably much safer than rock concerts. In the first ones, a limited number of people are sitting close to each other but barely interact and don’t talk. They can also use masks if needed, and maybe seat 6 feet apart. In a massive rock concert, it’s hard to not sing, move about, or interact with lots of people around you.
Schools or small business meetings with the same people over and over are much safer than big fairs, travel for work, or big sports events. If somebody gets infected in the school network, many members might get infected too, but at least that doesn’t spread to many other places outside of that network.
If you have a wedding coming up, either cancel it, postpone it, or have a small ceremony in open air where people wear masks, don’t hug each other, and avoid talking as much as possible, especially from up close. Since doing all that would be very hard, it’s much safer to postpone it. In any case, if you do hold a wedding event, tell grandma or your diabetic cousin that you love them very much but that they really should not come physically. It’s a poor substitute, but under the circumstances a videoconference is their only safe option.
All of the above are early conclusions based on current — but scant — evidence. These conclusions will change. But with them, you can picture how risky an event is. What we’re trying to do is get to a place where we can estimate how many infections will happen at that event. | https://medium.com/%40tomaspueyo/coronavirus-prevent-seeding-and-spreading-e84ed405e37d | ['Tomas Pueyo'] | 2020-06-09 22:33:35.364000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Coronavirus', 'Politics', 'Covid 19', 'Economics'] |
Bit Hacks: Find if a Number Is a Power of Two Without Math Function or Log Function | Problem: Given a positive integer, write a code to find if it is a power of two or not.
“A number is a power of two” means that it can be written as 2^x where x is an integer. For example:
8 is a power of two = 2³
a power of two = 2³ 12 is not a power of two since there exists no x such that 2^x = 8
a power of two since there exists no x such that 2^x = 8 32 is a power of two = 2⁵
Image by Matt Artz on Unsplash
The immediate solution: Take the log of the given number on base 2 and if you get an integer then the number is the power of two.
Another solution: Keep dividing the number by 2, in any iteration, if n%2 becomes !=0, and n is not 1 then the number is not a power of 2. If n becomes 1 then it is a power of 2. Example:
8 / 2 = 4 => 4 / 2 = 2 => 2 / 2 = 1
= 4 => 4 = 2 => 2 = 12 / 2 = 6 => 6 / 2 = 3 => 3 / 2 = 1.5
= 6 => 6 = 3 => 3 = 32 / 2 = 16 => 16 / 2 = 8 => 8 / 2 = 4 => 4 / 2 = 2 => 2 / 2 = 1
The above solutions work just fine, but what if we want to achieve a solution using bitwise operators only? There are many possible solutions as well. In this post, we’ll focus on two of them. | https://maroun-bassam.medium.com/bit-hacks-find-if-a-number-is-a-power-of-two-without-math-function-or-log-function-f1739cdc513 | ['Maroun Maroun'] | 2020-11-30 10:18:14.563000+00:00 | ['Bitwise', 'Algorithms', 'Bit'] |
Radiating Forgiveness | Do you think what is happening to you right now, is not fair? Your present life is only a reflection of your past actions, thoughts, words and emotions; so do not call it unfair.
What is unfair is what we did with the Son of God and yet he prayed,
“Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing”-Luke 23:34
So forgive yourself and forgive everyone, as your younger self did not know any better back then; but use your intelligent mind, loving heart and a virtuous spirit to make better choices today to create a phenomenal tomorrow.
Rejoice that the Lords of Karma consider you important enough to give you a chance to rectify your mistakes. They are oh so lovingly teaching you the lessons of life and fast forwarding your soul evolution. We might not be able to recognise it right now, but we are doing absolutely magnificent with God than without him on our path.
Seize every opportunity life presents you with to share the kindness in your heart, soul and mind. Give your best to everyone life puts in your path, regardless of their ability to give anything back and see how angels shower their blessings and God opens doors where there is no way out.
Stop living small and start radiating the unimaginable light of your true being, your pure soul. | https://medium.com/@garg_s/forgiving-3e56a54436f7 | ['Sneha Garg'] | 2019-05-07 07:38:42.846000+00:00 | ['Forgiveness', 'Love Yourself', 'Writing', 'Monday Motivation', 'Love'] |
Ethereum’s accidental hard fork/Apple is storing everything / Arya Stark is a Bitcoiner | Bitcoin moon mission — Source
Ethereum’s accidental hard fork/Apple is storing everything / Arya Stark is a Bitcoiner
UK Treasury to publish draft stablecoin regulations and A series of DeFi Hacks
If you use a Mac, Apple knows every application you run, what time you run it, and where you are when you run it, and the latest update circumvents VPNs so Apple can know your real IP address.
A number of cryptocurrency community members and Ethereum supporters complained about network issues on Wednesday morning. The issue was resolved soon after.
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If you like to write educational articles on crypto/blockchain space and wanna get published on Coinmonks publication. Just mail me at [email protected] or DM me Twitter | https://medium.com/coinmonks/ethereums-accidental-hard-fork-apple-is-storing-everything-arya-stark-is-a-bitcoiner-43e72c623956 | ['Gaurav Agrawal'] | 2020-11-17 14:03:47.871000+00:00 | ['Coinmonks', 'Bitcoin', 'Ethereum', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain'] |
The Most Awesome Paradox Ever (Part I) | Impossible to solve? Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash
After a lot of research and programming, your work is finally done: you built an Artificial Superintelligence. Just like Skynet from the Terminator franchise, your ASI starts to “learn at a geometric rate”. In particular, you notice how good it is at understanding human psychology: it predicts human decisions so accurately, it becomes creepy.
On a sunny Saturday, your ASI decides to play a game with you. It places two boxes (box A and box B) on the table in front of you. Box A is opened and you see a thousand dollars inside. Box B, however, is closed, so you don’t know what’s in it. The ASI gives you a choice: you can either get box B only, or get both box A and box B. Then it tells you the twist: it has made a prediction about the choice you will make. If the ASI predicted you pick box B only, it will contain a million dollars. If on the other hand the ASI predicted you will pick both boxes, box B will contain nothing. You know your ASI to be an extremely good predictor. What will you do?
The dilemma above is called Newcomb’s Paradox, after its creator William Newcomb. As it turns out, there is a so-called dominant strategy, and it is picking both boxes. You see, there is either a million or zero dollars in box B. If box B contains a million dollars, choosing only box B will get you a million dollars, but picking both boxes will give you a million plus a thousand dollars. So in this case, picking both boxes wins. If box B contains zero dollars, picking both boxes will still get you a thousand dollars more than picking only box B, because box A always contains a thousand dollars. Picking both boxes wins again! So, it’s an easy decision, right?
Well, no. You see, while the above analysis is perfectly logical, there is another strategy that seems equally valid: assuming the ASI’s prediction is correct (which it in all probability is), there are only two outcomes to this game: either you choose box B and John predicted you would, or you choose box A and B and, again, John predicted you would. Looking at it like this, you either get a million dollars (by picking only box B) or a thousand dollars (by picking both boxes). Clearly, picking only box B wins in this analysis.
It seems there are two perfectly valid but opposing strategies. Discuss your strategy in the comments! | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/the-most-awesome-paradox-ever-part-i-ad17a3135cb9 | ['Hein De Haan'] | 2018-11-27 15:03:44.094000+00:00 | ['Game Theory', 'Paradox', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Choices'] |
Binance Flash Update | Online activities
ZEN Competition — 10,000 ZEN to Give Away!
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Binance Academy
Are you just as passionate about helping the progress of cryptocurrency and blockchain as we are? If so, join the Binance Education Initiative.
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To start things off, we’re putting out an open call to our users to participate. Create and submit your own educational video from the topics listed below and your video may be displayed on www.binance.com! | https://medium.com/binanceexchange/binance-flash-update-1fafb425d1d4 | [] | 2018-05-28 10:26:48.483000+00:00 | ['Binance', 'Blockchain', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin', 'News'] |
How to Overcome 5 Remote Work Challenges | How to Overcome 5 Remote Work Challenges
Never take your laptop to your bed
Photo by Mimi Thian on Unsplash
Remote work is one of the hottest topics today, it is not only good for lowering huge office costs but also bringing ease to businesses. Thanks to technological improvements, remote work is now commonly used by companies and freelancers. According to FlexJobs remote work increased 400% over the last 10 years.
Working from home will save both employee and employer time. Thanks to remote work, people have more time for themselves instead of spending time going to work and back home. It also provides you with the flexibility that you can choose the place to work, even during travel.
When an employee doesn’t feel good, giving the opportunity to work from home stops the spread of illness. Remote work is the best way to increase the limit so that you can get more customers and top talents worldwide without moving to other countries.
Challenges
Since it has many benefits, there are also some difficulties to overcome.
Distraction
Making your nest a workplace can be a bit confusing. But you should always separate them. You can make a plan that you are not checking Instagram or Twitter within working hours. Or not watching your favorite Turkish serial.
Remember, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
Another solution can be setting up a dedicated workplace. If you have a possibility, you can make a corner workplace where you are doing only what you do in the office.
Miscommunication
Thanks to some tools (below listed), miscommunication is not a very big problem today. Maybe not as often as in the office but you can still have a connection with colleagues. Some messaging tools can provide instant support but the weekly or daily team meetings can be very helpful for workflow and motivation.
Overworking
While working from home it is easy to forget the time, because whatever you do, you are still at home. I usually set the time for the beginning and end of my workday, to track time, so I know when I am actually done. And don’t forget to take breaks.
People around
Unless you are living alone, there is another challenge. Family, housemates, or even pets. You need to make it clear when you are working and when you are not.
Being at home doesn’t mean you are available.
Let others know the timing that you are planning for your daily tasks, and when you are finishing, but never skip the time that you need to spend with your family.
Motivation
It is actually one of the biggest problems of humanity. Not only while working or studying, but even while practicing your hobbies. For me working from the place where I sleep was a bit difficult in the beginning. Like for distraction (the difference is lack of motivation is a long-term challenge), you need to separate work and home first.
During my remote work journey, I found 3 ways that you might want to apply, too: | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/how-to-overcome-5-remote-work-challenges-c6531b637563 | ['Harun Güneş'] | 2020-07-31 18:17:07.704000+00:00 | ['Problem Solving', 'Work', 'Business', 'Motivation', 'Technology'] |
Charleroi VS Genk Diffusion en direct !! 13092019 | En Direect : https://bit.ly/2lGWNtU
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Charleroi VS Genk
Live Stream Football 13 Sep Friday 2019
SPAIN: LaLiga
02:00 PM Mallorca Vs Ath Bilbao
AUSTRIA: 2. Liga
11:30 AM Amstetten VS Vorwarts Steyr
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01:30 PM Charleroi VS Genk
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05:30 PM Huachipato VS Curico Unido
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11:00 AM Balikesirspor VS Umraniyespor | https://medium.com/@diffusionendirectdesport/charleroi-vs-genk-diffusion-en-direct-13092019-live-streaming-94ff016fb99f | ["Diffusion En Direct De Sport Aujourd'Hui"] | 2019-09-10 18:43:16.520000+00:00 | ['Football', 'Live', 'Live Streaming', 'Soccer', 'Streaming'] |
Neomarica Gracilis — Walking Iris | Pic from Harrisons Landscaping Coogee Project
The Walking Iris requires very little maintenance. If you don’t want the plant to spread or “walk” throughout your garden, you just need to pluck the leaves which support the flowers from the plant.
The flowers whilst stunning, typically only last a day or two. Fortunately the Walking Iris is a prolific flower throughout Spring, Summer & Autumn.
The beautiful dark green sword like foliage of the Walking Iris has found a home in many of our gardens. This low-maintenance clumping perennial is a great “filler” in garden beds as it creates contrast between bun shaped plants. It also works fantastic along pathways and makes an excellent border plant.
Walking Iris also look great in pots as the foliage tends to hang over the sides of the pot creating a beautiful cascading effect. For an example of how we use Walking Iris within our gardens, check out this project in Freshwater. | https://medium.com/@joshuapeterharrison/neomarica-gracilis-walking-iris-405c795b0613 | ['Josh Harrison'] | 2020-12-02 00:25:05.830000+00:00 | ['Horticulture', 'Plants', 'Landscaping', 'Gardening'] |
CARMERA and Toyota Demonstrate Further Progress on Urban and Highway Mapping in Japan and the US | CARMERA and Toyota Demonstrate Further Progress on Urban and Highway Mapping in Japan and the US CARMERA Follow Mar 10, 2020 · 4 min read
CARMERA and Toyota Research Institute-Advanced Development leverage low-cost, widely distributed technology to demonstrate accuracy levels required to map the world for automated driving
Lane-level object detection in downtown Detroit—part of CARMERA and TRI-AD’s latest mapping initiative.
News at a glance:
CARMERA and Toyota Research Institute-Advanced Development (TRI-AD) used consumer-grade cameras to map Michigan roadways, including in central Detroit.
Coupled with their prior work together in Tokyo, the collaboration shows that the companies can maintain autonomous-grade maps from commodity, device-agnostic sources — in this case leveraging both production vehicle cameras and aftermarket “dashcams” — at significantly lower cost than traditional methods.
The ongoing partnership helps pave the way for the massive expansion of coverage needed to map the world’s roads in high definition and enable safe autonomy for all.
NEW YORK, NY, March 10, 2020 — Toyota Research Institute-Advanced Development, Inc. (“TRI-AD”) and leading road intelligence company CARMERA Inc. (“CARMERA”) today announced new results from their ongoing partnership. A follow-up to the companies’ successful camera-based mapping work in Tokyo, this latest phase used commercially available dashboard-mounted cameras to detect key road features with the relative accuracy performance necessary for automated driving. Specifically, CARMERA’s machine learning, computer vision and geospatial technologies were used to detect and place key road features — such as lane markings, traffic signals and signs — along Michigan roadways in central Detroit and Ann Arbor.
These results validate TRI-AD and CARMERA’s vision to use street-level cameras from production vehicles, as well as aftermarket telematics systems, to produce comprehensive, accurate mapping data for both horizontal and vertically positioned roadway features. This shared objective stems from both companies’ mission to achieve significant reduction in costs and massive expansion in geographic scope of autonomy, allowing it to scale to more people in more places.
“Our work together demonstrates the power of developing systems that are built to take advantage of the ubiquity — and understand the constraints — of automotive technology widely in use today,” said Ro Gupta, CEO of CARMERA. “It shows that with the right approach, companies like TRI-AD can start building the data necessary for automated driving, without having to rely on expensive or proprietary third-party hardware. TRI-AD is embracing its leadership position here, and we’re proud to help accelerate this pursuit.”
Road feature placement in Ann Arbor, MI from the CARMERA–TRI-AD mapping project.
The initiative between the two companies used the same technology that powers CARMERA’s Real-Time Events and Change Management engine, which detects, validates and delivers navigation-critical updates to CARMERA’s regenerative HD mapping system in minutes rather than months. Hardware-agnostic, yet anchored to “ground truth,” the technology unlocks the potential of lower cost sensors and the vast array of existing vehicle probes to help maintain HD maps everywhere.
“CARMERA’s approach has made them a valued partner for our mission,” said Mandali Khalesi, Vice President of Automated Driving Strategy and Mapping at TRI-AD. “Through the use of production vehicle cameras, we have explored the range of widely available sensor inputs we can draw from, as we look to give automated vehicles around the world a deeper, more accurate understanding of their environments, for a safer driving experience for all.”
The companies look to continue their work, as TRI-AD and CARMERA continue to expand their respective technology, partnership and data platforms.
ABOUT TRI-AD
Toyota Research Institute-Advanced Development, Inc. (TRI-AD), located in Tokyo, Japan, was founded in March 2018 for the purpose of developing innovative products that will enable Toyota’s vision, “Mobility for All.” TRI-AD’s mission is to create new technology and advanced safety systems for the world. TRI-AD also oversees Toyota’s newly announced Woven City, that will serve as an incubator for smart city design, connected mobility, and robotics technology from Toyota and its partners.
For more information about TRI-AD, please visit: www.tri-ad.global.
ABOUT CARMERA
CARMERA is the leading road intelligence company building fully regenerative, production HD maps — via a 100x cheaper and faster approach from crowdsourced, camera-only updates — to deliver safe autonomy for all. Working with top automotive OEMs and mobility-as-a-service companies across North America, EMEA and Asia, CARMERA supports Level 2 (human-first) through Level 4 (machine-first) autonomy utilizing its sensor- and format-agnostic approach, and modular map-creation and map-maintenance offering. With a team hailing from the world’s leading mapping, machine vision and AI institutions, and most recent venture backing led by GV (Google Ventures), CARMERA is headquartered in New York City and Seattle, with satellites in San Francisco, London, Detroit, Seoul and Tokyo. Learn more at carmera.com. | https://medium.com/field-of-view/carmera-and-tri-ad-demonstrate-further-progress-on-urban-and-highway-mapping-in-japan-and-the-us-a1d8a0a93504 | [] | 2020-05-22 18:34:41.626000+00:00 | ['Autonomous Vehicles', 'Autonomous Cars', 'Mapping', 'Self Driving Cars', 'News'] |
Toxic Masculinity: A Global Killer | For most of human history, the answer to this question has been relegated to a simplistic explanation that men are born differently than women, with different traits, one of which is a propensity for violence. In fact, one’s biological sex has little to do with this. Most of what we associate with masculinity or the gender identity of being male, is actually sociologically conditioned, learned from our family, schooling, and other social interactions.
Boys, therefore, are not born violent. Society conditions them that way.
From the moment boys are very young, they are instilled with messaging about what it means to be male. The definition of “being a man” differs across cultural, geographical, and political contexts. However, there is usually a dominant and normative form of masculinity that is upheld by a society as the standard by which all men and young boys are judged from the time they are very young. It encompasses a set of behaviors, actions, values, and practices that men are conditioned to adhere to in order to be seen as proper men in their community.
What this messaging entails and how it is imparted also differs across cultures. However, it often includes notions that men must be tough; they must not show emotion; they must dominate their surroundings, including their spouses, children, and other men; be sexually fertile; and be financially successful. The pursuit of capabilities related to masculinity — being able to secure work and provide for one’s family; the ability to be sexually active, marry, and have children; the ability to enjoy a sense of belonging and respect among one’s peers and community — dictates many men’s actions and the way they live their lives. Men who deviate away from these established norms often face ridicule and social exclusion by their peers and other members of their community.
At its most extreme, defined by practitioners as toxic or hegemonic masculinity, such behavior assumes that men are inherently superior and rightfully entitled to dominate all forms of society by virtue of their manhood. Such beliefs are often mixed in with other harmful traits such as misogyny and homophobia. Failure to fulfill one’s duties as a man renders that person as “female” or “gay.”
Not all men choose to subscribe to these definitions of masculinity. Many do not choose to live their lives according to such norms. However, men who hold more rigid views of manhood, tend to show more aggression, more risk-taking, and less of a willingness to seek emotional and medical support (particularly when it comes to mental health.) They are also more likely to be drawn to violence when they struggle to fulfill their perceived needs and identities as men.
“The Bad Guy With The Gun”
It is hard to know exactly what traits or circumstances will prompt someone to take a gun and shoot up a school, open fire in a drive-by, or blow oneself up in a crowded place. But given the aforementioned definition of toxic masculinity, it is easy to see how someone that has been brought up with such extreme views of what it means to be a man can be drawn to such violent acts.
This is especially true if such men are unable to fulfill their perceived duties as men, and particularly if they face socioeconomic barriers to doing so. One such barrier is a lack of economic opportunity. Men who face poverty or unemployment often see this as an emasculation in the form of an inability to provide for themselves and their families. Those who hold this view are more prone to lash out. Men may also join extremist groups or gangs if they think that being an operative on their front lines offers the financial opportunity their environment does not provide.
A similar barrier men may face that make them more prone to violence is social marginalization. This goes beyond the “loner/social outcast” profile common among many mass murderers. Sociocultural barriers on the basis of one’s race, age, religion, ethnicity, or any other social identity increase the likelihood of men to feel disengaged from the communities in which they live. This can happen even if opportunities to fulfill one’s roles as a man are present, as long as equal access to those opportunities is restricted along the aforementioned lines.
Examples of this include young men from immigrant backgrounds in the West joining gangs or terrorist groups. One would think that these men would be less likely to engage in violent activity given that they live in rich world societies with robust human rights and freedoms. However, the discrimination such men often face means they do not enjoy the same degree of these freedoms as native-born men. It is this very discrimination that makes men more vulnerable to be radicalized.
While social inequality may serve as a force “pushing” men towards violence, violent groups themselves can “pull” such men in as well. The most common way such groups do this is by offering a sense of belonging to a group. It is easy to picture ISIS or MS-13 as simply evil organizations with purely evil members. But for ostracized men vulnerable to radicalization, they can offer a social network that they are lacking. This is especially true if these violent groups offer a sense of belonging along a shared identity.
Gangs and terrorist groups have long exploited this notion. It is no coincidence that major criminal organizations boast names such as La Familia or Cosa Nostra. Similarly, the ultra-traditionalist and anti-Western ideology of Islamic State creates a Muslim identity that men who are ostracized by Western society for being Muslim could find appealing.
Another aspect that may pull men into violence is the search for respect. It has often been argued that fame and notoriety are a prime motive for mass murderers to commit the acts they do. This, however, is the most extreme example of an aspect of society that is more commonplace than we think.
Many societies hold warrior figures — be they soldiers, police officers, secret agents, or even Tony Montana — in high regard. These figures use violence to control their surroundings, even if it is for noble purposes. Joining a violent group can, therefore, be a way to gain an elevated position in society. For example, former fighters from al-Shabaab, a jihadist group in Eastern Africa, cited honor, respect, and attention from women as the biggest draws to joining the group.
Towards A Less Violent Masculinity, And A Less Violent World
This article does not seek to apologize for violent actions of any kind. Any man behind the trigger should be liable and responsible for the acts they commit. Nor does it seek to trivialize the importance of the gun control movement. That common sense gun control will reduce the number of deaths and injuries from guns is counter-intuitive only to the NRA, its most fervent supporters, and the politicians in their pockets. This article instead argues that if we are focusing solely on preventing the bad guy from getting the gun, we are only addressing a part of the issue.
Broader reductions in violent acts can be achieved if we begin to break down the constructs that make men so much more prone to violence. This entails having frank conversations about why society values violence as an acceptable expression of manhood. Messages like “if they hit you, hit them back,” “don’t be soft,” “stop crying,” or “you hit like a girl” may seem innocuous enough. But the underlying message this gives to boys is that they need to commit violent acts to be accepted. The violent acts discussed — mass shootings, gang violence, terrorism — are but the most extreme forms of behavior we as a society have deemed acceptable from generation to generation.
Breaking down these male gender constructs is not an easy task, not least because so few men are willing and/or able to talk about their experiences as men. But it is not impossible. For the better part of a generation, we have been telling girls that they do not need to be stick-thin, clad in pink, and stuck in the kitchen in order to be seen as true women. Is it too far-fetched an idea to tell our boys they do not need to be violent to be seen as true men?
Rantt is a media company, and we sell only one product — the truth. Our context-rich articles focus only on the most important stories of our time because who cares about clicks when democracy is at stake?
Thanks again for everything. We love and appreciate you!
Sincerely,
The Rantt Team | https://medium.com/rantt/toxic-masculinity-a-global-killer-f343587d72f6 | ['Jossif Ezekilov'] | 2018-03-26 15:19:50.268000+00:00 | ['Terrorism', 'Gun Violence', 'Politics', 'Masculinity', 'News'] |
The Future of Healthcare with Charlie Kim, President and CEO of Soom | Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
The genesis of Soom is very personal. In 2012, my youngest daughter was born with a health condition that required a medical device to help her breathe. The following year, the device was recalled due to a manufacturing defect, but we were never informed. Our doctors were never informed. I quickly learned that my family’s situation was not unique — incomplete information in the medical device supply chain makes it difficult to inform caregivers of recalls.
This difficult but fortunately not tragic event proved to be a career-defining moment. I recognized that I had the expertise to solve this supply chain and data problem. Using mobile scan and cloud-based technology, I could connect product data with individual medical devices, giving users across the healthcare value chain complete, accurate product information. And so, Soom was born.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
There are so many stories, but I’m opting to share a funny start-up life fact or fiction story. Our team would regularly watch the HBO series Silicon Valley. It is both comically and horrifyingly accurate in its depiction of start-up life. My favorite episode, which aired when Soom was first incorporating image recognition into one of our apps, is the one where the character Jian-Yang demonstrates his SeeFood app. We watched that scene repeatedly, laughing and feeling somewhat pleased that we were ahead of the show. “Hotdog. Not Hotdog.” is still a running joke on the Soom team.
Can you tell our readers a bit about why you are an authority in the healthcare field?
I have experienced healthcare from many sides — both personally and professionally. That combined with my background in emerging technologies and supply chain management affords me a unique perspective on how to solve critical data issues facing the industry. The fact is, healthcare is at a technological crossroad. On one side, data gaps in the medical device supply chain threaten business performance and the safety of patients. On the other side, technologies like blockchain and barcodes hold the keys to solving some of these pressing issues. My work and the work of Soom occurs at the intersection of this crossroad.
What makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
At Soom, we’re rethinking how technology can advance the quality of safety of healthcare for everyone. The work we’re doing isn’t happening anywhere else. That’s because our proprietary platform and knowledge graph enable us to connect, share and distribute data throughout the global supply chain. This means medical device manufacturers, healthcare providers, patients and caregivers alike have clarity and confidence in the medical devices they use. The Soom team has always believed that what we are doing is unique and innovative. We received confirmation of that when clients started to use our software and saw the immediate value. But recently a Gartner analyst started to follow us as a Cool Company. That proved to us through third-party validation that in an excellence driven market where innovative companies are going to lead, Soom is a completely unique leader.
Can you share with our readers about the innovations that you are bringing to and/or see in the healthcare industry? How do you envision that this might disrupt the status quo? Which “pain point” is this trying to address?
Our solutions tackle some of the biggest challenges facing in healthcare, including interoperability (that is, the exchange of information across databases), inequality and the consumerization of healthcare.
Sweeping medical device regulatory changes are underway in both the United States and European Union. This includes implementation of the FDA’s unique device identification (UDI) system, as well as the upcoming EU medical device regulation (MDR). At their core, these regulations aim to improve medical device safety and effectiveness. But for many manufacturers, compliance can be expensive and time-consuming. Soom’s patented platform makes UDI and electronic instructions for use (eIFU), a requirement of MDR, compliance simple, cost-effective and futureproof.
What’s more, our technology easily enables manufacturers to go beyond the minimum requirements of these regulations. For example, our eIFU solution includes first-to-market capabilities like mobile scanning and single-step language selection; these features bring to life the regulation’s larger goal of improving patient engagement and safety.
We’re also bringing mobile scanning direct to consumers this summer with the launch of our SoomSafety app. SoomSafety sends patients and caregivers push notifications about important safety recalls for the medical devices they use.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why. (Please share a story or example for each.)
Communication is an ongoing and repetitive thing. You must simultaneously reiterate and evolve your messaging to board members, investors and clients. To do that you must learn to truly listen, but also stay true to your mission and core beliefs. Aligning value proposition doesn’t mean telling someone what is Soom’s value. It means understanding their needs and aligning your value proposition with those needs. Again, this goes back to communication and listening. One of the hardest things about starting a company is hiring and parting ways with friends/people you have a personal relationship with. It’s not as easy as saying never do business with friends and family because your rolodex is only so deep. Growth is hard. Scaling beyond the passion and dedication of the core team is one of the greatest challenges. To scale you must grow, but hiring beyond that core inner circle of founders and team members is hard. It’s a hard learning curve for everyone to balance cultivating a culture of true passion for a company and growth. Selection and acceptance of investment money is another important balancing act. It is critical to evaluate and balance between the need for cash versus taking in “smart” cash. Taking on the wrong investors can have a significant cost.
Let’s jump to the main focus of our interview. According to this study cited by Newsweek, the US healthcare system is ranked as the worst among high income nations. This seems shocking. Can you share with us 3–5 reasons why you think the US is ranked so poorly
The U.S. healthcare system is challenged because it is run as both a government and a private business. This creates the opportunity for inequality of coverage, an area where the U.S. rated poorly in the Commonwealth Fund study. As a result, healthcare becomes a privilege. However, while I respect the Commonwealth Fund’s mission, I would argue this study is dated and the metrics evaluated are not necessarily universal to global healthcare.
The U.S. has led many of the greatest breakthroughs in healthcare, such as mapping the human genome. These advancements are what bring people from all over the world here seeking outstanding healthcare and treatment. Yes, our system faces challenges — we are certainly behind in providing quality, accessible care to all. But once a foundation for affordable care is in place, the U.S. has the technology, money and resources needed to make the system work — to deliver better outcomes, equity and efficiency. Being a part of these solutions is what drives me to do the work that I do.
You are a “healthcare insider”. If you had the power to make a change, can you share 5 changes that need to be made to improve the overall US healthcare system? Please share a story or example for each.
The lack of interoperability between siloed systems is one of the biggest challenges in healthcare. It’s unrealistic to believe the solution is moving to single instances of systems within complex global manufacturers and large provider networks where acquisition is critical. There will never be a “single source of truth.” Instead, at Soom, we’re applying technology that has worked in other industries to create a knowledge graph that connects these disparate systems, scores data for accuracy and creates interoperability. Consumers are demanding choice and the power of knowledge in healthcare. This consumerization of healthcare is the wave of change that is needed. When you see nontraditional players enter a market you know that change and innovation is imminent. Amazon and Google are entering the healthcare space. This is not unlike the waves of consumer demand and innovation we’ve experienced in other industries like transportation and automotive assembly. Consumers want control of their medical records and they want to choose their care. Look at the rapid growth of the Apple Health app and HL7. Younger generations are choosing control over privacy. At Soom, we believe in choice, but for those who seek information and control, we want to empower them with technology that unlocks needlessly hard to find information. Healthcare is shifting from general to targeted care — consumers are also driving this change. The industry may be slow to respond, but healthcare does change based on consumer demand. At Soom, we are driven to be an innovative and easy solution for change in an industry that is historically slow to adopt technology or embrace change. The US is leading in a lot of areas of healthcare change and the world is watching and following. Examples of this are targeted care and the FDA’s Unique Device Identification (UDI) laws. These UDI laws are now being mirrored throughout the world and are a critical step to opening information and ultimately improving patient outcomes and saving lives.
Thank you! It’s great to suggest changes, but what specific steps would need to be taken to implement your ideas? What can individuals, corporations, communities and leaders do to help?
Corporations and leaders must embrace the fact that healthcare change isn’t project based. It’s a cultural change. When governments enact change — like the U.S. is doing with UDI laws — it’s not enough for corporations and providers to simply meet the minimum requirements. They must go beyond the requirements and embrace the spirit of these laws, which is often to improve the safety of healthcare. Think about it: What would you want if you were the patient or your loved one was the patient? Healthcare may be a business, but it is personal to each of us. Humanizing this work is what will truly drive change and innovation.
What are your favorite books, podcasts, or resources that inspire you to be a better healthcare leader? Can you explain why you like them?
I’m an avid reader of non-fiction. I subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business and Wired Magazine and I’m a huge believer in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
I always enjoy connecting on LinkedIn. You can find me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlie-kim-1841314.
Thank you so much for these insights! This was so inspiring! | https://medium.com/authority-magazine/the-future-of-healthcare-with-charlie-kim-president-and-ceo-of-soom-372691339a9f | ['Christina D. Warner'] | 2019-05-30 20:43:43.400000+00:00 | ['CEO', 'Leadership', 'Healthcare', 'Founder', 'Startup'] |
Q&A: Armando Guio Español on AI Ethics and Policy | Q&A: Armando Guio Español on AI Ethics and Policy
Armando Guio Español at a Berkman Klein Center event.
Increasingly, the public and private sectors alike are working on guidance and principles for artificial intelligence (AI) development, deployment, and regulation. The Colombian government, for example, recently published a draft AI ethics framework, “Ethical Framework for Artificial Intelligence in Colombia.” AI policy expert Armando Guio Español, an alumnus of Harvard Law School, an affiliate of the Berkman Klein Center (BKC), and consultant for the Development Bank of Latin America — drafted the framework for the Colombian government.
On November 24, Armando participated in an expert roundtable discussion on Colombia’s AI ethical framework and its implications for young people. The BKC Policy Practice on Artificial Intelligence hosted the roundtable in collaboration with the Colombian government. BKC Policy Practice: AI is a public interest-oriented program, led by BKC Executive Director Urs Gasser, that helps governmental, nonprofit, and private sector organizations implement AI best practices and turn AI principles into operational realities.
We spoke with Armando about Colombia’s Ethical Framework for Artificial Intelligence, the recent roundtable discussion focusing on youth, and how working at BKC informed his experience creating the framework. Responses were lightly edited for clarity.
You authored Colombia’s Ethical Framework for Artificial Intelligence, which creates a foundation by which Colombia’s public and private sectors can embrace AI while respecting core values such as protecting human rights and privacy. Could you briefly summarize the main points?
The Ethical Framework for AI describes ten principles for designing, developing, and deploying trustworthy AI systems in Colombia. Some of these principles are transparency, explainability, privacy, human control, social benefit, and the prevalence of children’s and adolescents’ rights, amongst others. Each of these ethical principles is considered from a tri-dimensional perspective: data, algorithms, and practices. When we have discussions about transparency and AI, we have different considerations when we talk about being transparent: on the use of data, on the modeling of an algorithm, or in the practices we undergo to implement this technology. Likewise, the framework also carefully considers the algorithmic chain and how principles will be applied in the design, development, or implementation of this technology. Creating the framework has been quite interesting because it has allowed us to discuss the ethical consequences of implementing this emerging technology in Colombia, pointing out that ethics are not only a matter of designing this innovation.
Additionally, the framework serves as an ethical toolkit. It provides a series of options to operationalize these principles in entities from the public and private sectors. We have proposed different methodologies such as algorithm assessment, algorithm auditing, data cleansing techniques, ethical training in coding courses, legitimacy evaluation for AI projects, and the implementation of Codes of Ethics, amongst others. We present a range of options that all entities can adopt per their convenience and own internal procedures.
Finally, the ethical framework sets a series of recommendations for the Colombian government to develop these ethical principles further. The main proposal was for the government to use this framework as a first draft to mobilize the discussion we must have as a society about using such disruptive technology.
What was the process for creating such a framework? What factored into your thinking?
The ethical framework is part of a bigger effort I have been working towards: implementing Colombia’s AI Strategy. In 2019, for example, I led the design process of Colombia’s AI strategy with Victor Muñoz, the Presidential Advisor for Digital Transformation in Colombia. This opportunity allowed Colombia to create one of the first AI Strategies in Latin-America. We defined a series of guidelines, one of them being an ethical framework. Therefore, having this framework is just one step towards properly implementing this policy that Colombia has adopted.
With the support of the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), I started the task and, I must say, the challenging experience of preparing this first draft. For me, it was essential to look at the existing academic work that supported many of the principles being proposed around the world. I will highlight that the work and literature developed by BKC, especially from the Ethics and Governance of AI Initiative, was essential for this purpose. Additionally, I looked into the evidence that was developed in the last few years about the possible risks arising from the use of this technology. Case studies around the world showed the risks of using AI without proper ethical considerations. The study published by BKC about AI and Human Rights was exceedingly relevant to this point.
Once I was convinced about the importance of having ethical principles, I started thinking about those principles that could become the most relevant for Colombia and our technology ecosystem. I tried to think through this from different perspectives so it could become a national framework. My experience working in different sectors allowed me to consider the interests and needs of other entities. From academia to the private sector and public entities, I wanted these principles to have a horizontal view. I have had, and still have many discussions, but this was a helpful exercise to work on a document that was convincing enough for different stakeholders. I also considered that such an effort required proper research and a quality document that allowed us to have a high-standard discussion. That was one of my main motivations.
You joined the BKC community as a fellow in 2018 and remain active as an affiliate. How did your time at BKC support your work on AI and ethics, and specifically your thinking about AI and youth?
Without a doubt, I would not have been able to work on this project without being part of the BKC community. When I arrived at BKC in 2018, AI was becoming a very relevant issue, but still, in countries such as Colombia, the topic was not seen as a priority. Additionally, there were many myths about this technology and its real potential. My time at BKC allowed me to understand the real features of AI, its characteristics, and how it could impact Colombia and the region. Sharing time with such an exceptional group of individuals through fellows hours, coffee breaks with colleagues from all around the world, Urs’ office and “un-office hours,” were essential for learning, questioning myself, and going beyond my initial thoughts. There were many challenging conversations, and that is only part of the Fellow experience. At the same time, I was able to discuss with many of the authors of some of the papers and research that I was reading at the time, and who were impacting my approach to these topics. That was a great privilege.
I also had the opportunity to work in the Youth and Media office, which was very helpful for the work I was going to develop. Not only were Sandra Cortesi and Alexa Hasse very welcoming, but they also shared with me their research ideas, their perspectives about these topics, and the interesting and innovative things that I could do. I had never considered how important it was to design spaces to discuss with children about AI systems and how to get the most from their approach to this topic. Sandra’s advice also inspired me to explore my creativity, appreciate a multidisciplinary approach, and consider the relevance of design features in the produced documents. I also shared my desk with Youth and Media’s designers, who did an exceptional job and showed me how relevant their work was to prepare an impactful proposal. Rarely have I been as comfortable being challenged and motivated as I was during my time with the Youth and Media team. Sandra always encouraged me to think that many of these ideas were possible in Colombia, and that also motivated me to return to Colombia with this purpose.
BKC’s AI policy practice hosted the recent roundtable discussion about AI and its impacts on youth. What key insights did you gain from that discussion?
The first roundtable we had about the ethical framework was a very interesting discussion. From my perspective, one of the most important points is that experts from all around the world appreciated the effort of including an ethical principle specially dedicated to prioritizing the needs of children and adolescents in the way AI is being developed and implemented in Colombia. I think the Colombian framework will keep this principle and show other countries in the region and the world how important this is.
The discussion also showed me that the impact of AI in the future of education is tremendous. We should be aware of the potential benefits and risks and promote inclusion in AI implementation. AI can accelerate existing disparities and inequalities in this sector and in a country like Colombia, this is something we should definitely avoid.
Finally, there was also a call to consider the need for regulatory measures about AI. I find this interesting because there is no doubt the framework will impact the policy and regulatory proposals we have on this area. At the same time, prioritizing children’s rights and interests will have to be harmonized with existing regulations and international treaties that already developed this same concept.
What advice would you give to someone interested in policy and AI?
I think that someone interested in working in AI policy issues should prepare to be constantly challenged. Not only because concepts are still being developed, but the technology itself is also constantly changing. At the same time, there are high interests at stake that must be considered in every policy analysis. There will be constant pressure for something to be done, and a person working on these areas should be prepared to handle it. I will add that resilience to rapid changes is also a great skill to master if you want to work in this area.
Governments want to show themselves as proactive in this area. When you act as an advisor and say that there is not enough evidence to support a policy or regulatory measure, you will be questioned. Trying to convince decision makers on how important it is to wait, or to develop evidence-based policies, is not an easy task, but it is highly appreciated when this approach provides positive results.
Finally, I think that a multidisciplinary approach is highly desirable. Advising on AI policy requires individuals who can interact with different stakeholders and with technical experts. Presenting yourself as someone with policy expertise but who also understands the technology is helpful. I am a lawyer, and it is interesting to see after a talk or event how some people approach me and consider me a data scientist or computational engineer. I am glad that they see I have this potential and feel confident I understand what they are doing and their motivations.
Are there any resources or additional reading you would recommend to them?
I think that a person interested in these issues should understand the power dynamics involved in this process, the patience that is required to have an impact after a long process of deliberation, and the way policy-making process has been changing in the last decades. Therefore, I recommend them to read these three books: | https://medium.com/berkman-klein-center/q-a-armando-guio-espa%C3%B1ol-on-ai-ethics-and-policy-9aabb756ec13 | ['Berkman Klein Center'] | 2020-12-17 20:47:11.674000+00:00 | ['Policy', 'Colombia', 'AI'] |
MagicOnion — Unified Realtime/API Engine for .NET Core and Unity | Interface that is strongly typed by C#
By using a shared C# interface between a server and a client, both client-to-server and server-to-client method calling is strongly typed. For example, let’s say that the following interface and class will be shared.
By having both the server and the client share these, an error-free communication can be established between them simply by implementing this interface on both sides.
In this way, there is no need to generate code from an intermediate language, and methods can be called over the network just by calling them (even with multiple inputs or primitive-type variables) in a manner that is coherent to C# syntax. Of course, it supports autocompletion.
An actual implementation is outlined below. The server implements an interface defined as IGamingHub.
it is all done asynchronously. (tasks relaying return values are asynchronous.)
values can be returned. (If an exception is caught, it will be relayed to the client as such.)
Grouping by Group makes it possible to send to clients in a group using Broadcast(group).
The client can receive data broadcast from the server by implementing an interface defined as IGamingHubReceiver. Also, IGamingHub itself acts as a network client that is automatically implemented on the server.
The client side can receive data broadcast from the server by implementing an interface defined as IGamingHubReceiver. Also, IGamingHub itself serves as a network client automatically implemented on the server.
As everything is strongly typed as C# variables,
IDF’s refactoring is tracked on changes in a method’s name and its inputs on both the server side and the client side.
incomplete implementation results in a compile error, allowing you to spot them and fix them.
string-free communication improves efficiency. (Method names are automatically converted to ID numbers, so no string is sent.)
primitive-type variables can be sent in a natural manner. (There is no need to wrap them in a designated request class.)
When using Protocol Buffers, you need to manage .proto (IDL: Interface Definition Language), worry about how to generate them, etc., but as long as it is written in C#, none of this occurs.
Zero deserialization mapping
In RPC, especially in real-time communication involving frequent transmission of data, it is often the serialization process where data is converted before being sent that limits the performance. In MagicOnion, serialization is done by my MessagePack for C#, which is the fastest binary serializer for C#, so it cannot be a limiting factor. Also, in addition to performance, it also provides flexibility regarding data in that variables of any type can be sent as long as they can be serialized by MessagePack for C#.
Also, taking advantage of the fact that both the client and the server run on C# and data stored on internal memory are expected to share the same layout, I added an option to do mapping through memory copy without serialization/deserialization in case of a value-type variable.
Nothing needs to be processed here, so it promises the best performance theoretically possible in terms of transmission speed. However, since these struct-type variables need to be copied, I recommend handling everything as ref as a rule when you need to define a large struct-type, or it might slow down the process.
I believe that this can be easily and effectively applied to sending a large number of Transforms, such as an array of Vector3 variables.
Why gRPC’s Bidirectional Streaming is not enough
gRPC comes standard with Bidirectional Streaming, which implements bidirectional communication. In fact, the streaming RPC of MagicOnion is constructed upon Bidirectional Streaming.
// Bidirectional Streaming definition by proto
rpc BidiHello(stream HelloRequest) returns (stream HelloResponse);
However, it is difficult to use Bidirectional Streaming as an RPC for real-time communication for many reasons. The biggest reason is that, since it is not an RPC at this point, after a connection is established, the Request/Response defined using oneof (one type containing multiple types) must be manually branched to the method that needs to be called. That may be feasible, but there are still many hurdles. For example,
the client cannot wait for the server to complete operation (Once the request is sent, the next line of code is executed.)
not being able to wait for the response means that the client cannot receive return values or exceptions.
there are currently no way to bundle multiple connections.
Even if you construct a system to handle these issues, you can never escape from the template of Bidirectional Streaming that is generated by proto, so it messes up the code. While MagicOnion’s StreamingHub uses Bidirectional Streaming to establish a connection, it communicates using a unique lightweight protocol within this communication frame, realizing an RPC for real-time communication that feels natural to C# developers.
Why I choose distributed model and gRPC
In contrary to other real-time communication engines for Unity, MagicOnion itself does not have its own load balancer. There are several strategies to realize distributed processing, and I recommend using cloud platforms or other pieces of middleware. For example, when hosting on internal memory completely independently, one way is to have an external Service Discovery/Matching Service decide which server to use.
Another is that completely distributing the load using a TCP load balancer while delegating the process of broadcasting by Group to Redis makes it possible send data to clients connected to different servers. This function comes standard with MagicOnion as MagicOnion.Redis. This is suited to implementing chat functionality, notification, etc.
Also, much like gRPC itself, MagicOnion is suited to implementing what are called Microservices, so you can build a server-to-server connection and construct a server-to-server-RPC structure.
Now, MagicOnion is built on gRPC, but it completely ignores the need for providing language-independent RPC using .proto, which is its most notable characteristic. Moreover, the fact that network communication is limited to HTTP/2(TCP) does not necessarily make it ideal for creating games. However, there are good reasons why I chose gRPC.
One reason is the maturity of the library. There are no libraries available for communication that support server/client implementation including Unity, and the core part (gRPC C, which is shared across all languages) is used by almost all developers including by Google, which means it is highly stable. It may be possible to implement an original communication library composed of parts that are specific to communication in games, but ensuring stability from the ground up is not an easy task. Do not reinvent the wheel, right?
However, I am not satisfied with C# binding in gRPC in terms of performance. That is why I think it may be a good idea to keep using gRPC C Core while completely replacing C# binding. At least, if it is limited to the Unity side (client communication), I believe it is both feasible and effective.
Another reason is the ecosystem. gRPC has established itself as the de facto standard as a modern RPC, so it is supported by many servers and middleware. HTTP/2 and gRPC being industry-standard protocols, there are many advantages of using them, such as using them with Nginx or request-based load balancing by Envoy. Also, there are many blogs and slideshows providing information on gRPC, which makes it easier for developers to build a better system.
MagicOnion has an original application layer built into it, but its infrastructure is gRPC, so any piece of middleware or any shared knowledge can almost always be applied directly.
I believe that a modern server should have a cloud-ready architecture, and that a system that fully utilizes infrastructure and middleware supplied by a cloud provider has a better chance of performing well than a system that attempts do everything by itself. Therefore, the framework that deals with the infrastructure should be lightweight, composed of essential functions only.
Supporting API communication
The goal of MagicOnion is to be a Unified Network Engine. What I mean by “Unified” here is not that both the server and the client use C#, but that real-time communication system and API communication system are unified. The API communication system shares the same interface, and is designed to generate client code automatically if a method is defined using C# syntax.
Also with API communication, everything about the framework is thoroughly made asynchronous and non-blocking. What makes this look almost natural is the async/await function provided by the C# language itself. It also comes with a filtering function that hooks the execution before and after a request is made, which also contributes to the natural asynchronous processing.
The filter can also be used with StreamingHub in the same manner.
Swagger
It is hard to check if APIs are working properly, and it is not easy to debug from Unity all the time, and gRPC cannot be debugged using a tool like Postman. Therefore, I designed MagicOnion so that it automatically generates API documents that can be executed by Swagger. As MagicOnion acts as a hosting HTTP/1 server, there is no need to set up an external proxy server, and all you need to do is to add several lines of code to the part that handles launching.
This is all you need to do to be able to check if the APIs are working properly, and just by defining debug commands as APIs, they show up on Swagger, so it may be possible to easily prepare commands that operate database for debugging.
StreamingHub does not support it at the moment, but I am planning to make a WebSocketGateway that connects WebSocket and MagicOnion.
Deployment and hosting
In the past, the biggest issue on the C# server side is how to deploy and how to host. It was, after all, running on a Windows Server. The fact that gRPC is not IIS-based made things even more difficult. However, now it is easy. If you make a container using Docker, there is nothing special about doing things using C#. There is nothing complicated about turning a MagicOnion application generated by .NET Core into a container. In fact, it is quite easy (as it is just a .NET Core console application). Once it is done, all you need to do is to deploy it inside a Linux container. It does not matter where, whether it be ECS, Fargate, GKE, or AKS. There are many online articles on this and you can apply their practice directly.
Making a container when it comes to C# today is not really for constructing a local environment. It is for easily carrying things into development/deployment environments and allowing people who are not particularly familiar with C#/Windows to build on rich knowledge on infrastructure without learning anything special. That, I think, is the largest advantage.
Conclusion
You can start using MagicOnion just for real-time communication, and you can also use it for API communication, which will perform really well. As it supports fast transmission of data and data serialization designed with compression in mind, it will make all your communication-related worries go away. Also, as async/await is utilized in Unity, it may serve as a gateway to incorporating the latest C#.
As a real-time communication framework, it only provides Client-Server RPC. However, that is the only thing you need and you can build all other functions yourselves. (It depends, but generally speaking, it will not require much work.) Free of all unnecessary functions, I believe that it ensures the best coding experience when it comes to RPC. (I wish I could say the best performance as well, but there are a few things that can be improved in the way it handles gRPC C# binding, so I hope I will be able to say that when I release the next version.)
Also, as it is an independent closed system, you can for example use it to exhibit VR/AR content just by keeping the server running within the same LAN network even if the LAN network has limitations……!
I hope you will give it a try.
I hope to be able to keep writing about MagicOnion as well as how things are going with UniRx, UniRx.Async, MessagePack for C#, etc., on this blog. | https://neuecc.medium.com/magiconion-unified-realtime-api-engine-for-net-core-and-unity-21e02a57a3ff | ['Yoshifumi Kawai'] | 2019-02-28 05:39:12.169000+00:00 | ['Unity3d', 'Csharp', 'Programming'] |
The best design process is to not follow a design process | The best design process is to not follow a design process
Double diamond design process (Source- Pinterest)
We have all been fans of evergreen double diamond and humble iteration loops of design thinking. These are undoubtedly great frameworks to follow but they’re often too broad to lead us towards the right solution. There are a plethora of books and articles telling us about different design processes. It is overwhelming to pick a particular process for our design project. It begins with a lot of enthusiasm but there comes a point when the process just won’t align with your work. We reach a point that is not mentioned in any book or article we’ve come across. The process that looked immaculate and streamlined in the beginning has come to a complex stage where it’s all messy. If this is relatable then please continue reading why following a single design process is never enough. It is because-
Every project is unique
The intent of every design project varies depending on multiple factors. There is a different scope for each project. The result may turn out to be similar but each project is still unique in its way. A design project is conceived with a goal in mind. This goal can simply be to just explore different possibilities. This goal and the whole journey to reach the destination is unique for every project. Try to break down a design project into multiple pieces and see how these pieces of one project differ from the pieces of another. Let us simplify it in further detail.
Every project has different constraints
Different projects have different limitations for designers to work with. The constraints can be of any type. Sometimes research is a constraint, sometimes it’s the budget. The others can be data privacy, internal organizational structure, legal and policy constraints, etc. Now when there can be so many different types of obstacles a designer can come across, how can a single design process be implemented to achieve the best results. The standard design processes are there to guide us through the projects but they would not be enough to overcome all the unique challenges that come with different projects.
Every stage of a project is different
A design project has multiple stages. These stages look different for different projects. For instance, problem identification in one project may be very easy while the other project may take way too long to find the right problem. The same goes for user research, ideation, prototyping, etc. Each of these stages will act differently for different projects. Having a single process every time may not be sufficient to manage different components of the project.
Every stakeholder has a different understanding of design
The non-design aspects of a design project come with their challenges. Another variable for design projects is the stakeholders involved in the work. The stakeholders play an important role in driving the project and designers need to establish a shared understanding among all the stakeholders. This may vary depending on the involvement and position of stakeholders, the time they can invest, their knowledge on the project, etc. The standard design process rarely helps us in managing such situations in the project.
Every project has different timelines
The timelines are a big deal in most design projects. Each one has a different scope of work concerning the available time at hand. In some projects, the research can take its own sweet time while in others it has to be super quick and agile. In some cases, there is less time to iterate and the only option is to improve after the launch. Time indeed is a luxury in most of the projects and it has to be planned smartly with the process. The variations in timelines force designers to adopt different processes for the project.
Every project has different resources
Yet another variable in the design projects is the availability of resources. The project runs on various resources like tools, tech, and most important of all, people. The design process depends largely on the available resources as designers cannot proceed without them. The designers may try to be extra resourceful and take the project ahead in unique ways. While the standard processes may look smooth on the whiteboards, the resources at hand show otherwise.
Every mistake is unique
Any design process is incomplete without failure. The key is to fail early and iterate fast. There are many mistakes that designers make and every mistake leads to a different learning curve. A standard design process leaves less room for error and new lessons. I believe we learn the best from our mistakes and our process should be flexible enough to try new ways without the fear of going wrong. Every mistake is unique and we should embrace it with a determination to not repeat the same.
The bottom line is that a single process is not enough to guide us through the design projects. The frameworks look enticing at first glance but there is more to a project than expected. One of the great way to make best use of these frameworks is to mix and match according to the context of the project. It is completely fine to deviate from one and adopt another method in the interest of the project. The scope of work should guide the process, not the other way around. Design processes and frameworks are great for reference, but the actual implementation of these may look different. A great project is the one optimizing different frameworks, and leveraging the best resources and processes at hand. | https://bootcamp.uxdesign.cc/the-best-design-process-is-to-not-follow-a-design-process-3e303ec850b7 | ['Saksham Panda'] | 2020-12-24 05:15:56.280000+00:00 | ['Design Thinking', 'Design Process', 'Design', 'Design Methods', 'Double Diamond'] |
Javascript Notifications and Push API | As someone who started his career as a mobile developer, one of the first and most important things I had to do, was handling push notifications — on the web, however, push notifications are much less common and the documentation can be confusing, so in this article I’m going to explain how to send a push notification on the web using the push API.
An image of notifications on a mobile phone
What are push notifications anyway? and what can we do with them?
Let's start by separating the name into the two words that compose it:
Notification — In this context, refers to native system messages that pop up on the screen outside the browser.
Push — The notifications can be created by pushing data to the browser, similar to what we can achieve using WebSockets, but those notifications can be pushed by the browser’s background processes, without the website or even the browser being open at the time. Well, we can do more things with push notifications, there is something that is being referred to as silent notifications/data messages, it mostly works in mobile — WhatsApp, for instance, uses them to collect your messages, those messages are saved locally to the device, that way all the messages are accessible with no web connection, and they don’t even have to be kept by WhatsApp servers, so it’s a huge plus for privacy, it’s less useful on the web, but we will see how to send data to the local storage without showing a notification.
So, what can we do with push notifications? why should we care?
Regular browser interactions depend on the user interacting with our service, but push notifications are our service interacting with the user, without him needing to be in our web app at the time — a good example is Facebook, I get notifications by facebook whenever I get comments on my posts and similar events, but for each web app there are different uses for notifications, if any.
Our first notification
Creating a notification is pretty simple, we just need permission, and to create a notification using window.Notification() constructor, but that’s not very useful since the webpage must be open, and in that case, we can just create a regular notification with HTML5.
Push notifications!
First of all here is the git repository, you can simply clone it and run:
npm install
npm start
We are going to use inexedDB to store information from push notifications on silent mode, you can learn more about indexedDB here though there are a lot of comments and it should be simple to understand, you are also expected to know express, though we will use very simple features from it.
We will also work with service workers, so we need to have HTTPS on our localhost (otherwise the browser will not allow us to access them), the simplest and quickest way to achieve this is to use ngrok it’s a free open source solution to create a proxy from their servers to our local host, we can use it like this:
npm install -g ngrok
ngrok http <PORT_NUMBER>
Session Status online
Session Expires 7 hours, 59 minutes
Version 2.2.8
Region United States (us)
Web Interface
Forwarding
Forwarding # we will get the following result for port 3000 #Session Status onlineSession Expires 7 hours, 59 minutesVersion 2.2.8Region United States (us)Web Interface http://127.0.0.1:4040 Forwarding http://ef169615.ngrok.io -> localhost:3000Forwarding https://ef169615.ngrok.io -> localhost:3000
What we want is the second "Forwarding", the one with the https, this will redirect from this URL "http://ef169615.ngrok.io" to localhost on port 3000.
I will only show here snippets from the code, so you should follow with the Github repository. Let’s start by looking at the project structure:
-package.json: we will only use express, body-parser, and web-push.
-server.js: this is our server, it will serve the files from the public directory and manage the notifications API.
-Public/
— index.html
— indexed-db.js: a script to update the UI with data from the indexedDB.
— register-push.js: a script to register our service worker
— service-worker.js: the service worker will be the one listening to the push notifications.
— lazy-engineering-logo.png: just a default icon for the notifications 😅.
server.js:
The first function we will look at is the one where we generate the keys, those keys will be used like so:
publicKey: will be sent to the client to create a push context by the browser.
privateKey: will be used when we send the notification the browser push service, the service is different in chrome, or firefox, or opera, etc…
We should store the keys to keep identifying the client, so if none exist, we generate new keys using webPush and store them in a config file, just make sure you don’t lose those or the push servers will lose the clients.
function getVAPIDKeys() {
// check if we saved the config already
if(fs.existsSync(localConfigFile)) {
return JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(localConfigFile, ‘utf8’));
} // we will create new config by generating new keys
const generatedKeys = webPush.generateVAPIDKeys();
fs.writeFileSync(localConfigFile, JSON.stringify(generatedKeys));
console.log(`new VAPID keys were generated and saved to ${localConfigFile}`);
return generatedKeys;
}
We use initiate webPush with the keys, serve the public key through ‘/api/vapid-public-key’ so the client will have access to it.
And for the ‘/api/send-notification’ route we simply need to call:
webPush.sendNotification(subscription, JSON.stringify(payload), options)
We can send whatever we want in the payload, but it should be a string, so if we want to send to the client different icons, title, body text and options, we should stringify the request and parse it on the client.
And that’s mostly it for the server, the rest is simple express code.
register-push.js
We need to create a service-worker, register it through the browser’s push manager. When we subscribe we have to use “userVisibleOnly” as true, otherwise, chrome will throw an error (but we don’t really have to show a notification 🙆♀️).
// we register the service worker script
navigator.serviceWorker.register(“service-worker.js”);
const registration = await navigator.serviceWorker.ready;
let subscription = await registration.pushManager.getSubscription(); // we will create a new subscripion if one doesn’t exist, or it has expired
if (!subscription) {
// we need the public key from the server
const response = await fetch(`/api/vapid-public-key`);
const vapidPublicKey = await response.text();
subscription = await registration.pushManager.subscribe({
userVisibleOnly: true,
applicationServerKey: urlBase64ToUint8Array(vapidPublicKey)
});
}
The next part is sending the notification, it’s a simple fetch request, the request would look something like this for chrome, but it’s different for each browser, the payload can be whatever we want, with restrictions about the size, the delay is an option to send to our server for experimentation, and the ttl will be sent to the push server (in this case fcm.googleapis.com) to tell them how long we want them to hold onto the message in seconds, the default is 4 weeks, and that’s this magic number, in seconds.
After the service-worker will be registered, we need to save the “subscription” parameter in a database, then we can make push requests whenever we need.
service-worker.js
That’s the actually interesting part in our little app, it will parse the payload, and according to the ”silent” parameter we are sending, we will decide if to show a notification or simply store the notification locally, since we have no window in service worker, we cannot store it in local storage, that’s why we are going to store it in indexedDB.
The “event.waitUntil” will tell the browser to give us time until our promise is resolved, so the process will not exit before we are done.
self.addEventListener(“push”, event => {
console.log(“We got a push notification”);
const payload = event.data ? event.data.text() : ‘{}’;
const {
title = “no title”,
body = “no body”,
icon = “/lazy-engineering-logo.png”,
silent = false
} = JSON.parse(payload); if (silent) {
// will wait until the promise is resolved
return event.waitUntil(
openIndexDB(self.indexedDB)
.then((db) => addPush(db, `${title} — ${body}`))
.then(() => console.log(‘inserted to indexedDB’))
)
} // will wait until the promise is resolved
event.waitUntil(
self.registration.showNotification(title, {
body,
icon,
// we can also add vibrations for mobile devices
vibrate: [200, 100, 200, 100, 200, 100, 200]
})
);
});
About vibration, it is an array of numbers, that define milliseconds, it is read like this: for [100, 200, 300], we vibrate 100ms, rest 200ms, and vibrate 300ms again.
There are much more options for the notification constructor, such as actions, and requires interaction, there are a lot of ways to make interaction with notifications!
The last file we are not going to go through here, is indexed-db.js, but it is simple, it just creates an interval, reads from the indexDB, and display it.
Summary
The web notification standards are still evolving, and so does the push standards, we can use the notifications API for a lot of nice interactions on the web, and for better support of offline first web apps! | https://medium.com/codesight/javascript-notifications-and-push-api-c50909f86a5b | ['Liron Navon'] | 2019-01-24 22:57:07.009000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'Web Api Development', 'Web Development', 'Notifications'] |
Design Trends 2020: Visual Design | The year is coming to an end…
2020 was probably the most challenging year most of us have ever lived. The pandemic changed our everyday lives and brought a whole new vision to the world.
Although the year was marked by chaos, we could observe some incredible design trends growing. Once again, we’ve seen how design plays a huge role in the modern world, responding to changes.
So… it’s time for a retrospective! In this series of articles, we’ll go through the most important Design Trends of the year, talking about digital and graphic design.
In this first part, we’ll explore the Visual Design styles that stood out the most. Let’s go? | https://medium.com/@gabriellegalli/design-trends-2020-visual-design-9531da8c0f4a | ['Gabrielle Barcos Galli'] | 2021-01-07 19:53:17.941000+00:00 | ['Visual Design', 'Trends', 'Design Trends', 'Graphic Design', 'UI'] |
Steve Jobs drove a car without a licence plate | Image by Pexels on Pixabay
Steve Jobs drove a car without a licence plate and got away with it.
The founder of Apple drove a silver SL55 AMG Mercedes around California, without being registered, but wasn’t breaking the law. It turns out that he found a loophole in licensing laws. The state gave car owners six months to register their vehicles. Jobs had an arrangement with his car lease company. He exchanged the vehicle with an identical one before the lease expired, so was always within the legal requirements. Pure genius.
The laws have now been changed so if you live in California don’t try this. You’d be breaking the law! | https://medium.com/vital-world-online/steve-jobs-drove-a-car-without-a-licence-plate-and-got-away-with-it-c789966d9ca7 | ['Rejoice Denhere'] | 2020-12-29 09:54:29.627000+00:00 | ['California', 'Life', 'Mercedes Benz', 'Steve Jobs', 'Unusual'] |
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