BTRIPS

btrips

Startups Of The Year 2023: Asia Winners

STRIPS is the next generation decentralized interest rate exchange. The goal of this hackathon is to find economic and technical vulnerabilities of our STRIPS contracts. STRIPS Hackathon Details $40,000 USDC award pot Review the GitHub repository for the hackathon here Submit findings using issues using this form Please read our guidelines below for more details Starts: 1 December 12:00 UTC Ends: 12 December 12:00 UTC Join our developer-only to ask any question Telegram How to start Read our official medium . announcement For any questions, follow the closed telegram group, where our developers will answer. If you happen to have any questions, we are available 24/7 to help: Email: info@strips.finance Discord: https://discord.com/invite/XUhQMDmcyE TG: https://t.me/+jaXzia9QznFjNGE9 About STRIPS STRIPS allows traders to trade interest rates in DeFi easily. Traders on STRIPS can long or short interest rates across a variety of interest rate protocols using a virtual automated market maker (vAMM) model for liquidity. Whitepaper In finance, interest rate swaps account for of daily traded volume, representing over of the world’s total derivatives volume. Interest rates touch on nearly every financial product in traditional markets. $400 trillion 80% Still, unlike traditional finance, the tools to wield them in decentralized finance (DeFi) have yet to be developed or meaningfully deployed in the market. STRIPS aims to solve this by allowing traders to easily trade interest rates using a derivative instrument called an interest rate swap. Interest rate swaps pay the difference between a floating rate and a fixed rate and allow traders to express directional views on interest rates in a flexible, capital-efficient way. Interest rate swaps are a tool for traders to express directional views in both bull and bear markets. STRIPS will be looking to launch on Arbitrum. Submission Criteria ⚠️ Submit your hackathon findings to this . form Rewards Rewards will be given out pro-rata according to a points formula: Critical severity (6-10 score) pot size = $25,000 
Medium severity (3-5 score) pot size = $10,000 
Low severity (1-2 score) pot size = $5,000  

Points = Severity score * (0.8^Report Counts) / Report Counts 
Reward = Pot size * Points / Total Points Criteria If you can find anything similarly severe which is not mentioned in examples: your severity score will be 10 out of 10 If you can achieve anything mentioned in the hacking examples below: you will get a severity score of 8 out of 10 If you can find technical issues such as overflow and underflow: your severity score is likely to be 5 out of 10 If you can find minor issues such as missing modifiers: your severity score is likely to be 2 out of 10 Strips will remain the authority to assign the severity score and categorize similar findings into the same report counts. We promise to take 100% seriousness when we review your reports. Important ➡️ Turn in your reports before the contest end time (12 December 12:00 UTC) in this . form ANY REPORTS AFTER THIS TIME WILL NOT BE COUNTED. ➡️ Be sure to fill in your handle and ETH address to receive your share. ➡️ Publicly disclosing any discovered bugs or vulnerabilities is grounds for disqualification. STRIPS is currently hiring for several roles. Interested applicants can email their resume and cover letters to jobs@strips.finance. To learn more please visit the project’s website at or follow the project on https://strips.finance/ | | Twitter Telegram Discord

$40,000 STRIPS Hackathon: Participate NOW!

Making sure that you protect your PC from a power surge is very important, since these issues can appear randomly. There’s no denying that a random issue like this can have a significant impact on how your device works. In fact, without a power strip for , you can end up with shock surges that can end up damaging your computer beyond repair. That’s why we recommend investing in the best power strips for gaming if possible. gaming These are reliable and efficient and they get the job done, with results being second to none. Here’s a list of some of the best and most reliable power strips you can use for gaming PCs and consoles. The Best Gaming Power Strips APC Surge Protector RGB Power Strip Tower JACKYLED Power Strip Surge Protector AmazonCommercial Heavy Duty Metal Surge Protector Belkin Power Strip Surge Protector 1. APC Surge Protector with USB Ports, P11U2, 2880 Joule, 8' Cord, Flat Plug,11 Outlet Power Strip Black There are many things to like about the APC Surge Protector with USB Ports, and the main one is that it has a lot of space. The fact you get 11 outlets makes it really good for pretty much any task you want, and the results as a whole can be among some of the best. The unit comes with a manual which is great, and the overall quality is very good. The surge protection system added here is one of the better options on the market, and you will find yourself impressed with the value for money and very good quality. You don’t have to worry about your gadgets and items, in general, getting severely damaged by an electric surge, which is really good. This is not a UPS, it’s a surge protector, so if the electric current stops, your devices stop charging or working. However, they will not be damaged by the running current in any way. This particular product has a high surge energy rating and it comes with 2 USB charging ports as well. They also have a 6-foot power cord too, which should be more than ok for most users here. Price: $29.59 USD Check it out on Amazon. 2. RGB Power Strip Tower with USB C PD 20W, Waterproof Surge Protector with 12 Outlets and 3 USB Ports, 2000J 1875W 6ft Extension Cord, Charging Station for Gaming Party Home Office This is more of a gaming product because it has an RGB system, and it also comes with a huge range of ports and outlets. In fact, you get 12 outlets placed in the form of a tower, and you also get a set of 3 USB ports at the bottom. They also added a USB type C connector too, which you will find extremely helpful especially if you have some of the newer gadgets. That’s the great thing about this product, it looks amazing but it’s also versatile and easy to use. The RGB system is great, you have 10 light modes and that really adds to the effect. This particular product is the first waterproof outlet tower. It certainly helps more than you might imagine, it’s efficient and a lot of people will find it extremely useful and convenient, which is indeed something you want to consider as much as you can. The design is unique and that does make things easier for you as well. The surge protection is very good and it does stop the product from working on the spot. The AC outlets give a 1875W/12A power. Price: $56.99 USD Check it out on Amazon. 3. Power Strip Surge Protector 10 AC 4 USB Ports with 45° Flat Plug, JACKYLED 1625W/13A Wall Mountable Power Outlet Strip Extension Cord, 6 Ft Heavy Duty Plug Strip for Computer Smartphone Tablet, Black When you buy the Power Strip Surge Protector, you will be quite impressed not only with its ease of use, but also the lower price as well. The 10-foot-long extension power strip is versatile, it will get the job done and it’s really good to use. The wide-spaced outlet strip is really good and powerful, and you will certainly enjoy the way everything works. It’s nice to see that it has 4 USB ports and 10 other ports too. It’s pretty much a pleasure to use for anyone that has a gaming PC or console, and super-efficient for what it is. We also like the fact that they deliver a fast charging speed of up to 2.4A, something that really helps define the experience in a creative and engaging manner. Things like these really pay off and you will be extremely happy with the way everything works. Price: $23.99 USD ** Check it out on Amazon. 4. AmazonCommercial Heavy Duty Metal Surge Protector Power Strip, 1 PACK, Yellow This product won’t win any awards when it comes to its design, but it really does its job super nicely and that alone shows the value that it brings to the table. The 7 grounded AC outlets are actually very good, and you do have a grounded LED which shows whether the outlet in question works or not. The innovative system ensures that everything is working as expected and if there are indeed any issues, you will have the problem solved. It works great for most devices, so you will be quite happy with the process. In addition, they do have EMI and RFI noise filtration that goes up to 40 DB. They also come with a wall-mountable design and a keyhole back, as well as a 6-foot-long power cord and an interesting cord management system. That’s why it can be a very good idea to give it a try for yourself, and the benefits are indeed second to none. Price: $16.62 USD ** Check it out on Amazon. 5. Belkin Power Strip Surge Protector - 12 AC Multiple Outlets & 8 ft Long Flat Plug Heavy Duty Extension Cord for Home, Office, Travel, Computer Desktop, Laptop & Phone Charging Brick (3,940 Joules) Belkin is a very reputable brand and the company is known for the fact that it brings in front state-of-the-art products. This particular Belkin Power Strip Surge Protector is really nice, it looks amazing and it will give you a very good experience every time. You will particularly appreciate the ease of use and quality, but also the fact that it really pushes the boundaries and conveys very good attention to detail. The fact that it has one of the best energy ratings shows that it can be used by pretty much any device and it still conveys a very good quality for the money. Another reason why the Belkin Power Strip Surge Protector stands out is the fact that it saves space, it’s heavy-duty and compact too. You can feel free to use it with a console if you want as well. They also added a safety slide lock for each one of the outlets so you can easily close the unused sockets. Price: $24.99 USD Check it out on Belkin. Conclusion We recommend giving one of these power strips for PCs and consoles a try today if you want something which is versatile, professional, and adaptable to your needs. There are always challenges that arise, and if you prepare beforehand you will be more than ok. This is why these products help a lot, since you get more versatility, and also a way to protect your device. It really is the best of both worlds, and in the end, you will appreciate the great protection and results!

5 Best Power Strips for Gaming in 2022

Newly-available data, visualized! The San Francisco County Transportation Authority just released some of and Lyft usage in the City by the Bay. Combined, the two rideshare services logged more than 200,000 daily rides (!!) on typical Fridays in the fall of 2016 — and that’s just counting trips entirely within the city limits. unprecedented data summaries Uber I was working with the Transportation Authority on some other data visualization tasks when they asked if the platform we were building could also be used to help explore this new dataset. This is what we came up with. The “TNCs Today” data explorer In the public sector, rideshare services are called Transportation Network Companies, or “TNCs”. The official report and the data itself are … on the SFCTA website . Or click here to go directly to the SFCTA “TNCs Today” Data Explorer There is a lot to see: You can select views by day of week, and you can explore either all-day totals or focus on trips during a specific hour. Clicking on any block on the map will pop up a daily graph of pickups and dropoffs for that area. You can then switch to different days of the week to see how Mondays differ from Fridays, for example. Try out the 2D and 3D views: 3D really shows the striking patterns of TNC activity in the city across different days of the week, while the 2D view makes it a bit easier to click and explore individual locations. Fridays have the most daily trips on average. You can easily see the commute “humps” during the AM and PM rush hours — when traffic is already at its worst. You can also see a lot of evening and late-night trips, which aren’t as prevalent mid-week. The data is an estimate of pickups and dropoffs by TNC drivers. The researchers analyzed the lat/long coordinate and timestamp of each when they announce, or This isn’t exactly the same as passenger origins and destinations, but in terms of TNC impacts on roadway traffic and congestion, it’s probably sufficient to know when and where the driver’s vehicle has started and ended moving. And as a cyclist, I don’t much care whether the car blocking the Valencia Street bike lane is picking up or dropping off passengers: same difference. driver “I’ve accepted a trip” “I’m now available.” Caveats: the dataset represents the average of several weeks of data collection during fall 2016, summarized into one-hour buckets by day of week. Only trips with both ends inside the San Francisco city limits are captured; thus this is likely a of the total vehicle trips by Uber and Lyft in the city. low estimate Notable nuggets in the data Sundays and Mondays have the lowest number of TNC trips, with progressively more trips on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and the most trips on Fridays and Saturdays Trips in Ubers and Lyfts go up and up as the week progresses. Weekdays have a predictable commute pattern with two peaks in the AM and PM rush. Fridays and Saturdays have much more evening travel than other days do, extending very late into the nighttime Uber and Lyft trips are far more frequent in the northeast quadrant of the city, basically north of Cesar Chavez and east of Divisadero, on all days and at all times of day Notable tourist attractions such as Fisherman’s Wharf, the Golden Gate Bridge, and GG Park museums are easily visible, and have very different time-of-day distributions than downtown Weekend hotspots show up on Friday and Saturday nights: the Castro, Mission/Valencia, North Beach, the ballpark, and many others Lots of late-night trips to and from the Castro on Friday nights. 🍸🍸 There are some weird things, too. Some areas have crazy spikes at just one particular time of day, while others seem to have a lot of TNC trips even though there is nothing paticularly unique about those locations. Maybe one of you can come up with some explanations for these hotspots; or perhaps they are just noise in the dataset. What does it all mean? Well, the SF Transportation Authority is quick to point out: no policy judgments about this data are being made at this time. The data is now simply “out there”. Leveraging open source in the public sector We had already settled on a fully open-source stack of technologies as a base for the agency’s upcoming data visualization efforts. These were more than just “free tools” — the combination of these components resulted in something far more flexible, and just as powerful, as any off-the-shelf product I could have envisioned. The database is with . For this project, only block-level summaries (called ) were provided, so we weren’t dealing with any sort of “Big Data” here. Any database would have sufficed for storage, but the PostGIS extension allows us to do cool stuff like geocoding, spatial buffers, paths, and offsets. PostGIS is awesome. Back end. PostgreSQL PostGIS spatial extensions “traffic analysis zones” The front-end needed to talk to the database somehow; for this we chose for its dead-simple RESTful API and easy configuration. PostgREST sits behind the agency’s reverse-proxy, which provides security and flexibility for assigning URL endpoints. PostgREST NGINX We leveraged as many pre-built libraries as possible to get this thing up and running quickly. Furthermore, San Francisco wanted a modern web tool that would be easy for staff to maintain, so I couldn’t pick any esoteric niche products. After experimenting with some alternatives we settled on: Front end. for serving the static site. All the code was on GitHub already, so it just made sense to keep using them for hosting. A static site means no servers to maintain or get hacked. If I could just build static sites for everything from now on, I would. Bummer it’s so hard to get SSL support on custom domains, though. GitHub Pages for templating and reactive elements; what a pleasure learning and using this framework. Vue.js for the interactive 2D/3D map. I originally wanted to stick to fully open-source , but we really liked the 3D capabilities in Mapbox. If our data hadn’t been so pretty in 3D, we would have used Leaflet. Mapbox GL JS Leaflet Interactive charts using Morris.js for the shiny pretty buttons Semantic UI , piped through and for broad browser support (but not browsers: we drew the line at IE11) Modern ES2015 JavaScript webpack babel all After testing the first few iterations, I started worrying that we’d be getting more attention from the interwebs than we had originally envisioned for this internal tool. To avoid Hacker News overloading our database server we refactored things to load a static zipfile containing the main dataset, instead of fetching a giant GeoJSON query from the database for every page hit. We’ll see how this approach holds up over the coming days. Ultimately, this whole thing ended up being less than 1,000 lines of JavaScript code. Woohoo! What’s Next? San Francisco expects to continue research on the effects TNCs are having in the city, and has plenty of other transportation data as well. We’ll be building a full data portal which explores several different datasets in the months ahead. In the meanwhile, have fun playing around with the tool! Credits None of this would have been possible without the vision and financial support of staff and leadership at the San Francisco County Transportation Authority — which means , if you pay sales taxes in San Francisco! Thank you for your generous support. you I stand on the shoulders of the giants who’ve produced this enormous ecosystem of fantastic open-source tools, free for the taking. All of the code I’ve written is — I hope you find ways to remix it and use it in your city, too. available on GitHub About Me Hi! I’m Billy Charlton, founder of and former Director of Data at the in Seattle. I mostly hang around in the transportation planning field, since it has such a direct impact on our cities and on our daily lives. I’m currently living in San Francisco. I can do data visualizations for your city, too! Because LLC Puget Sound Regional Council My contact info is on and I’m on and too. my site GitHub Twitter Cheers!

Visualizing Uber and Lyft usage in San Francisco: more than 200,000 trips a day.

Black Friday is nearly here, which means customers will be swarming stores to snag the best deals — and retailers will be bracing for the corresponding boost in thefts. But even aside from the Black Friday bump, theft is a growing problem for many retailers. How could AI reduce the risk? 1. Enabling Automatic Cart Audits Some retailers have employees standing near store exits to check shoppers’ receipts as they leave, verifying that the list of items matches their cart contents. However, this process often becomes cumbersome during busy periods, requiring people to wait in lines. Leaders at Sam’s Club believe AI can do the task faster. As of April 2024, more than 120 locations used AI exit scanning technology, and the overall figure matched executives’ goal of adding AI to 20% of its stores by the end of the first quarter. Sam’s Club represents the largest deployment of such customer-facing technology in the retail industry. Customers who engage with it can leave stores 23% faster, and internal data shows more than 50% of shoppers use it. Notably, before rolling out this solution, Sam’s Club employees got feedback from customers about current pain points and what they wanted from their experiences. Participants mentioned they’d like faster and more convenient shopping trips and consistently brought up the waiting times associated with the previous cart audits as a primary downside.  Now, computer-vision cameras and digital technologies work in the background to check that cart contents match a customer’s payment records. This high-tech approach aligns with the company’s other improvements, such as its Scan & Go offering, which allows people to bypass the traditional checkout process when buying their items. The market value for AI products in retail was approximately $5 billion in 2023, and it’s expected to grow. Decision-makers are even more likely to reap the benefits if they do as Sam’s Club leaders did and gather customer feedback. 2. Curbing Potentially Harmful Employee Preferentiality Most people think of customers as the main people behind retail theft, but workers can exacerbate the problem, too. Sometimes, they might slip small items into their pockets during slow periods, believing no one will notice and they will never get caught. The circumstances can also become more complicated. One example is what some in the retail industry call “sweethearting.” It happens when employees give discounts or free items to friends or relatives. One tech company, Corsight AI, began offering AI technology to detect such interactions. More specifically, it spots unusual behavior by analyzing how close customers stand to employees. Because the tool tracks engagements over time, it can also determine if specific shoppers keep going to the same employee’s cash register or otherwise show a preference. The system flags unusual behaviors to the relevant store decision-makers, letting them decide whether to act. Critics have pointed out that regularly engaging with the same employees when shopping at a store doesn’t necessarily mean anything suspicious. Perhaps a customer appreciates a worker’s friendliness, efficiency or product knowledge, causing them to naturally interact when opportunities arise. However, increasing theft problems have caused some retail leaders to scrutinize things they might have previously ignored. That is particularly true for retailers selling high-value items. For example, jewelry companies’ crime-related losses exceeded $129 million in 2022. These retailers usually have high-tech security systems, but those defenses probably won’t catch occasional instances of store workers offering unusually generous discounts. AI tools might. 3. Providing Better Awareness Although circumstances vary, some potential shoplifters target locations before attempting to steal things. During each visit, they gather information such as the number of workers in the store at particular times, whether certain departments or products have dedicated security measures and the locations of entrances and exits. Someone who goes to a well-staffed store, notices numerous security cameras and sees how employees seem continually aware of their surroundings may decide against proceeding with theft attempt plans. Conversely, stores that seem virtually deserted and feature few or no visible security cameras are much more appealing to would-be thieves. Because AI products can work in the background and detect unusual occurrences, they help loss prevention officers and others become more aware of what happens in individual stores. For example, Everseen creates AI tech that can be used to help reduce self-checkout theft. Part of its approach involves processing footage from ceiling-mounted cameras, often gathering tens of millions of customer interactions daily. Another helpful aspect of the technology is that it can scan shelves to determine when specific products are almost out of stock. Additionally, retail leaders can use this product to get near-real-time analytics about what’s happening in a store and receive prompts about handling certain situations. For example, if the AI spots a frustrated customer, it might prompt a worker to engage with them to learn what’s wrong. Many retailers already use artificial intelligence creatively by incorporating it into their demand-planning processes. For example, automating supply chain activities could reduce costs by as much as 10%, making that goal a worthy pursuit for cost-conscious parties. In any case, improved awareness provided by specialty tech products could help retailers manage theft. 4. Analyzing Shoppers’ Gestures Although many retailers use facial recognition technologies, some consumers dislike the perceived lack of privacy. An AI alternative is potentially less invasive because it does not analyze people’s appearance, but rather whether they make suspicious movements commonly linked to theft. Wild Duck Wine & Spirits in Boston uses an AI product from company Veesion on all 24 of its security camera feeds. The technology checks shoppers’ gestures to see if they match those frequently used during shoplifting. For example, someone might try to conceal something in a clothing pocket. Another “red flag” occurs when people hide items in baby strollers. Finally, people may eat or drink while shopping, potentially consuming what they have not paid for yet. If the AI spots something specific, it alerts workers approximately 15 seconds later, providing a video clip of the event. Those employees can then choose whether to confront the person or see if they try to skip the checkout counter. A representative from the AI company explained that this solution is about more than stopping people from stealing single items. It sends them a message that they should not try to repeat their actions because they’ll get caught. Minimizing Theft in Retail These fascinating examples show how AI can help store managers, loss prevention officers and other responsible parties reduce the frequency of theft in their locations. Choosing the appropriate tools and learning how to use them properly is crucial for success. Black Friday is nearly here, which means customers will be swarming stores to snag the best deals — and retailers will be bracing for the corresponding boost in thefts. But even aside from the Black Friday bump, theft is a growing problem for many retailers. How could AI reduce the risk? Black Friday is nearly here, which means customers will be swarming stores to snag the best deals — and retailers will be bracing for the corresponding boost in thefts. But even aside from the Black Friday bump, theft is a growing problem for many retailers. How could AI reduce the risk? 1. Enabling Automatic Cart Audits 1. Enabling Automatic Cart Audits Some retailers have employees standing near store exits to check shoppers’ receipts as they leave, verifying that the list of items matches their cart contents. However, this process often becomes cumbersome during busy periods, requiring people to wait in lines. Leaders at Sam’s Club believe AI can do the task faster. As of April 2024, more than 120 locations used AI exit scanning technology, and the overall figure matched executives’ goal of adding AI to 20% of its stores by the end of the first quarter. Sam’s Club represents the largest deployment of such customer-facing technology in the retail industry. Customers who engage with it can leave stores 23% faster , and internal data shows more than 50% of shoppers use it. Notably, before rolling out this solution, Sam’s Club employees got feedback from customers about current pain points and what they wanted from their experiences. leave stores 23% faster leave stores 23% faster Participants mentioned they’d like faster and more convenient shopping trips and consistently brought up the waiting times associated with the previous cart audits as a primary downside.  Now, computer-vision cameras and digital technologies work in the background to check that cart contents match a customer’s payment records. This high-tech approach aligns with the company’s other improvements, such as its Scan & Go offering, which allows people to bypass the traditional checkout process when buying their items. The market value for AI products in retail was approximately $5 billion in 2023 , and it’s expected to grow. Decision-makers are even more likely to reap the benefits if they do as Sam’s Club leaders did and gather customer feedback. approximately $5 billion in 2023 approximately $5 billion in 2023 2. Curbing Potentially Harmful Employee Preferentiality Most people think of customers as the main people behind retail theft, but workers can exacerbate the problem, too. Sometimes, they might slip small items into their pockets during slow periods, believing no one will notice and they will never get caught. The circumstances can also become more complicated. One example is what some in the retail industry call “sweethearting.” It happens when employees give discounts or free items to friends or relatives. One tech company, Corsight AI, began offering AI technology to detect such interactions. More specifically, it spots unusual behavior by analyzing how close customers stand to employees. Because the tool tracks engagements over time, it can also determine if specific shoppers keep going to the same employee’s cash register or otherwise show a preference. The system flags unusual behaviors to the relevant store decision-makers, letting them decide whether to act. spots unusual behavior spots unusual behavior Critics have pointed out that regularly engaging with the same employees when shopping at a store doesn’t necessarily mean anything suspicious. Perhaps a customer appreciates a worker’s friendliness, efficiency or product knowledge, causing them to naturally interact when opportunities arise. However, increasing theft problems have caused some retail leaders to scrutinize things they might have previously ignored. That is particularly true for retailers selling high-value items. For example, jewelry companies’ crime-related losses exceeded $129 million in 2022. These retailers usually have high-tech security systems, but those defenses probably won’t catch occasional instances of store workers offering unusually generous discounts. AI tools might. 3. Providing Better Awareness Although circumstances vary, some potential shoplifters target locations before attempting to steal things. During each visit, they gather information such as the number of workers in the store at particular times, whether certain departments or products have dedicated security measures and the locations of entrances and exits. Someone who goes to a well-staffed store, notices numerous security cameras and sees how employees seem continually aware of their surroundings may decide against proceeding with theft attempt plans. Conversely, stores that seem virtually deserted and feature few or no visible security cameras are much more appealing to would-be thieves. Because AI products can work in the background and detect unusual occurrences, they help loss prevention officers and others become more aware of what happens in individual stores. For example, Everseen creates AI tech that can be used to help reduce self-checkout theft. Part of its approach involves processing footage from ceiling-mounted cameras, often gathering tens of millions of customer interactions daily. Another helpful aspect of the technology is that it can scan shelves to determine when specific products are almost out of stock. Additionally, retail leaders can use this product to get near-real-time analytics about what’s happening in a store and receive prompts about handling certain situations. For example, if the AI spots a frustrated customer, it might prompt a worker to engage with them to learn what’s wrong. Many retailers already use artificial intelligence creatively by incorporating it into their demand-planning processes. For example, automating supply chain activities could reduce costs by as much as 10% , making that goal a worthy pursuit for cost-conscious parties. In any case, improved awareness provided by specialty tech products could help retailers manage theft. by as much as 10% by as much as 10% 4. Analyzing Shoppers’ Gestures Although many retailers use facial recognition technologies, some consumers dislike the perceived lack of privacy. An AI alternative is potentially less invasive because it does not analyze people’s appearance, but rather whether they make suspicious movements commonly linked to theft. Wild Duck Wine & Spirits in Boston uses an AI product from company Veesion on all 24 of its security camera feeds. The technology checks shoppers’ gestures to see if they match those frequently used during shoplifting. For example, someone might try to conceal something in a clothing pocket. Another “red flag” occurs when people hide items in baby strollers. Finally, people may eat or drink while shopping, potentially consuming what they have not paid for yet. If the AI spots something specific, it alerts workers approximately 15 seconds later , providing a video clip of the event. Those employees can then choose whether to confront the person or see if they try to skip the checkout counter. approximately 15 seconds later approximately 15 seconds later A representative from the AI company explained that this solution is about more than stopping people from stealing single items. It sends them a message that they should not try to repeat their actions because they’ll get caught. Minimizing Theft in Retail These fascinating examples show how AI can help store managers, loss prevention officers and other responsible parties reduce the frequency of theft in their locations. Choosing the appropriate tools and learning how to use them properly is crucial for success.

With Black Friday Coming Up, Retailers Are Better Off Using AI to Combat Theft

Is Bias in AI Quantifiable?

Managing our work lives with digital tools? Easy. Productivity apps? Everywhere. But managing our personal lives? That was a whole different story. Between grocery lists jotted on fridge magnets, sticky notes left on tables, and plans discussed but quickly forgotten, our personal life often felt like a chaotic whirlwind. Despite both of us being heavy users of Notion for work (me as a product manager and her as a PhD student), and paying for Notion AI as part of my job, our personal organization was still…well, messy. We’ve long been fans of Notion for managing our relationship and even went viral for it once, with our blog being featured in places like Morning Brew. But we realized that Notion AI might be the missing piece to elevate what we’d already built in our relationship journal. So, we decided to go into an exploratory phase, wondering: What problems in our daily lives could Notion AI solve for us as a couple? The result? Let’s just say it’s drastically changed our lives. Here are the top three ways Notion AI has made our relationship journal more powerful, efficient, and (dare I say) fun. 1. Date Nights: No More “What Do You Want to Do?” Loops If you’ve ever been stuck in the infinite question loop of “What do you want to do tonight?”, you’ll understand the frustration of indecisive date nights. This was a regular occurrence for us, especially on Friday evenings. We decided to bring Notion AI into the mix. Using our journal, where we already tracked favorite date nights and NYC activities, we built a Date Night Brainstorm page. The page uses a prompt to consider our preferences, past activities, and even restaurant recommendations nearby to suggest an itinerary. Does it always nail it? Not quite. About 70-80% of the time, it generates great suggestions—sometimes even creative ideas we wouldn’t have thought of ourselves. And while it’s not perfect (no AI is), it takes the burden of planning away. Now, instead of endless discussions, we have a ready-made itinerary waiting for us, making date nights smooth, exciting, and much less stressful. 2. Trip Planning: Our New Travel Assistant Trip planning used to be a big deal in our relationship. My partner is known for meticulously detailed itineraries, but now we joke that Notion AI has taken her job. We built two key tools in our template: a Trip Brainstorming page and a Trip Planning page. The Brainstorming page asks us questions like: How many days are we traveling?
What kind of trip are we feeling—outdoorsy, cultural, or relaxed?
Do we have specific destinations or regions in mind? Notion AI then processes our inputs and suggests five or six destinations tailored to our preferences. It’s incredibly helpful for narrowing down options. The Planning page is where the magic happens. Based on our chosen destination and travel dates, Notion AI: Generates a detailed daily itinerary, down to the hour.
Researches the top destinations and activities in the area.
Creates a customized packing list, categorized by type and quantity.
Outputs a checklist of next steps, such as bookings, reservations, and tickets. It’s taken the mental load of planning off our shoulders and made trips smoother than ever. While we joke about how it’s replaced my partner’s role as the “itinerary queen,” it’s also made travel a lot more fun and collaborative for us. 3. Household Management: Meal Planning Made Easy When we first created our relationship journal in 2020, we were newly dating, focused on things like defining our values and planning fun date nights. Fast-forward to today, we’re married, and our lives now involve managing a home together. Enter the Household Page, the newest addition to our journal, and the Notion AI feature that’s been a game-changer: the Recipe Ideation page. Here’s how it works: We input things like: Ingredients we have at home
Calorie and macro targets
Number of servings
Dietary restrictions or preferences Notion AI generates a list of recipes complete with ingredients and instructions. These recipes feed into a Recipe Book that we maintain, making Sunday meal planning a breeze. We tag recipes to specific days of the week, eliminating the stress of deciding what to cook during our busy workweeks. This small change has made our lives significantly more productive and keeps us on track with our health goals. Other Fun Ways We Use Notion AI While these three pages have had the biggest impact, we’ve also added some smaller, fun features that we enjoy daily: Netflix Recommendations based on what we’ve previously watched.
Book and Podcast Suggestions tailored to our shared interests.
A daily Question of the Day to spark meaningful or humorous conversations. These little touches have added even more joy to our routine. Wrapping It Up Notion AI has fundamentally changed how we manage our life together. By taking the mental load off tasks like trip planning, meal prep, and even date night brainstorming, it’s given us more time and space to focus on what matters most: each other. That said, it’s worth mentioning that Notion AI costs an additional $10 per month. If you already use Notion heavily in your workflow, it’s an easy recommendation—it seamlessly enhances what you’re already doing. But it’s definitely a consideration if you’re thinking of adding yet another subscription to your life. If you’re already using Notion AI or curious about its potential, I’d encourage you to try maintaining a relationship journal like ours. It’s a small but transformative way to bring clarity, organization, and intentionality to your personal life. And if you’re interested in trying out the template we’ve built, feel free to check it out. If it doesn’t work for you, we’ll be happy to issue a refund—no hard feelings. Thank you for reading and for supporting us through these years. Here’s to growing and thriving together. Cheers! Managing our work lives with digital tools? Easy. Productivity apps? Everywhere. But managing our personal lives? That was a whole different story. Between grocery lists jotted on fridge magnets, sticky notes left on tables, and plans discussed but quickly forgotten, our personal life often felt like a chaotic whirlwind. Despite both of us being heavy users of Notion for work (me as a product manager and her as a PhD student), and paying for Notion AI as part of my job, our personal organization was still…well, messy. We’ve long been fans of Notion for managing our relationship and even went viral for it once, with our blog being featured in places like Morning Brew . But we realized that Notion AI might be the missing piece to elevate what we’d already built in our relationship journal. So, we decided to go into an exploratory phase, wondering: Morning Brew What problems in our daily lives could Notion AI solve for us as a couple? What problems in our daily lives could Notion AI solve for us as a couple? The result? Let’s just say it’s drastically changed our lives. Here are the top three ways Notion AI has made our relationship journal more powerful, efficient, and (dare I say) fun. 1. Date Nights: No More “What Do You Want to Do?” Loops If you’ve ever been stuck in the infinite question loop of “What do you want to do tonight?”, you’ll understand the frustration of indecisive date nights. This was a regular occurrence for us, especially on Friday evenings. We decided to bring Notion AI into the mix. Using our journal, where we already tracked favorite date nights and NYC activities, we built a Date Night Brainstorm page. The page uses a prompt to consider our preferences, past activities, and even restaurant recommendations nearby to suggest an itinerary. Does it always nail it? Not quite. About 70-80% of the time, it generates great suggestions—sometimes even creative ideas we wouldn’t have thought of ourselves. And while it’s not perfect (no AI is), it takes the burden of planning away. Now, instead of endless discussions, we have a ready-made itinerary waiting for us, making date nights smooth, exciting, and much less stressful. 2. Trip Planning: Our New Travel Assistant Trip planning used to be a big deal in our relationship. My partner is known for meticulously detailed itineraries, but now we joke that Notion AI has taken her job. We built two key tools in our template: a Trip Brainstorming page and a Trip Planning page. The Brainstorming page asks us questions like: Trip Brainstorming Trip Planning Brainstorming How many days are we traveling? What kind of trip are we feeling—outdoorsy, cultural, or relaxed? Do we have specific destinations or regions in mind? How many days are we traveling? What kind of trip are we feeling—outdoorsy, cultural, or relaxed? Do we have specific destinations or regions in mind? Notion AI then processes our inputs and suggests five or six destinations tailored to our preferences. It’s incredibly helpful for narrowing down options. The Planning page is where the magic happens. Based on our chosen destination and travel dates, Notion AI: Planning Generates a detailed daily itinerary, down to the hour. Researches the top destinations and activities in the area. Creates a customized packing list, categorized by type and quantity. Outputs a checklist of next steps, such as bookings, reservations, and tickets. Generates a detailed daily itinerary, down to the hour. Researches the top destinations and activities in the area. Creates a customized packing list, categorized by type and quantity. Outputs a checklist of next steps, such as bookings, reservations, and tickets. It’s taken the mental load of planning off our shoulders and made trips smoother than ever. While we joke about how it’s replaced my partner’s role as the “itinerary queen,” it’s also made travel a lot more fun and collaborative for us. 3. Household Management: Meal Planning Made Easy When we first created our relationship journal in 2020, we were newly dating, focused on things like defining our values and planning fun date nights. Fast-forward to today, we’re married, and our lives now involve managing a home together. Enter the Household Page, the newest addition to our journal, and the Notion AI feature that’s been a game-changer: the Recipe Ideation page. Here’s how it works: We input things like: Ingredients we have at home Calorie and macro targets Number of servings Dietary restrictions or preferences Ingredients we have at home Calorie and macro targets Number of servings Dietary restrictions or preferences Notion AI generates a list of recipes complete with ingredients and instructions. These recipes feed into a Recipe Book that we maintain, making Sunday meal planning a breeze. We tag recipes to specific days of the week, eliminating the stress of deciding what to cook during our busy workweeks. This small change has made our lives significantly more productive and keeps us on track with our health goals. Other Fun Ways We Use Notion AI While these three pages have had the biggest impact, we’ve also added some smaller, fun features that we enjoy daily: Netflix Recommendations based on what we’ve previously watched. Book and Podcast Suggestions tailored to our shared interests. A daily Question of the Day to spark meaningful or humorous conversations. Netflix Recommendations based on what we’ve previously watched. Book and Podcast Suggestions tailored to our shared interests. A daily Question of the Day to spark meaningful or humorous conversations. These little touches have added even more joy to our routine. Wrapping It Up Notion AI has fundamentally changed how we manage our life together. By taking the mental load off tasks like trip planning, meal prep, and even date night brainstorming, it’s given us more time and space to focus on what matters most: each other. That said, it’s worth mentioning that Notion AI costs an additional $10 per month. If you already use Notion heavily in your workflow, it’s an easy recommendation—it seamlessly enhances what you’re already doing. But it’s definitely a consideration if you’re thinking of adding yet another subscription to your life. If you’re already using Notion AI or curious about its potential, I’d encourage you to try maintaining a relationship journal like ours. It’s a small but transformative way to bring clarity, organization, and intentionality to your personal life. And if you’re interested in trying out the template we’ve built, feel free to check it out . If it doesn’t work for you, we’ll be happy to issue a refund—no hard feelings. check it out Thank you for reading and for supporting us through these years. Here’s to growing and thriving together. Cheers!

We Revolutionized Managing Our Life as a Couple with AI and Notion. Here’s What We Did.

Explanation of ERC-6900: Modular Smart Contract Accounts and Plugins

What happens when users get distracted by everything but an app? Why should anyone care about a product when there’s no reason to? These are the questions I often ask myself as I work with different brands. It’s even tougher in the summer. The sun’s out, people are on vacation, and your app is the last thing on their minds. We saw this firsthand with a well-known pizza delivery service — their customers weren’t exactly dreaming of pepperoni between beach trips. So, how do you keep people interested when pizza isn't their priority? You get creative. And by creative, I’m talking about transforming the way people interact with your brand, giving them a reason to check in just for fun. We wanted people to stay engaged and loyal, while also driving more pizza orders. To make that happen, we needed something fresh to keep them coming back. Turning Summer into a Game So, picture this: it’s mid-June, and you’re a pizza company. Sales are down because people are on holiday mode. What do you do? Cut prices? Send out boring email promos? Nah. Instead, they flipped the concept of the holiday advent calendar — a tradition people associate with Christmas — and dropped it into the middle of summer. I know, it sounds a little wild. But that’s the point. They turned each day into a mini game. Customers would open the pizza app daily, like a digital advent calendar, and uncover two key elements behind each "door." Game Mechanics in Action First, a new postcard: each day featured a unique postcard, which users could collect, customize, or share with friends. These weren’t just generic images — there were three types of postcards to keep things fresh: illustrative postcards with custom designs, city-specific postcards featuring local landmarks depending on the user’s location, and customizable postcards, where users could upload their own photos, adding a personal touch. Along with the postcard, users would receive a daily promotion, like a reduced price on a specific product. This wasn’t just about discounts, though. It was about adding a tangible reward to the game, encouraging users to open the app every day and take advantage of the deals while enjoying the fun, personalized content. This mechanic plays directly into a behavioral principle called the variable reward system. When you scroll through your news feed, you don’t know what new story or post you’ll see next. This unpredictability is addictive. So, our pizza delivery service made it fun to keep checking in, day after day. The idea wasn’t new, but it was placed in a fresh, unexpected context. And it worked. Over half of the pizza app users joined in, with participation peaking around lunch and after work. Users created and shared more than 1 million postcards, adding a social twist. In total, the campaign drew 880,000 participants across Europe and Asia. Why It Worked: The Power of Dopamine Let’s get real. People are wired for rewards, especially when they don’t know exactly what they’re getting. When users opened that app and saw a fresh offer, it wasn’t just about the discount — it was about the dopamine hit that comes with curiosity. That’s something brands like Spotify and TikTok have nailed with their recommendation algorithms. It’s not the certainty of what’s next, but the excitement of discovering it. The advent mechanic we created together tapped into that same feeling. And the best part? The offers felt more like little gifts, not desperate promos. This shifted the perception of value for customers. It wasn’t "buy now," but "here’s something special just for today”. Building Engagement Isn’t Just for Pizza Now, I’ve worked with in-app engagement for a long time, and I can tell you this: the mechanic isn’t limited to pizzas or food delivery. Any brand with an app can implement it. For example, I’ve seen fitness apps that give users daily challenges to unlock personalized workouts or nutrition tips. And it works. Why? Because it makes people want to come back, even if they weren’t originally planning to. I once joked with the team that we could put a picture of a puppy behind one of the digital calendar doors, and the next day our daily active users would triple. Who can resist puppies? I never tested it, but if you try, let me know how it goes. Whether you’re running an eCommerce app, a B2B SaaS platform, or even a content-driven site, you can use these tactics. Here’s how: Make it fun: Your engagement tactics don’t need to feel like work. Offer users something they don’t expect.
Add surprise: Use the variable reward principle. People love surprises. If they don’t know what they’re getting, they’re more likely to come back.
Keep it light: No one wants to feel spammed or manipulated. Make your gamification subtle and rewarding, not sales-y.
Build habits: Think fitness apps or loyalty programs. It’s not just about engagement today. It’s about getting your users to come back tomorrow and the day after. What did I learn from this experience? People crave excitement and engagement — not just products. As a marketer, it’s not your job to just “sell” something; it’s about creating an experience that people actually enjoy. The pizza delivery service’s digital advent calendar was a hit because it took something simple and transformed it into a daily delight. And it’s something any company can do. What We Learned: How to Keep Users Engaged So, what can you do to make your users look forward to engaging with your brand, even when they don’t need to? You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Just take something familiar, make it fun, and watch as your users turn into daily fans: Don’t be afraid to experiment Sometimes the boldest ideas, like launching a summer advent calendar, are the ones that pay off. Try unconventional tactics Go beyond the usual promos. Interactive tools like skill wheels or daily challenges can keep things fresh. Make it a habit Use gamification to build routines. Daily rewards give people a reason to keep coming back. Surprise your users Everyone loves surprises. Small, unexpected rewards keep users engaged and curious. Personal touches matter Personalization, like custom postcards, adds a unique connection that keeps users interested. And hey, if all else fails, try the puppies. What happens when users get distracted by everything but an app? Why should anyone care about a product when there’s no reason to? These are the questions I often ask myself as I work with different brands. What happens when users get distracted by everything but an app? Why should anyone care about a product when there’s no reason to? These are the questions I often ask myself as I work with different brands. It’s even tougher in the summer. The sun’s out, people are on vacation, and your app is the last thing on their minds. We saw this firsthand with a well-known pizza delivery service — their customers weren’t exactly dreaming of pepperoni between beach trips. So, how do you keep people interested when pizza isn't their priority? You get creative. And by creative, I’m talking about transforming the way people interact with your brand, giving them a reason to check in just for fun. We wanted people to stay engaged and loyal, while also driving more pizza orders. To make that happen, we needed something fresh to keep them coming back. Turning Summer into a Game Turning Summer into a Game So, picture this: it’s mid-June, and you’re a pizza company. Sales are down because people are on holiday mode. What do you do? Cut prices? Send out boring email promos? Nah. Instead, they flipped the concept of the holiday advent calendar — a tradition people associate with Christmas — and dropped it into the middle of summer. I know, it sounds a little wild. But that’s the point. They turned each day into a mini game. Customers would open the pizza app daily, like a digital advent calendar, and uncover two key elements behind each "door." Game Mechanics in Action Game Mechanics in Action First, a new postcard: each day featured a unique postcard, which users could collect, customize, or share with friends. These weren’t just generic images — there were three types of postcards to keep things fresh: illustrative postcards with custom designs, city-specific postcards featuring local landmarks depending on the user’s location, and customizable postcards, where users could upload their own photos, adding a personal touch. Along with the postcard, users would receive a daily promotion, like a reduced price on a specific product. This wasn’t just about discounts, though. It was about adding a tangible reward to the game, encouraging users to open the app every day and take advantage of the deals while enjoying the fun, personalized content . personalized content This mechanic plays directly into a behavioral principle called the variable reward system. When you scroll through your news feed, you don’t know what new story or post you’ll see next. This unpredictability is addictive. So, our pizza delivery service made it fun to keep checking in, day after day. The idea wasn’t new, but it was placed in a fresh, unexpected context. And it worked. Over half of the pizza app users joined in, with participation peaking around lunch and after work. Users created and shared more than 1 million postcards, adding a social twist. In total, the campaign drew 880,000 participants across Europe and Asia. Why It Worked: The Power of Dopamine Let’s get real. People are wired for rewards, especially when they don’t know exactly what they’re getting. When users opened that app and saw a fresh offer, it wasn’t just about the discount — it was about the dopamine hit that comes with curiosity. That’s something brands like Spotify and TikTok have nailed with their recommendation algorithms . It’s not the certainty of what’s next, but the excitement of discovering it. The advent mechanic we created together tapped into that same feeling. TikTok have nailed with their recommendation algorithms TikTok have nailed with their recommendation algorithms And the best part? The offers felt more like little gifts, not desperate promos. This shifted the perception of value for customers. It wasn’t "buy now," but "here’s something special just for today”. Building Engagement Isn’t Just for Pizza Now, I’ve worked with in-app engagement for a long time, and I can tell you this: the mechanic isn’t limited to pizzas or food delivery. Any brand with an app can implement it. For example, I’ve seen fitness apps that give users daily challenges to unlock personalized workouts or nutrition tips. And it works. Why? Because it makes people want to come back, even if they weren’t originally planning to. I once joked with the team that we could put a picture of a puppy behind one of the digital calendar doors, and the next day our daily active users would triple. Who can resist puppies? I never tested it, but if you try, let me know how it goes. Whether you’re running an eCommerce app, a B2B SaaS platform, or even a content-driven site, you can use these tactics. Here’s how: Make it fun: Your engagement tactics don’t need to feel like work. Offer users something they don’t expect. Add surprise: Use the variable reward principle. People love surprises. If they don’t know what they’re getting, they’re more likely to come back. Keep it light: No one wants to feel spammed or manipulated. Make your gamification subtle and rewarding, not sales-y. Build habits: Think fitness apps or loyalty programs. It’s not just about engagement today. It’s about getting your users to come back tomorrow and the day after. Make it fun : Your engagement tactics don’t need to feel like work. Offer users something they don’t expect. Make it fun Add surprise : Use the variable reward principle. People love surprises. If they don’t know what they’re getting, they’re more likely to come back. Add surprise Keep it light : No one wants to feel spammed or manipulated. Make your gamification subtle and rewarding, not sales-y. Keep it light Build habits : Think fitness apps or loyalty programs. It’s not just about engagement today. It’s about getting your users to come back tomorrow and the day after. Build habits What did I learn from this experience? People crave excitement and engagement — not just products. As a marketer, it’s not your job to just “sell” something; it’s about creating an experience that people actually enjoy. The pizza delivery service’s digital advent calendar was a hit because it took something simple and transformed it into a daily delight. And it’s something any company can do. What We Learned: How to Keep Users Engaged So, what can you do to make your users look forward to engaging with your brand, even when they don’t need to? You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Just take something familiar, make it fun, and watch as your users turn into daily fans: Don’t be afraid to experiment Don’t be afraid to experiment Don’t be afraid to experiment Sometimes the boldest ideas, like launching a summer advent calendar, are the ones that pay off. Try unconventional tactics Try unconventional tactics Try unconventional tactics Go beyond the usual promos. Interactive tools like skill wheels or daily challenges can keep things fresh. Make it a habit Make it a habit Make it a habit Use gamification to build routines. Daily rewards give people a reason to keep coming back. Surprise your users Surprise your users Surprise your users Everyone loves surprises. Small, unexpected rewards keep users engaged and curious. Personal touches matter Personal touches matter Personal touches matter Personalization, like custom postcards, adds a unique connection that keeps users interested. And hey, if all else fails, try the puppies.

How Gamification in a Mobile App Boosted Pizza Sales During the Off-Season

In July 2023, I had the opportunity to start working remotely for a couple of blockchain companies. Not wanting to waste a single moment of this opportunity, I dove into a digital nomad lifestyle, traveling across three continents, 13 countries, and 20 cities over the course of a year. Even before I graduated college, I started working in an office at an IT startup, so after three and a half years of office work, there was nothing more liberating and enchanting than opening my MacBook in cafés with an uniquely exotic backdrops. The freedom to go anywhere I wanted was ecstasy. During the first three months of remote work, I probably visited almost every café in Seoul. Then, I went on a trip to Europe with my parents and also visited my sister in Philadelphia, working remotely while traveling freely. Then, at the beginning of 2024, I decided to set off to Southeast Asia, starting with a month-long stay in Bangkok, the mecca for digital nomads in Asia after Bali. Experienced digital nomads would usually pack as lightly as possible, but as an overjoyed beginner, I left home with a fully packed 25kg suitcase and a 7kg carry-on. Of course, I regretted it several times along the way. My luggage included multiple dresses that would have been a bit too flashy to wear in Korea, along six pairs of shoes in anticipation of any special occasion that might just come up. I was so thrilled that I even published a post on my Medium blog titled How I Became a Digital Nomad in 6 Months With No Coding Skills. At the time of the post, I only had 22 subscribers, but it gained quite a bit of traction, attracting 20 new fans and receiving over 100 reactions. Seeing the enthusiastic response to my blog, which remains my most popular piece to this day, I was able to reaffirm that this lifestyle is something many people aspire to. This reaffirmation became very valuable to me because, in reality, the digital nomad life I experienced was lonely, unstable, and extremely stressful. The idea of breaking free from the constraints of traditional work and daily life felt like such an adventure for me. I thought that my days would be filled with delightful peaks if I just stepped outside of my regular routine—so much so that I packed six pairs of shoes! But reality turned out to be quite different. Settling into new places is undoubtedly fun and exciting, but even the excitement of newness becomes routine after about two weeks - but this is all on just the surface-level of our perception. Within our subconscious systems, circuits and gears are working tirelessly to adapt to the new environments we’ve placed ourselves in. When we’re in unfamiliar surroundings, our brain’s orientation system activates. This system helps us navigate our surroundings, recognize patterns, and adjusts our behavior accordingly. The hippocampus and amygdala play key roles in this process, helping us to perceive and remember spatial information and evaluate safety within those spaces. This cognitive load that comes from processing a vast amount of new stimuli and situations consumes significant brain energy, unlike the familiar routine tasks that used to take minimal effort. Imagine your brain only used to walk familiar paths, but now everywhere needs is new and needs to be calculated. As this cognitive load builds up until the environment feels sufficiently familiar, we start to consciously experience it as pressure or stress. I never stayed in a single city for over a month. I had believed the best way to get the most of remote work was to explore as many places as possible. The second reason was that until I felt certain that this was the right place to settle down, I didn’t want to deal with the uninspiring hassle of administrative procedures like visa issuance. At that time, my job involved frequent business trips, so I often planned my travels by extending my stay for a few weeks at the locations I visited for work. However, my ambition in wanting to see the world, and failure to take the leap and commit resulted in a cumulative unconscious workload of constantly having to adapt to multiple places in a short period—which scientifically resulted into stress. Moreover, I had full-time work on my plate, which psychologically felt like a heavier burden than it should have been. I was working more hours and on the weekends trying to make up for the time that I spent unfocused. I often found myself getting irritated with people around me, fearing I wouldn’t complete tasks on time, or becoming almost obsessive about getting things done in a certain way. I think I had this underlying sense of being unable to control my life in constantly changing environments, and it was quite overwhelming. Excerpt from my journal entry on the 12th of February, 2024 which is 19 days after I arrive in Bangkok. Oh God, this morning I felt this dense ball of air stuck in the back of my head, like an air bubble. Although air physically carries no weight, the one back there felt heavy that my head was tilting back as I was walking out from the bed. It’s like my brain was trying to stop me. Back home, I maintained a regular routine with five workouts a week with home-cooked meals. However, when my fatigue level reached its peak, it became difficult to stick to my regular exercise routine at local gyms, and even cooking meals at home became a luxury once I started traveling. I knew that home-cooked meals are the best, so I bought the necessary soy sauce, Gochujang, Mulyeot etc. that were needed to cook Korean meals when I arrived at my first destination in Southeast Asia. However, I didn’t even get to use a quarter of them before leaving them behind as I moved on to Phuket, making eating out was much less wasteful. Korean food abroad is more expensive than it is in Korea, and healthy meals are just as pricey. So, I mostly relied on local cuisine, and found it increasingly difficult to keep up with the oily fried dishes and unfamiliar flavors. While it's quite obvious that traveling would make it hard to maintain the diet I wanted, I intend to highlight the irony of how gaining freedom in place means but losing freedom in meals. Now, I often joke that people living this lifestyle should be called "digital homeless" rather than digital nomads. In fact, historically, nomadic living was primarily based on collective or communal life. However, digital nomads don't travel with their community. They travel alone, or sometimes as a couple. So in my joke, the word "home" in "digital homeless" doesn’t refer to a house or an apartment, but rather to a community where one belongs— family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors. Yes, there are digital nomad communities that can be accessed anywhere in the world, but those digital nomad communities can be more simply put as ‘a group of strangers that hosts co-working and after hour bar sessions’. A community isn’t a community until it starts feeling like yours over a period of time. A segment of people from history that actually resembles a digital nomad would be the Mountain Hermits and Monastic Wanderers. For example, Christian hermits in medieval Europe or wandering Buddhist monks in East Asia often chose to live away from home, moving from place to place to find spiritual enlightenment, or solitude. So, why do people choose the digital nomad lifestyle? Like the wandering Buddhist monks and Christian hermits - the instability and stress from exploring so many different places does in fact provide spiritual enlightenment and growth. That’s the for story next week. Thanks for reading. In July 2023, I had the opportunity to start working remotely for a couple of blockchain companies. Not wanting to waste a single moment of this opportunity, I dove into a digital nomad lifestyle, traveling across three continents, 13 countries, and 20 cities over the course of a year. Even before I graduated college, I started working in an office at an IT startup, so after three and a half years of office work, there was nothing more liberating and enchanting than opening my MacBook in cafés with an uniquely exotic backdrops. The freedom to go anywhere I wanted was ecstasy . During the first three months of remote work, I probably visited almost every café in Seoul. Then, I went on a trip to Europe with my parents and also visited my sister in Philadelphia, working remotely while traveling freely. liberating enchanting ecstasy Then, at the beginning of 2024, I decided to set off to Southeast Asia, starting with a month-long stay in Bangkok, the mecca for digital nomads in Asia after Bali. Experienced digital nomads would usually pack as lightly as possible, but as an overjoyed beginner, I left home with a fully packed 25kg suitcase and a 7kg carry-on. Of course, I regretted it several times along the way. My luggage included multiple dresses that would have been a bit too flashy to wear in Korea, along six pairs of shoes in anticipation of any special occasion that might just come up. I was so thrilled that I even published a post on my Medium blog titled How I Became a Digital Nomad in 6 Months With No Coding Skills . At the time of the post, I only had 22 subscribers, but it gained quite a bit of traction, attracting 20 new fans and receiving over 100 reactions. Seeing the enthusiastic response to my blog, which remains my most popular piece to this day, I was able to reaffirm that this lifestyle is something many people aspire to. This reaffirmation became very valuable to me because, in reality, the digital nomad life I experienced was lonely , unstable , and extremely stressful . How I Became a Digital Nomad in 6 Months With No Coding Skills lonely unstable extremely stressful The idea of breaking free from the constraints of traditional work and daily life felt like such an adventure for me. I thought that my days would be filled with delightful peaks if I just stepped outside of my regular routine—so much so that I packed six pairs of shoes! But reality turned out to be quite different. Settling into new places is undoubtedly fun and exciting, but even the excitement of newness becomes routine after about two weeks - but this is all on just the surface-level of our perception. Within our subconscious systems, circuits and gears are working tirelessly to adapt to the new environments we’ve placed ourselves in. When we’re in unfamiliar surroundings, our brain’s orientation system activates. This system helps us navigate our surroundings, recognize patterns, and adjusts our behavior accordingly. The hippocampus and amygdala play key roles in this process, helping us to perceive and remember spatial information and evaluate safety within those spaces. This cognitive load that comes from processing a vast amount of new stimuli and situations consumes significant brain energy, unlike the familiar routine tasks that used to take minimal effort. Imagine your brain only used to walk familiar paths, but now everywhere needs is new and needs to be calculated. As this cognitive load builds up until the environment feels sufficiently familiar, we start to consciously experience it as pressure or stress. orientation system As this cognitive load builds up until the environment feels sufficiently familiar, we start to consciously experience it as pressure or stress. I never stayed in a single city for over a month. I had believed the best way to get the most of remote work was to explore as many places as possible. The second reason was that until I felt certain that this was the right place to settle down, I didn’t want to deal with the uninspiring hassle of administrative procedures like visa issuance. At that time, my job involved frequent business trips, so I often planned my travels by extending my stay for a few weeks at the locations I visited for work. However, my ambition in wanting to see the world , and failure to take the leap and comm it resulted in a cumulative unconscious workload of constantly having to adapt to multiple places in a short period—which scientifically resulted into stress. ambition in wanting to see the world failure to take the leap and comm Moreover, I had full-time work on my plate, which psychologically felt like a heavier burden than it should have been. I was working more hours and on the weekends trying to make up for the time that I spent unfocused. I often found myself getting irritated with people around me, fearing I wouldn’t complete tasks on time, or becoming almost obsessive about getting things done in a certain way. I think I had this underlying sense of being unable to control my life in constantly changing environments , and it was quite overwhelming . underlying sense of being unable to control my life in constantly changing environments overwhelming Excerpt from my journal entry on the 12th of February, 2024 which is 19 days after I arrive in Bangkok. Oh God, this morning I felt this dense ball of air stuck in the back of my head, like an air bubble. Although air physically carries no weight, the one back there felt heavy that my head was tilting back as I was walking out from the bed. It’s like my brain was trying to stop me. Oh God, this morning I felt this dense ball of air stuck in the back of my head, like an air bubble. Although air physically carries no weight, the one back there felt heavy that my head was tilting back as I was walking out from the bed. It’s like my brain was trying to stop me. Oh God, this morning I felt this dense ball of air stuck in the back of my head, like an air bubble. Although air physically carries no weight, the one back there felt heavy that my head was tilting back as I was walking out from the bed. It’s like my brain was trying to stop me. Back home, I maintained a regular routine with five workouts a week with home-cooked meals. However, when my fatigue level reached its peak, it became difficult to stick to my regular exercise routine at local gyms, and even cooking meals at home became a luxury once I started traveling. I knew that home-cooked meals are the best, so I bought the necessary soy sauce, Gochujang, Mulyeot etc. that were needed to cook Korean meals when I arrived at my first destination in Southeast Asia. However, I didn’t even get to use a quarter of them before leaving them behind as I moved on to Phuket, making eating out was much less wasteful. Korean food abroad is more expensive than it is in Korea, and healthy meals are just as pricey. So, I mostly relied on local cuisine, and found it increasingly difficult to keep up with the oily fried dishes and unfamiliar flavors. While it's quite obvious that traveling would make it hard to maintain the diet I wanted, I intend to highlight the irony of how gaining freedom in place means but losing freedom in meals. the irony of how gaining freedom in place means but losing freedom in meals. Now, I often joke that people living this lifestyle should be called "digital homeless" rather than digital nomads. In fact, historically, nomadic living was primarily based on collective or communal life. However, digital nomads don't travel with their community. They travel alone, or sometimes as a couple. So in my joke, the word "home" in "digital homeless" doesn’t refer to a house or an apartment, but rather to a community where one belongs— family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors. Yes, there are digital nomad communities that can be accessed anywhere in the world, but those digital nomad communities can be more simply put as ‘a group of strangers that hosts co-working and after hour bar sessions’. A community isn’t a community until it starts feeling like yours over a period of time. Now, I often joke that people living this lifestyle should be called "digital homeless" rather than digital nomads. digital nomad communities A community isn’t a community until it starts feeling like yours over a period of time. A segment of people from history that actually resembles a digital nomad would be the Mountain Hermits and Monastic Wanderers . For example, Christian hermits in medieval Europe or wandering Buddhist monks in East Asia often chose to live away from home, moving from place to place to find spiritual enlightenment, or solitude. Mountain Hermits Monastic Wanderers So, why do people choose the digital nomad lifestyle? So, why do people choose the digital nomad lifestyle? Like the wandering Buddhist monks and Christian hermits - the instability and stress from exploring so many different places does in fact provide spiritual enlightenment and growth. That’s the for story next week. Thanks for reading.

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