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Startups of The Year 2024 Winners: Europe

Startupy roku 2024 Vítězové: Evropa

Startups del Año 2024 Ganadores: Europa

Startups of the Year 2024 Winners: ヨーロッパ

ការចាប់ផ្តើមនៃឆ្នាំ 2024 អ្នកឈ្នះ: ប្រទេសអឺរ៉ុប

2024. gada jaunuzņēmumi Uzvarētāji: Eiropa

Startups ny taona 2024 mpandresy: Eoropa

वर्ष २०२४ को स्टार्टअप विजेता: युरोप

Startups van het jaar 2024 Winnaars: Europa

Startups of the Year 2024 Победители: Европа

Startups of the Year 2024 Winners: Europe

Startups e vitit 2024 Fituesit: Europe

Survey and Analysis of Smart Contract Quality Assurance: Conclusions, Acknowledgement and References

Survey and Analysis of Smart Contract Quality Assurance: Evaluation

IRELAND—MY FIRST TWO NOVELS. 1841-1848.

Mount Olympus

This one will be helpful for anyone who works with Azure Synapse Analytics. Synapse combines data warehousing, big data processing, data integration, and advanced analytics into a single, integrated solution. It offers scalable storage and computes resources, allowing you to handle large volumes of data and perform complex analytics tasks efficiently. And most important in my case it offers SQL-based querying capabilities. And here the story begins. To work with the data I would like to add some first. To make it automatically of course I have to use a program language like Python in this example. I’m looking at the Synapse docs and wondering which DB connector/driver I could use. I found the “ ”, with the help of . ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server pyodbc ...
import pyodbc
...

def insert() -> None:

  conn = pyodbc.connect(f"Driver={{{'ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server'}}};Server=tcp:{'host'},{'port'};Database={'database'};Uid={'username'};Pwd={'password'};Encrypt=yes;TrustServerCertificate=no;Connection Timeout=30;")
  ... It seems that the classic SQL statement should work to add data to whatever table I would like to. And it actually does insert the data. INSERT INTO f"INSERT INTO [{schema_name}].[{table_name}] 
   ({', '.join([f'[{column_name}]' for column_name in column_names])}) 
   VALUES ({', '.join(['?'] * len(column_names))});" Yeah, it is basic INSERT, it just inserts data, if there are a lot of rows this one becomes a very slow script to add the data.  First, I found property that should be set to true, so it will automatically start and close the transaction. autocommit conn.autocommit = True With it or without, when I manually commit a transaction split script, there are no significant differences. The previous change didn’t make an effect on slow insertion. Realizing the need for a more effective approach, I began exploring alternative solutions and eventually discovered the function of . This newfound function opened up a world of possibilities by enabling the execution of multiple SQL, I had thought. executemany pyodbc cursor.executemany(sql_statement, params) The function in provided some improvement, it fell short of meeting my expectations in terms of speed. Despite its ability to execute multiple SQL statements in a single call, the overall performance remained slower than desired. This limitation prompted me to continue exploring alternative methods and optimizations to enhance further the speed and efficiency of my data processing workflows. executemany pyodbc cursor.fast_executemany = True as described on some websites it should boost the script to the cosmos. But not for this case. It did nothing to execute INSERT fast. fast_executemany Eventually, after carefully reading the documentation about I realized that there is a special note about Synapse Analytics. And it said that Synapse does not support such statements at all. Azure SQL Server That means the INSERT statement supports only one row per statement. E.g.: # IS NOT SUPPORTED
INSERT INTO table_name (column_list) 
  VALUES (value_list_1), (value_list_2), ... (value_list_n); But a single insert is executable: # SUPPORTED
INSERT INTO table_name (column_list) VALUES (value_1); It was a surprise to me cause I used and it was working. And the actual reason to this is and its driver which converts script to executable. In other words, one INSERT translated to MANY INSERT: executemany pyodbc INSERT INTO table_name (column_list) VALUES (value_1);
INSERT INTO table_name (column_list) VALUES (value_2);
...
INSERT INTO table_name (column_list) VALUES (value_n); Okay, then I found a possibility to use COPY statement for fast INSERT. For this approach, I have to use the file as a proxy for data. if not os.path.exists(local_path):
    os.mkdir(local_path)

 # Create a file in the local data directory to upload and download(use it after)
 local_file_name = str(uuid.uuid4()) + ".csv"
 upload_file_path = os.path.join(local_path, local_file_name)

 # Write text to the file
 with open(upload_file_path,'w') as out:
   csv_out=csv.writer(out)
   csv_out.writerows(values) It’s not enough just to use the file on the machine where the code executes. The final script will be executed on SQL Synapse Server, the file must be available for reading. Here Azure Blob storage will be as another proxy to temporarily and privately store data files for Synapse script. try:
  # Create the BlobServiceClient object
  blob_service_client = BlobServiceClient(account_url, credential=storage_secret)
  logger.info(f"Uploading file to blob: {local_file_name} storage in schema: {destination_schema_name} table: {table_name}")
  logger.info(f"Account URL: {account_url}, Container: {storage_container}, File: {local_file_name}")
  # Using Container Client to upload blob
  container_client = blob_service_client.get_container_client(storage_container)
  with open(file=upload_file_path, mode="rb") as csv_data:
    container_client.upload_blob(local_file_name, csv_data, content_settings=ContentSettings(content_type='text/csv'))
except Exception as ex:
  logger.error(f"Error: {ex} in schema: {destination_schema_name} table: {table_name}")
  raise
finally:
  if(os.path.exists(upload_file_path) and os.path.isfile(upload_file_path)):
    os.remove(upload_file_path) Finally, write COPY INTO statement, execute and commit the transaction. file_url = f"https://{storage_identity}.blob.core.windows.net/{storage_container}/{local_file_name}"

logger.info(f"Inserting data for schema: {destination_schema_name} table: {table_name}, rows count: {len(values)}")
sql = (f"COPY INTO [{destination_schema_name}].[{table_name}] ({', '.join([f'[{c}]' for c in columns])})"
  f"FROM '{file_url}' "
  f"WITH (CREDENTIAL=(IDENTITY='Storage Account Key', SECRET='{storage_secret}'))")
cursor.execute(sql)
conn.commit() Voila, and fast insertion works. It executes much, much faster. It works fast as I assumed to be with classic . INSERT INTO table_name (column_list) VALUES (value_list_1), (value_list_2), ... (value_list_n); The gem is eventually found. After working with files and blob storage I have to keep in mind to clear everything. try:
  # Create the BlobServiceClient object
  blob_service_client = BlobServiceClient(account_url, credential=storage_secret)
  logger.info(f"Removing blob: {local_file_name} from storage in schema: {destination_schema_name} table: {table_name}")
  Using Container Client to delete blob
  container_client = blob_service_client.get_container_client(storage_container)
  container_client.delete_blobs(local_file_name)
  logger.info(f"Blob: {local_file_name} removed from storage in schema: {destination_schema_name} table: {table_name}")
except Exception as ex:
  logger.error(f"Error: {ex} in schema: {destination_schema_name} table: {table_name}")
  raise Everything works, enjoy!

How to Optimize Data Insertion Into Synapse

A collection of poems and random notes: In sum, swell doggerel Well she used to love me but that's all over now... I quit humming my tune and continued my monologue. For those with the unbridled temerity to inquire of her name, she goes by Simile, Simile Metaphor... She worked at a club downtown. That's where I met her, at "The Hatbox". She was a "dancer", that's what she called it anyway. And it was good. Hell, it was better than good. It was great. Till we emptied the account. Then she split. Took the jewelry too. She was like that. Has anybody seen my baby? Has anyone seen my gal? Tales of heartache and desire. Distrust and lust. She sounded SO sincere. I couldn't help it, I just had to believe, know? Aw crap! Now I'm cryin again. Damn! Sniff. I mean she could be as fine as the rose and just as sweet, but damn, she could be mean as the thorns too. Maybe that was part of it. The idea that I could tame the tough girl. Make her into a lady, know? The hull seemed to tremble just so slightly as the retros fired their quick little bursts, the servos reacting in instants to every stimulus. We were coming down. Down in Territory. Donco was pissed. It was the umpteenth time he'd heard about Simile and my tale gave him unpleasant memories. That way sometimes, know? But hey, he would never SAY he was pissed. Nah. Then I could refuse to listen to HIS monologue, and that simply wasn't gonna happen. Nah. We were kinda honor bound to listen stoically to each other's sad and tawdry refrain. Same repeated sad repartee. This is why we don't date chicks that work at clubs, dance for a living. A Ho is A ho, you know... Ya know? Good riddance! I believe that we are not alone in the universe. I believe there are civilizations out there both more advanced and less sophisticated than ours. But, I also know that there are a LOT of "hoax" videos about UFOs. I just don't think that all these videos show UFOs in the sense of alien craft. Once upon a time I was driving in Kentucky. Long straight stretch of road. This very bright object/light came in from what was to me the left horizon and traversed about halfway across the hemisphere moving incredibly fast. Then it turned 90 degrees. No curving turn. No slowdown. If there are species beyond our ken, their technology will appear as magic. And barring accident I don't think for the most part that we'll know when they arrive(d). If they land in my front yard I may poop in me undies first, but I am nonetheless determined to ask for a ride. You know if there are such advanced species what could they gain from us? Well suppose that they brought "us" here to begin with.
Suppose that propagating their species this way was part of their "program" and that this dispersion, diaspora galactica, is intended to insure survival and gain trade partners, where the trade is to be in ideas, in concepts and in thoughts, not in material objects; that is, once we ascend to that level. IF we ascend to that level... In a dream I saw her, the Jade Lady. She was at the temple. With a snake. They said it was her familiar. I don't know. I ran. But my feet would not move. I was consumed by the snake. In the pit of holy fire I became her consort. Then I awoke. And I have had this fever and chills ever since the dream. What could it be doctor? Take advantage of the machine, USE the machine, make it yield to your advances. But don't let the machine by itself just generate random effects. I am seeking edification about PhotoShop and I've been playing a lot with filters. But what is REALLY the cat's meow is a drawing tablet. You just "draw" except it's on the screen. And it's fast. And forgiving. Oooops! Just UNDO. It appears that most of what I can do with pencil ink or paint can be done on the machine. I peeped some of ur stuff. Don't give up "handmade" on REAL media. But it IS fun. I am grateful for the toys and some talent God gave me. This made me miss the hashhish. The member of Abu'l-Haylukh remained In erection for thirty days, sustained By smoking hashish. Abu'l-Hayjeh deflowered in one night Eighty virgins in a rigid rite, After smoking hashish. Felah the Negro did jerk off his yard For all of a week; hashish kept it up hard. The Negro Maymum, with opiate, Without stopping to ejaculate, Futtered for fifty consecutive days. Allah bepraise him for having fulfilled Such a task! But then, fresh vigor instilled, Obliged to furnish ten days more-- Making sixty days of coition his score-- He fain went on and finished the chore. During this ordeal Maymum, in bed, Smoked what held up his penis head: Hashish! -- Quoted in The Cradle of Erotica, Edwardes & Masters, pg. 96. Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it. Mahatma Gandhi Dalai Lama said "Some people automatically associate morality and altruism with a religious vision of the world. But I believe it is a mistake to think that morality is an attribute only of religion. We can imagine two types of spirituality: one tied to religion, while the other arises spontaneously in the human heart as an expression of love for our neighbors and a desire to do them good." "I cant explain myself, because im not myself you See..."
-alice This song is one of the best ever. Just gives me chills. “Comin Back To me”, Jefferson Airplane The summer had inhaled and held its breath too long
The winter looked the same, as if it never had gone
And through an open window where no curtain hung
I saw you, I saw you, comin' back to me One begins to read between the pages of a look
The shape of sleepy music, and suddenly you're hooked
Through the rain upon the trees, that kisses on the run
I saw you, I saw you, comin' back to me You can't stay and live my way
Scatter my love like leaves in the wind
You always say you want to go away But I know what it always has been, it always has been A transparent dream beneath an occasional sigh
Most of the time I just let it go by
Now I wish it hadn't begun I saw you, yes I saw you, comin' back to me Strolling the hills overlooking the shore
I realize I've been here before
The shadow in the mist could have been anyone I saw you, I saw you, comin' back to me Small things like reasons are put in a jar
Whatever happened to wishes wished on a star?
Was it just something that I made up for fun?
I saw you, I saw you, comin' back to me Word! They lie about marijuana. Tell you pot-smoking makes you unmotivated. Lie! When you're high, you can do everything you normally do, just as well. You just realize that it's not worth the f*cking effort." (Bill Hicks) Real ligion "God has come in different ways that the many might be saved. There are many paths to the gates of Heaven." from the Book of Bob (BoB) 1:1 I cannot find any reference to this or similar phrasing. Therefore I claim it as the first verse in the Book of Bob. Bob has a peculiar take on forgiveness he'd like to share. In the Lord's Prayer we ask for forgiveness for something. In most people's familiar it is trespass. That's because this version came from England, where trespass was one of the worst transgressions.
In other traditions its our indebtedness, from Europe, where monetary debt was not good. We ask for forgiveness as we forgive others. But here's the rub: if you cut me I can forgive you or not as I choose. But if you cut Jack, only Jack and God can forgive you. I cannot forgive you for cutting Jack. In fact, if I PRESUME to forgive you for cutting Jack, I am committing hubris.
Peace&OneLove! For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
~~ Titus 2:11-14
Finding the good, doing the good not to get into heaven, but because of the joy in having already gotten my ticket.
This phrase, "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men." is and holds one of the most important concepts about my belief system. In my mind "to all men" doesn't mean just those who accept Christ as their savior. And somebody said "God has come in different ways that the many might be saved." And this doesn't contradict the notion that some may not come unto the Father except by Jesus. My Father sends whom He will to every man. And if He comes for you, however He may appear, you'd best accept the gift. I'd guess that perspective is not altogether acceptable to some. LikeYeah! "Shrooms" as the popular phrase goes is a very nice high. Now they are experimenting with psilocybin for mental illness, with Ritalin being used as the control drug for some of the subjects. Now Ritalin have you seeing people in the trees. One of the few drugs that provoked paranoia in the LabRat. My limited experience indicates that there is a tendency for lingering aspects of the trip. I'd probably gobble a handful if they were in front of me. In me old age I used to wash em down with beer. Ah well... You can make your little head do amazing tricks, and it isn't that difficult. Some tricks, like associations, may seem contrived but after you have done this a few times it becomes background process, so you don't have to focus on the remembering so much. My House And my house shall have places to lie, perchance then to nap and to dream.
In my house, I shall know heaven. Roly Poly, tickle my holey There were four old whores of Baltimore,
Drinking beer and wine,
The topic of conversation was,
"Mine is bigger than thine." Chorus : Roly Poly, tickle my holey, smell of of my slimey flue,
Then drag your nuts across my guts,
I'm one of the whorey crew. The first old whore from Baltimore said,
"Mine's as big as the air,
The birds fly in, the birds fly out,
And never tickle a hair." Midnight sweat. Soaking wet.
Worst one yet.
Can't forget.
Vietnam vet. winking eye winking eye soft lover's sigh, winking eye
sweet lips
silk glove, soft winking eye, winked its eye
lover's trips
soft like a sigh too shy, winked its eye
lover's trips
soft like a sigh, never no til ya try
smooth hips
lover's trips
winked its eye, soft lover's thigh
smooth lipped love,
before the sigh, winked its eye
soft, like a sigh too shy, winked its eye
lover's trips
soft love, never know til ya try, winked its eye
smooth hips, lover's trips
before the sigh winked its eye
sweet lips
winked its thigh before the sigh, sweet eye
lover's trips
like a cry before the sigh, soft thigh
lover's trips
soft, love, too shy to sigh, winked its eye
smooth hips
lover's trips
soft lover's thigh,
soft silk glove never no til ya try
before the sigh winked its eye
lover's trips
soft lover's sigh, never know til ya try
sweet lips, lover's trips my computer wrote this in 1985! Fart proudly crepitu superbe some random verses the dragon is at the door with his fiery roar because he wants more Listen my children and you shall hear
A warning that needs to be made clear.
Out here on the highway the risk is near;
No locks nor latches should allay your fear,
You see the highwaymen are already here,
And they want what you hold so very dear.
So, wanna buy some protective cyber gear? i saw the uber geek
he was quite unique
one strange freak let me tell ya how it's gonna be
yes lord jesus is the one for me
he came along and he set me free
of this earthly sin and misery It was a wondrous machine
Both concave and convex
So it would suit either sex
But oh what a mess to clean The thug monkey The thug monkey has come down from on high,
I tell you the monkey is no more in the sky,
Instead he has come to abide with you and I.
Monkey hopes you will believe him bye and bye
So chin up there's no reason for you to cry,
Monkey said so and you know he wouldn't lie.
Soon everyone will have a slice of the pie,
And Branson and Bezos won't be allowed to fly
With resources stolen from you and another guy. livin the blues livin the blues with a jazz flavor
that's the kind of music I savor
play some more and win my favor In the space between the stars, Out there someplace way past Mars, They say you run out of whiskey bars Along the freeways filled with cars, Those long and cold concrete scars. But it's ok cause we got mason jars Full of the kindest of blunt cigars. Oh my honey, my do good honey, If only we had all his money, Why then the things we could do! Save the world for me and you! Doesn't matter about his plan,
He simply doesn't understand
This great egalitarian opportunity
To do some real good for our community. No mere mortal needs that much dough,
Surely that much we all should know.
If he doesn't appreciate our scheme,
Take his funds to finance our dream. Because what is truly important here
Is the agenda we hold so near and dear,
And we need to make that really clear! I saw a place I saw a place
there was blue sky over a city of gold
a fever dream
or at the least that is what I am told
no reality
would dare be so beautiful nor so bold
and now you see
I am become quite cynical and quite old
and what I think
is that it has all been bought and sold Logins are fascinating! So let's consider the idea of the Magic Link (ML). A user wants to login to your site or app using an ML. The first part of the ML protocol involves the user's request to do an ML login. Does a user want to use an ML, and if so how do they let us know that? Let's assume the user has to request an ML login to initiate the protocol, though you could just send ML's to all your clients for say an ad campaign. So for example to request an ML a user could provide an Email or an SMS address, or if the system preregisters users perhaps their user name, maybe even an ID or address for a connected key fob device or special host. This request for an ML could be a user entry or automata provided. The second part of the protocol is our response or reply to an ML request. To respond to the user's request for an ML we need some address or means of contacting the user to provide or deliver that ML (or other info, say an error message) to them. Do we even know who they are, or for that matter do we care beyond the simple contact information needed to send the ML? grammatically speaking for f*ck's sake The singular form of the apostrophe has an implied yet not explicit plurality for the possessor f*ck. So while the textual expression is singular there is an embodiment of plurality that can not be overlooked. This is frequently an issue in the interpretation of idiomatic speech or expressions. ☺ the cowboy Now babe don't come all undone
It's just a cowboy with his gun
Looking for some hit and run
And other kinds of good clean fun I loved her just the same Though her duralon finish
Had begun to diminish
I loved her just the same
For that I'll take the blame
But her gears had started to strip
They could no longer get a grip
And she really started to flip
So then I called the factory
They offered nothing satisfactory
I am so tired of trying to explain
To get poor service again and again
For a product that just went insane Hail Proud Mary!
Not very pretty,
'n her lip is hairy;
yeah she is scary,
one ugly fairy. being a genius is rather like being a high powered battery.
nothing happens until you connect it to something. ;-) "The man represented all that was wrong with the world, a shining avatar of evil so bright, Jill wanted to slam the door and spend the next hour and a half on her knees." Conkluzion Hope you have njoyed this collection of letters deranged into words. When the fever is upon me I frequently wax prolific with such doggerel. As always, Comments, Criticisms, and Suggestions are welcome.

Some Swell Doggerel Vol.2

FCA Consultation Paper on Cryptoassets

RideSharing is the economic powerhouse driving autonomous vehicles to take flight. Lyft’s self driving car and Lilium Jet The RideSharing model changed everything we knew about mobility. Packed metro rides and graffiti covered busses transformed for many into hailing a cab. As the driver begins to become less important, and billions of dollars go into autonomous systems, the car itself is evolving. Many people today talk about how the end goal is self driving cars, but the technology will quickly surpass self driving and take flight. Lulium Jet I sat at the Launch of Ola Play in Bangalore, India. I was the only foreigner, half crazed and sleep deprived. Ola had just announced the first in-car computing platform custom designed for RideSharing. With only an hours sleep, I watched history unfold before me. “To date, to be very honest,” Amit Sagar, of Mahindra explained, “Every single innovation has been focused towards the driver. But now the time has come to focus our attention on the passenger sitting in the rear seat.” For the first time in history, an automaker stated publicly that the passenger was becoming more important than the driver. The VP sales continued in Jobsian fashion, “We are at an inflection point, and with this we will lead a new story going forward.” Mahindra, one of India’s largest automakers, had just revealed that vehicle design is changing forever, with focus now shifting to the passenger. In countries like India, most of the population will never own a car. DARPA Funded has partnered with Uber (Aurora) Aurora In the past, flying cars were expensive dreams. It would be prohibitively expensive to have flying cars until a new economic model arose, RideSharing. The RideSharing model meant that one vehicle could have many trips, operating at near maximum efficiency. This means that the cost of the vehicle can be distributed across thousands of rides. RideSharing enabled mobility for people in India that could never afford a car. This same RideSharing model means that flying cars have just found a way to become affordable for the masses. In fact, Flying cars appear so lucrative, RideSharing companies like Uber and Lyft have been partnering publicly (and through the grapevine) on deploying Vertical Take Off and Landing vehicles (or VTOL, as the industry prefers). Uber released a white-paper in 2016 with astounding numbers. A VTOL trip from San Francisco to San Jose will soon become competitive with a cab ride. Uber Elevate Even more interestingly, because much of the cost associated with operations are human, (maintenance, etc.) VTOL RideSharing will be economically feasible even in places like India: Uber Elevate I have personally ridden in an Ola Cab from Gurgaon to Connaught Place in Delhi (after too much to drink in Cyber City). Rs 1000 (~$15 USD) for a flying car would become extremely popular. Uber is planning tests in Dubai and Dallas, where they held their secretive, Invite only Elevate Conference. Ehang at CES Las Vegas (Author) On the other side of the Earth in China, companies like Ehang are racing ahead on their own. At CES 2017 in Las Vegas, a representative told me that Ehang and Uber were “In Conversation”. In my opinion there is no reason to partner. Whomever owns the autonomous VTOL infrastructure will benefit from its revenues. Handing that off to another company like Uber doesn’t make sense. This idea is validated by the fact that OEMs like Tesla, and Volkswagen have publicly stated their self driving cars will not be allowed on Uber. The RideSharing industry is slowly fragmenting as automakers build their own RideSharing Networks. On the other hand, RideSharing companies like Uber, Lyft, Gett, and Waymo are actively developing their own Autonomous Technologies. Whomever owns the infrastructure, owns the revenues from an autonomous network. Uber and Lyft, by developing their own hardware, are actively preparing themselves for a future of flight. Lilium As technologies surrounding autonomous systems, battery technology, and robotic flight are converging, dozens of companies are building flying cars. The technology exist right now in prototype and in the air. DARPA funded Aurora and German Lilium jet have become top contenders using electric ducted fan motors. Joby, Kitty hawk, and Zee.Aero are all coming out of Silicon Valley, building working prototypes (the latter two are funded directly by Google’s Larry Page.) Governments and Venture capitalists are pouring money into VTOL. While most VTOL startups are still in“stealth”, according to Crunchbase, Lilium alone has raised over $101.4 Million USD. Massive funding in autonomous vehicle hardware and software is further lowering the cost of deploying VTOL infrastructure. Computer vision software, and robotic hardware are converging so quickly that even the big, slow moving aerospace companies are getting involved. AirBus has spun off two projects, Pop.up and Vahana. Vahana, in ancient Sanskrit means “one that carries” appearing in the Bhagavad Gita thousands of years ago. The ancients believed in flying cars, now investors do too. AirBus Vahana Money, technology, and demand exists right now to make flying cars economically feasible. What we are waiting for is legislation. Existing Ride Sharing companies already have a foot in rapidly developing countries’ legal systems (RideSharing is still illegal in most places, but governments turn a blind eye.) Uber has even been accused of bribery. (Wall Street Journal Via Engadget) As more “developed” countries await legislation around licensing autonomous flight, places like Dubai and China are pushing forward with live tests. It is not difficult to imagine that in the next 3 years, VTOL RideSharing will be very real in many places. Unintended Consequences The consequences of autonomous flight will also be very real. Many claim that autonomous cars alone may drastically reduce property value in cities ( ). Curbed explains that developers like AvalonBay in Los Angeles are already designing for an autonomous future. As self driving cars reduce the need for parking garages, AvalonBay is designing their garages to be converted into housing. Curbed has done a great article on this While autonomous cars may help developers maximize urban space, VTOL could accelerate de-urbanization for those who can afford it. If VTOL can expand in cost and access faster than city populations can grow, property may begin to devalue as the ultra-rich move away from city center. Autonomous systems are going to fundamentally change the way our cities are designed. Lilium Why would anyone live in the city, if they could bypass the chaos of traffic and live somewhere more affordable? Lilium estimated their VTOL jet will put much of Marin County (North of San Francisco) Into range of downtown. It is not difficult to imagine climbing to the roof of your Marin County home, awaiting a VTOL to San Francisco. Your Apple watch pings, and a shining electric VTOL settles onto your solar landing pad. The electric Vahana or Lilium jet takes off and lands in SoMa ten minutes later. If Uber’s Elevate white paper is accurate, it may not only be more affordable, but faster to commute from somewhere like Marin, than to take a cab through Silicon Valley. VTOL could drastically enhance the value of land around our cities, and make center city “uncool” to live. Deurbanization VTOL Oasis (Author) In the 1920’s, when airplane ranges were still small, futurists imagined giant floating islands built at sea, facilitating “hops” across the Atlantic. As the range of VTOL increases, we can begin to imagine flying VTOL instead of a commercial airline. A trip between Los Angeles and Las Vegas could be cut in half by VTOL “oasis” hidden amongst the Sierra Nevada Mountains. We can begin to imagine these new cities arising in the middle of nowhere, strategically positioned between points of interest. The drive for humans to escape cities, and the affordability of VTOL just might replace the Jet age. As new RideSharing models quickly prove feasibility, investors and startups are racing for what lies beyond self driving cars. If legislation can keep pace with technology, our skies, and cities will quickly transform into something new. As technology continues to accelerate at the exponential pace in which we are experiencing, VTOL may quickly evolve into affordable access to outer space. Garrett Kinsman Writes for Autonomous Tomorrow based out of Bangalore, India, and San Francisco. Resources: https://www.uber.com/elevate.pdf _Aurora Flight Sciences is a leader in the development and manufacturing of advanced unmanned systems and aerospace…_www.aurora.aero Aurora Flight Sciences - Apply autonomy and robotics to the development, production, and operation… _Lilium enables you to travel 5 times faster than a car by introducing the world's first all-electric vertical take-off…_lilium.com Lilium

RideSharing means Flying Cars are Here to Stay

We all get bit carried away when building the MVP. Months and months of development gone into it. But is it really required? Or can we circumvent it? The ( ) is a product with just enough features to satisfy early customers, and to provide feedback for future development. minimum viable product MVP Though the term is almost 2 decades old now, it can owe its popularity to two people in particular: — Author, steve blank The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Successful Strategies for Products that Win — Author, Eric Ries The Lean Startup And all of a sudden, everybody in the startup and venture capital world was talking of MVPs. Investor pitch decks pimped up with details on MVP and the results that came with it. Having an MVP — it made obvious sense. Why spend months and months on developing a full-fledged product? You could now spend a few weeks to get a barebone architecture out there to test out your hypothesis. Having MVPs gave businesses the much needed insight on market validation. It helped them change their approaches way early in their product lifecycle. Long story cut short, it was all good. But, no good deed goes unpunished, and no pure thought remains incorrigible and incorruptible. The notion of MVP too, started to change — at least in the startup community. Primarily, I suspect, because of the fact that people did not really understand what MVP stood for. Let us look at a couple of problems and try to clear the air a bit. . : Read the follow-up to this story here …[cont] The MVP Saga . PROBLEM #1 — THE FREE MVP Today, someone asked me a question. A question I identify to be one of the many problems leading to the misguided view of MVP as we typically see it today. Should you ever do free trials for customers during MVP? Or should you always charge? How can your MVP be free if your product isn’t? And lets say you are offering your MVP for free when your product isn’t. Are you getting actionable and insightful intel or data from your early pilot, in that case? I always have trouble fixing up the perfect knot for my tie. The last wedding I attended, I ended up doing my tie 7 or 8 times before I was satisfied with the knot. Before I was happy with the length of the tie and everything. exact centimeter ( ) Yes. I want my tie to be correct to the precise cm. I am anal that way You can say it is a “pain-point” for me. Now, that’s what startups are all about. Solving a pain point. The important questions here would be: Does the pain-point exist? Yes it does. Any picture of me in a tie is a testimony to the endless effort that has gone behind getting it that way. Does the pain-point exist for a big enough consumer set to make it a viable business? I don’t know. I never thought of starting a business that sells a product that fixes the perfect tie for you. But if you want to get into this business, this is a critical question for you. One that will illustrate market size and potential to scale. Is the pain-point critical enough for the consumer to want to shell money for it? Alternately put, does he have the budget and intent to spend on a solution to fix this pain-point? Now, this. This my friends, is the $5,000 question. The primary question that you try finding the answer to by bringing out a MVP. Before I wrote that last point, the thought in my head was — But now? Now I am not so sure. I will never pay $99 for a device that just fixes my tie for me. After all, that would be insane. WHY NOT? I have paid bellhops a couple of dollars for fixing my tie — just before I enter the main venue. ( ) Yes. A couple of dollars may not seem as much, but where in an economy like India, it is actually a decent tip. So we have established I am already spending on getting my ties fixed. In that case, maybe I wouldn’t mind paying for a device that does that in the comfort of my home. Whenever I need, as frequently as I need. How much would I be willing to pay for that device is an altogether different question. A question that would be a part of your optimal pricing discussion and pricing strategy. So, let’s not get into that. If you look at that whole rant again, you would understand why you just offer your MVP for free. CAN’T I wasn’t initially willing to pay for device — which I inherently resigned as a silly thing to buy for. I submitted to the notion of probably making this purchase once I was confronted with a crucial fact. That I am already paying for this service, in a different form. THE Even then, I would — in all probability — be doing the cost benefit analysis. I would access value of a one time larger payment versus multiple smaller payments as and when I need, and what not. But once again, let us not get carried away with that, and stay on point. But had you offered me the device for free, I would have certainly taken it. Why not? I use neckties, this device fixes neckties, I can use this device, and the device is free. If I like it, great. If I don’t — in a landfill it goes. Offering a product for free, when it isn’t designed to be that way is counterproductive. It will never give you the market indicators you had set out in search for. PROBLEM #2 — THE MVP THAT’S NOT AN MVP, BUT JUST A SMALLER, SIMPLER PRODUCT Yes. I know the P in MVP stands for , but I don’t think the intent ever was to create a simpler product. The intent was to create a product/solution that is quick to introduce to the market. So that you’re in a better position to gather actionable and live customer data. Things that you can’t figure out for sure, sitting in a board room. Product When you are taking a couple of months and a team of 4–5 people to build your MVP, then you are not really building an MVP, are you? You are actually building an entry level product. One that you will add bells and whistles to at a later stage, if things start going your way. Not to mention, if you get the much coveted VC funding — as many entrepreneurs would agree. Your MVP is supposed to just validate your core hypothesis. And access the willingness of the market to accept and embrace that solution — at a cost. Let us take the example of a food app — one with a new concept. Or newish. I am not sure if it already exists. WHAT SHOULD WE HAVE FOR LUNCH? That is the typical question we ask ourselves when we are planning a lunch with friends. That is the question mothers ask their kids when they are planning to start cooking. So how did the answer to this question change from “ ” to “ ”. #FoodForThought — Let’s have Pepperoni Pizza Let’s go to Big Chill all puns intended. It is interesting, isn’t it? All these food-tech startups around you, attempting to bring restaurants home to you. Yet nobody is actually trying to bring you the food worth killing for. So what if that is exactly what you did? A simple solution — does one thing. Tells you what are on the menu of any restaurant, in any particular locality. THE MOST AMAZING DISHES Quite a simple concept really. Let us consider this to be an app. Here will be the steps: User fires up the app App detects user’s location Shows restaurants in the area. Maybe even give some sort of indication as to which are the popular ones and which aren’t Asks for preferences from users — Vegan, Glutten free and what not Suggests the exact dishes that a user may love — Restaurant + Dish Top 10 most popular dishes in that particular area — from various restaurants The user can make an informed choice now. I want to have Peking Duck, cool — I know where to head out to. SO. WHAT WILL THE MVP LOOK LIKE? Well, it will be an app which will….. Errrr. Do you really need an app for the MVP? Let’s look at it this way. Our primary assumption asserts the usefulness of this system for foodies out there. Let’s do a quick and dirty test. Take any locality — I choose Connaught Place, New Delhi, India. I print a mini brochure — say a 3 page fold one. It has a list of restaurants, and popular dishes in each restaurants — just from that locality. On one page, it has top 10 most popular dishes for different categories. May be just two categories, one for the vegetarians and one for those who live and swear by meat. Next, I print 5 restaurants on the front of the brochure. The brochure is sealed. People can look at the front for free, of course. And if they like the offering, they can have it for — say 30 cents. The price isn’t that important at this stage. The willingness to shell out any money is. I would look at the conversion ratio. Out of 100 people I talked to, how many even wanted to look at the front page. And off of those who did, how many wanted to pay me the 30 cents. What kind of people were most interested for each of those two buckets of the funnel. Were they college kids, couples, working professionals, tourists? I can list out some more interesting data points you can accumulate here, but you get the idea. And more importantly, you did manage to do a full fledged pilot, without writing a single line of code. And you did it with a MVP that is nowhere close to what your actual product would look like. Sure, you should be having a website as well. And there are other things that we can talk about in terms of the design of the brochure and its contents. How you leverage the leads that you generate via this experiment, but let us keep all that aside for the time being. Ola* started out their operations by taking cab bookings on a central number. Did you know that? They started phasing out that process and ultimately ditched it completely. They didn’t do so because it wasn’t working, but because they knew it couldn’t be scaled up. But even that central 1800-number* served its purpose and was a good way to move ahead. That is what the real essence of MVP is. Having a product that validates your hypothesis and gives you actionable market intelligence. It doesn’t matter whether the MVP is anywhere close to your real product or not. *Ola is a competitor to Uber, operating in India *We are just calling it by the generic name 1800-number, it wasn’t actually an 1800-number. . : Read the follow-up to this story here …[cont] The MVP Saga . Getting in touch is easy. I am available on , . I write on Medium, but I guess that you already knew. I also have a account. :-) Twitter Facebook, Quora, LinkedIn mail Have fun! Let’s chat. Humans, bots — really doesn’t make much difference to me.

The curious case of MVP — The Why and How

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