Eureka

eureka

Today, microservices architecture is a common approach to building a system. In this article, I will show you how to build your microservices using Java and Spring Framework. Let’s build a system that will contain the basic infrastructure services: Gateway Service - redirects requests from a client to Business Services Discovery Service - resolves the address of available service Business Service - does the main job The basic idea is to avoid forwarding requests to a service and let the discovery service decide which one is available, this will allow you to launch of as many instances as needed and make the system scalable. What will be used to build the system: Java 17 Spring boot 3.0.1 Maven IntelliJ Idea Docker-Compose The complete code can be found . here Creating the parent module The first step in building the services is the parent module. The parent module will compose the services and will be a handy tool for building the services from one entry point. However, the main module is not required, and actually, for a production, you don’t want to compose services, since each of the services would be deployed independently. In our environment, we will use the Spring Framework. Spring Framework is the most popular framework for building java back-end services, it provides many useful tools. So, to create the main module, visit . https://start.spring.io/ The website generates a project for you with all the necessary dependencies. For the initial service let’s create a project without any dependencies, we will use it as a parent module for other services: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 https://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <parent>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
        <version>3.0.1</version>
        <relativePath/> 
    </parent>

    <groupId>ser.hkrn</groupId>
    <artifactId>microservice-package-hkrn</artifactId>
    <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <name>microservice-package-hkrn</name>
    <packaging>pom</packaging>
    <description>microservice-package-hkrn</description>

    <properties>
        <java.version>17</java.version>
    </properties>

    <modules>
        <module>discovery-service</module>
        <module>business-service</module>
        <module>gateway-service</module>
    </modules>

</project> Note that we already added dependent modules that we are about to create: <modules>
        <module>discovery-service</module>
        <module>business-service</module>
        <module>gateway-service</module>
    </modules> Creating Services: The Discovery Service Discovery Service is a service that will help to find the physical address of a business with its name. It also handles balancing between several instances of the same service. To create a service, choose the following dependencies: Spring Security Eureka Server <dependency>
   <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
   <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-security</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
   <groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
   <artifactId>spring-cloud-starter-netflix-eureka-server</artifactId>
</dependency> The Eureka Server will do the main job here. It is a tool from Netflix which does everything that the discovery service is expected to do. Spring security will restrict unauthorized access. Now we need to configure the service. First of all, let’s update the parent project: <parent>
    <groupId>ser.hkrn</groupId>
    <artifactId>microservice-package-hkrn</artifactId>
    <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
</parent> The next step is to add some properties. To do this, we have to configure spring security by adding a name and a password: spring.security.user.name=${eureka_login:login}
spring.security.user.password=${eureka_password:pass} Using Spring SpEL here makes the properties configurable and allows you to add default values in order to launch the service locally. Since the Eureka Server has a client as well, we have to configure the client to exclude registering and fetching the registry: eureka.client.register-with-eureka=false
eureka.client.fetch-registry=false For Discovery Service use port: 8761 server.port=8761 Then, create which is a bean to configure HTTP security: SecurityFilterChain @Configuration
public class WebSecurityConfig {

    @Bean
    public SecurityFilterChain filterChain(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception {
        http.csrf()
                .disable()
                .authorizeHttpRequests()
                .anyRequest()
                .authenticated()
                .and()
                .httpBasic()
                .and()
                .formLogin();

        return http.build();
    } In short, the configuration: Disables CSRF, Allows only authenticated requests Allows basic and form login Finally, put annotation over the main class: @EnableEurekaServer @EnableEurekaServer
@SpringBootApplication
public class DiscoveryServiceApplication {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SpringApplication.run(DiscoveryServiceApplication.class, args);
    }

} Now we can launch the service and check if it works. If you did everything correctly you see the following Eureka page: Creating Services: A Business Service The next step is to create a business service. The service will do some  tasks and will not be a part of the infrastructure system. So let’s create a new service with these dependencies: Eureka Discovery Client Spring Web Spring Boot Actuator <dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-actuator</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-cloud-starter-netflix-eureka-client</artifactId>
</dependency> Eureka Discovery Client connects to the Eureka Server. Spring Web will allow for the creation of controllers. Spring Boot Actuator is needed to allow Eureka Server to monitor the health of the service. So, updating the parent project: <parent>
    <groupId>ser.hkrn</groupId>
    <artifactId>microservice-package-hkrn</artifactId>
    <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
</parent> Don't forget to change the group id to match the name of your service. The next step is to update properties. Application name is used to register in the Eureka Server: spring.application.name=business-service URL to Eureka Server: eureka.client.serviceUrl.defaultZone=http://${eureka_login:login}:${eureka_password:pass}@${eureka_url:localhost}:${eureka_port:8761}/eureka/ Application port: server.port=${business_service_port:8081} Now, let’s create a controller and put some logic into it. To keep it simple, let’s create a controller that returns the current version of the service: @Controller
public class VersionController {

    @GetMapping("/resolve/version")
    public ResponseEntity<?> resolveVersion() {
        return ResponseEntity.ok(new Object() {
            public String version = "0.0.1-SNAPSHOT";
        });
    }
} The business layer is done, now we can launch the Discovery Service and then the Business Service to see if it works. On the Eureka webpage, you can see the registered Business Service: Creating Services: A Gateway Service The last service to create is the Gateway Service, which will redirect requests from a client to necessary services using Eureka. It will contain the same dependencies as Business Service does: Eureka Discovery Client Spring Web Spring Boot Actuator <dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-actuator</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-cloud-starter-netflix-eureka-client</artifactId>
</dependency> Update parent project: <parent>
    <groupId>ser.hkrn</groupId>
    <artifactId>microservice-package-hkrn</artifactId>
    <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
</parent> Add properties Application name: spring.application.name=gateway-service Eureka service URL: eureka.client.serviceUrl.defaultZone=http://${eureka.login:login}:${eureka.password:pass}@${eureka.url:localhost}:${eureka.port:8761}/eureka/ Server port: server.port=8082 it's important to create bean: RestTemplate @Configuration
public class RestTemplateConfig {

    @Bean
    @LoadBalanced
    public RestTemplate restTemplate(){
       return new RestTemplate();
    }
} Note the annotation. It allows you to use the Eureka Server to balance the requests. Otherwise, requests will be sent to the given URL avoiding Eureka. @LoadBalanced Now let’s create a controller class that will be used to redirect all the requests to a necessary web service using Eureka: @Controller
public class BusinessController {

    private final RestTemplate restTemplate;

    public BusinessController(RestTemplate restTemplate) {
        this.restTemplate = restTemplate;
    }

    @GetMapping("/business")
    public ResponseEntity<?> getBusinessVersion() {
        return ResponseEntity.ok(
                restTemplate.getForObject("http://business-service/resolve/version", Object.class)
        );
    }
} Basically, the controller receives requests and redirects them to the Business Service. Note that the name of the service is used in the URL: . Eureka proceeds with the name and changes it to the IP address. Thus for communicating, it is enough to know only the service’s name. http://business-service/resolve/version Docker-Compose to automate deployment The package of services is done. To automate deployment, let’s wrap everything in Docker. To do that, we will prepare some Dockerfiles. Discovery-service Dockerfile: FROM openjdk
COPY ./target/service-discovery-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar /usr/app/
WORKDIR /usr/app
EXPOSE 8761
ENTRYPOINT ["java", "-jar", "service-discovery-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar"] Business-service Dockerfile: FROM openjdk
COPY ./target/business-service-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar /usr/app/
WORKDIR /usr/app
EXPOSE 8081
ENTRYPOINT ["java", "-jar", "business-service-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar"] Gateway-service Dockerfile: FROM openjdk
COPY ./target/gateway-service-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar /usr/app/
WORKDIR /usr/app
EXPOSE 8082
ENTRYPOINT ["java", "-jar", "gateway-service-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar"] As can be seen from the files, there are a couple of similar actions for each service. When Dockerfiles are done, we need to prepare Docker-Compose as a main script to launch all created services. Since the Docker-Compose script will launch all the services, it must be located in the parent service: version: '3.1'

services:
  discovery-service:
    build: ./discovery-service
    restart: always
    environment:
      - eureka.login=${eureka_login}
      - eureka.password=${eureka_password}
      - server.port=${eureka_port}
    ports:
      - 8080:${eureka_port}

  business-service:
    build: ./business-service
    restart: always
    environment:
      - eureka.login=${eureka_login}
      - eureka.password=${eureka_password}
      - eureka.url=${eureka_url}
      - eureka.port=${eureka_port}
      - server.port=${business_service_port}
    ports:
      - 8081:${business_service_port}
    links:
      - discovery-service:${eureka_url}

  gateway-service:
    build: ./gateway-service
    restart: always
    environment:
      - eureka.login=${eureka_login}
      - eureka.password=${eureka_password}
      - eureka.url=${eureka_url}
      - eureka.port=${eureka_port}
      - server.port=${gateway_service_port}
    ports:
      - 8082:${gateway_service_port}
    links:
      - discovery-service:${eureka_url} As can be seen from the script, it contains all the necessary configurations for each service, and particular values are used. Using the variables allows deploying the microservices pack to any environment. To provide particular values we will use files. For the production environment, we will create an file, and an file for a development stand. .env .env .env-dev .env: eureka_login=admin
eureka_password=CjPjaM97TybVR9O
eureka_url=eureka
eureka_port=8080
business_service_port=8081
gateway_service_port=8082 .env-dev: eureka_login=user
eureka_password=123
eureka_url=eureka
eureka_port=8080
business_service_port=8081
gateway_service_port=8082 Launching Finally, the project is done. In order to start it the only command we need to use is: docker-compose up -d Conclusion In order to create a microservice system using Spring Framework we need to: Create a parent project Create Discovery Service Create Gateway Service Create Business Services Create Dockerfiles for each service Create Docker-Compose on the parent-level service Create files for each stand .env

Building Java Microservices from Scratch

Hi! I’m Nikolai Khechumov from ’s team. This is the second part of our journey, where we are trying to improve secrets detection. , we examined different types of secrets, understood the core problems, and hit a dead end. Now we are going to make a breakthrough and do something useful. Avito Application Security In the previous part Imitating SAST Okay, since we cannot easily use the existing tools, let’s try to understand how they work and review the first two steps any SAST tool makes to build an AST. A very simplified scheme is shown below: These two steps are “lexing” and “parsing.” The Lexing (also known as ‘tokenization’) stage receives a code as just a stream of chars. Then it finds very basic language-specific syntax constructions and outputs them as a set of typed tokens — small strings with semantic interpretation. For example, a token ‘def’ is not just three chars but a keyword reserved for function declaration. We now have valuable insights about the purpose of every token, but the context itself is still missing. Python The parsing stage adds valuable context. It combines tokens into higher-level language constructions and outputs them in a form called an “abstract syntax tree.” Now we have more structural details: groups of tokens became variables, functions, and so on. For us, the question is still the same: how. Eureka! One day, while making a presentation for a talk, I had a code snippet. I wanted to format it nicely, started a browser, and typed “syntax highlighting online.” Then I opened the first link, pasted my code, pressed “highlight,” and.. a lighting strike hit somewhere near me. What I did is I found a tool that: definitely makes tokenization under the hood light enough to work inside a web browser supports dozens of languages and formats out of the box Forget about the presentation. Let’s find something similar running on Python. And yes, I found it. 538 languages supported I found , a fantastic library that solved the most significant problem: language-dependent tokenization. It still uses regexes under the hood, but those regexes are not written by me. Pygments That’s a killer feature! The library is about syntax highlighting but it features , so we can output a raw stream of tokens with their semantic meaning. RawTokenLexer Our first problem — decreasing the number of strings for analysis — is solved. Now we understand the type of every token and can just ignore useless ones: keywords, punctuation, numbers, operators, etc., leaving only literals and comments. But we are still unable to understand the names and values of variables. Variable Detection The lexing problem seems to be solved. Now let's move on to parsing. Building a true AST looks a bit redundant for our problem, so let’s optimize. Further research has shown that the type of token is more important than its value for variable detection. We need to look for . Once the pattern is found, we can make additional checks against the values of the tokens inside it. patterns inside a stream of token types to detect variables To create a Token Type Stream (TTS), I took one character from the type name of each token. Thanks to Pygments, token types are common across languages and formats. Eventually, a Variable Detection Rule (VDR) may contain the following: Reference to look inside a TTS (regex with match groups) pattern for match groups that check for expected values inside the pattern (eq. useful for finding assignment punctuation) MatchRules to clarify a group’s semantic purpose MatchSemantics Example! So let’s take our simple code snippet: def main(arg: str):
  a = 3 
  b = 'hello'
  return f'{a}{b}' Represent as an array with TTS. Basically, the variable of our interest ( ) is between the 20th and the 25th token. b The reference pattern here should be something like this: (n)t*(o|p)t*(s)(s)(s)t Let’s apply it to the TTS Match groups help us to apply additional verification logic. And finally, a rule may be supplemented with our vision of semantics. Summarizing everything The cool part here is that approach allows you to cover any language with variable detection using only 4-6 rules. New Secrets Detection Rule Semantic information about a given file enables us to analyze deeper in the right context. For example, we can now calculate entropy for a variable’s value, knowing for sure that this specific substring is a variable's value. Names of variables are also important for analysis. There are two new rules I introduced: Suspicious variable naming (low confidence) Suspicious variable naming + high entropy of a variable's value Now we can also use hashed secrets as a source of new rules. A hashed secret rule can contain information about the original secret length to improve performance. Outcomes This approach became a giant step forward for Avito: we received a noticeable performance boost (up to 60%) and +200% new findings we could not see before. Of course, the false positive rate has also grown, but it’s mostly due to test secrets. The findings are semantically correct. Limitations Plaintext files without extensions or incorrect extensions are obviously unsupported; tokenization fallbacks to the “blind mode” Variable Detection Rules (VDRs) are still a kind of compromise; they’re language-specific and may not guarantee absolute correctness (although we did not face any problem with that) We’re ready to share it with you! Our code scanning model requires every scanner to be a web service that supports our internal protocol, so we decided to extract the core functionality and open-source it as a CLI tool called DeepSecrets. You can find it here: https://github.com/avito-tech/deepsecrets Release notes are in a separate article here. Thank you! The featured image for this piece was generated with stable diffusion v2.1 Prompt: Illustrate a computer screen with the caution symbol.

Modernizing Secrets Scanning: Part 2–the Semantic Eureka

The New York “BitLicence” kills innovation and makes people less safe. We know this is a fact from the story of the incandescent light bulb The venerable has now been in many countries in the west. The reasoning behind this ban was that the bulbs are ‘inefficient’, and that removing them from use will save energy and reduce the amount of ‘carbon’ that is released into the atmosphere by the people who use them. incandescent light bulb banned As a replacement for these bulbs, ‘energy efficient’ fluorescent light bulbs were planned to completely replace the incandescent light bulb, by the force of law. All of the production lines that used to manufacture the incandescent light bulb have either been stopped or are in the process of being stopped. Capital has been diverted to the production of fluorescent light bulbs, and manufacturing capacity of the factories that make them has been increased to meet the demand caused by the ban on incandescent bulbs. The incandescent light bulb is an old technology, developed and by , and refined over many decades. They are inexpensive to manufacture, made of simple, 100% recyclable non toxic parts (glass, steel and tungsten), and there are literally of receptacles that have been designed to accommodate their shape. patented Thomas Edison billions Edison’s Light Bulbs are very simple, and 100% recyclable. The new ‘Environmentally Friendly’, ‘energy saving’ are expensive to manufacture, have plastic parts, are not simple in design and contain deadly poisons like , making it necessary to dispose of them carefully, lest the mercury escape, polluting the environment . Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs mercury and poisoning people The new bulbs also produce a hideous, unpleasant light that flickers at the frequency of the electricity mains. These bulbs have been demonstrated to have deleterious effects on people who are sensitive to their light, causing them and . migraine headaches eye strain Just before the ban on the incandescent light bulb came into force, the following announcement of a scientific breakthrough was made: Boffins: Ordinary lightbulbs can be made efficient, cheaply Incandescents nearing extinction: Impeccable timing, everyoneBy Lewis Page Posted in Physics, 1st June 2009 11:03 GMT Just as authorities in much of the Western world have moved to phase out the incandescent lightbulb, American boffins believe they have developed a process which can make the oldschool lights more efficient than energy-saving lamps. Optics boffins at the Rochester Uni in New York state say they’ve developed a process in which an ordinary lighbulb is zapped with a femtosecond-long pulse of extremely high-energy laser light. The laser blast travels through the glass to hit the tungsten filament, causing complex nano- and micro-structures to form on its surface. Once the lasered light bulb is than powered up, according to the Rochester scientists, it emits a lot more light for the same energy compared to an untreated bulb — equivalent to 40 per cent energy savings. The process of lasing incandescent bulbs wouldn’t be expensive, apparently, so they’d remain cheap compared to fluorescent energy-saving jobs. According to Rochester Uni: The process could make a light as bright as a 100-watt bulb consume less electricity than a 60-watt bulb while remaining far cheaper and radiating a more pleasant light than a fluorescent bulb. Despite the incredible intensity involved, the femtosecond laser can be powered by a simple wall outlet, meaning that when the process is refined, implementing it to augment regular light bulbs should be relatively simple. It seems that Professor Chunlei Guo of Rochester hit upon the idea of brightening-up lightbulb filaments following earlier experiments in which he and his team used laser zapping to turn metals completely black. This worked so well that Guo and his cohorts wondered if they could reverse the process. “We fired the laser beam right through the glass of the bulb and altered a small area on the filament,” says the prof. “When we lit the bulb, we could actually see this one patch was clearly brighter than the rest of the filament, but there was no change in the bulb’s energy usage.” It seems that Guo and his team of lightbulb-blasting boffins can also produce other strange effects, getting incandescent bulbs to emit partially polarised or differently-coloured light — without the energy-wasting filters that would normally be necessary. It’s the efficiency-enhancement aspect of the studies which could make headlines, however. Both the US and European Union governments are now committed to firm timetables which will see incandescent bulbs phased out in favour of more energy-efficient alternatives, such as fluorescents. This is being done in order to save energy and so lower carbon emissions. But if it’s as simple as Guo suggests to enhance an incandescent with his laser process, this may turn out to have been an unnecessary or even retrograde step. Guo’s research has been accepted for publication by the journal Applied Physics Letters, but isn’t out yet. In the meantime, there’s a pop-sci release from the university here. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/01/light_bulb_laser_blast_enhancement/ This is a perfect example of why the State should have in what technology firms must use to produce their goods and which goods people can and cannot have access to. no say In their zeal to ‘protect the environment’ the State has diverted capital and resources away from the well established incandescent light bulb production lines, , to the new fluorescent light bulb lines, that have had their manufacturing capacity ramped up in order to meet the artificially stimulated demand for the new bad bulbs. by force The decision to ban the incandescent lightbulb was made with all of the information the legislatures had to hand; i.e. all the relevant facts about the different types of bulb that were available in 2007/2008. What they did not and could not take into account was the research in the above article, which, had they known about it, may have prevented them from legislating for the complete ban. The Knowledge Problem This is the central problem with the state interfering with technology; Now that the law is in force, we are in a situation where capital has been wasted and misdirected, resources wasted and misdirected and depending on the state of the decommissioning of the incandescent bulb lines, no costless way back to the manufacturing of incandescent light bulbs. no one can predict the future. The state, by its nature, is . They cannot predict the future and they are not omniscient. In order to be able to legislate effectively, especially where technology is concerned, they would need to be omniscient, with perfect knowledge of every piece and field of ongoing research and technology, and the of each piece and field of research and technology. incompetent potential The enormity of this amount of knowledge is beyond the capacity of any man or group of men; it would mean being able to apply each existing technology (implemented or not) and each piece of research against each other (in the case above, femtosecond lasers, metallurgy and incandescent light bulbs), considering the effect of multiples of them upon each other in succession, and then considering the knock on effects of each of these, say, ten levels down on the tree. This would produce a multi dimensional matrix or tree with a size bigger than the universe. Only then would they be able to create an optimal plan that would maximize the production and movements of capital to reach any particular goal, and of course, who has the moral authority to choose the appropriate goals is something to consider. Applying a femtosecond laser to incandescent light bulbs is one solution that has produced significant increases in efficiency. Who knows what other treatments, changes in filament formulation, the glass enclosure etc. will produce? Certainly, the state cannot possibly predict them. What the state_can_ do however, is prevent research and innovation, destroying potential breakthroughs, efficiencies, savings and progress. The state is a bumbler, a reactive and ignorant dealer; they are like a cave man being tasked to turn off a diesel engine that has been left running. Instead of getting into the car by actuating the door handle and turning the ignition key counter clockwise, the caveman takes his club out and beats against the hood covering engine until it stops running. Of course, he claims success when it stops, when in fact the tank has run out of gas and the engine cuts out of its own accord. But I digress. This process, an inexpensive, and easy addition to any incandescent light bulb production line, would have saved billions in electricity bills, spared the environment from tonnes of mercury contamination, eliminated the need to build light bulb recycling plants and spared the health of many millions of people, with all the costs attendant on that. Then you must factor in are all the other applications of this femtosecond laser technology that are now going to be delayed or which will not now come into existence. femtosecond laser Think about it; the widespread deployment of femtosecond flashers would mean designing modular systems for resale to manufacturers; out of that design and manufacturing process, other processes will have emerged. Secondary uses of these flashers would have been subsequently discovered, which would have other knock on effects. The innovation cascade resulting from this process is what the state has destroyed. When you apply this example to any other industry or technology where the state legislates, and take into account the default incompetence that inheres in the people that make these decisions, you can begin to get a glimpse of the suboptimal world that we are now in. Hovercars Imagine what sort of world it would be had the state not interfered in any way with any technology. To put it into perspective, think of the ubiquity of cheap mobile phones, and then apply that example to every expensive technology that the state has controlled in any way… like the automobile. But but but… it has no wheels! “Where we’re going, we don’t need roads” or wheels! — Back to the Future Imagine how much more efficient, inexpensive, clean and beneficial cars would be had the state stayed out of the business of the details of car manufacture. ‘Consumer advocates’ would tell you that cars are safer now only because the state intervened in the manufacturing process. This may or may not be the case, but what is certain is that cars would be had the state not interfered with the manufacture of cars. safer than they are now I do not know of a single person who would not pick a safer car over an unsafe one, and since competition is fierce in car manufacture, this fact would be taken into account at every point the design stage, producing just the sort of cars that people want, . Think iPhone here; once you see it, you want it; you did not know that you would want it before it existed, you and all of the other phone manufacturers other than Apple could not even imagine it, but now that you have seen it, you want it more than … the same could be said for the very idea of the cellular phone itself. and cars that people did not know that they wanted any other mobile phone Extrapolating from all of this, it is clear that in many aspects of the way we live, we are existing in a world that is grossly distorted and sub-optimal. This world could be better in every way by orders of magnitude had the destructive and disruptive state not interfered with the innovations and interactions of men. How this applies to Bitcoin Everything that I have written here applies to Bitcoin, and the State’s race to regulate it. They will kill Bitcoin innovation just as they did in light bulb innovation, and the long term effects will be detrimental to all mankind. Innovations like will be abandoned as unnecessary, since the State will be there as guarantor. As we all know with the bank failures and regular stock market crashes, the State is useless at regulating the economy; they will damage Bitcoin if they are allowed to touch it. Bitcoin Multisig Transactions The New York BitLicense is going to cost anyone incorporated there $2,000,000 to receive a license, and then $1,000,000 per annum to stay in business thanks to imposed “compliance” rules. None of these rules will aid a single customer or cause them to be reimbursed should something go wrong. Every company submitting to BitLicense will pass compliance costs on to their customers, making Bitcoin more expensive to use for them The companies suffering BitLicense will have two choices; leave New York entirely, or lobby for every Bitcoin company everywhere to suffer the same crippling restrictions and costs to, “level the playing field”. and only them. Leaving New York will cost far more than lobbying the State to put restrictions on all Bitcoin companies, so you can bet that this will be the preferred . If the recent efforts to pare down the BitLicence succeed, the incentive to make others comply with what BitLicence proponents believe is “reasonable” by force will be strong. They have already done the hard work, why should others get off Scott free? This is the State, pitting entrepreneur against entrepreneur. first move I have left out all the reasoning and logic that make the idea of a BitLicense a farce on stilts. You can read my pieces on . From a pure perspective of innovation being good for society and the State’s inability to protect anyone, or predict the future, any regulation of Bitcoin is a huge mistake. Light bulbs are not like Bitcoins. Bitcoin has no mass, needs no factories and do not need to be transported. They are . The people who run businesses managing that data can be anywhere, and move there instantly. They do not have to close down factories, and relocate them. They don’t even have to move computers; all they need to do is buy hosting in another, better jurisdiction. And of course, only a would start a new Bitcoin business in New York. other that subject data fool The world is changing. Business as usual is off of the table, and if jurisdictions want innovation, investment and entrepreneurs in their territories, they are going to have to adapt to this new reality, rather than fight it. You can’t fight the future. A box of clear 100w incandescent bulbs, Edison fixture ↴

The Eureka Killers

Life in the Next 100 Years According to Jail-Broken Claude Sonnet 3.5

Why You Should Forget Everything You Know About Problem Solving

The World Wide Web, thank you Sir Tim, was conceived as a technology designed to be “ ” It has devolved from that into a (cyber)space of moated castles, Disneylandish . a powerful source for social change and individual creativity. cathedrals, not bazaars While very entertaining and very useful in many ways the hegemonic Web platforms present as artificial rather than organic, hierarchical rather than egalitarian. The Big Platforms are owned and managed by a handful of dominant, supervalued, companies. Prominent are Alphabet (Google’s parent) and Meta (Facebook’s parent). Low cost and high profit, they are great at informing and entertaining us. Meanwhile, however, in consequential ways they are beggaring those who provide the content and the users who consume that content. The top platforms are richly paid to channel advertising. To us. The Web has evolved into a massive, and massively profitable, advertising engine. As such, the Web now might be (and is becoming) seen as a form of de facto feudalism, digital imperialism, and digerati aristocracy. The attention of us billions of serfs is the product sold to advertisers. No coercion there. More like… seduction. Note, this critique does not imply a call for legislation or government regulation. Both tend to be blunt instruments that land much harder on startups than on the hegemons of the digital megaverse. It calls for transformation. Which will come, as always, , as Microsoft dethroned IBM, Google (partially) dethroned Microsoft, Facebook (partially) dethroned Google, Apple (partially) dethroned Facebook, and so forth. from more innovation How did we get here? Can we, and if so how can we, once again unleash the imprisoned lighting ( ) of the colonized Web to create a new golden age of innovation and equitable prosperity? h/t Emma Lazarus Enter the blockchain. First, though, who am I to judge? I am one of the few surviving Original Gangsters of the Supply Side/Reaganomics revolution. We, relentlessly mocked by the right (“voodoo economics”) and the left (“trickle-down economics”), got policies enacted that, over time , pushed the Dow from 814 (on that day in November 1979 that Reagan officially declared his candidacy for the presidency) to its current flirtation with 40,000. Our voodoo doubled real per capita GDP (from $30,000 to $60,000). It raised nominal American and world GDP by a factor of ten. Pretty good voodoo. That said, what’s the next act? The juice from the original equitable prosperity policy formula -- of stabilizing the dollar (slaying the inflation dragon for two generations and cutting the top marginal income tax rate from 70% to, initially, 28%) -- got wrung out around the time Bill Clinton left the building. I was and am enthusiastic about reducing counterproductively high marginal tax rates across-the-board. Yet much of what ensued in the name of supply-side during the 21st century is a cargo-cult version of supply-side’s successes of the ‘80s and ‘90s. The post-Reagan/Clinton grotesque caricature of authentic supply-side economics has left the economy limping for a generation. Cumulatively, over 20+ years, sub-par growth rates are crippling. They leave us with an economy, both national and personal, far lower than what consistent 3+% supply-side growth rates would have delivered over time. As , compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world.  A one or two percent differential compounded over 20 years makes a huge difference. Einstein probably never said Is there a new, plausible, way to re-ignite vibrant, widely shared, rising living standards? As Nobel Prize winner Paul Romer has pointed out, the secret sauce is innovation. Tech. Enter A16z’s , “a General Partner and has been at Andreessen Horowitz since 2012. He founded and leads a16z crypto, which invests in web3 technologies through four dedicated funds with more than $7 billion under management.” Chris Dixon Dixon has delivered a splendid new book . It lays out in clear, practical terms how the wild wild Web was lost. And how to set it right in such a way that everyone, including us serfs, can prosper. Read Write Own: Building the Next Era of the Internet As , prosperity is too important to be left to the economists. Enter Dixon. war is too important to be left to the generals How to restore sizzling, equitable, prosperity? The blockchain. The blockchain is a revolutionary form of software which, when more fully developed, portends to allow most of the value created by the community and by its cultural creatives to be enjoyed by the full community and its cultural creatives. Not (as now) exclusively, or at least primarily, by the corporate royalty and tech aristocracy. At long last, Dixon gives us a presentation of the blockchain and its properties imbued with an enthusiasm leavened with shrewd practical insight devoid of hype. Dixon is one of the Masters of the Digital Universe (as coder, entrepreneur, and investor). He knows whereof he writes and has written the first really great, comprehensive, book on the blockchain, . Read Write Own: Building the Next Era of the Internet Eureka! Dixon provides an overview in his introduction. He there provides us a World-Wide-Webb-telescopic-eye view of the three eras of the internet, of a new movement, of seeing the truth and determining the internet’s future. Part One, “Read Write”—treats the early internet, which was effectively read only, and Web2, allowing us surfers to write and post through websites, blogs, podcasts, social media and so forth. He explains why networks matter and lays out a trenchant taxonomy of the two dominant incumbent networks (protocol, like the internet and email, and corporate, such as Google and Facebook) and their properties. In Part Two, “Own,” Dixon then goes on to explain what blockchains are, what “tokens” are, and what the – radically great – properties of blockchain networks are… or could and can be. “Own” is a short word with huge implications. Ownership is what has been lost, and which can be restored via a (better) blockchain. In Part Three, “A New Era,” Dixon explains and explores the fundamentals of the business model, community-created software, and take rates (meaning the vigorish that the corporate network proprietors extract from their communities, a process he aptly calls “attract and extract”). He lays out how building networks with token incentives can dramatically change the way the world works for the better, making it more prosperous, cultured, and equitable. He presents vividly the attendant “tokenomics” … and how to restore popular, rather than corporate-autocratic, governance. In Part Four, “Here and Now”, he contrasts the culture of the computer (blockchain as compute platform) with the casino (cryptocurrency), concluding with “What’s Next” … showing how mobile computing, starting with the iPhone, changed everything. He then lays out “some promising applications.” Dixon concludes with a pragmatic vision of the reinvention of the internet… and what grounds his cause for optimism. Until Dixon, in many years of my searching, like Diogenes with his lantern, I had encountered not one single really good, comprehensive, book on the blockchain. (I may have missed one, admittedly, for instance, not yet having gotten to Alex Tapscott’s critically acclaimed .) Web3 There I rested, baffled. So much sizzle. So little steak. So, together with a brilliant acquaintance, I helped write one: . That said, it mainly was focused on the potential finance applications of the blockchain, not the Big Picture. Redefining the Future of the Economy: Governance Blocks and Economic Architecture I thereafter co-authored a second book on this subject, , a compilation of ten superior policies designed to let the sector thrive while protecting the public. Blockchain With American Character It took a long odyssey to arrive at Dixon. I wandered around for years asking people vastly smarter than me what the blockchain was good for and seeking examples of killer applications (“use cases” in the prevailing jargon). In response, I got oodles of hype. And almost no satisfying answers … with one exception, though a largely unpublished one. noteworthy Cometh now Chris Dixon. I am not the only one impressed. Sam Altman, the godfather of ChatGPT, blurbs Read Write Own: “Read this book to understand a compelling vision of where the Internet should go and how to get there.” Shark Tank’s Mark Cuban: “Chris Dixon succeeds at explaining how crypto technology is vital to our technological future and how we all can benefit much as we have from the internet.” And many more captains of industry, tech titans, and nouveau billionaires discovered Dixon’s writings before I did. My own modest credentials? I have been working within and with the Blockchain ecosystem for, well, eons. One of my LinkedIn verticals is aggregating some of the most interesting stories about NFTs. Ralph Benko’s Cryptozoic Eon Geology nerds will recognize the original to be the pre-Cambrian era … before the trilobites and dinosaurs... comprising 80% of Earth’s geo-history. Are we trembling at the verge of the blockchain’s equivalent of the ? Cryptozoic Eon Cambrian explosion Dixon thinks so. So do I. Call me yet my odyssey through the blockchain ecosystem has brought me into contact with creatures and cultures as exotically beautiful and, sometimes, as weird as those encountered by Odysseus during his long return to Ithaka. Nobody My own pilgrimage: Senior advisor to the fabulous Perianne Boring’s Chamber of Digital Commerce, one of the sector’s earliest and most distinguished cheerleaders. Long-time active member of the Federal Blockchain Working Group. Privileged to present more than once at the conferences of the , the preeminent association of officials and international career civil servants. Government Blockchain Association Serving, for two years, as the senior counselor to the American Blockchain PAC, with its advisory board chaired by who generously contributed the introduction to . The breakthrough nature of Stornetta and Haber’s discovery is decisively evidenced by the fact that three of Satoshi’s eight footnotes referenced his and Stuart Haber’s . blockchain-co-inventor Dr. W. Scott Stornetta Blockchain With American Character seminal paper The high privilege of working with one of Satoshi’s earliest Bitcoin core devs (and major contributor to the Android OS) in establishing a DC think tank devoted to smart energy policy, . Jeff Garzik Washington Power and Light Voted Contributor of the Year in 2022 at for my blockchain writings in six categories: politics, economics, science, art, philosophy, and (with Greg Meredith) scaling. HackerNoon My blockchain-related efforts have migrated primarily to the , rather than policy, side. enterprise My primary focus is on the use of rho calculus (a refinement of Robin Milner’s Turing Award-winning pi-calculus) to deploy a blockchain that, unlike the dominant platforms, scales. Bitcoin does a mere 7 transactions per second, Ethereum, 70 transactions per second. Inadequate for practical utility. And expensive to operate. And storable. (Currently it costs almost half a million dollars to store one iTune on the dominant incumbent chains, hence the referenced data are mostly stashed behind someone else’s firewall, not at all optimal.) And searchable. (Currently the dominant blockchains are largely opaque, like the Web before search engines.) And secure. So … now what? Dixon is a true Master of the Blockchain Universe. Not (like me) a practiced propagandist. Thus he buries his lede on page 179: “The stakes are high. As I’ve argued here, blockchain networks are the only known technology that can re-establish an open, democratic internet.” Hello Congress my old friend, I’ve come to talk to you again…. This re-establishment is a very big deal indeed. What’s next? For the tantalizing promise of the blockchain to be realized we need smart policy that protects the public while not stifling innovation or exporting this cutting-edge tech, and the potentially trillions of associated dollars, to Berlin, Singapore or Zug. Imagine how worse off America would be today if Congress and our regulators had effectively deported the headquarters of the big Web success stories, like Google, to Europe or the Pacific? The need for a savvy legal and regulatory environment is something that legislators, regulators, and the ethical actors within the industry (like Dixon) all agree upon. Yet Washington has thus far proved mostly thrown, acting like the primates upon encountering the monolith at the beginning of . 2001: a Space Odyssey We’re at the precipice of deporting Web3 and its associated power, prestige and wealth. That may be about to change. The blockchain’s thought leaders are at long last gearing up to help guide the footsteps of the Washington elite back onto the Paths of Righteousness via smart policy, smart legislation, and smart regulation. Some very smart leaders of the blockchain ecosystem are now promising to , a modest investment in support a multi-billion dollar sector. invest $78M in lobbying and advocacy in 2024 The open question? Will they deploy their resources effectively? Or be taken in by the wily Beltway Bandits? What to do? Those of us who remember C.P. Snow’s seminal understand that the “physical scientists” (which would include software engineers, notwithstanding that software is, so to speak, metaphysical) among whom I count myself as a very lesser figure do not really understand the “literary intellectuals” (among whom I also count myself in a very minor way). The Two Cultures And The Scientific Revolution This misunderstanding causes a terrible disconnect. As Snow reported, in 1959: “They have a curious distorted image of each other. Their attitudes are so different that, even at the level of emotion, they can’t find much common ground.” This can be countered… if the blockchain thought leaders know how to adopt an effective approach. There is abundant potential common ground. Dixon’s book offers a “ ” – the brain’s bridge connecting the left (logical, dominating the physical scientists) and right (narrative-based, dominating the literary intellectuals) hemispheres – to enable both sides to understand each other. corpus callosum To their mutual, and our, great benefit. There’s a simple way to expedite this process, one with a high ROI. Were the thought leaders of the $78M blockchain advocacy effort to allocate an absurdly small fraction (less than 1%) of their dedicated resources to distributing two copies (one for the Congressperson or Senator, one for his or her most relevant legislative aide) of Read Write Own, the impact almost surely will be disproportionately valuable compared to the low cost of such an operation. How do I know? I’ve pretty much single-handedly gotten (non-blockchain related) legislation passed through the House. Twice. There are a lot of smart, idealistic, people working on Capitol Hill, many actively interested in the blockchain and in its tantalizing potential. Put Read Write Own in front of them! The power of can hardly be overestimated: Joseph Pulitzer’s principles “…put it before them briefly so that they will read it, clearly so that they will understand it, forcibly so that they will appreciate it, picturesquely so that they will remember it, and, above all, accurately so that they may be wisely guided by its light.” The late supply-side chief propagandist Jude Wanniski’s book “The Way the World Works” played an outsized role in igniting the worldwide wave of unprecedented equitable prosperity driven by supply-side economics. This arcane fact is mostly long forgotten. That said, I was there and remember. In the , “And I only am escaped alone to tell thee.” words of Ishmael Read Write Own, properly deployed, very well could catalyze a comparably magnificent equitable prosperity transformation. Putting Dixon’s Read Write Own in front of the right eyeballs in the right way on Capitol Hill, could very well release the djinn of “the only known technology that can re-establish an open, democratic internet” from its lamp. Which eyeballs? Don’t try to guess. Simply trust the process known as “ as described by James Surowiecki. the wisdom of crowds” Flood the zone and let the implicate order take it from there. And then … let a new golden age of equitable prosperity, via the road thereto so ably mapped out by Dixon, foment well-designed policy and thereby foster the next great manifestation of equitable prosperity for America. And the world. Read. Write. Own.

Here Comes Web3: Chris Dixon’s Read Write Own

এখানে আসে ওয়েব 3: ক্রিস ডিক্সনের পড়া লেখা নিজস্ব

Hier kommt Web3: Chris Dixons Read Write Own

Aquí viene Web3: Lectura y escritura propia de Chris Dixon

Voici le Web3 : Lire, écrire et posséder de Chris Dixon

यहाँ आता है वेब3: क्रिस डिक्सन का पढ़ें लिखें अपना

Web3 の登場: Chris Dixon の Read Write Own

Web3 출시: Chris Dixon의 읽기 쓰기

Aí vem a Web3: Read Write Own de Chris Dixon

А вот и Web3: книга Криса Диксона «Читайте, пишите сами»

İşte Web3 Geliyor: Chris Dixon'ın Oku Yaz Kendin Yaz

Đây là Web3: Tự đọc và viết của Chris Dixon

Web3 来了：Chris Dixon 的 Read Write Own

Confession time: I’m the queen of procrastinators. I’ve turned the act of putting things off into an art form. You might think that’s not something to brag about — and you’d be right. But it does give me a certain expertise when it comes to understanding the procrastinator’s mind. My struggles with productivity are the stuff of legends. In college, my study ‘technique’ was a blend of fervent hope and caffeine-fueled all-nighters. I’ve tried every trick in the book to get my focus on track. Rising with the birds at 5 a.m. only turned me into a sleep-deprived grouch. Meditation led to some impressive mental gymnastics, but calmness and focus? Not so much. And bullet journaling felt like I needed a Ph.D. in stationery. But through this haze of half-starts and near-misses, a few strategies did shine through: Pomodoro method Pomodoro is as simple as a door handle: you set a timer for 25 minutes, focus on deep work, and when the timer rings — take a 5-minute break. I’ve discovered there are several reasons why Pomodoro got so insanely popular and why it actually works: 25 minutes is never as scary as your never-ending to-do list. 25 minutes are manageable. You know you can do 25 minutes. Something called “ ”. psychological priming Humans are a little simpler creatures than we like to think of ourselves, which is good news. Because you can actually teach yourself to get triggered to work, like Pavlov’s dog, setting a timer can be one of the cues your body uses to get into hard focus mode. Time awareness. One of the things you’ll often hear from chronic procrastinators is, “I’ve been putting this thing off for weeks, and it actually took me 15 minutes to do it”. Once you learn how much you can actually accomplish in just 25 minutes of focused work, every next Pomodoro session will feel even easier. Planning for failure No matter how motivated I am, there are still times I will experience extremely strong resistance to doing things I know I have to do but don’t want to do. In those cases, you’ll see me straying off to check email, getting into an argument on Twitter, or staring at my phone. But knowing yourself and what you’ll do when you’re about to give up can actually be helpful: it’ll make it easier for you to cut off those back exits. The easiest thing you can do is set up obstacles in the way of doing things you don’t want to be doing: Use a website blocker so you won’t be able to access funny cat videos while you’re working. turn off your phone and quit all the messaging apps so you won’t be tempted to work on your co-workers’ problems when you should be solving your own. log out of your inbox, so it’s not too easy for you to get lost in those back-and-forths The possibilities are endless, but the bottom line is you need a safety net to fall onto, and it shouldn’t be too easy for you to get distracted and lose focus. Reward vs. Punishment systems Humans are notoriously bad at delayed gratification. If you’re working on something that does not bring immediate results, a sense of accomplishment, or joy, you have to know: long-term goals simply mean nothing to your brain in the moment. And that’s why you’re struggling so much: working without an anticipation of a reward that’s coming soon is hard and unpleasant; no one actually enjoys that, and no one is good at it. The good news is that you can build yourself an artificial system of rewards and “punishments” that will reinforce your brain’s perception of the things that bring you positive results and those that hurt you. ( Important thing: both rewards and punishments have to come quickly.) If you fight delayed gratification with a slightly less delayed gratification, . it won’t work The reward/punishment systems that I’ve found to be working best for me were often based on monetary incentives. Positive reinforcements would often include celebratory purchases of things that aren’t necessary but wanted. They don’t have to be big or expensive. Sometimes, I go for a fancy dessert or a new vinyl record after checking off everything I planned for the day. Other times, I’d celebrate launching a project with a new Lego set (which is a passion of mine). Anything that can give you that extra boost at the moment and that feels easy to reach will do. The second tactic is loss aversion. Or, in simpler terms, paying in case of failing to do what you wanted to do. Loss aversion also usually works best because, in most cases, it requires some sort of public commitment. E.g., make a bet with a friend that you’ll stick to a gym routine or that you’ll launch something by an agreed deadline. If you’re not too keen on bets or making your friends richer, promise to donate to a charity if you fail to deliver on your commitments. Can we Eureka tomorrow? And then, finally, it clicked. When I was a few months into my sabbatical, licking wounds after the worst burnout I’ve had so far, I’ve been thinking about building something from scratch, something I’d know people would use. Something I could use. Because at the end of the day — I’m a very regular person with very common problems. But I’m also a try-hard, so the idea that I could actually bring something new to the world wasn’t that outrageous. the things I’ve implemented manually in my own life can actually be packed into a simple product. I wanted to start with something that would be easy to build in a relatively short time and budget so we could get a proof of concept and build upon that foundation. And that’s how I realized That’s how I came up with the concept of — a productivity Chrome extension that combines my best productivity tactics: Pomodollar — for easier dives into deep work — to make getting distracted much harder and put some obstacles on your way — if you decide to get distracted, you still can, but it’s not going to be free. Pomodoro timer Website blocker Loss aversion The way it’s going to work is simple: You start a work session, and Pomodollar will block all the “naughty” websites until the work session is over. If you still want to go ahead and watch a cat video instead of working, you’ll have to either end the session earlier or add the website to a whitelist, but both of these actions will cost you $1. As of now, our launch is planned for November 30. But what I’m wondering is: Will we launch on time? and Is anyone on here willing to bet a $100 we won’t? :) P.S. If you’re invested by now and want to see if we actually manage to deliver on time, subscribe to our . beta waitlist here Also published . here

I'm Making an App to Help Procrastinators, as a Procrastinator

When we speak, we make our meaning clear by the expression that we put into our words and sentences

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and His Connection to This GOP Billionaire

is one of the most popular streaming services in the world, with over 220 million subscribers globally. Netflix But have you ever wondered how Netflix manages to deliver thousands of hours of content to millions of users across the globe without any glitches or delays? How do they keep up with the ever-changing demands and preferences of their customers? How do they ensure that their service is always available, reliable, and secure? Well, the answer lies in their secret sauce: . DevOps Netflix is one of the pioneers and leaders of DevOps in the industry and has been at the forefront of DevOps adoption for many years. Netflix has adopted a microservice architecture, where each service is responsible for a specific function and can be deployed independently. Netflix also uses , where they make use of the resources and services of third-party providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS). cloud computing Netflix also uses automation, where they use tools and scripts to perform tasks such as provisioning, configuration, deployment, testing, and recovery. Netflix also uses a somewhat strange practice: , where they intentionally inject failures into their systems to test their resilience and reliability. chaos engineering In this article, I will show you how Netflix uses DevOps to deliver a seamless and satisfying experience to its customers. I will explore some of the challenges, benefits, and best practices of DevOps at Netflix. So grab your popcorn and get ready to learn some DevOps knowledge!🍿📺 Next week, I will be showing you the details of Netflix's DevOps Pipeline and how you can do it too. So make sure to subscribe to my newsletter 🚀, so you will be the first to know when I publish the story on Hackernoon. DevOps: The Secret Sauce Behind Your Binge-Watching Bliss If you're a Netflix user, you've probably never given much thought to the that power the streaming service. But trust me, they're essential to delivering the binge-watching bliss you've come to expect. DevOps practices So What is DevOps? DevOps is a set of practices that combines software development and IT operations to deliver faster, better, and cheaper software. DevOps aims to shorten the development lifecycle and provide consistent delivery of high-quality software by bridging development and IT operations. DevOps allows continuous integration, continuous delivery, continuous testing, continuous monitoring, and continuous feedback. These are the processes that allow Netflix to update its software multiple times a day, without compromising the quality or availability of its service. DevOps also fosters a culture of collaboration, communication, automation, experimentation, and learning. These are the values that empower Netflix to innovate faster, achieve near-perfect uptime, push new features faster to users, and increase their subscribers and streaming hours. Netflix is one of the most successful and popular streaming services in the world, with over 200 million subscribers and over 1 billion hours of content watched per week. Netflix operates in over 190 countries and offers a diverse and personalized catalog of movies, TV shows, documentaries, and more. Netflix also produces its own original content, such as Stranger Things, The Crown, The Witcher, and Black Mirror. In order to maintain its competitive edge and meet customer expectations, Netflix must consistently introduce new and enhanced features, content, and user experiences. It is crucial for Netflix to maintain the availability, reliability, and security of its service. Additionally, Netflix must scale its infrastructure and operations to accommodate the growing demand and complexity of its service. Furthermore, Netflix needs to remain agile in adapting to evolving technologies and adhering to varying regulations in different markets. All these challenges require Netflix to have a fast and agile software development process that can respond to the changing needs and expectations of its customers. This is where DevOps comes in. So, how does DevOps help Netflix deliver the best possible binge-watching experience for its users? Here are a few ways: : DevOps allows Netflix to experiment with new features and deploy them to production quickly and safely. This means that you can enjoy new features like personalized recommendations and interactive content sooner. Faster innovation : DevOps helps Netflix to avoid outages and resolve any issues that do occur quickly. This means that you can keep binge-watching without any interruptions. Near-perfect uptime : DevOps helps Netflix to ensure that new features are released with high quality. This means that you can expect the features you love to work flawlessly. More reliable features Overall, DevOps is essential to Netflix's success. It helps the company to deliver the best possible binge-watching experience for its users. DevOps helps Netflix achieve its business goals by enabling faster delivery of value, higher quality of service, lower cost of operation, and greater customer satisfaction So, the next time you're watching your favorite series on Netflix, take a moment to appreciate the DevOps team that's working hard to make it all possible. Without them, your binge-watching experience wouldn't be the same. How Netflix Embraced DevOps and Overcame the Cloud Challenges Netflix's love affair with DevOps began in 2008 after a major database corruption caused a . This outage was a wake-up call for Netflix, and they realized that Its traditional data center model was not scalable, reliable, or efficient enough to support its growing business. Netflix decided to move to the cloud and chose AWS as its cloud partner three-day outage Netflix rewrote its entire application in the cloud to become truly cloud-native. Netflix adopted a microservices architecture, where each service is responsible for a specific function and can be deployed independently. The company then built a self-service platform, where they provide tools and frameworks for their engineers to create, test, deploy, and monitor their services. Next, they leveraged open-source tools, such as Hystrix, Eureka, Zuul, and Spinnaker, to enhance their cloud capabilities. And they empowered their engineers to have full ownership and accountability of their services. Netflix encountered numerous challenges in the cloud, including scalability, reliability, security, performance, and complexity. The dynamic and unpredictable nature of the cloud presented issues, where resources were not always guaranteed, and failures were a constant possibility. Netflix had to guarantee that its service could seamlessly manage millions of concurrent requests and stream high-quality video without buffering or latency. Moreover, Netflix needed to take stringent measures to safeguard its data and protect its customers from cyberattacks while complying with diverse regulations in various markets. Managing the intricacies and dependencies among hundreds of microservices and thousands of instances also posed challenges. Furthermore, Netflix had to find ways to optimize costs and enhance performance in the cloud. Netflix overcame these challenges by applying DevOps principles and practices to their cloud operations. Netflix used automation, monitoring, feedback, and experimentation to improve its cloud performance and reliability. Netflix's DevOps journey has been a success story. By adopting DevOps practices, Netflix has been able to deliver new features faster, improve reliability, and reduce costs. This has allowed Netflix to become the world's leading streaming service. Netflix's DevOps Secrets: Radical Transparency, Data-Driven Decisions, and a Culture of Innovation Netflix is known for its cutting-edge DevOps practices. Some of these are: - Netflix follows a "no obstacles to production" approach that gives every engineer full access to the production environment from day one. This means that engineers can deploy their code to production without any approvals or reviews. This also means that engineers are responsible for the quality and reliability of their code. Netflix trusts its engineers to make the best decisions for their customers and their service. - Netflix does not prioritize uptime at all costs but focuses on innovation and customer satisfaction. Netflix believes that uptime is not a good measure of success, as it does not reflect the user experience or the value delivered. Netflix prefers to experiment with new features and technologies, even if they might cause some failures or errors. Netflix learns from these failures and improves its service accordingly. - Netflix does not enforce specific programming languages or frameworks but lets engineers choose the best tools for the job. Netflix does not have a standard technology stack or a prescribed way of doing things. Netflix encourages its engineers to use the tools and frameworks that suit their needs and preferences. Netflix also supports its engineers to learn new skills and technologies, as well as share their knowledge and expertise with others. - Netflix does not rely on gut instincts or traditional thinking but uses data to drive its decisions. Netflix collects and analyzes a large amount of data from its users, its systems, and its processes. Netflix uses this data to understand its customers' behavior, preferences, and feedback. Netflix also uses this data to measure its performance, identify problems, and find solutions. Netflix also uses this data to test hypotheses, validate assumptions, and evaluate outcomes. - Netflix embraces change and constant improvement by creating a culture where everyone has a seat in the conference room. Netflix does not have a rigid hierarchy or a fixed structure. Netflix empowers its employees to have autonomy, ownership, and accountability of their work. Netflix also encourages its employees to have open communication, collaboration, and feedback with each other. Netflix also fosters a culture of innovation, experimentation, and learning among its employees. Epilogue Netflix is a shining example of a company that has successfully implemented DevOps practices. Their DevOps culture has enabled them to become a leader in the entertainment industry and a gold standard in the DevOps world. Here are some of the key takeaways from this article: DevOps is a set of practices that combines software development and IT operations to deliver software faster, better, and cheaper. DevOps is essential for Netflix's success. It helps the company to deliver the best possible binge-watching experience for its users. Netflix adopted DevOps after a major outage in 2008. Netflix has faced challenges such as scaling, reliability, security, performance, and complexity in the cloud. Netflix has overcome these challenges by adopting a microservices architecture, implementing chaos engineering, building a self-service platform, leveraging open-source tools, and empowering its engineers. Netflix follows a number of key DevOps principles, including no obstacles to production, innovation over uptime, engineer choice, data-driven decision-making, and a culture of innovation and change. Netflix's software engineering process shows a fundamental understanding of DevOps thinking and a focus on quality attributes through automation-assisted processes. By following some of their best practices and principles, you too can achieve DevOps excellence in your organization. What are some of the DevOps challenges that you face in your projects? How do you overcome them? Share your thoughts in the comments below. Make sure you subscribe to ! Next week, I'll be spilling the beans on how to use Netflix's DevOps tricks for your own projects. 🚀 my newsletter If you want to learn more about DevOps and Netflix, here are some additional resources that you can check out: : A blog where Netflix engineers share their insights and experiences on various topics related to DevOps, cloud, data, security, and more. Netflix Tech Blog : A detailed article by Todd Hoff where he describes the architecture and design of Netflix's streaming service and how it handles millions of requests per second. Netflix: What Happens When You Press Play? : Building Confidence in Systems that Fail. Chaos Engineer ing

Netflix's Secret Sauce: The DevOps Behind Your Binge-Watching 

নেটফ্লিক্সের সিক্রেট সস: আপনার বিঞ্জ-ওয়াচিং-এর পিছনে ডিভঅপস

Die geheime Soße von Netflix: Die DevOps hinter Ihrem Binge-Watching

La salsa secreta de Netflix: los DevOps detrás de tus atracones

La sauce secrète de Netflix : le DevOps derrière votre visionnage excessif

नेटफ्लिक्स की सीक्रेट सॉस: द डेवऑप्स बिहाइंड योर बिंज-वॉचिंग

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Netflix의 비밀 소스: 폭식 시청 뒤에 숨은 DevOps

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Netflix 的秘密武器：追剧背后的 DevOps

Management was tough for me in the beginning—too many things to learn and too little time to put everything into practice. I kind of assumed that to be an effective manager; I needed to master all the skills and be great at everything. Trying to do it all and be the best at everything took a toll—I was left feeling tired and exhausted. I was running behind and thought working harder would help me catch up to the demands and expectations of the job. But the harder I tried, the tougher it got. It took a bit of experience and some painful stories to realize that good does not require being a superhuman with extraordinary skills. It only requires practicing these 3 important skills. management 3 Skills to Master as a Manager Give your people a voice Managers think that their job is to give advice, tell people what to do, make suggestions, come up with new ideas, and determine what needs to be done. But in doing so, they sometimes fail to stop and listen. to get work done, but effective communication isn’t one-sided. It’s a two-way street. Communication is important \When employees don’t feel heard, they also refuse to listen. Not being able to say what they need to say leads to feelings of isolation, resentment, and rejection, which also impacts their productivity and performance. When you listen more and speak less: Team members feel heard and respected to voice their opinions. Real problems are addressed instead of wasting time on inconsequential problems or issues that don’t deserve your time and attention. Such conversations are deeper, more productive, and have a higher likelihood of building better relationships in the long run. To give your people a voice, encourage them to speak up. Show that you care about their thoughts. Don’t just say that you respect their viewpoint; actually show it in your actions. Others are not fools. They can clearly see the difference between fake talk and a genuine desire to listen. Listen with curiosity. Speak with honesty. Act with integrity. The greatest problem with communication is we don’t listen to understand. We listen to reply. When we listen with curiosity, we don’t listen with the intent to reply. We listen for what’s behind the words — Roy T. Bennett Lead with questions, not answers A manager who acts as a know-it-all may assume they’re helping their people by answering their questions and giving them solutions, but leading with answers solves temporary problems while creating bigger problems in the long run. When on their own, they become dependent on their manager to do their thinking for them. Managers feel happy—they assume they’re doing their team a favor by unblocking them. In reality, they take away their freedom to think and execute independently. employees don’t learn to think and solve problems When you lead with questions: You encourage your team to exercise their brain muscles. Instead of executioners, it builds owners. They develop critical thinking skills necessary to do well and succeed. Asking open-ended questions with a tone of curiosity and inquiry is a great way to encourage your team to think creatively, find solutions to problems, and turn obstacles into opportunities. \Creativity requires asking questions for which an answer is not already known. The truth is that innovation is rarely the product of pure inspiration, that “Eureka!” moment when some genius comes up with a wholly new idea. Rather, innovation happens when people see things differently. It starts with a questioning culture that helps people gain new perspective and see things differently. Innovation is generated by great questions in an environment that encourages questions — Michael J. Marquardt Care personally, challenge directly Many managers either lean towards caring for their people so much that it negatively impacts their team’s growth and performance, or they’re so focused on driving business outcomes that they forget what it takes to be human. Caring personally for each individual on your team is important, but equally important is to speak your truth without twisting your words to make them feel better or avoid hurting their emotions. Let them sulk, be mad at you, or even feel angry. Facing the reality of their situation will make them stronger, while avoiding it will only hurt their performance. When you care personally but also challenge directly, your team members: . Knowing that you have good intentions at heart makes them focus on learning and improving as opposed to proving. Don’t take criticism personally They learn to embrace conflicts rather than avoid them. Makes them more open to admitting when they’re wrong and fixing mistakes. They feel accountable for delivering on their promise and driving outcomes for the organization. A great way to do this is to give a damn—shift from being strictly professional to making it personal. Tell them that they need to hear not only when they’re doing well but also when they aren’t. Don’t settle for less or keep low expectations. Raise the bar; expect nothing but excellence. Radical Candor is what happens when you put “Care Personally” and “Challenge Directly” together. When Radical Candor is encouraged and supported by the boss, communication flows, resentments that have festered come to the surface and get resolved, and people begin to love not just their work but whom they work with and where they work. When people love their job, the whole team is more successful. The resulting happiness is the success beyond success — Kim Scott Becoming a manager that your people trust and respect is not hard once you create a safe space for employees to voice their opinions, help them build creative thinking skills by leading with questions, and strike the right balance between challenging and personally caring for them. Summary To be an effective manager, master these 3 most important skills. Encourage your people to speak up and share their thoughts. When your team feels safe to voice their opinion, they feel heard and respected and do not shy away from addressing real problems that need time and attention. Help them solve problems on their own by asking questions and not spoon-feeding them solutions. Care for them personally but at the same time act tough when they don’t meet expectations. Also published . here

If You Want To Be An Effective Manager You Have To Master These 3 Skills

In the world of , staying organized, focused, and continuously improving can be challenging. To tackle this, engineers often use various tools and techniques to streamline their work and increase productivity. One method is the software engineering daybook. This approach, described in topic 22 of “ ,” provides a unique way to enhance skills and progress in the software development field. software engineering The Pragmatic Programmer What is a Daybook? Andrew Hunt and David Thomas’ book, “The Pragmatic Programmer: Your Journey to Mastery,” is a reliable source of practical programming knowledge. One of its most noteworthy concepts is the daybook, which is a useful tool for software engineers. The authors suggest maintaining a Daybook to record daily lessons, progress, and reflections, similar to the journaling process used by many electrical or mechanical engineers for years. What to capture and how? Record your Progress and Challenges One of the central elements to write about is your daily progress. Document the coding problems you tackle, the solutions you devise, and the roadblocks you encounter. Be honest in sharing your challenges, as this transparency is necessary for constructive self-analysis. Realizations and Breakthroughs Don’t let those hard-earned “eureka” moments sink into oblivion. Note down insights, innovative workarounds, and fresh perspectives that arise during coding. It’s always wise to keep notes as they may prove useful in solving future problems that may arise. You never know when you might face a similar issue. Reflections and Lessons Learned Take a moment to reflect on your daily choices. Consider what went well and where improvements can be made. Acknowledge both your successes and setbacks to gain valuable insight and improve decision-making skills. Code Snippets and Patterns In addition to narratives, the daybook is also a great place to store code snippets, algorithms, and design patterns that you’ve found useful. This creates a dynamic code repository within your journal that can be quickly accessed for reference. Personal Growth and Skill Development Beyond coding triumphs, touch upon your journey. Have you improved your debugging skills? Have you completed a certification? Celebrate your milestones and outline areas you’re actively developing. Why keep a Daybook? “The Pragmatic Programer” lists three benefits of keeping a daybook: Your daybook acts as a secure vault to keep information. “It is more reliable than memory.” Your daybook preserves ideas unrelated to your current tasks for future reference. “It gives you a place to store ideas that aren’t immediately relevant to the task at hand.” Writing in your daybook can reveal fresh perspectives and clarify complex problems. “It acts as a kind of rubber duck.” Other benefits include: Structured Learning A well-maintained daybook acts as a knowledge base. You’re cataloging lessons that are invaluable not only to you but also to colleagues who might encounter similar challenges. Iterative Progress Looking back on your previous entries can reveal your progress over time. It’s an opportunity to assess your development, identify patterns in your coding approach, and improve your strategies. Strategic Decision-Making The act of recording your choices forces you to think critically about your actions. This intentional approach helps improve your decision-making skills, resulting in more efficient problem-solving. Analog vs. Digital? David Thomas and Andrew Hunt recommend using pen and paper over digital files or wikis. However, I have a different viewpoint. In a , I shared my personal experience of shifting from using an analog notebook to Obsidian, a digital solution. Each method has its benefits, and the choice ultimately depends on personal preference. previously published story Here are some of the most important differences: Advantages Analog Daybooks Digital (Obsidian) Daybooks Simplicity and Tactile Experience The physical nature of an analog daybook provides a tactile experience that many find comforting. The digital platform offers smooth navigation and search features for quick access to notes. Freedom of Creativity With pen and paper, you can directly draw sketches, diagrams, and designs, offering higher creative freedom. Digital platforms allow embedding diagrams, images, and code snippets for visual support. Portability Analog daybooks are independent of power and can be carried anywhere without relying on devices. Digital daybooks are accessible on electronic devices, making them convenient for those who already spend a lot of time on their computer or smartphone. Security and Loss Vulnerable to physical damage such as water or fire, which can lead to the loss of valuable records. Digital notes can be automatically backed up and synchronized via cloud services, reducing the risk of data loss. Search and Organization Finding specific entries requires manual flipping and indexing. Organization can become more challenging over time. Digital platforms offer powerful search and tagging features to efficiently organize and retrieve notes. Linking and Interconnectivity Linking notes requires physical flipping and may be less seamless. Digital platforms allow easy linking of notes, creating an interactive network of knowledge. Space and Scalability Analog books have limited space and can become unwieldy with heavy use. Digital platforms can be expanded almost infinitely, providing room for future recordings. Data Security and Privacy Analog daybooks can be read by others if found. Digital platforms can be protected with passwords or encryption to preserve privacy. Collaboration Analog daybooks are difficult to use and edit collaboratively. Digital platforms enable collaborative note editing, enabling teamwork. Conclusion As a software engineer, your daybook is an essential tool for navigating challenges, harnessing knowledge, and fostering personal growth. It represents your dedication to learning and serves as a guide towards achieving engineering excellence. So, do you already have a daybook? If not, you should give it a try! Also published . here

You Should be Using a Software Engineering Daybook

Off on a Comet! a Journey through Planetary Space by Jules Verne, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . THE PROFESSOR PERPLEXED here CHAPTER XIV. THE PROFESSOR PERPLEXED Another month passed away, and it was now September, but it was still impossible to leave the warmth of the subterranean retreat for the more airy and commodious quarters of the Hive, where “the bees” would certainly have been frozen to death in their cells. It was altogether quite as much a matter of congratulation as of regret that the volcano showed no symptoms of resuming its activity; for although a return of the eruption might have rendered their former resort again habitable, any sudden outbreak would have been disastrous to them where they were, the crater being the sole outlet by which the burning lava could escape. “A wretched time we have had for the last seven months,” said the orderly one day to his master; “but what a comfort little Nina has been to us all!” “Yes, indeed,” replied Servadac; “she is a charming little creature. I hardly know how we should have got on without her.” “What is to become of her when we arrive back at the earth?” “Not much fear, Ben Zoof, but that she will be well taken care of. Perhaps you and I had better adopt her.” “Ay, yes,” assented the orderly. “You can be her father, and I can be her mother.” Servadac laughed. “Then you and I shall be man and wife.” “We have been as good as that for a long time,” observed Ben Zoof, gravely. By the beginning of October, the temperature had so far moderated that it could scarcely be said to be intolerable. The comet’s distance was scarcely three times as great from the sun as the earth from the sun, so that the thermometer rarely sunk beyond 35 degrees below zero. The whole party began to make almost daily visits to the Hive, and frequently proceeded to the shore, where they resumed their skating exercise, rejoicing in their recovered freedom like prisoners liberated from a dungeon. Whilst the rest were enjoying their recreation, Servadac and the count would hold long conversations with Lieutenant Procope about their present position and future prospects, discussing all manner of speculations as to the results of the anticipated collision with the earth, and wondering whether any measures could be devised for mitigating the violence of a shock which might be terrible in its consequences, even if it did not entail a total annihilation of themselves. There was no visitor to the Hive more regular than Rosette. He had already directed his telescope to be moved back to his former observatory, where, as much as the cold would permit him, he persisted in making his all-absorbing studies of the heavens. The result of these studies no one ventured to inquire; but it became generally noticed that something was very seriously disturbing the professor’s equanimity. Not only would he be seen toiling more frequently up the arduous way that lay between his nook below and his telescope above, but he would be heard muttering in an angry tone that indicated considerable agitation. One day, as he was hurrying down to his study, he met Ben Zoof, who, secretly entertaining a feeling of delight at the professor’s manifest discomfiture, made some casual remark about things not being very straight. The way in which his advance was received the good orderly never divulged, but henceforward he maintained the firm conviction that there was something very much amiss up in the sky. To Servadac and his friends this continual disquietude and ill-humor on the part of the professor occasioned no little anxiety. From what, they asked, could his dissatisfaction arise? They could only conjecture that he had discovered some flaw in his reckonings; and if this were so, might there not be reason to apprehend that their anticipations of coming into contact with the earth, at the settled time, might all be falsified? Day followed day, and still there was no cessation of the professor’s discomposure. He was the most miserable of mortals. If really his calculations and his observations were at variance, this, in a man of his irritable temperament, would account for his perpetual perturbation. But he entered into no explanation; he only climbed up to his telescope, looking haggard and distressed, and when compelled by the frost to retire, he would make his way back to his study more furious than ever. At times he was heard giving vent to his vexation. “Confound it! what does it mean? what is she doing? All behind! Is Newton a fool? Is the law of universal gravitation the law of universal nonsense?” And the little man would seize his head in both his hands, and tear away at the scanty locks which he could ill afford to lose. Enough was overheard to confirm the suspicion that there was some irreconcilable discrepancy between the results of his computation and what he had actually observed; and yet, if he had been called upon to say, he would have sooner insisted that there was derangement in the laws of celestial mechanism, than have owned there was the least probability of error in any of his own calculations. Assuredly, if the poor professor had had any flesh to lose he would have withered away to a shadow. But this state of things was before long to come to an end. On the 12th, Ben Zoof, who was hanging about outside the great hall of the cavern, heard the professor inside utter a loud cry. Hurrying in to ascertain the cause, he found Rosette in a state of perfect frenzy, in which ecstasy and rage seemed to be struggling for the predominance. “Eureka! Eureka!” yelled the excited astronomer. “What, in the name of peace, do you mean?” bawled Ben Zoof, in open-mouthed amazement. “Eureka!” again shrieked the little man. “How? What? Where?” roared the bewildered orderly. “Eureka! I say,” repeated Rosette; “and if you don’t understand me, you may go to the devil!” Without availing himself of this polite invitation, Ben Zoof betook himself to his master. “Something has happened to the professor,” he said; “he is rushing about like a madman, screeching and yelling ‘Eureka!’” “Eureka?” exclaimed Servadac. “That means he has made a discovery;” and, full of anxiety, he hurried off to meet the professor. But, however great was his desire to ascertain what this discovery implied, his curiosity was not yet destined to be gratified. The professor kept muttering in incoherent phrases: “Rascal! he shall pay for it yet. I will be even with him! Cheat! Thrown me out!” But he did not vouchsafe any reply to Servadac’s inquiries, and withdrew to his study. From that day Rosette, for some reason at present incomprehensible, quite altered his behavior to Isaac Hakkabut, a man for whom he had always hitherto evinced the greatest repugnance and contempt. All at once he began to show a remarkable interest in the Jew and his affairs, paying several visits to the dark little storehouse, making inquiries as to the state of business and expressing some solicitude about the state of the exchequer. The wily Jew was taken somewhat by surprise, but came to an immediate conclusion that the professor was contemplating borrowing some money; he was consequently very cautious in all his replies. It was not Hakkabut’s habit ever to advance a loan except at an extravagant rate of interest, or without demanding far more than an adequate security. Count Timascheff, a Russian nobleman, was evidently rich; to him perhaps, for a proper consideration, a loan might be made: Captain Servadac was a Gascon, and Gascons are proverbially poor; it would never do to lend any money to him; but here was a professor, a mere man of science, with circumscribed means; did expect to borrow? Certainly Isaac would as soon think of flying, as of lending money to him. Such were the thoughts that made him receive all Rosette’s approaches with a careful reservation. he It was not long, however, before Hakkabut was to be called upon to apply his money to a purpose for which he had not reckoned. In his eagerness to effect sales, he had parted with all the alimentary articles in his cargo without having the precautionary prudence to reserve enough for his own consumption. Amongst other things that failed him was his stock of coffee, and as coffee was a beverage without which he deemed it impossible to exist, he found himself in considerable perplexity. He pondered the matter over for a long time, and ultimately persuaded himself that, after all, the stores were the common property of all, and that he had as much right to a share as anyone else. Accordingly, he made his way to Ben Zoof, and, in the most amiable tone he could assume, begged as a favor that he would let him have a pound of coffee. The orderly shook his head dubiously. “A pound of coffee, old Nathan? I can’t say.” “Why not? You have some?” said Isaac. “Oh yes! plenty—a hundred kilogrammes.” “Then let me have one pound. I shall be grateful.” “Hang your gratitude!” “Only one pound! You would not refuse anybody else.” “That’s just the very point, old Samuel; if you were anybody else, I should know very well what to do. I must refer the matter to his Excellency.” “Oh, his Excellency will do me justice.” “Perhaps you will find his justice rather too much for you.” And with this consoling remark, the orderly went to seek his master. Rosette meanwhile had been listening to the conversation, and secretly rejoicing that an opportunity for which he had been watching had arrived. “What’s the matter, Master Isaac? Have you parted with all your coffee?” he asked, in a sympathizing voice, when Ben Zoof was gone. “Ah! yes, indeed,” groaned Hakkabut, “and now I require some for my own use. In my little black hole I cannot live without my coffee.” “Of course you cannot,” agreed the professor. “And don’t you think the governor ought to let me have it?” “No doubt.” “Oh, I must have coffee,” said the Jew again. “Certainly,” the professor assented. “Coffee is nutritious; it warms the blood. How much do you want?” “A pound. A pound will last me for a long time.” “And who will weigh it for you?” asked Rosette, scarcely able to conceal the eagerness that prompted the question. “Why, they will weigh it with my steelyard, of course. There is no other balance here.” And as the Jew spoke, the professor fancied he could detect the faintest of sighs. “Good, Master Isaac; all the better for you! You will get your seven pounds instead of one!” “Yes; well, seven, or thereabouts—thereabouts,” stammered the Jew with considerable hesitation. Rosette scanned his countenance narrowly, and was about to probe him with further questions, when Ben Zoof returned. “And what does his Excellency say?” inquired Hakkabut. “Why, Nehemiah, he says he shan’t give you any.” “Merciful heavens!” began the Jew. “He says he doesn’t mind selling you a little.” “But, by the holy city, why does he make me pay for what anybody else could have for nothing?” “As I told you before, you are not anybody else; so, come along. You can afford to buy what you want. We should like to see the color of your money.” “Merciful heavens!” the old man whined once more. “Now, none of that! Yes or no? If you are going to buy, say so at once; if not, I shall shut up shop.” Hakkabut knew well enough that the orderly was not a man to be trifled with, and said, in a tremulous voice, “Yes, I will buy.” The professor, who had been looking on with much interest, betrayed manifest symptoms of satisfaction. “How much do you want? What will you charge for it?” asked Isaac, mournfully, putting his hand into his pocket and chinking his money. “Oh, we will deal gently with you. We will not make any profit. You shall have it for the same price that we paid for it. Ten francs a pound, you know.” The Jew hesitated. “Come now, what is the use of your hesitating? Your gold will have no value when you go back to the world.” “What do you mean?” asked Hakkabut, startled. “You will find out some day,” answered Ben Zoof, significantly. Hakkabut drew out a small piece of gold from his pocket, took it close under the lamp, rolled it over in his hand, and pressed it to his lips. “Shall you weigh me the coffee with my steelyard?” he asked, in a quavering voice that confirmed the professor’s suspicions. “There is nothing else to weigh it with; you know that well enough, old Shechem,” said Ben Zoof. The steelyard was then produced; a tray was suspended to the hook, and upon this coffee was thrown until the needle registered the weight of one pound. Of course, it took seven pounds of coffee to do this. “There you are! There’s your coffee, man!” Ben Zoof said. “Are you sure?” inquired Hakkabut, peering down close to the dial. “Are you quite sure that the needle touches the point?” “Yes; look and see.” “Give it a little push, please.” “Why?” “Because—because—” “Well, because of what?” cried the orderly, impatiently. “Because I think, perhaps—I am not quite sure—perhaps the steelyard is not quite correct.” The words were not uttered before the professor, fierce as a tiger, had rushed at the Jew, had seized him by the throat, and was shaking him till he was black in the face. “Help! help!” screamed Hakkabut. “I shall be strangled.” “Rascal! consummate rascal! thief! villain!” the professor reiterated, and continued to shake the Jew furiously. Ben Zoof looked on and laughed, making no attempt to interfere; he had no sympathy with either of the two. The sound of the scuffling, however, drew the attention of Servadac, who, followed by his companions, hastened to the scene. The combatants were soon parted. “What is the meaning of all this?” demanded the captain. As soon as the professor had recovered his breath, exhausted by his exertions, he said, “The old reprobate, the rascal has cheated us! His steelyard is wrong! He is a thief!” Captain Servadac looked sternly at Hakkabut. “How is this, Hakkabut? Is this a fact?” “No, no—yes—no, your Excellency, only—” “He is a cheat, a thief!” roared the excited astronomer. “His weights deceive!” “Stop, stop!” interposed Servadac; “let us hear. Tell me, Hakkabut—” “The steelyard lies! It cheats! it lies!” roared the irrepressible Rosette. “Tell me, Hakkabut, I say,” repeated Servadac. The Jew only kept on stammering, “Yes—no—I don’t know.” But heedless of any interruption, the professor continued, “False weights! That confounded steelyard! It gave a false result! The mass was wrong! The observations contradicted the calculations; they were wrong! She was out of place! Yes, out of place entirely.” “What!” cried Servadac and Procope in a breath, “out of place?” “Yes, completely,” said the professor. “Gallia out of place?” repeated Servadac, agitated with alarm. “I did not say Gallia,” replied Rosette, stamping his foot impetuously; “I said Nerina.” “Oh, Nerina,” answered Servadac. “But what of Gallia?” he inquired, still nervously. “Gallia, of course, is on her way to the earth. I told you so. But that Jew is a rascal!” About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Jules Verne (1998). Off on a Comet! a Journey through Planetary Space. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1353/pg1353-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

THE PROFESSOR PERPLEXED

Hey Hackers! You have probably heard about this hot thing called Microservices Architecture but feel totally lost trying to make sense of what it actually is? You're not alone. All this tech jargon can make even the savviest of us feel like we've been dropped into a maze of acronyms and buzzwords with no map to navigate our way out. I'm going to explain Microservices in simple terms using real-world examples that anyone can understand. Let's Dive in! Why Microservices? Real-World Examples You'll Relate To Microservices are all the rage these days, but what exactly are they and why should you care? Let's look at a few real-world examples to understand why companies are adopting this new architecture. Have you ever used ? Uber Their mobile app connects you with nearby drivers to get you where you need to go. Under the hood, Uber's system is built using microservices. There are microservices to manage drivers, riders, payments, map routes, and more. If there's a problem with the map service, the rest of the app still works. This means faster fixes and more stable apps for you. Ever stream movies on ? Netflix Netflix also uses microservices. There are microservices for memberships, streaming content, recommendations, and payments. By breaking up its system this way, Netflix can make changes and add new features faster while keeping everything running smoothly. Their microservices architecture enables you to get new shows and movies quicker! How about Disney+? Their streaming service is powered by microservices too. Separate microservices handle content management, recommendations, playbacks, and user profiles. This modular architecture helps Disney deliver magical, personalized experiences to viewers like yourself. In summary, companies are using microservices to build flexible, reliable applications and services. By breaking down big systems into small, independent parts, microservices make it easier for organizations to innovate and scale to meet demand. The end result? Better apps and services for you and me. What Exactly Is a Microservice? Explained in Plain English So what exactly is a microservice? In simple terms, it's a small, independent service that works together with other microservices to make up a larger application. Rather than building one huge monolith app, you break it up into tiny, specialized services that each do one thing well. For example, say you're building an e-commerce site. Instead of cramming the product catalog, cart, payments, shipping, and everything else into a single app, you'd split them out into separate microservices: A product catalog microservice to manage the product listings A cart microservice to handle shopping cart functions Payments microservice to process payments A shipping microservice to calculate shipping rates and print labels Each microservice is deployed and operated independently. They communicate with each other through APIs to handle the overall workflow. Some key benefits of microservices are: : Microservices are highly modular, so you can organize and scale them independently. You can rewrite or replace one without impacting the others. Modularity : Microservices give you the flexibility to use different languages, frameworks, and data stores for each service. You're not locked into any one tech stack. Flexibility : You can scale microservices independently based on demand. So if your product catalog gets a ton of traffic, you can scale just that service. The other services can stay as is. Scalability : Issues are isolated to individual microservices. A problem with the payments service won't bring down the product catalog or shipping services. Fault isolation : Microservices enable continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD). You can develop and release updates to each service independently on its own schedule. Continuous delivery : Microservices are highly reusable. You can reuse the same shopping cart or payment service across multiple applications. Reusability Of course, microservices also introduce complexity. There are more moving parts to manage, and distributed systems are hard. But for many companies, the benefits of microservices far outweigh the costs. They enable faster development and scalability, which is key for modern, customer-centric software. Designing a Microservice Architecture: A Simple Step-by-Step Guide Designing a microservice architecture is easier than it sounds. By following a few simple steps, you'll be building nimble, scalable applications in no time. 1. Define business capabilities The first step is to identify the key capabilities of your business. For an e-commerce site, . Each capability will likely become its own microservice. this could be things like product catalog, cart, checkout, payment, shipping, etc 2. Determine service boundaries Now determine how to split these capabilities into separate services. A good rule of thumb is the Single Responsibility Principle - each service should do one thing well. For example, split the product catalog into product information and product ratings services. Keep services as decoupled and independent as possible. 3. Choose a technology stack Next, decide on a technology stack for building your microservices. Some popular options are: Spring Boot / Java Node.js Python / Flask Ruby on Rails You'll want to choose a stack that is lightweight, scalable, and suited for web services. For most microservice architectures, the services are deployed separately, so they can even be developed in different languages and frameworks. 4. Define service contracts Now define how your services will communicate with each other through APIs. The most common approaches are REST over HTTP or messaging over a broker like RabbitMQ. For example, the product catalog service exposes a REST API that returns product info. The cart service calls this API to retrieve product data. 5. Implement service discovery With many independently deployed services, we need a way to keep track of them. Service discovery tools like Consul, Zookeeper or Netflix Eureka can register services and allow other services to lookup locations and API info. Our services can query the discovery tool to find the product catalog API, for example. 6. Add resilience Microservices architectures need to be resilient to failure. Add techniques like circuit breakers, bulkheads, timeouts and retries to your services. For example, if the product catalog service fails, the cart service should have a fallback and temporarily use cached data. 7. Monitor your system Finally, you need to monitor your microservices to ensure high performance and availability. Metrics, logging, tracing and alerting are essential for observability. Monitor things like request rates, latencies, error rates and resource usage for each service. By following these steps, you'll be designing and building a robust microservices architecture in no time! Common Challenges With Microservices and How to Overcome Them Microservices architecture is gaining popularity, but it does come with its own set of challenges. Here are some common issues you may encounter with microservices and tips to help you overcome them. 1. Communication between services Microservices are independent, so they need to communicate with each other. This can get tricky when you have many microservices talking to each other. Make sure you have a solid API gateway in place to handle all the communication and routing between services. Use lightweight messaging protocols like REST or gRPC to make communication fast and efficient. 2. Managing data Since your data is distributed across many services, data management and consistency can be difficult. Make sure each service has its own dedicated database so there are no dependencies between services. Use eventual consistency, where data will become consistent over time as it is updated, to handle data that spans multiple services. Have a data governance policy in place to prevent issues. 3. Deployment challenges Deploying many small services introduces complexity. Use automated deployment pipelines to make the process quick and error-free. Deploy services independently so you can update one service without impacting others. Have a rollout plan in place in case something goes wrong with a new deployment. Use techniques like or to minimize risk. blue-green deployment canary releases 4. Monitoring and logging With many moving parts, monitoring microservices can be challenging. Send logging data from all your services to a centralized logging system. Set up distributed tracing to follow a request as it travels through the system. Monitor services for key metrics like response time, traffic, and error rates. Monitor the overall architecture and how services communicate to catch issues early. Microservices offer a lot of benefits when built and managed properly. FAQs About Microservices: Answers to Questions You're Too Afraid to Ask So you want to learn about microservices but don’t know where to start? No worries, we’ve got you covered. Here are some common questions about microservices answered in plain English: Why use microservices? Microservices have a lot of benefits: They are easy to develop and deploy since they are small in size. They can be maintained by small teams since each microservice is simple. They are flexible and can be updated independently without affecting other services. They can be scaled individually based on demand. What are some examples of microservices? Some common examples of microservices are: Handles user-profiles and accounts User profile service: Product catalog service: Manages product listings and details : Allows users to add items to a shopping cart Cart service : Processes payments and shipping for orders Checkout service : Allows customers to leave reviews for products Review service How do microservices communicate? Microservices communicate with each other over a network using protocols like: Uses HTTP requests to GET, POST, PUT and DELETE data. REST (Representational State Transfer): (Google Remote Procedure Calls): Uses HTTP/2 for fast, scalable communication. gRPC Uses event-driven architecture with message queues to communicate asynchronously. Async APIs: Are microservices right for my application? Microservices work great for large, complex applications, especially if: You have a large team of developers working on the app. You expect certain areas of the app to change frequently. You want to scale certain parts of the app differently. You prefer loosely coupled, independent components. However, microservices also introduce complexity. For a small, simple app, a monolith might be easier to build and maintain. Consider your needs and team size before deciding on an architecture. Conclusion And that's the basics of microservices in a nutshell. Remember, start simple and build up gradually. Focus on creating small, independent services that do one thing well. Build APIs to allow them to communicate. Start small, and happy microservices building! Must Read Building Microservice Architecture With ASP.NET Core Building Java Microservices from Scratch The Complete Microservice Tutorial: Introduction [Part 1] Creating Microservices: Key Principles and Concepts

Microservices for Humans: A No-Nonsense Introduction

Five Weeks in a Balloon by Jules Verne, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . Chapter IX here CHAPTER NINTH. They double the Cape.—The Forecastle.—A Course of Cosmography by Professor Joe.—Concerning the Method of guiding Balloons.—How to seek out Atmospheric Currents.—Eureka. The plunged along rapidly toward the Cape of Good Hope, the weather continuing fine, although the sea ran heavier. Resolute On the 30th of March, twenty-seven days after the departure from London, the Table Mountain loomed up on the horizon. Cape City lying at the foot of an amphitheatre of hills, could be distinguished through the ship’s glasses, and soon the cast anchor in the port. But the captain touched there only to replenish his coal bunkers, and that was but a day’s job. On the morrow, he steered away to the south’ard, so as to double the southernmost point of Africa, and enter the Mozambique Channel. Resolute This was not Joe’s first sea-voyage, and so, for his part, he soon found himself at home on board; every body liked him for his frankness and good-humor. A considerable share of his master’s renown was reflected upon him. He was listened to as an oracle, and he made no more mistakes than the next one. So, while the doctor was pursuing his descriptive course of lecturing in the officers’ mess, Joe reigned supreme on the forecastle, holding forth in his own peculiar manner, and making history to suit himself—a style of procedure pursued, by the way, by the greatest historians of all ages and nations. The topic of discourse was, naturally, the aërial voyage. Joe had experienced some trouble in getting the rebellious spirits to believe in it; but, once accepted by them, nothing connected with it was any longer an impossibility to the imaginations of the seamen stimulated by Joe’s harangues. Our dazzling narrator persuaded his hearers that, after this trip, many others still more wonderful would be undertaken. In fact, it was to be but the first of a long series of superhuman expeditions. “You see, my friends, when a man has had a taste of that kind of travelling, he can’t get along afterward with any other; so, on our next expedition, instead of going off to one side, we’ll go right ahead, going up, too, all the time.” “Humph! then you’ll go to the moon!” said one of the crowd, with a stare of amazement. “To the moon!” exclaimed Joe, “To the moon! pooh! that’s too common. Every body might go to the moon, that way. Besides, there’s no water there, and you have to carry such a lot of it along with you. Then you have to take air along in bottles, so as to breathe.” “Ay! ay! that’s all right! But can a man get a drop of the real stuff there?” said a sailor who liked his toddy. “Not a drop!” was Joe’s answer. “No! old fellow, not in the moon. But we’re going to skip round among those little twinklers up there—the stars—and the splendid planets that my old man so often talks about. For instance, we’ll commence with Saturn—” “That one with the ring?” asked the boatswain. “Yes! the wedding-ring—only no one knows what’s become of his wife!” “What? will you go so high up as that?” said one of the ship-boys, gaping with wonder. “Why, your master must be Old Nick himself.” “Oh! no, he’s too good for that.” “But, after Saturn—what then?” was the next inquiry of his impatient audience. “After Saturn? Well, we’ll visit Jupiter. A funny place that is, too, where the days are only nine hours and a half long—a good thing for the lazy fellows—and the years, would you believe it—last twelve of ours, which is fine for folks who have only six months to live. They get off a little longer by that.” “Twelve years!” ejaculated the boy. “Yes, my youngster; so that in that country you’d be toddling after your mammy yet, and that old chap yonder, who looks about fifty, would only be a little shaver of four and a half.” “Blazes! that’s a good ‘un!” shouted the whole forecastle together. “Solemn truth!” said Joe, stoutly. “But what can you expect? When people will stay in this world, they learn nothing and keep as ignorant as bears. But just come along to Jupiter and you’ll see. But they have to look out up there, for he’s got satellites that are not just the easiest things to pass.” All the men laughed, but they more than half believed him. Then he went on to talk about Neptune, where seafaring men get a jovial reception, and Mars, where the military get the best of the sidewalk to such an extent that folks can hardly stand it. Finally, he drew them a heavenly picture of the delights of Venus. “And when we get back from that expedition,” said the indefatigable narrator, “they’ll decorate us with the Southern Cross that shines up there in the Creator’s button-hole.” “Ay, and you’d have well earned it!” said the sailors. Thus passed the long evenings on the forecastle in merry chat, and during the same time the doctor went on with his instructive discourses. One day the conversation turned upon the means of directing balloons, and the doctor was asked his opinion about it. “I don’t think,” said he, “that we shall succeed in finding out a system of directing them. I am familiar with all the plans attempted and proposed, and not one has succeeded, not one is practicable. You may readily understand that I have occupied my mind with this subject, which was, necessarily, so interesting to me, but I have not been able to solve the problem with the appliances now known to mechanical science. We would have to discover a motive power of extraordinary force, and almost impossible lightness of machinery. And, even then, we could not resist atmospheric currents of any considerable strength. Until now, the effort has been rather to direct the car than the balloon, and that has been one great error.” “Still there are many points of resemblance between a balloon and a ship which is directed at will.” “Not at all,” retorted the doctor, “there is little or no similarity between the two cases. Air is infinitely less dense than water, in which the ship is only half submerged, while the whole bulk of a balloon is plunged in the atmosphere, and remains motionless with reference to the element that surrounds it.” “You think, then, that aerostatic science has said its last word?” “Not at all! not at all! But we must look for another point in the case, and if we cannot manage to guide our balloon, we must, at least, try to keep it in favorable aërial currents. In proportion as we ascend, the latter become much more uniform and flow more constantly in one direction. They are no longer disturbed by the mountains and valleys that traverse the surface of the globe, and these, you know, are the chief cause of the variations of the wind and the inequality of their force. Therefore, these zones having been once determined, the balloon will merely have to be placed in the currents best adapted to its destination.” “But then,” continued Captain Bennet, “in order to reach them, you must keep constantly ascending or descending. That is the real difficulty, doctor.” “And why, my dear captain?” “Let us understand one another. It would be a difficulty and an obstacle only for long journeys, and not for short aërial excursions.” “And why so, if you please?” “Because you can ascend only by throwing out ballast; you can descend only after letting off gas, and by these processes your ballast and your gas are soon exhausted.” “My dear sir, that’s the whole question. There is the only difficulty that science need now seek to overcome. The problem is not how to guide the balloon, but how to take it up and down without expending the gas which is its strength, its life-blood, its soul, if I may use the expression.” “You are right, my dear doctor; but this problem is not yet solved; this means has not yet been discovered.” “I beg your pardon, it been discovered.” has “By whom?” “By me!” “By you?” “You may readily believe that otherwise I should not have risked this expedition across Africa in a balloon. In twenty-four hours I should have been without gas!” “But you said nothing about that in England?” “No! I did not want to have myself overhauled in public. I saw no use in that. I made my preparatory experiments in secret and was satisfied. I have no occasion, then, to learn any thing more from them.” “Well! doctor, would it be proper to ask what is your secret?” “Here it is, gentlemen—the simplest thing in the world!” The attention of his auditory was now directed to the doctor in the utmost degree as he quietly proceeded with his explanation. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Jules Verne (2002). Five Weeks in a Balloon. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/3526/pg3526-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

They double the Cape

The tech industry is rife with romantic tales of "genius design" - a team of prodigiously talented individuals huddled in a room, with each lightning bolt of inspiration birthing the world's most sought-after apps and devices. If you're waiting for a eureka moment of your own, though, you might be in for a long wait. The reality is far less theatrical, yet infinitely more captivating. The Genius Design Myth: A Narrative Worth Questioning "Genius design" is a term that is as tantalizing as it is elusive. It suggests that innovative designs spring from the momentary spark of divine inspiration or from the prodigious talent of a solitary individual. This narrative has been popularized by stories in the media, films, and books that celebrate moments of individual brilliance, often overshadowing the gritty reality of the design process. The alluring image of an isolated genius having a "eureka" moment is a powerful one. However, it's a narrative that glosses over the labyrinthine complexities of design, reducing it to a single moment of unexpected inspiration. As humans, we're naturally drawn towards stories that glorify individual accomplishment, and this bias often obscures the behind-the-scenes toil that fosters innovation. Prototyping: The Blueprint of Design In the actual landscape, the journey from a nascent concept to a polished product is far from a straight line. One of the initial steps in this process is prototyping. Big tech views prototypes as three-dimensional sketches that allow designers to visualize, experiment with, and fine-tune their ideas. design can range from a paper sketch of a user interface to a fully interactive digital model of an app. They're not always crafted to be visually pleasing; their purpose is to offer a tangible way to comprehend how a design functions and to identify potential issues at the early stages. Prototypes Iterative Design: The Cycle of Continuous Refinement Design is inherently iterative, a truth that stands tall in the tech industry. The iterative design process entails creating, testing, analyzing, and refining a product in a continuous loop. It's like setting off on a road trip with just a rough map: you have an inkling of your destination, but the route you take may vary as you go along. This iterative approach enables designers to refine their products based on real-world use and feedback. Each iteration builds upon the last, eventually leading to a product that's been meticulously tested and refined. It's a lengthy journey, but one that ensures the final product is not only functional and user-friendly but also robust and scalable. Embracing Failure: The Unexpected Key to Innovation If there's one aspect that the genius design myth grossly misrepresents, it's the role of failure in innovation. Failed designs are not the end of the road; they're stepping stones that guide us to better solutions. In the world of tech, failure is often viewed as a badge of honor, a testament to pushing the envelope and taking risks. A design that gets rejected or a feature that doesn't resonate with users can offer invaluable insights. These lessons can help designers understand what doesn't work and why, paving the way toward solutions that do. So, when you hit a roadblock in your design journey, remember: it's not a dead-end, but a detour on the path to innovation. User Feedback and Refinement: Tuning into the Voices that Matter A pivotal element of the design process is user feedback. The users are the ultimate judges of a product's success, making their input invaluable. Big tech companies often rely heavily on user feedback to refine their products. This can involve anything from user testing sessions and surveys to analyzing usage data to understand how people interact with their products. This feedback is like a mirror, reflecting the product from the users' perspective and helping designers make improvements that enhance user experience. The Voyage from Myth to Reality In wrapping up, let's demystify the journey of tech product development. It's not about overnight success or solitary genius. It's a process that involves collaboration, iteration, and a deep understanding of the user. It's a journey that's often marked by dead-ends, detours, and unexpected discoveries. Understanding this reality helps us appreciate the immense effort and intricate process behind the products we use daily. It humanizes the often deified tech industry, reminding us that behind every innovative product, there's a team of people who've put in countless hours of thought, effort, and creativity. And most importantly, it teaches us that design is not just about the end product, but also about the journey of exploration, iteration, and constant learning. The genius design myth is a compelling narrative, but the reality is far more inspiring. In the end, the real genius in design lies not in having a eureka moment, but in the ability to listen, learn, and adapt; to embrace failure as a stepping stone towards success; and to place the user at the heart of every decision. So next time you marvel at the polished design of your favorite app, remember: it's not the result of a single moment of inspiration, but the culmination of a process that's as messy, chaotic, and beautifully human as anything we do.

Demystifying “Genius Design”: A Dive into Big Tech's Design Process

TNNs are Mathematical Entities We have taken the entire wealth of information available on the web, fed it to different Transformer models, and achieved human-like outputs. That’s It has capacities for sentience - GPT-4. but look at these applications below - the implications make it seem that AGI is just the beginning! I’m going to explain it in the most easy-to-understand way - Images! (Bing Image Creator is Awesome!) GPT-4 is at heart, the most basic level, a sequence completer, and natural language processor. that uses a novel mechanism to predict the most likely outputs with the highest scores within the model. It then uses human-like english to interact with the end users. How did it achieve that? We don’t know for sure - there are some speculative theories at best. But here’s the magic - we don’t need to know! Artificial Neural Networks are They can map any input dataset to any output. Under certain conditions, mathematically. Apparently, no one’s talking about it openly yet, so, I’m going to coin a term of my own. Universal Function Approximators. (Google it) Transformer Neural Networks are Universally Systemic Approximators or Universal System Approximators. What does that even mean? It means - that if you train a transformer with enough data about the world’s weather, with every single variable that affects it - not difficult, add all possible variables, the system will eliminate the noise. You should be able to ask it about tomorrow’s weather - and with correct tuning, it should be able to give you an accurate answer. With a certainty of almost 100%. If you feed in every possible variable about the world stock markets - it should be able to give you a 99.99% correct answer about tomorrow’s stocks. What’s even crazier is that we have a natural language interface, so we should be able to feed it any question, and it should give us accurate answers (recession in 2030?)! Feed in every factor of the and cryptocurrency markets - and again, 100% accuracy. And with a natural language interface to boot! Any cryptocurrency, any defi system, any web3 protocol. The key issue is to capture all the input data, don’t worry about extra variables, the system will figure it out! Bitcoin How can I say that with such conviction and confidence? The answer lies in the theory of Non-Linear Dynamical Systems (Chaos Theory and Complexity Theory). Human intelligence is as chaotic and as complex a system as you can possibly imagine. In fact, I can confidently assert that it is the most chaotic and complex system that we know of that occurs in daily life. We need a measure of chaos and complexity. The most basic is to consider how much we already know about the system. In human intelligence - sentience - we know next to nothing. Complexity is next to infinite. Hence, I term the chaotic complexity scale of the human brain CC-0. The chaotic complexity scale is inverted. The lower the complexity, the higher the measure. The next most chaotic system that is simpler than the human brain might be the stock market. I’m going to take a wild arbitrary figure and term the chaotic complexity scale of the stock markets CC-5. There will be quantitative measures to understand the chaotic complexity scales of systems - so I’m not going to jump too much, today I reveal the most basic theories. (Further investigations require such high levels of computation that I can’t do it by myself - a research division would have to, if possible, start by visualizing the strange attractors of GPT-4. Although there are some assumptions that can be made immediately - why spill all the golden eggs at once?) How can I say so confidently that it will work? What did we feed to our LLMs as input data? All possible input variables, stored as embeddings, and the output variable that it’s supposed to generate. How does the LLM generate the output? We are not sure. But it works. What data do we have about our stock markets? All possible input variables (which can be stored as vector embeddings), and the output variables at the end of each day. How will the LLM generate the output? We might not be sure - But if we follow the same procedure with stock market data that we did for human-generated data, and ask it to predict the outcome of the next day, it should be able to do it! By our current assumptions - it should work! It’s just another system whose non-linear dynamics we are unable to determine - But that doesn’t matter - Because the model simulates the non-linear dynamics closely enough that we are able to make predictions! And that is my statement. Given input and output data of any system, an LLM is able to create an approximation of the non-linear dynamics that govern the system, to a level where errors should become zero, with enough fine-tuning! Eureka! I’m sure there’s much more to it than that and I would love to work in a research lab investigating LLMs, Quantum Algorithms, and Active Inference (Spatial Web) I have been full-time jobless for a very long time (freelancing professionally), and the only way I find peace outside of music is scientific thought. I got the prestigious NTSE scholarship in my Xth. And that was an indication to me that I was meant to be a research scientist, and that’s all I’ve wanted to be my whole life, but due to certain uncontrollable events, that did not happen. I’m extremely interested in and , I believe that is our future, but I want to study and at the same time because I believe that that’s our future as well. quantum computing quantum algorithms AI GL My readers would know by now that I am fluent in Python and IBM Qiskit as well as Flutter and Dart. I know Julia and Golang as well and I am learning F# and Rust, both of which I’m extremely enthusiastic about. There are more ideas I have that hugely expand on this singular idea, but I’m going to hold out those ideas for my first employer. You can see My resume https://thomascherickal.online and my portfolio is at: https://thomacherickal.info Please - I would like a steady salary with an opportunity to explore this to my heart’s content. And I have more, much more, but as I said - I’m holding out for my first employer. But don’t let that stop you - theorize - do programs - see if what I have stated is accurate - discover new scientific findings - I’ve got a space where I’m taking notes, with the date and time, and I might anticipate a number of your discoveries. Please don’t hold it against me! I would love to work for you. In research. (Shameless plug!) All image credits to Bing Image Creator. It’s awesome!

The Transformer Neural Network (TNN) is Much, Much Bigger Than Even AGI

Imagine putting on your Samsung TV only to meet a black screen, but you can tell it is on because the power indicator is on. So, if your TV power is on but the screen is blank, there are ways to fix it. You're sure your television screen is not cracked, right? Good! A Samsung TV black screen can be fixed by checking all connections, choosing the right display mode, updating the TV firmware, or the streaming source signal. Causes of Samsung TV Black Screen of Death Often, a blank, black, and empty Samsung smart TV isn't so much of a concern. It may happen because the television isn't connecting to a signal from a source device, which may be a cable box or a satellite receiver. There may be cable connection problems due to damage or slack, or some power display mode settings. 9 Ways to Fix Samsung TV Black Screen for Smart TVs These basic causes of an empty, blank TV screen, as shared above, are the first things that you may want to check in a "how to fix my Samsung TV" dilemma. Check Your HDMI Cable Faulty RCA Cables Check input of the TV Firmware Update Check TV Signal Sleep Settings Streaming Device Check Dead batteries Factory Reset 1. Check Your HDMI Cable Connection: If you use an HDMI cable connection, check to see that the cable box or satellite receiver is in the proper port meant for the cable. See if they are securely plugged into the port and not shaking. A loose or faulty HDMI connection may cause a TV black screen of death. So, if you have spare cables, you may also want to try them out. Faulty cables often occur if the cables are old or stressed, such as by removing them and fixing them elsewhere, such as on your laptop or a monitor screen. Or...if you have kids! You never know what children do with electronics when you're not supervising. So, try out a new cable. Or check another HDMI port, since Samsung's recent smart TVs have multiple ports. Try to connect the TV to an external monitor using an HDMI cable. If the external monitor shows an active screen, there may be a serious problem with the TV. However, if nothing comes up by trying the HDMI ports elsewhere, some of the following fixes will help awaken your Samsung TV black screen. 2. It May be Faulty RCA Cables (also known as AV cables) If you use RCA cables, also, confirm that you are putting them in the right ports on your television. If you are not sure of where the cables ought to be, especially for those with just 2 heads, you can find out how and where to connect RCA cables (link). If that is not the issue, don't give up. There are still goodies in this bag; check the next fix. 3. Check the Input of the TV Your TV may not be at home. Not literally, of course! Say you last watched something from a USB flash drive connected to your TV, that would be the default mode it would start in when you next turn on your TV. So, change the source! Pick up your TV remote, press "source/input" and choose what input you prefer to watch from, AV 1, AV2, HDMI 1, HDMI 2. If your remote is no more: dead or indisposed, you can scroll down to see how to use your phone as a remote for your Samsung smart TV. 4. Firmware Update It is possible that your TV just won't respond anymore, even in the middle of a show, and you have no clue what's going on. In that case, unplug your TV and wait some 30-45 seconds. Plug it back to the power source, and you will be prompted to update your firmware. You're gonna need a WiFi connection for this. On the remote control, press Menu > Settings > Support > Software Update > Update Now When the installation is complete, your TV automatically restarts. That should fix the problem, debug the software, and strengthen security. So, a blackout from a likely bug should be fixed that way. https://youtu.be/9xGVaN-1sUI?embedable=true You're welcome! Oh, or that doesn't fix it yet? Well, there is more magic you can work here. 5. Check the TV Signal Strength A TV without a signal connection will stare at you with a blank screen like a ghost. (Are you afraid of ghosts? Sorry, didn't mean to scare you). Check the strength meter on your TV to see the connection level (strength) with your internet source. A weak cable strength may be due to a bad cable connection, either to the TV or the one coming from the antenna, cable box, or satellite dish for your cable TV. 6. Perhaps your TV is Sleeping? No, not to mock you. You probably woke up on the couch trying to binge a midnight show, and your TV won't just flicker hope (or light). Your TV may be in power saving mode, which may have slept due to a set timer or an accidental press of the sleep/power button on the remote. Here's how to fix that. Sleep Timer: Menu > Settings > Timer > Sleep Timer > On/Off When that is done, turn off your TV and wait for 30 seconds. Turn on the TV afterward. Power Saving Mode: Menu > Settings > Power Saving Mode >Off/On Switch off your TV and wait for 30 seconds. Turn on the TV afterward. If you are not able to do any of these things because the remote is not controlling the TV, scroll down the article to see how to use your phone as a smart TV remote. If that's the problem, then it's solved. Or... is your TV still stubborn? There is another Hogwarts treat for that. 7. Replace your Streaming Device If you are getting a black screen only when using a certain device, like your streaming device, then it’s likely that the issue is with the device and not your TV. Perhaps the evil finger you have to pull out is that streaming device of yours. Try another streaming device just to check it out. If you can see the previous menu and power settings from the remote on the TV, then the screen is not the issue. Perhaps try your friend's Amazon fire stick, or move it to your neighbor's apartment to try their cable TV. 8. Dead Batteries! Dead Batteries! "What is dead may never die" That is never true for batteries! They stay dead. Again, if the TV power is on (with an indicator) and it looks like all the stunts you try to do with the remote control aren't working, try replacing the batteries. Is it too late, and you can't go out? Do you have the patience to wait until the morning or not? Never mind, whatever your answer is, if you use an Android or iOS phone, you can use it as a smart remote ( ). check how to, below 9. Factory Reset for Samsung TV Black Screen This option should be the last thing to consider if you are having trouble troubleshooting your TV's black screen of death. That is because it clears off all your settings and the preferences you might have set for your TV. So, here is what to do if you need to reset your TV. Via your remote, go to: Settings > General > Reset > input your PIN here to confirm reset > Ok How to Use Your Phone as Samsung TV Remote: iPhone and Android Download the "SmartThings" app. It should come preinstalled on a Samsung phone, but you might need to update it if you don't use it regularly. In the SmartThings App If you have previously connected your TV to your phone, that's great. Click “Devices” Pick the drop-down option at the top of the screen to see a list of your devices, especially if you categorized them. Click the category where you have your TV; by default, it should be in the "living room" category.
Then choose the TV. Some versions of the app may have a "TV/Projector" option. An on-screen remote will appear, and you can manage all of the options we have discussed.
(Embed YouTube link) Pairing Your Samsung TV with the Samsung App If you have never paired your TV with your phone, here is what to do: Pick the drop-down option at the top of the screen to see a list of your devices, especially if you categorized them > Open SmartThings > Click the category where you have your TV; by default, it should be in the "Living Room" category. You will see the "Add Device" option: And you can either scan a QR code (which may not be applicable in this scenario) or scan for nearby devices. Once discovered, connect, and eureka! From here, go back to the previous step (resetting your Samsung TV black screen). If you use an iPhone, you can also get the Samsung TV remote app on the App Store. It's not likely that all of these won't help! Where are my flowers? Oops. Did you say it isn't working yet? Okay, time to call for backup! Contact Samsung If it all seems like an empty shell, do not see it as a waste of time or effort. You did the right thing by seeking help. At this point, you just have to contact Samsung support. They will ask you about the troubleshooting tricks we have already talked about, and if that is the case, they may have this manufacturer's secret that may fix the problem. If you have to ship the product to them, however, it may cost you some money. Fortunately, if you still have a warranty, then you are covered. You don't want to reach Samsung? For every Merlin, there is a Gaius! Reach a Professional Technician If you think it may take too long to wait for Samsung's services, you should reach out to a PROFESSIONAL TV technician near you. Go for the best. They may be able to fix TV problems like broken back lights or motherboard chip issues. This option should only be considered if you cannot wait for Samsung's professional support because once the product has been tampered with, your warranty no longer counts. But if you do not care about the warranty anyway, then no hassles. Conclusion Samsung TVs are some of the best smart TVs available in the market. This article contains some DIY quick fixes for a black screen TV that may have happened from control options or settings. If your TV is not powering up at all, try another power outlet. Check if the TV plug is burnt or not. You can smell it to see if it's toast. Not toast bread! If your Samsung TV won't come on at all with no power indicator, you should saddle up; it's time to visit a technician with some money in your pocket or purse. Or whatever! Just get it fixed and continue enjoying your show!

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