Chinese hackers are positioning themselves in U.S. critical infrastructure IT networks for a potential clash with the United States, a top American cybersecurity official said Friday.

Chinese hackers preparing for conflict with US, cyber official says

Chinese hackers are strategically infiltrating U.S. critical infrastructure in preparation for potential conflicts with the United States, a senior American cybersecurity official announced on Friday.

U.S. cybersecurity official warns of Chinese hackers targeting critical infrastructure

QUEBEC — The Quebec government has no plans to follow Ottawa’s example and lower the provincial sales tax — unless the federal government compensates it for the lost revenue, Finance Minister Eric Girard said Friday.

Quebec won't lower sales tax without compensation: finance minister | Montreal Gazette

Whether you’re looking for the best deals on games, controllers, and consoles or PC upgrades, allow us to guide you with these great early Black Friday deals.

The best early gaming deals of Black Friday | Polygon

The fiscal policy statement tabled by Finance Minister Payyavula Keshav in Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly on November 22 (Friday) revealed startling facts on key economic indicators of the State.

Growth rate of GSDP, per capita income in A.P. fell after TDP demitted office in 2019, says Finance Minister - The Hindu

YourStory presents the daily news roundup from the Indian startup ecosystem and beyond. Here's the roundup for Friday, November 22, 2024.

Startup news and updates: Daily roundup (November 22, 2024) | YourStory

Black Friday is still a week away but you can grab these high-rated wired headphones for 60% off right now.

JBL Quantum 400 Gaming Headset Is Priced Under $40 at Amazon, Lowest Price Ever for Black Friday

This holiday shopping season, shoppers will increasingly turn to buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) in a sign of triumph for embedded finance.

How Embedded Finance Adds Fuel To Black Friday

Criminals using AI to trick shoppers as data shows more than £11.5m lost to fraud during festive period last year

Black Friday turning into Black Fraud Day, says UK cybersecurity chief | Black Friday | The Guardian

Friday

friday

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

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

Early Birds Rule: 5 E-Commerce Moves for Black Friday Prep Waiting until November to plan for Black Friday and Cyber Monday? That’s like stepping into the ring against a heavyweight champ without any training. In the ultra-competitive arena of e-commerce, the early planners grab the lion’s share of profits. Here’s how you can dominate this year’s biggest shopping days, with insights from award-winning agency, Mattered, your guide to mastering the retail rush. 1. Email Marketing: Your Secret Sauce Start simmering your email campaigns now because this is the gourmet dish you can’t afford to mess up. Segment your audience like a pro—VIP clients, cart abandoners, the ‘just browsing’ folks—and tailor those emails to speak directly to them. Remember, personalization makes people feel special, and special people open their wallets. Use data from last year to adjust your approach, focusing on what worked best, and don’t forget to sprinkle some exclusive deals or early access to make your subscribers feel extra special. Stats to Chew On: According to Campaign Monitor, segmented email campaigns can drive a 760% increase in revenue. So, chop, mix and season those emails wisely! 2. Ad Spend: Go Big, Then Go Home For Black Friday and Cyber Monday, if you’re not boosting your ad spend, you’re basically giving your competition the keys to the castle. Increase your visibility by investing more in your best-performing channels—be it PPC, social media ads, or retargeting campaigns. Think big and bold with your creative content, ensuring it breaks through the noise. And remember, timing is everything; start your ads early to create hype, but save some budget for last-minute push notifications to capture those spontaneous shoppers. Mattered Tip: Use data-driven insights to identify which times and platforms garnered the most conversions last year and adjust your ad placements to double down during these peak times. 3. Refresh Your Content Like It’s a New Season of Your Favorite Show Just like you wouldn’t binge-watch a show with last season’s plot twists, your customers don’t want last year’s vibes. Refresh your website and social media with new graphics, engaging videos, and interactive elements that highlight your sales. Make sure your site is optimized for mobile because, let’s face it, a lot of shopping happens from the comfort of the bed with leftover pie in hand. Creative Boost: Utilize AR or VR if possible to give users a virtual try-before-you-buy experience. It’s innovative and could be the hook that lands you that big fish (aka the undecided shopper). 4. Collaborate to Accumulate Why go solo when you can increase your reach with collaborations? Partner up with influencers and other brands, or even showcase user-generated content to build trust and extend your audience pool. Make these collaborations fun and engaging—think live streams, giveaways, or co-branded limited editions. Success Story: Look at how brands like GoPro and Red Bull collaborate during high-energy events. While you don’t have to jump out of a plane, think about how a partnership could add that extra adrenaline rush to your campaigns. 5. Stock Up, Follow Up, and Keep Up Inventory management can make or break your Black Friday/Cyber Monday. Stock up based on predictive analytics to avoid the dreaded ‘Out of Stock’ banner. Equally important is your follow-up—ensure your customer service is on point to handle any issues that arise. Post-event, keep the momentum going with thank-you emails, feedback surveys, or even sneak peeks at your next big event or sale. Insight: Use AI-driven tools to forecast demand more accurately, ensuring that you have just enough stock to meet customer expectations without overcommitting. Yes, gearing up now for Black Friday and Cyber Monday might seem premature, but in the e-commerce arena, the early brand catches the worm—or, in this case, the sale. These strategies are your ticket to a record-breaking Black Friday and Cyber Monday. “Remember, preparation is key, but flexibility is your friend. Monitor, adapt, and react in real-time to keep your campaigns fresh and your customers engaged,” says Victor Ricci, CEO and co-founder of Mattered. If you’re preparing for the holiday rush and seeking expertise that delivers results, reach out to Mattered today. Let’s make this shopping season your most successful yet. Early Birds Rule: 5 E-Commerce Moves for Black Friday Prep Waiting until November to plan for Black Friday and Cyber Monday? That’s like stepping into the ring against a heavyweight champ without any training. In the ultra-competitive arena of e-commerce, the early planners grab the lion’s share of profits. Here’s how you can dominate this year’s biggest shopping days, with insights from award-winning agency, Mattered , your guide to mastering the retail rush. Mattered Mattered 1. Email Marketing: Your Secret Sauce Start simmering your email campaigns now because this is the gourmet dish you can’t afford to mess up. Segment your audience like a pro—VIP clients, cart abandoners, the ‘just browsing’ folks—and tailor those emails to speak directly to them. Remember, personalization makes people feel special, and special people open their wallets. Use data from last year to adjust your approach, focusing on what worked best, and don’t forget to sprinkle some exclusive deals or early access to make your subscribers feel extra special. Stats to Chew On: According to Campaign Monitor, segmented email campaigns can drive a 760% increase in revenue. So, chop, mix and season those emails wisely! Stats to Chew On: 2. Ad Spend: Go Big, Then Go Home For Black Friday and Cyber Monday, if you’re not boosting your ad spend, you’re basically giving your competition the keys to the castle. Increase your visibility by investing more in your best-performing channels—be it PPC, social media ads, or retargeting campaigns. Think big and bold with your creative content, ensuring it breaks through the noise. And remember, timing is everything; start your ads early to create hype, but save some budget for last-minute push notifications to capture those spontaneous shoppers. Mattered Tip : Use data-driven insights to identify which times and platforms garnered the most conversions last year and adjust your ad placements to double down during these peak times. Mattered Tip 3. Refresh Your Content Like It’s a New Season of Your Favorite Show Just like you wouldn’t binge-watch a show with last season’s plot twists, your customers don’t want last year’s vibes. Refresh your website and social media with new graphics, engaging videos, and interactive elements that highlight your sales. Make sure your site is optimized for mobile because, let’s face it, a lot of shopping happens from the comfort of the bed with leftover pie in hand. Creative Boost : Utilize AR or VR if possible to give users a virtual try-before-you-buy experience. It’s innovative and could be the hook that lands you that big fish (aka the undecided shopper). Creative Boost 4. Collaborate to Accumulate Why go solo when you can increase your reach with collaborations? Partner up with influencers and other brands, or even showcase user-generated content to build trust and extend your audience pool. Make these collaborations fun and engaging—think live streams, giveaways, or co-branded limited editions. Success Story : Look at how brands like GoPro and Red Bull collaborate during high-energy events. While you don’t have to jump out of a plane, think about how a partnership could add that extra adrenaline rush to your campaigns. Success Story 5. Stock Up, Follow Up, and Keep Up Inventory management can make or break your Black Friday/Cyber Monday. Stock up based on predictive analytics to avoid the dreaded ‘Out of Stock’ banner. Equally important is your follow-up—ensure your customer service is on point to handle any issues that arise. Post-event, keep the momentum going with thank-you emails, feedback surveys, or even sneak peeks at your next big event or sale. Insight : Use AI-driven tools to forecast demand more accurately, ensuring that you have just enough stock to meet customer expectations without overcommitting. Insight Yes, gearing up now for Black Friday and Cyber Monday might seem premature, but in the e-commerce arena, the early brand catches the worm—or, in this case, the sale. These strategies are your ticket to a record-breaking Black Friday and Cyber Monday. “Remember, preparation is key, but flexibility is your friend. Monitor, adapt, and react in real-time to keep your campaigns fresh and your customers engaged,” says Victor Ricci , CEO and co-founder of Mattered. If you’re preparing for the holiday rush and seeking expertise that delivers results, reach out to Mattered today. Let’s make this shopping season your most successful yet. Victor Ricci Victor Ricci

Early Birds Rule: 5 E-Commerce Moves for Black Friday Prep 

قاعدة الطيور المبكرة: 5 خطوات للتجارة الإلكترونية استعدادًا للجمعة السوداء

Правило за ранни птици: 5 стъпки за електронна търговия за подготовка за Черен петък 

La regla de los madrugadores: 5 estrategias de comercio electrónico para prepararse para el Black Friday

Early Birds Règ: 5 E-Commerce Deplasman pou Black Friday Prep 

Early Birds կանոն. 5 էլեկտրոնային առևտրի շարժում սև ուրբաթ նախապատրաստվելու համար 

早起きは三文の徳: ブラックフライデーに備える 5 つの E コマース戦略

Ерте құстардың ережесі: Қара жұмаға дайындыққа арналған 5 электрондық коммерция қозғалысы 

Early Birds Noteikums: 5 e-komercijas kustības Melnās piektdienas sagatavošanai 

Rregulli i hershëm i zogjve: 5 lëvizje të tregtisë elektronike për përgatitjen e së Premtes së Zezë 

Sheria ya Mapema ya Ndege: Hatua 5 za Biashara ya Mtandaoni kwa Maandalizi ya Ijumaa Nyeusi 

Nawu wa Tinyenyana ta le ku sunguleni: 5 wa E-Commerce Moves for Black Friday Prep 

Erta Qushlar qoidasi: Qora jumaga tayyorgarlik uchun 5 ta elektron tijorat harakati 

This has become a well-known practice or even a meme. When someone pushes code to production on Friday, there is a significant outage of all services, customers are angry, ratings are going down, and revenue is dipping as fast as one can imagine. Eventually, everyone will be brought back to their laptops instead of spending time with family and friends over the weekend. But how did we end up in this situation? If you look at this from a holistic approach, that makes sense. If a team publishes their changes to production, therefore exposing them to the customers and potentially causing a high load, many things can go wrong. All the bugs that haven’t been identified during the testing phase could come out, and if no one is around - no one will be able to fix or revert changes that caused an outage. It is now a rule in any organization that implements Agile at least somehow. This means that releases should be minor, frequent, automated, allow backup, and even be exposed to a small number of customers at first. But why are we still so scared to release it to production? We prefer code freezes, no-release Fridays, and other innovations many of us have seen in our workplaces. While all the practices mentioned already, in theory, do allow a particular state of calmness in one's mind, there is always this feeling that something might go wrong and it will fail.Of course, there is nothing wrong with introducing code freezes for Christmas before Friday. The stakes might be so high that even the most sophisticated guardrails do not guarantee safe space. Ordinary releases should be allowed at any point and eventually by anyone who has done their induction training. Are We Agile Enough? Most organizations are still developing in Waterfalls with Sprints - they deliver frequently, but in chunks big enough to be called Epic or even Initiative, with a couple million budgets and anything from one month to almost a year's worth of development. Yes, they call themselves agile. They have all the definitions and automation tests, but no one believes in it somewhere deep in the complex. Most of the releases are still re-tested manually by developers, all the functionalities have to be approved by the risk department before release, and no one collects the metrics that can identify the significance of the released value. It is hard to say, but in most cases, it is true. We are stuck in a constant circle of meetings where we understand what must be done. But if not for that one Agile coach or COO passionate about Agile, that is still waterfall with slightly changed titles and an iterative cadence. Unless the shift of values is successful and the organization truly believes that what it implements and enforces has some meaning, it doesn’t matter. There might be some improvements and even significant ones, but the general course is the same: we imitate the standards they leave. Releasing on Friday is a good idea if you have achieved the Agile state of mind. Quality Control Practices Most of the organizations are still focused on pre-release testing. There are some tests. There is a manual testing process. Then there is testing on the almost-like-production environment, sometimes on-like-production environment, or even safeguarded from the customer’s real production environment. However, it is still pre-release and is not treated as a must for most companies to implement the same testing after release. It will likely be manual or automated testing for critical functionality, and only to the extent that quality engineers from specific teams can do it in hours or days. Ask any software developer on the interview - they will assure you they have 100% code coverage and are doing TDD. Ask any leader in the organization, and they will assure you that all the testing is automated and that only 10% of the functionality that is too costly to automate is still being tested manually. This might be true, but most importantly, it is not what we seek. Bugs will exist no matter how rigorous we are in testing. It is essential to identify them before customers start to be annoyed, and the money will be lost. Releasing on Friday is a good idea if you know how to identify bugs before your customers are annoyed. What Is the Release Process? There might be situations when the irreversible changes happen. There is a migration from the vulnerable software, a change in the database scheme, and a migration to the new infrastructure. You can name it. In this case, there might be no way of adding additional safeguarding for your operations. However, 99% of the release organizations are different from this. They are minor tweaks in maybe not that critical features that are not used by 100% of the customers, and even if something goes wrong - that’s tolerable.CI/CD has become almost synonymous with the release process. It is rare for organizations now to have a system admin who will go to the physical server, plug in a USB drive, and run a command on a server. Most likely, there is a pipeline in one of the known orchestration tools, and after the button is pressed, everything goes live. All release processes have to be automated, with clear and straightforward options to identify problems and back out if the result provides more harm to the business than benefits. Of course, some decisions must be made, but one must have data to base them on to make those decisions. Releasing on Friday is a good idea if there is a straightforward way of judging how the release went and a concise way of backing out. When to Push to Production? Some may argue that implementing all of the practices we have described is too expensive. And they are not wrong - it will take long hours, result in some failures, and potentially annoy customers. However, when you get the right mindset, implement the proper quality controls, and build an error-prone pipeline, there will be nothing to stop you from pushing to production whenever it is right to do so - on Friday, during Christmas, Easter, Black Friday, and before the summer social party. Are you releasing on Friday? If not - what stops you from doing so? Share your thoughts in the comments. This has become a well-known practice or even a meme. When someone pushes code to production on Friday, there is a significant outage of all services, customers are angry, ratings are going down, and revenue is dipping as fast as one can imagine. Eventually, everyone will be brought back to their laptops instead of spending time with family and friends over the weekend. But how did we end up in this situation? If you look at this from a holistic approach, that makes sense. If a team publishes their changes to production, therefore exposing them to the customers and potentially causing a high load, many things can go wrong. All the bugs that haven’t been identified during the testing phase could come out, and if no one is around - no one will be able to fix or revert changes that caused an outage. It is now a rule in any organization that implements Agile at least somehow. This means that releases should be minor, frequent, automated, allow backup, and even be exposed to a small number of customers at first. But why are we still so scared to release it to production? We prefer code freezes, no-release Fridays, and other innovations many of us have seen in our workplaces. While all the practices mentioned already, in theory, do allow a particular state of calmness in one's mind, there is always this feeling that something might go wrong and it will fail. Of course, there is nothing wrong with introducing code freezes for Christmas before Friday. The stakes might be so high that even the most sophisticated guardrails do not guarantee safe space. Ordinary releases should be allowed at any point and eventually by anyone who has done their induction training. Are We Agile Enough? Most organizations are still developing in Waterfalls with Sprints - they deliver frequently, but in chunks big enough to be called Epic or even Initiative, with a couple million budgets and anything from one month to almost a year's worth of development. Yes, they call themselves agile. They have all the definitions and automation tests, but no one believes in it somewhere deep in the complex. Most of the releases are still re-tested manually by developers, all the functionalities have to be approved by the risk department before release, and no one collects the metrics that can identify the significance of the released value. It is hard to say, but in most cases, it is true. We are stuck in a constant circle of meetings where we understand what must be done. But if not for that one Agile coach or COO passionate about Agile, that is still waterfall with slightly changed titles and an iterative cadence. Unless the shift of values is successful and the organization truly believes that what it implements and enforces has some meaning, it doesn’t matter. There might be some improvements and even significant ones, but the general course is the same: we imitate the standards they leave. Releasing on Friday is a good idea if you have achieved the Agile state of mind. Releasing on Friday is a good idea if you have achieved the Agile state of mind. Quality Control Practices Most of the organizations are still focused on pre-release testing. There are some tests. There is a manual testing process. Then there is testing on the almost-like-production environment, sometimes on-like-production environment, or even safeguarded from the customer’s real production environment. However, it is still pre-release and is not treated as a must for most companies to implement the same testing after release. It will likely be manual or automated testing for critical functionality, and only to the extent that quality engineers from specific teams can do it in hours or days. Ask any software developer on the interview - they will assure you they have 100% code coverage and are doing TDD. Ask any leader in the organization, and they will assure you that all the testing is automated and that only 10% of the functionality that is too costly to automate is still being tested manually. This might be true, but most importantly, it is not what we seek. Bugs will exist no matter how rigorous we are in testing. It is essential to identify them before customers start to be annoyed, and the money will be lost. Releasing on Friday is a good idea if you know how to identify bugs before your customers are annoyed. Releasing on Friday is a good idea if you know how to identify bugs before your customers are annoyed. What Is the Release Process? There might be situations when the irreversible changes happen. There is a migration from the vulnerable software, a change in the database scheme, and a migration to the new infrastructure. You can name it. In this case, there might be no way of adding additional safeguarding for your operations. However, 99% of the release organizations are different from this. They are minor tweaks in maybe not that critical features that are not used by 100% of the customers, and even if something goes wrong - that’s tolerable. CI/CD has become almost synonymous with the release process. It is rare for organizations now to have a system admin who will go to the physical server, plug in a USB drive, and run a command on a server. Most likely, there is a pipeline in one of the known orchestration tools, and after the button is pressed, everything goes live. All release processes have to be automated, with clear and straightforward options to identify problems and back out if the result provides more harm to the business than benefits. Of course, some decisions must be made, but one must have data to base them on to make those decisions. Releasing on Friday is a good idea if there is a straightforward way of judging how the release went and a concise way of backing out. Releasing on Friday is a good idea if there is a straightforward way of judging how the release went and a concise way of backing out. When to Push to Production? Some may argue that implementing all of the practices we have described is too expensive. And they are not wrong - it will take long hours, result in some failures, and potentially annoy customers. However, when you get the right mindset, implement the proper quality controls, and build an error-prone pipeline, there will be nothing to stop you from pushing to production whenever it is right to do so - on Friday, during Christmas, Easter, Black Friday, and before the summer social party. Are you releasing on Friday? If not - what stops you from doing so? Share your thoughts in the comments. Are you releasing on Friday? If not - what stops you from doing so? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Don’t Push to Production on Friday. Yet.		

This , Bard, Claude, and other AI tools have become widely available. In this post, I'll show you why these powerful chatbots should be your secret weapon. holiday season is the first since ChatGPT But it only matters if your goal is to . write Black Friday emails that grab attention, captivate your audience, and drive conversions If that's you, keep reading. Understanding the Importance of Personalized Black Friday Emails Black Friday means incredible deals and discounts in the minds of consumers. This makes it a crucial time for businesses to boost sales and attract new customers. The number of increases. How do you cut through the noise and get your emails to connect with your customers? Each year, the holiday promotions start earlier. brands with special offers That’s where comes in. Personalized emails can make a world of difference in capturing your customers’ attention and driving conversions. personalization By and behaviors, you create a sense of relevance and value. This increases the likelihood of engagement and purchase. Customers feel valued, and you gain a competitive advantage. tailoring your email messages to individual preferences For example, you could send a personalized email to a customer who has recently . The email could include a personalized product recommendation, a discount on running shoes, or a tip on how to choose the right running shoes. browsed your website for running shoes Another use case is to send a personalized email to a customer who has . The email could remind them about the items they left in their cart and offer them a discount to complete their purchase. recently abandoned their shopping cart With paid advertising, you can even follow them around the web and reach them on specific devices. By taking the time to personalize your emails, you can create a more engaging and effective email marketing campaign. This is what modern email marketing is all about. Personalization is a powerful tool that can help you boost your Black Friday sales. Unleashing AI: Revolutionizing Email Marketing for Black Friday Artificial Intelligence has revolutionized various aspects of our lives, and email marketing is no exception. By harnessing the power of AI, you can automate and streamline your Black Friday email campaigns, ensuring each message is personalized and compelling. Think of AI in email marketing like a master chess player. It’s like having an AI-powered chessboard for your Black Friday email campaigns — every piece moves strategically, adapting to the opponent’s game. Just as a grandmaster anticipates every move, AI anticipates your customers’ preferences. With AI, your email marketing becomes a , ensuring your moves are personalized and compelling. AI-powered tools allow you to automate email customization processes. Time is money for busy business owners, and AI saves time and effort. finely-tuned game plan I’m helping local business owners leverage AI to analyze large amounts of customer data. The bottom line is highly relevant and persuasive emails delivered to more inboxes. We use their customer data to generate tailored product recommendations and suggestions. And it gets better. AI can assist in crafting using machine-generated options. These subject lines undergo , ensuring you choose the one that resonates best with your audience. attention-grabbing subject lines A/B testing Here are some specific examples of how your brand can use AI to generate personalized subject lines and body copy for their Black Friday emails: "Your personalized Black Friday deals on [ ]" Subject line: customer's favorite product category "Hi [customer's name], check out these on your favorite [product category] products: Body copy: exclusive Black Friday deals - now [ ] [Product 1] discount off [Product 2] - now [discount off] [Product 3] - now [discount off] Don't miss out on these amazing deals! . CTA: Shop now and save Let’s dive deeper into how to create personalized Black Friday emails. AI can help you collect and analyze customer data Collecting and Analyzing Consumer Data Effective personalization relies on a deep understanding of your customers. To achieve this, collecting and organizing customer data is crucial. AI can play a significant role in processing both structured and unstructured data, enabling you to derive meaningful insights. By leveraging AI, you can in past purchasing behavior. This allows you to reduce the guesswork and make data-driven decisions. Personalized email recommendations based on these insights can significantly . uncover valuable patterns and trends increase the conversion rate Spotify uses AI to personalize its Black Friday emails by sending subscribers recommendations based on their listening habits. For example, a subscriber who listens to a lot of hip-hop music might receive an email with special deals on hip-hop albums and merchandise. is another essential aspect of personalization. AI can help you divide your customer base into specific groups based on their preferences, demographics, or past purchase history. Segmentation For Spotify, this means sending a different Black Friday email to Gen Z subscribers than they would to Millennial subscribers. They might also send different emails to subscribers in different countries or regions. By using AI to segment its Black Friday emails, Spotify is able to increase the effectiveness of its marketing campaigns and drive more sales. The means you can also Apply these tactics now to increase the ROI for your email marketing. wide availability of generative AI and machine learning tools segment and personalize your email content to each client and prospect. Writing Engaging and Persuasive Black Friday Emails With AI Now that you have a trove of customer data, it’s time to put it to good use. Generic emails are not compelling. So, how can you write compelling Black Friday emails without breaking the bank? Say hello to your new best friend. AI-powered can generate dynamic and . For example, AI could help you to generate body copy that highlights the products that the customer is most likely to be interested in and explains why they should purchase those products during the Black Friday sale. Natural Language Generation (NLG) personalized email body copy By showcasing relevant deals and products, you create a sense of exclusivity and personal attention, ultimately driving conversions. Using NLG, you can with product recommendations and offers tailored to each recipient’s preferences. customize email templates In a competitive market, seizing opportunities quickly is key. By utilizing AI to send timely offers, you stay ahead of the competition, attracting customers who are ready to make a decision. To create a sense of urgency, you can employ personalized in your emails. time-limited deals . Ensuring your list feels a strong desire to act quickly leads to increased conversion rates. AI can even determine the best time of day to deliver your emails Imagine you’re running a high-stakes business negotiation, and . Just as in those crucial moments, . time is of the essence you need to create a sense of urgency in your emails Don’t forget about the importance of a strong call-to-action (CTA). that resonate with your customers. AI can help you craft personalized CTAs It is critical to ask your audience to take the desired action. Effective CTAs include making a purchase, signing up for your newsletter, or visiting your physical store. Ensuring Success With AI-Driven Black Friday Email Campaigns Using AI for your Black Friday email campaigns is powerful, but the real magic happens when you continuously optimize and monitor. By conducting A/B testing on AI-generated subject lines, email content, and visuals, you can determine which variations perform best. This iterative approach helps refine your campaigns and improve your overall results. Tracking customer response data is vital. This practice allows you to adapt your email content and offers accordingly. Ongoing adjustment ensures that your emails remain relevant and engaging. Real-time AI analytics can monitor customer behavior. While AI automation is a game-changer, . To do this balance automation with genuine, personalized interactions. it’s important to maintain a human touch in your Black Friday email communication Not only does this create a sense of authenticity — it builds stronger customer relationships. Conclusion As the Black Friday shopping frenzy approaches, your email marketing strategy must stand out from the competition. Using AI to automate and personalize your Black Friday emails is the ultimate key to success. There is a new way to create holiday doorbusters. If you want to make a lasting impact on your customers, drive higher engagement and boost conversions use AI to your advantage.  Supercharge your email marketing with compelling, tailored and persuasive messages. So, are you ready to embrace the power of AI in your Black Friday email campaigns? Follow me for more insights on the AI marketing revolution. And if you want specialized guidance, be sure to contact me directly. Happy emailing and successful Black Friday sales!

How to Use AI to Write Black Friday Emails Your Customers Will Love

It’s the month of horror! And Friday the 13th is considered as its unluckiest day. So, why not take the time to remember some very spooky and unlucky moments inside the cryptocurrency world? The truth is that we’ve had many. We’ve survived them all, but that’s a different story for some companies and cryptocurrencies. After some very bad crypto crashes for different reasons, some brands and assets have disappeared for good. Indeed, according to , , including failed Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). If we’d count fake coins, failed companies, and scams, there’d be likely much more. Most of them were tiny projects that failed, but others were even titans in the industry. We’ll talk about those. 99Bitcoins there were at least 1,744 dead coins as of March 2023. According to , the number increased to 2,478 by October 2023 Coinopsy Sometimes, millions of people put their faith and investments in the wrong assets or companies. Let’s explore how this happened in the crypto industry with five cases, considered the biggest crypto crashes so far (until 2023). Content Overview Case 1: Mt. Gox Crash Case 2: BitConnect Case 3: Terra (LUNA) and UST Case 4: Three Arrows Capital (3AC) Case 5: FTX and FTT Token What can we learn from crypto crashes? Case 1: Mt. Gox Crash Mt. Gox probably rings a bell. This was the most popular crypto exchange worldwide between 2011 and 2014, even handling around 70% of all Bitcoin transactions by that year. It suffered a tragic demise in 2014, after the revelation of a series of hacks that stole 744.408 BTC (around $473 million at the time). But the first big crypto crash happened before that demise. In June 2011, Mt. Gox experienced a series of . Initially, 478 accounts were breached, resulting in the theft of 25,000 BTC valued at $400,000. after someone placed massive sell orders. This dramatic crash impacted a substantial portion of the Bitcoin in circulation. devastating events On June 19th, suspicious trading activity caused the exchange rate to plummet from $17 to $0.01 per BTC Later, it was discovered that an attacker had compromised an administrative account used for auditing. In response, Mt. Gox shut down its site. The situation escalated when a list containing usernames, email addresses, and password hashes was published on an Internet forum, exposing over 61,000 accounts with a total value exceeding $8.75 million. The exchange reopened later with improved security measures, but the incident left a lasting impact on the market. , when Mt. Gox closed for good. It hasn’t happened again either, fortunately for us. Bitcoin Indeed, BTC lost over 93% of its value between June and November that year, something that didn’t happen even in 2014 Case 2: BitConnect We have to say it: this one became a classic meme in crypto. The exclamation “Hey, hey, hey! Bitconeeeeect!” is a widely used running joke — a simple greeting or to imply that something is a scam. The reason is that BitConnect was, in fact, one of the biggest ever pulled off. And it had its own platform and a native asset. crypto scams The brand operated a supposed lending platform between 2016 and 2018. It promised investors high returns through a lending program and its own cryptocurrency, BitConnect Coin (BCC). Users were encouraged to exchange Bitcoin for BCC and then lend it to the platform in exchange for —up to 40% monthly. substantial interest rates BitConnect used a referral system to incentivize users to bring in more investors, creating a pyramid-like structure. The platform's business model was unsustainable and relied on new investments to pay returns to earlier investors, making it a classic . The platform attracted a large user base and reached a peak market capitalization of over $2.6 billion, with thousands of users participating. Ponzi scheme BitConnect's fraudulent nature became increasingly apparent, and in January 2018, it abruptly shut down its lending and exchange platform after an “Emergency Cease and Desist Order” by the Texas State Securities Board. The value of BitConnect Coin (BCC) plummeted from over $400 to virtually zero, resulting in substantial financial losses for many investors. According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), This entity sued BitConnect in 2021, and its founder, , has been on the run since 2022. , BitConnect American promoter, is now in jail. All that is left is the Bitconnect meme, initiated from the enthusiastic speech by Carlos Matos, a lesser BitConnect promoter. He later himself a victim who has lost over $100,000 in several scams, including BCC. BitConnect investors worldwide at least $2 billion in assets. defrauded Indian Satish Kumbhani Glenn Arcaro declared https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC9NWwdrVNQ&embedable=true Case 3: Terra (LUNA) and UST Here, we explore the start of an eventful 2022. Terra is a blockchain protocol that still exists (somehow), along with its native currency, —now Terra Classic (LUNC). What disappeared, besides all the involved money and user trust, was their native stablecoin, ). This was an algorithmic asset that kept its 1 USD value by issuing and burning LUNA coins. LUNA Terra USD (UST when UST lost its $1 peg on May 8, leading to a panic in the market. Whales conducted a massive sell-off, causing UST's value to drop even more. Anchor Protocol, a major DeFi platform on Terra, experienced withdrawals of over $2 billion in just 24 hours. Trouble began This token had a value of $119 in April 2022, while its replacement (LUNC) is now at $0.000058 [CMC]. Despite efforts by the Luna Foundation, UST's peg could not be restored, and the Terra protocol faced a collapse of over $40 billion. Investors suffered severe losses, prompting some to file lawsuits against Terraform Labs and its co-founder Do Kwon. UST's price plummeted to $0.1 (90% less than its peg), dragging LUNA down with it. Ultimately, Terra's collapse left a trail of financial devastation, leading to delistings on multiple crypto exchanges, more crypto regulations worldwide, and legal actions against those involved in the project. Do Kwon, Terra's co-founder, in March 2023 while traveling in Montenegro using falsified documents. was arrested Case 4: Three Arrows Capital (3AC) This crash is likely intertwined with the previous one. Founded in 2012 by Su Zhu and Kyle Davies in Singapore, However, it’s now liquidated, owing approximately $3.5 billion to more than 32 companies globally. 3AC once managed up to $10 billion in assets and investments, including cryptocurrencies. because 3AC held significant investments in Terra (LUNA) tokens, which lost their value following Terra's collapse. They also invested in other tokens that performed poorly between 2021 and 2022. With investments, partnerships, and loans worth billions of dollars with various crypto companies, 3AC's financial troubles had a ripple effect in the industry. The trouble began Their bankruptcy filing in June 2022 revealed substantial debts and an absence of answers from the founders about the funds and the project’s issues. due to unpaid loans. Ordinary users of Voyager and Celsius platforms also faced financial losses, since they halted withdrawals and filed for bankruptcy. Genesis Trading would do the same in 2023 for this and other reasons. The impact extended to institutional creditors, with crypto protocols like Genesis Trading, Voyager, and Celsius suffering (each one over $1 billion) significant losses The crash of 3AC also affected some platforms and equities within their portfolio, like DeFi protocol , and some crypto exchanges, like . Despite only dealing with businesses, the fall of 3AC was devastating for retail crypto investors too. Numerous people to have lost their life savings to Voyager and , for instance. Meanwhile, Kyle Davies is on the run, and Su Zhu in September 2023 when he was trying to leave Singapore. Ardana BitMEX and FTX claimed Celsius was arrested Case 5: FTX and FTT Token FTX was, likely, the last “big domino” to fall in 2022 after the ripple effect caused by Terra. They even sponsored several sports teams and organizations in the US. And its fall has already to Terra's collapse as well. At its peak in July 2021, FTX was the third-largest cryptocurrency exchange globally, with over one million users. been linked Their crisis began in November 2022, when CoinDesk revealed that FTX's partner firm, Alameda Research, held a significant portion of its assets in FTX's native token (FTT). Following this revelation, rival exchange Binance announced its intention to sell its FTT holdings, leading to a spike in customer withdrawals from FTX. However, FTX couldn't meet the demand for these withdrawals. Binance initially signed a letter of intent to acquire FTX, but it withdrew the offer the next day due to concerns about mishandled customer funds and U.S. agency investigations. Without more options, FTX filed for bankruptcy. In December 2022, FTX's founder, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), was arrested by Bahamian authorities at the request of the U.S. government for financial offenses. The company's assets were frozen, while the bankruptcy proceedings revealed (of around $3 billion), misuse of customer funds, and a lack of financial controls within FTX. massive debts Several institutional investors, Sequoia Capital, CoinShares, BlockFi, and Genesis Trading faced losses due to their stakes in FTX. The collapse of FTX had a significant impact on the cryptocurrency market, causing declines in various cryptocurrencies' values and raising concerns about investor protection and regulatory oversight. including The latter two companies filed for bankruptcy in 2023, indeed. Their losses at $2.8 billion (Genesis) and over $1 billion (BlockFi). These events, again, caused the for a lot of people. SBF is currently in the US. are estimated loss of life savings on trial What can we learn from crypto crashes? Avoiding cryptocurrency crashes and minimizing risks as a retail crypto investor requires careful consideration and a disciplined approach. While it's impossible to eliminate all risks, here are some strategies to help you navigate the volatile cryptocurrency market and reduce the chances of experiencing significant losses: Don't put all your funds into a single project. Diversifying across different assets can help spread risk. Invest in well-established cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and , alongside smaller, promising projects. Diversify Your Portfolio: Obyte don’t store your funds long-term with centralized entities like online wallets (exchanges) or even financial platforms that you may think are “decentralized” just because they work with cryptocurrencies, but don’t provide you with private keys (e.g. Celsius and Voyager). If they have issues, your funds will have issues, and withdrawals will be halted indefinitely. Keep custody of your funds: . Obyte is an excellent store of value as it provides unmatched resistance to censorship due to absence of any powerful actors such as miners. Store your capital in assets issued on truly decentralized platforms like Obyte Before investing in any cryptocurrency, conduct extensive research. Understand the technology, use case, team, funding methods, and community behind the project. Make informed decisions based on solid information rather than hype. If it looks too good to be true, it’s likely not true. Research Thoroughly: : Consider using risk management tools like stop-loss orders, which automatically sell your assets if they reach a certain price level. This can help limit potential losses. Use Risk Management Tools : Define clear investment goals and timeframes. Are you looking for short-term gains, or are you in it for the long haul? Set realistic expectations and avoid chasing quick profits. Set Realistic Goals Keep up with cryptocurrency news and market trends. Be aware of any regulatory changes or major developments that could impact the market. Stay Informed: Remember that the cryptocurrency market is inherently speculative and volatile. While there are opportunities for substantial gains, there are also risks involved. By maintaining a cautious approach, you can reduce the likelihood of experiencing major losses during potential crypto market crashes. Even on this unlucky day! Featured Vector Image by Freepik

Friday, the 13th and Crypto: Uncovering Valuable Lessons from Major Market Crashes

শুক্রবার, 13 তম এবং ক্রিপ্টো: প্রধান বাজার বিপর্যয় থেকে মূল্যবান পাঠ উন্মোচন

Freitag, der 13. und Krypto: Wertvolle Lehren aus großen Marktcrashs ziehen

Viernes 13 y Cripto: Descubriendo lecciones valiosas de las principales caídas del mercado

Vendredi 13 et Crypto : découvrir de précieuses leçons des krachs majeurs du marché

शुक्रवार, 13वां और क्रिप्टो: प्रमुख बाज़ार दुर्घटनाओं से मूल्यवान सबक उजागर करना

13日の金曜日と仮想通貨：大規模な市場暴落から得た貴重な教訓

13일의 금요일과 암호화폐: 주요 시장 붕괴에서 귀중한 교훈 발견

Sexta-feira, 13 e criptografia: descobrindo lições valiosas das principais quedas do mercado

Пятница, 13-е и криптовалюта: извлекаем ценные уроки из крупных рыночных крахов

13'üncü Cuma ve Kripto: Büyük Piyasa Çöküşlerinden Değerli Dersler Çıkarmak

Thứ Sáu ngày 13 và tiền điện tử: Khám phá những bài học quý giá từ những vụ sụp đổ thị trường lớn

13 号星期五和加密货币：从重大市场崩溃中汲取宝贵的教训

The $30,000 Bequest, and Other Stories by Mark Twain, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . CHAPTER III here CHAPTER III The little newspaper which Aleck had subscribed for was a Thursday sheet; it would make the trip of five hundred miles from Tilbury's village and arrive on Saturday. Tilbury's letter had started on Friday, more than a day too late for the benefactor to die and get into that week's issue, but in plenty of time to make connection for the next output. Thus the Fosters had to wait almost a complete week to find out whether anything of a satisfactory nature had happened to him or not. It was a long, long week, and the strain was a heavy one. The pair could hardly have borne it if their minds had not had the relief of wholesome diversion. We have seen that they had that. The woman was piling up fortunes right along, the man was spending them—spending all his wife would give him a chance at, at any rate. At last the Saturday came, and the arrived. Mrs. Eversly Bennett was present. She was the Presbyterian parson's wife, and was working the Fosters for a charity. Talk now died a sudden death—on the Foster side. Mrs. Bennett presently discovered that her hosts were not hearing a word she was saying; so she got up, wondering and indignant, and went away. The moment she was out of the house, Aleck eagerly tore the wrapper from the paper, and her eyes and Sally's swept the columns for the death-notices. Disappointment! Tilbury was not anywhere mentioned. Aleck was a Christian from the cradle, and duty and the force of habit required her to go through the motions. She pulled herself together and said, with a pious two-per-cent. trade joyousness: Weekly Sagamore “Let us be humbly thankful that he has been spared; and—” “Damn his treacherous hide, I wish—” “Sally! For shame!” “I don't care!” retorted the angry man. “It's the way feel, and if you weren't so immorally pious you'd be honest and say so.” you Aleck said, with wounded dignity: “I do not see how you can say such unkind and unjust things. There is no such thing as immoral piety.” Sally felt a pang, but tried to conceal it under a shuffling attempt to save his case by changing the form of it—as if changing the form while retaining the juice could deceive the expert he was trying to placate. He said: “I didn't mean so bad as that, Aleck; I didn't really mean immoral piety, I only meant—meant—well, conventional piety, you know; er—shop piety; the—the—why, know what I mean. Aleck—the—well, where you put up that plated article and play it for solid, you know, without intending anything improper, but just out of trade habit, ancient policy, petrified custom, loyalty to—to—hang it, I can't find the right words, but know what I mean, Aleck, and that there isn't any harm in it. I'll try again. You see, it's this way. If a person—” you you “You have said quite enough,” said Aleck, coldly; “let the subject be dropped.” “I'm willing,” fervently responded Sally, wiping the sweat from his forehead and looking the thankfulness he had no words for. Then, musingly, he apologized to himself. “I certainly held threes— it—but I drew and didn't fill. That's where I'm so often weak in the game. If I had stood pat—but I didn't. I never do. I don't know enough.” I know Confessedly defeated, he was properly tame now and subdued. Aleck forgave him with her eyes. The grand interest, the supreme interest, came instantly to the front again; nothing could keep it in the background many minutes on a stretch. The couple took up the puzzle of the absence of Tilbury's death-notice. They discussed it every which way, more or less hopefully, but they had to finish where they began, and concede that the only really sane explanation of the absence of the notice must be—and without doubt was—that Tilbury was not dead. There was something sad about it, something even a little unfair, maybe, but there it was, and had to be put up with. They were agreed as to that. To Sally it seemed a strangely inscrutable dispensation; more inscrutable than usual, he thought; one of the most unnecessary inscrutable he could call to mind, in fact—and said so, with some feeling; but if he was hoping to draw Aleck he failed; she reserved her opinion, if she had one; she had not the habit of taking injudicious risks in any market, worldly or other. The pair must wait for next week's paper—Tilbury had evidently postponed. That was their thought and their decision. So they put the subject away and went about their affairs again with as good heart as they could. Now, if they had but known it, they had been wronging Tilbury all the time. Tilbury had kept faith, kept it to the letter; he was dead, he had died to schedule. He was dead more than four days now and used to it; entirely dead, perfectly dead, as dead as any other new person in the cemetery; dead in abundant time to get into that week's , too, and only shut out by an accident; an accident which could not happen to a metropolitan journal, but which happens easily to a poor little village rag like the . On this occasion, just as the editorial page was being locked up, a gratis quart of strawberry ice-water arrived from Hostetter's Ladies and Gents Ice-Cream Parlors, and the stickful of rather chilly regret over Tilbury's translation got crowded out to make room for the editor's frantic gratitude. Sagamore Sagamore On its way to the standing-galley Tilbury's notice got pied. Otherwise it would have gone into some future edition, for do not waste “live” matter, and in their galleys “live” matter is immortal, unless a pi accident intervenes. But a thing that gets pied is dead, and for such there is no resurrection; its chance of seeing print is gone, forever and ever. And so, let Tilbury like it or not, let him rave in his grave to his fill, no matter—no mention of his death would ever see the light in the . weekly Sagamores Weekly Sagamore 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. Mark Twain (2004). The $30,000 Bequest, and Other Stories. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/142/pg142-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

Tilbury's letter had started on Friday

The War of the Worlds, by H. G. Wells, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here . VIII. FRIDAY NIGHT VIII. FRIDAY NIGHT The most extraordinary thing to my mind, of all the strange and wonderful things that happened upon that Friday, was the dovetailing of the commonplace habits of our social order with the first beginnings of the series of events that was to topple that social order headlong. If on Friday night you had taken a pair of compasses and drawn a circle with a radius of five miles round the Woking sand-pits, I doubt if you would have had one human being outside it, unless it were some relation of Stent or of the three or four cyclists or London people lying dead on the common, whose emotions or habits were at all affected by the new-comers. Many people had heard of the cylinder, of course, and talked about it in their leisure, but it certainly did not make the sensation that an ultimatum to Germany would have done. In London that night poor Henderson’s telegram describing the gradual unscrewing of the shot was judged to be a canard, and his evening paper, after wiring for authentication from him and receiving no reply—the man was killed—decided not to print a special edition. Even within the five-mile circle the great majority of people were inert. I have already described the behaviour of the men and women to whom I spoke. All over the district people were dining and supping; working men were gardening after the labours of the day, children were being put to bed, young people were wandering through the lanes love-making, students sat over their books. Maybe there was a murmur in the village streets, a novel and dominant topic in the public-houses, and here and there a messenger, or even an eye-witness of the later occurrences, caused a whirl of excitement, a shouting, and a running to and fro; but for the most part the daily routine of working, eating, drinking, sleeping, went on as it had done for countless years—as though no planet Mars existed in the sky. Even at Woking station and Horsell and Chobham that was the case. In Woking junction, until a late hour, trains were stopping and going on, others were shunting on the sidings, passengers were alighting and waiting, and everything was proceeding in the most ordinary way. A boy from the town, trenching on Smith’s monopoly, was selling papers with the afternoon’s news. The ringing impact of trucks, the sharp whistle of the engines from the junction, mingled with their shouts of “Men from Mars!” Excited men came into the station about nine o’clock with incredible tidings, and caused no more disturbance than drunkards might have done. People rattling Londonwards peered into the darkness outside the carriage windows, and saw only a rare, flickering, vanishing spark dance up from the direction of Horsell, a red glow and a thin veil of smoke driving across the stars, and thought that nothing more serious than a heath fire was happening. It was only round the edge of the common that any disturbance was perceptible. There were half a dozen villas burning on the Woking border. There were lights in all the houses on the common side of the three villages, and the people there kept awake till dawn. A curious crowd lingered restlessly, people coming and going but the crowd remaining, both on the Chobham and Horsell bridges. One or two adventurous souls, it was afterwards found, went into the darkness and crawled quite near the Martians; but they never returned, for now and again a light-ray, like the beam of a warship’s searchlight swept the common, and the Heat-Ray was ready to follow. Save for such, that big area of common was silent and desolate, and the charred bodies lay about on it all night under the stars, and all the next day. A noise of hammering from the pit was heard by many people. So you have the state of things on Friday night. In the centre, sticking into the skin of our old planet Earth like a poisoned dart, was this cylinder. But the poison was scarcely working yet. Around it was a patch of silent common, smouldering in places, and with a few dark, dimly seen objects lying in contorted attitudes here and there. Here and there was a burning bush or tree. Beyond was a fringe of excitement, and farther than that fringe the inflammation had not crept as yet. In the rest of the world the stream of life still flowed as it had flowed for immemorial years. The fever of war that would presently clog vein and artery, deaden nerve and destroy brain, had still to develop. All night long the Martians were hammering and stirring, sleepless, indefatigable, at work upon the machines they were making ready, and ever and again a puff of greenish-white smoke whirled up to the starlit sky. About eleven a company of soldiers came through Horsell, and deployed along the edge of the common to form a cordon. Later a second company marched through Chobham to deploy on the north side of the common. Several officers from the Inkerman barracks had been on the common earlier in the day, and one, Major Eden, was reported to be missing. The colonel of the regiment came to the Chobham bridge and was busy questioning the crowd at midnight. The military authorities were certainly alive to the seriousness of the business. About eleven, the next morning’s papers were able to say, a squadron of hussars, two Maxims, and about four hundred men of the Cardigan regiment started from Aldershot. A few seconds after midnight the crowd in the Chertsey road, Woking, saw a star fall from heaven into the pine woods to the northwest. It had a greenish colour, and caused a silent brightness like summer lightning. This was the second cylinder. 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. H. G. Wells (1992). The War of the Worlds. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022, from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/36/36-h/36-h.htm 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 www.gutenberg.org , located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html.

The War of the Worlds: Chapter VIII. FRIDAY NIGHT

Many numbers get floated on where Bitcoin is eventually heading. While I agree with many of them, I think we can draw some actual reasoning to price surges that will come with time. So here are four reasons why in my opinion, Bitcoin will hit $250,000 per coin. Of course, this isn't financial advice. 1. More attractive than comparative inflation hedges Let's start by looking at the market cap of another inflation hedge: Gold at the time of this writing has a market cap of over 10 Trillion USD. Bitcoin meanwhile has a market cap of just under 1.1 Trillion USD. The inflation rate of Bitcoin over time gets cut in half every four years and has a capped supply at 21Million. Coins The inflation rate of gold has stayed steady, and when prices climb, so does production. The total supply of gold is unknown and technology for gold recovery keeps improving. The actual monetary value (not taking jewelry and gold bars into account) of Gold sits somewhere around 4.3 Trillion USD. If Bitcoin captures the same monetary market cap, it will be over $250k per coin. I believe that investors are starting to understand the movement of digital assets that are scarce in nature but have a growing user base. Their value is similar to tech companies whose value increases upon realizing a larger user base, adoption, and network effect. Bitcoin is accessible to almost everyone. Like $1 dollar has 100 cents, Bitcoin can be fractionalized into 100 Million pieces called  Satoshis (SATS). With Bitcoin, you can transfer value like an email and in any volume. Try doing any of those fast and cost-effective transactions with gold. Gold held perceived value and isn’t considered a currency and I’d put Bitcoin into the same category as a store of value. Yet gold achieved normality and adoption even though use is cumbersome, and gold isn’t easily divisible. Humanity through time had a concurrent opinion of gold giving it value. The same is happening now as humanity is arriving at a consensus for present and future, that Bitcoin is the Alpha store of value asset. And in the end I believe Gold will be inferior to Bitcoin. 2. Rate of adoption and network effect Bitcoin has a higher rate of and network effect than cell phones and the internet over their first 12 years of inception. On the other hand, gold has almost no network effect and a declining user base. This leads me to believe we will see monetary parity with BTC and gold on monetary value levels. adoption Bitcoin hit a market cap of over 1 Trillion in 12 years; while US tech giants like Facebook, Amazon,  Apple, Netflix all took up to 20 years to reach that point. 3. Changing of the guard Bloomberg took a survey in which 90% + of millennials chose Bitcoin over gold as a store of value. The changing of the guard in the workforce will undoubtedly be a rising tide that can carry the USS Bitcoin to new all-time highs. According to Millionaire survey Half of the millennial millionaires have at least 25% of their net worth in digital assets. CNBC The younger generations believe in the decentralized, and trustless operating system of the Bitcoin network; electing to put their money and faith in a mathematical framework that is free of politics and human error. 4. Mainstream wave(s) of adoption: Turn on the TV and you'll see Matt Damon in a crypto.com ad; the former staples center will now be called " arena". The Miami Heat will play  In " arena". There's no shortage of mainstream coverage and below are a few of the high-level happenings, and long term bullish news. Crypto.com FTX Elon musk holds Bitcoin. Similarly, Tesla (NYSE:TSLA) and SpaceX, hold part of their treasury in BTC. Publicly traded Microstrategy (NYSE:MSTR) owns about 5 Billion USD worth of BTC for their treasury reserves. Some of the notable investors flocking to Crypto and Bitcoin include: Paul Tudor Jones Carl Icahn Cathie Wood Ashton Kutcher Mark Cuban Even Kevin O'Leary from ABC's Shark Tank, a notable protractor has changed tunes and now has a 7% of the personal allocation of his net worth in digital assets. O Leary also spoke at BTC 2021, and is an evangelist for institutional exposure to digital assets. O'Leary recently said "this is not going away, this is the new asset class" The first futures Bitcoin ETF (exchange traded fund) was approved this year. Wall street now await a spot Bitcoin ETF where the fund will be backed by real Bitcoin. being paid or to be paid in Bitcoin Notable athletes Aaron Rodgers Odell Beckham Junior Tom Brady Trevor Lawrence Sean Culkin Russel Okung Some Notable : Businesses accepting Bitcoin PayPal Cash app Shopify Microsoft Overstock Dallas Mavericks Oakland A's Burger King AT&T KFC Miami Dolphins Subway Virgin air Norwegian Air Cheap Air Amazon Quiznos AMC El Salvador becomes the First Nation to make Bitcoin legal tender. They were followed by Ukraine. El Salvador is building 20 schools with some of its BTC profits and has bought the recent dip. They're creating a Bitcoin economy, and 100% renewable Bitcoin mining powered by solar, and CHP (combined heat power) of their volcano. proposing similar Pro Bitcoin legislation: Other Nations Tonga Columbia Mexico Panama Brazil Paraguay Germany just the "fund allocation act" and want to be crypto friendly and harbor innovation.  This allows open ended funds to allocate up to 20% of holdings into digital assets. announced Bank adoption: Blockdata, an analytics firm, says in a recent that 55% of the world's top 100 banks have invested in the crypto or blockchain space. study Below is a that all have over $200 Million invested in digital assets. list of banks Standard Chartered BNY Mellon Citibank UBS BNP Paribas Morgan Stanley JP Morgan Chase Goldman Sachs. BNY Mellon America's oldest Bank is offering Bitcoin and digital asset custody to their clients. With all that said, it's easy to see the tides turning on the Bitcoin tsunami  that is just starting. The use case advantage fundamentals, network effect, and a more receptive younger generation all seeing mainstream adoption will influence Bitcoin hitting 250k per coin. I don't know when, and the road to there won't be straight up. It'll be 3 steps forward and 4 steps back in some cases. I would guess we will go through at least another Bitcoin halving to get there comfortably. As my good friend Tushar would say " just my two sats" Sources With hyperlink : (Buy bitcoin worldwide.com) , , (99Bitcoins.com), (City A.M.), (Cointelegraph), (Forbes), (Business insider), (coingape), (Michael Levin) BTC ATHLETES CNBC Millionaire study Bloomberg BTC VS GOLD Businesses accepting BTC Nations looking to adopt BTC Blockdata Study German Announcement Banks who have the most in crypto Rate of adoption Dual Adoption Curve and chart

4 Reasons Why Bitcoin Will Breach $250k Despite The Black Friday Sale

Studying the market trends is a part of the job for online eCommerce businesses. The year 2020 has proved to be a turning point in the eCommerce industry due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The eCommerce platforms dominated traditional offline shopping all over the world due to the restrictions. Now, the same trend is expected to be continued in the 2021 holiday season as well. What is Black Friday & Why is it Important? Black Friday refers to the day right after the Thanksgiving holiday that witnesses heavy sales. It is considered as the starting day of the holiday shopping season that continues with some of the significant days such as Cyber Monday, Single’s Day, etc. Black Friday Sales are the most awaited days for online shoppers. Most of the . It is crucial for eCommerce business owners to evaluate the expected market trends to amplify their sales during the holiday season. November and December are considered the hottest seasons for online shopping and thus provide with plenty of sales opportunities. Hence, preparing online stores for the holiday season is inevitable! eCommerce platforms experience spikes in sales on Black Friday eCommerce platforms Studying Black Friday 2021 trends predictions will help the online store owners to benefit from this golden sales opportunity and leverage the traffic for revenue. Black Friday 2021 Predictions and Marketing Strategies Here are the Black Friday 2021 marketing strategies as per the predictions that you must consider for your online store to boost your sales. Improve Your Store As per the reports, the eCommerce marketplace is expected to continue its dominance over the offline market during the 2021 sales season as well. Therefore, online marketers are advised to stay well prepared for the upcoming spike in the sales graph. Make sure that your store is ready to provide dozens of reasons to make a purchase. Ensure that your store is equipped with a flawless smooth navigation interface and performance, making it easy and trustworthy for the visitors to place orders. Site Experience: Do an SEO audit of your store and make sure that your store is ready to rank during the sales season. SEO Optimization: Spread Awareness Shoppers are expected to place early orders to avoid delays in delivery due to Covid-19 restrictions. Therefore, a spike in the eCommerce platform sales is expected for a couple of weeks during Black Friday. Online store owners must plan to run ad campaigns to brand awareness much before the holiday season to warm up their audience and re-target them during the Black Friday season. Social Media is one of the most profitable marketing tactics during holiday sales. People enjoying their leisure time scrolling on social media are more likely to get interested in shopping. Social Media: You can prepare a list of your customers’ email addresses and can target them during the sales season with heavy discounts, offers, and deals. One clever way to retarget customers is to distribute coupons and discount codes that can be used during holiday sales. Re-targeting: Win Customers’ Reviews Customers’ Reviews can play a vital role in winning visitors’ trust to make a purchase on your store. According to one survey, 85% of online shoppers consider reading tens of reviews about the product before making any purchase. Product reviews and feedback in your store will also help confused customers to make choices between multiple similar items in your store. It will add a sense of trust to the products and will make it easier for the customers to trust the legitimacy of the product or service that you are selling.
. You can try asking for honest reviews and feedback from your existing customers. This will help you to provide visitors with honest reviews about your product or service that will boost your sales by 4-5%. Ask for Reviews: Spamming 5-star reviews on your store to get customers’ attention over the product is not a good idea. Ironically, it may go against your sales and may make the visitors doubt the legitimacy of your store. Don’t Spam 5-Star Reviews: Flash Sales You can win customers by offering deals or discounts for a specific period of time during the flash sale and can create a sense of excitement. Flash sale is one of the most successful sales strategies used by many of the renowned eCommerce platforms during the sales season. Offer deals and discounts for a limited period of time in your store. You can try adding deals and offers with a counter like “Hurry! Offer ends in xx:xx Hours” to convince the visitors that the deal is limited and worth making a transaction. Limited Time Offer: You can try offering freebies such as free delivery services, free installation service, free extended warranty, etc. along with your products to persuade your visitors to make a transaction on your store. Offer Freebies: Give Financial Freedom Price is one of the foremost deciding factors for making any purchase online. Providing financial freedom to your customers can help you to win customers by providing them financial flexibility. You can partner with finance companies or banking organizations to provide the ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ facility in your store. This will help your customers purchase the products by paying a specific upfront payment and dividing the rest into monthly instalments as per their convenience. Buy Now, Pay Later: Looking at the diversified payment options available, it is important to support most of the payment options on your eCommerce store for your customer’s convenience. Multiple Payment Options: Debit Cards, Credit Cards, Net Banking, E-Wallets, Mobile wallets and Partial Payments are some of the must-have payment options for your eCommerce site to maximize payment convenience. Conclusion Black Friday is coming soon with its golden sales opportunity for online stores to achieve new heights of success. Online store owners must follow a proper marketing strategy to make the most out of this holiday season.

Black Friday 2021: Golden Sales Opportunity for eCommerce Stores

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