Dwayne Johnson will not endorse any presidential candidate this year.

Dwayne Johnson Says Endorsing Biden for President in 2020 Caused Division That 'Tears Me Up in My Guts' and Today's 'Woke Culture' Really 'Bugs Me'

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson shares why he won’t be endorsing any presidential nominees in the 2024 election, saying his endorsement caused division.

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson says 2020 Biden endorsement ‘tears him up’ | CNN Politics

Wrestler and actor endorsed president and Kamala Harris in 2020 but tells Fox News that for 2024 he will ‘keep my politics to myself’

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson says he will not repeat Joe Biden endorsement | Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) | The Guardian

Dwayne &quot;The Rock&quot; Johnson told &quot;Fox &amp; Friends&quot; he would not be endorsing President Biden this time around but would be keeping his politics to himself.

'The Rock' explains why he's not endorsing Biden this time, how he feels about 'woke culture' | Fox News

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JPMorgan's Participation in RWA Signifies a Strong Endorsement of Blockchain, Brickken CEO Says

Have you spent years improving your English to advance your career? Maybe you've started working for an international company. Got any idea what anybody was saying? You must be thinking that it’s painful as hell. Well, relax. There is one thing you can depend on. Stuff like this won’t stop being confusing! Your native English counterparts at Silicon Valley use tech idioms in every sentence. Well, almost every sentence. Yes, they will restructure their statements if they can see you don’t understand. But you would feel ten times better if you were able to use more colloquial language. Tech idioms are as common at FAANG companies as the tech itself. There are many reasons for this too. Idiomatic phrases are one of the best ways of conveying complex thoughts in a more memorable manner. Moreover, they’re rooted in the history and culture of the English language. Some date back hundreds of years. Others have been invented in the last decade. There’s also no denying that idioms make a language more fun to speak and listen to. Above all, learning a few tech idioms will enable you to bond with your peers to perfection. If this sounds hunky-dory, check out the tech idioms below. Turn a Blind Eye The idiom "turn a blind eye" is a fun way to describe a situation when someone chooses not to notice or acknowledge something that they could see. It's like wearing a pair of magic sunglasses that cut certain things from our vision. Imagine you're playing a game with friends, and you see them doing something against the rules. But instead of saying something, you pretend not to notice. You turn a blind eye and forget about it to keep the fun and positivity going. It's like giving them a friendly pass and saying, "Hey, I'll let it go this time." Turning a blind eye can also happen in other situations, like when you see someone being mischievous, but you choose not to get involved. So, it's all about being easygoing, keeping the peace, and focusing on the good vibes! Nowadays, we use tech idioms like this in relation to programming all the time. For example, when someone ignores the warning signs in the command prompt. This phrase allegedly comes from an . During the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, Admiral Horatio Nelson was ordered to withdraw his fleet. However, he chose to ignore the signal. Instead, he put his telescope to his blind eye and claimed he could not see the signal. incident in the British Navy Cut and Paste Imagine having a magical pair of scissors and glue in the digital world! It's all about copying and moving things around without any struggle. For example, if you have a bunch of colorful pictures and you want to rearrange them to create a beautiful collage. With "cut and paste," you can do the same thing with words, images, or even files on a computer. It's like being a digital artist who can mix different elements to create something new and exciting. You could be working on a school project or creating something fun for yourself. You might even be writing posts about tech idioms. Either way, "cut and paste" makes it a breeze to bring everything together. Plug and Play Useful tech idioms like “plug and play” come from the 80s. At the time, that made it easy to set up and use new hardware devices. The idiom “plug and play” is about connecting things with minimal effort. It's like plugging in a toy and watching it come to life. Imagine you have a new gadget or device. Instead of worrying about confusing instructions, you spend 3 seconds plugging it in. Bingo, it starts working immediately! IBM introduced the technology "Plug and play" means things work together without any fuss. Whether it's a game controller, a fancy speaker, or a printer, "plug and play" guarantees a stress-free experience. Tech idioms like this aren’t only used by software engineers either. In fact, they’re especially used by people who aren’t that tech-savvy. Tech-Savvy Being "tech-savvy" is like having a superpower when it comes to technology. A tech-savvy person is someone who can navigate gadgets like a bookworm can navigate the library. Anything from smartphones and laptops to tablets and Twitter, they can use them with ease and confidence. They're like digital wizards who can navigate apps, websites, and software without getting confused. Most people have someone like this in their family. They're the ones you go to when you need help with technical stuff or want to discover exciting new tech trends. Being tech-savvy also means being adaptable and quick to learn when it comes to new technologies. It's like having an adventurous spirit that's always ready to embrace the latest digital wonders. So, if you're tech-savvy, you're a digital hero, ready to conquer any technological challenge with a smile! On the Cloud When something is "on the cloud," it means it's stored online, safe, and ready for you to access anytime. Think of it as an invisible safety deposit box that you can access from your phone or laptop. It's like having a digital assistant that keeps everything organized and accessible. This could be your favorite music, important documents, or special photos. Either way, being "on the cloud" means they're floating in the virtual sky. Tech idioms like this are more or less exclusive to the digital world. Crash and Burn "Crash and burn" is a phrase that's often used to describe a situation where something goes wrong. Moreover, it fails in spectacular fashion. Imagine this: You try to impress your friends by doing a fancy dance move, but you end up slipping on a banana peel and falling flat on your face. This is a perfect example of “crash and burn.” It's a funny way of saying that things didn't work out as planned, and it usually involves a big, embarrassing mess. So, the next time you see someone attempt something and fail in a big, dramatic way, you can say, "Wow, they really crashed and burned!" But don't worry, we all crash and burn sometimes, and it's okay to laugh it off and try again. More Tech Idioms Are On The Way We’re only halfway through this post. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, then I would recommend taking some time to really absorb the information. Bookmark this post and give yourself time to practice using these phrases at home. Burn them to your active vocabulary with repetition and then more repetition. Try using your smartphone and record yourself using these tech idioms in full sentences. Digital Native "Digital native" is a term that describes people who grew up surrounded by technology. This includes things like smartphones, computers, and the Internet. They seem to have a magical ability to navigate the digital world with ease like they were born with a USB port in their brain! They can swipe, click, and type faster than you can say, "WTF." It's like they have a secret language that combines hashtags, emojis, and abbreviations. Tech idioms like this were born in the early 2000s. Their most common usage is to describe members of the younger generations. Your parents or grandparents might feel lost in the digital jungle. But , always one step ahead. They can download apps, edit videos, and find the best memes in seconds. Adding to this, they make it look easy too. In fact, it's amazing how they can adapt to new gadgets and apps without getting puzzled. So, if you need help setting up your Wi-Fi or figuring out how to use that strange gadget, find a digital native. digital natives are like fearless explorers Mouse Potato "Mouse potato" is a playful term used to describe someone who spends a lot of time using a computer or device. It's like they're glued to their screen. They're the modern-day counterpart to couch potatoes. But instead of watching TV, they're clicking, scrolling, and tapping away. You might find them engrossed in social media, playing video games, or binge-watching their favorite shows online. They could even be searching for more tech idioms! A mouse potato is a master of multitasking, juggling multiple tabs, chats, and memes. Some people might see them as lazy. On the contrary, they're just passionate about exploring the digital world from the comfort of their mouse-shaped throne. But don't worry. Being a mouse potato can be fun and entertaining. Well, as long as we remember to take breaks, stretch our limbs, and engage with the real world too. So, embrace your inner mouse potato. But remember to balance it out with some offline adventures once in a while! It’s not Rocket Science "It's not rocket science" is a fun expression we use when something isn't as complicated as it might seem. You know, like when you're trying to understand the latest tech idioms. Someone might say to you, "Come on, it's not rocket science!" They're saying that the task isn't as difficult as building a rocket and sending it into space. It's a lighthearted way of reassuring you that you can do it, even if it requires a little bit of thinking. So, if you're struggling with a maths problem or trying to fix a leaky tap, remember that it's not rocket science! It's just a matter of giving it a try, asking for help if needed, and keeping a positive attitude. After all, rocket scientists might be super smart, but we can tackle our own challenges with a bit of determination and the right mindset. Cutting-Edge The phrase “cutting edge” describes something that's at the forefront of innovation and technology. It's like having a super cool gadget that's so sharp it can slice through butter with laser precision! When we say something is cutting-edge, we mean it's the latest and greatest, pushing the boundaries of what's possible. I used to love reading. But now, I just use cutting-edge technology like to search for tech idioms. You might have heard the phrase ‘‘state of the art’’ too. Well, it’s the same thing. ChatGPT Imagine wearing a pair of sneakers that make you feel like you're walking on clouds or using a phone that can do anything except make dinner. It's like being on the wave of the future, riding in the Lamborghini of awesomeness! So, the next time someone talks about a cutting-edge invention or a cutting-edge fashion trend, get ready to be amazed. It's like being part of a secret club where the cool kids are always one step ahead, embracing the wonders of tomorrow right now! On the Same Wavelength "On the same wavelength" is a groovy phrase we use when we feel a strong connection and understanding with someone. It's like having a mental radio station where our thoughts and ideas are perfectly synchronized. Picture this: you and your friend are talking about your favorite movie, and you both blurt out the same quote at the exact same time! It's like you're reading each other's minds. Being on the same wavelength means you're in sync, like synchronized swimmers doing a beautiful routine. You finish each other's sentences, share inside jokes, and seem to have a magical telepathic connection. It's a wonderful feeling to know someone so well that you can communicate without even speaking. So pay attention to when you and a friend are thinking alike. And remember to use the phrase, "Hey, we're totally on the same wavelength!" A Cog in the Machine "A cog in the machine" is a quirky phrase that describes being a small, and often insignificant, part of a bigger system or organization. Imagine you're in a giant machine with gears and wheels, and you're one of those little cogs that keeps everything running smoothly. Being a cog in the machine means you play a vital role, even if it sometimes feels repetitive or unnoticed. So, the next time you're feeling like just a small piece of a big puzzle, remember that every cog is essential. Embrace your role, keep the machine humming, and who knows? Maybe one day, you'll get to be the shiny gear that everyone admires! When someone is described as "a cog in the machine," it suggests that they have a routine or repetitive job with little autonomy or individuality. They are seen as a replaceable component, lacking influence or significance within the larger context. The idiom often carries a connotation of being unimportant or undervalued. Put These Tech Idioms to Work And that’s everything for this post. Using tech idioms like this should help you to feel more natural when you’re talking to your colleagues. It’s a good idea to practice using them at home first. Write a few sentences every day using the phrases mentioned in this post. Repeat this process for a few weeks. Doing this will increase the chances of these useful tech idioms becoming an active part of your English vocabulary. If this post was useful, then do yourself a favor and consider subscribing to my blog, , for more. See you soon! BrooksCode

12 Tech Idioms Endorsed By Your Workmates

DeepMind just released a Generative model able to outperform widely-used nowcasting methods in 89% of situations for its accuracy and usefulness assessed by more than 50 expert meteorologists! Their model focuses on predicting precipitations in the next 2 hours and achieves that surprisingly well. It is a generative model, which means that it will generate the forecasts instead of simply predicting them. It basically takes radar data from the past to create future radar data. So using both time and spatial components from the past, they can generate what it will look like in the near future. You can see this as the same as Snapchat filters, taking your face and generating a new face with modifications on it. To train such a generative model, you need a bunch of data from both the human faces and the kind of face you want to generate. Then, using a very similar model trained for many hours, you will have a powerful generative model. This kind of model often uses GANs architectures for training purposes and then uses the generator model independently. If you are not familiar with generative models or GANs, I invite you to watch one of the many videos I made covering them, like . If this sounds either interesting or too good to be true, watch the video! this one about Toonify References ►Read the full article: ►Reference: Ravuri, S., Lenc, K., Willson, M., Kangin, D., Lam, R., Mirowski, P., Fitzsimons, M., Athanassiadou, M., Kashem, S., Madge, S. and Prudden, R., 2021. Skillful Precipitation Nowcasting using Deep Generative Models of Radar, ►Colab Notebook: ►My Newsletter (A new AI application explained weekly to your emails!): https://www.louisbouchard.ai/deepmind-rain-nowcasting/ https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03854-z https://github.com/deepmind/deepmind-research/tree/master/nowcasting https://www.louisbouchard.ai/newsletter/ Video Transcript 00:00 You've most certainly planned a trip to the beach for the day, checked the weather before 00:04 going, which said it was sunny, and just when you arrived, it started raining. 00:08 This or a similar situation happened to all of us. 00:11 We always talk about the weather. 00:13 There are two big reasons for that: it has a big impact on our lives and activities, 00:18 and we sometimes have nothing better to talk about. 00:20 A common agreement is that it seems like weather forecasts in the next few hours are completely 00:26 random. 00:27 Especially when it comes to rain prediction. 00:29 Well, there's a reason for that. 00:31 It's actually highly complex. 00:33 These short-term weather predictions are called Precipitation Nowcasting and are made using 00:38 various methods to predict what will happen in the next two hours. 00:42 These methods are driven by powerful numerical weather prediction systems predicting the 00:46 weather by solving physical equations. 00:49 They are quite powerful for long-term predictions but struggle to find fine-grain forecasts 00:55 above your head at a specific time of the day. 00:57 It's just like statistics. 00:58 It is easy to predict what an average human will do in a situation but quite impossible 01:03 to predict what a particular individual will do. 01:06 If you'd like to get deeper into these mathematical models, I already explained how they work 01:10 in more detail in my other video about global weather prediction using deep learning. 01:14 Even though we have a lot of radar data to predict what will happen, the mathematical 01:19 and probabilistic-based methods fail to be precise. 01:22 You can see where this is going. 01:24 When there's data, there's AI. 01:25 Indeed, this lack of precision may change in the future, and in part because of DeepMind. 01:29 DeepMind just released a Generative model able to outperform widely-used nowcasting 01:35 methods in 89% of situations for its accuracy and usefulness assessed by more than 50 expert 01:42 meteorologists! 01:43 Their model focuses on predicting precipitations in the next 2 hours and achieves that surprisingly 01:49 well. 01:50 As I just said, it is a generative model, which means that it will generate the forecasts 01:54 instead of simply predicting them. 01:56 It basically takes radar data from the past to create future radar data. 02:00 So using both time and spatial components from the past, they can generate what it will 02:05 look like in the near future. 02:07 You can see this as the same as Snapchat filters, taking your face and generating a new face 02:12 with modifications on it. 02:14 To train such a generative model, you need a bunch of data from both the human faces 02:19 and the kind of face you want to generate. 02:21 Then, using a very similar model trained for many hours, you will have a powerful generative 02:27 model. 02:28 This kind of model often uses GANs architectures for training purposes and then uses the generator 02:34 model independently. 02:35 If you are not familiar with generative models or GANs, I invite you to watch one of the 02:39 many videos I made covering them, like the one appearing on the top right corner right 02:44 now. 02:45 One of the most basic architectures to achieve image generation is called a UNet. 02:49 It basically takes an image, or past radar data, in this case, encodes it using trained 02:54 parameters, and takes this encoded information to generate a new version of the same image, 03:00 which in our case would be the same radar data of the next few minutes. 03:05 Here's what it looks like when feeding a typical UNet with forecast data compared to what it 03:09 should look like, the target. 03:12 You can see that it is relatively good, but not really precise and surely not enough to 03:16 be used in our daily lives. 03:18 Here's a comparison with the currently used numerical weather prediction approach like 03:22 PySTEPS. 03:23 It's a bit better, but you can see that it is not perfect either. 03:27 We cannot really further improve the probabilistic methods using math equations, so trying different 03:32 approaches becomes interesting. 03:34 Also, the fact that we have a lot of radar data to train our models is quite encouraging 03:38 for the deep learning approaches. 03:40 This is why DeepMind successfully created a GAN-like architecture made explicitly for 03:45 this task. 03:46 And here are the results. 03:47 You can see how much closer it is to reality with more fine-grain details. 03:52 Really impressive! 03:53 They achieved that by using both time and spatial components from the past radar data 03:58 to generate what the radar data could look like in the near future. 04:02 By the way, if you find this interesting, I invite you to subscribe and like the video 04:06 and share the knowledge by sending this video to a friend. 04:09 I'm sure they will love it, and they will be grateful to learn something new because 04:13 of you! 04:14 And if you don't, no worries, thank you for watching! 04:16 So more precisely, the previous 20 minutes radar observations are sent to the model to 04:21 generate 90 minutes of possible future predictions. 04:25 It is trained just like any GAN architecture guiding the learning process by penalizing 04:29 the difference between the generated radar predictions and the real predictions, which 04:34 we have in our dataset for training. 04:37 As you can see here, there are two losses and a regularization term, which are the penalties 04:41 that will lead our model during training. 04:44 The first one is a temporal loss. 04:46 This temporal loss will force the model to be consistent in its generation over multiple 04:50 frames by comparing them with the real data over a specific amount of time (or frames) 04:56 to be temporarily realistic. 04:58 This will remove weird jumps or inconsistency over time that couldn't happen in the real 05:04 world. 05:05 The second loss is the same thing but for spatial purposes. 05:08 It ensures spatial consistency by comparing the actual radar data versus our generated 05:13 prediction at a specific frame. 05:15 In short, it will force the model to be "spatially intelligent" and produce confident predictions 05:20 instead of large blurry predictions like we saw for UNet. 05:24 The last term and not least is the regularization term. 05:27 It will penalize differences in the grid cell resolution between the real radar sequences 05:33 and our predictions using many examples at a time instead of comparing the predictions 05:38 one by one like the two losses. 05:40 This will improve performance and produce more location-accurate predictions. 05:45 So you will send some observations, get their predictions, compare them with the real radar 05:50 data you have with these three measurements we just covered, and update your model based 05:55 on the differences. 05:56 Then, you repeat this process numerous times with all your training data to end up with 06:01 a powerful model that learns how the weather is changing and can ideally accurately generalize 06:06 this behavior to most new data it will receive afterward. 06:10 You can see how accurate the results are where UNet is accurate but blurry, and the numerical 06:15 method overestimates the rainfall intensity over time. 06:19 Of course, as they say, no method is without limitations, and theirs struggle with long-term 06:24 predictions, and just like most deep learning applications, they also struggle with rare 06:29 events that do not frequently appear in the training datasets, which they will work on 06:33 improving. 06:34 Of course, this was just an overview of this new paper attacking the super interesting 06:38 and useful task of precipitation nowcasting. 06:42 I invite you to read their excellent paper for more technical detail about their implementation, 06:46 training data, evaluation metrics, and the expert meteorologist study. 06:50 They also made a Colab Notebook you can play with to generate predictions. 06:54 Both are linked in the description below. 06:57 Thank you very much for watching for those of you who are still here, and I will see 07:00 you next week!

AI Endorsed by Expert Meteorologists: DeepMind's Weather Forecast Model

On October 25th, China's President Xi Jinping that blockchain should be treated "as an important breakthrough for independent innovation of core technologies." He also stated "[We must] clarify the main direction, increase investment, focus on a number of key technologies and accelerate the development of blockchain technology and industrial innovation."  Exciting words from a leader who hadn’t spoken on the subject prior, and naturally, this statement was enough to disrupt the crypto space. opined "Blockchain" was searched 72,040 on that Friday alone, Bitcoin increases 16% at a time amid the speech about embracing the blockchain technology. "It is unprecedented that China’s top leadership has elevated any technology to such a high level," Zhang Gang, chief strategist at Central China Securities, "It’s a big boost to market confidence." Market confidence indeed. Following the statement, the market witnessed session highs for Bitcoin reaching a high of $10,540.49  - a 16% increase within a day. said In addition, the word “Blockchain” was searched an amazing 72,049 on Friday alone with Wechat also reporting the word being searched 3,331,874 times. Further adding to the frenzy is the recent news about China's abolition of their ban against mining cryptocurrencies. According to , an official state document called the "Catalogue for Guiding Industry Restructuring 2011" has recently been made invalid and "virtual currency mining" as an industry has been struck off from the list of industries to be phased out, effective 1 January 2020. This comes simultaneously as China rolls out a brand-new policy based on the previously mentioned 2011 catalogue for 2019. The 180 degree change in attitude towards cryptocurrencies from China is sure to be met with an even bigger uproar from the community. reports Due to the overwhelming traffic and excitement from China’s bullish announcement, many of the crypto services were not ready for the flood of users. Downtimes proceeded for many frustrated traders and users alike. A majority of derivatives exchanges were down due to the announcement from overwhelming traffic. One derivative exchange named was able to stay robust especially during the current surge encouraged by Xi's statement. On the other hand, top exchanges like FTX, Deribit were down during the peak. According to ’s ‘Top Cryptocurrency Derivatives by Open Interest & Trading Volume’, Bybit ranks the top #3 along with Bitforex #5, FTX #7, and Binance #10. Bybit Coingecko Due to the incidents, other exchanges like FTX and Deribit traders were unable to reach customer support due to the high volume of sudden customer inquiries caused by the unstable servers. Another downside of poorly managed customer service brings is that this could lead customers to create countless amounts of content about how poor the service is, thereby significantly undermining the service credibility as a whole. According to an , one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges, Coinbase, had experienced the volume increment by 295% in November and December of 2017. Coinbase did not regard customer support as important, so they failed to solve customer’s problems on time. The angry customers furiously posted and commented about Coinbase’s poor customer support about the unanswered and unresolved operational issues. “The [customer support] team was left feeling like we were bailing out a sinking ship with pots and pans,” Dan Romero, Coinbase’s general manager, wrote in his . article blog Currently, many of the cryptocurrency traders had to go through the unstable trading with worries and concerns, especially in the crypto space. That is mostly due to poor customer service and unstable service. As people expect fast-growing trading volumes due to the recent news, especially since the lifting of the ban against mining cryptocurrency in China, the future form of exchanges should be prepared to be robust and should not have overloads. Lessons could have been learned from the 2017 bullrun, and only a few services, like Bybit, were prepared. With the adoption of blockchain in China, people should expect new money to begin spurring innovation. Lessons learned from the 2017 Tulip mania should have smarter money coming in to build a new defi ecosystem. One that is robust and will be longer lasting. There is a great future coming ahead for cryptocurrency and blockchain, and the meme prediction from the future time traveler might not be so insane.

President Xi's Recent Blockchain Endorsement Changes Everything

They cut the lights. That 90s stadium jam blares over the intercom. The office mascot starts break-dancing in the conference room. “And now…..leading today’s daily standup……..it’s the backend developer in the corner with all those bobbleheads and weird sci-fi characters on his desk!!!!” That’s what it’s like when you go to work, right? Well, it should be. I was talking with a good friend recently and he mentioned that developers were a lot like athletes. We have marketable skills, amazing potential, and it seems we are in very high demand. Maybe we don’t appear on as many cereal boxes and highlight reels, but the glory is there all the same. It seems everywhere you read, companies are scrambling to fill their positions. It’s nothing new, really. For the last few decades, software has shaped our daily lives, and someone needs to be around to write it. But lately, it seems as if the crunch is really hitting the industry hard. So, guess what that makes you? A superstar! A finely tuned athlete, capable of leading any team to victory! A champion! Don’t believe me? Here’s why… More alley, less oops First and foremost, developers have skills. If you’ve been developing ten months or ten years, you have some amazing abilities that most people don’t possess. You may be the master of the latest technologies out there like Azure Functions or Vue.js. Or you may have vast experience in legacy technologies like ASP, .NET 1.1, or Silverlight. But, you are always capable of learning more, including the next new thing. Some are better than others. But that doesn’t mean every developer is not skilled in some way. Try sitting down your dentist in front of your laptop and get them to understand a block of code. Maybe give him that funny gas first, just to see what happens. When I was first developing, I was amazed at a developer at my company that “knew 12 programming languages”. Wha-what??? That’s amazing! Now, I can look at just about any code file and at least understand what’s going on. It’s not like I know every platform there. I just can interpret the logic. That’s the skill I’m talking about. Developing isn’t knowing a specific platform or language. It’s understanding how applications work, how to logically process information, and how to bury your Easter Eggs deep enough for people to find them without being obvious. just But, just like any pro athlete, you need to keep your skills honed. Practice them. Attend a conference on something new. Review your work. Open something up from 10 years ago and shriek in horror at your egregious lack of garbage collection. The point is, make sure you keep using your skills and testing yourself. It’s the only way you’ll make the Varsity team and stay off the bench. It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get back up Hands up for everyone who was NOT 7+ feet tall and picked first for everything? Nearly all of you? OK, like me, you probably needed some coaching at some point in your life. There’s no shame in that! A great coach and trainer can sculpt nearly any lump of potatoes into a mountain (see… Easter Eggs). Great athletes learn from others who played their position in the past. The best developers work with mentors to hone their abilities, learn best practices, and understand that just about everything is iterative. The one truth is, the best athletes and developers are the hungriest ones that are never satisfied. They always want to better themselves and never stop learning. You may be on the cutting edge of everything, but you still learned how to develop from someone who did it before you. And you learned a ton of stuff along the way. Maybe it was a professor in school or a guy sitting in the cube next to you. Or maybe you were just thrown into a classic ASP and SQL 6.5 application when the developer who knew it left. Developers often get a trial by fire, and the coaching and mentoring are what help you not get burned. If you’re just starting out, find a good mentor. Someone who cares that you know how things should be done, and will work with you to make sure they are. If you’ve been in the game a while, help out the new recruits. You’ll be amazed at what they can accomplish, and inspired by their creativity. Her palms are sweaty Seconds left on the clock. Impossible odds. The roar of the crowd is deafening. This is what every athlete dreams about. The pressure. The world on their shoulders. The chance for glory. It’s showtime. OK, maybe for developers the fanfare is a bit less exciting. But, I KNOW you’ve been pushed up against a deadline that seemed impossible to hit. You’ve had to work unspoken hours fixing a bug. Maybe you’ve spent the night in front of an Exchange 5.5 server that had to be rebuilt before the office came back in the in the morning. (Jet databases… shudder…..) And you got it done. That’s what developers do. We make the impossible possible. We make the improbable probable. We make the simple overly complicated by over architecting things. We overcome hurdles on a daily basis. Our whole job is problem solving, and we’re damn good at it. It’s easy to score when there are no defenders in front you. True superstars leap, juke, and Ickey Shuffle their way to score, no matter the odds. As a developer, you will be asked to “just make it work.” You may not know how, but you’ll find a way. When it’s crunch time, developers can do amazing things. Pressure can bring out true greatness in a person. I coulda’ been a contender! An athlete in their prime is a valuable commodity. When a superstar is looking to make a change, teams will fumble all over themselves, rushing for the chance to convince them to join their organization. They represent success, victory, and some sweet endorsement deals. And they can turn an entire organization around just by being on the field. Developers are just as valuable. Skilled, talented programmers can build just about anything. And companies know it. Don’t believe me? Just go update your LinkedIn profile to say “interested” and watch the flood of recruitment emails pour in. It’s easy for a developer to get carried away and dream of being the GOAT. But they’re not wrong. That aspiration is what drives innovation. It’s what fuels creativity. And it’s what strives developers to better themselves and always be improving. So, should you test the waters of free agency? I have no idea. But, I can tell you that longevity is what wins championships. If you want to build a legacy, you have to put in the time to get there. You’ll always be offered more (ah, the early 2000’s were amazing like that), but knowing when to make a move will be critical to your success. Always weigh your options. Do your research on any new organization. Make sure you can read their playbook and fit into their formations. And make sure they respect you for the awesome athlete you are. The game is long and you need to be able make it to the end on top. Now get ready. It’s almost time for kickoff….

Developers deserve endorsement deals, too

Ever wondered if your favorite celebrity or social media influencer was secretly getting paid for promoting an ICO? You may now no longer have to worry about whether their article or tweet was biased financially. On Nov. 1, 2017, the SEC came out and mandating that all celebrities and/or social media influencers who endorse an ICO “must disclose the nature, scope, and amount of compensation received in exchange for the promotion.” released a statement The reason for this is because many ICO’s may fall into the category of securities. In light of this, all who offer and sell securities in the United States must be compliant with federal securities laws. This includes anti-touting provisions. To be clear, this doesn’t mean the end of celebrity endorsements for ICO’s. It simply means that you will be informed of exactly how much they’re getting paid to endorse it. This is a welcomed breath of fresh air and perhaps one example of how government regulation may be a positive influence in cryptocurrency. It is also interesting to note the SEC’s tentative language throughout their statement: “These endorsements be unlawful.” may “The Commission warned that virtual tokens or coins sold in ICOs be securities.” may “Persons making these endorsements also be liable for potential violations of the anti-fraud provisions” may In essence, the SEC is using the ever so infamous line, “ Though some investors may find this lack of clarity frustrating, their reluctance to label all ICO’s as securities should be viewed positively as this shows an openness to potential future applications of tokenized blockchain technology. It depends.” But how can cryptoinfluencers determine whether or not an ICO falls within the definition of a security? It’s best to use the most conservative definition and refer to how the SEC defined it in the . Securities Act of 1933 “The term ‘‘security’’ means any note, stock, treasury stock, security future, security-based swap, bond, debenture, evidence of indebtedness, certificate of interest or participation in any profit-sharing agreement, collateral-trust certificate,preorganization certificate or subscription, transferable share, investment contract, voting-trust certificate, certificate of deposit for a security, fractional undivided interest in oil, gas, or other mineral rights, any put, call, straddle, option, or privilege on any security, certificate of deposit, or group or index of securities (including any interest therein or based on the value thereof), or any put, call, straddle, option, or privilege entered into on a national securities exchange relating to foreign currency, or, in general, any interest or instrument commonly known as a ‘‘security’’, or any certificate of interest or participation in, temporary or interim certificate for, receipt for, guarantee of, or warrant or right to subscribe to or purchase, any of the foregoing.” Remember to give me claps to the left, donations below, and share with your friends! Until next time, onwards and upwards. 😁 **Donation Addresses**BTC: 35LfSm2eUPCeiP5ZZCGwMX7SCCFzk7JQYGLTC: LPz923H556f8g8mWnsuHQhvudRD7CCqyhF

SEC is Cracking Down on Celebrity Endorsed ICO’s

Originally published at www.cloudways.com on December 6, 2016. Not many people realize that their choice of hosting solution could determine the success or failure of their project. Even the best code base fails to perform to its maximum potential because of a hosting solution that fails to provide appropriate support. Hosting a website or a web application in the cloud could be a technically challenging endeavour. The server size needs to be determined, server has to be setup and then the appropriate application/platform is installed. Not many people, even in the ICT industry, are able to set up and manage servers. Since a number of entrepreneurs and online business owners do not possess the required technical skills to manage the servers that host their applications and/or store, they either need to hire system administrators (not a cost effective choice for startups) or deal with regular server and application crashes. Given this, it is no wonder that managed cloud hosting is a rapidly growing sector of the overall hosting industry. More and more people now opt for managed cloud hosting for their projects because of the many benefits of the hosting solution. Why Industry Leaders Recommend Managed Cloud Hosting? In order to understand why many industry leaders recommend managed cloud hosting for PHP projects, it is important to understand the benefits of these hosting solutions. In effect, managed cloud hosting offers three important benefits. The first and the most important benefit is the fact that these solution providers handle all the hassles of server management. All the user has to do is to decide the basic parameters including RAM, bandwidth and server location. The hosting solution provider takes care of everything else. The second benefit is the improved security of the web application. Server and application level security is an ongoing task and i particularly important for PHP applications. Even the most dedicated of the user could not keep up with the routine of applying security patches. The managed hosting solution provider takes care of all security related issues from patch application to threat detection and management. Finally, managed cloud hosting providers offer scalable solutions that are ideal for ecommerce websites. Scalability is an important business process requirement that comes in handy during crunch times. At these moments, having the capacity (and capability) of increasing server resources prevents the web store from crashing. Let’s see what industry leaders have to say about the uses and benefits of managed cloud hosting: Anna Filina | Twitter LinkedIn It makes a lot of sense to offer managed hosting solutions, since not every developer even knows how to manage servers. It took me many years to learn how to do it, then many more years to learn how to do it properly. Even for those who can do it, it can be too much of a hassle. Time is precious. Nicolas Grekas | Twitter LinkedIn Managed hosting solutions provide great value. They allow devs to focus on their core issue: solving business problems. I can’t wait until infrastructure as a code is really ready for the masses. Adam Wathan | Twitter LinkedIn I haven’t used Cloudways myself, but I’m a huge fan of any product that tries to help developers focus on launching their next idea instead of wasting time on server configuration. Benjamin Eberlei | Twitter LinkedIn Managed Hosting or Platform as a Service is very valuable to get projects started, when you don’t have enough time or experience with the operations part of web development. The requirements for a good platform has changed drastically in the last 15 years with the arrival of AWS (IaaS), Heroku (PaaS) or Docker (FaaS). I think the separation of companies providing hosting resources and management and software platforms on top is a very welcome occurrence because it introduces much needed specialization. AWS and Digital Ocean provide very powerful hosting platforms but will never perfectly support PHP stack in every detail. Thus, managed hosting companies like Cloudways that build on top of the modern clouds functionality are very useful. Josh Lockhart | Twitter I believe hosted solutions like Cloudways, Heroku, or Platform.sh are *amazing* tools to quickly stage and launch PHP applications without having to worry about infrastructure. I strongly encourage exploring these hosted platforms because they abstract away most infrastructure concerns. Sometimes you just want to write and deploy code without worrying about how to setup, provision, and monitor servers. If the price is right, use a hosted platform. Managing and monitoring servers isn’t fun. Let others do that for you. Tessa Mero | Twitter LinkedIn With 1 click installations, make sure you always offer the latest version of Joomla. When I see a hosting platform offer an outdated version of Joomla, instantly I’ll never ever recommend anyone to use them for life. Also, the default PHP version is pretty important too. Too many hosts fail at providing this. Lorna Mitchell | Twitter LinkedIn For the 99% of people, I really think that if you’re not using a Platform as a Service (PAAS), you’re wasting your time. Yes, you often need to learn a few things to get setup, but from personal experience, this is a *massive* investment for the future. I might spend 8 hours today setting up some complex things in a PAAS, and enjoy one-click (one second) deploys for the next 12+ months. That’s a huge time and money saver. If I never have to manually spin up a server on Amazon, I’ll be happy. I’ve never tried Cloudways specifically, but the space is still wide open. One of the biggest opportunities as a consumer of PAAS is the ability to have a micro-service architecture. If my app is 6 mini-apps, it’s almost a non-starter to try to do this with traditional hosting. But if a ‘git push’ deploys them all and they’re able to talk with each other, now we’re in business. Yitzchok Willroth (@coderrabbi) has a great presentation on micro-service architecture, and automatic deploying is one of his key points. Matt Stauffer | Twitter LinkedIn I love the idea of managed hosting solutions in general. I have managed my own servers in the past, and it’s one of those things I put in the stack of “better to pay people other to do for me.” I’m glad I have an accountant I can pay to know about taxes for me. Glad I have a lawyer. Glad I have a plumber. And I’m glad I have folks who run SaaSes that make my development life easier–including hosting and dev-ops. Manuel Lemos | Twitter LinkedIn Managed hosting can be wonderful when you need to scale your applications when they do not fit a single server. There is plenty of knowledge out there on the Web you can use to learn how to assemble all the required parts to implement a scalable solution but having it done by somebody that is in the field for many years is often worth the investment of outsourcing that effort. Gabriela Davila | Twitter LinkedIn I am always interested to see how companies manage to enable developers to learn and explore the new options and technologies available in the market. I think you do a great job with one-click install apps, because everything is contained inside the same server and easily manageable. When you talk directly about database hosting, it implies having the application in the same network too because of latency and such. One idea I would be interested in seeing in action would be getting a big client with high traffic and database needs and remove the DB from that one-click install and seeing how that goes. There is a lot going into tuning, specially for Magento, I think you could do good things with that experience. As you can see, PHP experts and Industry leaders strongly favor managed hosting. If you wish to try out managed hosting for your existing or upcoming projects, I recommend Cloudways, which comes with a trial period.

Why PHP Influencers Endorse Managed Cloud Hosting

MC Hammer had a search engine?!?! 1. CAN’T SEARCH FOR THIS! Remember MC Hammer’s search engine start-up? Neither does Google. On stage at a few years ago, MC Hammer announced WireDoo, an attempt at a relational search engine that he was somehow involved in. According to Hammer, “You could always make things better, create the next version.” WireDoo users would be able to search for things that related to keywords. Unfortunately you weren’t able to search for WireDoo. It couldn’t be found anywhere search-wise. Maybe some “O” was needed in their SE. Web 2.0 Summit 2. CAN’T STOP THE INEVITABLE Justin Timberlake starred as Facebook investor Sean Parker in the Hollywood hit ‘The Social Network’, and ironically took a stake in along with the online advertising company, Specific Media, in 2011. Timberlake said in a statement: “There’s a need for a place where fans can go to interact with their favorite entertainers, , watch videos, share and discover cool stuff and just connect. Myspace has the potential to be that place.” The social network underwent several brand and design changes hoping to achieve what Timberlake envisioned. Although he is currently known for his chart topping summer hit, “Can’t Stop the Feeling”, he was unable to stop Myspace’s decline into obscurity. The company was purchased in February of this year by Time INC. Did Timberlake take a loss on the deal? Cry me a River. Myspace listen to music 3.THE WATCH HATED ‘ROUND THE WORLD I am sure the who’s who of the wearable tech world has encountered and despised Will.i.am’s smartwatch released in 2015. Seriously, a google search returns results of pure disdain. Maybe you are thinking, “Could it really be that bad?”. Yes, it could. The product launch was #0to100 real quick. He dialed it straight to the level of an Apple or Samsung launch with a free concert at an illustrious 5,000-seat concert hall and a star studded guest list. The watch did not live up to the hype. It was hated for its clunky design, poor interface and the fact that no one wants to replace their entire cell phone with a watch. Current smartwatches act only as tethers to the user’s smartphone. On the bright side, Puls is perfect for those looking to arouse suspicion as they talk into a watch. Excuse me, Will.i.am refers to it as a smart cuff. It just not smart enough. 4. THE NEXT AMERICAN FLOP WILL BE…. “TYPO” Ryan Seacrest invested a substantial $1 Million dollars in the iPhone keyboard attachment “Typo”. It seemed like a great idea, so great if fact that Blackberry had already done it! The keyboard’s design was so similar that Blackberry sued Typo for copyright infringement twice and won. Sales of the first model were halted shortly after release due to Blackberry’s first suit. The company came out with a second model, Typo2, only to have it blocked by another Blackberry lawsuit claiming it still looked too similar. Blackberry stated, “while we are flattered by the desire to graft our keyboard onto other smartphones, we will not tolerate the deliberate use of our iconic design without proper permission.” #ShotsFired. Back to the drawing board, no peeking this time. START UP ON THE RIGHT FOOT Don’t let these bummers bum you out. It just goes to show how important a solid foundation is to ensure your start-up or growing brand takes off. The celebrity endorsement isn’t all bad either, especially if you include “instafamous” influencers. A strategy with both celebrities and social media influencers can be more effective than one with celebrity only. business marketing To learn more about celebrity and influencer marketing partnerships or to schedule a free consultation ! click here

4 Celebrity Endorsed Startups That Failed

The Cyclicality of the Crypto Markets Shows Its Hand Once Again

Gamification and the future of culture. Memecoins are cryptocurrency tokens inspired by internet memes. By now, you’ve probably heard of $DOGE coin, the first-ever memecoin launched in 2013 as a joke about Bitcoin. Billy Markus, the co-creator of Doge, sold his holdings for a modest $10,000. Today, the market cap of DOGE is $52 billion. If Billy had held onto his DOGE coins, they’d be worth almost $20 million today. Dare I say, memecoins are here to stay. There are probably hundreds of thousands of unique memecoins in existence today — some have gone to zero, others are dormant, some are still in flux, and a few are seeing steady growth. I have done freelance work in the crypto industry since 2018, but I never fully ventured into memecoins. I thought Bitcoin, a more established cryptocurrency, was volatile enough. When you’re just getting used to the concept of volatile markets and digital, invisible money, diving into something even less established, more volatile, and based on a meme seemed reckless. Why invest in a joke? At the time, it all seemed shady. It took me a few years to truly understand the appeal of memecoins. The surge in Bitcoin that followed Donald Trump’s win in the 2024 presidential election gave me perspective. BTC hit $67,000 on November 5th, 2024. After Trump, a self-proclaimed pro-Bitcoin president, was declared the winner, the price shot up over 39%, currently sitting at $94,000. This is an insane amount of growth — a new all-time high for Bitcoin. As the crypto surge unfolded, I noticed that memecoins were surging alongside Bitcoin. Google trends for crypto-related searches were going up, and people were claiming massive 300x returns on memecoin investments — truly life-changing money. The prices of these alternative coins are incredibly volatile. For example, take $PNUT, which is based on an internet-famous squirrel that was confiscated and euthanized by the New York government. Its price has shot up 1692% since November 4th, after Elon Musk tweeted about the late squirrel, saying, “America was saved by a squirrel and a meme coin!” Of course, the tweet boosted the price even further. I decided to buy some Solana since many memecoins use the Solana blockchain due to its fast transaction speeds. Hundreds of coins are created every minute on the Solana ecosystem. You can easily and quickly send and receive Solana to buy many popular and rising memecoins. I traded, made some money, and lost some too. But I learned something that, perhaps, many already in the trenches of memecoin trading have long known: there is an insane amount of money to be made very quickly with memecoins — along with a ton of risk. Trading these tokens so quickly, tokens that are so widely volatile, is essentially a game. It’s a competition between those with insider knowledge, those without, the holders with the most assets, chart analysts who can buy or sell at the right time, those with proper exit strategies, those using bots and AI to immediately purchase new tokens upon launch, and those who can tell which memes are here to stay and which are fleeting. Memecoin trading is, at its core, about trading memetic culture. To me, this is the future of gaming and finance — an intersection that will be the bedrock of Web3, the future of the internet. Blockchain technology allows for instant transactions and trading of digital assets. This opens up the possibility for the auctioning and trading of in-game assets. I believe that Artificial intelligence will serve as the automation layer to facilitate the development of assets and process transactions. AI will make scouting for tradable items intelligent and efficient — essentially gamifying economics. Gaming will be the activity, AI will be the processing mechanism, and together they will bridge the gap to massive cryptocurrency adoption. In the future, assets and money will be tokenized, and blockchain will facilitate the movement of massive amounts of data, making NFTs more accessible. Gaming is key because people already collect digital assets in video games. If these in-game assets could be traded for currency or used to bid on other tangible and digital items, we’d see a more rapid flow of money throughout the industry and some incredible “gamer to investor” stories. What we’re seeing now are the foundational elements of a world similar to Ready Player One (2018), where the line between the digital and real world is blurred. The world is increasingly gamified. What will this mean for the future? How will people understand culture when trading culture is the future? This is not financial advice, but I urge you to research memecoins and cryptocurrency. The world is being digitized as we speak. I believe the players need to invest and the investors need to play. Is it crazy that we may be witnessing a collision of the serious and the unserious, the comedy meme and the business world? Could this explain the relaxed attire of business moguls due to the influence of tech industry CEOs? Will high fashion and sartorial works be that of memes? Will everything of timelessness become a meme? Is becoming meme the mummification of great ideas? Editor’s note: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Cryptocurrencies are speculative, complex, and involve high risks. This can mean high prices volatility and potential loss of your initial investment. You should consider your financial situation, investment purposes, and consult with a financial advisor before making any investment decisions. The HackerNoon editorial team has only verified the story for grammatical accuracy and does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of the information stated in this article. #DYOR Gamification and the future of culture. Memecoins are cryptocurrency tokens inspired by internet memes. By now, you’ve probably heard of $DOGE coin, the first-ever memecoin launched in 2013 as a joke about Bitcoin. Billy Markus, the co-creator of Doge, sold his holdings for a modest $10,000. Today, the market cap of DOGE is $52 billion. If Billy had held onto his DOGE coins, they’d be worth almost $20 million today. $DOGE Dare I say, memecoins are here to stay. There are probably hundreds of thousands of unique memecoins in existence today — some have gone to zero, others are dormant, some are still in flux, and a few are seeing steady growth. I have done freelance work in the crypto industry since 2018, but I never fully ventured into memecoins. I thought Bitcoin, a more established cryptocurrency, was volatile enough. When you’re just getting used to the concept of volatile markets and digital, invisible money, diving into something even less established, more volatile, and based on a meme seemed reckless. Why invest in a joke? At the time, it all seemed shady. It took me a few years to truly understand the appeal of memecoins. The surge in Bitcoin that followed Donald Trump’s win in the 2024 presidential election gave me perspective. BTC hit $67,000 on November 5th, 2024. After Trump, a self-proclaimed pro-Bitcoin president, was declared the winner, the price shot up over 39%, currently sitting at $94,000. This is an insane amount of growth — a new all-time high for Bitcoin. As the crypto surge unfolded, I noticed that memecoins were surging alongside Bitcoin. Google trends for crypto-related searches were going up, and people were claiming massive 300x returns on memecoin investments — truly life-changing money. The prices of these alternative coins are incredibly volatile. For example, take $PNUT , which is based on an internet-famous squirrel that was confiscated and euthanized by the New York government. Its price has shot up 1692% since November 4th, after Elon Musk tweeted about the late squirrel, saying, “America was saved by a squirrel and a meme coin!” Of course, the tweet boosted the price even further. $PNUT I decided to buy some Solana since many memecoins use the Solana blockchain due to its fast transaction speeds. Hundreds of coins are created every minute on the Solana ecosystem. You can easily and quickly send and receive Solana to buy many popular and rising memecoins. I traded, made some money, and lost some too. But I learned something that, perhaps, many already in the trenches of memecoin trading have long known: there is an insane amount of money to be made very quickly with memecoins — along with a ton of risk. Trading these tokens so quickly, tokens that are so widely volatile, is essentially a game. It’s a competition between those with insider knowledge, those without, the holders with the most assets, chart analysts who can buy or sell at the right time, those with proper exit strategies, those using bots and AI to immediately purchase new tokens upon launch, and those who can tell which memes are here to stay and which are fleeting. Memecoin trading is, at its core, about trading memetic culture. To me, this is the future of gaming and finance — an intersection that will be the bedrock of Web3, the future of the internet. Blockchain technology allows for instant transactions and trading of digital assets. This opens up the possibility for the auctioning and trading of in-game assets. I believe that Artificial intelligence will serve as the automation layer to facilitate the development of assets and process transactions. AI will make scouting for tradable items intelligent and efficient — essentially gamifying economics. Gaming will be the activity, AI will be the processing mechanism, and together they will bridge the gap to massive cryptocurrency adoption. In the future, assets and money will be tokenized, and blockchain will facilitate the movement of massive amounts of data, making NFTs more accessible. Gaming is key because people already collect digital assets in video games. If these in-game assets could be traded for currency or used to bid on other tangible and digital items, we’d see a more rapid flow of money throughout the industry and some incredible “gamer to investor” stories. What we’re seeing now are the foundational elements of a world similar to Ready Player One (2018), where the line between the digital and real world is blurred. The world is increasingly gamified. What will this mean for the future? How will people understand culture when trading culture is the future? Ready Player One This is not financial advice, but I urge you to research memecoins and cryptocurrency. The world is being digitized as we speak. I believe the players need to invest and the investors need to play. Is it crazy that we may be witnessing a collision of the serious and the unserious, the comedy meme and the business world? Could this explain the relaxed attire of business moguls due to the influence of tech industry CEOs? Will high fashion and sartorial works be that of memes? Will everything of timelessness become a meme? Is becoming meme the mummification of great ideas? Editor’s note: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Cryptocurrencies are speculative, complex, and involve high risks. This can mean high prices volatility and potential loss of your initial investment. You should consider your financial situation, investment purposes, and consult with a financial advisor before making any investment decisions. The HackerNoon editorial team has only verified the story for grammatical accuracy and does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of the information stated in this article. #DYOR Editor’s note: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Cryptocurrencies are speculative, complex, and involve high risks. This can mean high prices volatility and potential loss of your initial investment. You should consider your financial situation, investment purposes, and consult with a financial advisor before making any investment decisions. The HackerNoon editorial team has only verified the story for grammatical accuracy and does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of the information stated in this article. #DYOR Editor’s note: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Cryptocurrencies are speculative, complex, and involve high risks. This can mean high prices volatility and potential loss of your initial investment. You should consider your financial situation, investment purposes, and consult with a financial advisor before making any investment decisions. The HackerNoon editorial team has only verified the story for grammatical accuracy and does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of the information stated in this article. #DYOR

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