OWL ME is in the GPS-Security-Surveillance Industry in the B2C & B2B Sector with the most advanced Software & Hardware

Owl Me

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The wait is over! - it’s time to celebrate the champion startups of the world. Shout out to all of the participants in our ! You did a wonderful job showcasing your incredible startups and powering through another year. 2023 Startups of the Year is a community-driven voting platform brought to you by HackerNoon that recognizes and celebrates tech startups changing technology and the world for the better. The award started on May 8th, 2023, where the internet nominated and voted for 30k startups around the world. The voting period remained open until December 31, 2023, and now we are here with the winner announcement after a comprehensive evaluation by the HackerNoon team. Startups of the Year 2023 To see the top 3 startups in each respective city, visit and pick a city. hackernoon.com/startups You’ll get a little surprise 😉 Here are the Startups of the Year Regional Announcements: North America Europe Asia Africa South America Oceania Misc/Remote From all of us at HackerNoon, thank YOU for your excellent campaign perseverance 🥺 This year has been awesome! Startups of the Year 2023 is concluded with 623k+ total votes, up from 215k+ votes in the inaugural startup competition. We look forward to seeing you again in the next campaign (stay tuned 😉)! Without further ado, let us kick off the announcement by celebrating the cities with top votes per region for 2023 🎉 North America (11,697 votes): Winner: Bloomfilter Cleveland, Ohio (8,835 votes) - Winner: SerpApi Austin, Texas , California (5,564 votes) - Winner: Finch San Francisco (4,258 votes) - Winner: RELAYTO SoMa, California - (3339 votes) Winner: Windscribe Toronto, Canada, North America (3304 votes) - Winner: Vouched Seattle (2716 votes) - Winner: Seccuri Palo Alto, CA, North America (2671 votes) - Winner: Salsa Valley Miami, FL, North America (2,613 votes) - Winner: Majhi Group Manhattan, New York (2423 votes) - Winner: Flieber, Inc. New York City, NY, North America See the complete announcement for the . Startups of the Year, North America, here Europe (45,612 votes) - Winner: Algomo London, UK (2,344votes) - Winner: Data Lake Warsaw, Poland (1,955 votes) - Winner: Hoken Tech Bari, Italy (1716 votes) - Winner: Not8 Amsterdam, Netherlands (1657 votes) - Winner: KYVE Frankfurt Am Main, Germany (1566 votes) - Winner: BazaIT Kyiv, Ukraine (1496 votes) - Winner:  Unity Network Tallinn, Estonia (1,478 votes) - Winner: Volcaino Ghent, Belgium (1,288 votes) - Winner: Owl Me Dublin, Ireland (1198 votes) - Winner: Groover Paris, France See the complete announcement for the . Startups of the Year, Europe, here Oceania (3,350 votes) - Winner: Sharepass Melbourne (2,107 votes) - Winner: The Catfisher Project Perth, Australia (220 votes) - Winner: Gemini AI Solutions Auckland, New Zealand, Oceania (213 votes) - Winner: Nexustorage Wellington, New Zealand, Oceania (138 votes) - Winner: Coviu Sydney (124 votes) - Winner: Bopple Brisbane, Australia, Oceania (124 votes) - Winner: Regional CFO New South Wales, Australia, Oceania (106 votes) - Winner: Edit on the Spot Gold Coast, Australia, Oceania (93 votes) - Winner: Knowledge Satnav Canbera, Australia, Oceania , Australia, Oceania (48 votes) - Winner: Peptalk360 North Melbourne, Melbourne See the complete announcement for the . Startups of the Year, Oceania, here Asia (16,345 votes) - Winner: Serenity Shield Singapore (13,588 votes) - Winners: QUIXY Telangana, India (10,168 votes) - Winner: HealthySure Mumbai, India (3,865 votes) - Winner: InterviewBuddy Visakhapatnam, India (3,733 votes) - Winner: Omniflo Bengaluru, India (4589 votes) - Winner: MeNow Tel Aviv (3877 votes) - Winner: ForestVPN Dubai (2478 votes) - Winner: TechGraph Powai, Mumbai, India (1004 votes) - Winner: Reelo Ahmedabad, GJ, India (875 votes) - Winner: Debt Hunter Hong Kong, China See the complete announcement for the . Startups of the Year, Asia, here Africa (8,179 votes) - Winner: GO PLATFORM Algiers, Algeria (767 votes) - Winner: Tudu Accra, Ghana (415 votes) - Winner: Treford Lagos, Nigeria (265 votes) - Winner: Phalconwise Ogbomosho, Nigeria (157 votes) - Winner: AbuErdan Cairo (151 votes) - Winner: Eazipay Lekki (144 votes) - Winner: KaziConnect Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (101 votes) - Winner: faceATT Gauteng, South Africa (79 votes) - Winner: Dimagi Cape Town (71 votes) - Winner: Sabi Addis Ababa See the complete announcement for the . Startups of the Year, Africa, here South America (376 votes ) - Winner: UpGirl Santiago, Chile (217 votes) - Winner: Klever Sao Paulo, Brazil (191 votes) - Winner: Tributo Simple Buenos Aires, Argentina (127 votes) - Winner: Light-it Montevideo, Uruguay (87 votes) -Winner: Thousand Antioquia, Colombia (108 votes) - Winner: GetLavado Lima (101 votes) - Winner: Cogniflow Medellin (73 votes) - Winner: TPAGA Bogota (73 votes) - Winner: Reliv Quito (47 votes) - WInner: Quantex Cordoba See the complete announcement for the . Startups of the Year, South America, here Misc/Remote: Featured Startups (1500 votes) - Winner: CIC Chain Remote, Earth (1193 votes) - Winner: Reship Colony US Misc (146 Votes) - Winner: Partful UK, Misc (116 votes) - Winner: GoMining British Virgin Islands Misc (283 Votes) - Winner: tomorrowSpace Germany Misc (225 votes) - Winner: Dtravel Cayman Islands See the complete announcement for Misc/Remote startups . here Once again, HUGE CONGRATULATIONS and BIG PROPS to all of the top Startups of each region this year! The whole team at HackerNoon would like to thank you for your perseverance in the campaign, and we look forward to seeing you in the next campaign. About HackerNoon’s Startups Of The Year Startups of The Year is HackerNoon’s Flagship community-driven event celebrating startups that survived and thrived in 2023. 30,000 startups across 4200+ cities and six continents participated this year to be crowned the best startup in their city. Visit our page to learn more. FAQ Companies that blog more get 67% more leads - Jumpstart your company’s blogging journey by purchasing our . Business Blogging Package The 2023 Startups Of The Year is sponsored by: . . The winners get a free .Tech Domain, a HackerNoon NFT, and a Tech Company News Page. TECH Domains

Stand Up for the Champion Startups of the Year! 

বছরের চ্যাম্পিয়ন স্টার্টআপের জন্য দাঁড়ান!

Setzen Sie sich für die Champion-Startups des Jahres ein!

¡Defiende a las startups campeonas del año!

Défendez les startups championnes de l’année !

वर्ष के चैंपियन स्टार्टअप के लिए खड़े रहें!

今年のチャンピオンスタートアップのために立ち上がろう!

올해의 챔피언 스타트업을 위해 일어서세요!

Defenda as startups campeãs do ano!

Встаньте на защиту стартапов-чемпионов года!

Yılın Şampiyon Startup'ları için Ayağa Kalkın!

Hãy ủng hộ các công ty khởi nghiệp vô địch của năm!

为年度冠军初创企业挺身而出！

One of the hardest things to do as a maker is validate assumptions quickly, without investing a ton of time/resources. It can be very easy to pigeon hole yourself (and you team) by getting excited/attached to a single idea and building momentum behind that, without ever talking to customers, getting feedback, and seeing if people are actually interested. We end up building what want…not our users. we To eliminate this problem, early on, your team must buy into the “ ” attitude towards building products. You have to throw ego out the door and let users do the talking. user-first It can be easy to say that. Most companies brand it everywhere. But very few are able to successfully listen to users and build something people truly want. And by the time they figure out their assumptions are wrong, they have already spent too much time and money to make the right changes. A great way to save you, your team, and your investors tons of time is to have a basic “pre-launch page” that collects sign up for your product. Why? Even just a simple landing page that advertises the value proposition of your product can help you see if people will a) click on your page and b) whether or not they are interested enough to sign up. If people are not clicking, then perhaps your message is not so compelling OR you are not reaching the right audience. Creating a simple “waiting list” with a call to action will help you validate interest in the vale you are advertising. Robinhood’s Viral Waiting List Owlmetrics’ on Blog Instagram Analytics If you want to be really scrappy and clever…you do not even need to have the product built when you launch your landing page (of course this is risky). Using ’s new “ ” Feature, you can literally build a launch page in seconds. Product Hunt Ship Ship makes it easy to launch your product the right way. I work with makers and startups from around the world and recommend Ship to those that are serious about building something people want. — Eric Ries Here are two examples from my friend is building: John Saddington , A To Do List App George , a Creation CryptoYum Bitcoin Pub Once you have your landing page up and running, start reaching out to your audience and asking to interview them. Here are some best practices for your user interviews: _User interviews can be a great way to extract information from users for user experience understanding, usability…_www.interaction-design.org How to Conduct User Interviews _"Qualitative research" is used to explore users' reasons, opinions, and motivations-building an interview guide is a…_webdesign.tutsplus.com UX Research: How to Build an Interview Guide _CareerFoundry UX Design Mentor Raven Veal dives deep into User Experience research, showcasing popular methods and…_careerfoundry.com How To Conduct User Experience Research Like A Professional Best of luck on your product launch! Are you working on anything new? How are you getting traction?

How to validate assumptions for your product before you even launch

A few weeks ago, announced a new feature: . Product Hunt Upcoming The purpose with these easy to build landing pages “is to to give the community a preview of tomorrow’s next 🔥 products, and makers an opportunity to build an audience and collect feedback before their public debut. 🚀” It is interesting seeing the trends and products coming soon to the tech world. Here is what I am most excited about: Station Browsers aren’t the most effective way to go about your work. We decided to start from scratch and build a whole new experience ✨ — in one intuitive and coherent interface. a workstation centralizing all of your work applications Superhuman Superhuman is the fastest email experience in the world. Join folks like Justin Kan, Naval Ravikant, Jason Calacanis — they get through their inbox twice as fast as before! Siftery Track Track makes it super easy to view and optimize what your team spends on . software Panda “We’re working on a new app that uses your phone’s camera and voice in a fun new way.” Owlmetrics An exciting new Instagram Analytics Platform that gives you insight into your profile’s . performance Coindex “We are building a new way to track your favorite cryptocurrencies.” Laylo “We’ve built a way to compete with your friends to spread the using any major music service 🎵 🚀 best new songs around the world Studio Studio makes audio group running classes that pair motivating instructors with killer playlists. Connect your Apple Watch to compete on our real-time leaderboard and earn Fitcoin. Draftsend With Draftsend your presentations won’t ever have to speak for themselves again. Advocado “We are working on a new exciting product that will allow anyone to create beautiful social media posts and banner ads in seconds.” Thanks for reading! Also, check out my latest project in Product Hunt’s Upcoming: DISCLAIMER: THIS MY PROJECT THAT I AM WORKING ON : Mesh “We believe that no one from your company/community should feel like a stranger. So we’ve built a super easy to implement, intelligent introduction bot for your teams/groups.”

10 Product Hunt Upcoming Pages I am Excited For

Data. Data. Data. Data. Data. Data. Data. Hi I’m Jordan , I love helping people think & grow their products. Hope this helps! You can find me on Twitter :) The best companies understand how to use data to build and execute incredible strategies. Whether you are an already established, corporate powerhouse or just a small startup fighting to stay alive — numbers should be close to your heart. Creating an ecosystem where numbers trump opinions is crucial to distilling the truth from opinions. The truth sells and builds on the conviction of your long term hypothesis. Opinions are really just assumptions waiting to be tested. The first step in testing any assumption and finding the truth behind it is to configure an experiment that can help you find w . hich features to build next To do that, you need numbers. Lots of them. Luckily, there are now thousands of tools out there to help you better understand business through data analytics, optimization, and experimentation. your Here are 7 of the absolute best of them: : Analytics for your website Google Analytics Google Analytics is a must have for any company or project with a web presence. It is the first thing I install whenever I create a new project and is essential to understanding the customer life cycle. Easy to digest analytics for Instagram. Owlmetrics Instagram Analytics : If you are in marketing, you have likely implemented or developed some sort of social media strategy. Whether that is the type of content you want to publish or the cadence you are aiming for — you need numbers to back up and inform your efforts. Many people overlook social media as a place for data — use Owlmetrics to make sure you stay ahead of the curve here. Increase conversion and gain retention Kissmetrics : Kissmetrics is a data driven way to understand your customers and quickly engage with them via behavior based emails. The best marketers move swiftly and Kissmetrics is all about testing assumptions rapidly that are backed by data. : A/B Testing Made Easy Optimizely As growth people, we all may say we are committed to building experiments and testing assumptions but the reality is that doing so can be hard and very time consuming. Optimizely makes running experiments that much easier — allowing you to do A/B testing in just a few clicks. : Codeless analytics for web and mobile Heap Heap is my go to dashboard for anytime I want to get more granular data on how each user is interacting with my product. They provide an extremely easy to integrate portal that helps you track everything that your customers do. : Measure your links quickly and easily Bitly Figuring out who is clicking on your links is one of the easiest and best ways to gauge interest from your “fans.” Bitly makes that drop dead simple and in just a few clicks you can turn your links into trackable and identifiable channels. : Session Recording Fullstory Understanding and empathizing with the customer journey is crucial to being able to build a great product. Fullstory enables you to do that better than any other solution as they provide literal screen grabs and recordings of your customer’s experience with your product! I did not want to overwhelm you with tools because — as you know — there are so many out there. The challenge is rather finding the absolute best tools for you and your team. What tools do you use for your projects? Let me know! Thanks so much for reading! My name is and I write blog posts It would mean a ton to me if you could: Jordan Gonen every day. > Follow me on Twitter < If you ever have any questions, send me an email jordangonen1 at gmail dot com ! Thanks so much!

7 Analytics Tools for Every Project You Launch

Hi I’m Jordan , I love helping people think & grow their products. Hope this helps! You can find me on Twitter :) Over the last 11 months or so, I have launched a handful of products across a variety of spaces. I would not call myself a wide success. Nor would I claim to really know what I am doing. But I, along with the teams I have worked on, have attracted tens of thousands of users to my products. That is a humbling feeling, and it is driven by the desire to make things people truly want. Getting that validation is amazing — not only in satiating my own personal goals, but also in helping companies/startups/projects grow. “Listening to your users” is something every founder claims to invest a ton of time in, but how consistent are they really? In my (limited experience) talking to other founders, I’d say while most creators want to be driven by customers, often times there are many other variables/factors that come into play. Ego. Personal Bias. Sunk costs. The list goes on and on — nonetheless, projects are often fueled, early on at least, by the willingness of a small group of people. These efforts sometimes work. The long term, more sustainable efforts are driven by a real and tangible customer problem. Whenever you launch something, you are testing that assumption — LIVE! In front of the whole world wide web. But what happens when you get that assumption wrong? I will tell you because it has happened to me many times. When you get your big bet wrong — a) no one cares about your product. You do not get any views on your site. You do not get any signups. No one pays you. No one cares. b) Whatever team you have gets sad. They feel miserable that they just poured all this time building something that no one wants. It sucks. Avoid building a lot of hype around an assumption that has not been tested at all costs. How? Talk to customers! Before you go out and build this grand company, just go see if it should exist. Understand pain points before raising money, getting press, etc. etc. Two ways I think about doing that: 1. Find a niche Figure out who your niche is and literally just contact them. Talk to them. Ask them question. Do not impose your personal bias. Go on Facebook and search for a niche community that you are trying to work with. Get into that facebook group and then try and provide value to people for free. Send interesting content. Be of help, etc. Then personal message people in the group and ask them to hop on a quick skype / phone call. Ask questions. Build for root problems, not fluff. What people really really need. 2. Put up an carefully interview each person who signs up. “early access page” Ex: — Instagram Analytics Owlmetrics Sometimes it can be hard to manage so much direct outreach, especially when you are heads down on the product. Building in the dark is really scary because you often run into the problem of not knowing if what you are building people really want. Turn on the lights! Put up a landing page and see what people think. Do they drop their email? Do they beg you for access? Do they give you money right away? How do they react? There is a clear difference, however, between “saying” you want to buy something and actually buying it. Many more people would do the former than the latter. That is why it is important to separate out your assumptions into multiple segments. A) you think people are interested in your product and B) you think they would pay for it. A may be true while B is not. Figure out ways to test for both, at once! Let your users tell you if what you are building is good. Not the press. Not your friends. And do not wait until launch day to find out :) Just start! Thanks so much for reading! My name is and I write blog posts It would mean a ton to me if you could: Jordan Gonen every day. > Follow me on Twitter < If you ever have any questions, send me an email jordangonen1 at gmail dot com ! Thanks so much!

I do this before I launch any product

Listen to Your Users Hi I’m Jordan , I love helping people think & grow their products. Hope this helps! You can find me on Twitter :) One of the hardest parts about founding a company or hacking up a project is deciding which features you want to build next. We all have our own ideas and biases for what we think the next best thing or feature to add to our product is, but rarely do we build out true experiments for testing our assumptions. It can be hard to escape from the influence of your personal bias. You want your ideas to be right. You worked so hard on them! Separating that, even from your unconscious decision making, can be extremely valuable for hosting accurate and insightful testing on your product. The next trap that many creators fall into, aside from imposing personal bias, is listening to external cues as validation separate from their user feedback. It’s 2017 — we hear so much advice nowadays about what In podcasts. In the news. In videos. In blog posts like this one. We keep hearing the same advice and feedback over and over. we should be doing. The thing to think about is…who is this “advice” from and should we care about it? The conclusion that many entrepreneurs, especially the most successful ones, come to quickly is that most people’s opinions do not really matter. Your professors. The press. Your friends. All of these people’s insights, while they may be interesting, can often be distractions. Distractions from what? From your users’ opinions. They are the ones who are going to use your product. They are who you should be listening to. Right? Because they are the people that, at the end of the day, will be spending money on your product. We often tend to over index on what “smart people think” rather than what our “users think.” We think that “serial entrepreneurs” know better than our users. Is this true? Maybe. But more likely it’s true that if you could solve a real problem, you would not need to worry so much about growth and growth hacking. If you could so keenly empathize with a large set of a population, then you could build the perfect tool/service that answers to their needs. Listening is the first step. So how do you create a system to listen to your users? I asked my friend Deep Patel, he’s building a company right now, , and he is working on building out a feedback loop just like this right now. Owlmetrics “This first big thing we had to recognize is that, to be really successful, we needed validation. We could not spend all of this time and money building out awesome features without first hearing feedback from users. So we launched a beta program and have slowly been on boarding users.” I asked Deep exactly how they are on boarding users and how they measure feedback. “We’re taking it really slowly. The last thing that we wanted to do was rush into this, get too many customers, and deliver a poor experience. So we started slowly and have really been hand holding customers understanding their interaction with the platform and measuring things like use cases, as well as problems they have had with the platform. We are doing our best to ignore false indicators — like press, vanity metrics — and focus on what really matters — paying customers.” While it is often easier said than done, focusing on what matters is often a startup’s biggest obstacle early on. Figuring out what matters, so you know what to focus on, is best found by listening to your users and distilling their problems into buckets and then iterating on those. Thanks so much for reading! My name is and I write blog posts It would mean a ton to me if you could: Jordan Gonen every day. > Follow me on Twitter < If you ever have any questions, send me an email jordangonen1 at gmail dot com ! Thanks so much!

How to Understand Which Features to Build Next

Further Chronicles of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here . ONLY A COMMON FELLOW XIV. ONLY A COMMON FELLOW On my dearie's wedding morning I wakened early and went to her room. Long and long ago she had made me promise that I would be the one to wake her on the morning of her wedding day. "You were the first to take me in your arms when I came into the world, Aunt Rachel," she had said, "and I want you to be the first to greet me on that wonderful day." But that was long ago, and now my heart foreboded that there would be no need of wakening her. And there was not. She was lying there awake, very quiet, with her hand under her cheek, and her big blue eyes fixed on the window, through which a pale, dull light was creeping in—a joyless light it was, and enough to make a body shiver. I felt more like weeping than rejoicing, and my heart took to aching when I saw her there so white and patient, more like a girl who was waiting for a winding-sheet than for a bridal veil. But she smiled brave-like, when I sat down on her bed and took her hand. "You look as if you haven't slept all night, dearie," I said. "I didn't—not a great deal," she answered me. "But the night didn't seem long; no, it seemed too short. I was thinking of a great many things. What time is it, Aunt Rachel?" "Five o'clock." "Then in six hours more—" She suddenly sat up in her bed, her great, thick rope of brown hair falling over her white shoulders, and flung her arms about me, and burst into tears on my old breast. I petted and soothed her, and said not a word; and, after a while, she stopped crying; but she still sat with her head so that I couldn't see her face. "We didn't think it would be like this once, did we, Aunt Rachel?" she said, very softly. "It shouldn't be like this, now," I said. I had to say it. I never could hide the thought of that marriage, and I couldn't pretend to. It was all her stepmother's doings—right well I knew that. My dearie would never have taken Mark Foster else. "Don't let us talk of that," she said, soft and beseeching, just the same way she used to speak when she was a baby-child and wanted to coax me into something. "Let us talk about the old days—and HIM." "I don't see much use in talking of HIM, when you're going to marry Mark Foster to-day," I said. But she put her hand on my mouth. "It's for the last time, Aunt Rachel. After to-day I can never talk of him, or even think of him. It's four years since he went away. Do you remember how he looked, Aunt Rachel?" "I mind well enough, I reckon," I said, kind of curt-like. And I did. Owen Blair hadn't a face a body could forget—that long face of his with its clean color and its eyes made to look love into a woman's. When I thought of Mark Foster's sallow skin and lank jaws I felt sick-like. Not that Mark was ugly—he was just a common-looking fellow. "He was so handsome, wasn't he, Aunt Rachel?" my dearie went on, in that patient voice of hers. "So tall and strong and handsome. I wish we hadn't parted in anger. It was so foolish of us to quarrel. But it would have been all right if he had lived to come back. I know it would have been all right. I know he didn't carry any bitterness against me to his death. I thought once, Aunt Rachel, that I would go through life true to him, and then, over on the other side, I'd meet him just as before, all his and his only. But it isn't to be." "Thanks to your stepma's wheedling and Mark Foster's scheming," said I. "No, Mark didn't scheme," she said patiently. "Don't be unjust to Mark, Aunt Rachel. He has been very good and kind." "He's as stupid as an owlet and as stubborn as Solomon's mule," I said, for I WOULD say it. "He's just a common fellow, and yet he thinks he's good enough for my beauty." "Don't talk about Mark," she pleaded again. "I mean to be a good, faithful wife to him. But I'm my own woman yet—YET—for just a few more sweet hours, and I want to give them to HIM. The last hours of my maidenhood—they must belong to HIM." So she talked of him, me sitting there and holding her, with her lovely hair hanging down over my arm, and my heart aching so for her that it hurt bitter. She didn't feel as bad as I did, because she'd made up her mind what to do and was resigned. She was going to marry Mark Foster, but her heart was in France, in that grave nobody knew of, where the Huns had buried Owen Blair—if they had buried him at all. And she went over all they had been to each other, since they were mites of babies, going to school together and meaning, even then, to be married when they grew up; and the first words of love he'd said to her, and what she'd dreamed and hoped for. The only thing she didn't bring up was the time he thrashed Mark Foster for bringing her apples. She never mentioned Mark's name; it was all Owen—Owen—and how he looked, and what might have been, if he hadn't gone off to the awful war and got shot. And there was me, holding her and listening to it all, and her stepma sleeping sound and triumphant in the next room. When she had talked it all out she lay down on her pillow again. I got up and went downstairs to light the fire. I felt terrible old and tired. My feet seemed to drag, and the tears kept coming to my eyes, though I tried to keep them away, for well I knew it was a bad omen to be weeping on a wedding day. Before long Isabella Clark came down; bright and pleased-looking enough, SHE was. I'd never liked Isabella, from the day Phillippa's father brought her here; and I liked her less than ever this morning. She was one of your sly, deep women, always smiling smooth, and scheming underneath it. I'll say it for her, though, she had been good to Phillippa; but it was her doings that my dearie was to marry Mark Foster that day. "Up betimes, Rachel," she said, smiling and speaking me fair, as she always did, and hating me in her heart, as I well knew. "That is right, for we'll have plenty to do to-day. A wedding makes lots of work." "Not this sort of a wedding," I said, sour-like. "I don't call it a wedding when two people get married and sneak off as if they were ashamed of it—as well they might be in this case." "It was Phillippa's own wish that all should be very quiet," said Isabella, as smooth as cream. "You know I'd have given her a big wedding, if she'd wanted it." "Oh, it's better quiet," I said. "The fewer to see Phillippa marry a man like Mark Foster the better." "Mark Foster is a good man, Rachel." "No good man would be content to buy a girl as he's bought Phillippa," I said, determined to give it in to her. "He's a common fellow, not fit for my dearie to wipe her feet on. It's well that her mother didn't live to see this day; but this day would never have come, if she'd lived." "I dare say Phillippa's mother would have remembered that Mark Foster is very well off, quite as readily as worse people," said Isabella, a little spitefully. I liked her better when she was spiteful than when she was smooth. I didn't feel so scared of her then. The marriage was to be at eleven o'clock, and, at nine, I went up to help Phillippa dress. She was no fussy bride, caring much what she looked like. If Owen had been the bridegroom it would have been different. Nothing would have pleased her then; but now it was only just "That will do very well, Aunt Rachel," without even glancing at it. Still, nothing could prevent her from looking lovely when she was dressed. My dearie would have been a beauty in a beggarmaid's rags. In her white dress and veil she was as fair as a queen. And she was as good as she was pretty. It was the right sort of goodness, too, with just enough spice of original sin in it to keep it from spoiling by reason of over-sweetness. Then she sent me out. "I want to be alone my last hour," she said. "Kiss me, Aunt Rachel—MOTHER Rachel." When I'd gone down, crying like the old fool I was, I heard a rap at the door. My first thought was to go out and send Isabella to it, for I supposed it was Mark Foster, come ahead of time, and small stomach I had for seeing him. I fall trembling, even yet, when I think, "What if I had sent Isabella to that door?" But go I did, and opened it, defiant-like, kind of hoping it was Mark Foster to see the tears on my face. I opened it—and staggered back like I'd got a blow. "Owen! Lord ha' mercy on us! Owen!" I said, just like that, going cold all over, for it's the truth that I thought it was his spirit come back to forbid that unholy marriage. But he sprang right in, and caught my wrinkled old hands in a grasp that was of flesh and blood. "Aunt Rachel, I'm not too late?" he said, savage-like. "Tell me I'm in time." I looked up at him, standing over me there, tall and handsome, no change in him except he was so brown and had a little white scar on his forehead; and, though I couldn't understand at all, being all bewildered-like, I felt a great deep thankfulness. "No, you're not too late," I said. "Thank God," said he, under his breath. And then he pulled me into the parlor and shut the door. "They told me at the station that Phillippa was to be married to Mark Foster to-day. I couldn't believe it, but I came here as fast as horse-flesh could bring me. Aunt Rachel, it can't be true! She can't care for Mark Foster, even if she had forgotten me!" "It's true enough that she is to marry Mark," I said, half-laughing, half-crying, "but she doesn't care for him. Every beat of her heart is for you. It's all her stepma's doings. Mark has got a mortgage on the place, and he told Isabella Clark that, if Phillippa would marry him, he'd burn the mortgage, and, if she wouldn't, he'd foreclose. Phillippa is sacrificing herself to save her stepma for her dead father's sake. It's all your fault," I cried, getting over my bewilderment. "We thought you were dead. Why didn't you come home when you were alive? Why didn't you write?" "I DID write, after I got out of the hospital, several times," he said, "and never a word in answer, Aunt Rachel. What was I to think when Phillippa wouldn't answer my letters?" "She never got one," I cried. "She wept her sweet eyes out over you. SOMEBODY must have got those letters." And I knew then, and I know now, though never a shadow of proof have I, that Isabella Clark had got them—and kept them. That woman would stick at nothing. "Well, we'll sift that matter some other time," said Owen impatiently. "There are other things to think of now. I must see Phillippa." "I'll manage it for you," I said eagerly; but, just as I spoke, the door opened and Isabella and Mark came in. Never shall I forget the look on Isabella's face. I almost felt sorry for her. She turned sickly yellow and her eyes went wild; they were looking at the downfall of all her schemes and hopes. I didn't look at Mark Foster, at first, and, when I did, there wasn't anything to see. His face was just as sallow and wooden as ever; he looked undersized and common beside Owen. Nobody'd ever have picked him out for a bridegroom. Owen spoke first. "I want to see Phillippa," he said, as if it were but yesterday that he had gone away. All Isabella's smoothness and policy had dropped away from her, and the real woman stood there, plotting and unscrupulous, as I'd always know her. "You can't see her," she said desperate-like. "She doesn't want to see you. You went and left her and never wrote, and she knew you weren't worth fretting over, and she has learned to care for a better man." "I DID write and I think you know that better than most folks," said Owen, trying hard to speak quiet. "As for the rest, I'm not going to discuss it with you. When I hear from Phillippa's own lips that she cares for another man I'll believe it—and not before." "You'll never hear it from her lips," said I. Isabella gave me a venomous look. "You'll not see Phillippa until she is a better man's wife," she said stubbornly, "and I order you to leave my house, Owen Blair!" "No!" It was Mark Foster who spoke. He hadn't said a word; but he came forward now, and stood before Owen. Such a difference as there was between them! But he looked Owen right in the face, quiet-like, and Owen glared back in fury. "Will it satisfy you, Owen, if Phillippa comes down here and chooses between us?" "Yes, it will," said Owen. Mark Foster turned to me. "Go and bring her down," said he. Isabella, judging Phillippa by herself, gave a little moan of despair, and Owen, blinded by love and hope, thought his cause was won. But I knew my dearie too well to be glad, and Mark Foster did, too, and I hated him for it. I went up to my dearie's room, all pale and shaking. When I went in she came to meet me, like a girl going to meet death. "Is—it—time?" she said, with her hands locked tight together. I said not a word, hoping that the unlooked-for sight of Owen would break down her resolution. I just held out my hand to her, and led her downstairs. She clung to me and her hands were as cold as snow. When I opened the parlor door I stood back, and pushed her in before me. She just cried, "Owen!" and shook so that I put my arms about her to steady her. Owen made a step towards her, his face and eyes all aflame with his love and longing, but Mark barred his way. "Wait till she has made her choice," he said, and then he turned to Phillippa. I couldn't see my dearie's face, but I could see Mark's, and there wasn't a spark of feeling in it. Behind it was Isabella's, all pinched and gray. "Phillippa," said Mark, "Owen Blair has come back. He says he has never forgotten you, and that he wrote to you several times. I have told him that you have promised me, but I leave you freedom of choice. Which of us will you marry, Phillippa?" My dearie stood straight up and the trembling left her. She stepped back, and I could see her face, white as the dead, but calm and resolved. "I have promised to marry you, Mark, and I will keep my word," she said. The color came back to Isabella Clark's face; but Mark's did not change. "Phillippa," said Owen, and the pain in his voice made my old heart ache bitterer than ever, "have you ceased to love me?" My dearie would have been more than human, if she could have resisted the pleading in his tone. She said no word, but just looked at him for a moment. We all saw the look; her whole soul, full of love for Owen, showed out in it. Then she turned and stood by Mark. Owen never said a word. He went as white as death, and started for the door. But again Mark Foster put himself in the way. "Wait," he said. "She has made her choice, as I knew she would; but I have yet to make mine. And I choose to marry no woman whose love belongs to another living man. Phillippa, I thought Owen Blair was dead, and I believed that, when you were my wife, I could win your love. But I love you too well to make you miserable. Go to the man you love—you are free!" "And what is to become of me?" wailed Isabella. "Oh, you!—I had forgotten about you," said Mark, kind of weary-like. He took a paper from his pocket, and dropped it in the grate. "There is the mortgage. That is all you care about, I think. Good-morning." He went out. He was only a common fellow, but, somehow, just then he looked every inch the gentleman. I would have gone after him and said something but—the look on his face—no, it was no time for my foolish old words! Phillippa was crying, with her head on Owen's shoulder. Isabella Clark waited to see the mortgage burned up, and then she came to me in the hall, all smooth and smiling again. "Really, it's all very romantic, isn't it? I suppose it's better as it is, all things considered. Mark behaved splendidly, didn't he? Not many men would have done as he did." For once in my life I agreed with Isabella. But I felt like having a good cry over it all—and I had it. I was glad for my dearie's sake and Owen's; but Mark Foster had paid the price of their joy, and I knew it had beggared him of happiness for life. 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. L. M. Montgomery (2004). Further Chronicles of Avonlea. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/5340/pg5340-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 www.gutenberg.org , located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html .

ONLY A COMMON FELLOW

Duel on Syrtis

The Mystery of the Aztech

In this article, we are going to create a chat application that connects people, anonymously, to different rooms together in pairs of two. The chat application would make use of for the server-side code, listen to web socket communication using and the client-side will be developed with vanilla JavaScript. Express.js Socket.io Setting up our project We will create a directory named and change the directory to the directory using the command. chat-app $ mkdir chat-app && cd chat-app Initialize our Node application by running the command. $ yarn init -y Install express in our project using Yarn by running the command. $ yarn add express We will create a JavaScript file, and name, and create a simple Node HTTP server. Next, we will import express into our application, create an express app and start the server to listen to requests on port . 8001 // app.js
const http = require("http")
const express = require("express")

const app = express()

app.get("/index", (req, res) => {
    res.send("Welcome home")
})

const server = http.createServer(app)

server.on("error", (err) => {
    console.log("Error opening server")
})

server.listen(8001, () => {
    console.log("Server working on port 8001")
}) Now we can start the application by running the command. $ node app.js You can visit on your browser to test that the application works [http://localhost:8001/index](http://localhost:8001/index) Initializing on the server-side socket.io To initialize a socket on the server side, follow the following steps. Install dependency into our application by running the command. socket.io $ yarn add socket.io Import into our code, create a new socket server, and then add an event listener to the socket to listen if a connection is made. socket.io // app.js
const http = require("http");
const { Server } = require("socket.io");
const express = require("express");

const app = express();

app.get("/index", (req, res) => {
  res.send("Welcome home");
});

const server = http.createServer(app);

const io = new Server(server);

io.on("connection", (socket) => {
  console.log("connected");
});

server.on("error", (err) => {
  console.log("Error opening server");
});

server.listen(8001, () => {
  console.log("Server working on port 3000");
}); Initializing on the client-side socket.io We would be creating a simple UI using Vanilla JavaScript and we serve the web page as a static file from our express application. We’d create a directory including files to build up our UI, making our project structure look like this. public chat-app/
			|- node_modules/
			|- public/
						|- index.html
						|- main.js
			|- app.js
			|- package.json
			|- yarn.lock We are going to be making use of to style the Client UI to reduce the amount of custom CSS we’d be writing. Tailwind CSS In the , create a template for our chat window. index.html 
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <script src="https://cdn.tailwindcss.com"></script>
    <title>Anon Chat App</title>
</head>
<body>
    <div class="flex-1 p:2 sm:p-6 justify-between flex flex-col h-screen">
        <div id="messages" class="flex flex-col space-y-4 p-3 overflow-y-auto scrollbar-thumb-blue scrollbar-thumb-rounded scrollbar-track-blue-lighter scrollbar-w-2 scrolling-touch">
        </div>
        <div class="border-t-2 border-gray-200 px-4 pt-4 mb-2 sm:mb-0">
           <div class="relative flex">
              <input type="text" placeholder="Write your message!" class="w-full focus:outline-none focus:placeholder-gray-400 text-gray-600 placeholder-gray-600 pl-12 bg-gray-200 rounded-md py-3">
              <div class="absolute right-0 items-center inset-y-0 hidden sm:flex">
                 <button type="button" class="inline-flex items-center justify-center rounded-lg px-4 py-3 transition duration-500 ease-in-out text-white bg-blue-500 hover:bg-blue-400 focus:outline-none">
                    <span class="font-bold">Send</span>
                    <svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="currentColor" class="h-6 w-6 ml-2 transform rotate-90">
                       <path d="M10.894 2.553a1 1 0 00-1.788 0l-7 14a1 1 0 001.169 1.409l5-1.429A1 1 0 009 15.571V11a1 1 0 112 0v4.571a1 1 0 00.725.962l5 1.428a1 1 0 001.17-1.408l-7-14z"></path>
                    </svg>
                 </button>
              </div>
           </div>
        </div>
     </div>
		 <script src="/socket.io/socket.io.js"></script>
     <script src="./main.js"></script>
</body>
</html> In the HTML file above we included two JavaScript files, the first one to initialize on the client side and another file to write our custom JavaScript code. socket.io main.js Then in the file, we would create a function that can add a message to the chatbox. The function will expect two arguments. The first argument is the message string and the second argument is a boolean to determine if the message is from the user or main.js createMessage another external user. // main.js
const messageBox = document.querySelector("#messages");

function createMessage(text, ownMessage = false) {
  const messageElement = document.createElement("div");
  messageElement.className = "chat-message";
  const subMesssageElement = document.createElement("div");
  subMesssageElement.className =
    "px-4 py-4 rounded-lg inline-block rounded-bl-none bg-gray-300 text-gray-600";
  if (ownMessage) {
    subMesssageElement.className += " float-right bg-blue-800 text-white";
  }
  subMesssageElement.innerText = text;
  messageElement.appendChild(subMesssageElement);

  messageBox.appendChild(messageElement);
}

createMessage("Welcome to vahalla");
createMessage("Who are you to talk to me", true); Change the code in the server application, and make use of static files to render the client UI. app.js // app.js
const http = require("http");
const { Server } = require("socket.io");
const express = require("express");
const path = require("path");

const app = express();

app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, "public")));

const server = http.createServer(app);

const io = new Server(server);

io.on("connection", (socket) => {
  console.log("connected");
});

server.on("error", (err) => {
  console.log("Error opening server");
});

server.listen(8001, () => {
  console.log("Server working on port 8001");
}); : To view the changes made in our application, we have to stop the running server application and re-run it for the new changes to take effect. So we are making use of to automate this process for us. NOTE nodemon Install by running. nodemon $ npm install -g nodemon Then run the node application using nodemon. $ nodemon ./app.js Open on your browser to view what the chat app would look like. [http://localhost:8001](http://localhost:3000) Creating different rooms for Web Socket communication To keep track of the rooms created and the number of users connected to each room, we will create a class to manage this data for us. Room We’d create a new file named in the root directory of our project. Then we create the class and have the constructor initialize a property for keeping the state of our room. room.js Room // room.js

// the maximum number of people allowed in each room
const ROOM_MAX_CAPACITY = 2;

class Room {
  constructor() {
    this.roomsState = [];
  }
}

module.exports = Room; The is an array of objects that keeps the information about each room ID created and the number of users in that room. So a typical would look like this. roomsState roomsState // rooms state
[
	{
		roomID: "some id",
		users: 1
	},
	{
		roomID: "a different id",
		users: 2
	}
] Next, add a method to join a room. The method will loop through the room to check if any rooms have several users that are less than the maximum number of participants allowed in each room. If all room in the list is occupied, it would create a new room and initialize the number of users in that room to 1. To generate a unique id, we would be making use of a package known as in our application. UUID Install by running this command in our terminal. uuid $ yarn add uuid Then import the package into our application by running as follows. // room.js
const { v4: uuidv4 } = require("uuid");

class Room {
  constructor() {
    /**/
  }

  joinRoom() {
    return new Promise((resolve) => {
      for (let i = 0; i < this.roomsState.length; i++) {
        if (this.roomsState[i].users < ROOM_MAX_CAPACITY) {
          this.roomsState[i].users++;
          return resolve(this.roomsState[i].id);
        }
      }

      // else generate a new room id
      const newID = uuidv4();
      this.roomsState.push({
        id: newID,
        users: 1,
      });
      return resolve(newID);
    });
  }
}

module.exports = Room; : Making use of an array to manage the rooms' state is, obviously, not the best way to do so. Imagine having thousands of rooms in your application and you have to loop through each room for each join request. It would execute at O(n). For the purpose of this tutorial, we will stick to this approach. NOTE We’d add another method to the class, , to reduce the number of users in a particular room. Room leaveRoom() // room.js
class Room {
  constructor() {
    /**/
  }

  joinRoom() {}

  leaveRoom(id) {
    this.roomsState = this.roomsState.filter((room) => {
      if (room.id === id) {
        if (room.users === 1) {
          return false;
        } else {
          room.users--;
        }
      }
      return true;
    });
  }
}

module.exports = Room; The the method takes a room ID, and loops through the array of rooms to find if any of the rooms match the ID provided in the argument. leaveRoom() If it finds the matching room, it checks if the user in the room is one to delete that particular room state. If the user in the room is greater than 1, the the method just deducts the number of users in that room by one. leaveRoom() Finally, our code should be similar to this. room.js // room.js
const { v4: uuidv4 } = require("uuid");

// the maximum number of people allowed in a room
const ROOM_MAX_CAPACITY = 2;

class Room {
  constructor() {
    this.roomsState = [];
  }

  joinRoom() {
    return new Promise((resolve) => {
      for (let i = 0; i < this.roomsState.length; i++) {
        if (this.roomsState[i].users < ROOM_MAX_CAPACITY) {
          this.roomsState[i].users++;
          return resolve(this.roomsState[i].id);
        }
      }

      const newID = uuidv4();
      this.roomsState.push({
        id: newID,
        users: 1,
      });
      return resolve(newID);
    });
  }

  leaveRoom(id) {
    this.roomsState = this.roomsState.filter((room) => {
      if (room.id === id) {
        if (room.users === 1) {
          return false;
        } else {
          room.users--;
        }
      }
      return true;
    });
  }
}

module.exports = Room; Joining and leaving the rooms. To create different channels for users in our chat application, we would be creating rooms for them. allows us to create arbitrary channels that sockets can join and leave. It can be used to broadcast events to a subset of clients. socket.io ( source: https://socket.io/docs/v3/rooms/ ) To join a room, we would join a room with a unique room ID. io.on("connection", socket => {
	// join a room
  socket.join("some room id");

  socket.to("some room id").emit("some event");
}); In our server application, once new users join the connection, the returns a unique ID which is our unique room ID. So we can join and leave room in our rooms as follow. Room.joinRoom() // app.js
io.on("connection", async (socket) => {
  const roomID = await room.joinRoom();
  // join room
  socket.join(roomID);

  socket.on("disconnect", () => {
    // leave room
    room.leaveRoom(roomID);
  });
}); Sending and receiving messages Now, we’d move back to our client-side code to emit events for messages sent from the client. And also listen to message events coming from the server and write that messages to our chatbox. // main.js
socket.on("receive-message", (message) => {
  createMessage(message);
});

sendButton.addEventListener("click", () => {
  if (textBox.value != "") {
    socket.emit("send-message", textBox.value);
    createMessage(textBox.value, true);
    textBox.value = "";
  }
}); : In our chat application, we directly add the message from user to the chatbox without confirming if the message is received by the socket server. This is not usually the case. NOTE Then on our express application. // app.js
io.on("connection", async (socket) => {
  const roomID = await room.joinRoom();
  // join room
  socket.join(roomID);

  socket.on("send-message", (message) => {
    socket.to(roomID).emit("receive-message", message);
  });

  socket.on("disconnect", () => {
    // leave room
    room.leaveRoom(roomID);
  });
}); Making our express application code look like this finally. // app.js
const http = require("http");
const { Server } = require("socket.io");
const express = require("express");
const path = require("path");
const Room = require("./room");

const app = express();

app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, "public")));

const server = http.createServer(app);

const io = new Server(server);

const room = new Room();

io.on("connection", async (socket) => {
  const roomID = await room.joinRoom();
  // join room
  socket.join(roomID);

  socket.on("send-message", (message) => {
    socket.to(roomID).emit("receive-message", message);
  });

  socket.on("disconnect", () => {
    // leave room
    room.leaveRoom(roomID);
  });
});

server.on("error", (err) => {
  console.log("Error opening server");
});

server.listen(8001, () => {
  console.log("Server working on port 8001");
}); And our client-side JavaScript looks like this. // main.js
const messageBox = document.querySelector("#messages");
const textBox = document.querySelector("input");
const sendButton = document.querySelector("button");

function createMessage(text, ownMessage = false) {
  const messageElement = document.createElement("div");
  messageElement.className = "chat-message";
  const subMesssageElement = document.createElement("div");
  subMesssageElement.className =
    "px-4 py-4 rounded-lg inline-block rounded-bl-none bg-gray-300 text-gray-600";
  if (ownMessage) {
    subMesssageElement.className += " float-right bg-blue-800 text-white";
  }
  subMesssageElement.innerText = text;
  messageElement.appendChild(subMesssageElement);

  messageBox.appendChild(messageElement);
}

const socket = io();

socket.on("connection", (socket) => {
  console.log(socket.id);
});

socket.on("receive-message", (message) => {
  createMessage(message);
});

sendButton.addEventListener("click", () => {
  if (textBox.value != "") {
    socket.emit("send-message", textBox.value);
    createMessage(textBox.value, true);
    textBox.value = "";
  }
}); Testing our chat app To text our chat app, we will open four different browsers to confirm that two rooms are created. Conclusion If you see this, it means that we read thus far and probably have the chat app running on our machine. You can find the code from this article in this . GitHub repository To include more challenges, these are features you can include in the chat application Inform users if people left or joined the room Refactor the rooms state array to a more efficient data structure Allow pairing based on topic selection (You’d need to configure this in the Room object) To read more about , you can visit the official documentation. socket.io If you enjoy reading this article, you can consider . buying me a coffee Also Published here

Build a Chat Room With Socket.io and Express

1811 Dictionary in the Vulgar Tongue, by Francis Grose is part of HackerNoon’s Book Blog Post series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here: [ ]. Section O LINK TO TABLE OF LINK Section O O BE JOYFUL. I'll make you sing O be joyful on the other side of your mouth; a threat, implying the party threatened will be made to cry. To sing O be easy; to appear contented when one has cause to complain, and dare not. OAF. A silly fellow. OAFISH. Simple. OAK. A rich maa, a man of good substance and credit. To sport oak; to shut the outward door of a student's room at college. An oaken towel; an oaken cudgel. To rub a man down with an oaken towel; to beat him. OATS. He has sowed his wild oats; he is staid, or sober, having left off his wild tricks. OATHS. The favourite oaths of the thieves of the present day are, "God strike me blind!" "I wish my bloody eyes may drop out if it is not true!" "So help me God!" "Bloody end to me!" OAR. To put in one's oar; to intermeddle, or give an opinion unasked: as, To be sure, you must put in your oar! OBSTROPULOUS. Vulgar misnomer of OBSTREPEROUS: as, I was going my rounds, and found this here gemman very obstropulous, whereof I comprehended him as an auspicious parson. OCCUPY. To occupy a woman; to have carnal knowledge of her. ODDFELLOWS. A convivial society; the introduction to the most noble grand, arrayed in royal robes, is well worth seeing at the price of becoming a member. ODDS PLUT AND HER NAILS. A Welch oath, frequently mentioned in a jocular manner by persons, it is hoped, ignorant of its meaning; which is, By God's blood, and the nails with which he was nailed to the cross. ODD-COME-SHORTLYS. I'll do it one of these odd-come-shortly's; I will do it some time or another. OFFICE. To give the office; to give information, or make signs to the officers to take a thief. OGLES. Eyes. Rum ogles; fine eyes. OIL OF BARLEY, or BARLEY BROTH. Strong beer. OIL OF GLADNESS. I will anoint you with the oil of gladness; ironically spoken for, I will beat you. OIL OF STIRRUP. A dose the cobler gives his wife whenever she is obstropulous. OI POAAOI (Proofreaders Note: Greek Letters). (CAMBRIDGE.) The many; the multitude; who take degrees without being entitled for an honor. All that is REQUIRED, are three books of Euclid, and as far as Quadratic Equation's in Algebra. See PLUCKED. OLD. Ugly. CANT. OLD DOG AT IT. Expert, accustomed. OLD HAND. Knowing or expert in any business. OLD HARRY. A composition used by vintners to adulterate their wines; also the nick-name for the devil. OLD DING. See OLD HAT. OLD MR. GORY. A piece of gold. OLD NICK. The Devil: from NEKEN, the evil spirit of the north. OLD ONE. The Devil. Likewise an expression of quizzical familiarity, as "how d'ye do, OLD ONE?" OLD PEGG. Poor Yorkshire cheese, made of skimmed milk. OLD POGER. The Devil. OLD STAGER. One accustomed to business, one who knows mankind. OLD TOAST. A brisk old fellow. CANT. OLD DOSS. Bridewell. OLIVER'S SCULL. A chamber pot. OLLI COMPOLLI. The name of one of the principal rogues of the canting crew. CANT. OMNIUM GATHERUM. The whole together: jocular imitation of law Latin. ONE IN TEN. A parson: an allusion to his tithes. ONE OF US, or ONE OF MY COUSINS. A woman of the town, a harlot. ONION. A seal. Onion hunters, a class of young thieves who are on the look out for gentlemen who wear their seals suspended on a ribbon, which they cut, and thus secure the seals or other trinkets suspended to the watch. OPEN ARSE. A medlar. See MEDLAR. OPTIME. The senior and junior optimes are the second and last classes of Cambridge honors conferred on taking a degree. That of wranglers is the first. The last junior optime is called the Wooden Spoon. ORGAN. A pipe. Will you cock your organ? will you smoke your pipe? ORTHODOXY AND HETERODOXY. Somebody explained these terms by saying, the first was a man who had a doxy of his own, the second a person who made use of the doxy of another man. OSCHIVES. Bone-handled knives. CANT. OSTLER. Oatstealer. OTTOMY. The vulgar word for a skeleton. OTTOMISED. To be ottomised; to be dissected. You'll be scragged, ottomised, and grin in a glass case: you'll be hanged, anatomised, and your skeleton kept in a glass case at Surgeons' Hall. OVEN. A great mouth; the old woman would never have looked for her daughter in the oven, had she not been there herself. OVERSEER. A man standing in the pillory, is, from his elevated situation, said to be made an overseer. OUT AT HEELS, OR OUT AT ELBOWS. In declining circumstances. OUTRUN THE CONSTABLE. A man who has lived above his means, or income, is said to have outrun the constable. OUTS. A gentleman of three outs. See GENTLEMAN. OWL. To catch the; a trick practised upon ignorant country boobies, who are decoyed into a barn under pretence of catching an owl, where, after divers preliminaries, the joke ends in their having a pail of water poured upon their heads. OWL IN AN IVY BUSH. He looks like an owl in an ivy bush; frequently said of a person with a large frizzled wig, or a woman whose hair is dressed a-la-blowze. OWLERS. Those who smuggle wool over to France. OX HOUSE. He must go through the ox house to bed; a saying of an old fellow who marries a young girl. OYES. Corruption of oyez, proclaimed by the crier of all courts of justice. OYSTER. A gob of thick phlegm, spit by a consumptive man; in law Latin, UNUM VIRIDUM GOBBUM P'S. To mind one's P's and Q's; to be attentive to the main chance. P.P.C. An inscription on the visiting cards of our modern fine gentleman, signifying that they have called POUR PRENDRE CONGE, i.e. 'to take leave,' This has of late been ridiculed by cards inscribed D.I.O. i.e. 'Damme, I'm off.' 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. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved April 2022 from Grose, Francis. 2004. 1881 Dictionary in the Vulgar Tongue. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/5402/pg5402.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

1811 Dictionary in the Vulgar Tongue: Section O

Pre-hispanic America birthed sophisticated theories in ancient astronomy. The Mayas, Aztecs, and Incas possessed tables, calendars, and exquisitely precise systems to describe and determine the movement of planets, stars, celestial objects, and constellations. Even the Olmecs, which predated all three ancient empires, left artifacts that stump one and many archeologists about their precise knowledge about the stars. Today, modern-day scientists and engineers remain puzzled about the architectural and technical feats of the ancient empires in the Americas, which mirrored an unprecedented astronomical precision. Despite the rich cultural, astronomical, and engineering legacies from three powerful pre-hispanic empires, a testament to the creative achievement across the region, only a handful of scientists and engineers in Latin America have participated in modern space missions beyond low-Earth orbit. Time Machine (2017). Marco Vargas. This story is about the rekindling of the fire in Latin America that can be traced for millennia. This story is about those daring to deploy a small propellantless mission to reach Jupiter in less time. Currently, any round trip to Jupiter , so the success in reaching Jupiter quickly and without propellant could change our understanding of what it means to travel across vast distances in our Solar System at a fraction of the cost. would take numerous years and deeper pockets and budgets JOVE: A Trailblazing Propellantless Mission The is a novel solar-powered mission that will use the solar wind's momentum, speed, and direction as the propulsive thrust to reach the Jovian system in 30 days. Solar winds are the surges of plasma and ionized (charged) gas continuously emitted by the Sun, which vary in intensity, density, and composition but are always present across the expanse of the solar system. Jupiter Observing Velocity Experiment (JOVE) JOVE is proposed by an interdisciplinary team of scientists and engineers in the United States and Latin America (Ecuador and Costa Rica). They compose the Practical Interplanetary Propulsion group at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Nuclear Future Flight Propulsion Committee. JOVE rendering. Image credits: B. Freeze, J. Greason, R. Nader et al. JOVE will be designed with a compact 16U micro satellite architecture that includes two high-temperature superconducting coils 9-meters in diameter. These coils are responsible for engaging the “Wind Rider” propulsion system. The Wind Rider system has been experimentally demonstrated on the ground. For the mission, the spacecraft would use the superconducting coils to generate a large rotating magnetic field (RMF) that interacts with the solar wind for thrust and Jupiter’s dense magnetosphere for deceleration. Most of JOVE’s hardware will be built by the , which has ample experience designing powerful and compact hardware for the Cubesat market, including (350Whr). This type of battery will operate the telemetry beacon to measure and transmit data. In addition, the small scientific payload will include the SPAN-Ai sensor developed at the University of California, Berkeley, to study the solar wind’s velocity and the dense plasma in Jupiter’s magnetosphere. It will also include a rearview camera to capture Jupiter. Ecuadorian Civil Space Agency (EXA) one of the highest energy density batteries for Cubesats JOVE’s schematics. Image credits: B. Freeze, J. Greason, R. Nader et al. JOVE’s launch must occur when Jupiter is directly in opposition to the Sun on November 2, 2023, or December 7, 2024, to engage the Wind Rider propulsion system without a gravitational slingshot (gravity assist). After that, JOVE can get deployed into cis-lunar orbit or from an apogee of 60 - 90K km Sun-side by a traditional rocket launcher. Once in space, JOVE activates the RMF inside the two coils and deploys the solar panel arrays and the sunshade (to protect the coils at a certain distance). The team expects JOVE’s Wind Rider to speed up the spacecraft to a velocity close to 300 km s-1. JOVE rendering. Image credits: B. Freeze, J. Greason, R. Nader et al. Ronnie Nader There is no shortcut to becoming a spacefaring species. Advancing in-space propulsion is at the heart of becoming multiplanetary. According to Commander Ronnie Nader, we need to start building and testing practical propulsion systems that can take us to the outer planets in considerably less time and at substantially less cost. Commander Nader is Ecuador's first and only cosmonaut, the first civilian in modern history to complete the cosmonaut training at the GCTC ( ) with the support of the Ecuadorian Air Force (FAE). He founded the Ecuadorian Civil Space Agency (EXA) with headquarters in Guayaquil after his training in 2007 and has served as its Space Operations Director. Nader holds multiple senior memberships at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) Space Security Committee, and the International Academy of Astronautics, among many others. ASA / T degree - Advanced Suborbital Astronaut Trained In 2019, Nader created the Practical Interplanetary Propulsion working group at the AIAA Nuclear and Future Propulsion Committee to develop advanced propulsion systems with realistic timeframes. Nader's inspiration stemmed from his professional and entrepreneurial experience in Latin America. Without the million-dollar budgets and infrastructure for advanced scientific pursuits in space, Nader has had to be resourceful and creative with what's available. Nader recruited the rest of the Practical Interplanetary Propulsion Group team at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. They started working on different concepts and followed specific rules. The group's rules can be summarized as follows: any revolutionary concept must be mathematically proven and built on precedents that have been simulated, made, or tested on the ground and in space. But, more importantly, the group must use the proven laws of modern physics. “It’s important to point out that the planets do not grow. The population does,” said Nader. “Furthermore, everything the planet produces is the limit of human ambition. But this doesn’t have to be true. The solar system’s riches could change how we live from a single-planet economy to a multiplanetary one. These riches could redefine the concept of poverty until it becomes obsolete, but only if we could reach it. In practical terms, the current challenge of the space business is that it takes a decade for any roundtrip. We need to make it affordable so that it’s possible to finance it. So, as a growing species that will soon be fully occupying its ecological niche, why don’t we consider the treasures in the Solar System within our reach? A single mineral could greatly impact Latin America’s economic development.” Nader points out the obvious. Businesses may quickly go out of business without any profit. For even the most open-minded investors, entrepreneurs, and potential customers, the long-term mindset implicit in a multiplanetary economy might still be too far out. JOVE’s test in space will be a stepping stone for the team seeking to reframe the conversation from deep space as a luxury to deep space as a necessity for an increasingly energy-hungry civilization. This reframing will require adjusting the perceptions that only traditional space agencies and large, well-funded corporations can deploy complex science missions beyond low-Earth orbit. For the Latin America region rich in finite natural resources and precious minerals, including lithium, and salt, among many others, the opportunity to venture into the vast beyond at an affordable rate would seem like an easy sell. Unfortunately, however, it is not necessarily the case. “Rocketry has always been considered the default solution for interplanetary travel. However, throughout humanity's space history, many technical and engineering decisions have had political connotations or interests tied to it at the expense of practicality. We want to remain loyal to the engineering and scientific design as initially intended, and with the freedom of choosing to stay independent.” The team expects to fund JOVE’s launch with funds from the private sector. Jaime Jaramillo For Jaime Jaramillo, making an interplanetary science mission for Latin America practical is vital. Jaramillo is the Space Operations Deputy Director of the , and the CEO of the with its base in Quito. EXA Quantum Aerospace Research Institute – QAS “It’s an honor to work in this group, specifically looking at practical propulsion systems for the Solar System. Consider how we could develop quicker the mining exploration missions bringing minerals back to Earth. It can be a great business for anyone in the region who wants to invest in it.” Jaramillo has already witnessed the value of transferring knowledge by working on JOVE. “Currently, deep space telecommunications are spearheaded by just a couple of systems tied to established space agencies, for example, NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) and Near Space Network (Near Space Network). But booking and scheduling in these systems, which traditionally have served only a handful of missions, presents a logistical nightmare as they don’t scale well. The waiting times for booking a slot often translate into many decades. So, a practical application of interplanetary travel means we must start working independently on ground systems independent of these large and established systems. That is something we have already learned just by working on JOVE’s design because, at EXA, we go all the way when we get involved. The lessons learned are already useful for the future, making our focus on this mission significant.” Adolfo Chaves Jiménez Adolfo Chaves Jiménez, a space systems engineer, professor, and researcher in Costa Rica, is part of JOVE’s navigation team — an essential and challenging mission component. The spacecraft’s orientation directly and profoundly influences its dynamics, navigation, and control. Without propellant, JOVE will navigate at high speeds with the solar wind’s varying parameters making JOVE’s maneuverability particularly difficult to anticipate. Many parameters necessary to generate practical navigation will only be known when the mission is launched. Chaves has expertise in both spacecraft orientation and orbital dynamics. Despite the unknowns, his role as part of the navigation team is to develop and monitor the onboard sensors that will determine direction throughout the mission and orbital mission software to ensure JOVE reaches its final destination. “There are many things that we have to solve from the conceptual and technological point of view,” explained Chaves. “But we're using the proven principles and systems that already exist to apply an efficient design mindset and test it.” For Chaves, the Internet and the advancements in computation, software, and simulation have changed how space professionals collaborate and get trained. Proximity is no longer a deterrent to working effectively with others. “I believe that skill and capacity for high-level space missions are evenly distributed worldwide. JOVE shows that many professionals in Latin America possess the same levels of competitive expertise as in other geographies. In fact, problem-solving for many of us in Latin America requires being highly creative and extremely practical, given the limitations in budgets and access to infrastructure. So there is a lot of scope in design and creativity because this type of efficient design is aimed at some particular aspects, and working on it will not be deterred by your nationality as in the case of working for only space agencies or in certain localities.” Chaves spoke about a deeply ingrained cultural and financial block that prevents space science and research from flourishing in the region. Part of this block, according to Chaves, relates to the feelings of being ill-equipped or unprepared in comparison to the more established spacefaring nations. However, and ’s history shows how forward-thinking scientists and engineers pioneered critical advances early in the 1950s, given the tools and equipment available at the time and sometimes alongside those in the United States. Argentina Brazil “I believe it’s innately human to explore. It’s a dream come true to work on shortening the distances between planets and influence humanity’s understanding of access to the solar system. The field, for me, has always been a demonstration test that reflects a society’s development at a particular time. In Latin America, we can be at the same level as others in industrialized nations because we can be very creative and do innovative things beyond solving beautiful technical problems.” Key takeaways: Daring to Plan Boldly Time Machine (2017). Marco Vargas. I have noticed that although the region’s space footprint still suffers from the silos in the financing, a lack of talent is not the problem. Nader, Jaramillo, and Chaves have been pioneering multiple regional efforts to make space research and development accessible. I have written about their plans to launch an all-Latin American suborbital flight crew ( ) and a . LATCOSMOS-C quantum network in space The JOVE team, including Nader et al., and the recognized researchers in the United States, will be uniquely positioned to leverage their expertise and broader networks to make this mission happen. Everyone can dream, but only those who dare to achieve will execute their plans. // Artist from the Santo Domingo province in Ecuador has been designing for more than seven years. Inspired by the mysteries and novelty of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and the known universe, Vargas created the short motion graphics, . Marco Vargas Time Machine (2017) “It’s awe-inspiring to see how art and technology go hand in hand,” said Vargas. “Art offers a disruptive and prophetic vision of how the future will be while possibly anticipating countless possible scenarios in which science and technology are part of that reality written or illustrated by the artist. I would love to see a revolution in the space and technology fields in Latin America so that the region becomes more involved in proposing, developing, and creating technological assets that help accelerate growth and add value to this growing industry.” Full disclosure: I don't have any vested financial interests in the companies or projects discussed in this article at the time of publication (June 2022). I don't entertain affiliate marketing offers or paid endorsements that would influence my research for the article. If you've enjoyed reading this work, allow me to invite you to my indie space blog MONI-07B . It's ad-free, supported by readers like you, and, more importantly, showcases original research and artwork. Read more about why this is important . Be inspired by the possibilities of our future in space! Subscribe today .

Latin America Seeks its Riches in Space by Reaching Jupiter in 30 Days

América Latina busca sus riquezas en el espacio al llegar a Júpiter en 30 días

L'Amérique latine cherche ses richesses dans l'espace en atteignant Jupiter en 30 jours

लैटिन अमेरिका 30 दिनों में बृहस्पति तक पहुंचकर अंतरिक्ष में अपनी दौलत चाहता है

ラテンアメリカは 30 日で木星に到達し、宇宙での豊かさを求めています

América Latina busca suas riquezas no espaço atingindo Júpiter em 30 dias

Châu Mỹ Latinh Tìm kiếm sự giàu có trong không gian bằng cách chạm tới sao Mộc trong 30 ngày

拉丁美洲通过在 30 天内到达木星寻求其在太空中的财富

I recently saw buzz around a newsletter business that closed $550MM in a year. Here's the tweet from Sam Parr that kicked things off. The Agora. If you’re not aware of the brand, here’s a quick overview. The Agora is a behemoth in the newsletter and info publishing space. They’re known to have some of the best direct response copywriters, strategists, and media buyers in the business. And that reputation is very well founded. Back when I was freelance copywriting I made an effort to work with some of The Agora companies. The short version is, I didn’t get to work with any of them. However, I did speak to copywriters, editors, and strategists within their companies. And I was blown away with the level of understanding these folk had about selling online. Their reputation as the gold-standard in direct response marketing is, in my opinion, very well deserved. Notice how I said I approached “ "? some of The Agora companies That's not a typo. The Agora is not a newsletter business. They're a . collection of newsletter businesses (and more) All told, their collection pulls in over $1B per year. Crazy, right? Here's how their company infrastructure breaks down and how they make their money. A quick note on The Agora companies I need you to do something for me in this micro-study. Ignore the quality of the products The Agora promote. I’ve never bought any of the products they’re selling, so can’t speak to their actual quality. However, there’s a lot of negative press around them. I’m not going to get into the actual products or value they provide here. This isn’t the place for that. We’re going to focus on the strategy they’ve rolled out across multiple brands to rake in the cash. The Agora’s subsidiary newsletter companies generally focus on one of two niches. Finance Health The finance subsidiaries offer investment advice while the health subsidiaries offer advice on health issues. I cannot say for certain whether any of the negative press is true. I'm not a health professional nor a finance whiz. What I can tell you though is the way The Agora companies are built and marketed is nothing short of genius. Let’s look at what they do so well. The Agora's Organisation and Financials Let's first look at how The Agora companies are organised. If we focus only on the newsletter businesses they own, you’ll see they have... A single parent company (the Agora)13 US-based subsidiaries9 non-US based subsidiaries120+ newsletters both paid and free (I tried counting but there's a lot of non-updated pages making it hard to put a definite number on this). Everything kicks up to the level one step above it. So a collection of, say, 30 financial newsletters might come under the Agora Financial subsidiary. All of the subsidiaries are then under the control and purview of the primary Agora company. It’s a super simple way to organise everything. And it’s proof that once you’ve found a marketing and growth model that works for you, you can roll it out to other similar and complementary offers. What I really like is how most of the brands are operating with small staff numbers. The subsidiary lists only 8 editors. 7-figure Publishing LinkedIn has 4 other members of staff for the brand which brings them up to a potential total of 12 employees.  And they're running an 8-figure business. Honestly, I'm sure a lot of the staff are Agora Financial employees (especially media buyers) working across newsletters. It makes the average revenue per employee insanely high. And to top it all off, the Agora owns more than just newsletters. They also have a number of books, investments, and brick-and-mortar business interests. It is truly a behemoth brand and proof that if you can write persuasively, you can find success. The Agora's Financials The Agora play their cards pretty close to their chests. There are no real publicly available numbers for their revenue (or their marketing which made putting this analysis together a real pain). However, sites like . Owler estimate it to be $1B That number is also used on multiple other sites analysing their income. For example... On Early to Rise In The Times And there’s plenty of sources showing that subsidiaries often have . 9-figure ad spend Growth for the brand has been pretty impressive to boot. According to , revenues were around $500MM. Now, they’re reported to top $1B. this interview in 2015 An extra $500MM+ in 5 years is nothing to sniff at. How does The Agora grow its revenue? There are really two very short answers to this. They acquire related newsletters or audiences in similar niches. They launch a new newsletter and cross-promote it to their existing subscribers Once they have a new newsletter to sell, they apply their tried and tested billion-dollar marketing and upsell strategy. Which I’ve broken down for you below. The Agora newsletter sales strategy Here’s where things get really interesting with The Agora’s newsletters. All of the examples I’ve seen use the same growth model to sell people their subscriptions. To sum it up quickly that process is… - Acquire traffic through ads / co-promotions. Step 1 - Show a video sales letter that explains the problem and the potential benefits in detail. Step 2 - Convert traffic on a long-form sales page with a free or low priced “tripwire” offer. Step 3 - Upsell users to a higher priced paid membership, or offer a downsell offer if they abandon. Step 4 - Nurture the relationship and periodically offer further upsells (which cycles them back to step 2 - the VSL) Step 5 Let’s look into the process in a little more detail. Breaking down an Agora Subsidiary We’re gonna pull the acquisition and monetisation process for one of The Agora’s financial publications and subsidiaries. The one we’re focusing on is . Banyan Hill Publishing This is one of the more established and long running Agora subsidiaries having now been in operation for 23 years. They’re well known in the investing space and focus on investing advice, particularly for retirement focused investors. Banyan Hill Publishing products This is where things started to get a little crazy for me. To kick things off, Banyan Hill have 5 free newsletters. These are what they’ll push people onto immediately so they can nurture the relationship. However, they also offer a tonne of paid products. Here’s a breakdown of the . 29 premium offers they have The ones where the price is unknown are lacking a button to check out the sales page. I’m assuming this is because the cart is “closed”. Either they run it seasonally or it’s an “exclusive” offer that they only let “trusted investors” into. Or it could be that the offer is no longer running. Regardless, that’s a lot of potential products to fork out for. A lot of the “today’s price” listed above are for the cheapest subscription offer. They often have upsells or “recommended offer” tier’s that will bump up the AoV. If you were to go through each of these offers and subscribe - even to the cheapest offer - on every one, you’d pay a whopping total of… $45,631 Crazy, right? It feels like a tonne of money. Agora’s Ad strategy One thing I find interesting with the various Agora companies is their preference for native advertising. If you dive into the ads, you’ll often find the majority of ad-spend goes on platforms like… Google Display NetworkTaboolaOutBrainFacebook Here’s the overview of the ad activity for Banyan Hill from Similar Web. You can see that Display Ads are their second biggest source of traffic (just under 600,000 visits) after direct traffic. Direct traffic likely consists of people who have already subscribed and are looking to log-in to their premium materials. So it’s a safe bet that display advertising is Banyan Hill’s bread and butter. When you look at the ads, they generally fall into the below templates. They usually... Allude to something big investors need to know about Offer some form of proof (past win, featured celeb/talent etc) And beyond that it’s just a simple image. Something that will grab attention though. Here are some example of ads Banyan Hill and another subsidiary (Stansberry research) are running at the time of writing. As you can see, they’re all fear based. Fear is a powerful emotion and easily prompts action. So, Agora make heavy use of the P.A.S copywriting framework in these ads and the copy. PAS is an old formula that’s still used heavily today (cause it works wonders). It stands for… Problem Agitation Solution The idea is to mention a problem your ideal audience is having to hook attention. Agitate the problem to keep them engaged and to get them to really feel the pain. Then launch into the solution. You get them worked up about the issue before saying “here’s how to solve it”. By making the user feel the pain, they’ll be more likely to emotionally buy in to what you’re then selling. Agora uses a lot of these PAS ads, and they like to run them through native ad networks like Taboola, OutBrain and the like. But what happens when you click on one? The Agora Financial landing page approach I’ve clicked on dozens (if not hundreds) of Agora ads (sorry to their media buying team) and you see the same pattern come up time and time again. I noticed the same pattern when going through all of the publications above. After clicking on the “ ” ad above, you see the below. Expert who predicted the ‘08 crash Step 1 is to push you to an advertorial which acts as a bridge between the ad and the sales page. The copy plays on the fear the ad set up, but also sets up the solution in the next page. That next page is, of course, their sales page. Not a lot to see here. It’s a ~45 minute long VSL talking about the wonderful gains subscribers have achieved with their advice, and a puff piece for the face of this publication. After you’ve sat through the 45 minute presentation (or let it run whilst taking the dog out for a walk as I did) a button will appear. Click it to get the “offer”. This is the checkout page which explains everything you’ll get and the amazing time-sensitive discount if you buy in the next 30 minutes. Depending on your actions on this page, one of two things will happen. Agora’s upsells and offers If you decide to subscribe you’ll be hit with some upsell offers. If you make a move to exit the page, they’ll drop the price down to ensure you subscribe to something. A move known as a downsell. The Agora knows the value of building their email list. And they’ll do whatever they can to make sure you’re on theirs. Once you’ve subscribed to something (even their free newsletters) you can expect daily emails offering insight and analysis. But that’s not all they offer... Ongoing nurture and repeat sales A lot of the paid newsletters also offer “free subscription to X, Y, and Z” newsletters. These are often the free newsletters you’d find on the site anyway. The reason The Agora wants you on these free lists is so they can advertise to you more freely. No one would be happy to be sold to in a product they’d paid for. But a free, insight packed newsletter that promotes another offer isn’t such a misuse of trust. They’ll periodically run ads in their free newsletters which will direct you back to the sales page sequence of another paid offer. Often one owned by a different Agora subsidiary. Here’s an example from an email sent by Three Founders Publishing, an Agora company, promoting an offer from Palm Beach Research - another Agora company. Click on it to get fed into the VSL stage of another offer’s sequence. This allows them to continue marketing overlapping products that offer just enough new information to customers they know will open their wallet. It’s a genius way to offer new products to customers and still retain the full profit of each sale. Why this works I’ve been fascinated with The Agora’s setup for years. They’re viewed as the pinnacle of direct response marketing, particularly by copywriters. And I can really see why. They have a tried-and-tested growth model that they’ve rolled out across multiple brands. And on first glance, it seems super complex. I mean, you have the ads, advertorials, multiple sales page, and ongoing nurture to consider. But it is deceptively simple. The primary principle they’re leveraging across the journey here is something called the Yes Ladder. We’ve done a full breakdown of the Yes Ladder and how Noom used it to grow a 9-figure revenue stream in our Noom growth Study (you can get that and our Morning Brew Study as welcome gifts when signing up for our premium newsletter below). Growth Models MembershipIn-depth breakdowns of today’s most exciting and effective growth strategies delivered direct to your inbox.Growth Models In short though, the Yes Ladder operates on a very simple process. Get the user to say yes to “low-threat” questions. With each yes, increase the “threat” of the question. Eventually, you’ll be able to ask your “high-threat” question (often pay now) and will be more likely to get a yes. To put it in simple terms, it’s taking the reader to a coffee shop, restaurant, then bar before asking if they want to head back to yours for “coffee”. You’re allowing them to get more comfortable with you at every stage before escalating to the next ask. With the Agora model above, it breaks down like this. It’s super simple. Everything is targeted toward that end goal of getting them to sign up. However, it’s built in a way where each increase in “threat” is negligible and aligns perfectly with the potential benefits of taking the action. It’s genius in its simplicity and effectiveness And if The Agora only manages to get people on a free list, they still have plenty of opportunities to sell them in the future. The emails act as the advertorial before sending people to the sales pages. Want to learn more like this? If you’re looking to set up an effective ad funnel, then I’d highly recommend you steal the basic Yes Ladder process from the Agora. It’s behind a billion dollar company’s growth and, when you look around, you’ll see it being used in more places than you realise. But if you want more analysis of effective growth marketing strategies like this one, check out more of our content at growthmodels.co. Each week we pick one  successful brand and break their growth strategy down to replicable templates for you to copy in your own business. Previously published at https://growthmodels.co/agora-growth-study/

Deconstructing A Billion Dollar Newsletter Business: An Agora Case-Study

Image via pualinevandougen.nl In 2017, Dutch designer Pauline Van Dongen revealed her “Issho jacket” at the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas – a smart denim jacket that strokes the wearers back in response to touch. Who is Pauline Van Dongen? Pauline van Dongen is a Dutch fashion designer who specializes in wearable technology. She is one of Europe’s leaders and pioneers in her field. She opened her own design studio, Pauline van Dongen Studio, in 2010, and has collaborated with several tech companies to create different wearable technology garments. The designer is motivated by a desire to make technology more ‘human’ and ‘mindful’. The aim of the studio is to use technology as a way to add value and innovation to fashion. The brand views technology as not just a tool, but rather an aesthetic, focusing on the materiality of the clothing and how that can enhance and change the performance of the body. It is a unique approach to design that uses technology as a means to bring life into the clothing. Aside from the Issho jacket, the studio worked with Dutch sustainable retailers to create a solar power windbreaker, as well as working with leading technology companies to create light-up sportswear. Image via dezeen.com What is Wearable Technology? Wearable technology, also known as “wearables” are a category of technology that can be worn as accessories and/or embedded in clothing. They are made to be able to track, analyze and transmit personal data such as heart rate and sleep patterns. The most popular example of wearable technology is the smart watch. Wearable technology is all about practicality, the aim is to assist the wearer of the clothing in some way. This technological innovation has made strides in the health industry, and has vastly improved people’s lives, especially those with health concerns. An example of wearable technology is the fitness tracker, which is made to aid the consumer in tracking their fitness goals. Now, consumers are able to access the internet, make calls, and access apps with the addition of smart watches. The gaming industry also sells wearable technology, with virtual reality headsets. Wearable technology has greatly advanced over the recent years, expanding from the health industry into the gaming industry with wearable accessories. Recently, wearable technology has expanded even more outside of wearable accessories, and into wearable clothing. Technology is now being embedded into clothing such as sportswear and outerwear in order to enhance and assist the wearer’s in their everyday lives. Image via forbes.com How does Wearable Technology work? Most people are aware of the Fitbit and the Apple watch, of how they function and what they do. Wearable technological accessories have been around for almost a decade, and consumers have become familiar with them. However, wearable technology embedded in clothing is a virtually new phenomenon, here are some of the exciting tech garments that have surfaced over the past few years: – Levi’s partnered with Google to launch their touch-sensitive commuter jacket in 2018. With a tap or a swipe on the sleeve, the jacket allows users to dismiss phone calls, get directions, and listen to music all without touching their phones. Levi’s Commuter trucker jacket – Sydney-based company Wearable X created the Nadi X fitness pants in 2017, they have built-in vibrations that pulse at the knees, hips, and ankles to assist the user in being able to move and/or hold yoga positions. They also sync up to the user’s phone via an app to give feedback on the workout performance. Nadi X yoga pants – this sock is put on babies, it is able to monitor their heart rate, sleeping and breathing patterns, as well as identifying issues such as pneumonia, bronchitis, and different heart defects. Owlet Smart Sock The Issho Jacket Pauline van Dongen’s Issho jacket uses conductive , sensors, and motorized parts. When integrated all together it gives the wearer the feeling of a “gentle stroke” on the upper back. By doing so, it invites the wearer to be in the present moment. The jacket uses senses that detect if the wearer is constantly reaching for their phone, giving a physical response back to them. fibres “Issho motivates the wearer to be more aware and present through the sensations experienced when wearing the jacket,” said the designer, who designed the unisex jacket to “wrap around the wearer like a cocoon” with a high collar and zip on the lower back, the jacket creates a feeling of security while simultaneously creating more room for the wearer. Van Dongen stated that she particularly wanted to work with denim fabric because denim is familiar to everyone. “I particularly wanted to work with denim fabric because it’s a material that everyone can identify with – everyone has a piece of denim in their wardrobe,” van Dongen states. Unlike the garments competitors, the Issho jacket works without a smartphone, which according to van Dongen, was done deliberately to “move away from using gadgets as interface”. Instead, it features its own microcontroller that is automatically turned on when it senses the jacket being worn. Van Dongen presented this garment at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas in March 2017. SXSW is an annual festival that celebrates music, film, art, and technology. Gif via giphy.com The Verdict Although wearable technology has been around for almost a decade, there is still progress to be made in the industry. There is so much room for creativity within wearable technology and the industry is still fairly new, it will be exciting to see brands release new wearable technology garments as new advancements are being made every day. Will wearable technology be the norm in ten years? Will it be more accessible and affordable for all?

Intelligent Denim Tracks Your Movement and Helps Quell Bad Habits

Gaming provides us a stark example of progress. We’ve come a long way from the days of pong! When once the games we played were confined to the 8 bit world, where blocky characters navigated pixelated mazes with clunky controls we are now surrounded by a cornucopia of realistic games depicting the world in relative facsimile. However, there is something to be said for the celebration of the old times. This is exactly the flavor of Elena Temple, a retro style indie platformer available on Switch, MS Windows, and Xbox. I had the distinct pleasure of giving this old timey treat a whirl, and I feel as if it hits all the right notes. Elena Temple is an intrepid young explorer, depicted in all her 8 bit glory, who stumbles into the entrance of a labyrinth maze. Within these walls she must avoid pitfalls, assault various creepy crawlies, collect coins and diamonds, and ultimately escape. The creator of this game goes by on Twitter, so give some love and a follow over there. Also, a special thanks to for giving me a copy of this game to review. GrimTalin IndieGamerChick The gameplay in Elena Temple revolves around tight platforming mechanics. You have a gun with two bullets, and unlimited lives, which is a good thing for me because I’m not the best at platforming games. The game has two temples in it, one of which I have explored fully. Many rooms of the temple features small puzzles that must be solved to move ahead. Smart use of your bullets and keeping an eye out for pitfalls will help you solve these. Although difficult at times, nothing in this game is impossible, and with some grinding and luck you can get through each situation. The music is a perfect throwback for the era the game simulates, with lilting chiptunes that seem to encapsulate the feeling of playing games in the 80's. I am a big fan of chiptunes and I enjoyed the tracks in this game quite a bit. The throwback feeling of the game makes it a convincing counterpart to similar titles from the 1980s. Pitfall, Contra, and Mario Bros come to mind when I play this game. Still, while it may have echoes of these games, Elena Temple is very much its own game, and the tight controls set it apart from the classics which often felt clunky. A good deal of the charm in Elena Temple comes from the way the game simulates the 1980’s gaming feel. One X bone you can use the bumper buttons to swap between various consoles representing various releases of the game over the years; this doesn’t change the gameplay but it gives the game an aesthetic change, making you feel like you’re playing on an old cathode ray tube television, or a handheld device. You can zoom in to have a full screen experience, but when you zoom out the game shows you backgrounds that sell the idea that you're going back in time.  Each of these platforms you can choose between have snarky names which are also amusing. Dude, you’re getting a BELL! There are times when Elena Temple can be very frustrating. A certain confined area where you must avoid a bat certainly required luck, not skill to get past. After about 40 deaths trying to best that situation I definitely had anxiety. I’m also incredibly stubborn; if it took me 100 tries I would have tried 100 times. I like games that reward a skillful player. While a definite element of this game requires skill, sometimes the mechanics seem to ignore your skills and fall to luck. This can be a painful experience. The game would also do better with a more detailed minimap. The map on your pause screen doesn’t give you much of an idea about what is where. This might be isolated to my Xbox playthrough, based on some images I’ve seen. It does help that the rooms you explore appear and show the possible exits, but overall there are no indicators where the items you’ve collected are. They could add little indicators when you collect items in a room, and that might help. Diversity in weapons would also be nice. The game uses the two bullet limitation well, and it plays into a lot of the puzzles. Bullets can flip switches, and break open pots in addition to defeating enemies. But one of the things that made other games from the era this game simulates great was a diverse weapon set, and the feeling of upgrading the character as you progress. I’d also like to see more diversity among enemies. Snakes, bats and scorpions are fun, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a temple. Where’s the mummified corpse? The game has no bosses that I encountered in 2 hours of gameplay; the temple itself seems to be the boss. It would be fun if you had to fight a mummified corpse come to life, or perhaps a sinister olmec head. The fact that there are two bullets in the gun would make these fights more interesting; having to evade and platform to get bullets. A drawback is that with unlimited lives, progress against a boss would ultimately fall to a war of attrition. If you like this game, there are also a ton of 2d platformers that have come out this year that go further with their graphical interface, pushing the limits of 8 bit animation. Keep an eye out for games like Katana ZERO, Valfaris, and Dark Devotion to get your metroidvania fix. In a world where games seem to take themselves too seriously, Elena Temple remains refreshingly self aware. This game isn’t trying to be a blockbuster mega title with the latest graphics. Instead the developer decided to create a touching tribute to all things retro. So many titles fall flat on their face when it comes to these issues and Elena Temple sets all the bells and whistles that modern games use to attract us and offers up wholesome simple gameplay. If you'd like to see some gameplay from Elena Temple, I my experience playing it. livestreamed

[Indie Game Review] This Retro-Styled Platformer is a Nostalgia Galore for those born in the 90s 

Why the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica Data Scandal is Awesome News

It will come as no surprise to those of you reading this (thanks!), that the interest and applications of ‘ ’ is growing rapidly. Amazon Alexa and there is talk around for the next 10,000. I won’t be diving into specifics and discussing issues like . That is not what this post is about. Voice-Assistants recently hit 10,000 skills what will drive adoption retention There are lots of resources & tools, tons of cool products, frameworks, articles and people out there to help you learn about the landscape. 💫 Here are some that I find particularly useful 💫 This post is also on GitHub and open for suggestions, just submit a pull request by VoiceLabs The 2017 Voice Report 🤔 How To Use This : There is very little on the front focusing on Voice-Assistants. does the best one IMO. 📰 News newsletter Matt Hartman ( I’m thinking of starting one too —if you’re interested, sign up below!) : Always interesting to see the companies operating in these spaces. They are broken down into different categories so you can easily jump into ‘Building’, ‘Products’, ‘Analytics’ etc. If you think there are some that need adding, 🍜 Startups tell me here . This is just to outline some companies/funds that are very focused in the space right now. Again, if I’ve missed some worthwhile, 🤑 Funding: tell me here . These are some of the awesome people I follow and have come across. I’ve linked them all, you should check them out. If I’ve missed some worthwhile, you know to 👥 People & Posts: tell me here . Enjoy 😊! 🚀 I’ve launched something: Skills.wtf — A site to find the best Alexa Skills 🚀Also, I’ve added a little note about at the end of this post. A community helping facilitate connections to; an experiment I’m working on - Get a skill made/make skills for people/companies- Find investors active in the field- Intros to other active enthusiasts- Bounce ideas around with others- Advice & mentorship from experienced individuals- Resources and tools to help you build- Discover interesting products and companies 📰 News 🗞 Newsletters _Hearing Voices - This week's news about voice computing apps, delivered directly to your inbox. ..._www.getrevue.co Hearing Voices - Revue The Official Amazon Alexa Developer Newsletter _You have total control over when you want Google Home to respond to your voice commands. Its light states tell you the…_madeby.google.com Made by Google (General Google news + Google Home. Subscribe at bottom of page) 🖥 Websites/Sources _Read writing about Alexa. Every day, thousands of voices read, write, and share important stories on Medium about Alexa…_medium.com Alexa - Medium _Read writing about Voice Assistant. Every day, thousands of voices read, write, and share important stories on Medium…_medium.com Voice Assistant - Medium _Read writing about Amazon Echo. Every day, thousands of voices read, write, and share important stories on Medium about…_medium.com Amazon Echo - Medium _Read writing about Google Home. Every day, thousands of voices read, write, and share important stories on Medium about…_medium.com Google Home - Medium _Read writing about Siri. Every day, thousands of voices read, write, and share important stories on Medium about Siri._medium.com Siri - Medium _Read writing about Voice. Every day, thousands of voices read, write, and share important stories on Medium about Voice…_medium.com Voice - Medium venturebeat.com VoiceAssistants_on_VentureBeat _The brain behind Amazon's voice powered devices like Echo, FireTV etc._www.reddit.com Amazon Alexa * /r/alexa _r/AmazonEcho is a community centered around the Amazon Echo, or as we like to call her - Alexa. Alexa is designed…_www.reddit.com Amazon Echo | A voice command system that brings the Internet Of Things to your home * /r… _Everything Google Home: tips, bugs, new features, requests, etc._www.reddit.com Everything Google Home * /r/googlehome _WIRED is where tomorrow is realized_www.wired.com VoiceAssistant _Crunch Network Even before smartwatches, I did not wear a watch. I did not buy an Apple Watch or Pebble, despite the…_techcrunch.com Alexa | TechCrunch _Google Home is Google's answer to Amazon line's of voice-powered Echo devices. After announcing Home at its I/O…_techcrunch.com google home | TechCrunch _Learn about Voice applications, Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant innovation. A hands-free world is coming, join in!_voicelabs.co Blog _multiplex-past, present, future technology research + insights ☂️_readmultiplex.com @ReadMultiplex _Read the latest Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant news, talking about the newest developments in the Voice-First…_voicelabs.co Press Coverage - Voice-First Industry 📜 General news in space (not Voice specific) _Bringing you the latest in Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Neurotechnology_inside.com Technically Sentient _Everything about chatbots. From the makers of BotList_botpublication.com BotPublication _Connecting Technology to the Masses_gomainstrm.com GoMainstrm _Chatbots, AI, NLP, Facebook Messenger, Slack, Telegram, and more._chatbotsmagazine.com Chatbots Magazine _Edit description_tinyletter.com Locutius - Letters on Conversational Interfaces by Abi Jones _The O'Reilly Bots Podcast covers advances in conversational user interfaces, artificial intelligence, and messaging…_www.oreilly.com O'Reilly Bots Podcast ideas and resources. — curated by the team Messaging Weekly Smooch — Curated by and the team Chatbots Weekly Omar Pera Reply.ai 🍜 Startups 🗣 Platforms _Actions on Google lets developers build experiences for the Google Assistant._developers.google.com Actions on Google | Actions on Google | Google Developers _Find companies with expertise in designing, developing and optimizing Alexa skills, from agencies and development to…_developer.amazon.com Find Experienced Skill Builders and Tools _I'm open-source, which means you can grab my smarts and put it in a device of your own design. Voice enable your fridge…_mycroft.ai Home - Mycroft _Cortana is your personal assistant, always ready to help you in every situation. See what the world's most personal…_www.microsoft.com Cortana - Meet your personal assistant - Microsoft - Global _Siri on Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod touch lets you use your voice to send messages, make calls, set reminders and more._www.apple.com iOS - Siri - Apple (UK) _Viv is an artificial intelligence platform that enables developers to create an intelligent, conversational interface…_viv.ai Viv 👔 Companies Capito Systems Cognitive Code — Silvia Mindmeld Nuance Verbio ( ) Raven Tech Acq by Baidu Mobvoi ☁️ Cloud Services Amazon Lex Amazon Polly Google Cloud Platform Microsoft Cognitive Services 🛠 Build - SDKs & Frameworks Assist Alexa Skills Kit Pullstring Conversable Bespoken Tools Api.ai for Google Assistant Api.ai for Amazon Alexa Kitt.ai Sayspring Houndify Smartly.ai Gomix IFTTT Mosaic - Extras This post by is a great place to get started: Brian Donohue _Last night betaworks and Amazon hosted the first NYC Amazon Alexa Meetup to bring Alexa owners and enthusiasts together…_medium.com Build your First Alexa Skill AlexaTutorial How to Build your First Amazon Alexa Skill (eBook) by Rocket Insights _Build your first custom skill in just 10 minutes (no programming experience required)._iot-for-all.com Alexa, What’s for Lunch? _At StdLib (“Standard Library”) we allow developers to deploy functions written in Node.js as infinitely scalable API…_hackernoon.com Build an Alexa Skill in 7 Minutes Flat with Node.js and StdLib _Simple builder for Alexa replies._www.npmjs.com alexa-message-builder 💼 Agencies Xandra Assist Rain Mobiquity Matchbox Solstice SciFutures VaynerMedia Witlingo, Inc. AKQA Razorfish Giant Spoon Iconmobile Newscycle Solutions Blink Mindshare TribalScale Volara Vectorform XAPPmedia, Inc. Unified Computer Intelligence Corporation UI Centric Opearlo VocaliD Conversant Labs Future of Voice 📈 Analytics VoiceLabs.co Opearlo Analytics Witlingo, Inc dashbot Botanalytics 🎙 Products Alexa Skills Store App on and iOS Android Unofficial Alexa Skills Store — list of commands that you can ask Google’s voice assistant OK Google Finie 🤖 Hardware Nucleus Jam Voice Ivee Jibo Whyd Kuri Lynx Hello Egg Triby IO Petnet TrackR Musaic Scout Alarm Garageio Toymail ecobee Luma ring Thalmic Labs embodied Owlet Vesper 🤑 Fundraising Alexa Fund Alexa Accelerator, powered by Techstars Lightspeed Ventures Launch Capital NextView Ventures — Betaworks Get Support from the Alexa Team at Betaworks’ Voicecamp _voicecamp is a program for anyone building within the ecosystem of conversational interfaces._betaworks.com voicecamp 💵 Alexa Fund (All the companies announced) Sutro invoxia Petnet Rachio mojio TrackR Musaic Scout Alarm Garageio Toymail Dragon Innovation Kitt.ai ecobee Luma ring Nucleus Defined Crowd Vesper 👥 People & Posts — General Partner . M.G. Siegler GV On Twitter _Vocal computing has a shot at being the next platform — or more — if the big guys don’t screw it up_500ish.com The Voice _“Voice will never be the interaction model,” they say, out loud, to communicate their thoughts._500ish.com Computing in Concert - partner at + runs . Matt Hartman betaworks Hearing Voices Newsletter On Twitter _The rise of services that live in Chatbots, Voice Computing, & Mixed Reality_render.betaworks.com Interfaces On Demand — people-first investor . Sarah Guo Greylock Partners On Twitter _Part 3 in a series on the Conversational Economy_news.greylock.com The Conversational Economy — Voice and the New Era of Multi-Modal Computing — Reporter at TechCrunch. Sarah Perez On Twitter _The next mainstream computing platform may not be bots, AR, or VR, but rather voice-based computing. According to a new…_techcrunch.com 24.5M voice-first devices expected to ship this year, but apps struggle to retain users — vp at . Patrick Montague betaworks On Twitter _Following the success of 2016’s botcamp, betaworks is pleased to announce camps as an ongoing product line. Each year…_render.betaworks.com Announcing Voicecamp — Freelance writer + developer. Owen Williams On Twitter _For decades the technology industry has been chasing the holy grail of computing: natural language conversation. Humans…_medium.com Google Home changed the way I think about voice assistants — CEO Assist. Shane Mac On Twitter _We are excited to announce that the Assist platform is powering one of the first brands on Google Home, Lonely Planet._medium.com Talk to Lonely Planet on Google Home — Senior Product Manager, Intercom. Hugh Durkin On Twitter _When consumer internet arrived in the 1990s, it ushered in a new age of communication. Free internet chat applications…_blog.intercom.com Why voice will be the dominant chatbot interface - Inside Intercom — Partner, . Aaron Batalion Lightspeed On Twitter _When I was a kid, my computer had a SoundBlaster card. If you were a geek like me, you remember editing your autoexec…_medium.com Skate to where the voice is going… — UX / product design . Johna Paolino General Assembly On Twitter _Two Simple User Experience Design Gestures that Delighted a Female User_medium.com Google Home vs Alexa — Trying to build a better company, every day and . Adam Marchick @VoiceLabsCo Kahuna — Co-Founder / EIR @ The Chernin Group. Alexandre Linares @VoiceLabsCo On Twitter _The Voice Report starts with the underlying hardware devices and works its way up the voice-first stack_read.acloud.guru The 2017 Voice Report — CEO and CoFounder, PullString. Prev, Pixar. Oren Jacob On Twitter — Founder + Editor at . Brian Roemmele Multiplex On Twitter _During the early computer era of the 1960s, it was thought there would only be the need for a few dozen computers. By…_techpinions.com There is A Revolution Ahead and It Has A Voice _“Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans”–Apple…_medium.com Apple’s Secret AI Technology: Meet Vocal IQ the self learning technology that is a part of Siri2. — Invented the hashtag; X Uber; Xoogler. Chris Messina On Twitter — Director of User Experience . Author of the O’Reilly book Designing Voice User Interfaces. Cathy Pearl @Sense_ly On Twitter _Edit description_www.amazon.com Designing Voice User Interfaces: Principles of Conversational Experiences — Strategically-oriented product design leader . Trip ODell @Amazon On Twitter _Several times a week, my children host an evening dance party in the living room. The playlist features all the modern…_medium.com Velveteen Rabbits: What a Children’s Story Can Teach Us About Computers that Talk. — Co-founder & Partner at NextView Ventures. David Beisel On Twitter _In the three months since I penned my initial blog post on "Ubiquity of Voice and the Venture Opportunity," I've been…_genuinevc.co Charting the Personal Voice Computing Startup Roadmap - GenuineVC Nithya Thadani — CEO of Rain _Last October, New York-based digital agency Rain worked with Campbell's to find a new way to push out the CPG giant's…_www.adweek.com How This Agency Built Its Own App Using Amazon Echo —I’m an Innovation-Obsessed Founder at Mylestone. Dave Balter On Twitter _Why Voice Assistants may be the answer you’ve been looking for._medium.com “Alexa, How Can I Get Unfair Ecosystem Advantage” — Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. Jeremy Liew On Twitter _Games have been a killer app for just about every new platform, from PCs to TVs (via game consoles) to Facebook to…_medium.com Games for Alexa — Co-Founder/CEO Siri & Viv Labs. Dag Kittlaus On Twitter _Why Viv is Joining Forces with Samsung_elevate.samsungnext.com The Path to Intelligence Everywhere — Co-founder of . Jan König HashtagNow On Twitter _Thoughts on Designing Seamless Voice Experiences_medium.com Alexa, Please Send This To My Screen 🚀 - A community helping facilitate connections to; I am working on an experiment - Get a skill made/make skills for people/companies- Find investors active in the field- Intros to other active enthusiasts- Bounce ideas around with others- Advice & mentorship from experienced individuals- Resources and tools to help you build- Discover interesting products and companies 👍 Please tap “♥︎” if you found this useful to help others see it too 👾 This post is also on GitHub and open for suggestions, just submit a pull request 👉 Feel free to follow and reach out on Twitter 🙏 Thanks to everyone who looked at this draft very early on! And perhaps I’ll see you all in the newsletter or 😉 Build Voices Side Note: I have ‘borrowed’ this template from which is an awesome post & newsletter I use to learn about Machine Learning. Thanks The Non-Technical Guide to Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence Sam DeBrule 🙌

Ultimate Guide to Voice Assistants

On October 2nd, lost in the noise of everything that was 2020, . NPM released automation tokens Prior, we had to choose between 2 Factor Authentication and publishing packages via automated CI workflows. This was because when 2FA was enabled for an account, the NPM CLI would request a One Time Password (OTP) in addition to being logged in with your normal password. One unintended side effect was developers having to choose between security or automation. NPM automation tokens allow us to publish 2FA-protected packages from automation workflows. Note that this is not a tutorial about all things security or NPM. I assume that you already have experience developing and publishing packages. I also assume that you understand what Continuous Integration is and why you need it. (Even if you don’t, feel free to keep on reading. There's just a lot of content that I wouldn’t be able to do justice in an introduction.) 1. Allow automation tokens for a package By default, NPM doesn’t allow automation with 2FA. If you want to automate the publishing process, you have to turn on this feature on a package-by-package basis. Go to the "Settings" tab for your package (you'll be required to enter your password again, even if you're logged in) and then select "Require two-factor authentication or automation token." When this option is selected, humans using the CLI will still be required to enter a One Time Password; however, "automation" tokens can be used to bypass this requirement. This leads to the second step. 2. Create an automation token Now, from your account menu, go to the Access Tokens page. Previously we only had the option for Read-Only and Publish (write?) tokens. A read-only token was suitable for using in an automated CI workflow to load packages; however, even with a publish token, the workflow wouldn't be able to publish without human interaction, which kinda defeats the purpose of CI. We now have the option to create "automation" tokens. Click "Generate New Token" and then choose "Automation." As it says on the tin, NPM will not prompt for an OTP when a package is published with this token. The risk of "publish" tokens, in general, is that anyone who has the token can put anything they want into the package. This is still true for automation tokens, so we must keep them secret. 3. Add the token as a GitHub secret Go to the package repository on GitHub and open up the "Settings" tab and then choose the "Secrets" left nav item. You have the option of adding a secret to the repository or for an organization if that applies. Create a repository secret called "NPM_TOKEN." When you create the automation token in NPM, you won't be able to view it again after you leave the page. When you add the token to GitHub, you won't be able to view it again after you save the secret. The result is a value that GitHub and NPM can reference when publishing, but that is inaccessible to humans. At this point, as long as you have your NPM account configured to use 2FA, attackers will not be able to gain access to an automation token (or create a new one). 4. Create the GitHub action Now that we have GitHub and NPM on speaking terms, all we have to do is let GitHub know how and when to publish the package. Here is a basic GitHub action that I use: name: publish on: push: tags: - 'v[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+*' jobs: build: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v2 - uses: actions/setup-node@v1 with: node-version: 14 registry-url: 'https://registry.npmjs.org' - run: npm ci - run: npm publish env: NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }} Let's break this down. This action will only run when a tag is pushed with a semver name (something like v0.15.5). It then installs packages and runs the publish command with the NPM_TOKEN passed in as an environment variable. 5. Publish Even with automation, there is still a part of an irrevocable process like publishing a public package that requires human interaction. Once your main branch is ready to publish, bump the package version by running . This automatically updates and and commits those changes in a commit named after the new version. It also creates a new tag. npm version [major|minor|patch] package.json package-lock.json Then all that is left is to push those changes to GitHub using . "Follow tags" allows you to push the "version commit" and the tag at the same time. git push origin {your branch} --follow-tags The publish action will see that the tag was pushed and that the tag name matches the server format and then publish the package. There are a few caveats With the process outlined above, you still have to bump the package version using the CLI. If you wanted a full-auto continuous delivery process, I suppose you could create another action or job that would bump the version on a successful trunk build. However, that would require some sort of heuristics to differentiate between major/minor/patch changes. That sounds like a really difficult problem to solve and would end up being counterproductive anyway. This, in turn, means that your main branch can't be protected, or at least not fully. I generally find it helpful, even on personal projects, to protect my mainline branch -- everything should come in via pull requests. Bumping the package version on a local machine and pushing to main fundamentally requires the ability to push to main. Along with this is the perennial risk of bumping version without pulling the latest change. There is also a weird race condition where, when you push the new version commit and tag, the tag starts the publish action, but the version commit starts the normal build pipeline. This means that it's possible for the package to be published the build finishes. before Lastly, the publish process is not instantaneous. This means that if you have downstream projects that depend on the package, they must wait an unspecified amount of time before they themselves can be updated and deployed with the new changes. Not a deal-breaker, but it is something to be aware of. A few final things to consider I strongly recommend enabling 2FA on both your NPM and GitHub accounts. If you administer a GitHub organization, I also strongly recommend requiring 2FA for all org members. While GitHub's 2FA via SMS isn't perfect, it's leaps and bounds better than nothing. If your package is written in Typescript (or some other language than needs a compilation step), make sure that you add a script in your file. This script should contain everything that needs to run between cloning the repo and running to mitigate human error. This ensures that what is in the package is guaranteed to be a deterministic output of the source code. I wrote an article last year that goes into detail about my thoughts on this: prepack package.json npm publish What if we could verify npm packages? Also, before you think you're ready to publish, run . This runs all of the pre- and post-pack scripts without actually creating the tarball. The console output shows info about the package such as a list of all of the files it contains, the size, sha, and so forth. It's a good way to sanity check the package contents to help keep package size down. npm pack --dry-run So as it turns out, this wasn't just an academic exercise! I've been working on a new project, , which provides both engineers and non-engineers a simple, beautiful experience for understanding a Domain Model by viewing a GraphQL schema. I've also been using the opportunity to level up my automation skills using GitHub actions. Feel free to poke around the GitHub action files and borrow anything that seems useful. DomainGraph It's very much still a little baby project, but if you want to follow along, check it out on GitHub and maybe even give it a star if you think I've earned it! 😁 Website: domain-graph.github.io/ GitHub: github.com/domain-graph/domain-graph Have fun and stay safe! Photo by Alex Knight on Unsplash

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