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If you haven’t listened to that Elon musk interview with Andrew Sorkin yet, don’t bother. I’ll give you the tldr: Elon: the reason I’m ever here is because we are good friends, Jonathan. Andrew:…first of all I’m Andrew… Andrew: so what do you say to advertisers who flock the platform because of your antisemitic comments? Elon: fuck them…I’m sorry I wasn’t being clear.. FUCK THEM! I hope that’s clear. Andrew: why are you the way you are? What motivates you? Elon: I’ve had a difficult childhood. Andrew: *starts talking about his failures” Elon: I’ve launched rockets, not made ice creams! Andrew: you have decidedly moved to the right in the past years… Elon: Biden Bitch didn’t invite Tesla to the EV summit!!! Does that seem fair to you? Andrew: would you vote for Biden? Elon: Vivek seems interesting. Free speech!!!!! Andrew: didn’t you throttle the New York Times over the summer though? What did that say about free speech? Elon: well freedom comes with a price okay? It’s pretty cheap though. Andrew: what about China? Do you throw free speech out the window there? Elon: *changes tone* my hands are tied. I love China. The Chinese companies are very competitive! you're welcome!!

tl;dr of Elon Musk's interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin (HackerNoon's Version) (Partly Satire)

এন্ড্রু রস সরকিনের সাথে ইলন মাস্কের সাক্ষাৎকারের ডাঃ (হ্যাকারনুনের সংস্করণ) (আংশিকভাবে ব্যঙ্গ)

tl;dr von Elon Musks Interview mit Andrew Ross Sorkin (HackerNoons Version) (teilweise Satire)

tl;dr de la entrevista de Elon Musk con Andrew Ross Sorkin (versión de HackerNoon) (en parte sátira)

tl;dr de l'interview d'Elon Musk avec Andrew Ross Sorkin (version HackerNoon) (en partie satire)

एंड्रयू रॉस सॉर्किन के साथ एलोन मस्क के साक्षात्कार का टीएल;डॉक्टर (हैकरनून का संस्करण) (आंशिक रूप से व्यंग्य)

イーロン・マスク氏のアンドリュー・ロス・ソーキン氏インタビュー（HackerNoon版）（一部風刺）

Elon Musk와 Andrew Ross Sorkin의 인터뷰 요약(HackerNoon 버전)(일부 풍자)

dr da entrevista de Elon Musk com Andrew Ross Sorkin (versão HackerNoon) (parcialmente sátira)

tl;dr интервью Илона Маска с Эндрю Россом Соркиным (версия HackerNoon) (частично сатира)

Elon Musk'un Andrew Ross Sorkin ile röportajından tl;dr (HackerNoon Versiyonu) (Kısmen Hiciv)

tl;dr cuộc phỏng vấn của Elon Musk với Andrew Ross Sorkin (Phiên bản HackerNoon) (Một phần châm biếm)

埃隆·马斯克 (Elon Musk) 对安德鲁·罗斯·索金 (Andrew Ross Sorkin) 的采访（HackerNoon 版）（部分讽刺）

Once at Last.fm we had an integer overflow in an identify field. I can’t recall where exactly. But I do remember that the inconvenience of having a bunch of Hadoop jobs disrupted while we rushed to update the relevant type couldn’t spoil the collective pride for having more than 2 billion of whatever needed so many ids. Being frugal with identifiers is seldom a good idea, but for me the worst identifier-related headaches came from IDs that had semantic value. At Tuenti (once the largest social network in Spain) there was a concept similar to Facebook pages. Pages had types and subtypes. A page type might have been “group”, which had subtypes “business” or “community”. Another type could be “place” with subtypes like “store” or “landmark”. Page identifiers were strings composed by concatenating numeric identifiers of the type, subtype, and then an increment field in a DB. If you visited https://tuenti.com/p/3_2_6691 you’d instantly know the meaning. It was a “place” (3) of type “store” (2), and the store ID was 6691. Page IDs decomposed in this way would be useful for multiple purposes. Choosing a type-specific implementation of controllers to compose the relevant page, routing to a database shard, that kind of thing. At some point Product wanted to change the classification of pages. To their frustration, this became problematic because the entire taxonomy was encrusted across the code all the way from URLs to databases. Another example are New Relic entities. Entities are an abstraction that broadly represents anything that can send telemetry to New Relic. A host, a Kubernetes cluster, an application, a JVM or a network router can be entities. Of course those are all things you want to identify, so entities have Global Unique IDentifier, or GUID. Every single telemetry datapoint is stamped with the GUID of the entity that produced it, so they act as the keystone of the New Relic platform. Features like Service maps, distributed tracing, entity relationships, and many others are built upon them. Entity GUIDs have meaning. An example of a GUID is 1|APM|APPLICATION|23 where 1 is the account, APM is the domain, APPLICATION is the unique type within that domain, and 23 is a unique identifier within the domain and type. That application might be running in a host 1|INFRA|HOST|12. If we wanted to store that relation, we’d have an entry in some database saying: "1|INFRA|HOST|12" RUNS "1|APM|APPLICATION|23". Like at Tuenti, these semantics come handy. If you’re processing millions of telemetry datapoints per second, it’s useful to tell the type of reporting entity on the fly by decomposing the GUID, rather than perform an expensive lookup to an external service. Account IDs can be used to route data to cells (this talk from Andrew Bloomgarden explains how NR used this pattern to scale). Domains like INFRA or APM corresponded to the original product verticals at New Relic. Years later Product decided (with good criteria) that they created unnecessary fragmentation on the user experience. Types change, get renamed or merged with others. Sometimes (more often than it seems) entities had to migrate from one account to another. In all these cases you would be altering the identifier of many entities. It was painful but possible to work around many of these problems. But replacing GUIDs with semantic-free identifiers was straight impossible. By virtue of being present in thousands of URLs, NRQL queries, etc. GUIDs had become a public API that thousands of customers relied upon. A technical solution to replace identifiers would have been a major project, but doable. What wasn’t possible was to run a find/replace across the private documentation and workflows of your entire customer base. If you look closely, the world is full of semantic identifiers. Sometimes they are hard to avoid, but almost always a pain in the neck. Because they embed a specific model of the world. But models become obsolete faster than we’d like. Addresses make notable examples. The “complex and idiosyncratic” Japanese address system reflects the organic growth of its urban areas. In British postal codes the final part can designate anything from a street to a flat depending on the amount of mail received by the premises. When I was a kid, license plates would give up the province where the owner lived causing an array of nuisances. They were alleviated with the adoption of European standards. But partly. The root problem being that, like the Domain Name System identifiers (“Galo’s website”) remain tied to administrative authorities (“.net”), which can change regulations, or even disappear. Nowadays I find most semantic identifiers in resource management. For some reason, when infrastructure teams define access rules to the resources of a particular service, they prefer to create a group named after the team that owns that service, something like “owner-team-access-list”. Identifiers tied to the org chart don’t like it when the service moves to another team, or owner-team is reorged away. Once at Last.fm we had an integer overflow in an identify field. I can’t recall where exactly. But I do remember that the inconvenience of having a bunch of Hadoop jobs disrupted while we rushed to update the relevant type couldn’t spoil the collective pride for having more than 2 billion of whatever needed so many ids. Last.fm Being frugal with identifiers is seldom a good idea, but for me the worst identifier-related headaches came from IDs that had semantic value. At Tuenti (once the largest social network in Spain) there was a concept similar to Facebook pages. Pages had types and subtypes. A page type might have been “group”, which had subtypes “business” or “community”. Another type could be “place” with subtypes like “store” or “landmark”. Tuenti Page identifiers were strings composed by concatenating numeric identifiers of the type, subtype, and then an increment field in a DB. If you visited https://tuenti.com/p/3_2_6691 you’d instantly know the meaning. It was a “place” (3) of type “store” (2), and the store ID was 6691. Page IDs decomposed in this way would be useful for multiple purposes. Choosing a type-specific implementation of controllers to compose the relevant page, routing to a database shard, that kind of thing. https://tuenti.com/p/3_2_6691 At some point Product wanted to change the classification of pages. To their frustration, this became problematic because the entire taxonomy was encrusted across the code all the way from URLs to databases. Another example are New Relic entities . Entities are an abstraction that broadly represents anything that can send telemetry to New Relic. A host, a Kubernetes cluster, an application, a JVM or a network router can be entities. Of course those are all things you want to identify, so entities have Global Unique IDentifier, or GUID. Every single telemetry datapoint is stamped with the GUID of the entity that produced it, so they act as the keystone of the New Relic platform. Features like Service maps, distributed tracing, entity relationships, and many others are built upon them. New Relic entities Entity GUIDs have meaning . An example of a GUID is 1|APM|APPLICATION|23 where 1 is the account, APM is the domain, APPLICATION is the unique type within that domain, and 23 is a unique identifier within the domain and type. That application might be running in a host 1|INFRA|HOST|12 . If we wanted to store that relation, we’d have an entry in some database saying: Entity GUIDs have meaning 1|APM|APPLICATION|23 APM APPLICATION 23 1|INFRA|HOST|12 "1|INFRA|HOST|12" RUNS "1|APM|APPLICATION|23" . "1|INFRA|HOST|12" RUNS "1|APM|APPLICATION|23" Like at Tuenti, these semantics come handy. If you’re processing millions of telemetry datapoints per second, it’s useful to tell the type of reporting entity on the fly by decomposing the GUID, rather than perform an expensive lookup to an external service. Account IDs can be used to route data to cells ( this talk from Andrew Bloomgarden explains how NR used this pattern to scale). this talk from Andrew Bloomgarden Domains like INFRA or APM corresponded to the original product verticals at New Relic. Years later Product decided (with good criteria) that they created unnecessary fragmentation on the user experience. Types change, get renamed or merged with others. Sometimes (more often than it seems) entities had to migrate from one account to another. In all these cases you would be altering the identifier of many entities. INFRA APM It was painful but possible to work around many of these problems. But replacing GUIDs with semantic-free identifiers was straight impossible. By virtue of being present in thousands of URLs, NRQL queries, etc. GUIDs had become a public API that thousands of customers relied upon. A technical solution to replace identifiers would have been a major project, but doable. What wasn’t possible was to run a find/replace across the private documentation and workflows of your entire customer base. If you look closely, the world is full of semantic identifiers. Sometimes they are hard to avoid, but almost always a pain in the neck. Because they embed a specific model of the world. But models become obsolete faster than we’d like. Addresses make notable examples. The “complex and idiosyncratic” Japanese address system reflects the organic growth of its urban areas. In British postal codes the final part can designate anything from a street to a flat depending on the amount of mail received by the premises. Japanese address system British postal codes When I was a kid, license plates would give up the province where the owner lived causing an array of nuisances . They were alleviated with the adoption of European standards . But partly. The root problem being that, like the Domain Name System identifiers (“Galo’s website”) remain tied to administrative authorities (“.net”), which can change regulations, or even disappear. array of nuisances European standards Domain Name System Nowadays I find most semantic identifiers in resource management. For some reason, when infrastructure teams define access rules to the resources of a particular service, they prefer to create a group named after the team that owns that service, something like “owner-team-access-list”. Identifiers tied to the org chart don’t like it when the service moves to another team, or owner-team is reorged away.

Identifiers are better off without meaning

For years, web developers of all experience levels have relied on __caniuse.com __to understand the support of a given feature. Reviewing caniuse.com is helpful in determining backward compatibility or which of the modern browsers supports cutting-edge improvements to web specifications. In 2023, Google introduced Baseline to the web community. This tool is not just another addition to the developer's toolkit but a crucial aid in determining the safety of features and APIs for use in production-grade web applications. It’s a platform for interoperability, a much-needed resource to help engineers produce more consistent and efficient experiences, and a testament to Google's commitment to improving web best practices. Why Google Baseline? Browsers are constantly evolving, and vendors release updates monthly. With more individuals contributing and working on specifications than ever before and a far more transparent dialogue between the main browser vendors (Safari, Firefox, Chrome, Edge), it's become increasingly difficult to track which new features are stable across the landscape. However, with the introduction of Baseline, this struggle is significantly alleviated. Considering the above, as new features are released into browser engines, engineers often need more time to ramp up, refactor, or strategically plan the introduction of new features into their code bases. More importantly, as Google is often one of the platforms that push front-end technology forward, it has admittedly accepted that it is partly to blame here. It’s one of the reasons the Chrome team came up with web.dev and developer.chrome.com, as Chrome is often the first browser to land cutting-edge technologies. The introduction of Baseline has also led to further documentation and conferences focused on interoperability. New features mean documentation, and Google has made strides to ensure MDN has the relevant documentation for newer technologies as they land in Chrome. Closing the Vendor Gap From Google's perspective, engineers have one significant struggle: the behaviour and consistency of features across vendors and browser engines. It’s a pain point for all engineers in the field, requiring complex planning and solutions often to overcome a particular browser engine's lack of support. The solution here (for the last two years) was Interop 2022 and Interop 2023 - a conference and community that helps bridge the gap between browsers to provide a more consistent and performant web. What is Baseline? Baseline serves as the universal flag of acceptance across browser vendors. It helps engineers determine what is fully stable across the landscape and across browser vendors for the most recent two versions of each browser. This feature stability assurance is a game-changer in web development, providing a reliable benchmark for engineers to base their decisions on. How Does Baseline Work? You can access Google Baseline on MDN, web.dev and caniuse.com. Baseline also plans to provide a way to see what has become stable across all browser vendors through a year-on-year approach. For instance, you can read the following article to see what got added to Baseline in 2023: Baseline 2023 As engineering teams, we must keep up with these changes and avoid getting stuck in old solutions for common problems. Importantly, Baseline has two labels: Newly available: the feature is finally interoperable.
Widely available: 30 months have passed since the interoperable date. Baseline considers the major browser vendors to be: Safari (macOS and iOS)
Firefox (Desktop + Android)
Chrome (Desktop + Android)
Edge (Desktop) Google Baseline’s Effect on Engineering Teams One of the most significant benefits of Google Baseline for engineering teams is the removal of guesswork and research required to implement new features. For instance, a Frontend Engineer may want to leverage CSS Grid's new sub-grid feature. With Baseline, they can quickly and confidently determine its support across major browsers, saving time and effort. Sub-grid helps engineers define a grid within a grid to have more refined control over layouts. Heading to caniuse.com tells us there’s a global usage percentage of 87.42%—pretty decent, but we still need to ascertain which browser vendors support / don’t support / partially support the feature. CanIUse now displays a Baseline badge that tells us that this feature is “Newly available across major browsers.” Likewise, if you review the documentation for the sub-grid on MDN, you’ll see a similar banner: Finally, if you review the sub-grid article on web.dev, you’ll see this feature got added to Baseline in 2023: A Word on Evergreen Browsers In my opinion, we do not talk enough about this topic. For most modern users, the days of manually updating browsers are gone. Chrome, Firefox, and Edge auto-update automatically. Safari is an outlier in this case. Safari requires a manual update when a new release is sent out from Apple or when OS X is upgraded annually. Regardless, more users than ever use the latest version of browsers. Although we should ensure the features we build degrade gracefully, this is less of a fundamental consideration nowadays and more of a luxury assumption. Useful Links Google Baseline
Google Baseline Introduction
Baseline 2023
Interop 2022 / Interop 2023 For years, web developers of all experience levels have relied on __ caniuse.com __to understand the support of a given feature. Reviewing caniuse.com is helpful in determining backward compatibility or which of the modern browsers supports cutting-edge improvements to web specifications. caniuse.com In 2023, Google introduced Baseline to the web community. This tool is not just another addition to the developer's toolkit but a crucial aid in determining the safety of features and APIs for use in production-grade web applications. It’s a platform for interoperability, a much-needed resource to help engineers produce more consistent and efficient experiences, and a testament to Google's commitment to improving web best practices. Baseline Baseline Why Google Baseline? Browsers are constantly evolving, and vendors release updates monthly. With more individuals contributing and working on specifications than ever before and a far more transparent dialogue between the main browser vendors (Safari, Firefox, Chrome, Edge), it's become increasingly difficult to track which new features are stable across the landscape. However, with the introduction of Baseline, this struggle is significantly alleviated. Considering the above, as new features are released into browser engines, engineers often need more time to ramp up, refactor, or strategically plan the introduction of new features into their code bases. More importantly, as Google is often one of the platforms that push front-end technology forward, it has admittedly accepted that it is partly to blame here. It’s one of the reasons the Chrome team came up with web.dev and developer.chrome.com , as Chrome is often the first browser to land cutting-edge technologies. The introduction of Baseline has also led to further documentation and conferences focused on interoperability. web.dev web.dev developer.chrome.com developer.chrome.com New features mean documentation, and Google has made strides to ensure MDN has the relevant documentation for newer technologies as they land in Chrome. Closing the Vendor Gap From Google's perspective, engineers have one significant struggle: the behaviour and consistency of features across vendors and browser engines . It’s a pain point for all engineers in the field, requiring complex planning and solutions often to overcome a particular browser engine's lack of support. the behaviour and consistency of features across vendors and browser engines The solution here (for the last two years) was Interop 2022 and Interop 2023 - a conference and community that helps bridge the gap between browsers to provide a more consistent and performant web. Interop 2022 Interop 2022 Interop 2023 Interop 2023 What is Baseline? Baseline serves as the universal flag of acceptance across browser vendors. It helps engineers determine what is fully stable across the landscape and across browser vendors for the most recent two versions of each browser. This feature stability assurance is a game-changer in web development, providing a reliable benchmark for engineers to base their decisions on. How Does Baseline Work? You can access Google Baseline on MDN , web.dev and caniuse.com . MDN MDN web.dev web.dev caniuse.com caniuse.com Baseline also plans to provide a way to see what has become stable across all browser vendors through a year-on-year approach. For instance, you can read the following article to see what got added to Baseline in 2023: Baseline 2023 Baseline 2023 Baseline 2023 As engineering teams, we must keep up with these changes and avoid getting stuck in old solutions for common problems. Importantly, Baseline has two labels: Newly available: the feature is finally interoperable. Widely available: 30 months have passed since the interoperable date. Newly available: the feature is finally interoperable. Widely available: 30 months have passed since the interoperable date. Baseline considers the major browser vendors to be: Safari (macOS and iOS) Firefox (Desktop + Android) Chrome (Desktop + Android) Edge (Desktop) Safari (macOS and iOS) Safari Safari Firefox (Desktop + Android) Firefox Firefox Chrome (Desktop + Android) Chrome Chrome Edge (Desktop) Edge Edge Google Baseline’s Effect on Engineering Teams One of the most significant benefits of Google Baseline for engineering teams is the removal of guesswork and research required to implement new features. For instance, a Frontend Engineer may want to leverage CSS Grid's new sub-grid feature. With Baseline, they can quickly and confidently determine its support across major browsers, saving time and effort. sub-grid sub-grid Sub-grid helps engineers define a grid within a grid to have more refined control over layouts. Heading to caniuse.com tells us there’s a global usage percentage of 87.42%—pretty decent, but we still need to ascertain which browser vendors support / don’t support / partially support the feature. caniuse.com caniuse.com CanIUse now displays a Baseline badge that tells us that this feature is “ Newly available across major browsers. ” CanIUse CanIUse Newly available across major browsers. Likewise, if you review the documentation for the sub-grid on MDN, you’ll see a similar banner: Finally, if you review the sub-grid article on web.dev , you’ll see this feature got added to Baseline in 2023 : web.dev web.dev Baseline in 2023 Baseline in 2023 A Word on Evergreen Browsers In my opinion, we do not talk enough about this topic. For most modern users, the days of manually updating browsers are gone. Chrome, Firefox, and Edge auto-update automatically. Safari is an outlier in this case. Safari requires a manual update when a new release is sent out from Apple or when OS X is upgraded annually. Regardless, more users than ever use the latest version of browsers. Although we should ensure the features we build degrade gracefully, this is less of a fundamental consideration nowadays and more of a luxury assumption. Useful Links Google Baseline Google Baseline Introduction Baseline 2023 Interop 2022 / Interop 2023 Google Baseline Google Baseline Google Baseline Google Baseline Introduction Google Baseline Introduction Google Baseline Introduction Baseline 2023 Baseline 2023 Baseline 2023 Interop 2022 / Interop 2023 Interop 2022 Interop 2022 Interop 2023 Interop 2023

What Is Google Baseline?: A Quick Look at Its Impact on Browser Compatibility and Interoperability

UUID for authentication There is hardly a person nowadays who never clicked that "Recover password" button in deep frustration. Even if it does seem the password was without a doubt correct, the next step of recovering it mostly goes smoothly with visiting a link from an email and entering the new password (let's not fool anyone; it is hardly new as you have just typed it three times already in step 1 before pressing the obnoxious button). The logic behind email links, however, is something to take great scrutiny about as leaving its generation insecure opens a flood of vulnerabilities regarding unauthorized access to user accounts. Unfortunately, here is one example of a UUID-based recovery URL structure many probably encountered, which does not nevertheless follow security guidelines: https://.../recover/d17ff6da-f5bf-11ee-9ce2-35a784c01695 If such a link is used, it generally means that anyone can get your password, and it is as simple as that. This article aims to dive deep into UUID generation methods and select insecure approaches to their application. What is UUID UUID is a 128-bit label commonly used in generating pseudo-random identifiers with two valuable attributes: it is complex enough and unique enough. Mostly, those are key requirements for ID leaving the backend and being shown to the user explicitly in the frontend or generally sent over API with the ability to be observed. It makes one hard to guess or brute-force in comparison to id = 123 (complexity) and prevents collisions when the generated id is duplicated to previously used, e.g., a random number from 0 to 1000 (uniqueness). The "enough" parts actually come from, firstly, some versions of Universally Unique IDentifier, leaving it open for minor possibilities for duplications, which is, however, easily mitigated by additional comparison logic and does not pose a threat due to hardly controlled conditions for its occurrence. And secondly, the take on complexity of various UUID versions is described in the article, in general it is assumed to be quite good except for further corner cases. Implementations in backend Primary keys in database tables appear to rely on the same principles of being complex and unique as UUID does. With the wide adoption of built-in methods for its generation in many programming languages and database management systems, UUID often comes as the first choice to identify data entries stored and as a field to join tables in general and subtables split by normalization. Sending user IDs that come from a database over API in response to certain actions is also common practice for making a process of unifying data flows simpler without extra temporary ID generation and linking them to ones in production data storage. In terms of password reset examples, the architecture more likely includes a table responsible for such an operation that inserts rows of data with generated UUID every time a user clicks the button. It initiates the recovery process by sending an email to the address associated with the user by their user_id and checking which user to reset the password for based on the identifier they have once the reset link is opened. There are, however, security guidelines for such identifiers visible to users, and certain implementations of UUID meet them with varying degrees of success. Outdated versions Version 1 of UUID generation splits its 128 bits into using a 48-bit MAC address of the device generating identifier, a 60-bit timestamp, 14-bit stored for incrementing value, and 6 for versioning. Uniqueness guarantee is thus transferred from rules in code logic to hardware manufacturers who are supposed to assign values for every new machine in production correctly. Leaving only 60+14 bits to represent useful changeable payload deteriorates the integrity of the identifier, especially with such transparent logic behind it. Let's take a look at a sequence of consequently generated number of UUID v1: from uuid import uuid1

for _ in range(8):

    print(uuid1()) d17ff6da-f5bf-11ee-9ce2-35a784c01695
d17ff6db-f5bf-11ee-9ce2-35a784c01695
d17ff6dc-f5bf-11ee-9ce2-35a784c01695
d17ff6dd-f5bf-11ee-9ce2-35a784c01695
d17ff6de-f5bf-11ee-9ce2-35a784c01695
d17ff6df-f5bf-11ee-9ce2-35a784c01695
d17ff6e0-f5bf-11ee-9ce2-35a784c01695
d17ff6e1-f5bf-11ee-9ce2-35a784c01695 As can be seen, the "-f5bf-11ee-9ce2-35a784c01695" part stays the same all the time. The changeable part is simply a 16-bit hexadecimal representation of sequence 3514824410 - 3514824417. It is a superficial example as production values are usually generated with more significant gaps in time in between, so the timestamp-related part is also changed. 60-bit timestamp part also means that a more significant part of the identifier is visually changed over a larger sample of IDs. The core point stays the same: UUIDv1 is easily guessed, however random-looking it initially appears. Take just the first and last values from the given list of 8 ids. As identifiers are generated strictly, consequently, it is clear there are only 6 IDs generated between the given two (by subtracting hexadecimal changeable parts), and their values can also be definitively found. Extrapolation of such logic is the underlying part behind the so-called Sandwich attack aiming to brute-force UUID from knowing these two border values. Attack flow is straightforward: the user generates UUID A before the target UUID generation occurs and UUID B right after. Assuming the same device with a static 48-bit MAC part is responsible for all three generations, it sets a user with a sequence of potential IDs between A and B, where the target UUID is located. Depending on the time proximity between generated IDs to target, the range can be in volumes accessible to brute-force approach: check every possible UUID to find existing ones among empty. In API requests with the password recovery endpoint described previously, it translates to sending hundreds or thousands of requests with consequent UUIDs until a response stating the existing URL is found. With password reset, it leads to a setup where the user can generate recovery links on two accounts they control as closely as possible to press the recovery button on the target account they have no access to but only knows email/login. Letters to controlled accounts with recovery UUIDs A and B are then known, and the target link to recover the password for the target account can be brute-forced without having access to the actual reset email. Vulnerability originates from the concept of relying solely on UUIDv1 for user authentication. By sending a recovery link that grants access to resetting passwords, it is thus assumed that by following the link, a user is authenticated as the one who was supposed to receive the link. This is the part where the authentication rule fails due to UUIDv1 being exposed to straightforward brute force in the same way as if someone`s door could be opened by knowing what the keys of both their neighbor doors look like. Cryptographically insecure functions The first version of UUID is mainly considered legacy partly because generation logic only uses a smaller portion of identifier size as a randomized value. Other versions, like v4, try to solve this issue by keeping as little space as possible for versioning and leaving up to 122 bits to be random payload. In general, it brings total possible variations to a whooping , which for now is considered to satisfy the "enough" part regarding identifier uniqueness requirement and thus fulfill security standards. Opening for brute-force vulnerability might appear if generation implementation somehow significantly diminishes the bits left for the random part. But with no production tools or libraries, should that be the case? 2^122 Let's indulge in cryptography a bit and take a close look at JavaScript's common implementation of UUID generation. Here is function relying on module for pseudo-random number generation: randomUUID() math.random Math.floor(Math.random()*0x10); And the random function itself, for short it is just the part of interest for the topic in this article: hi = 36969 * (hi & 0xFFFF) + (hi >> 16);

lo = 18273 * (lo & 0xFFFF) + (lo >> 16);

return ((hi << 16) + (lo & 0xFFFF)) / Math.pow(2, 32); Pseudo-random generation requires seed value as a base to perform mathematical operations on top of it to produce sequences of random enough numbers. Such functions are solely based on it, meaning that if they are reinitialized with the same seed as before, the output sequence is going to match. The seed value in the JavaScript function in question comprises variables hi and lo, each a 32-bit unsigned integer (0 through 4294967295 decimal). A combination of both is needed for cryptographic purposes, making it close to impossible to definitively reverse the two initial values by knowing their multiple, as it relies on the complexity of integer factorization with large numbers. Two 32-bit integers together bring possible cases for guessing hi and lo variables behind the initialized function producing UUIDs. If hi and lo values are somehow known, it takes no effort to duplicate the generation function and know all the values it produces and will produce in the future due to seed value exposure. However, 64 bits in security standards can be considered intolerant to brute-force in a measurable time period for it to make sense. As always, the issue comes from specific implementation. takes various 16 bits from each of hi and lo into 32-bit results; however, on top of it shifts the value once again due to operation, and the only meaningful part all of a sudden now comes exclusively from hi. It does not affect generation in any way but causes cryptography approaches to fall apart as it only leaves possible combinations for the entire generation function seed (there is no need to brute-force both hi and lo as lo can be set to any value and does not influence the output). 2^64 Math.random() randomUUID() .floor() 2^32 Brute-force flow consists of acquiring a single ID and testing possible high values that could have generated it. With some optimization and average laptop hardware, it can take just a couple of minutes and does not require sending lots of requests to the server as in the Sandwich attack but rather performs all operations offline. The result of such an approach causes replication of the generation function state used in the backend to get all created and future reset links in the password recovery example. Steps to prevent vulnerability from emerging are straightforward and shout out for the use of cryptographically secure functions, e.g. . crypto.randomUUID() Takeaways UUID is a great concept and makes the lives of data engineers a lot easier in many application areas. However, it should never be used in relation to authentication, as in this article, flaws in certain cases of its generation techniques are brought to light. It obviously does not translate to the idea of all UUIDs being insecure. The basic approach, though, is to persuade people not to use them for security at all, which is more efficient and, well, secure than setting complex limits in documentation on which to use or how not to generate them for such purpose.

Never Rely on UUID for Authentication: Generation Vulnerabilities and Best Practices

প্রমাণীকরণের জন্য কখনই UUID-এর উপর নির্ভর করবেন না: প্রজন্মের দুর্বলতা এবং সর্বোত্তম অনুশীলন

Verlassen Sie sich bei der Authentifizierung niemals auf UUID: Generierungsschwachstellen und Best Practices

Nunca confíe en UUID para la autenticación: vulnerabilidades de generación y mejores prácticas

Ne vous fiez jamais à l'UUID pour l'authentification : vulnérabilités de génération et meilleures pratiques

प्रमाणीकरण के लिए कभी भी UUID पर निर्भर न रहें: उत्पन्न होने वाली कमज़ोरियाँ और सर्वोत्तम अभ्यास

認証に UUID を決して使用しないでください: 生成の脆弱性とベスト プラクティス

인증을 위해 UUID에 의존하지 마십시오: 생성 취약점 및 모범 사례

Nunca confie no UUID para autenticação: vulnerabilidades de geração e práticas recomendadas

Никогда не полагайтесь на UUID для аутентификации: уязвимости поколений и лучшие практики

Kimlik Doğrulama için Asla UUID'ye Güvenmeyin: Güvenlik Açıkları Oluşturma ve En İyi Uygulamalar

Không bao giờ dựa vào UUID để xác thực: Các lỗ hổng thế hệ và các phương pháp hay nhất

永远不要依赖 UUID 进行身份验证：生成漏洞和最佳实践

Navigation with Large Language Models: Discussion and References

Authors:
(1) Renan F. F. da Silva, Institute of Computing, University of Campinas;
(2) Yulle G. F. Borges, Institute of Computing, University of Campinas;
(3) Rafael C. S. Schouery, Institute of Computing, University of Campinas. 9 Conclusion Our approaches were quite effective, enabling us to find solutions very close to the optimal solution, even in instances with many items. These results are partly due to the excellent quality of the solutions given by Two-by-Two, which efficiently handles color constraints. Another positive factors are our neighborhoods, which are efficient in quality and time complexity. Lastly, Gilmore and Gomory Formulation has a strong relaxation for the BPP, and this property may extend to CBPP. For a strong relaxation, the values for the optimal fractional and integer solutions are very close, so the patterns used by relaxation probably belong to integer solutions of high quality. Therefore, this is an excellent method to find a good set of patterns for the initial build of GRASP. Acknowledgements This project was supported by the S˜ao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) grants #2015/11937-9 and #2020/06511-0; and the Brazilian National Council For Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) grants #144257/2019-0, #311039/2020-0 and #425340/2016 3. Declarations Conflict of interest All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest. References [1] Alsarhan H, Chia D, Christman A, et al (2016) A two-pass algorithm for unordered colored bin packing. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Discrete Optimization and Operations Research and Scientific School pp 1–10 [2] Balogh J, B´ek´esi J, Dosa G, et al (2013) Black and white bin packing. In: Erlebach T, Persiano G (eds) Approximation and Online Algorithms. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Berlin, Heidelberg, pp 131–144, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38016-7_12 [3] Balogh J, B´ek´esi J, D´osa G, et al (2015) Offline black and white bin packing. Theoretical Computer Science 596:92–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tcs.2015.06.045 [4] Belov G, Scheithauer G (2006) A branch-and-cut-and-price algorithm for one-dimensional stock cutting and two-dimensional two-stage cutting. European Journal of Operational Research 171(1):85–106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2004.08.036 [5] B¨ohm M, Sgall J, Vesel´y P (2015) Online colored bin packing. In: Bampis E, Svensson O (eds) Approximation and Online Algorithms. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp 35–46, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18263-6_4 [6] B¨ohm M, D´osa G, Epstein L, et al (2018) Colored bin packing: Online algorithms and lower bounds. Algorithmica 80(1):155–184. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00453-016-0248-2 [7] Borges Y, Schouery R (2020) Modelos pseudo polinomiais para o problema do empacotamento colorido. In: Anais do V Encontro de Teoria da Computa¸c˜ao, pp 37–40, https://doi.org/ 10.5753/etc.2020.11084, (In Portuguese) [8] Borges YGF, Schouery RCS, Miyazawa FK (2023) Mathematical models and exact algorithms for the colored bin packing problem. 2305.15291 [9] Brand˜ao F, Pedroso JP (2016) Bin packing and related problems: General arc-flow formulation with graph compression. Computers & Operations Research 69:56–67. https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.cor.2015.11.009 [10] Buljubaˇsi´c M, Vasquez M (2016) Consistent neighborhood search for one-dimensional bin packing and two-dimensional vector packing. Computers & Operations Research 76:12–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cor.2016.06.009 [11] Carvalho JMVd (1999) Exact solution of bin-packing problems using column generation and branch-and-bound. Annals of Operations Research 86(0):629–659. https://doi.org/10. 1023/A:1018952112615 [12] Castelli M, Vanneschi L (2014) A hybrid harmony search algorithm with variable neighbourhood search for the bin-packing problem. 2014 Sixth World Congress on Nature and Biologically Inspired Computing (NaBIC 2014) pp 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1109/NaBIC.2014. 6921849 [13] Chen J, Han X, Bein W, et al (2015) Black and white bin packing revisited. In: Lu Z, Kim D, Wu W, et al (eds) Combinatorial Optimization and Applications. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp 45–59, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26626-8_4 [14] Delorme M, Iori M (2020) Enhanced pseudo-polynomial formulations for bin packing and cutting stock problems. INFORMS Journal on Computing 32(1):101–119. https://doi.org/ 10.1287/ijoc.2018.0880 [15] Delorme M, Iori M, Martello S (2018) Bpplib: a library for bin packing and cutting stock problems. Optimization Letters 12(2):235–250. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11590-017-1192-z [16] Demˇsar J (2006) Statistical comparisons of classifiers over multiple data sets. The Journal of Machine learning research 7:1–30 [17] D´osa G, Epstein L (2014) Colorful bin packing. In: Ravi R, Gørtz IL (eds) Algorithm Theory – SWAT 2014. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp 170–181, https://doi.org/10. 1007/978-3-319-08404-6_15 [18] Feo TA, Resende MG (1989) A probabilistic heuristic for a computationally difficult set covering problem. Operations Research Letters 8(2):67–71. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/ 10.1016/0167-6377(89)90002-3 [19] Fleszar K, Hindi KS (2002) New heuristics for one-dimensional bin-packing. Computers & Operations Research 29(7):821–839. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0305-0548(00)00082-4 [20] Friedman M (1937) The use of ranks to avoid the assumption of normality implicit in the analysis of variance. Journal of the American Statistical Association 32(200):675–701. https: //doi.org/10.1080/01621459.1937.10503522 [21] Gilmore PC, Gomory RE (1961) A linear programming approach to the cutting-stock problem. Operations Research 9(6):849–859. https://doi.org/10.1287/opre.29.6.1092 [22] Gonz´alez-San-Mart´ın J, Cruz-Reyes L, G´omez-Santill´an C, et al (2023) Comparative Study of Heuristics for the One-Dimensional Bin Packing Problem, Springer Nature Switzerland, Cham, pp 293–305. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28999-6_19 [23] Gupta JND, Ho JC (1999) A new heuristic algorithm for the one-dimensional binpacking problem. Production Planning & Control 10(6):598–603. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 095372899232894 [24] Iman RL, Davenport JM (1980) Approximations of the critical region of the fbietkan statistic. Communications in Statistics - Theory and Methods 9(6):571–595. https://doi.org/10. 1080/03610928008827904 [25] Karp RM (1972) Reducibility among Combinatorial Problems, Springer US, Boston, MA, pp 85–103. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-2001-2_9 [26] de Lima VL, Iori M, Miyazawa FK (2022) Exact solution of network flow models with strong relaxations. Mathematical Programming pp 1–34. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10107-022-01785-9 [27] Loh KH, Golden B, Wasil E (2008) Solving the one-dimensional bin packing problem with a weight annealing heuristic. Computers & Operations Research 35(7):2283–2291. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.cor.2006.10.021 [28] Mladenovi´c N, Hansen P (1997) Variable neighborhood search. Computers & Operations Research 24(11):1097–1100. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0305-0548(97)00031-2 [29] Nemenyi PB (1963) Distribution-free multiple comparisons. PhD thesis, Princeton University [30] Pessoa A, Sadykov R, Uchoa E, et al (2020) A generic exact solver for vehicle routing and related problems. Mathematical Programming 183(1):483–523. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10107-020-01523-z [31] Vance PH (1998) Branch-and-price algorithms for the one-dimensional cutting stock problem. Computational Optimization and Applications 9(3):211–228. https://doi.org/10.1023/A: 1018346107246 [32] Wei L, Luo Z, Baldacci R, et al (2020) A new branch-and-price-and-cut algorithm for onedimensional bin-packing problems. INFORMS Journal on Computing 32(2):428–443. https://doi.org/10.1287/ijoc.2018.0867 This paper is available on arxiv under CC 4.0 license. Authors: (1) Renan F. F. da Silva, Institute of Computing, University of Campinas; (2) Yulle G. F. Borges, Institute of Computing, University of Campinas; (3) Rafael C. S. Schouery, Institute of Computing, University of Campinas. Authors: (1) Renan F. F. da Silva, Institute of Computing, University of Campinas; (2) Yulle G. F. Borges, Institute of Computing, University of Campinas; (3) Rafael C. S. Schouery, Institute of Computing, University of Campinas. 9 Conclusion Our approaches were quite effective, enabling us to find solutions very close to the optimal solution, even in instances with many items. These results are partly due to the excellent quality of the solutions given by Two-by-Two, which efficiently handles color constraints. Another positive factors are our neighborhoods, which are efficient in quality and time complexity. Lastly, Gilmore and Gomory Formulation has a strong relaxation for the BPP, and this property may extend to CBPP. For a strong relaxation, the values for the optimal fractional and integer solutions are very close, so the patterns used by relaxation probably belong to integer solutions of high quality. Therefore, this is an excellent method to find a good set of patterns for the initial build of GRASP. Acknowledgements This project was supported by the S˜ao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) grants #2015/11937-9 and #2020/06511-0; and the Brazilian National Council For Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) grants #144257/2019-0, #311039/2020-0 and #425340/2016 3. Acknowledgements Declarations Conflict of interest All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest. Conflict of interest References [1] Alsarhan H, Chia D, Christman A, et al (2016) A two-pass algorithm for unordered colored bin packing. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Discrete Optimization and Operations Research and Scientific School pp 1–10 [2] Balogh J, B´ek´esi J, Dosa G, et al (2013) Black and white bin packing. In: Erlebach T, Persiano G (eds) Approximation and Online Algorithms. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Berlin, Heidelberg, pp 131–144, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38016-7_12 [3] Balogh J, B´ek´esi J, D´osa G, et al (2015) Offline black and white bin packing. Theoretical Computer Science 596:92–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tcs.2015.06.045 [4] Belov G, Scheithauer G (2006) A branch-and-cut-and-price algorithm for one-dimensional stock cutting and two-dimensional two-stage cutting. European Journal of Operational Research 171(1):85–106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2004.08.036 [5] B¨ohm M, Sgall J, Vesel´y P (2015) Online colored bin packing. In: Bampis E, Svensson O (eds) Approximation and Online Algorithms. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp 35–46, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18263-6_4 [6] B¨ohm M, D´osa G, Epstein L, et al (2018) Colored bin packing: Online algorithms and lower bounds. Algorithmica 80(1):155–184. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00453-016-0248-2 [7] Borges Y, Schouery R (2020) Modelos pseudo polinomiais para o problema do empacotamento colorido. In: Anais do V Encontro de Teoria da Computa¸c˜ao, pp 37–40, https://doi.org/ 10.5753/etc.2020.11084, (In Portuguese) [8] Borges YGF, Schouery RCS, Miyazawa FK (2023) Mathematical models and exact algorithms for the colored bin packing problem. 2305.15291 [9] Brand˜ao F, Pedroso JP (2016) Bin packing and related problems: General arc-flow formulation with graph compression. Computers & Operations Research 69:56–67. https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.cor.2015.11.009 [10] Buljubaˇsi´c M, Vasquez M (2016) Consistent neighborhood search for one-dimensional bin packing and two-dimensional vector packing. Computers & Operations Research 76:12–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cor.2016.06.009 [11] Carvalho JMVd (1999) Exact solution of bin-packing problems using column generation and branch-and-bound. Annals of Operations Research 86(0):629–659. https://doi.org/10. 1023/A:1018952112615 [12] Castelli M, Vanneschi L (2014) A hybrid harmony search algorithm with variable neighbourhood search for the bin-packing problem. 2014 Sixth World Congress on Nature and Biologically Inspired Computing (NaBIC 2014) pp 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1109/NaBIC.2014. 6921849 [13] Chen J, Han X, Bein W, et al (2015) Black and white bin packing revisited. In: Lu Z, Kim D, Wu W, et al (eds) Combinatorial Optimization and Applications. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp 45–59, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26626-8_4 [14] Delorme M, Iori M (2020) Enhanced pseudo-polynomial formulations for bin packing and cutting stock problems. INFORMS Journal on Computing 32(1):101–119. https://doi.org/ 10.1287/ijoc.2018.0880 [15] Delorme M, Iori M, Martello S (2018) Bpplib: a library for bin packing and cutting stock problems. Optimization Letters 12(2):235–250. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11590-017-1192-z [16] Demˇsar J (2006) Statistical comparisons of classifiers over multiple data sets. The Journal of Machine learning research 7:1–30 [17] D´osa G, Epstein L (2014) Colorful bin packing. In: Ravi R, Gørtz IL (eds) Algorithm Theory – SWAT 2014. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp 170–181, https://doi.org/10. 1007/978-3-319-08404-6_15 [18] Feo TA, Resende MG (1989) A probabilistic heuristic for a computationally difficult set covering problem. Operations Research Letters 8(2):67–71. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/ 10.1016/0167-6377(89)90002-3 [19] Fleszar K, Hindi KS (2002) New heuristics for one-dimensional bin-packing. Computers & Operations Research 29(7):821–839. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0305-0548(00)00082-4 [20] Friedman M (1937) The use of ranks to avoid the assumption of normality implicit in the analysis of variance. Journal of the American Statistical Association 32(200):675–701. https: //doi.org/10.1080/01621459.1937.10503522 [21] Gilmore PC, Gomory RE (1961) A linear programming approach to the cutting-stock problem. Operations Research 9(6):849–859. https://doi.org/10.1287/opre.29.6.1092 [22] Gonz´alez-San-Mart´ın J, Cruz-Reyes L, G´omez-Santill´an C, et al (2023) Comparative Study of Heuristics for the One-Dimensional Bin Packing Problem, Springer Nature Switzerland, Cham, pp 293–305. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28999-6_19 [23] Gupta JND, Ho JC (1999) A new heuristic algorithm for the one-dimensional binpacking problem. Production Planning & Control 10(6):598–603. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 095372899232894 [24] Iman RL, Davenport JM (1980) Approximations of the critical region of the fbietkan statistic. Communications in Statistics - Theory and Methods 9(6):571–595. https://doi.org/10. 1080/03610928008827904 [25] Karp RM (1972) Reducibility among Combinatorial Problems, Springer US, Boston, MA, pp 85–103. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-2001-2_9 [26] de Lima VL, Iori M, Miyazawa FK (2022) Exact solution of network flow models with strong relaxations. Mathematical Programming pp 1–34. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10107-022-01785-9 [27] Loh KH, Golden B, Wasil E (2008) Solving the one-dimensional bin packing problem with a weight annealing heuristic. Computers & Operations Research 35(7):2283–2291. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.cor.2006.10.021 [28] Mladenovi´c N, Hansen P (1997) Variable neighborhood search. Computers & Operations Research 24(11):1097–1100. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0305-0548(97)00031-2 [29] Nemenyi PB (1963) Distribution-free multiple comparisons. PhD thesis, Princeton University [30] Pessoa A, Sadykov R, Uchoa E, et al (2020) A generic exact solver for vehicle routing and related problems. Mathematical Programming 183(1):483–523. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10107-020-01523-z [31] Vance PH (1998) Branch-and-price algorithms for the one-dimensional cutting stock problem. Computational Optimization and Applications 9(3):211–228. https://doi.org/10.1023/A: 1018346107246 [32] Wei L, Luo Z, Baldacci R, et al (2020) A new branch-and-price-and-cut algorithm for onedimensional bin-packing problems. INFORMS Journal on Computing 32(2):428–443. https://doi.org/10.1287/ijoc.2018.0867 This paper is available on arxiv under CC 4.0 license. This paper is available on arxiv under CC 4.0 license. available on arxiv

Fast Neighborhood Search Heuristics for the Colorful Bin Packing Problem: Conclusion and References

Unhappy With Your Manager? Fix It Without Changing Jobs

Q1 2024 brought some fascinating shifts in the market, with certain sectors outperforming others. Here's a rundown of the most profitable crypto narratives that dominated the first quarter of 2024, along with their implications. And if you run a crypto/DeFi/NFT project and you need a piece of advice on marketing and community building, you can [message me](mailto: serge@x10.agency) directly. Here is a Q1 2024 breakdown: Memecoins: The Unexpected Champions Who would have thought that would take the crypto world by storm in Q1 2024? With an astonishing average return of 1,312.6% across the top 10 memecoins by market cap, these playful tokens left other narratives in the dust. memecoins The standout performers were BRETT, which skyrocketed by 7,727.6%, and the viral sensation dogwifhat (WIF), which surged an impressive 2,721.2%. Newcomers like BOOK OF MEME (BOME), cat in a dogs world (MEW), and Dogecoin20 (DOGE20) also gained significant traction, highlighting the explosive growth of the meme coin sector. This meteoric rise in memecoins outpaced the next best-performing crypto narrative, Real World Assets (RWA), by 4.6 times. Other narratives like AI, DeFi, and DePIN also saw moderate to strong gains, but none could match the sheer dominance of memecoins in Q1 2024. The surge in meme coin popularity attracted the attention of influential figures like Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who sees the potential for these playful projects to contribute positively to the ecosystem and global community. However, the inherent volatility of memecoins remains a significant concern, as highlighted by a recent Solana meme coin pre-sale debacle. Nonetheless, the Q1 2024 performance of memecoins has been nothing short of remarkable, solidifying their status as the most profitable crypto narrative of the quarter. Memecoins demonstrate the power of community and virality in the crypto market. While they may be volatile and risky, their potential for massive returns has captured the attention of investors. Implications: Real-World Assets (RWAs): Solid Returns Coming in second place behind the meteoric rise of memecoins, generated an average return of 285.6% in Q1 2024. Real World Assets (RWAs) Standout Performers - MANTRA (OM): Surged 1,074.4%, solidifying its position as a leading RWA token. - TokenFi (TOKEN): Gained 419.7%, demonstrating the growing investor appetite for RWA-based crypto assets. Outlier Performance However, not all RWA tokens shared in the overall sector's success. XDC Network (XDC) bucked the trend, declining by 15.6% during the quarter. RWAs continue to show promise as they bridge the gap between traditional finance and the crypto world. Their strong performance indicates that investors are increasingly interested in tokens backed by real-world assets. However, This outlier performance serves as a reminder that, even within the promising RWA narrative, individual token performance can vary significantly based on factors such as project fundamentals, market conditions, and investor sentiment. Implications: AI Narrative: Triple-Digit Triumphs The secured the third-best performing crypto theme in Q1 2024, with an average gain of 222.0%. AI narrative Top AI Crypto Performers AIOZ Network (AIOZ): Soared by an impressive 480.2%, cementing its position as a leading AI-focused crypto project. Fetch.ai (FET): Climbed 378.3%, demonstrating the growing investor appetite for AI-powered blockchain solutions. The AI narrative's success highlights the growing importance of artificial intelligence in various industries. As AI continues to transform businesses and create new opportunities, the demand for AI-related cryptocurrencies is likely to increase. Implications: DeFi and DePIN: Moderate but Steady DeFi Narrative The achieved moderate returns of 98.9% in Q1 2024. This performance was partly driven by the Uniswap (UNI) fee switch proposal, which generated renewed investor interest in the DeFi sector. DeFi narrative DePIN Narrative The started the quarter in the red but finished strong with 81.0% gains. This category was led by the standout performances of: DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks) narrative • Arweave (AR): A leading DePIN project that saw significant price appreciation. Livepeer (LPT): Another DePIN token that delivered strong returns during the quarter. Theta Network (THETA): A DePIN project that also contributed to the overall gains in this narrative. DeFi and DePIN show that decentralized finance and infrastructure solutions are here to stay. Despite facing regulatory challenges and market volatility, these sectors continue to grow and attract investors. Implications: Layer 1, Gaming, and Layer 2: Room for Improvement The Layer 1 (L1) narrative returned 70.0%, with Toncoin (TON) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) as the top performers. saw respectable gains of 64.4%, while Layer 2 (L2) solutions lagged behind at 39.5%. Stacks (STX) and Mantle (MNT) were the strongest contenders in this category. GameFi While L1, gaming, and L2 solutions didn't perform as well as other narratives in Q1 2024, they still offer significant potential. Improvements in scalability, interoperability, and user experience could help these sectors catch up and thrive in the future. Implications: To draw a conclusion, the first quarter of 2024 was all about the memecoin revolution, with RWAs, AI, and DeFi also making significant strides. The comparatively lower performance of L2s and GameFi serves as a reminder of the challenges in capturing investor attention in the fast-paced and unpredictable crypto market. P.S. Check out my previous articles on AI at HackerNoon: NFT Market Trends In 2024 Meme Coin Marketing: The Ultimate Breakdown Why Everyone's Talking About Blast: The DeFi & Airdrop How To L aunch an NFT Project in 2024 AI Crypto Coins: When the Power of AI Meets the Blockchain DeFi Community Building: A Step-by-Step Guide for Crypto Startups

Driving Innovation: The Science of Torque Vectoring Systems

Today, we're diving deep into the world of anchoring, a cognitive bias that influences our choices far more pervasively than we realize. If you’ve heard of Anchors before, you’ve probably heard it in a sales context. I’ll touch on that, but it goes way deeper than this. Understanding Anchoring isn't just about dodging sneaky sales tactics; it's about understanding how our brains construct reality from imperfect information. Anchors Aweigh: What Is This Thing, Anyway? Picture this: You're browsing for a new jacket. The first one you see is beautiful, but it's a whopping $400. Way out of your budget. However, as you wander through the store, every other jacket now seems like a relative bargain. Suddenly, that $150 option looks downright appealing. That initial $400 price tag served as an anchor. It distorted your perception of what constitutes a "reasonable" price for a jacket. This mental glitch, my friends, is the anchoring effect in action. Another (non sales, example), was shown that if people are first asked whether Gandhi died before or after age 9, and are then asked to guess Gandhi's actual age at death, their guesses will be lower than if they had first been asked whether Gandhi lived past age 200. The first anchor of 9 or 200 pulls their final estimate in that direction, despite it having no logical relevance. The anchoring bias describes our mind's tendency to become overly influenced by the first piece of information (the anchor) it receives on a topic. Once that anchor's dropped, subsequent judgments get made relative to it, even if the initial anchor is totally arbitrary or irrelevant. Anchoring in the Wild Anchoring isn't just about shopping sprees and impulse buys. It permeates all sorts of life decisions: The person who throws out a number first (salary, sale price, you name it) often has an advantage because it sets the psychological stage for the rest of the negotiation. Negotiations: Get too fixated on the price you originally paid for a stock? You might miss signs it's time to sell, even if the fundamentals have changed (that's sunk cost fallacy, a close cousin of anchoring). Investing: From job interviews to dating, that initial impression (positive or negative) can color how people perceive everything else you do. First Impressions: Anchors: The Cognitive Comfort Blanket Think of an anchor as a mental shortcut. Our brains crave stability and order – they don't enjoy floating around in a sea of uncertainty. Anchors, even irrelevant ones, give us a point of reference, a starting line from which to judge everything else. The tricky part? Once an anchor is planted in our minds, it has a cascading effect: We start noticing details that confirm the established anchor and downplay information that contradicts it. This is a form of confirmation bias. Selective Attention: An anchor can make something seem outrageously expensive or like an incredible deal, even if the objective value remains unchanged. Our point of reference becomes skewed. Distorted Valuation: Anchors don't just affect isolated decisions. They can have a long-term influence on our spending habits, expectations, and even our beliefs about the world. The Ripple Effect: Why Are Our Brains So Easily Swayed? Researchers have a few theories: Our brains are cognitive misers—they love shortcuts. Instead of thoroughly evaluating every decision from scratch, referencing an anchor is a quick, albeit imperfect, decision-making hack. Effort Reduction: When clueless about a fair price or course of action, any initial data point seems better than none. The anchor gives us some place to start. Uncertainty: The World is Your Anchor Playground Let's be real, anchors are everywhere: That initial "Free" frames future pricing decisions. Suddenly the monthly subscription feels way less appealing, even if the total cost is reasonable. Companies know this. The "Free Trial" Trap: Have you noticed how tip options on those card readers keep getting higher? They're anchoring your perception of what constitutes a "normal" tip amount. The Power of Suggestion: The first opinion you hear on a controversial topic, or even just the initial word choice ("riot" vs. "protest"), can shape how you process subsequent information. Anchoring in the Social Realm: The Achilles Heel of Anchoring The most insidious thing about anchors is that they work even when we KNOW they exist. Studies show that even when people are explicitly warned about anchoring bias, it still influences their estimation and judgment. Why does this happen? Here's where things get interesting: System 1 thinking (fast, intuitive) is easily swayed by anchors. But while System 2 (slow, deliberate reasoning) can recognize the bias, it takes significant effort to fully counteract its effects. Anchors Tap Into Deeper Thinking: Our brains are wired to assess things comparatively. Even if you intellectually recognize that an anchor is arbitrary, your emotional response is primed to the comparison. Relative, Not Absolute: Anchors create a sense of cognitive fluency. Options that feel familiar or easy to process often seem intuitively correct, even if they aren't the most rational choice. The Fluency Factor: Fight Back Against the Invisible Hand So, are we doomed to be cognitive puppets manipulated by random anchors? Not quite. Here's your toolkit: Impulse buys are the best friend of anchoring. Give yourself time. Before reacting to a price, offer, or information, impose a self-mandated waiting period. That pause gives your logical brain space to catch up. The Art of Delayed Gratification: Never rely on a single data point. Actively seek out alternative pricing, multiple opinions, or different perspectives on an issue. This helps break the spell of the initial anchor. Seek Counter-Anchors: Especially in negotiations, sometimes it pays to be the one who avoids stating the first number. Strategic ambiguity shifts the dynamic in your favor. Embrace Strategic Ambiguity: Beyond the Obvious – Anchoring in Unexpected Places Anchoring isn't just a salesperson's trick. It seeps into areas where we least expect it, subtly shaping our choices, opinions, and even our self-perception: Ever catch yourself longing for "the good old days" when things seemed cheaper, simpler, or better? Those nostalgic memories can become anchors, making us resistant to change or less receptive to the advantages of the present. Anchoring to the Past: Our initial impressions of ourselves (in childhood through early adulthood) have incredible staying power. That old "I'm bad at math" label can linger for decades, leading to missed opportunities because we're anchored to a past limitation. The Self-Perception Anchor: Studies suggest that even something as trivial as the severity of a sentencing demand by the prosecution can unconsciously anchor the judge's ultimate sentence, regardless of the actual evidence. Anchoring in the Courtroom: Anchors: A Double-Edged Sword It's important to remember, anchoring isn't inherently good or bad. Our brains evolved this shortcut for a reason. Here's where it can be helpful: Ever heard the advice to "visualize success"? It's partly an anchoring effect. Setting a high initial goal (sales revenue, fitness target, creative output) creates a reference point that can motivate us, even if we don't fully reach the first ambitious mark. Goal Setting as Anchoring: Consciously reframing negative thought patterns with positive affirmations can be a form of beneficial self-anchoring. Over time, it helps shift your internal reference point. Positive Self-Talk: Charities that display suggested donation amounts or non-profits highlighting the impact of even small contributions are leveraging anchoring principles to nudge people towards greater generosity. Anchors for Social Good: The Ultimate Goal: Cognitive Flexibility It's not about eliminating anchors – they're an inevitable part of how our brains work. The key is becoming mindful of when they're operating, knowing when to deliberately set our own anchors, and developing the flexibility to shift our reference points when necessary. Understanding anchoring is a step towards greater objectivity, better decision-making, and a healthy skepticism towards the hidden forces trying to shape our reality. Let's get meta - could this newsletter be one big anchor to get you thinking more critically about decision-making? Absolutely 😉 Scott Also appears . here

Unveiling the Anchors: How Your Brain Makes Sense of the World (And Gets It Wrong)

অ্যাঙ্করগুলি উন্মোচন করা: কীভাবে আপনার মস্তিষ্ক বিশ্বের অনুভূতি তৈরি করে (এবং এটি ভুল হয়ে যায়)

Die Anker enthüllen: Wie Ihr Gehirn die Welt versteht (und es falsch versteht)

Revelando las anclas: cómo su cerebro le da sentido al mundo (y lo entiende mal)

Dévoiler les ancres : comment votre cerveau donne un sens au monde (et se trompe)

एंकरों का अनावरण: आपका मस्तिष्क दुनिया को कैसे समझता है (और इसे गलत बनाता है)

アンカーを明らかにする: あなたの脳は世界をどのように理解するのか (そして間違ってしまうのか)

앵커 공개: 뇌가 세상을 어떻게 이해하고 잘못 이해하는지

Revelando as âncoras: como seu cérebro dá sentido ao mundo (e erra)

Раскрытие якорей: как ваш мозг воспринимает мир (и делает это неправильно)

Çapaların Açıklanması: Beyniniz Dünyayı Nasıl Anlıyor (Ve Yanlış Anlıyor)

Tiết lộ những điểm neo: Bộ não của bạn nhận thức thế giới như thế nào (và hiểu sai)

揭开锚点：你的大脑如何理解世界（以及理解错误）

This paper is available on arxiv under CC 4.0 license. Authors: (1) RITA S. P. MACIEL, Federal University of Bahia, Brazil; (2) PEDRO H. VALLE, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Brazil; (3) KÉCIA S. SANTOS, Federal University of Bahia, Brazil; (4) ELISA Y. NAKAGAWA, University of São Paulo, Brazil. Table of Links Introduction Related Work Research Method Results Discussions Conclusions & References 3 RESEARCH METHOD We performed the three-phase process — planning, execution, and results synthesis [50] — as presented in Figure 1. Sections 3.1 and 3.2 summarize the planning and execution phases respectively, while Section 4 presents the results. 3.1 Planning The main elements of the tertiary study protocol are the study goal, research questions (RQs), search string, selected databases, and studies selection criteria. Concerning the goal, we used GQM (Goal Question Metric) to define it. The goal is to analyze secondary studies of SIS interoperability for the purpose of identifying the panorama with respect to interoperability types, models, frameworks, domains, and solutions from the point of view of researchers in the context of academic literature. We also defined three RQs, as listed below: • RQ1: Which interoperability types have been addressed? Rationale: Several interoperability types exist, but without an updated and complete panorama of them or a compilation of their definitions/understandings or classification • RQ2: Which are the existing interoperability models and frameworks? Rationale: Interoperability models and frameworks can show how interoperability types can be organized and related to each other. Besides, a complete view of these models and frameworks is missing. • RQ3: Which are the domains and their related solutions for interoperability? Rationale: Interoperability solutions can support the interoperability achievement in SIS in those domains (i.e., the contexts where interoperability is addressed by the studies). After several calibrations through pilot studies, the resulting search string was: (“interoperability” OR “interoperabiliting” OR “interoperable”) AND (“review of studies” OR “structured review” OR “literature review” OR “literature analysis” OR “in-depth survey” OR “literature survey” OR “meta-analysis” OR "systematic mapping"). We also selected the most recommended publications databases for conducting literature reviews: Scopus[8] , ACM DL, and IEEE Xplore. For the studies selection, we defined two inclusion criteria (IC) and six exclusion criteria (EC): • IC1: Study addresses interoperability in SIS. • IC2: Study addresses interoperability types. • EC1: Study does not address interoperability in SIS. • EC2: Study does not address interoperability types. • EC3: Study is not a literature review. • EC4: The full text of the study is not available. • EC5: Study is an older version of another study. • EC6: Study is not written in English. We also applied the quality assessment of studies due to our tertiary study intends to present a panorama of all secondary studies, and such assessment can drawn an overall view of the quality of these studies. For this, we followed the recommendation of Kitchenham et al. [49] by using DARE-4 criteria[9] ; hence, the questions for the quality assessment (QA) were: • QA1: Were the review’s selection criteria (inclusion and exclusion criteria) explicitly defined? • QA2: Was the literature search likely to have covered all relevant studies? • QA3: Did the reviewers assess the quality of the included studies? • QA4: Was the basic studies’ information adequately described? Each study was scored as follows: QA1 (Yes: the selection criteria were explicitly defined; Partly: the selection criteria were implicit; or No: the selection criteria were not defined and were not possible to be inferred); QA2 (Yes: the authors either searched in four or more databases and included additional search strategies or identified and referenced all journals addressing the topic of interest; Partly: the authors searched in three or four databases with no extra search strategies, or searched a defined but restricted set of journals and conference proceedings; or No: the authors searched up to two databases or a highly restricted set of journals); QA3 (Yes: the authors explicitly defined quality criteria and applied them to each primary study; Partly: quality criteria and application procedure were implicit; or No: no explicit quality assessment of primary studies was presented); and QA4 (Yes: information about each study was presented; Partly: only summarized information was presented; or No: no information was presented). Moreover, the numerical scores were Yes = 1, Partly = 0.5, No = 0, or Unknown (the information is not specified). 3.2 Execution and Update We searched for studies in the databases in May 2022, following the protocol rigorously. To do that, we configured the search string to each database’s search engine and retrieved studies based on titles, keywords, and abstracts. We focused on studies published in the last ten years (2012 to 2022), similar to most tertiary studies in the literature. We retrieved a total of 494 studies from the databases and after duplicate removal, 414 unique studies remained. During the studies selection process, we deeply examined each study, applied the selection criteria, and selected 35 studies that were relevant to answer our RQs. Next, we applied the quality assessment; for that, the two first authors evaluated the studies separately, and the third and fourth ones came together and solved divergences. As we finished the deep analysis of each study and results summarization in December 2022, we decided to update our tertiary study considering the period of 2022 until February 2023, as illustrated in Figure 1. We identified two new studies published in 2023. Hence, our tertiary studies selected a total of 37 studies published from January 2012 to February 2023. [8] https://www.scopus.com [9] https://web.archive.org/web/20070918200401/https://www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd/faq4.htm This paper is available on under CC 4.0 license. Arxiv

System Interoperability Types: A Tertiary Study: The Research Method That We Used and How We Used It

The cryptocurrency landscape is constantly evolving, with new and exciting projects emerging to challenge the status quo. Among the notable narratives in the crypto world has been the rise of , a token that has recently seen a 328% surge in price, capturing the attention and wallets of investors worldwide. Bonk (BONK) This phenomenal growth has not only showcased the potential for significant returns within the crypto market but also set the stage for new opportunities. Enter , a promising new competitor to Bonk (BONK), priced attractively at $0.0014, ready to make its mark in the digital currency arena. Shiba Budz (BUDZ) The Allure of Bonk (BONK) has carved out a niche for itself as a dynamic player in the cryptocurrency space, thanks to its rapid growth and the lucrative gains it has provided to its investors. The token's success story has become a beacon for crypto enthusiasts searching for the next big investment. As Bonk (BONK) continues to thrive, its journey offers valuable lessons on market potential and investor sentiment, crucial for understanding the crypto ecosystem's ever-changing nature. Bonk (BONK) Shiba Budz (BUDZ): Poised for Success Amidst the backdrop of Bonk (BONK)'s success, Shiba Budz (BUDZ) emerges as a new contender, aiming to replicate and potentially exceed the achievements of its predecessor. The initial pricing of Shiba Budz (BUDZ) is a strategic move designed to attract a broad spectrum of investors, from those seasoned in the volatility of the crypto markets to newcomers eager to get in on the ground floor of a promising project. Why Bonk (BONK) Investors Are Diversifying Investors who have reaped the benefits of Bonk (BONK)'s impressive price surge are now looking towards Shiba Budz (BUDZ) as a viable addition to their investment portfolio. The rationale is clear: diversification within the crypto space can mitigate risk and increase the potential for significant gains. Shiba Budz (BUDZ) offers a fresh opportunity, with its unique value proposition and the buzz surrounding its launch reminding many of the early days of Bonk (BONK). The Competitive Edge of Shiba Budz (BUDZ) While Bonk (BONK) has set a high standard in terms of performance and community engagement, Shiba Budz (BUDZ) is not merely content with following in its footsteps. Instead, it aims to carve out its niche by leveraging innovative blockchain technology and fostering a strong community ethos. The goal is to create a token that not only appeals to Bonk (BONK) investors but also attracts a new wave of crypto enthusiasts. Bonk (BONK)'s Influence and The Rise of Shiba Budz (BUDZ The influence of Bonk (BONK) within the crypto community cannot be understated. Its success has demonstrated the potential for meme coins and community-driven projects to achieve substantial market valuations. Shiba Budz (BUDZ) enters the market at a time when interest in such projects is at an all-time high, partly thanks to the groundwork laid by Bonk (BONK). Future Prospects As Shiba Budz (BUDZ) begins its journey, the excitement among former Bonk (BONK) investors and the broader crypto community is palpable. The combination of a low entry price, a solid roadmap, and the lessons learned from the rise of Bonk (BONK) positions Shiba Budz (BUDZ) as a potential powerhouse in the making. Conclusion The emergence of Shiba Budz (BUDZ) as a new rival to Bonk (BONK) highlights the dynamic and ever-evolving nature of the cryptocurrency market. With investors who have profited from Bonk (BONK)'s surge now turning their attention to Shiba Budz (BUDZ), the stage is set for an exciting new chapter in the world of digital currencies. As Shiba Budz (BUDZ) aims to build on the success of Bonk (BONK), it represents not just a new investment opportunity but a testament to the ongoing innovation and growth within the crypto space. For more information on the Shiba Budz (BUDZ) Presale: Presale Website: SHIBA BUDZ (BUDZ) Use Promo Code Topshib to get 20% bonus Join and become a BUDZ member: | Telegram Twitter This story was distributed as a release by BTCWire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here: https://business.hackernoon.com/

Shiba Budz (BUDZ) Enters Crypto Arena as Bonk (BONK) Diversification Option, Offers 20%  Bonus

Shiba Budz (BUDZ) Bonk (BONK) ডাইভারসিফিকেশন বিকল্প হিসাবে ক্রিপ্টো অ্যারেনায় প্রবেশ করে, 20% বোনাস অফার করে

Shiba Budz (BUDZ) betritt die Krypto-Arena als Diversifizierungsoption für Bonk (BONK) und bietet einen Bonus von 20 %

Shiba Budz (BUDZ) ingresa a Crypto Arena como opción de diversificación Bonk (BONK) y ofrece una bonificación del 20%

Shiba Budz (BUDZ) entre dans Crypto Arena en tant qu'option de diversification Bonk (BONK) et offre un bonus de 20 %

शीबा बडज़ (बीयूडीजेड) ने क्रिप्टो क्षेत्र में बोंक (BONK) विविधीकरण विकल्प के रूप में प्रवेश किया, 20% बोनस की पेशकश की

Shiba Budz (BUDZ) が Bonk (BONK) 多様化オプションとしてクリプトアリーナに参入、20% ボーナスを提供

Shiba Budz(BUDZ)가 Bonk(BONK) 다각화 옵션으로 Crypto Arena에 진출하여 20% 보너스 제공

Shiba Budz (BUDZ) entra na Crypto Arena como opção de diversificação Bonk (BONK), oferece bônus de 20%

Shiba Budz (BUDZ) выходит на Crypto Arena как вариант диверсификации Bonk (BONK), предлагая бонус 20%

Shiba Budz (BUDZ), Bonk (BONK) Çeşitlendirme Seçeneği Olarak Crypto Arena'ya Giriyor, %20 Bonus Sunuyor

Shiba Budz (BUDZ) Tham gia Đấu trường tiền điện tử với tư cách là tùy chọn đa dạng hóa Bonk (BONK), cung cấp tiền thưởng 20%

Shiba Budz (BUDZ) 作为 Bonk (BONK) 多元化选项进入加密竞技场，提供 20% 奖金

JavaScript Objects: From Fundamentals to Advanced Techniques

জাভাস্ক্রিপ্ট অবজেক্ট: ফান্ডামেন্টাল থেকে অ্যাডভান্সড টেকনিক

JavaScript-Objekte: Von den Grundlagen zu fortgeschrittenen Techniken

Objetos JavaScript: de los fundamentos a las técnicas avanzadas

Objets JavaScript : des fondamentaux aux techniques avancées

जावास्क्रिप्ट ऑब्जेक्ट: बुनियादी बातों से लेकर उन्नत तकनीकों तक

JavaScript オブジェクト: 基本から高度なテクニックまで

JavaScript 객체: 기초부터 고급 기술까지

Objetos JavaScript: dos fundamentos às técnicas avançadas

Объекты JavaScript: от основ к продвинутым методам

JavaScript Nesneleri: Temellerden İleri Tekniklere

Đối tượng JavaScript: Từ cơ bản đến kỹ thuật nâng cao

JavaScript 对象：从基础知识到高级技术

At the buzzing EthDenver, which attracted from 120+ countries, I had the pleasure of speaking to , the co-founder of and President of the Celo Foundation. We delved into the latest advancements at Celo, notably its ongoing transition from an EVM-compatible Layer 1 to an Ethereum Layer 2. over 20,000 attendees Rene Reinsberg Celo Celo is recognized for its initiatives that extend beyond technology, such as empowering builders in the Global South and contributing to regenerative finance (ReFi) projects, which reflect its broader mission for social impact within the blockchain ecosystem. This is what we talked about. Rene, we’re at EthDenver! How are you feeling? The energy is fantastic. What I really enjoy about events, and I find this particularly true in Denver, is the random encounters. I make it a point not to schedule my day too tightly so I can spend time at the booth and meet builders who come up to say hello. That's always a highlight. I've seen a lot of newcomers here this year who are just coming into the Web3 space. At some of the conferences last year, it felt like we saw the same group of people sticking it out through the bear market. Now, there seems to be a new wave of builders bringing fresh ideas, which is exciting! Do you see the narratives around blockchain and impact evolving, too? Absolutely! There are two main directions: enhancing existing solutions within the traditional financial (TradFi) system and introducing entirely new ideas. So, first, with real-world assets (RWAs) and tokenized on-chain assets, many innovations that might have seemed more hypothetical a few years ago are now feasible. For example, one idea is to create a better market infrastructure to fund carbon removal projects. Web3 is great for this because it's transparent and leverages decentralized markets. It's somewhat similar to traditional infrastructure but also improves upon it. Then, some ideas look not just at replicating existing systems but also trying something completely new. For instance, Celo uses a portion of transaction fees for positive climate action. This concept, which we call “ ,” wasn’t possible before web3. Now, we can build positive climate action into each transaction on the network. Ultragreen Money How has everything been going for Celo since its announcement to transition to layer two on Ethereum? This was a proposal that the core team at put forward last summer, and it was met with huge excitement—more than anyone had anticipated. It was discussed within the community over the years, but it finally became feasible for Celo to retain its unique benefits like low transaction fees, which are crucial for micropayments, and to support the use cases we have on Celo, such as community currencies and credit. cLabs It’s a great chance to bring the “magic of Celo” to the broader Ethereum ecosystem and be a much more active collaborator and contributor. Many of our projects either originate from the Ethereum community or align closely with its values, so there's a lot of enthusiasm for bringing these worlds closer together. On top of that, I see Celo as an engine for integrating more users, particularly mobile users, into the Ethereum ecosystem and introducing them to web3. It has been a win for both parties and an incredibly fun journey! Could you share some strategies Celo employs to foster financial inclusion globally? Absolutely! The first step is creating accessible infrastructure, aiming for a world where everyone can easily access a web3 wallet on their phone without using much bandwidth. The goal is to enable easy cash-in and cash-out options to local currencies through mobile money or preferred methods, ideally at no cost. This foundational infrastructure is vital for enabling various use cases on top of Celo and has been a core focus not only for the team at the Celo Foundation but for the entire ecosystem. There's still much work to be done with on- and off-ramping, which is a massive undertaking. But it’s very encouraging to see around 100 projects across the globe all contributing different pieces of the puzzle. From companies facilitating mobile money onramps in the Philippines to those working on local stablecoins (e.g., ), these efforts are crucial for providing the basic infrastructure, ideally on mobile and with low fees, like the tenths of a cent seen on Celo. Mento What's happening now is people recognizing this infrastructure, realizing they can launch microcredit protocols, provide loans in local currency thanks to local currency stablecoins, and so on. This can be connected to the global financial system, still largely dominated by dollar stablecoins, through a series of DeFi primitives that facilitate this end-to-end flow. For example, a financial institution in the US or Europe could deploy capital that becomes a loan in local currency in someone's noncustodial wallet—a concept we could only dream of a few years back, but it's now becoming a reality. The challenge ahead is scaling this from thousands of businesses and hundreds of thousands of individuals to millions or even billions. Each transaction carries the potential for positive climate action—almost seamless for the user. This regenerative aspect is something we're keen to amplify as the platform grows, and I believe it will soon be reflected in the data showing the significant impact of transactions on Celo across various use cases like commerce, payments, and lending. Regenerative finance had its moment last year, but then people moved on to other shiny things. I think it’s going to come back, though, not just because it’s a great concept but because we’re starting to see real results. Celo is currently at 6,445 tons of CO2 offsets, and with more economic activity in our network, that number could grow significantly. We can now really tap into the collective power of web3, where everyone can participate and work together on these big, important goals. So, how else does Celo measure its success in terms of impact? Ultimately, a chain's success boils down to the economic activity it facilitates, which is a function of the transactions being processed. But it’s also about how the overall economic activity aligns with the use cases we value. We're particularly thrilled about use cases like microcredit protocols, but at the end of the day, Celo is permissionless, so anyone can build anything. And even a game on Celo can have a positive impact. But I do see our focus evolving. We're here at the EthDenver BUIDLathon, and we run our own virtual “Build With Celo” hackathons. Often, someone will come up and say, “I really want to build this thing, but I'm missing this piece or that.” This then leads to a conversation around, “Okay, maybe we know someone who can help with this, or we can connect the dots and make some of these things happen faster.” So, can we empower the ecosystem to build what they want to build? That’s our key measure of success. I’m based in Colombia, where the Celo community is huge! You've done a great job establishing a presence in some of the emerging economies. What has that been like? Colombia is a prime example! There's currently a proposal for a in the forum. Just yesterday, I was talking to , a community member here, who was explaining how this could unlock a lot of local activity, especially in terms of credit, since people are looking to take out loans in their local currency. Colombian peso stablecoin Juan There's also , a credit protocol on Celo in Colombia that's quite impactful. It's facilitating loans for individuals to finance motorbikes, enabling them to generate income as Rappi delivery drivers. Roda At the end of the day, it's all about engaging with community members and understanding their needs to unlock further growth. Starting small and iterating is key, but eventually, you encounter certain barriers at the ecosystem level. Overcoming these can significantly scale the impact and take things to a much larger scale. That's beautiful! On a personal note, what are you most proud of with Celo? Honestly, getting into web3, it’s tough to fully grasp the power of open collaboration. We knew we wanted to create an open, permissionless infrastructure for others to explore and collaborate with us. But it's not something you can just plan out. You can't say, “We're going to launch a protocol and then expect thousands of builders to come and do their thing.” It just doesn't work like that. Looking back six, seven years ago, if you had asked me what Celo would look like in 2024, I would have significantly underestimated the variety of products and their impact because I would have based my assumptions on what a single company could achieve. So, I'm most proud of the rich ecosystem that has emerged, filled with ideas, some of which I wasn't even aware of, but all made possible by Celo. If I had to highlight a more recent example, it would be Opera’s . They've done an incredible job and developed this product in-house, integrating a wallet into the browser that requires very low bandwidth. MiniPay It's really easy to use—you don't need to know anything about crypto. What I'm most proud of is that it was enabled by a series of ecosystem projects that, over the last few years, have created the conditions for this product to exist. This is partly due to Celo's distinct features. For example, gas abstraction allows gas fees to be paid in stablecoins, simplifying transactions. Tools like and let users send payments to phone numbers in a secure, trustless way, streamlining the process of entering and exiting the markets where Opera is active. SocialConnect FiatConnect So, it's fair to say Minipay benefits from the collective efforts of the entire ecosystem, standing on the shoulders of what might be considered “tiny giants.” This is exciting because, in the spirit of web3, each successful product not only stands on its own but also elevates other products or protocols it's integrated with. Minipay’s growing popularity has had a ripple effect, significantly boosting engagement with some OG Celo protocols, such as , which has seen a huge inflow of new users. impactMarket Looking into the future, what are you most excited about? I would come back to web3 as a toolkit for mass coordination, particularly around some pressing problems like financial inclusion and climate change. But its potential extends to many other areas. For example, people in the ecosystem are now thinking about decentralized science (DeSci). Imagine if millions of people are connected through a wallet in a certain country. Could you leverage that to bootstrap development funding for a drug specific to that community? Big pharma today might ignore this because it is a small market or is not worth the investment. The infrastructure is there, and it enables a whole set of new use cases far beyond what we could ever imagine. So, in short, I’m excited about the things I don’t know yet. Every day, every week, every step we take, we get further along in having an infrastructure that is just so widely useful for coordinating people around these issues that would otherwise be hard to solve.

An Interview With Rene Reinsberg: On EthDenver, Regenerative Finance, and Celo Ecosystem Growth

These Biotech Execs Made Perfectly Timed Trades in Health Care Stocks 

এই বায়োটেক এক্সিক্স স্বাস্থ্যসেবা স্টকগুলিতে নিখুঁতভাবে সময়োপযোগী ট্রেড করেছেন

Diese Biotech-Manager haben zum perfekten Zeitpunkt Geschäfte mit Gesundheitsaktien getätigt

Estos ejecutivos de biotecnología realizaron operaciones en el momento perfecto en acciones de atención médica

Ces dirigeants de la biotechnologie ont effectué des transactions parfaitement synchronisées sur les actions du secteur de la santé

इन बायोटेक अधिकारियों ने स्वास्थ्य देखभाल शेयरों में बिल्कुल सही समय पर व्यापार किया

これらのバイオテクノロジー幹部はヘルスケア株で完璧なタイミングで取引を行った

헬스케어 주식에서 완벽한 타이밍에 거래한 생명공학 경영진

Esses executivos de biotecnologia fizeram negociações perfeitamente cronometradas em ações de saúde

Эти руководители биотехнологий совершили идеально своевременные сделки по акциям здравоохранения

Bu Biyoteknoloji Yöneticileri Sağlık Hisse Senetlerinde Mükemmel Zamanlanmış Ticaret Yaptı

Những nhà điều hành công nghệ sinh học này đã thực hiện giao dịch theo thời gian hoàn hảo đối với cổ phiếu chăm sóc sức khỏe

这些生物技术高管在医疗保健股上进行了完美的时机交易

Do you know why April 5 is like a funny date in the crypto world? Because it’s the birthday of Satoshi Nakamoto, the Bitcoin creator. And it’s also the birthday of Nick Szabo, the creator of smart contracts and the coin BitGold, a precursor of Bitcoin. A lot of people think this isn’t just a coincidence, not to mention the same initials (SN), and Szabo could be Nakamoto himself. He’s denied it repeatedly, though. He also has a Juris Doctor (law) degree from George Washington University, and an honorary professorship at the Universidad Francisco Marroquín from Guatemala. He can boast about an impressive publication history about computer science, laws, cryptography, and other topics on and , and that’s it. Nick Szabo was born in 1964 in the United States and got a computer science degree from the University of Washington in 1989. his personal blog other media We basically know nothing about his private life, just like we don’t know a lot about many other cypherpunks. Of course, Szabo is , as he was on the same mailing list visited by Satoshi and other important figures. Only bits and pieces of his personal affairs have dropped down to us. also a cypherpunk According to a brief , he’s of Hungarian parents. His libertarian mindset partly comes from his dad, who fought against the Soviet Union in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. From , we know that he worked for a while with DigiCash, a company founded in 1989 by David Chaum (precursor of cypherpunks). They tried to make a new type of centralized virtual currency, called eCash. Probably, that inspired him to make his own version of digital currency. interview with NYT his blog Smart Contracts They aimed to simplify transactions or legal contracts between people online, including payment terms, and minimize the need for human middlemen. The code would be the only trusted third party, allowing lower fees in arbitration, fraud risk management, enforcement, and other transaction costs. In 1994, Szabo first a smart contract as “a computerized transaction protocol that executes the terms of a contract.” defined Szabo considered the digital cash protocols of the time and POS terminals as rudimentary smart contracts. More about the concept and its potential use cases would be published by Szabo in the following years, laying the foundation for the platforms we know today. As the years passed, smart contracts expanded beyond digital cash, showcasing their potential to revolutionize commercial transactions. from decentralized finance (DeFi) to global supply chains and smart property. Crypto ecosystems like Ethereum and facilitate the deployment of complex, self-executing agreements, transforming how we engage in online transactions. Fast forward to the present, and we witness the integration of smart contracts in numerous industries, Obyte Obyte, indeed, went a step beyond by releasing . They’re also self-executing smart contracts capable of locking funds until predetermined conditions are met. But there’s an important addition: an independent arbiter from the . They’re (human) professionals registered in the platform with their real names and available to solve certain types of disputes in exchange for a fee. contracts with arbitration ArbStore BitGold Besides the innovation of smart contracts, The idea around 1998, but he didn’t fully describe it . If we read the proposal, we’ll find some uncanny similarities with Bitcoin and its . Szabo also designed a theoretical decentralized virtual currency, called BitGold. was born until 2005 raison d'être “The problem, in a nutshell, is that our money currently depends on trust in a third party for its value (...) It would be very nice if there were a protocol whereby unforgeably costly bits could be created online with minimal dependence on trusted third parties, and then securely stored, transferred, and assayed with similar minimal trust. BitGold. My proposal for bit gold is based on computing a string of bits from a string of challenge bits, using functions called variously "client puzzle function," "proof of work function," or "secure benchmark function." The resulting string of bits is the proof of work.” securely timestamped and distributed among several servers. He even mentions a “bit gold miner” earning substantial profits from it. However, this idea was never implemented. He also describes how every transaction would be registered in a “chain of digital signatures” Interestingly enough, Szabo for someone to help him code BitGold into reality in 2008, just before Bitcoin appeared. Nobody answered publicly, but it’s widely believed that Nakamoto's system was inspired by this precursor, even if it doesn’t appear referenced in the whitepaper. asked A “centralized cult” BitGold wasn’t exactly decentralized, or at least not fully decentralized. The design included a Proof-of-Work (PoW) system, just like Bitcoin, which implies the involvement of miners —a type of middlemen. Nevertheless, it was an important step into a more decentralized future, an initial solution to minimize the dependency on trusted third parties like governments and banks. Szabo likely knows this, because he’s been very involved in the cryptocurrency world. He’s a usual attendant in crypto events and podcasts, and has been working with at least one more crypto company over the years (Vaurum), as it was mentioned by NYT. He also founded , and has maintained the same secrecy about himself. his own crypto startup https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXCOfTteQAo&embedable=true Years ago, he with Ethereum, a prominent smart contract network. They even named “Szabo” one of their coin units. Things have changed more recently, though. Unfortunately, Ethereum has evolved to allow and control, as it’s been proven on several occasions. Not to mention items like the (EPR), which allowed to change and control a supposedly immutable network. It was never approved, but Szabo criticized it heavily while it was being discussed. For these and similar reasons, seemed quite pleased centralized censorship Ethereum Recovery Proposal Szabo now considers Ethereum as a “centralized cult,” as he mentioned on Twitter (X) in 2019. https://twitter.com/NickSzabo4/status/1183931593800306689?embedable=true The pursuit for real decentralization continues. In this vein, we can say that Obyte is an alternative without middlemen, and, therefore, without censorship and external control. We don’t have miners or “validators,” but a (DAG) structure and Order Providers (OPs). They’re merely posting waypoints to order transactions but don’t have a lot of power over the network. Directed Acyclic Graph Once someone sends a transaction to the DAG, it is registered there forever, without interference of any kind. On this path, Obyte is still working to improve the of its systems and help to achieve the privacy-protected and free world dreamed of by pioneers like Nick Szabo and other cypherpunks. We’re already moving towards trust-minimization ideals, and we've minimized trust further than other projects. decentralization Featured Vector Image by Garry Killian / Freepik Nick Szabo Photograph by Swiss Re / YouTube

Cypherpunks Write Code: Nick Szabo, Smart Contracts, and BitGold

সাইফারপাঙ্কস কোড লিখুন: নিক সাজাবো, স্মার্ট কন্ট্রাক্টস এবং বিটগোল্ড

Cypherpunks schreiben Code: Nick Szabo, Smart Contracts und BitGold

Código de escritura de Cypherpunks: Nick Szabo, contratos inteligentes y BitGold

Cypherpunks écrivent du code : Nick Szabo, Smart Contracts et BitGold

साइफरपंक्स कोड लिखें: निक स्जाबो, स्मार्ट कॉन्ट्रैक्ट्स और बिटगोल्ड

Cypherpunks がコードを書く: Nick Szabo、スマート コントラクト、および BitGold

Cypherpunks 작성 코드: Nick Szabo, 스마트 계약 및 BitGold

Cypherpunks escrevem código: Nick Szabo, Smart Contracts e BitGold

Шифропанки пишут код: Ник Сабо, смарт-контракты и BitGold

Şifrepunklar Kod Yazıyor: Nick Szabo, Akıllı Sözleşmeler ve BitGold

Cypherpunks viết mã: Nick Szabo, Hợp đồng thông minh và BitGold

密码朋克编写代码：Nick Szabo、智能合约和 BitGold

The rise of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) sparked a revolution, merging the digital and art realms in ways we never thought possible. Suddenly, digital assets became these rare and exclusive treasures thanks to blockchain magic. NFTs turned digital art, collectibles, and memorable moments into unique pieces that could be bought, sold, and swapped like never before. With big-name sales and celeb endorsements, NFTs became the talk of the town, stirring up debates about the future of digital ownership and creativity. But now, after all the hype, the NFT market seems to be cooling off. What started as a wild frenzy with record-breaking sales now faces a reality check. , a bubble ready to pop. But despite the doubts, web3 companies aren't throwing in the towel yet. People are wondering if NFTs were just a flash in the pan They're still dreaming up new ways to make NFTs shine, convinced of their power to change the digital game for good. They're focusing on the bigger picture, on how NFTs can keep shaking things up and creating new value, connections, and experiences in our digital world. The Perceived Decline of NFTs Lately, there's been a noticeable slowdown in the NFT market, with a drop in transaction volumes and those eye-popping prices that used to make headlines. For example, , falling by 21.25% compared to the previous week. from January 20th to January 27th, 2024, the sales volume of NFTs experienced a significant drop Many factors are behind this change, highlighting the challenges of keeping up with the NFT frenzy. Market saturation is a big one – there are just way too many new NFT projects flooding the scene, making it hard to stand out. Buyers are being pickier as the novelty wears off, and with so many options out there, it's tough for standout projects to shine. Then there's the whole speculative bubble thing – , not real value, and that kind of growth isn't sustainable. prices shot up partly because of speculation Regarding the initial explosion and cooling off in the popularity of NFTs, Alexander Mitrovich, CEO of Unique Network, says, "NFTs got the world’s attention by being used for digital Collectables - be it gaming ones or digital Art but the boom surged on speculative sales, diverging from its creator-centric ethos." Mitrovich continued to break it down, saying, "Despite sporadic brand successes, technical hurdles such as high transaction fees and blockchain inefficiencies disillusioned everyone. Consequently, NFTs faced a perception of decline tied to hype and volatile pricing dynamics." "This underscored the imperative for NFT projects to recalibrate towards sustainable value propositions, emphasizing utility, and genuine creator support to foster longevity and resilience in the face of market fluctuations and shifting consumer sentiments." From where I'm standing, it looks like the NFT market is in a phase of readjustment. The initial excitement drew in all sorts – from genuine fans to folks just looking to make a quick buck. But as things settle down, the projects with real value and purpose will stick around. This period is crucial for weeding out the fluff and letting the truly innovative and sustainable NFT uses shine. So, while the cooling off might seem like a downer, it's a chance for the market to find its footing and for everyone involved to remember what blockchain and NFTs are about – creating new ways to own and create in the digital world. It might just be the step we need to build a stronger and longer-lasting NFT ecosystem. Why Web3 Companies Persist with NFTs Despite the volatile movements of the NFT market, web3 companies are standing firm in their commitment to Non-Fungible Tokens, driven by strategic reasons that speak to their belief in the long-term potential of this technology. They understand that market volatility is just a temporary hurdle and are focused on the bigger picture – the transformative possibilities that NFTs offer for the digital economy. For them, NFTs aren't just a passing trend but a foundational technology that can reshape digital ownership, create new economic models, and forge direct connections between creators and consumers. Their long-term vision involves integrating NFTs into every corner of the digital world, making them a natural part of online experiences. They see this integration as the next step in internet evolution, giving users more control over their digital assets and identities. From embedding NFTs into social media platforms to revolutionizing traditional business models, they're laying the groundwork for a future where NFTs are woven into the very fabric of the digital economy. Instead of just following market trends, these companies are leading the charge, betting on NFTs to be a vital part of their strategy for years. Dirk Lueth, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Upland, believes that focusing on additional use cases is helping to bring back interest in NFT. Lueth shared his thoughts, saying, "The focus on utility and gamification, along with advancements in technology and gameplay, clearer regulations, and deeper community engagement, is recognized as key to revitalizing demand." "This approach aligns with the core value proposition of Web3, which emphasizes genuine ownership, a shared economy, participation in governance, and an innovation potential that traditional Web2 business models cannot match." Lueth finished off by saying, "Web3 companies, particularly those in the gaming and "GameFi" sectors, view these elements as crucial drivers of the next cryptocurrency surge, referred to as 'Wave 3.' This upcoming phase is expected to offer substantially more value through enhanced utility for crypto-based products, distinguishing it from the initial hype-driven phases of Wave 1 (ICOs) and Wave 2 (PFP NFTs). Alex Casassovici, Founder of Azarus, Web3 layer for streams, also believes that a greater focus on utility is helping to keep the NFT market alive. Casassovici explained his views, saying, "In the diverse world of NFT ownership, we primarily observe two distinct groups. First are the traders, who buy and sell NFTs as a financial strategy. The broader crypto market's downturn has significantly impacted this group, grappling with widespread fear, uncertainty, and doubt." Casassovici continued, "Their activity largely drives the transaction volumes seen in NFT sales. On the other hand, we have holders, who purchase NFTs not as a financial asset but as a key to enter and belong to specific communities. These individuals tend to retain their NFTs, valuing membership and engagement over profit." "Recently, we've noticed an influx of new holders, seizing the opportunity presented by lower prices to join these communities. This trend underscores the enduring appeal and foundational values of NFTs beyond mere trading." ‌ Continuing to develop and build during the bear market and creating real value behind NFTs has helped to inspire confidence in holders, according to Casassovici who said, "Most NFT projects have astutely utilized the current bear market to regroup, recalibrate, and strategically plan for the future." "This period has not been about stagnation but about building and creating intrinsic value for their communities, which is the cornerstone of NFT ownership. Some projects such as Mocaverse launched during the through out the bear market," Casassovici continued, explaining his views more. "Yet, they are thriving by enhancing holder value through engaging initiatives and expanding their utility, notably evolving into proxies for the Apecoin DAO. Such developments, achieved amidst challenging market conditions, indicate a broader trend." Casassovici finished by saying, "More NFT projects will likely continue on this path, focusing on developing greater utility and crafting unique, community-centric experiences that strengthen and unify their holder base." More Than Just Digital Art: Innovative Use Cases for NFTs The versatility of NFTs has transcended digital art, showcasing their potential across diverse industries. In gaming, NFTs redefine in-game assets, empowering players to own, trade, and sell digital items, enriching gaming experiences and fostering autonomous in-game economies. In digital identity, NFTs secure immutable records, ensuring seamless verification in online interactions. Real estate sees a profound impact, with virtual land and properties traded as NFTs in digital realms, extending to physical world transactions for streamlined processes and increased transparency. Success stories like Decentraland and NBA Top Shot highlight NFTs' practicality. Decentraland's decentralized virtual space and NBA Top Shot's collectible game highlights showcase NFTs' transformative potential. On a personal note, the innovation in NFTs is captivating, particularly in challenging traditional ownership and value paradigms. Fractional ownership of physical assets via NFTs democratizes investment access and boosts liquidity in typically illiquid markets. Innovative concepts like "NFTfi," using NFTs as loan collateral, exemplify their dual role as value stores and transaction facilitators. These examples underscore NFTs' growing versatility and capacity to reshape various sectors of the economy and society. NFT Security and Encryption Navigating the NFT market presents exciting digital ownership and creativity prospects and significant security challenges for creators and collectors alike. Foremost among these concerns is the risk of fraud, from unauthorized asset duplication to the looming threat of hacking and theft targeting valuable NFTs. Addressing these challenges necessitates robust security measures to safeguard digital assets and uphold the integrity of the NFT ecosystem. For example, Fhenix employs a security-focused approach to NFTs by integrating encryption keys within its ERC721-based digital collectibles. This method involves embedding four encrypted 32-bit integers within each NFT, collectively forming a 128-bit encryption key. The purpose of this encryption key is to secure data linked to the NFT, such as images, videos, or other digital content accessible via an external URL. The encryption ensures that this data can only be accessed by the NFT holder, enhancing the privacy and security of the digital asset. The process of creating a Fhenix NFT includes not only specifying ownership and the asset's digital representation but also incorporating this encrypted information. The encryption of these details serves to protect the associated data, making it inaccessible to unauthorized parties. This is achieved by scrambling the information in a way that requires the correct key for decryption and access. When access to the encrypted content is necessary, Fhenix provides a mechanism for securely decrypting and revealing the data to the NFT holder. This ensures that sensitive information or content tied to the NFT remains secure, sharing or viewing it safely without risk of unauthorized exposure. Secret NFTs leverage the Secret Network to add privacy to NFTs. These NFTs utilize smart contracts that encrypt data at various stages, including input, output, and state, based on the SNIP-721 standard. This standard expands on the Ethereum ERC-721 NFT standard by incorporating privacy features, offering optional private ownership and metadata fields. Such capabilities allow for more privacy and control over digital assets than traditional NFTs. The privacy features provided by Secret NFTs have practical implications for both creators and collectors. For collectors, maintaining private ownership details helps protect identities and addresses potential security risks. Creators can benefit from the ability to include private metadata, which can be used to embed exclusive content or to craft digital assets with unique, hidden attributes, thereby adding value to their NFTs. Furthermore, Secret NFTs' encryption capabilities facilitate applications requiring confidentiality and enable the verification of user identities while making sure that sensitive information remains encrypted and private. Encryption, anchored in blockchain technology, emerges as a pivotal tool in fortifying NFT security, ensuring the authenticity and ownership of digital assets. Each NFT is imbued with a unique token on the blockchain, featuring distinctive metadata and identification codes, forging a digital fingerprint that distinguishes it from others. Closing thoughts As the dust continues to settle on the initial frenzy surrounding NFTs, the market is taking a moment to catch its breath and look around. Despite the cooling interest and a more critical eye being cast on their long-term value, there's a palpable sense of commitment from web3 companies. They're not just clinging to a fading trend; they genuinely believe in the revolutionary potential of NFTs to redefine digital ownership and creativity. For anyone trying to make sense of this evolving landscape, it's essential to keep an eye on the broader market trends and to discern between fleeting hype and projects with real substance and utility. It's a good decision to diversify, not putting all your eggs in one basket, but rather exploring the breadth of the NFT world from digital art to gaming and beyond. This strategy helps spread the risk, especially in a market known for its volatility. Community engagement is also key, offering insights and opportunities for those willing to dive in. With the pace of innovation in this space, staying informed about new uses and developments could open up exciting possibilities. The journey ahead is uncertain, but for those willing to learn and adapt, it could be an interesting ride.

Why Won't Web3 Companies Let NFTs Fade Away?

Exploring Shadow AI's impact on business: risks, strategies, and the quest for a secure, innovative future. How will companies navigate this new frontier? In December 2023, Amazon unveiled its latest venture, Q, promising a safer alternative to consumer-focused chatbots like ChatGPT. However, the excitement was short-lived. Just three days after the announcement, Amazon Q was embroiled in controversy. Employees were alarmed over its inadequate security and privacy measures, revealing that Q fell short of Amazon's stringent corporate standards. Critics its tendency for "hallucinations" and leaking sensitive information, including AWS data center locations, unreleased product features, and internal discount programs. Amazon's engineers were forced into damage control mode, addressing critical issues tagged as a "sev 2" emergency to prevent future fallout. AI highlighted Around the same time, Samsung Electronics Co. grappled with its own AI-induced headache. Sensitive internal source code found its way onto ChatGPT, spotlighting glaring security vulnerabilities. The response was swift: a company-wide ban on generative AI tools was communicated through an internal memo. Samsung's decision underscored the difficulties of managing data on external AI platforms, such as Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot, where control over data retrieval and deletion is elusive. This move mirrored the concerns of , who viewed these AI services as a digital . Despite the ban's impact on productivity, Samsung remained firm, opting to develop in-house AI solutions for translation, document summarization, and software development until a secure AI-using environment could be established. 65% of Samsung employees Trojan horse Apple, too, joined the fray, prohibiting its employees from using ChatGPT and similar AI-powered tools. The ban was partly fueled by the tools' affiliations with Microsoft, a direct competitor, stoking fears about Apple's sensitive data security. This trend wasn't exclusive to tech giants; financial behemoths like , Deutsche Bank, Wells Fargo, and others also limited AI chatbots' use, aiming to shield sensitive financial information from third-party eyes. JPMorgan Chase Yet, these restrictions inadvertently birthed a culture of "Shadow AI," where employees use their personal devices at work in their quest for efficiency and time-saving, highlighting a significant policy-practice gap in AI usage. Shadow AI: Unseen Threat Although concrete data is scarce, numerous individuals at companies with AI restrictions have to employing such workarounds — those are only the ones open about it! This Shadow AI usage is prevalent in many organizations, encouraging the use of AI in ways that contradict or violate company policies, thus becoming an activity employees feel compelled to conceal. confessed As I dug into this issue deeper, I found some recent studies confirming that despite about in the workplace, . Recent research by Dell that 91% of respondents have dabbled with generative AI in their lives in some capacity, with another 71% reporting they've specifically used it at work. numerous stories companies restricting genAI use employees don't seem to be using it any less indicates The study conducted by highlights a significant gap between AI adoption in the workplace and the formal policies governing its use in Australia and New Zealand. While 63% of employees in these regions utilize AI for various tasks, only 36% of organizations officially allow it. The survey reveals that AI is being applied for creating written content (51%), enhancing productivity (37%), automating repetitive tasks (37%), improving decision-making (29%), and customer service (20%). However, only 11% of organizations have a comprehensive policy for AI usage, and 21% have no intention to establish any. ISACA Moreover, the study by ISACA indicates a lack of AI-related training within organizations, with only 4% offering it to all staff and 57% not providing any training, even to those directly affected by AI technologies. This situation raises concerns similar to those regarding Shadow IT, where employees use IT resources without formal approval, potentially risking organizational security and governance. Navigating the New Frontier of Risk and Responsibility Much like how Shadow IT snuck up on businesses, Shadow AI is already present, forcing organizations to confront their GenAI stance head-on while still figuring out how to use it. Experts guardrails will not stop employees from using AI tools as they significantly enhance productivity and save time. Therefore, company CIOs must confront this issue and explore mitigation strategies that align with their organization's tolerance for risk. Inevitably, employees with good intentions will utilize these tools to increase their efficiency, so corporate tech leaders can prevent any potential harm to the organization by proactively addressing this trend and managing it effectively. believe Every employee's interaction with AI tools can be a potential point of vulnerability. The history of Shadow IT is marked by significant data breaches, such as the infamous incidents involving , which led to the public exposure of the personal data of 30,000 individuals. These historical precedents serve as a cautionary tale, emphasizing the need for rigorous data governance in the age of AI. unsecured Amazon S3 buckets Shadow AI is a more formidable challenge than Shadow IT for several reasons. First, the decentralized nature of AI tool usage means that the potential for data misuse or leakage is not limited to a technical subset of employees (e.g., developers) but extends across the entire organization. Additionally, inherently learn from the data they process, creating a dual layer of risk: the possibility of accessing sensitive data by AI vendors and the enhanced capability of bad actors to discover and exploit exposed data. AIaaS (AI as a Service) models Strategies to Tackle Shadow AI According to , regional VP of EMEA and Asia and head of digital transformation at SAS, tech leaders with a data-first mindset will be able to drive enhanced efficiencies in 2024 and beyond. This is because maximizing the benefits of generative AI tools is contingent upon well-organized data, necessitating robust data management practices encompassing data access, hygiene, and governance. Amir Sohrabi In his for CIO.com, Nick Brackney, Gen AI & Cloud Evangelist Leader at Dell Technologies, points to "three prescriptive ways" businesses should use to combat Shadow AI successfully. article First, establish a centralized strategy for generative AI usage, involving executive leadership to define use cases, create secure access, and protect data. This approach simplifies enforcement and scaling across the organization while requiring effort to build and identify easy wins to ensure success. Second, keep your data organized and understand which types should not be placed in public or hosted private cloud AI offerings, such as trade secrets and sensitive information. Use AI solutions that allow for complete control or do not retain conversation logs for these types of data. Third, control the AI service by bringing it to your data, whether on-premises or through secure cloud solutions, to leverage advantages in governance, employee productivity, and secure data access. This approach enhances the end-user experience, ensuring compliance and reducing the risk of data exposure. Crafting a clear is crucial for delineating improper AI practices that could potentially harm your organization and for guiding the integration of AI applications in line with data security protocols and risk management strategies. This policy serves as a benchmark, allowing decision-makers to evaluate the usage of AI tools within the organization against established guidelines, swiftly pinpoint any risk exposures, and determine the necessary corrective actions. AI Acceptable Use Policy Ethan Mollick, professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, another thought-provoking approach. He believes that traditional methods for integrating new technologies are ineffective for AI due to their centralized nature and slow pace, making it difficult for IT departments to develop competitive in-house AI models or for consultants to provide specific guidance. The real potential for AI application lies with the employees who are experts in their own jobs, suggesting that for organizations to truly benefit from AI, they must engage their workforce (aka "Secret Cyborgs") in using AI technologies. offers First and foremost, brands should acknowledge that employees at any level could possess valuable AI skills, irrespective of their formal role or past performance. Having detected the among their AI-savvy employees, companies must foster a collective learning environment such as crowd-sourced prompt libraries and create a culture that diminishes the apprehension around AI by offering assurances against job loss due to AI, promoting the use of AI for eliminating mundane tasks and encouraging more engaging work. secret cyborgs Establishing psychological safety is crucial to encouraging open AI usage among employees. Employers should be able to offer substantial rewards for identifying significant opportunities where AI can aid the organization. This could include financial incentives, promotions, or flexible working conditions and be handled through gamification. Today's organizations should act swiftly to determine how productivity gains from AI will be utilized, how work processes should be reorganized in light of AI capabilities, and how to manage potential risks associated with AI use, such as data hallucinations and IP concerns. This calls for a proactive approach to crafting comprehensive AI policies, engaging employees across all levels to leverage their insights, and fostering a culture that rewards AI-driven innovation. As technophiles and businesses navigate the complexities of AI integration, what strategies will you deploy to responsibly and innovatively leverage this transformative technology within your organization or personal projects, ensuring a balanced approach to privacy, security, and efficiency? Don’t forget to check out my previous article to discover ! AI’s dirty secret

Shadow AI: Reshaping the Future, But at What Cost?

শ্যাডো এআই: ভবিষ্যতকে পুনর্নির্মাণ করা, কিন্তু কী মূল্যে?

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शैडो एआई: भविष्य को नया आकार देना, लेकिन किस कीमत पर?

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