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Next on the Avs rewind: defensemen. Quotable "It's been an uphill battle, but you have to accept it and live in the moment. I think we did that pretty well. "It's such a tight group. Everybody's supporting each other. We gave it all, and we'll learn from ...

Colorado Avalanche rewind: Georgiev cements himself as reliable starter; Francouz serves as handy backup

Yahoo

LEGO

Once the event wraps up, the retro party will be far from over, as there will be a Summer Expo After Party at Rewind Retro Bar in Knightdale from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Speaking of Rewind, the bar will be hosting multiple events during the month of June.

80s workout party, LEGOs and retro market: 8 ways to nerd out in June

WRAL

Mess up a platforming puzzle, and Ekko can rewind himself to safety, zipping backwards along his timeline to a point just before he plunged clumsily to his death. It's a tool that's endlessly satisfying, even if 50% of its uses are for bailing you out of ...

Convergence: A League of Legends Story Review: "a deliberately weighty Metroidvania"

Denver Nuggets

KUSA

All those smooth-looking, long-range jumpers Michael Porter Jr. hits have definitely been a reward for Denver. Easy to forget just how much of a risk he was early on for the Nuggets. They rolled the dice at No.

https://www.bing.com/th?id=OVFT.QUniBxv2x6ypSCKTL9701C&pid=News

Porter turns in big rewards for Nuggets in NBA Finals win

https://www.bing.com/th?id=ODF.SZkN8lpKbKUiHHPeXOJnHQ&pid=news

9NEWS

Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Sam Pitroda

Pakistan

In US with Rahul Gandhi, Indian Overseas Congress chief Sam Pitroda said, 'In the last nine years, our society has been polarised by focusing on religion. On one hand, there in Hindutva, and on the ot

https://www.bing.com/th?id=OVFT.2S7Gvt3bE4n_OyxhKAW5NS&pid=News

‘Hua to Hua’ on 1984 Sikh genocide to ‘Wrong to attack Pakistan’ on Pulwama: Rajeev Chandrasekhar debunks Sam Pitroda

https://www.bing.com/th?id=ODF.QhGNXWFNN9fOcqA6wgPRRg&pid=news

Firstpost

North Carolina

Athletic Bilbao

How did Lawrence Taylor end up in Chapel Hill? Which running back is the most influential recruit in program history?

https://www.bing.com/th?id=OVFT.tx4CMnElRM4BMljOJEq5ty&pid=News

North Carolina recruiting rewind: Best signee, biggest bust, the one who got away and more

https://www.bing.com/th?id=ODF.nEBYrKN0VThIizhHW1BNYQ&pid=news

The Athletic

Alabama

A list of the best players to sign with Alabama in the modern era is a much more contentious debate, but in terms of recruiting status, it starts with Smith. Few players have shifted the paradigm of their position at a school like Jones has for Alabama wide receivers.

https://www.bing.com/th?id=OVFT.80wbI4RM4yILnZHNL8C-hC&pid=News

Alabama Recruiting Rewind: Best signee, biggest bust, the one who got away and more

In terms of pure traffic, the 2023 edition of The BIG Toy Book STILL continues to draw a ton of interest three months after its release but our 2023 Classics & Specialty Issue is on fire right now. Beyond the Big Book,

https://www.bing.com/th?id=OVFT.kyGHQEGZ0OS-o-PAiEVqBy&pid=News

The Toy Book Top 10: The Hottest Stories of May 2023

https://www.bing.com/th?id=ODF.CYVDAGSetSZ1LOE9-q6ByA&pid=news

toybook

All those smooth-looking, long-range jumpers Michael Porter Jr. hits have definitely been a reward for Denver. Easy to forget just how much of a risk he was early on for the Nuggets.

Once a risky pick, Porter turning in big rewards for Nuggets team making 1st NBA Finals

https://www.bing.com/th?id=ODF.C2iAm0J0zS_NO837exPzmQ&pid=news

WTOP News

Saskatoon

Here’s your morning rewind for the Thursday, June 1, edition of Global News Morning Saskatoon. Saskatchewan is known as the world's largest potash producer, but that's just part of a much bigger picture. Uranium, gold and rare earth metals are also part ...

Saskatoon morning news rewind: Thursday, June 1

Get the most recent info and news about Rewind on HackerNoon, where 10k+ technologists publish stories for 4M+ monthly readers.

Back up, copy, and restore your SaaS and cloud data. Get Rewind data backup and recovery software for ecommerce, accounting, productivity, and development.

Rewind

The 2021 AI Rewind: HackerNoon Edition

This video shows a curated list of the with a , , and . The videos include great commentary on the future of AI by many important people in the field such as Fei-Fei Li, Luis Lamb, Gary Marcus, and more. latest breakthroughs in AI by release date clear video explanation link to a more in-depth article code Enjoy the video! Chapters: Hey! Tap the Thumbs Up button and Subscribe. You'll learn a lot of cool stuff in 2021, I promise. 0:00 2020, A year in review 0:28 Where do you want AI to go? 9:06 References: Complete article: https://github.com/louisfb01/Best_AI_paper_2020 GitHub repo: https://github.com/louisfb01/Best_AI_paper_2020 Follow me for more AI content: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whats_ai/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/whats-ai/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Whats_AI Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whats.artifi... Medium: https://medium.com/@whats_ai Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUzGQrN-lyyc0BWTYoJM_Sg/join Video Transcript 00:00 where do you want ai to go what what 00:02 would make you happy 00:03 what is the objective here the objective 00:05 function for those of us who are 00:06 building ai 00:08 um or trying to inform it from other 00:10 fields 00:11 what would count in success where do you 00:12 want to take it to 00:17 [Music] 00:50 [Music] 00:57 [Music] 01:18 [Music] 01:43 [Music] 01:54 [Music] 02:39 [Music] 03:24 [Music] 03:30 [Music] 03:51 [Music] 04:16 [Music] 04:29 [Music] 04:50 but it's a trick no no it's much more 04:52 than that uh whosoever be he were they 04:54 shall have the power 04:57 whatever man it's a trick please be my 05:00 guest 05:02 come on really yeah oh this is gonna be 05:05 beautiful clint you've had a tough week 05:07 we won't hold it against you if you 05:08 can't get it up you may have seen this 05:10 before 05:10 right yeah all right 05:39 [Music] 06:24 [Music] 06:30 [Music] 06:51 [Music] 07:16 [Music] 07:27 [Music] 08:13 [Music] 08:17 researchers and artists around the world 08:19 have been using style game 2 to do all 08:20 kinds of interesting work 08:22 at nvidia we've been pushing the 08:23 frontier of using gans to synthesize 08:25 extremely realistic images 08:28 the catch is that you need to train them 08:30 on extremely large quantities of data 08:32 so to tackle this challenge we've 08:33 invented a new approach for stylegan 2 08:35 that we call adaptive discriminator 08:37 augmentation or ada 08:38 this lets us reduce the number of 08:40 training images by a factor of 10 a 08:42 factor of 20 or more while still getting 08:44 great results 08:56 [Music] 09:06 as a scientist i want to 09:10 push the scientific knowledge and 09:12 principles of 09:13 ai further and further and the first 09:15 thing is start with 09:17 some really fundamental laws and 09:21 principles of 09:22 ai i keep saying that i still feel our 09:24 ai 09:25 era is pre-newtonian physics that we are 09:28 still studying phenomenology 09:30 and engineering but there is going to be 09:34 a moment 09:34 or a set of moments where we're starting 09:37 to understand 09:38 the principles of intelligence and that 09:41 is 09:42 the scientists in me we're in the head 09:45 of a citizen i guess 09:47 and directing stanford's human center ai 09:51 institute 09:52 i want this to be a technology that can 09:55 an idealistic way really better human 09:58 conditions 09:58 right it's so profound it's so 10:02 horizontal 10:03 it's so um it has so much human and 10:07 societal impact 10:10 it can be very very bad and can be very 10:12 very good 10:13 so there i would like to see a 10:16 framework of this technology being 10:19 developed and deployed 10:21 in the most benevolent way 10:25 what comes to mind very often so i hang 10:27 out because of the family i'm born into 10:30 with people who work at state 10:32 departments who deal with international 10:34 laws military laws etc 10:36 and there's a there's a there's a big 10:38 concern here with militarization of ai 10:40 right 10:41 danny just mentioned human decision 10:43 making humans in the loop why people are 10:45 trying to negotiate 10:46 treaties limiting should we limit should 10:49 they always be a human 10:50 in the loop when we when we build 10:52 dangerous machines 10:54 you know kill a robot as well as is 10:56 happening as we all know 10:58 in the defense world and and as will 11:01 happen so what about the growing threats 11:03 of militarization of ai which is ongoing 11:06 and what should we 11:07 uh should we do anything about it or 11:10 pessimistic can we do anything about it 11:12 or is that 11:15 genie out of the box i want the costs 11:18 and the benefits of ai to be 11:21 evenly distributed across society both 11:24 in the united states 11:26 and globally and i want the public to 11:29 trust that that's what's being done 11:31 and i think that's impossible without 11:34 changes to law 11:36 just impossible um i like one of the 11:38 sayings of michael raving 11:40 from harvard and hebrew university said 11:42 that it's great that 11:44 uh computer science has not been around 11:46 for 2000 years 11:48 and we are at a stage where very very 11:50 important results 11:51 occur in front of our eyes i also like a 11:54 saying by 11:56 alan turing in his mind paper where he 11:58 said we can only see a short distance 12:01 ahead 12:02 but we can see plenty there that needs 12:04 to be done 12:05 and as fei-fei said as scientists i want 12:08 ai to advance but since ai is having an 12:11 impact 12:12 as big as physics had in the 20th 12:15 century 12:15 engineering heading and 20th century all 12:18 the ethical issues 12:19 all the biases and all the social 12:21 implications that margaret and others 12:23 and here in francesca 12:25 have been studying they are key as 12:28 responsibility of our 12:29 ourselves as scientists and in terms of 12:32 uh 12:32 technical technically speaking what we 12:35 are trying to do 12:36 is to conciliate traditions of ai so 12:39 that we cannot see 12:41 and as you said gary before you've been 12:43 saying since the 12:44 late 90s we have to converge we have to 12:47 look for convergency 12:49 you cited the only colonial cited other 12:51 prominent scientists today 12:53 we need a way of seeing that several 12:56 techniques can contribute to this 12:57 endeavor of making ai 12:59 fairer ai less bias and ai 13:03 to make something very positive for us 13:06 as humanity we need uh as scientists to 13:09 see 13:09 our fields in a very uh human humanistic 13:13 way 13:14 so that not only the technical stuff 13:16 advances but we also have to 13:18 be guided by serious and by effective 13:20 ethical principles 13:22 laws and norms as ryan said it's hard to 13:25 do to do that at the moment we are at 13:27 the beginning of uh 13:29 an ai cambrian explosion as several 13:32 people mention here but we need to be 13:34 very aware 13:35 of the social ethical and global 13:38 implications 13:39 that ai has these days we have to be 13:41 concerned about the north south 13:44 divide about the different cultures in 13:46 order to regulate it properly 13:49 we cannot see it only from a single 13:52 cultural perspective so 13:53 that's what i want to see ai researchers 13:56 doing to be they have to be concerned 13:58 about the technical results 14:00 the outstanding results ai has been 14:02 showing but also 14:03 we have to be to care about other people 14:06 about 14:06 other people's other countries and over 14:09 and over all 14:10 for the global health of the planet 14:12 thank you very much 14:13 and merry christmas happy new year to 14:16 everyone thank you gary and vincent for 14:18 the 14:18 brilliant debate you brought today and 14:20 for the scientists 14:22 i am reminded of the old african proverb 14:24 that i'm sure you all know which is it 14:25 takes a village to raise a child 14:27 clearly it will take a village as we've 14:29 seen today 14:30 to raise an ai that is ethical robust 14:32 and trustworthy

AI Rewind: A Year of Amazing Machine Learning Papers  

Hello everyone! At Dashbouquet, we can’t stress enough the value of long-term relationships with our clients. We consider our success to be based on your solely — and we can’t be more proud to know that so many companies trust us with their projects. We’d also like to thank the readers of our blog: your comments and engagement inspire us to keep posting relevant information and share our expertise with those interested in technology and innovation. So we are saying a huge THANK YOU to our clients, readers and all the tech geeks out there who work and communicate with us. We are wishing you many exciting new projects, lots of fun and adventure and we hope that in 2019 our client base will expand. We love doing what we do and we are happy to share our passion with you. _Read writing from DashMagazine in Hacker Noon. Collection of posts from those who build Dashbouquet…_hackernoon.com DashMagazine - Hacker Noon 2018 has been busy for Dashbouquet. Here is a quick glance: 20 new people hired 5 new projects launched 64 articles published 1 new office opened 5 reviews received As for our blog, it’s been busy as well. We have collected the top-9 most read articles in case you missed any of them or simply want to re-read them: Top Ten Tools You Should Use In Your Software Workflow Web Development Trends that will Dominate in 2019 Usage of Reselect in a React-Redux Application 10 JavaScript Animation Libraries to Follow in 2018 Angular VS React in 2018 Top 5 JavaScript IDEs in 2018 Machine Learning and AI trends for 2018: What to Expect? Sex Toys and Artificial Intelligence — The Past, Present, and the Future How Blockchain Can Transform Artificial Intelligence Infographic: React vs Angular vs Vue.js Thanks again for staying with us — you inspire us to do more cool stuff! And as usual, we are always looking forward to receiving your feedback. So please, comment on our articles, hit us with an email or simply share content from our blog — it would make us feel really special. All the best wishes from the Dashbouquet team, have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Originally published at dashbouquet.com . _Read writing from DashMagazine in Hacker Noon. Collection of posts from those who build Dashbouquet…_hackernoon.com DashMagazine - Hacker Noon

A Dashbouquet Rewind: How we Rolled through 2018 — and Together with you!

Christmas time is finished. New Year’s Eve is finished as well. I hope that everyone had a great time and you are ready to start working hard and learning new things! I want to start this year with a wonderful article-tutorial on how to create similar to fast rewind control. Periscope Requirements Xcode 7+ 8+ iOS At least basic Swift knowledge Passion to iOS and development High-level explanation To build this component we will have to use video player — . We will add to begin rewind and calculate finger translation — it will help us to change rewind speed and calculate time. While rewinding is in progress we will use to blur video, and to generate preview thumbnails. AVPlayer UILongPressGestureRecognizer UIVisualEffectView AVAssetImageGenerator OK. Let’s stop talking, . just do it Create single view application and create new class — subclass of UIViewController. Import and put this code inside class declaration: VideoViewController AVFoundation Everything we did here is quite easy: Declared all variables related to AVPlayer which we are going to use in the future; Created custom initializer with videoURL where we set URL and initialize all — AVURLAsset, AVPlayerItem, AVPlayer and AVPlayerLayer; In we add player to view sublayers; loadView In we simply start playing video; viewDidLoad In we return — it hides status bar if our status bar is based on view controller (it can be changed in file). prefersStatusBarHidden true Info.plist Simply set frame of playerLayer to view.bounds — we support both portrait and landscape orientations. OK. Our video view controller is ready for early stage test. In order to test it we have to do two simple steps: , extract and add folder to your project ; Download this ZIP file Resources (do not forget to select required targets) Open file and put this code inside: ViewController.swift Now run project on your device or simulator and make sure that video view controller is presented, video is playing, and all orientations are supported. Our next stage is to recognize touches and blur content. Declare these two variables in : VideoViewController Paste this code to the end of method: loadView Add this code to the end of method: viewWillLayoutSubviews Implement this function: The purpose of this function is to pause video and fade in visual effect view when touches began, and resume video and fade out visual effect view when touches cancelled, ended or failed. In the future we will add more logic to this method. Run project and test long press. That’s how it works on my device: Next step is to create timeline view and implement rewind functionality. But let’s have a very quick look at UI to understand what exactly our timeline should have and how it should work. Periscope As you can see — timeline goes from the left side to the right side of the view controller. It has a white dot which indicates where video was stopped when user started rewinding. If you compare screenshots you will notice, that interval width is different — it is because rewind speed (we will call it in our project) values are not equal. And the last thing to notice is that current time is always in the middle of the timeline. zoom Create as a subclass of UIView and declare these variables: TimelineView The purpose of each variable is obvious, but let’s make sure everyone understands: — total duration of a video in seconds; duration — seconds, when rewind began; initialTime — current time in seconds; currentTime — private variable which stores zoom value; _zoom — wrap on top of _zoom variable, so when new value is going to be assigned we can check whether it is in an acceptable range; zoom and — both variables define acceptable range for zoom; minZoom maxZoom — width of a line representing a specific time interval on a timeline. If zoom is not equal 1, then actual interval width equals to . Value will be used during rewind for calculations — for example, if zoom is 1, intervalWidth is 30 and intervalDuration is 15, then when user moves 10pixels left or right we will rewind by +5 or -5 seconds; intervalWidth intervalWidth * zoom — duration of an interval in seconds. If video is 55 seconds and interval is 15 seconds — then we will have 3 full intervals and one not full interval. Value will be used during rewind for calculations. intervalDuration minZoom, maxZoom, intervalWidth and intervalDuration could be constants, but I decided to make them vars — if you want to reuse this view controller with different videos you might want to adjust these values. Implement these functions: — calculates interval width depending on the zoom value; currentIntervalWidth — calculates time interval in seconds from passed width. Will be used to rewind by distance; timeIntervalFromDistance — calculates distance from given time interval. Will be used to calculate elapsed interval width; distanceFromTimeInterval — takes distance, calculates time interval from and adds this value to the current time. rewindByDistance Implement draw rect: Do not be scared. Everything here is simple :) I will explain only those things, which I think might need explanation: As you probably noticed before — when we rewind in Periscope timeline moves left-right. To have that movement we calculate value and apply to all our drawings; originX We draw first line which indicates full timeline; We draw second line which indicates elapsed time; We draw dot which indicates initial time; And last, we draw separators between intervals. And final bit on timeline view for now — implement new initializer and set to : opaque false I feel that our timeline is finished. Next stage is to add it to view controller and make it work! Add these variables: First variable is a content view, where all rewind related views/controls will be added. We will fade in and fade out this view when rewinding begins and finishes. Second variable is our actual timeline view which we implemented in a previous stage. And the last variable will help us to calculate how far finger has moved and how far we should rewind. Put this code to the end of method: loadView It adds all new subviews to their superviews and sets duration of the timeline to the duration of the asset. Update function with this code: longPressed We have added code to get current location of the finger; We calculate zoom value depending on the finger location. You can play with this calculation, but I prefer this calculation; We added logic to set initial time to the timeline when rewind begins; We call rewindByDistance method when gesture state is equal to .Changed; We fade in and fade out our newly created content view; We update previous location x if it is not equal to the current. Last stage before we try it is to layout our newly created views. Put this code to the end of : viewWillLayoutSubviews Run project on your device or simulator and check it out! That’s how it looks on my device: I really hope that you managed to do everything and it works exactly the same. If not — quickly go threw tutorial again. As you might have noticed it does not rewind when we release finger. In order to do that add update longPressed function with this code: We added 2 new lines — line 17 and line 18. With the first line we calculate new time, and with the second line we seek to that time. Run your project again.. and enjoy! It works now! Lazy people can close tutorial at this stage , because core stuff is built and next stage is mainly improvements and some nice-to-have features. (hope you are not lazy) Our goal is to add two new views: Preview image view which will show thumbnail of the video at current rewind time; Label, which will show current rewind time in format minutes:seconds. In order to update these views I decided to add closure to timeline view which will be triggered every time when value changes. currentTime Add this variable to : TimelineView Update variable implementation: currentTime Add these variables to the class: VideoViewController Add these two lines to the end of : init(videoURL: NSURL) Maximum size specifies the maximum dimensions for generated image. We want maximum height to be . Generated image is never scaled up. But in most of the cases video size is much higher than the expected thumbnail size. rewindPreviewMaxHeight Add these lines to the end of loadView method: Update function with this code: viewWillLayoutSubviews Feel free to change value. It indicates gap height between preview image view, current time label and timeline view. verticalSpacing And the last step in this section is to implement closure. Add this code just before adding timeline view to it’s superview: currentTimeDidChange We generate current time string and assign to rewindCurrentTimeLabel.text; We initialize requested time with current time and required timescale; We generate CGImages asynchronously. On completion we try to generate UIImage from CGImage, switch to main thread, set image to preview image view and ask to call layout subviews if needed. Run you project and enjoy! It looks fantastic! Let’s do the final touch! In Periscope they have a nice shadow behind preview image view. We will add it as well! Add this variable to : VideoViewController Add this block of code to the function just before setting up and adding rewindPreviewImageView to subviews : loadView (if you add it after rewindPreviewImageView, then it will be higher in a layer hierarchy and will be shown on top of imageView) For those who does not understand the purpose of line number 6 I would suggest to read about . iOS implicit animations Update viewWillLayoutSubviews: Run and check it out. Everything is great. But.. wait.. our preview image is pixelated! It is because expects us to provide pixels instead of points. Documentation on how points are different from pixels can be found . AVAssetImageGenerator.maximumSize here Let’s fix this minor issue. Update this line all over the class: with this: Now run project again. What’s going on.. Where is our shadow?! Where is our corner radius?! We forgot one little thing — returns us CGImage and we initialize UIImage with CGImage without providing required scale. In our case our needed scale is . AVAssetImageGenerator UIScreen.mainScreen().scale Find this line: And update with this: Ruuun again! Wonderful! Everything is back and it works great! Woop woop!!! Thank you for going threw this tutorial. If you liked it please press heart button and share it with your friends & colleagues. Source code from this tutorial with some improvements and more features can be downloaded . here See you in my next articles-tutorials! Bye!

Building Periscope fast rewind control for iOS

Let's rewind the clock to the 27th of March, 2020. A year that changed a lot about life as COVID descended upon each and everyone one of us. That day, a Friday, was the first day of the hard lockdown in South Africa. Like many of you reading this article, I was shocked and wondered how long I'd be left to survive the jail sentence handed down to me. On the Thursday afternoon before lockdown struck, I was in a bookstore and picked up " ". I was instantly intrigued. I had read one of Robins's books ( ) some years before and enjoyed his storytelling. I purchased the book and read it through the first weekend of lockdown. The 5 AM Club by Robin Sharma The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari I had heard about the concept of the 5 AM Club multiple times leading up to that point, always knowing it was something I wanted to find out more about. Adapting to the 5 AM Club gave me a sense of control, considering how much of my life was now out of my control. I wasn't born a night owl. In fact, by 4 PM, I'm usually pretty useless to the world. However, waking up has always been easy for me. I have boundless energy in the morning and, to be honest, quite enjoy the peace in the world during the early hours of the day. I know, right? It's the complete antithesis of what software engineers are accustomed to. What if I told you, though, that following the practices of the 5 AM Club has helped me gain two promotions over two years, learn new technologies and languages, and even set up a side hustle or two? There are many benefits to waking up early, both professionally and personally, and I intend to convince you of them! What is The 5 AM Club? So what exactly is The 5 AM Club? The 5 AM Club follows the 20/20/20 rule, as set out in the book: 20 minutes of intense exercise 20 minutes goal setting 20 minutes learning a new skill While the premise of The 5 AM Club is based on these three tenants, once you understand the reasons for each tenant, you can easily change, arrange and update them to suit your needs or align with your goals. As the Dalai Lama said: "…know the rules well so that you can break them effectively." Waking up at 5 AM allows you to make space in your day before the world gets busy. The 5 AM Club has gained popularity among business leaders and entrepreneurs, and it can be elegantly applied to the careers of software engineers. Let's discuss some of the significant benefits of practicing The 5 AM Club. Benefits of the 5 AM Club in my own experience, I leveraged the 5 AM Club to achieve my career goals. In 2020, I was a humble Senior Front-end Engineer; a year later, I became a Lead Front-end Engineer and, one year after that, an Associate Director of Front-end Engineering. This was a choice I made, dedicated to my career. Luckily, good fortune came into play, but I used my early morning hours to go the extra mile at work, and it paid off. Achieve your career goals: not everything in life is about work. Your health, relationships and family are just as important. I don't have kids, but I have a committed relationship with my partner, two dogs to look after, and a house to run. You can use the early hours to spend time with your partner, exercise together, take the dogs for a walk, and plan travel/life goals. Balance your personal life: another great way to leverage the 5 AM Club is to spend time learning new skills. Whether that's a new programming language, a new library or a tech stack, even dedicating an hour a day to learning something new that will help your career or personal life can take you very far and make you more valuable in your position. Learn a new skill: as I had focused on my career, waking up before everyone else allowed me to get a jump start on my day. I would deliver project requests or feedback before anyone had even woken up. Code reviews were done before my colleagues were awake, and I could solve difficult bugs in solitude. Trust me; this makes project managers love having you on their team and makes you stand out as an overachiever. Increase productivity and efficiency: you can also dedicate the early hours to improving your health. Coupled with intermittent fasting, you can get a head start on weight loss, exercise, planning meals or researching healthy alternatives. In my experience, it allows me to catch waves or run 10km without feeling the pressure of needing to be available on Slack. Improve your health: software engineers have a tremendous competitive edge over many would-be entrepreneurs - they can build and execute websites or applications for free! This makes starting a side hustle easy enough if you have a great idea. The other problem is time, which the 5 AM Club solves. Consistency is key; dedicating an hour or two a day to your side hustle can pay huge benefits in the long run. Start a side hustle: Breaking Old Habits Perhaps the most challenging part of achieving "5 AM Club" status is breaking the habit of waking up late. This barrier to entry is difficult for most people, never mind tired software engineers who have been staring at a screen and debugging complex logic problems. Recent studies show that it takes around 28 days to break a habit. Thus, if you're serious about breaking your sleep cycle, it's going to take nearly a month to get used to waking up at 5 AM. This wasn't all that hard, as South Africa has relatively mild seasons. Don't get me wrong; winter is still cold, so I would not advise you to begin forming this habit in the dark. Wait for summer to arrive and let the sun help you out. It's far easier to rise with the sun than without it. Be patient with yourself, and begin with the 20/20/20 method. It's far easier to get used to than dedicating yourself to one direct benefit, as listed above. Conclusion The 5 AM Club has many benefits that can help software developers improve their health, advance their careers, balance their personal lives and help them achieve greatness. Breaking the habit of waking up late will be difficult, but you'll soon reap the benefits of this widespread practice. The 5 AM Club is a way of gaining control in a chaotic and disruptive life for all of us. It's a philosophy and practice that can take you as far as you want. Buy the book, read it and start waking up early! This blog post was also If you liked this article, please follow me on Twitter at . published on dainemawer.com . @daine_mawer Image credit, prompt of ‘a software developer codes at the most beautiful hawaii beach sunrise.’ HackerNoon AI Image Generator

Six Life Benefits of Waking Up at Five AM Everyday 

Seis beneficios para la vida de despertarse a las cinco de la mañana todos los días

Six avantages pour la vie de se réveiller à cinq heures du matin tous les jours

रोजाना सुबह पांच बजे उठने के छह जीवन लाभ

毎日午前 5 時に起きる 6 つのメリット

Seis benefícios para a vida de acordar às cinco da manhã todos os dias

Sáu lợi ích cuộc sống khi thức dậy lúc 5 giờ sáng hàng ngày

每天早上五点起床的六大好处

Technology is making history more often than the healthcare industry. But if you consider that healthcare is saving human lives, they are equal. The greatest solution for humankind is when they work together to provide a better quality of life, making doctors’ lives easier or routine paperwork less boring. That sounds far too good, so let’s get to the practical side of it. Healthcare applications are becoming more popular with . That’s only mobile applications! To build the mHealth app, we need to choose the right tech stack. The following questions come up: 350 000 mHealth apps available in major app stores How do we set up medical features with backend technologies? How do top healthcare companies use AI in their work? What are successful tech stack examples in the industry? How to set up healthcare cybersecurity? We are simple software developers, so we are interested in technologies for health tech. It’s an interesting observation that health stacks are not entirely different from other industries' tech stacks. There are for sure more requirements for healthcare applications but the same languages, frameworks, and cloud technologies are used to build them. Let’s try to answer the questions we asked above and give tech stack examples. What Is Health Stack? Health stack is the backend and frontend technologies that healthcare companies use to manage their operations. So, except for clinical tasks, healthcare apps can do everything else. Non-clinical tasks include electronic health or medical records (EHR) systems, patient portals, telemedicine platforms, practice management software, billing and claims processing systems, analytics tools, etc. Health stack solutions have to help healthcare organizations improve their processes and improve patient care. But to choose the right tech stack for any app, we need to consider the following factors: Features and functionality of the product (in our case, medical features such as patient and doctor authorization, medical records database, etc.) Project requirements (user quantity, device support, performance time, etc.) The credibility of technologies’ open-source community Simple scalability Security considerations (in medical apps, also HIPAA compliance) Flexibility and the possibility to go beyond standard ways Size and type of your project. Every healthcare solution is unique, although the requirements for most apps will be similar. The reason is that a lot of technologies are added to the development process. Modern Healthcare Tech Stack Components It’s not a complete set of components a health app would need but those that are commonly used by digital health companies and healthcare providers. Java, Python, C#, C++, JavaScript, PHP, and HTML5. Programming Languages: The choice of specific language would depend on the functionality you need. If the app would store and analyze large amounts of data or somehow deal with artificial intelligence, it’s wise to choose Python + Java as backend technologies and Javascript as frontend technologies. Windows, macOS, Linux, and mobile Apple iOS or Google Android. Operating Systems: Here we just need to choose a trustable provider with great support. In the development process, we choose the operating system that has security features and top performance. MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, Memcached, and MongoDB. Databases: To choose the right database or mix a few, seek advice from a development team. They would want to know what type of data you have, the amounts, and how often it’ll be requested. Based on that, they’ll advise the capacity of the database and the provider. Apache server and NGINX. Servers: These two are the most popular ones, but what’s important for us is that they’re HIPAA compliant. Other : tools that often come in handy in the healthcare industry GitHub, Jenkins, Selenium, Rollbar, or Bitbucket DevOps tools: such as Slack, and G Suite - for communication and management Business tools such as Google Analytics, Stripe, or Elasticsearch - for search, analytics, and payments Utilities such as Amazon S3, Amazon EC2, or DigitalOcean Cloud storage and hosting providers Now that we have the general picture of the technology stack that might be used in healthcare apps, here are practical use cases. Tech Stack Examples To be more precise, let’s see the technology stack of some apps developed at Incora. The 1st example is the service we provided to the doctor’s appointment app. used frontend technologies such as JavaScript, TypeScript, React, Antdesign, Java for the backend, and database PostgreSQL. HealthApp, with such a tech stack, allows you to make an appointment online as well as get a consultation from a doctor, nurse, or psychologist online. HealthApp The second example is different as it involved backend technologies. For an where we set the backend and created structure and functionality, we used runtime environment Node.js, also Nest Js for backend, React.js for frontend, AWS services (AWS Lambda), and database PostgreSQL. injury management system With the help of these technologies, Incora developed the management system that provides scheduling of appointments, management of “play status” of players, statistics and reports of all injured players, and emails for different events. Last but not least, the development team set up a backend for It allows the viewing of data about insulin injections, sugar levels, etc., for patients that use specific devices that do injections. patient administration service. The service was designed for doctors to manage patients and adjust treatment. The health stack included Node.js, Express.js, MySQL, React, Redux, Saga, and AWS. Medical Standards in Different Regions This paragraph is to remind you that most industries have . No matter what app you want to develop, make sure the data there (especially patients’ data) is treated the right way. standards and policies when it comes to data protection One of the most common healthcare cybersecurity issues is personal data leakage. Here are : 4 main regulations you need to meet Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) (USA). Any mobile health app that needs to comply with HIPAA. Only personal health apps are an exception. deals with protected health information (PHI) Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) (Canada). The act sets rules to regulate any personal data usage and sharing with third parties. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU). This regulation says ; any information that might identify a person, a name, email, an IP address, and so on. how businesses can and cannot use personal data Data Protection Act (DPA) (UK). It’s similar to GDPR in terms of rules on using and storing personal data. The technologies that we mentioned in the article are well-known and meet the above regulations. However, be sure to check it as the consequences are unpleasant, to say the least. Sum Up So, let’s rewind. We've defined what a health stack is, and what factors to consider when choosing one. Also, we made a list of commonly used technology stacks and tools in the healthcare industry. Furthermore, the tech stack examples were described to have a full picture of app functionality. And finally, we were reminded about healthcare app development standards that are a must nowadays. To save the world, save yourself from bureaucracy, and write us to handle both tech stack and standards.

What Tech Stack do Healthcare Companies Use?

An 8-minute AI rewind with results and limitations of all the hottest AI models shared in 2022! 2022 was an incredible year for the AI community, whether it be for the open-source community, with what Stability did with Stable Diffusion, or for the unbelievable progress we’ve seen in all subfields of AI like ChatGPT. In this video, we'll talk about the coolest advancements we’ve had this year in AI research that I covered on my channel, showcasing their results and limitations. I hope you like the video. All the references, dedicated video, and code (if applicable) for each of these models are in the repository linked below if you’d like to learn more. Learn more in a dedicated video/article for each approach shared—link below... References: ►The full article with all papers, dedicated videos, and articles: ►GitHub repo: https://www.louisbouchard.ai/2022-ai-recap/ https://github.com/louisfb01/best_AI_papers_2022

The State of AI in 2022: An End-of-Year Recap of the Machine Learning Industry

El estado de la IA en 2022: un resumen de fin de año de la industria del aprendizaje automático

L'état de l'IA en 2022 : récapitulatif de fin d'année de l'industrie de l'apprentissage automatique

2022 में AI की स्थिति: मशीन लर्निंग इंडस्ट्री का एक साल के अंत का रिकैप

2022 年の AI の現状: 機械学習業界の年末のまとめ

O estado da IA em 2022: uma recapitulação de fim de ano da indústria de aprendizado de máquina

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2022 年人工智能的现状：机器学习行业的年终回顾

I could start this piece by saying that I’ve always dreamed of becoming a manager, but that would be untrue. What is true, though, I didn't see myself anywhere else. There has always been an acute awareness of not belonging to the creative world but being a person of organization, structure, and order. My calling is to accompany, direct, support, delegate, and be scolded for all that, if needed. Rewinding to my childhood, I was the president of several schools, and on top of that, I was the head of the class and administered all cultural events. Of course, back then, it was pretty hard to conclude that leadership, even youthful and somewhat naive, defined the future career choice. However, such imaginary responsibility fed my self-confidence for the future, which made taking real adult responsibility for serious things not that scary. My brain has always followed the axiom that promises have to be kept. If for some reason, I cannot do everything on time, I will give the heads-up, explain myself, and reschedule. I have developed a culture of interaction with people, which boils down to complete transparency about agreements and expectations. Violation of the action plan inevitably causes a butterfly effect, which entails consequences. Structure and consistency in work-related matters are unshakeable, whereas, in my personal life off work, I am perpetually late. That is to say, while my work discipline is at the highest level, in a non-work environment, I allow myself to take a break from this rigor. Friends and foes of fast growth The fear of making a mistake is what keeps a specialist from rapid advancement. Yes, I admit that during releases, I also experience some anxiety about negative feedback from business customers. I am always apprehensive because I’m in charge of the process itself and its delivery. And if something goes wrong, it means that the mistake was made at the top and then spread through the cobweb to the entire team. Errors are our major growth enablers. And that being said, it is far better to learn from the mistakes of others. You have to welcome challenges with open arms. Before joining my current job, I had a slightly different area of ​​responsibility, it was more of an assistance to a senior delivery manager. Wherever I was, I had a great desire to explore the unknown. It seems that at some point, my great ambitions started to press on my superior so hard that he began to delegate more and more and ultimately passed on the entire project to me. To this day, I still continue to literally beg for new challenges — I totally get their value. You must understand what you want and why you need it. Of course, you can sit in the same office for 30 years and feel fine, but that rather shows you are not flexible. And dexterity is today’s utmost necessity. Crisis situations especially emphasize this. Even if the business finds itself in an unforeseen situation, at such times, you need to know what to say to your teammates and clients because we are talking about huge budgets here. The customers are not to blame for the crisis. On the other hand, you need to think about the team, put it together, motivate and feel everyone. In trying times, we as a team succeed in that with flying colors. Therefore, it is vital to challenge yourself since the comfort zone is inherently destructive. You lie in the sun, and everything seems ok. But when clouds are hovering over your head, you don’t know what to do because you don’t even have an umbrella. Role models as a source of inspiration Since my main focus is technology, I always keep abreast of current trends and events in the field. My social circle is 90% IT people. For me, it is much more interesting to communicate with colleagues from my domain than, say, from culinary arts. Overall, I have developed such a setup that all my surroundings support me and give me an impetus for developing and moving forward. I had no idea what NFT was until my friends told me and got interested in the topic. In my work, , Software Development Director, was and remains my role model. We worked very closely with him for six months, and his managerial style sunk into my soul. He is an informal and agile manager, who does not follow the protocols but, rather, is imbued with every person. Andrii's philosophy is that people are much more important than processes. That's the main thing I learned from him. When guys approach me with some problems, I realize that my task is to do everything in my power to help. A good manager always feels when it is necessary to let a teammate recover and relieve one of the pressure of tasks and deadlines. Andrii taught me to treat colleagues as human beings in the first place. Andrii Poddubnyi As for the global influencers, I love watching product managers and chief product managers take their products to the next level. Let’s take, for instance, the Chief Product Officer of Spotify, Gustav Söderström. The reason behind my interest is the splendor of the product, which is focused on people and solving their specific problems. The human touch, both in products and in management style, causes admiration. Reflections on the gender agenda In my memory, as a woman I’ve never felt any oppression or discomfort in a male-dominated environment. I clearly remember my first working day, it was January 10th. I must say that before that, I had no experience in the tech domain. On the morning of that day, I was introduced to my teammates, who turned out to be grown men of a rather brutal appearance. And at that time, I was only 20 years old. I was filled with doubts about whether they would take me seriously. But contrary to my concerns, the conversation was enjoyable and relaxed. It got to the point that when there were difficulties on another project, they gave me great support and figuratively wiped my tears. Therefore, there were some fears on the subject, but none of them materialized. To be honest, my worries were not so much about my gender but about my age, but then again, I felt only respect and a desire to help. Perhaps some hidden issues could slip unnoticed, after all, a young woman in a leadership position is a minority phenomenon. I think I consciously turn my blind eye on such things because I believe there is no gender at work. You are either a team that is moving towards a common goal or men and women who want to figure out who is more important. If needed, I can put anyone in their place. Building Trust in Remote Culture Building relationships where people fully trust each other is not easy. This is more than one month's work, plus it is further complicated by the fact that the team works completely remotely. Previously, we often saw each other in the office, we could drink coffee and have a quick chat, and after a working day, go somewhere and spend time in an informal setting. Now, this is not the case. If earlier, remote work was a matter of preference, today, due to many circumstances, this is a given. In general, I see both pros and cons in the remote: there is no need to waste time on the commute. On the other hand, the process of keeping track of who is doing what is a bit tricky. We do not have time tracking; here, I completely trust my guys. The tasks and performance speak for themselves. Everything is obvious: if a person wants to fool around, one will definitely do so. If the situation becomes critical and the entire team or sprint is in jeopardy, it needs to be dealt with asap. As you gain experience, you can easily figure out these things. I have 1:1 meetings with each teammate, where we share a lot with each other. Maybe someone will tell me about the problem that caused the reduced performance last week. Together we will find out how and when we can make things better. As for me, communication is the root of all problems and, at the same time, the root of their solution. Therefore, it is important to build communication and processes in such a way that there is maximum transparency and people are not afraid to share their concerns with you. We have complete trust: we are honest, and our pain points are not a secret. Leveraging Your Strengths The core skill for my profession is attention to detail. There are many little things where we fell flat more than once: I could miss the focus, and everything began to fall like domino bricks. It is vital to be open to both good and bad events and to be able to give and receive timely feedback without a hint of toxicity. Getting an answer to your question is the engine of progress. Even if there are negative moments, you must learn to accept them and work on them. Resilience is always important, whether it's a crisis or not. People who surround us at work are very different, both colleagues and clients. There are distinctions in mentalities, cultures and traditions, backgrounds, and work ethics. Misunderstandings happen, and they can provoke a negative reaction, which in turn can be taken personally. But in fact, it can simply be a linguistic inconsistency, whether it is the form of the verb or the inclination. Based on this, it is necessary to improve intercultural communication skills, be sincerely interested in human beings, and hone your knowledge of English. And, of course, emotional intelligence is what makes us professionals even under the toughest circumstances. Areas For Improvement I want to deepen my knowledge in many areas. But the one who knows everything knows nothing. For me, the main goal of my further growth is people management. Here we are talking not only about work-related stuff but about an individual approach to the person broadly. I want to expand my knowledge of what it means to understand each other and how to be someone that the team wants to look up to. I also intend to master product development, not in terms of project management and process organization, but in product management. The demand for innovative products will only grow exponentially, and so will the investments, hence, the study of the product area will bear fruit. Pep Talk For The Ambitious Fear paralyzes and often prevents you from expressing yourself and taking important steps in career development. I would like to advise everyone who has embarked on the manager’s path not to be afraid of responsibility. It is pivotal to find senior colleagues to whom you can turn and come up with a question. And by the way, do not hesitate to ask questions, I took time to get to that. Today I’m not worried about looking stupid; all I think about is that I will now close this topic forever, I will be smarter, and this will not drag after me for years. We are all learning, no one was a professional from the first minute. We crawled before we could walk. Getting upright requires self-motivation and the support of someone who will put you on your feet. In this article, Karyna Prykhodko, a Junior Delivery Manager at , shared secrets and useful advice to rapid career growth. Innovecs

Delivery Manager In Your Early 20s: The Secrets To Rapid Career Growth

Testing the code you write is an important step in the process of software engineering. It ensures that your software works as expected and reduces the risk of shipping bugs and vulnerabilities to production. Automated tests, in particular, play an important role when it comes to testing frequently and consistently. Continuous integration makes them even more powerful. In this blog post, I'll show you an architecture for testing Node.js REST APIs that use a in the background. There are some things you should consider in this scenario that we'll talk about. database You'll see how to separate and organize your application's components in a way that you can test them independently. Therefore, we'll use . On the one hand, we set up a test environment in which we run our tests against a . two different approaches test database On the other hand, we using so that we can run them in an environment in which we have no access to a database. mock the database layer mock functions We'll start by writing unit tests for testing single components of our application. In the next step, we combine those components and test them using integration tests. Last but not least, we set up a CI/CD pipeline using GitHub actions and run the tests on each push that is made. Note that this is not a guide on how testing in general works. There are thousands of articles about frameworks like Jest, Mocha, Supertest, and so on. This is more of a guide on how to prepare your Node application and test environment in a way that you can write tests effortlessly and efficiently . There's also an example repo on . You should definitely check it out. with or without a database connection GitHub Disclamer: I know there really is no right or wrong when it comes to the architecture. The following is my prefered one. Let's start with the tools we'll use. Most of them should be familiar to you: : Language Typescript : Server Express : Database Postgres : & & Testing Jest Supertest Chai : CI/CD GitHub Actions : Containerization Docker One benefit of this architecture is that you can use it with other databases than Postgres too, like for example. In this architecture, we don't use any kind of ORM. Moreover, you can replace Jest with if that is your desired testing framework. MySQL Mocha Application Architecture The architecture of our application looks roughly like this: node-api
├── api
│   ├── components
│   │   ├── user
|   |   │   ├── tests               // Tests for each component
|   |   |   │   ├── http.spec.ts
|   |   |   │   ├── mock.spec.ts
|   |   │   |   └── repo.spec.ts
|   |   │   ├── controller.ts
|   |   │   ├── dto.ts
|   |   │   ├── repository.ts
|   |   │   └── routes.ts
│   └── server.ts
├── factories                       // Factories to setup tests
|   ├── abs.factory.ts
|   ├── http.factory.ts
|   └── repo.factory.ts
└── app.ts Note: The example repo contains some more code. Each component consists of the following four files: : HTTP Handler controller.ts : Data Transfer Object ( ) dto.ts more : Database Layer repository.ts : HTTP Routing routes.ts The directory includes the tests of the according component. If you want to read more about this architecture, check out article of mine. tests this Config We'll start by creating an file that contains the secret environment variables for testing. The npm Postgres package uses them automatically when establishing a new database connection. All we have to do is to make sure that they are loaded using . .env.test dotenv NODE_PORT=0
NODE_ENV=test

PGHOST=localhost
PGUSER=root
PGPASSWORD=mypassword
PGDATABASE=nodejs_test
PGPORT=5432 Setting lets Node choose the first randomly available port that it finds. This can be useful if you run multiple instances of an HTTP server during testing. You can also set a fixed value other than here. Using we provide the name of our test database. NODE_PORT=0 0 PGDATABASE Next, we set up Jest. The config in looks as follows: jest.config.js module.exports = {
  preset: "ts-jest",
  testEnvironment: "node",
  roots: ["src"],
  setupFiles: ["<rootDir>/setup-jest.js"],
} And like this: setup-jest.js require("dotenv").config({
  path: ".env.test",
}) This snippet ensures that the appropriate environment variables are loaded from the provided file before running the tests. .env Testing With Database Let's start with the assumption that we have a test database that we can use. This might be one in a GitHub Actions CI/CD pipeline for example. Later on, I'll show you how to test your application without a database connection. 3 rules In the beginning, I said that there are some important things we want to consider that make life much easier when testing Node APIs: Separate the database layer Outsource the database connection initialization Outsource the HTTP server initialization What do I mean by that? Separate the database layer. You should have your own layer, separated from your business logic, that takes care of the communication with the database. In the example Git repo, you can find this layer in a component's file. repository.ts This allows us to easily mock a layer's methods when we have no database available for testing. Moreover, it's easier to replace your database system with another one. export class UserRepository {
  readAll(): Promise<IUser[]> {
    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
      client.query<IUser>("SELECT * FROM users", (err, res) => {
        if (err) {
          Logger.error(err.message)
          reject("Failed to fetch users!")
        } else resolve(res.rows)
      })
    })
  } Outsource the database connection initialization. You should already know that when writing tests against a database, you do not run them against the production one. Instead, you set up a test database. Otherwise, you run the risk of messing up your production data. Most of the time, your application connects to the database in a startup script, like . After the connection is established, you start the HTTP server. index.js That's what we want to do in our test setup too. This way, we can connect to the database and disconnect from it gracefully before and after each test case. Outsource the HTTP server initialization. It's a good practice, whether you use a database or not, to start the HTTP server from inside your tests. Just as we do for the database connection, we create a new HTTP server before and stop it after each test case. This might look as follows: (you'll see the concrete implementation later on) describe("Component Test", () => {
  beforeEach(() => {
    // Connect to db pool && start Express Server
  });

  afterEach(() => {
    // Release db pool client && stop Express Server
  });

  afterAll(() => {
    // End db pool
  }); In particular, the execution order is: Connect to the database pool Run the SQL seed (create tables) Start the Express server Run the tests Shutdown the Express server & release db pool client Repeat steps 1 - 5 for each test case and close the pool at the end Tests Each component consists of two test files: repo.spec.ts http.spec.ts Both of them make use of so-called which prepares the test setup. You'll see their implementation in the next chapter. TestFactories Note: If you have a look at the example Git repo, you'll see that there are two more: mock.spec.ts and dto.spec.ts. Former one is discussed later on. The latter is not covered in this article. repo.spec.ts A repository is an additional abstract layer that is responsible for interacting with the database like reading and inserting new data. That layer is what we test in here. Since a database is required in this case, a new pool client is created to connect to the database using the before each test case. And it is released, right after the test case is completed. In the end, when all test cases are finished, the pool connection is closed. RepoTestFactory Example on GitHub describe("User component (REPO)", () => {
  const factory: RepoTestFactory = new RepoTestFactory()
  const dummyUser = new UserDTO("john@doe.com", "johndoe")

  // Connect to pool
  beforeEach(done => {
    factory.prepare(done)
  })

  // Release pool client
  afterEach(() => {
    factory.closeEach()
  })

  // End pool
  afterAll(done => {
    factory.close(done)
  })

  test("create user", () => {
    const repo: UserRepository = new UserRepository()
    repo.create(dummyUser).then(user => {
      expect(user).to.be.an("object")
      expect(user.id).eq(1)
      expect(user.email).eq(dummyUser.email)
      expect(user.username).eq(dummyUser.username)
    })
  })
}) http.spec.ts Here, we test the integration of the user component's routes, controller, and repository. Before each test case, a new pool client is created just as we did above. In addition, a new Express server is started using the . In the end, both are closed again. HttpTestFactory Example on GitHub describe("User component (HTTP)", () => {
  const factory: HttpTestFactory = new HttpTestFactory()
  const dummyUser = new UserDTO("john@doe.com", "johndoe")

  // Connect to pool && start Express Server
  beforeEach(done => {
    factory.prepare(done)
  })

  // Release pool client && stop Express Server
  afterEach(done => {
    factory.closeEach(done)
  })

  // End pool
  afterAll(done => {
    factory.close(done)
  })

  test("create user", async () => {
    const postRes = await factory.app
      .post("/users")
      .send(dummyUser)
      .expect(201)
      .expect("Content-Type", /json/)

    const postResUser: IUser = postRes.body
    expect(postResUser).to.be.an("object")
    expect(postResUser.id).eq(1)
    expect(postResUser.email).eq(dummyUser.email)
    expect(postResUser.username).eq(dummyUser.username)
  })
}) Factories The test factories are actually the heart of our tests. They are responsible for setting up and preparing the environment for each test case. That includes: Dropping & creating all db tables Initializing the db connection Initializing the HTTP server Closing both of them again There are four in total: , , , and . Each of them has its own Typescript class. The last one is discussed in the chapter "Testing without database". factories AbsTestFactory RepoTestFactory HttpTestFactory MockTestFactory AbsTestFactory The first one is an abstract base class that is implemented by the other three. It includes, among others, a method for connecting to the database pool and one for disconnecting from it. AbsTestFactory export abstract class AbsTestFactory implements ITestFactory {
  private poolClient: PoolClient

  private seed = readFileSync(
    join(__dirname, "../../db/scripts/create-tables.sql"),
    {
      encoding: "utf-8",
    }
  )

  abstract prepareEach(cb: (err?: Error) => void): void
  abstract closeEach(cb: (err?: Error) => void): void

  protected connectPool(cb: (err?: Error) => void) {
    pool
      .connect()
      .then(poolClient => {
        this.poolClient = poolClient
        this.poolClient.query(this.seed, cb)
      })
      .catch(cb)
  }

  protected releasePoolClient() {
    this.poolClient.release(true)
  }

  protected endPool(cb: (err?: Error) => void) {
    pool.end(cb)
  }
} Using the script, the factory all the tables after the connection is established: create-tables.sql drops and recreates DROP TABLE IF EXISTS users;

CREATE TABLE users (
    id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
    email VARCHAR(50) UNIQUE NOT NULL,
    username VARCHAR(30) UNIQUE NOT NULL,
    created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
); RepoTestFactory The is used by each component's repository test ( ) that you just saw above. All it does is use the parent class to connect to the database. RepoTestFactory repo.spec.ts AbsTestFactory export class RepoTestFactory extends AbsTestFactory {
  prepareEach(cb: (err?: Error) => void) {
    this.connectPool(cb)
  }

  closeEach() {
    this.releasePoolClient()
  }

  closeAll(cb: (err?: Error) => void) {
    this.endPool(cb)
  }
} The methods , , and , are called for each test case in the Jest , , and lifecycle. prepareEach closeEach closeAll beforeEach afterEach afterAll HttpTestFactory The last one, , is used by each component's HTTP test ( ). Just like , it uses the parent class for the database connection. Furthermore, it initializes the Express server. HttpTestFactory http.spec.ts RepoTestFactory export class HttpTestFactory extends AbsTestFactory {
  private readonly server: Server = new Server()
  private readonly http: HttpServer = createServer(this.server.app)

  get app() {
    return supertest(this.server.app)
  }

  prepareEach(cb: (err?: Error) => void) {
    this.connectPool(err => {
      if (err) return cb(err)
      this.http.listen(process.env.NODE_PORT, cb)
    })
  }

  closeEach(cb: (err?: Error) => void) {
    this.http.close(err => {
      this.releasePoolClient()
      cb(err)
    })
  }

  closeAll(cb: (err?: Error) => void) {
    this.endPool(cb)
  }
} Rewind Let's jump back to the and test files from above. In both of them, we used the factories' method before each and its method after right each test case. repo.spec.ts http.spec.ts prepareEach afterEach The method is called at the very end of the test file. As you have just seen, depending on the type of factory, we establish the database connection and start the HTTP server if needed. closeAll describe("Component Test", () => {
  beforeEach(done => {
    factory.prepareEach(done)
  })

  afterEach(() => {
    factory.closeEach()
  })

  afterAll(done => {
    factory.closeAll(done)
  })
}) One important thing you should keep in mind is that for each test case that uses the database, the factory drops all the tables and recreates them using the provided SQL script afterward. This way we have a clean database with empty tables in each test case. Testing Without Database So far, we have run our tests against a test database, but what if we have no access to a database? In this case, we need to our database layer implementation ( ), which is quite easy if you have separated it from the business logic, as I recommended in rule #1. mock repository.ts With mocks, the layer does not depend on an external data source anymore. Instead, we provide a custom implementation for the class and each of its methods. Be aware that this does not affect the behavior of our since it does not care about where the data comes from. controller Example on GitHub const dummyUser: IUser = {
  id: 1,
  email: "john@doe.com",
  username: "john",
  created_at: new Date(),
}

// Mock methods
const mockReadAll = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue([dummyUser])

// Mock repository
jest.mock("../repository", () => ({
  UserRepository: jest.fn().mockImplementation(() => ({
    readAll: mockReadAll,
  })),
})) After mocking the database layer, we can write our tests as usual. Using , we make sure that our custom method implementation has been called. toHaveBeenCalledTimes() describe("User component (MOCK)", () => {
  const factory: MockTestFactory = new MockTestFactory()

  // Start Express Server
  beforeEach(done => {
    factory.prepareEach(done)
  })

  // Stop Express Server
  afterEach(done => {
    factory.closeEach(done)
  })

  test("get users", async () => {
    const getRes = await factory.app
      .get("/users")
      .expect(200)
      .expect("Content-Type", /json/)

    const getResUsers: IUser[] = getRes.body
    cExpect(getResUsers).to.be.an("array")
    cExpect(getResUsers.length).eq(1)

    const getResUser = getResUsers[0]
    cExpect(getResUser).to.be.an("object")
    cExpect(getResUser.id).eq(dummyUser.id)
    cExpect(getResUser.email).eq(dummyUser.email)
    cExpect(getResUser.username).eq(dummyUser.username)

    expect(mockReadAll).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
  })
}) Note: cExpect is a named import from the "chai" package. MockTestFactory Just as we did in the other tests files, we use a test factory here as well. All the does is run a new Express HTTP instance. It establish a database connection since we mock the database layer. MockTestFactory does not export class MockTestFactory extends AbsTestFactory {
  private readonly server: Server = new Server()
  private readonly http: HttpServer = createServer(this.server.app)

  get app() {
    return supertest(this.server.app)
  }

  prepareEach(cb: (err?: Error) => void) {
    this.http.listen(process.env.NODE_PORT, cb)
  }

  closeEach(cb: (err?: Error) => void) {
    this.http.close(cb)
  }
} One drawback we have using this approach is that the layer ( ) is not tested at all because we overwrite it. Nevertheless, we can still test the rest of our application, like the business logic for example. Great! repository.ts Running Using the commands below, we can run the tests with or without a database. Depending on the scenario, the files we do not want to test are excluded from execution. {
  "test:db": "jest --testPathIgnorePatterns mock.spec.ts",
  "test:mock": "jest --testPathIgnorePatterns \"(repo|http).spec.ts\""
} GitHub Actions The final step is to create a CI/CD pipeline using GitHub actions that runs our tests. The according yaml file is available . There's also a very good published on GitHub. here tutorial You can decide whether to run the tests against a test database or use the mocked data layer. I decided to go with the former. When running the pipeline with a test database, we need to make sure that we set the correct environment variables for it. you can find a test run. Here Last Words My last tip is to have a look at the example repository on and to read it carefully There are some more tests and code snippets that I did not cover in this article. Moreover, check out the links below. Happy coding! GitHub Further resources ES6 Class Mocks Database seeding in Node.js How I structure my Node.js REST APIs Creating PostgreSQL service containers

How to Write & Organize Node.js API Tests the Right Way

The Radio Amateur's Hand Book, by A. Frederick Collins is part of . You can jump to any chapter in this book here: . Chapter XX: How to Make a Receiving Set for $5.00 or less HackerNoon’s Book Blog Post series [LINK TO TABLE OF LINK] XX. HOW TO MAKE A RECEIVING SET FOR $5.00 OR LESS In the chapters on Receptors you have been told how to build up high-grade sets. But there are thousands of boys, and, probably, not a few men, who cannot afford to invest $25.00, more or less, in a receiving set and would like to experiment in a small way. The following set is inexpensive, and with this cheap, little portable receptor you can get the Morse code from stations a hundred miles distant and messages and music from broadcasting stations if you do not live too far away from them. All you need for this set are: (1) a crystal detector, (2) a tuning coil and (3) an earphone. You can make a crystal detector out of a couple of binding posts, a bit of galena and a piece of brass wire, or, better, you can buy one all ready to use for 50 cents. Photograph unavailableWireless Receptor, the size of a Safety Match Box. A Youthful Genius in the person of Kenneth R. Hinman, Who is only twelve years old, has made a Wireless Receiving Set that fits neatly into a Safety Match Box. With this Instrument and a Pair of Ordinary Receivers, He is able to catch not only Code Messages but the regular Broadcasting Programs from Stations Twenty and Thirty Miles Distant. The Crystal Detector.--This is known as the Rasco baby detector and it is made and sold by the Radio Specialty Company, 96 Park Place, New York City. It is shown in Fig. 96. The base is made of black composition and on it is mounted a standard in which a rod slides and on one end of this there is fixed a hard rubber adjusting knob while the other end carries a thin piece of phosphor-bronze wire, called a cat-whisker To secure the galena crystal in the cup you simply unscrew the knurled cap, place it in the cavity of the post and screw the cap back on again. The free end of the cat-whisker wire is then adjusted so that it will rest lightly on the exposed part of the galena. The Tuning Coil.--You will have to make this tuning coil, which you can do at a cost of less than $1.00, as the cheapest tuning coil you can buy costs at least $3.00, and we need the rest of our $5.00 to invest in the earphone. Get a cardboard tube, such as is used for mailing purposes, 2 inches in diameter and 3 inches long, see A in Fig. 97. Now wind on 250 turns of No. 40 Brown and Sharpe gauge plain enameled magnet wire. You can use No. 40 double cotton covered magnet wire, in which case you will have to shellac the tube and the wire after you get it on. As you wind on the wire take off a tap at every 15th turn, that is, scrape the wire and solder on a piece about 7 inches long, as shown in Fig. 99; and do this until you have 6 taps taken off. Instead of leaving the wires outside of the tube bring them to the inside of it and then out through one of the open ends. Now buy a round wood-base switch with 7 contact points on it as shown at B in Fig. 97. This will cost you 25 or 50 cents. The Headphone.--An ordinary Bell telephone receiver is of small use for wireless work as it is wound to too low a resistance and the diaphragm is much too thick. If you happen to have a Bell phone you can rewind it with No. 40 single covered silk magnet wire, or enameled wire of the same size, when its sensitivity will be very greatly improved. Then you must get a thin diaphragm and this should not be enameled, as this tends to dampen the vibrations of it. You can get a diaphragm of the right kind for 5 cents. The better way, though, is to buy an earphone made especially for wireless work. You can get one wound to 1000 ohms resistance for $1.75 and this price includes a cord. [Footnote: This is Mesco, No. 470 wireless phone. Sold by the Manhattan Electrical Supply Co., Park Place, N.Y.C.] For $1.00 extra you can get a head-band for it, and then your phone will look like the one pictured in Fig. 98 How to Mount the Parts.--Now mount the coil on a wood base, 1/2 or 1 inch thick, 3-1/2 inches wide and 5-1/2 inches long, and then connect one end of the coil to one of the end points on the switch, and connect each succeeding tap to one of the switch points, as shown schematically in Fig. 99 and diagrammatically in Fig. 100. This done, screw the switch down to the base. Finally screw the detector to the base and screw two binding posts in front of the coil. These are for the earphone. The Condenser.--You do not have to connect a condenser across the earphone but if you do you will improve the receiving qualities of the receptor. How to Connect Up the Receptor.--Now connect up all the parts as shown in Figs. 99 and 100, then connect the leading-in wire of the aerial with the lever of the switch; and connect the free end of the tuning coil with the ground. If you have no aerial wire try hooking it up to a rain pipe that is not grounded or the steel frame of an umbrella. For a ground you can use a water pipe, an iron pipe driven into the ground, or a hydrant. Put on your headphone, adjust the detector and move the lever over the switch contacts until it is in adjustment and then, if all your connections are properly made, you should be able to pick up messages. Photograph unavailable--Wireless Set made into a Ring, designed by Alfred G. Rinehart, of Elizabeth, New Jersey. This little Receptor is a Practical Set; it will receive Messages, Concerts, etc., Measures 1" by 5/8" by 7/8". An ordinary Umbrella is used as an Aerial. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Collins, A. Frederick. 2002. The Radio Amateur's Hand Book. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved April 2022, from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/6934/6934-h/6934-h.htm#chap20 This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

How to Make a Receiving Set for $5.00 or less

12 Ways of Getting Ready for Microservices Your team decided it’s time to get rid of that old, clunky monolith (finally!). You had a good run with it, but the monolith has grown so big that you're spending more effort maintaining it than adding features. It's time to try a different approach. It seems microservices are very popular these days, so maybe it makes sense to dig a bit deeper there and see what all the fuss is about? A word of advice: don’t write off the monolith just yet. With some preparation, it can serve you well all the way through the transition. Here are 12 tips for making the transition to microservices smooth as possible. Ensure you know what you’re getting into A rewrite is never an easy journey, but by moving from monolith to microservices, you are changing more than the way you code; you are changing the company's operating model. Not only do you have to learn a new, more complex tech stack but management will also need to adjust the work culture and reorganize people into smaller, . cross-functional teams How to best reorganize the teams and the company are subjects worthy of a separate post. In this article, I want to focus on the technical aspects of the migration. First, it’s important to research as much as possible about the tradeoffs involved in adopting microservices before even getting started. You want to be absolutely sure that (and not other alternative solutions such as modularized monoliths) are the right solution for you. microservices Start by learning everything you can about the microservice architecture, and check some example projects to get an idea of how it works. Here are some examples: Building Go Microservice with Gin and CI/CD CI/CD for Microservices on DigitalOcean Kubernetes CI/CD for Microservice Spring Boot ) https://semaphoreci.com/blog/spring-boot-microservices-cicd Make a plan It takes a lot of preparation to tear down a monolith since the old system must remain operational while the transition is made. The migration steps can be tracked with tickets and worked towards in each sprint like any other task. This not only helps in gaining momentum (to actually someday achieve the migration), but gives transparency to the business owners regarding how the team is planning on implementing such a large change. During planning, you have to: Disentangle dependencies within the monolith. Identify the microservices needed. Design data models for the microservices. Develop a method to migrate and sync data between monolith and microservices databases. Design APIs and plan for backward compatibility. Capture the baseline performance of the monolith. Set up goals for the availability and performance of the new system. Unless you’re migrating from a fairly simple monolith, you’ll need advanced techniques, such as Domain-Driven Design (DDD), by your side. If you’ve never used it before, I’ve written a short introduction on that’s worth a read. applying DDD to microservices Put everything in a monorepo As you break apart the monolith, a lot of code will be moved away from it and into new microservices. A helps you keep track of these kinds of changes. In addition, having everything in one place can help you recover from failures more quickly. monorepo In all likelihood, your monolith is already contained in one repository. So, it’s just a matter of creating new folders for the microservices. Use a shared CI pipeline During development, you’ll not only be constantly shipping out new microservices but also redeploying the monolith. The faster and more painless this process is, the more rapidly you can progress. Set up (CI/CD) to test and deploy code automatically. continuous integration and delivery If you are using a monorepo for development, you’ll have to keep a few things in mind: Keep pipelines fast by enabling or using a monorepo-aware build tool such as or . This will make your more efficient by only running changes on the updated code. change-based execution Bazel Pants pipeline Configure multiple , one for each microservice and one more for the monolith. Use these promotions for continuous deployment. promotions Configure to quickly spot and troubleshoot failures. test reports Ensure you have enough testing Refactoring is much more satisfying and effective when we are sure that the code has no regressions. give the confidence to continuously ship out monolith updates. Automated tests An excellent place to start is the . You will need a good amount of , some , and a few . testing pyramid unit tests integration tests acceptance tests Aim to run the tests as often on your local development machine as you do in your . continuous integration pipeline Install an API Gateway or HTTP Reverse Proxy As microservices are deployed, you have to segregate incoming traffic. Migrated features are provided by the new services, while the not-yet-ready functionality is served by the monolith. There are a couple of ways of routing requests, depending on their nature: An API gateway lets you forward API calls based on conditions such as authenticated users, cookies, feature flags, or URI patterns. An HTTP reverse proxy does the same but for HTTP requests. In most cases, the monolith implements the UI, so most traffic will go there, at least at first. Use API gateways and HTTP reverse proxies to route requests to the appropriate endpoint. You can toggle between the monolith and microservices on a very fine-grained level. Once the migration is complete, the gateways and proxies will remain – they are a standard component of any microservice application since they offer forwarding and load balancing. They can also function as if a service goes down. circuit breakers The monolith-in-a-box pattern OK, this one only applies if you plan to use containers or Kubernetes for the microservices. In that case, containerization can help you homogenize your infrastructure. The monolith-in-a-box pattern consists of running the monolith inside a container such as Docker. If you've never worked with containers before, this is a good opportunity to get familiar with the tech. That way, you'll be one step closer to learning about Kubernetes down the road. It's a lot to learn, so plan for a steep learning curve: Learn about Docker and containers. Run your monolith in a container. Develop and run your microservices in a container. Once the migration is done and you've mastered containers, learn about Kubernetes. As the work progresses, you can scale up the microservices and gradually move traffic to them. Containerizing your monolith is a way of standardizing deployment, and it is an excellent first step in learning Kubernetes. Warm up to changes It takes time to get used to microservices, so it’s best to start small and warm up to the new paradigm. Leave enough time for everyone to get in the proper mindset, upskill, and learn from mistakes without the pressure of a deadline. During these first tentative steps you'll learn a lot about distributed computing. You'll have to deal with cloud SLA, set up SLAs for your own services, implement monitoring and alerts, define channels for cross-team communication, and decide on a deployment strategy. Pick something easy to start with, like edge services that have little overlap with the rest of the monolith. You could, for instance, build an authentication microservice and route login requests as a first step. Use feature flags are a software technique for changing the functionality of a system without having to re-deploy it. You can use feature flags to turn on and off portions of the monolith as they are migrated, experiment with alternative configurations, or run A/B testing. Feature flags An typical workflow for a feature-flag-enabled migration is: Identify a piece of the monolith’s functionality to migrate to a microservice. Wrap the functionality with a feature flag. Re-deploy the monolith. Build and deploy the microservice. Test the microservice. Once satisfied, disable the feature on the monolith by switching the feature off. Repeat until the migration is complete. Because feature flags allow us to deploy inactive code to production and toggle it at any time, we can decouple feature releases from actual deployment. This gives developers an enormous degree of flexibility and control. Modularize the monolith If your monolith is a tangle of code, you may very well end up with a tangle of *distributed* code once the migration is done. Like tidying up a house before a total renovation, modularizing the monolith is a necessary preparation step. The modular monolith is a software development pattern consisting of vertically-stacked modules which are independent and interchangeable. The opposite of a modular monolith is the classic N-tier, or layered, monolith. Layered monoliths are hard to disentangle – code tends to have too many dependencies (sometimes circular), making changes difficult to implement. A modular monolith is the next best thing to microservices and a stepping stone towards them. The rule is that modules can only communicate over public APIs and everything is private by default. As a result, the code is less intertwined, relationships are easy to identify, and dependencies are clear-cut. Two patterns can help you refactor a monolith: the Strangler Fig and the Anticorruption Layer. Strangler fig pattern In the pattern, we refactor the monolith from the edge to the center. We chew at the edges, progressively rewriting isolated functionality until the monolith is entirely redone. Strangler Fig Calls between modules are routed through the "strangler façade," which emulates and interprets the legacy code's inputs and outputs. Bit by bit, modules are created and slowly replace the old monolith. The monolith is modularized one piece at a time. Eventually, the old monolith is gone and is replaced by a new one. Anticorruption layer pattern You will find that, in some cases, changes in one module propagate into others as you refactor the monolith. To combat this, you can create a translation layer between rapidly-changing modules. This anti-corruption layer prevents changes in one module from impacting the rest. The anticorruption layer prevents changes from propagating by translating calls between modules and the monolith. Decoupling the data The superpower microservices give you is the ability to deploy any microservice at any time with little or no coordination with other microservices. This is why data coupling must be avoided at all costs, as it creates dependencies between services. Each microservice must have a private and independent database. It can be shocking to realize that you have to denormalize the monolith’s shared database into (often redundant) smaller databases. But data locality is what will ultimately let microservices work autonomously. After decoupling, you’ll have to install mechanisms to keep the old and new data in sync while the transition is in progress. You can, for example, set up a data-mirroring service or change the code, so transactions are written to both sets of databases. Add observability The new system must be faster, more performant, and more scalable than the old one. Otherwise, why bother with microservices? You need a baseline to compare the old with the new. Before starting the migration, ensure you have good metrics and logs available. It may be a good idea to install some centralized logging and monitoring service, since it's a key component for the of any microservice application. observability Conclusion The journey to microservices is never an easy one. But I hope that with these tips, you can save some time and frustration. Remember to iterate in small increments, leverage CI/CD to guarantee that the monolith is being tested for regressions, and keep everything in one repository so you can always rewind if something goes wrong. Happy coding, and thanks for reading! Also Published Here

12 Methods of Improving Your Monolith Before Making the Jump to Microservices

👋 Welcome to HackerNoon's Tech Company News Brief, a weekly collection of tech goodness that combines HackerNoon's proprietary data with internet trends to determine which companies are rising and falling in the public consciousness. Tell your friends and family to subscribe . here Tech companies (and at least one billionaire) spent most of last week backtracking from statements. , who, having clearly shown full-bodied avatars (yes, full-bodied, with legs!) in its metaverse offering Horizon Worlds went totally back on that demonstration to clarify that CEO Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan's virtual counterparts were, in fact, . Meta created using motion capture Full-bodied avatars coming to Meta's virtual reality universe but you have to wait until next year before you can see them. This was one of the announcements from Meta's much anticipated but ultimately underwhelming event which also saw the release of Meta Quest Pro — a whopping ~$1,500 virtual reality headset that Meta clarified was the Quest 3 but instead a less bulky and more advanced version of hardware needed to tune into Zuckerberg's vision of The Matrix. are Connect not The headset is the social media giant's first big product since Zuckerberg bet his all on the metaverse by rebranding into Meta, but the new direction hasn't won him investor confidence. In fact, investors' lukewarm response has Zuckerberg's personal net worth and led to calls for him to . Facebook impacted step down and move aside Facebook is either ahead of the curve or the next in a attempting to create virtual worlds that people can step into, and all this chatter about the company and its future helped it remain comfortably at the top of HackerNoon's Tech Company Rankings for yet another week. 👑 long line of failures Nvidia presses rewind on 4080 variant ⏪ has a problem, and that problem is Nvidia itself. Nvidia Having launched a pretty badass Founders Edition 4090, the company realized that it couldn't just release two versions of the next graphic card. Officially, having GPUs with the 4080 designation — the 4080 12 GB and 4080 16 GB — would be confusing for consumers, Nvidia said, but that the lower (and cheaper!) 4080 variant was simply a rebranded 4070 (which hasn't been announced yet). observers say With the lower 4080 variant ' ', consumers are left with no choice but to cough up a premium to get their hands on the remaining version of the graphic card. Nvidia's to the high graphic prices has basically been to 'shove it'. unlaunched response There was also a minor controversy involving Corsair and a tech YouTube channel that benchmarked the 4090. A Corsair staffer portions of YouTuber Gamers Nexus' reviews "total bullshit" though Corsair later issued an apology for its employee's conduct. called Nvidia was trending #69 on HackerNoon's . Tech Company Rankings Musk '💲mell💲' an opportunity Elon Musk has figured out a way to turn his followers into paying customers, and it involves selling items that capitalize on his popularity and social media reach. Case in point: ' ', a newly announced fragrance that captures the "essence of repugnant desire" and sells for $100 a bottle. Burnt Hair Already, the 'perfume' has helped raise for the who only recently and agreed to . Throughout the entire 'will he, won't he' Twitter saga, — which was cofounded by Musk — has seen its stock price rise and , kind of like its cofounder's erratic behavior. $1 million world's richest man reversed course again buy Twitter Tesla fall Musk was also in the news for on a Starlink-related announcement. The billionaire appeared to be wanting to discontinue Starlink in Ukraine unless the Pentagon paid his company SpaceX for the service, but then apparently had a change of heart and decided to continue providing it. Starlink is SpaceX's satellite internet service and has been crucial in keeping Ukraine’s military online during the war against Russia. reversing course Twitter was trending #60 this week, while Tesla was trending #91 on HackerNoon's . Tech Company Rankings And that’s a wrap! Thanks for reading Tech Company News Brief Issue #20! See y’all next week. PEACE ☮️ — Sheharyar Khan, Editor, Business Tech @ HackerNoon

Musk 'Smells' an Opportunity

Musk 'huele' una oportunidad

Le musc "sent" une opportunité

कस्तूरी 'गंध' एक अवसर

ムスクの「におい」はチャンス

Almíscar 'cheira' uma oportunidade

Musk 'ngửi thấy' một cơ hội

马斯克“闻到”机会

State Machines Can Help You Solve Complex Programming Problems

Las máquinas de estado pueden ayudarlo a resolver problemas de programación complejos

Les machines d'état peuvent vous aider à résoudre des problèmes de programmation complexes

राज्य मशीनें जटिल प्रोग्रामिंग समस्याओं को हल करने में आपकी सहायता कर सकती हैं

ステート マシンは、複雑なプログラミングの問題を解決するのに役立ちます

As máquinas de estado podem ajudá-lo a resolver problemas complexos de programação

Máy trạng thái có thể giúp bạn giải quyết các vấn đề lập trình phức tạp

状态机可以帮助您解决复杂的编程问题

1 About Roku Remote 2 Requirements to Connect Roku to Wi-Fi without Remote 3 How to Connect Roku to Wi-Fi without Remote 4 Final Words 5 Frequently Asked Questions 5.1 How do I connect my Roku to the Internet without the remote? 5.2 How do I find my Roku IP address without Wi-Fi or remote? 5.3 How do I connect my Roku to a new Wi-Fi? 5.4 Share this: 5.5 Like this: 5.6 Related About Roku Remote The Roku remote is an important element without which, you may find it hard to navigate your Roku TV. There are multiple buttons on the Roku remote. The Roku Remote has a power button on top, the Home button on right just below power, and right next to it is the Back button. Below the navigation buttons in the middle, there are three buttons for Channel Recall, Sleep Timer, and More Options respectively. Then there are playback options where you can rewind, pause/play or fast forward. There are featured channel shortcut buttons on the lower part of the remote, which can differ according to your TV model. Without a Roku remote, you may not be able to perform certain tasks like connecting your Roku device to the internet. In this article, I will show you How to Connect Roku to Wi-Fi without a Remote. But it is recommended to keep the Roku remote as safe as possible. Requirements to Connect Roku to Wi-Fi without Remote If you have lost your or your Roku remote is damaged and not functioning correctly, then make sure you have the below-mentioned items ready with you to connect Roku to Wi-Fi without a remote. Roku remote Roku TV or Roku Device Android or iOS Smartphone Laptop or desktop PC Roku App for PC Broadband Wi-Fi Connection How to Connect Roku to Wi-Fi without Remote Before you proceed further, keep in mind that this method will work only if your Roku device is already set up and was connected to a Wi-Fi network earlier as well. Download the Roku app on your smartphone from Google Play Store or Apple App Store. Connect your PC to a Wi-Fi connection and then create a temporary Wi-Fi hotspot, to do so follow the below path.Settings Network & Internet Mobile Hotspot Share my internet connection with other device >> >> >> Here is the trick, you have to name your Hotspot the same as the network you used to connect your Roku, also you have to give the exact same password. You have to use the same details to Connect Roku to Wi-Fi without Remote. Once your Hotspot is created, connect your smartphone to that hotspot. Open the Roku app on your smartphone and turn on your Roku device. Click on “Devices” at the bottom of the screen. Click on “Remote” under your connected device. Navigate to Roku Settings using the Roku app. In the Settings, go to Network and then choose Set Up Connection and then choose Wireless. You will be asked to connect your Roku device and will be displayed available Wi-Fi connections. Choose the hotspot that you have created. This is How to Connect Roku to Wi-Fi without Remote using your PC and your smartphone. Final Words Roku is a reputable streaming device that offers great features and is best used with the proper hardware. If you ever lose the Roku remote or damage it and it stopped functioning, then you can miss out on certain features. You won’t be able to Connect Roku to Wi-Fi without a Remote. However, I have mentioned a detailed method of How to Connect Roku to Wi-Fi Without a Remote using the Roku App, it is recommended to arrange for a new remote if you don’t have one. Frequently Asked Questions How do I connect my Roku to the Internet without the remote? You can connect Roku to the Internet without a remote by using the Roku app on your smartphone and then connecting it to your PC’s hotspot. How do I find my Roku IP address without Wi-Fi or a remote? Download the Roku app on your smartphone and open it. Then go to Settings, and under My Network, you can see your IP address. How do I connect my Roku to a new Wi-Fi? Go to the Roku Home Screen. Using your Roku remote, select Settings > Network > Wireless (Wi-Fi) > Set up new Wi-Fi connection. Also Published here

How To Connect Roku To Your Wi-Fi Without a Remote

What’s more dreadful than receiving difficult feedback? Giving one. Worrying that negative feedback will hurt the other person and ruin your relationship is one of the biggest deterrents to avoiding saying what you need to say. What if it's the feedback you need to give to someone senior in your organization - a leader from another department, your CTO, your own boss? Would you feel comfortable telling them how exactly you feel? In my experience, most people don’t. We either ignore it by telling ourselves a lie “It’s not that important” or try to delay it by waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike, which never really does. Not saying what you need to say makes you avoid the person, causing more stress and anxiety than you would have if you had simply found the courage to face the person. Repeating the tape in your mind on what you will say, anticipating their response, and imagining the worst possible outcome makes it all the harder. Every rewind makes the story more and more dreadful, convincing you that you are right in not speaking up and that telling the truth isn’t worth the risk. Not speaking up does not save your relationship with the other person, it only hurts it more. You start being awkward around them. Actively avoiding what you need to say makes you put on a show. Distracted by the chatter going on in your mind makes you focus less on the discussion and more on how you are coming across to them “Will they know how I feel if I say this?” “How can I hide my feelings?” “What if my feelings are obvious to them?” Here’s another problem. Not having a difficult conversation does not make the problem disappear, it only makes it worse. You not only hate yourself for doing nothing about it, you secretly start hating the other person too. And all this, while they have absolutely no freaking idea of these negative feelings. If it’s an issue that matters to you, the impact of avoiding the difficult conversation isn’t just limited to hurt feelings, it hurts your productivity and performance too. Avoiding the conversation doesn’t help you. It definitely doesn’t help the other person. The momentary discomfort you save by avoiding the problematic conversation only gets magnified over a period of time. Giving difficult feedback is the most difficult thing you may have to do at work, but building this skill is like building muscle. It only gets better with practice. It never gets easy, you only get better. Every result you want in your life is proceeded by a process. You need to define and implement your process. Affirm that and now you are getting somewhere. - Hal Elrod Here’s my step-by-step process that has worked for me to give difficult feedback. 4-step approach to giving difficult feedback Step 1: Start with self intervention Many of the options we face in life are mixed: there is a risk of loss and an opportunity for gain, and we must decide whether to accept the gamble or reject it…When directly compared or weighted against each other, losses loom larger than gains. - Daniel Kahneman This loss aversion and excessive focus on the negative makes you reject the potential gain in speaking up while fixating on the harm of doing so. The only way to embrace giving difficult feedback is to engage in deliberate thinking, starting with self-intervention. Sitting down with yourself and asking these questions engages the conscious part of the brain as opposed to letting your subconscious brain make the decision for you. What am I trying to avoid? What’s my reason for avoiding it? What’s the worst that can happen? Is it really going to be this bad or am I making things up? What’s the cost of not saying what I need to say? How does it personally impact me? Would I like it if others hide critical feedback from me which may be important to my growth? If I don't like it, why am I right in doing it to others? What’s more important - saving other people's feelings and my discomfort or helping the other person improve their behavior and get better? These questions may take some time initially, but with enough practice, you automatically learn to embrace difficult conversations and instinctively find yourself less intimidated. Step 2: Schedule it to make it real The moment you say to yourself “now is not the right time…I will do it later,” you trick yourself into delaying the thing that makes you uncomfortable. Even if you agree it’s the right thing to do, intention by itself just isn’t enough. You also need to make an effort to turn your intention into action. We must learn a powerful technique called a precommitment, which involves removing a future choice in order to overcome our impulsivity…Such precommitments are powerful because they cement our intentions when we’re clearheaded and make us less likely to act against our best interests later . - Nir Eyal Self-reflecting on your avoidance behavior and the potential consequences of avoiding difficult feedback in step 1 gives you the clarity to make the right decision. As soon as you have made the decision, the next step is to immediately schedule it on your calendar. Not later, right at that moment. Committing to action in the future by scheduling it on your calendar makes it more likely for you to stick to your decision. At this moment, don’t concern yourself with how you’re going to do it. The most important thing is making your commitment visible. Once you complete this step, you’ve already won half the battle. The next step is about not letting your discomfort and nervousness get in the way of delivering difficult feedback. Step 3: Get down to preparation Prepare, prepare, prepare. When the pressure is on, you don’t rise to the occasion; you fall to your highest level of preparation. - Chris Voss Unless you are already someone who’s good with difficult conversations, entering into a discussion without preparation will make you say things you will most likely regret later. Conveying the right message without manipulating or toning down words needs practice and preparation. Here are the 3 rules that I apply while determining what to say: Rule 1: Don’t make it personal Make feedback about their behavior. Never make it about the person. For example, there’s a huge difference between telling someone “You’re dominating” vs saying “When you do [this, this and that], it makes us think that you don’t care about our opinions.” The first one will immediately put the other person on the defensive while the second one gives them an opportunity to evaluate your opinion. Rule 2: Practice clear and concise communication Keep it short. Say what you have to say without beating around the bush. You need to be specific to help them understand your concern without drowning them in unnecessary information. Typically, an example or two where you saw the troubling behavior in action should be sufficient to help them connect and make sense of the discussion. For example, if your manager has a tendency to call late in the night which disturbs your evening time with your family, don’t blabber about it and push the responsibility to them to read between the lines and make sense of your hidden problems. Be straight and talk openly about the inconvenience. Tell them how their calls in the night make it difficult for you to spend quality time with your family and why you need that downtime to give your best and make a productive contribution. Rule 3: Focus on the impact, not the emotions Describe the impact of a particular behavior, action, or inaction. Speaking about the impact engages a portion of the brain that makes them actively seek solutions as opposed to making it about the emotions which inhibit their ability to think logically and makes it difficult for them to rationalize the situation. For example: If a coworker has the habit of using offensive language at work, instead of telling them how their language makes you feel, tell them how it impacts your collaboration. It does not mean that you disregard your feelings and shouldn’t mention them at all. However, keeping the focus on the impact while adding emotions to the mix to guide the conversation is a super effective strategy to gain control of the situation and engage them with the intent of finding a mutually agreeable solution. Use these 3 rules to script your dialogue and practice saying it out loud. Step 4: Finally take action You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. - Zig Ziglar In other words, you can’t get better at giving difficult feedback without actually taking action. Confronting your negative emotions, scheduling the meeting on your calendar, and practicing what you need to say pushes you in the right direction, but the only way to improve is to take action. It will bring some discomfort and nervousness. You may even feel anxious and stressed. But don’t let it stop you from taking action. Acknowledge what you’re feeling and nicely tell your thoughts to step aside and make way for doing the right thing - “I know that I am feeling [this, this, and that], but for now I need to focus my energies on this conversation.” It’s important to state your opinion without making assumptions or passing judgment. Being open to hearing what the other person has to say is an important part of a productive discussion. Effectively listening to not only their words but also watching their body language for cues gives you the information you need to steer, adjust and keep the conversation healthy. A great way to end the discussion is to show your curiosity and tell them how much you would appreciate it if they would also share constructive criticism. Whenever you find yourself delaying difficult feedback or actively avoiding it, start with self-intervention, schedule the meeting on your calendar, practice saying it right, and just go ahead and do the thing. Summary Giving difficult feedback does not impact your relationship with the other person. Not saying what you need to say does. It’s never easy to share constructive criticism. You may be tempted to save a little discomfort at the moment, but temporary relief from the problem does not make it disappear. It only brings a lot of stress and anxiety later. To get better at giving difficult feedback, go and actually do the thing. It won’t get easy, you will only get better. To give difficult feedback, start with self-intervention. Instead of letting your brain run on autopilot and avoid the difficult conversation, pause and take time to question yourself making it more likely for you to make the right decision. Consciously choosing to do the right thing is a good first step. The next step is to schedule it on your calendar making it more likely for you to stick to that decision. There’s a right and wrong way to give difficult feedback. Keep your message effective by knowing what you need to say and practice saying it in loud. Finally, go ahead and do the thing. To keep the conversation productive, don’t pass judgment, only share your opinion. Guide the conversation in the right direction by giving them an opportunity to speak up and practicing active listening. Also published . here

Here’s a 4 Step Approach to Giving Difficult Feedback

Many iconic female video game characters have left a lasting impression on gamers worldwide. Characters like Samus Aran from the Metroid series, Princess Zelda from The Legend of Zelda series, Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider series, and Commander Shepard from the Mass Effect series are just a few of the most well-known and beloved female protagonists in video games. While there are more male characters in video games than female characters, the ladies have significantly impacted the gaming world. These strong and independent women have inspired gamers of all ages and genders, proving that anyone can save the world (or galaxy) no matter what their gender is. Here are ten of the most iconic female characters in video games. List of the Best Female Video Game Characters 1.       	Samus Aran - Metroid series 2.       	Princess Zelda - The Legend of Zelda series 3.       	Lara Croft - Tomb Raider series 4.       	Commander Shepard - Mass Effect series 5.       	Bayonetta - Bayonetta series 6.       	Ellie - The Last of Us series 7.       	Chell - Portal series 8.       	Maxine Caulfield - Life is Strange 9.       	Cortana - Halo series 10.    	Tracer (Lena Oxton) - Overwatch 1. Samus Aran - Metroid series Screenshot by the author Debuting in 1986, Samus Aran is one of the original bad-ass female video game characters. She's a bounty hunter who is often sent on missions alone, and she's more than capable of taking down whatever (or whoever) crosses her path. Samus is also one of the few female characters in video games who is shown without her armor, and she's still just as tough and capable as she is with it on. 2. Princess Zelda - The Legend of Zelda series Image credit: Zelda.com Princess Zelda first appeared in the 1985 classic; The Legend of Zelda. She's often portrayed as a damsel in distress who needs to be rescued by the game's protagonist, Link. However, there have been instances where Zelda has taken on a more active role, such as in The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, where she sails the seas with Link and helps him fight off enemies. Regardless of her role, Zelda is always a brave and determined character who stands up for what she believes in. 3. Lara Croft - Tomb Raider series Lara Croft made her debut in the 1996 original; Tomb Raider. She quickly became one of the most well-known female video game characters thanks to her daring exploits and attractive looks. Lara is an accomplished archaeologist who isn't afraid to get her hands dirty (or climb up a sheer cliff face) in the name of discovery. She's also an expert in combat, using her fists and firearms to take down anyone who gets in her way. 4. Commander Shepard - Mass Effect series Commander Shepard is the main protagonist of the Mass Effect trilogy. Shepard is a human the military has recruited to fight against a race of super-powered aliens known as the Reapers. Shepard can be customized to be either male or female, but regardless of gender, they are always a fearless and determined leader. Shepard is also one of the few video game characters who can romance other characters, regardless of gender. 5. Bayonetta - Bayonetta series Image credit: Steam Bayonetta is the titular character of the Bayonetta series. She's a witch who uses magic and fighting skills to battle angels and demons. Bayonetta is known for her fashionable outfits, but make no mistake, she's a powerful fighter who isn't to be messed with. 6. Ellie - The Last of Us series Ellie is the main protagonist of The Last of Us series. She's a 14-year-old girl immune to the zombie virus that decimated humanity. Ellie is incredibly brave and resourceful, able to take down human and infected enemies. She also closely bonds with the series' other main character, Joel. The two go through hell and back together, and their relationship is one of the most touching and heart-wrenching in all video games. 7. Chell - Portal series Image credit: By Combine OverWiki, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31713780 Chell is the silent protagonist of the Portal series and one of the most known female video game characters. She's a test subject forced to complete a series of increasingly challenging tests by the diabolical A.I. known as GLaDOS. Chell is incredibly resourceful and can use the Portal Gun to solve puzzles and defeat enemies. She's also one of the few video game characters who can stand up to GLaDOS and ultimately defeat her. 8. Maxine Caulfield - Life is Strange Image credit: By Posted in Meyerliane Max Caulfield Maxine Caulfield, or Max for short, is the main protagonist of the Life is Strange series. She's a photography student who discovers she can rewind time. Max uses her power to help out her friends and solve puzzles. She also has to make tough choices along the way that will affect not only her own life but the lives of those around her. 9. Cortana - Halo series Image credit: Steam Cortana is an A.I. character in the Halo series. She's a close ally of the series' main character, Master Chief, and helps him fight against the alien race known as the Covenant. Cortana is incredibly smart and resourceful, able to hack into enemy systems and find weak points. She's also fiercely loyal to Master Chief and is willing to sacrifice herself for him on more than one occasion. 10. Tracer (Lena Oxton) - Overwatch Tracer is a character in the popular online shooter Overwatch. She's a time-traveling adventurer who uses her speed and agility to defeat her enemies. Tracer is one of the most popular characters in Overwatch, thanks to her unique abilities and spunky personality. She's also one of the few openly gay characters in video games and is often seen as a positive representation of the LGBTQIA+ community. Final Thoughts on Female Video Game Characters Without a doubt, these are some of the most iconic, brave, and powerful characters ever created. They are all unique in their own way, and each of them has left a lasting impression on the gaming community. Here's hoping that we see even more strong and more inspiring female characters in video games in the future. Do you have a favorite female video game character? Who is she? Let us know in the comments!

10 Female Video Game Characters You Need to Know

Manticore is a Faster Alternative to Elasticsearch in C++

The last time I got a call from a salesperson (which wasn't too long ago) I had absolutely zero interest in talking to them. It's pretty rare to find someone who entertains sales calls these days. They're just too disingenuous – and far too frequent. I didn't realize the true root of the issue until very recently, though, with super-salesman and entrepreneur, Ari Galper. during an interview Ari explained to me that it's the art of trust-building salespeople need to learn, rather than surface-level relationships that disintegrate after the money has been exchanged. Trust-based sales, Ari says, is the only way to come out with optimal results – both for the buyer and the seller. You could say that Ari has revolutionized the entire sales mindset. You could even say that he's single-handedly saved hundreds of salespeople from a slow and painful death in the industry. And the best part is that he did it by teaching them the one thing we all wish they'd learn to begin with: trust. Let's dig into this a little deeper. The Phone Call That Changed It All Ari is the founder and CEO of Unlock The Game. He's the world’s top authority on trust-based selling (a concept he launched into the spotlight). In his best-selling book, “Unlock The Sales Game”, Ari describes his revolutionary sales approach based on getting to the truth and why having a mindset of focusing on deep trust, instead of “the sale” – is ironically, 10 times more profitable. But let's rewind a little and hear about where it all began; the 'origin story', as Ari called it. “About 20 years ago, I was a sales manager in a software company (now called Google Analytics). And this one call came in – huge opportunity. Lots of websites, big international company. The guy's a really nice guy, we had a great conversation. And he agrees to us having a conference call and live demo.” This is pretty standard in the industry – you get a lead, you follow it, and you hope for the best. “So I introduced myself, gave a live demo of the products, and I was hearing this noise on the phone call like, ‘Wow, this is great. This is amazing.’ And they started asking me all kinds of questions. How does it work? How do we install it? How to implement this? I mean, there were so much chemistry on this phone call. It was like a love fest on the phone.” An Unexpected Twist If you're a salesperson, you're drooling right now – right? It's the total dream. But you'll never guess what happened next. “So I said my goodbyes. By complete accident, I hit the mute button instead of the off button. And a voice inside of me said ‘Ari, go to the dark side. Be a fly in the wall. Go where no one's ever gone in the world of sales before and listen in for a couple of seconds – you have nothing to lose.’ So I pulled my thumb back for a couple of seconds. They thought I’d hung up the phone.” (I was on the edge of my seat at this point). “Let me share with you what I heard, verbatim, word for word. I'll never forget it. They said, ‘We're not going to go with him. Keep using him for more information, and make sure we shop someplace else cheaper.’ Knife-in-heart twist – I was in a state of shock. I could not believe it.” Let's be honest. Getting let down in the sales industry is in no way a rare occurrence. Most of the time, people already believe they have what they need – and if not, they have ten other options they're looking at besides you. It's tough out there. I feel you, Ari. “I finally stepped out of it and hit the off button. With a wall in front of me, I said to myself, ‘What did I do wrong?’ I was competent. I was professional. I wasn't pushing. I did everything I was supposed to do. And look what happened to me.” Ari’s Epiphany This was a really tough moment, and a letdown to say the least. I imagine it was probably similar to a romantic interest leading you on, only to tell you they have a boyfriend after the fifth date. It's lucky the letdown happened, though, or we might not have been having this conversation on the podcast at all. Being confronted with dishonesty was what triggered Ari's revelation. “I had an epiphany, actually. It was this: somewhere along the way, it has become socially acceptable not to tell the truth to people who sell. Customers say things like ‘sounds good.’ ‘Send me information.’ ‘We're definitely interested.’ Without any intention of buying.” He isn't wrong. I think we're all guilty of telling a salesperson 'I might be back later!' just to shake them off. They won't remember us in a few weeks, so why not? It's become the normal thing to do: the salesperson wants something from the customer, so they do what it takes to get the salesperson off their scent. “You spend your entire time chasing and chasing. That's just so dehumanizing. They're always gonna keep their guard up, and give you just a few breadcrumbs to keep you interested. Because they're gonna hold back the truth from you, because they believe that your intention is to make that sale.” This was the problem Ari saw – and without much hesitation, he made a plan to create a new normal. Introducing the Trust-Based Sales Approach After the shocking phone call, Ari got to work on his new idea. “I realized that if I could figure out a system and a model to crack the code on this, and remove the pressure for the process, I could shift people's mindset away from the goal of the sale. Instead I could build a real trust with people – I mean deep trust, where you build what I call ‘moments of vulnerability’." How refreshing does that sound? I'm just thinking back to the many times I've felt cornered, conned, or straight up manipulated in a sales situation. I'm guessing you have, too. Imagine if we could all just skip the games and get to a place where we're each honest and authentic with one another? “We've been conditioned over the years to pursue and move this sales process forward with our own agenda, which is not their agenda. There's a crisscross happening. It's interesting because we're unconsciously aware of this. But we unconsciously put pressure into the process. We step on our own toes," Ari explained. If you're in the business of sales, I'm guessing you've seen the many hundreds of sales 'gurus' and their books about mental manipulation. It's an entire industry; say the right words, convince the customer you're their friend. Wear the right clothes, even. Do what you have to do, right? Wrong, says Ari. Get rid of the crap and work on building trust. That's the concept he now teaches to salespeople through Unlock The Game, whether they're new to the industry or have been selling for years. “Your goal is not the sale at first; your goal is deep trust. We teach people how to do that very effectively.” How To Follow Ari's Advice The section of our podcast interview I want to focus on here is the practical; the how-to of developing trust-based selling. Trust is a critical component of any sale, and it's something that needs to be earned. Let's take a look at Ari's tips for building trust with potential clients. 1. Get Rid of the Relationship Obsession All too often, we hear sales gurus banging on about this idea of 'building relationships'. For some reason it's the most alluring concept ever. But you wouldn't try to get friendly with some random person you just met on the street, would you? No, because it's not necessary. The same goes for sales – trying to build a relationship with a potential client is a waste of time. “We're taught by the gurus to build rapport. Get them to like you and know you. Once they like and know you, then they'll buy from you. But they know it's all the game. They know, with social norms, they have to be nice to you.” We'd like to think that we're tricking people with our cheesy smiles and caring words, but in reality, potential clients can see right through it. Of course they can. Can't you? “Here's what we do to build a relationship: 'Hey, how's it going? Nice to meet you. Where are you from?' We lay it on real thick in the beginning. And they know it's fake. They know it's just sales stuff. They don't want to become your friend anyway.” It hurts, but it's true. When you answer a cold call from a salesperson, there's not a single part of you that wants them to be your friend. You just want them to fix your problems or go away. “We've mixed the word relationship with trust. Stop building relationships with people in your sales process. Relationship building and trust building are mutually exclusive." What's the Alternative? You might be wondering – if I can't be friendly, what's my other option? Simple: be friendly, but in a genuine fashion. Be friendly only to the extent that it's helpful in developing trust. According to Ari, there's an enormous difference. “Trust building is different [to relationship building]; it's like a doctor-patient relationship. When you go see a doctor, they don't try to become your friend. They don't try to build a relationship with you. They say ‘Where does it hurt?’ They address the problem.” There's your alternative – address the problem. Cut straight to the chase. Don't beat around the bush. This is what potential clients want from you, and it's what will help you to develop trust. 2. Put the Ball in Their Court This is something we often forget. We're so busy talking about all the amazing things our product can do. 'It can spin in circles!' 'It folds your laundry in three seconds!' 'It can write emails faster than you can blink!' And while we're screaming about our product's features, the potential client is trying to think of an escape route. To avoid this, you need to get your customer talking – not the other way around. “Here's how the call should go: You show up in the call, ‘Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you as well.’ You put the ball in their court. ‘Can you tell me a little bit about your situation, about your business model? Tell us the challenges that you have right now, and we'll go from there.’ And then you give them an open ended question. And then just let them talk.” What a powerful thing the open-ended question is. Stop talking for a moment, and you start to hear all the things your potential client has been wanting to say. Here are a few things you can ask to get the person talking: What are some of your biggest problems with [x, y, z] at the moment? Have you tried anything to fix the problem so far? What are your thoughts on the current solutions out there? How much time and money have you already invested in this process? What has worked/what hasn't? This only reveals the tip of the iceberg, but it gives you a start. 3. Go Down the Iceberg Now we get to the good stuff. The potential client is talking, and they're starting to trust you. They've opened up about their business. It's go time – so go deeper. “What I teach my clients is what I call going down the iceberg with people. That means peel back and unpack their problem; amplify it, show them the impact of it. And see if they want to fix it or not. That's before you go on your solution.” This is where you really begin to channel your inner doctor. If you're a tech salesperson, you are now the IT doctor. If you sell furniture, you are now the house surgeon. (Or something. You get the idea.) You need to diagnose the problem – and to do that, you need the patient to spill their guts. You need to ask some hard-hitting questions. “So the first question is, 'Can you tell me a little about your situation and your challenges and your background?' They open up, you grab one of the problems they've got. You peel it back. ‘How long has that been a problem? For last six months? Wow. It's a serious problem.'” Once you're aware of the problem and how significant it is for the customer, you've got somewhere to land. Now you need to find out where their priorities lie. "And here is the definitive question to ask: ‘Is this a priority for you to solve?’ They've got to own the problem before you're allowed to provide the solution. It's like a therapist and a patient. If the patient doesn't own their own issues, they're the worst patients in the world.” Compare this scenario to the overwhelming, relationship-first approach. Before, the customer hardly got a word in edgewise; now they're the one in control. They're the one steering the conversation. And most importantly, you've helped them understand the gravity of their own problem. “This is not a happy conversation, because your job is to get to the source of the real problem. They won’t tell you at the beginning, because they don't trust you. It's your obligation to help them understand the gravity of their situation.” 4. Ask Permission The final tip I'll cover here is this: Ari insists that the salesperson must ask for permission. No matter what you are asking or telling. Regardless of how friendly or easy the conversation has become. Always, always ask for permission. “The number one rule is always ask for permission, whether it's to give information or to get information. You're always asking these questions: 'Is it okay if I tell you this?' 'Is it okay if I share this with you?' And people are more than happy to comply." Isn't it amazing what a little bit of respect and politeness can do? It's a simple thing, but it goes a long way. “Ask permission all the time. Don't just jump into it. ‘Let me show you a demo.’ ‘Let me show you some slides.’ ‘Would you be okay if I walked through our roadmap for how we help people solve the problems you've got? Would that be okay with you?’” I don't know about you, but this makes total sense to me. I would be horrified if a doctor started cutting me open without asking permission. I would be even more horrified if they didn't explain what they were doing and why. The same goes for salespeople. We need to build trust before we can start selling. And the only way to do that is by asking permission and giving information – on our buyer's terms, not ours. (TL;DR — don’t try to start surgery on someone before you get permission from said person. It might be alarming. You may also lose medical (sales) license.) Wrap-Up I've really only scratched the surface of what Ari teaches as part of his trust-based selling approach. It's a nuanced system, but it makes a lot of sense – especially when you consider how important trust is to the evolved human psyche, let alone the sales process. If you're looking for a more in-depth exploration, I'd highly recommend reading Ari's book, Unlock the Sales Game. And of course, there's plenty more to hear in our podcast conversation which you can watch . We talked more about cold calling, closing a sale, and the issues with traditional sales approaches. over on my channel As always, thanks for reading. Go out and build some trust today! Also Published Here

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