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The chart below summarizes a few sample quotes we obtained for moves with Zippy Shell. Launched in 2002, SmartBox is a relatively new moving container service. Its online booking system allows you to book moving services as early as next-day delivery.

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The storage system includes a hybrid inverter and lithium-ferro-phosphate battery. It also includes the SmartBox, a home energy management device. Each battery is modular in increments of 4.6 kWh ...

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Panasonic introduces half-cut HJT residential solar module and more

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Hello, I’m — a co-founder and product person at . For as long as I’ve been involved in websites, CMS’s have been the vain of my life. Clunky, grey, uninspiring, unadaptive pieces of junk that only stressed me out. Cam Dawson Andrews … Until Craft CMS came along. I never thought the day would arrive where I willingly took time to write up praise for a CMS, but here I go. Craft CMS is simple, minimalistic, agile and has every capability a modern CMS framework needs. Over the past ten years we have worked with every CMS you could think of (Wordpress, Drupal, Rails+ActiveAdmin, Ghost, Weebly, DjangoCMS, Jekyll, Joomla, Tumblr, Squarespace, Expression Engine, Statamic, Blogger)… here are the reasons why we’ve landed firmly with Craft as our №1 choice. Stunning responsive control panel 😲 Craft’s control panel is hands-down the most elegant and enjoyable to use. The design gets out of the way and makes it easy to edit and manage your content. “Craft has been a brilliant option for us. We have a wide range of technical skills in the team and everyone who has picked it up has loved it. We’re regularly adapting our site and rarely have to call for technical support given how adaptable it is.”– Charlie McCloskey, Head of Digital, ICC Belfast It’s also responsive so you can literally edit your website on your phone. We have clients who have multiple content contributors all around the world who log into Craft from the train, hotel, bus and add content on the go straight to site. ‘View Preview’ — Live Preview Possibly the most innovative differentiator above the rest of the competition is the previewing feature. Old CMS’ would force you to open a new tab and reload your site every time you wanted to see what your changed look like. Craft has gone beyond this and built a Live Preview function to bring a split-screen view that lets you view your edits live as you type. It also allows you to generate URL’s to share your preview to colleagues before publishing it live. The speed this allows us to work at is one of the key reasons we’re such strong advocates for Craft. Matrix Matrix is like Lego — pick a block and build what you want, layouts have never been easier. (team behind Craft) built an add-on for ExpressionEngine (old CMS) back in 2010, and it changed the game. When they eventually built Craft and introduced Matrix it was even better. When you configure the field, you define blocks that contain custom fields. Then, while you are creating an entry, you can add as many blocks as you want in whatever order you want. Pixel and Tonic In the example above, we have defined three blocks: Text, Video, and Image. This means that we can still create structured templates, but give clients the freedom to customise their pages whatever way they want — no need to call the developer. Multi-site, multi-language A lesser-known but critical element of Craft. You can define one or more sites at different domains, using a different set of templates, and different versions of entry content, all under one Craft installation. This is critical for sites running multi-language or multi-currency, or for sites requiring sub-brands or Trade sections. The multi-site feature in Craft is for sites with the same publishing team. You manage the multi-site content at the entry level, with the ability to enable Sections you want to be included in a site. A hotel site who wanted a separate site for their cafe. It was as simple as duplicating and removing the hotel-specific content from the Cafe site. Localisation Localisation translates your page’s content according to your target audience. By setting up and enabling locales, you can simply switch to the desired locale from the sidebar of the edit entry section, even in a particular section. WordPress, for example, relies on heavy plugins that slow down the site and mess with the security too. Plugin-free While there are a load of valuable plugins for Craft, it’s core product operates really well without the need for additional parts and we rarely find ourselves requiring plugins. Compared to many other off-the-shelf CMS’s you don’t actually need a lot of plugins. Here’s a quick list of features that other CMS’s might require you install a third-party plugin. Versioning and draftsLocalisationLive previewRelationshipsImage resizingUsing a CDN for assetsCategoriesTagsUser management It might seem like a small thing to be celebrating but a low reliance on plugins ultimately makes updating the site a breeze. For developers, once you update the core files, you just have to visit the control panel to run migrations. This makes updating the core really seamless across multiple environments. Having a one-click update is revolutionary compared to the Wordpress days where you would have to update every other element almost exclusively. Support Have an issue? There’s a form in the dashboard that sends messages straight to the developers along with error logs, database backup, and template files. There’s also an entire Craft community of fan-boys (like us) on Twitter and Reddit supporting each other so you’ll not be left hanging. The web has really gotten behind Craft, the support is there to stay. Craft CMS Security Since Craft’s one-click update feature is so efficient, users don’t delay the most important part of keeping a CMS safe, Updates. It’s just a matter of a click and Craft takes care of the rest. Craft CMS provides freedom of customisation, a central update system, and state-of-the-art security, all at a one-time fee of $299. WordPress on the other hand is free, at least initially. For the added security — which is a necessity — you’ll have to pay up to $500/month. Looking at the vulnerabilities that the dependency on plugins brings, Craft CMS does not only look like a safe bet but also a smart decision. Twig Clients don’t care about this one so much but developers care deeply about the templating engine. Craft uses Twig — it’s clean, simple and not proprietary. If you find something Twig can’t do out of the box it’s really simple to extend. It’s bring your own HTML — you won’t be working with automatically generated bollocks — you are in control. Twig syntax is very familiar, elegant, and easy to read. It also doesn’t hurt that, if you do have a typo, you get an error message that tells you exactly which line has the error. In summary… Craft has been hugely beneficial for us as a company and mostly our clients: It is incredibly fast and it comes with a beautiful, easy-to-use admin panel, which we all actually enjoy using. It’s a secure, modern system, that’s easily extendable and is backed by an amazing company of developers and community that back them. We couldn’t recommend working with it more. Follow Follow the Follow (CEO) Craft Pixel & Tonic Brandon Kelly

9 Reasons I Think Craft is the Best CMS on the Market Today

The goal of this article is to demonstrate how to create an ERC20 token in as little time as possible. Let’s start with the basics: What is an ERC20 token? In recent years, the ERC20 token specification has become the defacto standard for Ethereum tokens. In other words, most Ethereum contracts out there today are ERC20-compliant. This article will detail how you can create your own Ethereum token, but before we get started, let’s take a closer look at the ERC20 standard. What makes ERC20 tokens so attractive and successful? There are several factors in play: ERC20 tokens are simple and easy to deploy, as you will see in this tutorial. The ERC20 standard solves a significant problem, as blockchain-based marketplaces and crypto-wallets need a single, standardized set of commands to communicate with the range of tokens they manage. This includes interaction rules between different tokens, as well as token purchase rules. It was the first popular specification to offer Ethereum token standardization. It was not by any means , but thanks to its popularity, it quickly became the industry standard. the first Just like other Ethereum tokens, ERC20 tokens are implemented as smart contracts and executed on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) in a decentralized manner. Solidity: the Smart Contract Programming Language Ethereum smart contracts are written in Solidity. While there are alternative languages, hardly anyone uses them for this purpose. Solidity is similar to JavaScript, so if you have some knowledge of JavaScript, or even Java and other C-like languages, you should have no trouble figuring out that a piece of code in Solidity does, even before you actually master Solidity enough to use it. This is where the fun starts, as you should be able to start creating a simple ERC20 contract in no time. This is a straightforward task, simple enough that this article will demonstrate how you can write and deploy an ERC20 token in under an hour. The token we will be creating in this demonstration will be a bare-bones ERC20 implementation, without too many bells and whistles. However, I have seen many similarly simple tokens in the real world, and they tend to do quite well. Overview of ERC20 Token Standard What is ERC20? Put simply, the ERC20 standard defines a set of functions to be implemented by all ERC20 tokens so as to allow integration with other contracts, wallets, or marketplaces. This set of functions is rather short and basic. function totalSupply() public view returns (uint256); function balanceOf(address tokenOwner) public view returns (uint); function allowance(address tokenOwner, address spender) public view returns (uint); function transfer(address to, uint tokens) public returns (bool); function approve(address spender, uint tokens) public returns (bool); function transferFrom(address from, address to, uint tokens) public returns (bool); ERC20 functions allow an external user, say a crypto-wallet app, to find out a user’s balance and transfer funds from one user to another with proper authorization. The smart contract defines two specifically defined events: event Approval(address indexed tokenOwner, address indexed spender, uint tokens); event Transfer(address indexed from, address indexed to, uint tokens); These events will be invoked or when a user is granted rights to withdraw tokens from an account, and after the tokens are actually transferred. emitted In addition to standard ERC20 functions, many ERC20 tokens also feature additional fields and some have become a de-facto part of the ERC20 standard, if not in writing then in practice. Here are a few examples of such fields. string public constant name; string public constant symbol; uint8 public constant decimals; Here are a few points regarding ERC20 and Solidity nomenclature: A public function can be accessed outside of the contract itself view basically means constant, i.e. the contract’s internal state will not be changed by the function An event is Solidity’s way of allowing clients e.g. your application frontend to be notified on specific occurrences within the contract Most Solidity language constructs should be clear if you already possess essential Java/JavaScript skills. Writing an ERC20 Token in Solidity Now that we’ve outlined the basics and explained what it takes to create an ERC20 token, it is time to start writing some logic. First, we need to define two mapping objects. This is the Solidity notion for an associative or key/value array: mapping(address => uint256) balances; mapping(address => mapping (address => uint256)) allowed; The expression mapping(address => uint256) defines an associative array whose keys are of type address— a number used to denote account addresses, and whose values are of type uint256 — a 256-bit integer typically used to store token balances. The first mapping object, balances, will hold the token balance of each owner account. The second mapping object, allowed, will include all of the accounts approved to withdraw from a given account together with the withdrawal sum allowed for each. As you can see, the value field of the allowed mapping is by itself a mapping plotting account address to its approved withdrawal sum. These mappings together with all other contract fields will be stored in the blockchain and will be resulting in changes being propagated to all network user nodes. mined Blockchain storage is expensive and users of your contract will need to pay for, one way or another. Therefore you should always try to minimize storage size and writes into the blockchain. Now that we have the required data structures in place, we can start to actually write the ERC20 logic into the appropriate functions. Setting the Number of ICO Tokens How do we set the number of ICO tokens? Well, there are a number of ways of setting the maximal number of ICO tokens and this matter might be worth a lengthy discussion by itself. For the needs of our ECR20 tutorial, we shall use the simplest approach: Set the total amount of tokens at contract creation time and initially assign all of them to the “contract owner” i.e. the account that deployed the smart contract: uint256 totalSupply_; constructor(uint256 total) public { totalSupply_ = total; balances[msg.sender] = _totalSupply; } A constructor is a special function automatically called by Ethereum right after the contract is deployed. It is typically used to initialize the token’s state using parameters passed by the contract’s deploying account. msg is a global variable declared and populated by Ethereum itself. It contains important data for performing the contract. The field we are using here: msg.sender contains the Ethereum account executing the current contract function. Only the deploying account can enter a contract’s constructor. When the contract is started up, this function allocates available tokens to the ‘contract owner’ account. Get Total Token Supply function totalSupply() public view returns (uint256) { return totalSupply_; } This function will return the number of all tokens allocated by this contract regardless of owner. Get Token Balance of Owner function balanceOf(address tokenOwner) public view returns (uint) { return balances[tokenOwner]; } balanceOf will return the current token balance of an account, identified by its owner’s address. Transfer Tokens to Another Account function transfer(address receiver, uint numTokens) public returns (bool) { require(numTokens <= balances[msg.sender]); balances[msg.sender] = balances[msg.sender] — numTokens; balances[receiver] = balances[receiver] + numTokens; emit Transfer(msg.sender, receiver, numTokens); return true; } As its name suggests, the transfer function is used to move numTokens amount of tokens from the owner’s balance to that of another user, or receiver. The transferring owner is msg.sender i.e. the one executing the function, which implies that only the owner of the tokens can transfer them to others. Solidity’s way of asserting a predicate is require. In this case that the transferring account has a sufficient balance to execute the transfer. If a require statement fails, the transaction is immediately rolled back with no changes written into the blockchain. Right before exiting, the function fires ERC20 event Transfer allowing registered listeners to react to its completion. Approve Delegate to Withdraw Tokens This function is most often used in a token marketplace scenario. function approve(address delegate, uint numTokens) public returns (bool) { allowed[msg.sender][delegate] = numTokens; emit Approval(msg.sender, delegate, numTokens); return true; } What approve does is to allow an owner i.e. msg.sender to approve a delegate account — possibly the marketplace itself — to withdraw tokens from his account and to transfer them to other accounts. As you can see, this function is used for scenarios where owners are offering tokens on a marketplace. It allows the marketplace to finalize the transaction without waiting for prior approval. At the end of its execution, this function fires an Approval event. Get Number of Tokens Approved for Withdrawal function allowance(address owner, address delegate) public view returns (uint) { return allowed[owner][delegate]; } This function returns the current approved number of tokens by an owner to a specific delegate, as set in the approve function. Transfer Tokens by Delegate The transferFrom function is the peer of the approve function, which we discussed previously. It allows a delegate approved for withdrawal to transfer owner funds to a third-party account. function transferFrom(address owner, address buyer, uint numTokens) public returns (bool) { require(numTokens <= balances[owner]); require(numTokens <= allowed[owner][msg.sender]); balances[owner] = balances[owner] — numTokens; allowed[owner][msg.sender] = allowed[from][msg.sender] — numTokens; balances[buyer] = balances[buyer] + numTokens; Transfer(owner, buyer, numTokens); return true; } The two require statements at function start are to verify that the transaction is legitimate, i.e. that the owner has enough tokens to transfer and that the delegate has approval for (at least) numTokens to withdraw. In addition to transferring the numTokens amount from owner to buyer, this function also subtracts numTokens from the delegate’s allowance. This basically allows a delegate with a given allowance to break it into several separate withdrawals, which is typical marketplace behavior. We could stop here and have a valid ERC20 implementation. However, we want to go a step further, as we want an industrial strength token. This requires us to make our code a bit more secure, though we will still be able to keep the token relatively simple, if not basic. SafeMath Solidity Library is a Solidity library aimed at dealing with one way hackers have been known to break contracts: integer overflow attack. In such an attack, the hacker forces the contract to use incorrect numeric values by passing parameters that will take the relevant integers their maximal values. SafeMath past protects against this by testing for overflow before performing the arithmetic action, thus removing the danger of overflow attack. The library is so small that the impact on contract size is minimal, incurring no performance and little storage cost penalties. SafeMath Let’s add to our code: SafeMath library SafeMath { // Only relevant functions function sub(uint256 a, uint256 b) internal pure returns (uint256) { assert(b <= a); return a — b; } function add(uint256 a, uint256 b) internal pure returns (uint256) { uint256 c = a + b; assert(c >= a); return c; } } uses assert statements to verify the correctness of the passed parameters. Should assert fail, the function execution will be immediately stopped and all blockchain changes shall be rolled back. SafeMath Next, let us add the following statement introducing the library to the Solidity compiler: using SafeMath for uint256; Then, we replace the naive arithmetics we used at the beginning with SafeMath functions: balances[msg.sender] = balances[msg.sender].sub(numTokens); balances[receiver] = balances[receiver].add(numTokens); balances[buyer] = balances[buyer].add(numTokens); balances[owner] = balances[owner].sub(numTokens); Packing it all Together In Solidity, a smart contract’s functions and events are wrapped into an entity called a which you can silently translate to a “blockchain class.” Below is the ERC20-compatible contract we created, including a Gist of our code. The name and symbol fields can be changed at will. Most tokens keep the decimal value at 18, so we will do the same. contract Ethereum Contract Deployment The time has come to . Following deployment, our contract will be transferred to all nodes participating in the network. Any and all changes made to the contract will be propagated to all participating nodes. deploy our contract to the blockchain Ethereum developers usually employ deployment tools such as . Even Truffle is overkill for the limited needs of this article, and a simple online tool called will suffice. Truffle Remix To use it, you will need to install the on your browser and a Rinkeby (Ethereum test network) account with at least some Rinkeby Ether in it. These are relatively simple steps, so we won’t go into detail. MetaMask plugin In case you don’t have either, head over to and for download links and to get clear installation and usage directions. MetaMask Rinkeby Now that we have all the building blocks in place, we will head over to and paste the code above, including the pragma line and the SafeMath library, into the online editor. Remix Then, we will hop over to the second tab to the right called “ ” and click “ .” A MetaMask popup will appear asking us to confirm the transaction. Of course, we’ll approve it. Run Deploy Green box: Make sure you’re on Rinkeby Blue box: Set your total token supply Red box: Deploy! : Gist https://gist.github.com/giladHaimov/8e81dbde10c9aeff69a1d683ed6870be#file-basicerc20-sol You have just deployed your first ERC20 token, like a true . As promised, the token is simple and lightweight, yet fully functional, ERC20 standard compliant, and secured with MathSafe. It is ready to be purchased, paid with, and transferred throughout the Blockchain. Congrats! Ethereum professional Is that all there is to smart contracts? No, not even close, as our brief demonstration barely scratches the surface and deals solely with one aspect of smart contract development. Smart contracts can be much more complex depending on your business logic, your modeling of the user interaction, whether or not you allow token minting and burning, lifecycle changes you introduce into the contract, the need for admin-level capabilities which usually comes with an admin-authorized set of functions, and so on. You get the picture. Still, if you can replicate what we did here, that is a solid foundation to expand your knowledge and move on to more complex contracts when necessary. A smart contract is a piece of code executed on the Ethereum Virtual Machine. An Ethereum smart contract is immutable and can send or receive ether and data. Put simply, ERC20 tokens are contracts that implement the ERC20 standard. Operations handled by these contracts include getting the total supply and balance of tokens, and the methods used to transfer them. Ethereum development is currently conducted in Solidity, a contract-oriented programming language inspired by JavaScript, Python, and C++. ERC stands for Ethereum Request for Comment. The number 20 is assigned to this request, hence the suffix. Originally published at www.toptal.com .

How to Create an ERC20 Token the Simple Way

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Hey Hackers! I’m Julie Smith and I’m the The Techie Teacher®. First of all, a huge thank you to the HackerNoon community and staff for nominating [me/us] for a 2021 Noonies award! I’ve been nominated in the Internet category for the following award; please do check out the award page and vote: Best Tech Educator on Instagram As a someone in the EdTech industry, I believe that the most exciting technology of the present is Google Drive because it helps me stay organized and is an easy platform for both teachers and students to navigate. Learn more about my thoughts and opinions on edtech and my journey in the tech industry via the interview below. 1. What do you do and why do you do it? I am an Instructional Technology Consultant from Saline, Michigan and also work with 826 Michigan in the Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor Public Schools. Also, I am the author of the blog The Techie Teacher®. I hold a National Board Certification in Early Childhood Literacy and am a certified Reading Specialist. Ten years of my career were spent as an elementary classroom teacher and I was an Instructional Technology Resource Teacher for several years when I lived in Virginia. 2. Tell us more about the things you create / write / manage / build! I create digital resources for elementary teachers to quickly and easily use on their classroom devices to integrate technology in meaningful ways. I also provide tech tips and edtech teaching ideas on my blog and social media channels for all educators. 3. How did you end up on your current career path? Do you like it? I have always enjoyed using technology in the classroom to capture students’ attention and tap into their interests. It is amazing how much communication and collaboration, both in person and digital, can impact student learning. I found that many teachers need help with how to integrate tech into their lessons so I set out to help them find a love for edtech and establish the confidence to enhance their lessons.  I LOVE what I do! 4. What tech are you most excited or passionate about right now and why? I really can’t choose. I love ALL tech! It is a win if I walk into a classroom and they have access to any kind of device whether it be Chromebooks, laptops, desktops, ipads, etc.. There are still many classrooms that lack adequate tech for all students :( 5. What tech are you most worried about right now and why? Really just wifi access for ALL schools. There are still schools out there struggling to get internet access. 6. If we gave you 10 million dollars to invest in something today, what would you invest in and why? I would immediately reach out to the schools that I know need devices and get them what they need. We need to bridge the gap to make learning equitable for all. 7. What are you currently learning? I’m currently working with SMART Technologies to learn more about their new digital too, Lumio. It can be used on any device, no Smartboard required. 8. What’s the best advice you’ve ever given someone? Choose one thing to dive into and master when it comes to tech integration. Once you feel comfortable and confident to use it with students then branch out to learn other tools to add to your toolkit! 9. What’s the best advice you’ve ever received? You do not need to know everything about all the tech tools available. Choose the ones that you know are reliable and stay focused. You don’t need to do it all! About HackerNoon’s 2021 Noonie Awards The annual Noonie Awards celebrate the best and brightest of the tech industry, bringing together all who are making the Internet and the world of tech what it is today. Please be sure to , nominate, and vote for the people and companies who you think are making the biggest impact on the tech industry today. check out our award categories The 2021 Noonies are sponsored by: , , and . Thank you so much to these sponsors who are helping us celebrate the accomplishments of all our nominees. bybit Dottech Domains Avast

How To Choose One Thing and Master It with Julie Smith, The Techie Teacher

Chatbots are the biggest development trend today. From emerging startups to large enterprises, chatbots play essential roles in businesses where automation is the need of the hour. Whether it’s customer service or digital banking, chatbots are simplifying human-to-machine interactions. You might be wondering what banks have to do with chatbots. It’s simple: automate service. Service today is slow and sometimes unpleasant because people are prone to mistakes and misunderstandings. A conversational AI chatbot can be your employee 24/7 – always on hand, never gets sick or forgets anything, never gets bored or unproductive. Transforming the Face of Banking Operations / Enhancing Banking Services with Chatbots As banking chatbots continue to evolve, many financial institutions are adopting conversational AI technology, with early successes coming in call center automation and marketing campaigns. This year at SXSW, announced Project , an open-source platform designed to help developers build better digital banking chatbots using the same underlying AI technologies that power its digital assistant, Cindy. Bank of America OpenWhisper Digital agent assistants and chatbots have transformed personalized banking and customer service. Rapid processing requirements, unique customer needs, secure data management, and 24*7 availability have all been met with the advent of . conversational chatbots enhance the omnichannel customer experience while also broadening their reach. Banks have been highly effective at striking the ball and integrating bots into their daily operations. Banks are expected to save billions by the end of 2022 by saving time explaining customer questions. Chatbots for banking What Benefits do Chatbots bring to the Table? / Why Should Banks Invest in Chatbot Services? Banks and financial organizations can utilize chatbots to streamline everyday operations and boost company performance. 1. Enhance Customer Service The future of digital banking is conversational AI chatbots. With the advent of banking chatbots, certain essential aspects of customer care and support – such as speed, access to information, and pleasant encounters – are more feasible. 2. Personalized Banking Experience Personalized services tailored to a customer’s individual needs are the latest trend among customers. Around expect personalized experiences and services. 63% of users Chatbots incorporate consumer data to offer a completely tailored digital banking experience that perfectly suits their customer’s needs (with the customer’s consent to send such data to the SmartBots). 3. Cut Down on the Costs By 2022, Chatbots in the digital banking and healthcare industries may save . According to some projections, conventional financial institutions may save by 2030 by adopting artificial intelligence to decrease expenses by 22%. over $8 billion each year $1 trillion 4. Better Risk Mitigation Conversational AI chatbots can manage and simplify the process of evaluating critical data related to prospective customers’ loans, market trends, and the borrower’s most recent financial actions, generating credit reports and providing risk advice. Chatbots reduce human error in detecting fraud and streamlining operations. 5. Improve Work Efficiency & Reduce Workload If an AI chatbot can handle a customer’s queries, they won’t have to wait in line for a teller or sit on the phone wringing their hands. Agents assisted by AI SmartBots may focus on addressing complicated problems rather than answering basic consumer questions. Top 10 Banking Chatbot Use Cases: Chatbots in the banking sector can be deployed to accomplish several tasks to optimize daily operations and improve the omni-channel customer experience. 1.  Transfer Money Users may use chatbots to pay their bills, track money transfers, and set up or cancel payments. Users can also use chatbots to charge their prepaid cards or pay off their credit card bills. 2. Get Account Balance Customers can ask chatbots to check their account balance within a few seconds. AI assistants can also estimate balances and warn users if their accounts are about to fall below a certain threshold. This allows customers to better manage their accounts without logging into their e-banking account or calling their bank directly. 3. Send Timely Alerts & Notifications Chatbots can be configured to send valuable reminders and regular alerts, such as bill payment deadlines or the delivery of specific documents for financial transactions ( , loan applications). They can also send important notifications, such as banking updates and credit score changes. e.g. These push alerts and notifications may make users aware of things they didn’t know, resulting in increased digital banking service usage and improved customer satisfaction. 4. Track Transactional History Users may ask SmartBots to summarize their transactions and a recurrent weekly or monthly report on expenditure, which will help them better manage their money. When a payment, withdrawal, or reimbursement occurs in the account, chatbots can deliver quick alerts. 5. Tackle Suspicious Activities Users frequently encounter suspicious activities that may put their bank accounts and cash at risk. With conversational banking, customers can receive notifications and help in the event that their account has been hacked, and they can contact operators on a priority basis. This is one of the most critical use cases for SmartBots in banking since it protects account users from succumbing to questionable and fraudulent activity and protects their hard-earned money. 6. Hassle-free Application for Other Services Users may utilize chatbots to apply for services such as loans, new cards, and reward programs. It can provide consumers with information such as a list of documents that must be provided to complete the procedure smoothly. After completing the forms, consumers will receive responses to their queries. In a way, every minute saved adds up to a more efficient banking system and a better client experience. 7. Customer Support with just One Tap Chatbots improve operational efficiency by streamlining customer care operations. SmartBots in banking also improves the omni-channel customer experience by reducing response times and allowing consumers to answer their questions in the quickest time possible. 8. Easy & Uncomplicated Lead Generation The existence of chatbots in the banking sector has simplified the entire process of lead acquisition. The chatbots are deployed on the bank’s official website/app and engage with consumers to see whether they are interested in buying their bank’s products. Following the first engagement, the ‘leads’ may be forwarded to the appropriate bank team for an additional follow-up to close the deal. When compared to traditional approaches, banks have noticed a substantial rise in the number of leads acquired utilizing conversational banking methods. 9. Personal Banking Assistance Chatbots may give users various valuable information, such as their spending habits, a year-end review of recurring costs, and charges for specific months or places. They do so by gathering and analyzing data and hence serve as financial counselors as well. This is one of the possible applications for chatbots in banking, and it’s especially beneficial for those who don’t have access to financial guidance due to budget or location constraints. 10. Make Secure Payments Chatbots allow users to make quick, hassle-free payments in a few seconds with top-notch security and data protection. simplify the payment procedure and make it swift, safe, and secure. AI in banking chatbots Chatbots are here to stay / Upgrading to a chatbot might be the best business decision you can make / This is the best time for chatbot integration Banks are quickly incorporating chatbots into their operations to improve efficiency. Bots are assisting banks in interacting with clients at all stages of the customer life cycle. Using the services of an AI chatbot creation firm may offer you compelling reasons to use chatbots and make your website/app a modern classic. , and banks would be unable to function without them. Taking control of the situation now is the best course of action. Contact a reputable financial software development firm to save hours each day that can be spent on more productive tasks. Chatbots for digital banking services are here to stay

Banks Are Investing in Chatbot Services and Are Expected to Save Billions by the End of 2022

77 Leaders in the Tech Industry Share Their #MyStartInTech Stories

Conversational AI has seen an exponential rise in popularity in the last decade and has become mainstream over the past two years. Enterprise adoption of Conversational AI is accelerating. Businesses are investing millions of dollars for conversational AI applications with massive expectations to improve customer experience and operational efficiencies. Gartner says – “By 2022, 70% of white-collar workers will interact with conversational platforms on a daily basis.” Chatbots and Virtual Assistants are leveraging AI technologies to provide innovative and efficient solutions benefiting customers, employees, and partners. In this scenario, it is crucial to understand the fundamental differences between a Chatbot and a more sophisticated solution like a Virtual assistant. Businesses and professionals who are planning or implementing a conversational AI solution should know this difference to reap benefits from these technologies. Without such proper understanding, there will be a high chance of failure to meet the expectations. Chatbot vs Virtual Assistant https://youtu.be/A_0-Y-zyEuc Chatbot A basic chatbot platform enables the user to ask questions and is programmed to respond with relevant answers from the knowledge base. Chabot, aka FAQ chatbot, uses NLP (Natural Language Processing) to identify the keywords of the user’s question and responds with programmed answers accordingly. It works similarly to a search engine. Since chatbots are keyword-based, if the user asks the same question differently, the chatbot will not be able to respond though equipped with the required knowledge. Depending on how many ways the same question can be constructed, the failure rate can be high with chatbots. Intelligent Virtual Assistants (IVA) Whereas an Intelligent virtual assistant understands the meaning and intent of the user query using NLP and NLU technologies and generates a dynamic response. Intent understanding enables virtual assistants to hold conversations longer with the user. Virtual assistants also can understand the context and provide more personalized and relevant answers. Key Differences Between a Chatbot and Virtual Assistant – Chatbots can identify the keywords but cannot understand the intention of the user. They provide relevant answers based on those keywords. On the other hand, Virtual assistants can identify the intent, understand the emotion, and analyze the intricacies of the natural language. Virtual assistants are more adaptable and offer personalized and human-like interactions with the user. 1. Language Understanding – When we interact with others, the context of our intentions or actions plays a significant role in the interaction. Our understanding of language, emotions, and social cues may differ depending on where, how, and when we encounter them. Chatbots are not capable of understanding the context. Virtual assistants, also known as contextual assistants, consider the context while generating the response, meaning that they are capable of understanding and responding to different and unexpected user inputs. Context handling enables the virtual assistant to provide more personalized and relevant responses to the user. They can gracefully handle the interaction when the user switches from the expected conversation path. 2. Context Handling – Chatbots are programmed with static responses. In contrast, virtual assistants are more adaptive in nature and can learn from past interactions, thereby improving the quality of future interactions. This makes virtual assistants less likely to fail when trained with large amounts of data over a period. 3. Learning and Improvements – Chatbots are generally used as conversational interfaces for simple FAQs and cannot perform tasks. Virtual assistants can assist the user in performing defined tasks, like checking order status, raising a service ticket, scheduling an appointment, sending notifications, and so on. 4. Perform Tasks To Summarize Chatbots or FAQ Chatbots are the simplest and most common types. They allow the users to ask questions and provide the scripted answers based on the simple keyword search and set of rules. They are prone to make mistakes when the user input is unexpected or deviates from the expected conversation path. Virtual Assistants, aka Contextual assistants, are more intelligent and context-based. They can understand the user’s intent, emotion, and context and provide personalized and dynamic responses. They can handle unexpected user inputs and perform tasks. Virtual Assistants, when implemented successfully, enable businesses to offer great conversational experiences with customers, employees, and partners. Do you want to build a Virtual Assistant for your enterprise? Are you struggling to enter into the world of Conversational AI? Do you want to ride the wave of Digital Transformation? We are here to help. Check us out at Smartbots.ai

Chatbot vs Virtual Assistants: The 4 Key Differences

The way to a better future lies through substantial changes. Technology has changed the way businesses operate many times. It also influences the way people work and starts to affect all areas of our lives, with no exception. Therefore, there’s no surprise that technology has a major influence on education, as well. The U.S., China, and many other countries have already in EdTech companies. invested more than $16.34 billion In 2018, Pearson, an education conglomerate from the U.K., in EdTech startups. The EdTech market grows with an annual rate of 17%, and it’s in the nearest future. announced a $50 million commitment expected to exceed $252 billion Educational technology continues to integrate into pedagogical methods. For instance, computers used in the U.S. classrooms are used to individualize the educational targets and to provide a more personalized learning experience. Teachers use Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) to implement advanced pedagogical practices that enable students to engage in educational activities by using laptops, desktops, or smartphones, and to get instant feedback from applications. "Since computers were introduced in the educational system, the integration of technology in education and its digitalization has been growing at a rapid pace. Computers have changed the way educators follow instructions and the way students get their learning experience. The learning process became more engaging and fun." —  Nick Graham, dissertation advisor and writer at LegitWritingServices The Internet of Things (IoT) also influences the way students learn new material in classrooms. EdTech projects begin to set classroom trends. On the one hand, technology offers countless benefits. On the other hand, there are some challenges we should keep in mind. Challenges of Using Technology in Education The main concern is that quantity does not necessarily become quality. When people perform the same task over and over again, they learn to perform it better. Besides, the use of artificial intelligence and other types of advanced technology can eventually make students addicted to technology. Many teachers claim that schools are places where students can learn other ways of perception, including reading and imagination. Therefore, they are afraid that students won’t be able to imagine their lives without certain technological solutions. Another factor is probably even more important because it’s all about personal interaction. If we replace teachers with computers, students won’t be able to obtain knowledge in a more engaging and personal way. Teachers can offer a variety of methods used to solve similar problems and explain the differences between them. With machines, it gets harder to provide students with a variety of alternative methods. Another challenge is that the more we use machines, the more we tend to multitask. Multitasking is not effective for education and the students’ reliance on machines might slow down the development of their own skills. Last but not least, the increased use of technology in education can widen the gap between the rich and the poor, as students might need to buy certain devices to receive effective education. In developing countries, it becomes one of the main problems. Even though there are certain concerns about technology, they are unlikely to stop technology from reinventing education. The reason is that advanced technologies offer a number of benefits that are impossible to ignore. Therefore, there’s no surprise that EdTech companies continue to get more investments and the education industry uses more innovative approaches, improving the quality of education in different ways. The Benefits of EdTech EdTech is beneficial for both students and educators. First of all, when the learning process is built around students, EdTech can provide a more personalized experience, helping students to better learn certain subjects and preparing them for their future careers. Such technologies as smartboards and smart tables create numerous opportunities for effective collaboration. Students can participate in interactive activities using cloud-based software, which is a great experience that will teach them the specifics of the modern workplace. Collaborative learning offers a considerable employment advantage and develops important interpersonal skills. Online lessons and mobile devices create a complex collaborative environment that enables students to create virtual forums. Numerous Learning Management Systems (LMS) support collaborative and interactive learning. Thanks to digital devices that are a part of IoT, students can have the necessary educational resources whenever they need, accessing them from home or public transport. Therefore, EdTech can make students more connected with the learning process. The Development of EdTech Methods As EdTech finds its applications in education and changes the pedagogical methods, students get used to learning through personalization. Educators get an opportunity to customize the learning process and various activities based on their students’ needs and preferences. This factor is especially important because all students have different styles of learning. Tailoring the learning process to a particular student’s needs and style of learning is a very effective approach that allows educators to optimize the learning experience, while students get an opportunity to reach their highest potential. Educators can use technological applications to enhance the experience. For example, they can use AI-driven tools to provide additional assistance to struggling students. They can also help advanced students get a richer learning experience. Apps also allow for using more traceable methods of teaching by sending notifications about homework and assessments. Not only does EdTech introduce new standards of efficacy, but it also offers the best solutions in terms of sustainability. Educators don’t need to print millions of pages and to make countless photocopies. All the materials can be accessed through various digital devices. EdTech also gives educators an opportunity to monitor and evaluate each student’s progress thanks to advanced data algorithms. This approach also speeds up the whole process because educators can evaluate their students’ work and provide parents with detailed reports quicker than ever. In a word, EdTech connects education and IT, helping the education system adapt to future challenges and evolve. How EdTech Companies Set Classroom-Innovation Trends Industry-Specific Learning The modern jobs market requires people to apply for positions knowing all the specifics of the industry. The education system should prepare students for their future careers, providing them with industry-specific learning experience so that they can be more prepared to join the workforce. EdTech companies like InternView and help educators by creating industry-specific online learning programs. These companies partner with media outlets, colleges, and other organizations, helping students get the most useful training, developing skills that will be necessary for a particular industry. Yellowbrick Immersive Learning Thanks to various innovative EdTech solutions, classrooms are no longer dependent on chalkboards. Students now get an opportunity to participate in various immersive experiences. For example, they can better understand the background of certain historical events or to get detailed learning experiences dedicated to climate issues in a particular part of our planet. There are companies like , which collaborate with educators and develop augmented reality apps. For example, they have AR tutorials that enable students to stay on a virtual surface of the moon while studying materials about space. Early Adopter Big Data Big data is one of the most promising technologies. It has already demonstrated its disruptive potential in a number of industries. In education, big data creates new opportunities for effective analysis and monitoring of students’ success in the classroom. In addition, thanks to companies like , teachers and parents can collaborate and create engaging extracurricular activities by using big data to analyze the resources and opportunities available in different regions of the country. Peachjar Gamification Gamification approaches have proven to be not only engaging but also effective. Gamification enables educators to come up with personalized learning experiences and adaptive learning approaches. and other similar platforms use gamification to help students better understand the most complicated subjects, like math, by fostering collaboration, participation, and engagement. Besides, gamification allows for using personalized and adaptive learning to help students improve their context-based comprehension. Mangahigh Future-Ready Design Given the AI’s ability to perfectly deal with repetitive tasks, educators get countless opportunities for automation. AI can help eliminate many cumbersome tasks, therefore increasing the importance of skills associated with creativity, problem-solving, and empathy. For example, there are EdTech startups like , which provide students with a future-ready platform for developing their creative confidence. Such startups can also provide design-thinking workshops. The main goal of such startups is to prepare students for driving innovation in their communities, encouraging them to address the most complex issues and to develop their own solutions or to formulate development goals. Cartedo Wrapping Up As technology becomes an integral part of our lives and changes numerous industries, education doesn’t lag behind and also adopts advanced technological solutions. EdTech companies help educators take advantage of various technologies, including artificial intelligence, IoT, and virtual reality, providing personalized and interactive learning experiences. EdTech enables educators to develop new methods and to apply the most effective and engaging practices, using personalization, gamification, and immersive learning experiences. Besides, AI and big data allow educators to operate massive amounts of data more effectively than ever, improving the overall efficiency of numerous educational processes. Although EdTech introduces certain challenges for educators and governments, it is beneficial for both educators and students. Thanks to EdTech solutions, students can not only get a more engaging learning experience but also better prepare for future challenges, developing industry-specific skills, learning collaboration, and getting used to the specifics of the modern workplace.

5 Ways EdTech Startups Are Setting Classroom-Innovation Trends

In ‘The Information’ age, learning is not restricted to classrooms or universities alone, thanks to the World Wide Web! Modern technology lends itself to e-learning as a means of enhancing and reforming the traditional education system. In that sense, it could vary from a group of students watching online educational videos to the entire course being documented online. What is an E-learning platform began a few years ago introducing televisions and over-head projectors in classrooms and has since advanced to include interactive computer programmes, 3D simulations, video and telephone conferencing and real-time online discussion groups comprising of students from across the globe. E-Learning Based on the use of the internet in E-learning, three primary applications have emerged 1. Non-Academic/Corporate Both Medium and Large scale businesses are relying on e-learning for the initial as well as the skills enhancement training process for its staff. To achieve this, companies make use of the external resources and in-house programmes developed on the intranet. 2. Academic: Virtual Learning Environments (VLE’s) Universities are increasingly opening up to the possibilities of ‘Virtual Learning Environments,’ sometimes used alongside MLE (Managed Learning Environments). 3. Websites Some institutions (and iAcademic: Educational individual academics) have preferred to develop their online educational resources and adopting pure e-learning modules as their go-to method of teaching & training. By and large, it can be said that as technology has advanced so has e-learning, and today, the possibilities of this learning platform are endless and infinite. Growth & potential of E-learning platforms On our way to heightened digitization, an educators main motto is to overcome barriers, spread the light of education and provide more access to technology across the globe! To that end, e-learning fulfills all the mentioned parameters, making learning available for everyone with a few requirements — A smartphone, a T.V, a laptop or a computer with an internet connection can open the doors to digital learning world for virtually anyone and everyone. What’s more, e-learning enables students to study anytime, anywhere they want. There is no restriction on space or time. E-learning platforms promise convenient reach of study materials and evaluation of the course that has been completed online. It also has monitoring tools in place to streamline the learning process. That means courses can be taught methodologically to ensure proper knowledge transfer. These characteristics form the foundation of its perennial popularity. Today, schools are equipped with projectors, smartboards, audio-visual aided materials that make learning more value driven and interactive. It simplifies teaching logics of math, and concepts of science, in other words, it makes learning enjoyable and straightforward. Today, e-learning has gone on to become a potential, technology aided online education source. Let’s look at the numbers, shall we? Online education industry will be a $1.96 billion industry by 2021. The paid user base will reach up to 9.6 million users by 2021′ states the research conducted by KPMG combined with google insights. ‘By 2019, 50% of total learning is going to be online.’ says Imod Education. Types of E-Learning platforms When you think of building an e-learning portal, choosing the right platform becomes a vital decision — one that you must consider carefully. There are four types of e-learning platforms and depending on what your requirements are, you can go about making a specific choice. Let’s find out which one suits best. Open-Source Learning Portals Open-Source means open to everyone for usage, modification, and customizations according to one’s requirements. Open source learning is about providing free access to online education for anyone who is keen to learn. Open Source platforms ensure growth. It enables you to add any third party add-ons making your portal up to date. Such a platform opens doors to the various community contributions, which in turn, results in growth. Open source platforms have been unanimously voted as the preferred choice as it assures advancements and continuous online community engagements. Massive Open Online Courses MOOC is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and public access via the internet. Massive Open Online Course can be centralized towards a specific area of the study or the various aspects of the research. This particular platform is commonly adopted by universities where they address an enormous number of students and offer them certificates on course completion. In ‘distance education’ especially, massive open online courses are widely researched. This platform has emerged as a favorite learning mode over time. Content Management Systems A content management system (CMS) is a software application or a set of related programs that are used to create and manage digital content. A CMS allows you to build websites & applications, and maintain your content within it. There are popular CMS’s available such as Drupal, Joomla, Magento, WordPress, Sharepoint to name a few. These allow you to customize, add components, readily integrate plugins, develop and expand functionality, aside from allowing you to customize specific features as per your need. CMS’s empower you to build a site/app and manage content within it. Web Conferencing Software Mainly relying on TCP/IP connections, Web Conferencing is an online service by which you can hold live meetings, conferences, presentations, and training via the internet. This platform allows users to connect with the conference/discussion either by telephone or by using the computer’s speakers and microphone through a VoIP connection. This feature is also used for one to one tutoring. Online lectures can be held using this mode. Features to integrate with your E-Learning solution Following is the list of features you need to consider infusing with your online learning portal. Incorporating these will ensure an up to date and innovation-led product development process. Administrative Features Following is the list of features your e-learning portal should provide. This feature allows login via different mediums. Eg. social media, mail, etc Flexible authentication methods: Allows students to choose from courses provided by category, subcategory, language, price, etc Browsing through a wide range of courses: Enables students to enroll for the desired course, and helps them create a student profile by providing a handful of necessary details. Student Profile: This feature shows a complete record of courses and the list of pursuing courses, wherever applicable, in each profile. Status Report: Notifies students for upcoming classes for the respective courses they have opted for. Notification: This feature is essential for documenting reports regarding the activities in the portal. Events such as group discussions, exchange of views or dialogues on new ideas, etc can be seen here. Reports: This feature records and updates the portal owner on candidates that have to be awarded a certificate on the successful completion of the course. Certification: A practical methodology for managing the students and the courses provided on the portal is essential, and can be set up quite easily by the portal owner. Efficient Management: Interactive Features 1. The most critical one — Voice and Video Chat: feature bridges the gap between the learner and the teacher by creating a virtual classroom feel that would eventually result in an interactive and benefitting learning session. Voice and video chat Create interactive virtual classrooms with Voice & Video Chat Modern chat integrations allow multi-media merge for creating unique messages. It helps users express their ideas. 2. Enable active learning with Group Chats: Haven’t we all experienced group studies? It is by far one of the most effective mediums of learning, isn’t it?. The integrated chats feature virtually brings this interactive communication exchange to life! Group Chats allow for a more immersive and interactive learning experience Users can create groups and indulge in group discussions, and teachers can create open, close, password protected groups based on the study. They can even manage the participants in the groups. helps in making prolonged student-teacher communities, aside from making the learning process fun and dynamic. Group chat 3. Manage user authorization with Role Based Access Control: The access control policy is an exclusive factor when it comes to the online education sector. It is implemented for securing interactions with users and fortifying it with new integrations. Restrict access to chat and its features to certain students with Role Based Access Control allows you to expose or propose certain features to a specific set of users or groups. Role-based access control 4. File and Screen sharing for a clear understanding of topics: Teachers can now directly on chat to make students understand the subject better. add images, multimedia content, and share their screen Teachers can share course material, reports, performance analysis and more within the chat platform It results in the easy availability of learning material for all the students participating in the group. 5. Enhanced interactivity with Collaborative Whiteboard: genuinely take interaction to the next level. It allows one to draw their ideas on a whiteboard in real-time chat. Collaborative whiteboards Teachers can use the virtual whiteboard like a traditional one, making the interaction easier and more fluid Teachers can solve math problems on this board or explain complex structures of science. Students can see and learn just by being a part of the conversation. 6. Broadcasting Lectures or Classes When students respond to visual content, interactivity and engagement are enhanced. can grab students’ attention. Voice and video broadcasts Broadcasts allow for engaging and a more stimulating learning experience. As the human brain is naturally wired to understand and quickly process graphical content, the involvement with voice video broadcasts results in higher retention. 7. Student-Centric, Credit-Deduction Feature The feature allows students to access course material as they please, irrespective of whether they’ve opted for Math, English, Science or simply English. Students can select courses according to the requirement by using their credits. credit deduction Credits are deducted from students accounts for accessing certain features. CometChat ropes all of the above robust features in itself to provide wings of high usability to your e-learning platform. With quality content, well-developed administrative features and course materials, your e-learning platform will be able to gather students-teachers, make them collaborate to deliver priced learning experience through CometChat. Prerequisites before creating your E-learning platform There are certain aspects you should consider while developing an e-learning portal, let us learn about those- Wireframe of the product Wireframe of the product, in other words, page schematics or screen blueprint is a visual-graphical guide that represents the skeletal framework of the site/app. Wireframes are created to achieve a productive user experience that results in a precise flow of the pages/elements on the site/app. Wireframes ensure that each page has a purpose, achieves the goals set out in the client brief, aside from helping define the logical navigation for your product. User-intuitive UI design User Interface A.K.A UI is the face of your software platform. Be it a site or app this is the first thing users come across. UI is the junction between a user and software. The interfacing elements and menus are placed in such a fashion that users effortlessly explore the site/app without having to go through any complicated structures or hidden links. That makes an interface user-friendly. Test on real users for constructive feedback Feedbacks and suggestions have been one of the most efficient ways to find out the acceptance of the product, its performance, and further development. The product wireframes can be tested by a minimum of three users. After receiving feedback from them, make sure all the necessary changes have been implemented, and requests fulfilled. Consider asking these vital questions to your users: 1. Does the product meet your expectations? 2. What features must the app have? 3. What are your takes on the ease of navigation? 4. Are there any non-required elements? Are there any missing essential elements? This refinery mechanism ensures your product has been rigorously tested and built based on a users must-have requirements. The cost to develop an E-learning application Development of an e-learning portal from scratch would demand a big chunk of money as well as time. First things first, you will need a squad of professional software developers. Planning will take time, and the product will then undergo a software development life cycle model. The same is going to cost you a fortune — Factor that in! Another solution here is to opt for a custom solution. It comparatively demands less amount of time and saves further hassles of hiring a professional team to develop the product. The total average time it would take to build an e-learning platform, considering all the planning and the SDLM (Software Development Lifecycle Model) varies from 526 to 1374 hours. Furthermore, the exact time is taken and the costs involved in building the product, precisely depend on your requirements and the features provided. CometChat and E-learning Platform. CometChat works wonders as a custom solution to your e-learning platform. CometChat empowers an e-learning platform with its exclusive feature-set. Students and teachers feel no location boundaries as Voice and Video chat functionality result in value learning and better understanding. With an audio-visual feature, virtual classrooms can be created. Group chats enable student-teacher collaboration and long-term online communities that help in segregate students based on the course selected. It brings ease of operation and maintenance of records for teachers. File and screen sharing extends the usability of Cometchat furthermore. It guarantees a clear understanding of the topics. Collaborative whiteboard ensures interactive learning experience for students. With such functionality, CometChat hence is a perfect fit for a customized e-learning solution. Conclusion Technology-driven e-learning via web further extends the credibility of education and opens new doors to a diversified, newer generation of students. Tools of e-learning magnify students potential and challenge their ability while making learning simple. Constructed on factors such as convenience, value education, and evaluation there’s no wonder e-learning is gaining such vast popularity. With the right platform, the right features and the key prerequisites in place, along with the right content and CometChat as a real-time communication provider for your user base, with second to none features viz. one-on-one chat, group chat, audio-visual communication, credit-based course selection, ability to broadcast lectures, whiteboards for enhanced collaboration, you too can deliver a reliable e-learning portal for the knowledge seekers out there So go on, spread the light, we say! Originally published at www.cometchat.com .

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