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Now they’ve roped Tigger and Owl into this mess.

‘Winnie-the-Pooh Blood and Honey 2’ Review: A Honey Pot of Bad Ideas

It&#x27;s inarguably better than the original, but that’s not saying all that much.

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 Review - IGN

Every movie confirmed so far in the Winnie-The-Pooh horror franchise.

Every Upcoming Movie In The Winnie-The-Pooh Horror Crossover Universe

As the whimsical world of Winnie-the-Pooh and Christopher Robin delves into darker depths in &quot;Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2,&quot; fans are eager to discover where they can experience the sequel&#x27;s chilling storyline.

winnie-the-pooh: blood and honey 2: Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 - Streaming and digital options unveiled - The Economic Times

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 has gotten its initial Rotten Tomatoes score, and it represents a complete 180 from the first movie.

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood & Honey 2 Has Perfect Rotten Tomatoes Debut After Original’s 3% Score

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 expands the horror franchise with a new sequel, and there are options to watch the movie in theaters or at home.

Where To Watch Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood & Honey 2 - Showtimes & Streaming Status

POOH. Not “poo” 💩 but “POOH” 🧸 as in Winnie The POOH. Launched in April of 2023, within a few weeks of launch but has since had a pull back. At first glance it looks like just another pump and dump meme coin. However, if you inspect closer it actually has a lot going for it compared to other ERC-20 memes such as PEPE. POOH was a meme coin that soared to over $80M market cap Here are the important things in a TLDR format and why I stay bullish: Technicals Branding aside, let’s look at the technical setup. https://etherscan.io/token/0xb69753c06bb5c366be51e73bfc0cc2e3dc07e371 POOH launched stealth. No big influencers pushing it or foundations behind it. About 2 ETH was locked in a Uniswap liquidity pool and the contract owner renounced their control. This means that no one controls that LP and can potentially rug. In addition, 95% of the POOH supply was added to the uniswap pool. The only way to get POOH would be to buy it on the market. 5% was given to centralized exchanges like Huobi, MEXC, and others at time of listing. 100% of max supply is in circulation. RugFreeCoins has audited the contract along with others. Read their report here. Most important is that the dev has locked the liquidity and renounced ownership forever.  This means POOH operates based alone on the market demand.  Given that most liquidity is in the Uniswap LP, the ETH liquidity of POOH deepens by 0.3% on each swap (uniswap fees going back to the locked pool). Branding Who hasn’t heard of Winnie the POOH? It’s a 95 year old global brand which entered public domain in 2022.  It’s the 4th highest grossing movie franchise ($48B+) of all time.  Plus it's a positive, nostalgic brand that adults, kids and normies love. POOH has been resilient despite crypto market downturns with 15k+ holders currently and about a $3M market cap.  When the bull run kicks into full swing, normies will buy POOH - not the newest dog or frog memecoin. $POOH DAO More than a meme, $POOH has decentralized and self-sustaining governance through a that actively votes on proposals. Plus, the POOH DAO has its own treasury of ETH. DAO run on Tally That means $POOH is more than a meme and actually votes on how to allocate the ETH for things like project development or marketing. How is it funded?  Enter $EEYOR $EEYOR Sometime after launching POOH the dev who controls the deployer .   The most intriguing thing is that 100% of $EEYOR at the time of creation was sent to the $POOH DAO. created $EEYOR EEYOR (unlike POOH) has a 5/5 tax and that tax is used to deepen ETH/EEYOR liquidity and allocate ETH back to the DAO from every buy/sell. POOH holders are incentivized to promote EEYOR because every buy/sell makes POOH stronger because it's backed with more ETH.  It’s a virtuous circle. POOH Crew NFTs & DAO POOH Crew NFTs have been launched through Nouns DAO and operate independently of the POOH and EEYOR coins.   1 POOH NFT is auctioned daily and 100% of the ETH proceeds from the sale of the NFTs go towards a DAO that is run by the NFT holders. https://nouns.build/dao/ethereum/0x3d9f8e430cd52dce044b9d88a3574551ece31d1b/132 This means that the POOH Universe has 2 DAO with ETH in it to grow the ecosystem - 1 from the POOH token holders and 1 from the POOH NFT owners.  Daily NFT auctions can be seen here. The POOH Crew NFTs also look really good.  They were likely professionally done by an NFT audience and would be a good pfp for any owner. One other thing to note is the $POOH Token DAO owns 10% of the POOH Crew NFT DAO which is shown in the graphic. Why So Bullish? The setup and structure of this ecosystem is professional.  It wasn’t randomly thrown together by an inexperienced team. It seems similar to the Frax Ecosystem, but I have not found any evidence yet that it is the same team. $POOH is a meme coin normies will love with a 0/0 tax and audited contract.  For true defi lovers it comes with real governance control over an ETH treasury. $EEYOR works well as a meme, but will also be highly promoted by the POOH holders due to its 5/5 tax and ability to grow ETH treasury.   The EEYOR liquidity will ramp quickly as well given the tax backs it. POOH Crew NFTs stand on their own and come with their own unique ETH treasury.  High quality PFP art work with ETH backing through Nouns DAO makes it a solid stand alone NFT project. In the bull run normies will buy POOH (something they know), not doggy inu or frogtoken 2.0. The POOH Universe Overall, there is no team or figure head and its all community run.  Code is law here and everything can be validated and verified based on the structure. Real whales look at on-chain activity and technical setup.   Most people will pass on POOH as another meme, but this has true potential to run in a bull due the foundation of how it's structured. It hit $80M a few months back and will likely go much once the bull run is in full effect. POOH DETAILS: / / Telegram Twitter Website

Why I Stay Bullish on $POOH and the POOH Universe

OpenAPI I have known Swagger for 5 years. I won’t say it was a close relationship, although we used his services for a previous case, which is even mentioned in my resume. I used to brag about it because I know he has become a bigger name in the industry since then, but I had a close connection with him back then. At that time, he had more competitors who were equally serious professionals. However, the situation has changed in the past few years, and he has become almost dominant. Those who had trouble with APIs turned to him. Meanwhile, he has grown into a small family business. In the past, all he could do was describe an API nicely. He was a master at describing and sketching APIs, like a biologist organizing plants. He worked meticulously and precisely, and his work stood out from the rest. You could recognize his work from a hundred others. I could say they were all the same in terms of quality. Then he involved his family members as well. One of his nephews worked on websites and showed how a well-designed API should look. His daughter tested it. Others envied his success and started imitating him. A young guy who used to work for some famous and boring multinational company began copying what Swagger had accomplished. Even his name, OpenAPI, reveals a lot about his methods. I’m not exactly sure about the difference between the two; both describe APIs and perform magic with them. OpenAPI has even more extensive knowledge; it’s no longer just a family business. They work with large companies, either as subcontractors or in some other way. It’s a bit unclear because they don’t openly accept money, but you know, doing so much work for free is not possible. So when there was a case that required API development, my first choice was OpenAPI. More precisely, Swagger at first, but after the first serious consultation, he mentioned his hourly rate and explained that he is busy lately, so he has to charge his previous clients as well. Alright, I thought, and I rolled over to the office of OpenAPI, just a few blocks away from Swagger’s place. It was a modern office building with a reception service and access control system; everything you need. The secretary offered me coffee to pass the time while I waited. The boss would see me soon. In the meantime, I looked at the posters on the wall. I was amazed at all the things you can do with an API beyond just describing it. The company had become so international in such a short time since its establishment, offering tools in various languages, including TypeScript, Golang, and Python, not to mention those I had never heard of. The secretary brought the coffee, and I asked for an espresso with two sugars and no milk. I find this new trend of diluting coffee with milk rather unmanly, like diluting wine with soda. She forgot to ask me which boss I was meeting with. You see, the business is run by a pair of siblings, Vetwo and Vethree, or rather three because their youngest brother also joined. He’s a clever guy, resembles the middle brother; there are only a few years between them. I voted for Vethree, who already has some experience but doesn’t hold too outdated views. A few minutes passed, and a man in his thirties appeared, casually elegant in a sandy summer suit, with a hairstyle that suggested a recent visit to a hairdresser. We shook hands, and he gestured for me to follow him. As we walked down the corridor, I could see into the other offices separated from us by glass walls. In most rooms, I saw the usual guys in t-shirts sitting behind huge monitors. For a moment, nostalgia swept over me, a memory of when I used to be one of those guys, wearing a black t-shirt, stubborn and thinking I was worth more than an entire corporate IT department. “Can I help you, or rather, can we help you?” Veethree from OpenAPI finally asked after we arrived in his office. “I’m not even sure myself. I had a case with Swagger before. I found him talented and knowledgeable, but lately, he’s been acting strangely,” I replied. “I completely understand. It’s not my intention to speak ill of him behind his back. That’s why my brothers and I decided to get into this business as well. Nowadays, there’s a saying that data is the new oil, and there’s some truth to it. But without APIs, everyone is just sitting on their own data.” I sighed. Lately, several potential clients had asked me about my API expertise, and upon seeing my lack of enthusiasm, they ended up choosing someone else for the job. OpenAPI may have misinterpreted my sigh. “Let’s clarify the basics first then. An API is the means through which we can communicate with a service. The API defines what questions we can ask it and what responses we can expect.” “Thank you, I understand the basics, but…” “Great. When I mention questions, I’m not referring to specific queries, but rather the ability to request customer data from the service by providing a customer ID. The response would include the customer’s name in text form and their address, which is a bit more intricate since it includes a zip code, as the name suggests, a number.” If he continues explaining everything from scratch, we’ll be sitting here until evening. I nodded approvingly, wanting to get through it as quickly as possible. “One of our innovations is precisely about this. Instead of just dryly describing a possible question as ‘/users/{userID}’, where ‘userID’ is a number, I also provide an example. I would say that if the customer ID is, let’s say, 111, then the response would be something like . {”name”: “Winnie de Doe”, “address”: {“zipCode”: 55555, “street”: “Sunset Boulevard”, “houseNumber”: 1}} ”And is there a way to verify, once an API is thoroughly described if a given backend meets its requirements?” “Of course, we only release work that has been verified to be in good shape. We run several checks to ensure that everything is in order.” Yes, that’s exactly what I need. “Then we can come to an agreement. My assistant will provide the necessary information to your secretary, and once they have it, they can start the work.” We shook hands briefly but firmly. The elevator took us back to the ground floor. I bid farewell to the receptionist with a friendly nod and stepped out into the early afternoon sunshine. Postman The next day, I had to tie up the loose ends of a previous case, in which, incidentally, a cat turned into a zombie played the lead role. I’ll tell that story another time. The essential thing is that the next morning, as I entered my office, a fax was waiting for me. It was sent by OpenAPI. It was a short text, fitting easily on one page, but it contained a rudimentary API description. The simplest question one can ask an API is this: How are you? Are you doing fine? In API language, it’s . /health-check There’s no need to say anything more, no need to send any identifier. The response is also quite simple: . However, it could also happen that the service is not in good condition, something is wrong with it. {“status”: “OK”} It can’t reach the database, it can’t find some configuration, oh my, there are so many ways a system can break. Sometimes, the trouble is so severe that it can only utter: “Internal server error.” As Tolstoy wrote, the story of happy families is one, but the forms of unhappiness are countless, and the same goes for errors. A comprehensive API description includes what the response will be in problematic cases. For now, I only considered the optimistic scenario. I easily determined that my client’s backend responds appropriately when queried with the health-check. I just glance at the source code and read the line where it returns the OK status. But I can’t sit there for every change. What if someone changes the OK to UK or something else in the source code? It could happen accidentally or as an intentional sabotage. OpenAPI claimed they have people to verify the API description. More precisely, the backend. Because the time will come when the API description becomes the truth, and everything must adhere to it. I called OpenAPI to request a list containing the contact details of the inspectors. I didn’t find it there. The secretary connected me to one of the department heads, who listened to me and promptly promised to fax me the list. While I waited for the fax machine’s clumsy, crackling sound, I started browsing the professional phone book. I didn’t find anything specifically about API inspectors, but on the first page under the API keyword, a framed advertisement caught my eye: Postman. I had heard about it before; some of my colleagues had worked with it directly. In the industry, it could occupy a prestigious position, like Swagger did in its time. I knew it worked on the web, that’s all. I had never really thought about how a web thing interacts with a backend, which is right here in my office. I had flirted with the idea of trying it out sometime. Nowadays, if you don’t know Postman, you’re not considered a serious player in the API field. It has a toll-free number. It’s worth a try. I dialed the number, it rang, and a pleasant female voice asked if I’m in their database. No, I replied. Then she asked for my name and phone number to register me. I suppressed a curse and hung up the receiver. After all, I just wanted to ask a few questions, try out what this Postman can do since it advertises itself with a toll-free number. I brewed a sage tea to calm down. Ten minutes later, I called again. This time, a woman answered, explaining that I must use the Postman services on the web; some people are hesitant about it. They have Postman Desktop in their office, and they can send it to me. It does almost the same as the boss. I seized the opportunity. The woman promised that Postman Desktop would contact me soon. As I hung up the phone, the fax machine began to crackle, and a page snaked out of it. It contained the names and contact information of the OpenAPI inspectors. At the top of the list was a familiar name: Postman. From experience, I know that the biggest name in town is not always the one that provides the best service. It’s worth exploring the others as well. Here we have Portman, a similar name, which could be a mere coincidence. Although it’s such a niche profession that such a level of coincidence would be suspicious. I marked an X next to the name on the fax paper to look into it later. I continued browsing the list. Most of the inspectors work with JavaScript, with a few using Golang and PHP, scattered with the occasional Python and others. It doesn’t matter much as I have some experience with each of them. My client swears by PHP, but perhaps I can convince them to have a change of heart. It’s difficult to choose. Over the next half hour, I marked a few more contacts. I stood up to stretch a bit, which naturally led to brewing a strong cup of coffee and lighting a cigarette. The smoke, as it obscured the air, cleared my thoughts. Then I realized I was just procrastinating. I sat down and started calling all the marked inspectors on the list. That’s when there was a knock at the door. My secretary poked her head in, apologizing for interrupting my morning, knowing it was my most productive time of the day. Someone is waiting for me outside. They’ve been sitting there for a while and are getting impatient. I told her to send them in calmly. A short, middle-aged guy appeared, clutching a thin leather briefcase in his hand. “Mr. Postman sent me,” he said, patiently standing in the doorway. “Ah, welcome. I’ve been expecting you. Please have a seat,” I quickly moved the accumulated papers from the armchair opposite my desk. He sat down, placing the briefcase on his lap and smoothing his round, bald head. Clearly, he was waiting for me to present my needs. “You see, there’s an API for which a description is being prepared. I know you also deal with this, but I entrusted it to OpenAPI,” I began. He elegantly spread his hands, which could mean that a dear client does as they please, even if it’s utter nonsense. I continued, “The essential thing is that it needs to be verified. More precisely, whether my client’s backend complies with the specification written by OpenAPI.” I pretended as if that certain specification had already been completed. Let it be my problem that it’s not entirely true yet. “No problem,” said Postman Desktop. “Could you show me an example so that I can better understand how it works?” “Of course,” he opened his briefcase and pulled out a thin notepad. “For this, I’ll only need a few details. Name, phone number, and such.” I felt my face turn red. I took a few deep breaths, employing the good old 3-6-9 method. “You’re being petty,” I scolded myself, “just give your name, and that’s it.” “I’m afraid it’s not possible,” I finally said, after calming down somewhat. “Perhaps later.” Portman and Her Friend My favorite café is located just around the corner from the office. There was a signboard advertising hamburgers for lunch in front of it. Although they were reasonably priced, I didn’t feel like having one. I decided to visit Portman instead. I knew the address; it was close to the riverside. Just like another name on the list: Vacuum. I had never heard of it before, but its motto sounded interesting, and judging by the address, it didn’t seem like a major detour. I arrived at a single-story, modern building with large glass windows. A young woman opened the door in response to my ringing. I showed her my ID. “Ms. Vacuum? I believe you specialize in API testing,” I began, intentionally cutting off the sentence. I expected her to invite me inside. It’s better not to linger in the doorway. She didn’t seem bothered by it and nodded. “Exactly, and I work extremely quickly. What takes others a week to accomplish, I can do in a day.” “We work with OpenAPI. We’ve also requested additional features, such as writing examples for the API requests.” “Of course, I can also verify if the examples are valid.” “I’m sorry, but that’s not the trick. The goal is to check if the backend behaves according to the examples. When I ask it how it’s doing, I expect to receive the pre-agreed response, not something else.” {”status”: “OK”} “For this task, you’ll need to find someone else. Good luck!” the woman said, and she closed the door. There was no irony in her voice. It seems that nowadays, even someone who only does half the work is called a tester. I felt sorry because I found her perfume quite pleasant. It wasn’t worth getting back in the car for such a short distance, so I decided to walk to the address two blocks away instead. I found an old-style office building there, with elegant doorbells mounted on a brass-framed signboard at the entrance. I ran my finger over the names. Portman was nowhere to be found. At the doorbell on the second floor, a fancy sign proclaimed: APIDeck. I pressed the button twice quickly. The gate buzzed and clicked, allowing me to enter the cool staircase, and I took the elevator to the second floor. As I stepped out, I found myself in a corridor with doors on both sides, each with a label. I couldn’t find anyone to ask for directions. Fortunately, at the bend of the corridor, I saw a black sign with golden letters: Portman. I knocked, silently counting to three, then opened the door. I entered a tiny room with two filing cabinets and a desk near the window. A middle-aged woman in a discreet floral suit sat at the desk. Even while sitting, her posture indicated an athletic build. She was deeply engrossed in studying the document in front of her, but she looked up and pushed her glasses up to her forehead. I wanted to show her my ID, but she waved it off as if she didn’t care about such formalities. I briefly explained the purpose of my visit: OpenAPI, examples, and testing. I didn’t mention my visit to Ms. Vacuum. “Yes, that fits my profile,” she said after listening to me. “Let me explain more precisely what I do.” For the next ten minutes, I struggled intensely to concentrate and grasp the essence. With little success. “Let’s clarify a few simple questions first,” I interjected. “So, are you web-based or console-based?” “Strictly console-based.” “That’s good news. So I’ll give you the OpenAPI specification and the backend, and you will test it.” “Almost. I’ll write a bunch of test cases.” Hmm, it seems everyone has a different concept of testing. “And who will perform the testing then?” I asked. “I write completely standardized tests that can be given to Postman as well,” she replied. The circle closed. “It’s not a coincidence that Portman and Postman rhyme,” I remarked. “Why, what do you think?” she inquired. “To be honest, I have certain reservations about Postman. For example, it being web-based. There’s a colleague of mine who works on the desktop version,” I explained. The woman stood up. I was surprised by how tall she was; I didn’t notice while she was sitting. “I have a colleague who works on the console version, he might be interested,” she suggested. “What can he do?” I asked. “He can perform the testing,” she replied. “Does he need anything else besides the standardized tests you write?” I questioned. “Absolutely nothing. I’ll just send him the entire Postman collection through a courier, and he’ll be done by the next day,” she explained. “Postman collection?” I asked suspiciously. “The standardized test I was talking about,” she clarified. Judging by the name, I could imagine how standardized it was. Anyway, if enough people know about it and accept it, why should I have any objections? “Alright. Please give me your friend’s contact information,” I requested. The woman took a note from the shelf, scribbled something on it, and handed it to me. The address seemed familiar. Then I read the name. Newman. Well, another figure from the same gang. It reminded me of where I had seen this address before. That’s where Postman Desktop came from. “Where does your friend work?” I asked. “At Postman,” she replied. “So, Postman started the business as a web-based service, then realized it wouldn’t appeal to everyone. That’s when they approached Newman,” I deduced. The woman shook her head. “It’s something like that. I would rather say Postman nurtured him.” I knew the next step I had to take.

City of Broken APIs: A Noir Testing Thriller

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here . The Hotel Concert CHAPTER XXXIII. The Hotel Concert PUT on your white organdy, by all means, Anne,” advised Diana decidedly. They were together in the east gable chamber; outside it was only twilight—a lovely yellowish-green twilight with a clear-blue cloudless sky. A big round moon, slowly deepening from her pallid luster into burnished silver, hung over the Haunted Wood; the air was full of sweet summer sounds—sleepy birds twittering, freakish breezes, faraway voices and laughter. But in Anne’s room the blind was drawn and the lamp lighted, for an important toilet was being made. The east gable was a very different place from what it had been on that night four years before, when Anne had felt its bareness penetrate to the marrow of her spirit with its inhospitable chill. Changes had crept in, Marilla conniving at them resignedly, until it was as sweet and dainty a nest as a young girl could desire. The velvet carpet with the pink roses and the pink silk curtains of Anne’s early visions had certainly never materialized; but her dreams had kept pace with her growth, and it is not probable she lamented them. The floor was covered with a pretty matting, and the curtains that softened the high window and fluttered in the vagrant breezes were of pale-green art muslin. The walls, hung not with gold and silver brocade tapestry, but with a dainty apple-blossom paper, were adorned with a few good pictures given Anne by Mrs. Allan. Miss Stacy’s photograph occupied the place of honor, and Anne made a sentimental point of keeping fresh flowers on the bracket under it. Tonight a spike of white lilies faintly perfumed the room like the dream of a fragrance. There was no “mahogany furniture,” but there was a white-painted bookcase filled with books, a cushioned wicker rocker, a toilet table befrilled with white muslin, a quaint, gilt-framed mirror with chubby pink Cupids and purple grapes painted over its arched top, that used to hang in the spare room, and a low white bed. Anne was dressing for a concert at the White Sands Hotel. The guests had got it up in aid of the Charlottetown hospital, and had hunted out all the available amateur talent in the surrounding districts to help it along. Bertha Sampson and Pearl Clay of the White Sands Baptist choir had been asked to sing a duet; Milton Clark of Newbridge was to give a violin solo; Winnie Adella Blair of Carmody was to sing a Scotch ballad; and Laura Spencer of Spencervale and Anne Shirley of Avonlea were to recite. As Anne would have said at one time, it was “an epoch in her life,” and she was deliciously athrill with the excitement of it. Matthew was in the seventh heaven of gratified pride over the honor conferred on his Anne and Marilla was not far behind, although she would have died rather than admit it, and said she didn’t think it was very proper for a lot of young folks to be gadding over to the hotel without any responsible person with them. Anne and Diana were to drive over with Jane Andrews and her brother Billy in their double-seated buggy; and several other Avonlea girls and boys were going too. There was a party of visitors expected out from town, and after the concert a supper was to be given to the performers. “Do you really think the organdy will be best?” queried Anne anxiously. “I don’t think it’s as pretty as my blue-flowered muslin—and it certainly isn’t so fashionable.” “But it suits you ever so much better,” said Diana. “It’s so soft and frilly and clinging. The muslin is stiff, and makes you look too dressed up. But the organdy seems as if it grew on you.” Anne sighed and yielded. Diana was beginning to have a reputation for notable taste in dressing, and her advice on such subjects was much sought after. She was looking very pretty herself on this particular night in a dress of the lovely wild-rose pink, from which Anne was forever debarred; but she was not to take any part in the concert, so her appearance was of minor importance. All her pains were bestowed upon Anne, who, she vowed, must, for the credit of Avonlea, be dressed and combed and adorned to the Queen’s taste. “Pull out that frill a little more—so; here, let me tie your sash; now for your slippers. I’m going to braid your hair in two thick braids, and tie them halfway up with big white bows—no, don’t pull out a single curl over your forehead—just have the soft part. There is no way you do your hair suits you so well, Anne, and Mrs. Allan says you look like a Madonna when you part it so. I shall fasten this little white house rose just behind your ear. There was just one on my bush, and I saved it for you.” “Shall I put my pearl beads on?” asked Anne. “Matthew brought me a string from town last week, and I know he’d like to see them on me.” Diana pursed up her lips, put her black head on one side critically, and finally pronounced in favor of the beads, which were thereupon tied around Anne’s slim milk-white throat. “There’s something so stylish about you, Anne,” said Diana, with unenvious admiration. “You hold your head with such an air. I suppose it’s your figure. I am just a dumpling. I’ve always been afraid of it, and now I know it is so. Well, I suppose I shall just have to resign myself to it.” “But you have such dimples,” said Anne, smiling affectionately into the pretty, vivacious face so near her own. “Lovely dimples, like little dents in cream. I have given up all hope of dimples. My dimple-dream will never come true; but so many of my dreams have that I mustn’t complain. Am I all ready now?” “All ready,” assured Diana, as Marilla appeared in the doorway, a gaunt figure with grayer hair than of yore and no fewer angles, but with a much softer face. “Come right in and look at our elocutionist, Marilla. Doesn’t she look lovely?” Marilla emitted a sound between a sniff and a grunt. “She looks neat and proper. I like that way of fixing her hair. But I expect she’ll ruin that dress driving over there in the dust and dew with it, and it looks most too thin for these damp nights. Organdy’s the most unserviceable stuff in the world anyhow, and I told Matthew so when he got it. But there is no use in saying anything to Matthew nowadays. Time was when he would take my advice, but now he just buys things for Anne regardless, and the clerks at Carmody know they can palm anything off on him. Just let them tell him a thing is pretty and fashionable, and Matthew plunks his money down for it. Mind you keep your skirt clear of the wheel, Anne, and put your warm jacket on.” Then Marilla stalked downstairs, thinking proudly how sweet Anne looked, with that “One moonbeam from the forehead to the crown” and regretting that she could not go to the concert herself to hear her girl recite. “I wonder if it is too damp for my dress,” said Anne anxiously. “Not a bit of it,” said Diana, pulling up the window blind. “It’s a perfect night, and there won’t be any dew. Look at the moonlight.” “I’m so glad my window looks east into the sun rising,” said Anne, going over to Diana. “It’s so splendid to see the morning coming up over those long hills and glowing through those sharp fir tops. It’s new every morning, and I feel as if I washed my very soul in that bath of earliest sunshine. Oh, Diana, I love this little room so dearly. I don’t know how I’ll get along without it when I go to town next month.” “Don’t speak of your going away tonight,” begged Diana. “I don’t want to think of it, it makes me so miserable, and I do want to have a good time this evening. What are you going to recite, Anne? And are you nervous?” “Not a bit. I’ve recited so often in public I don’t mind at all now. I’ve decided to give ‘The Maiden’s Vow.’ It’s so pathetic. Laura Spencer is going to give a comic recitation, but I’d rather make people cry than laugh.” “What will you recite if they encore you?” “They won’t dream of encoring me,” scoffed Anne, who was not without her own secret hopes that they would, and already visioned herself telling Matthew all about it at the next morning’s breakfast table. “There are Billy and Jane now—I hear the wheels. Come on.” Billy Andrews insisted that Anne should ride on the front seat with him, so she unwillingly climbed up. She would have much preferred to sit back with the girls, where she could have laughed and chattered to her heart’s content. There was not much of either laughter or chatter in Billy. He was a big, fat, stolid youth of twenty, with a round, expressionless face, and a painful lack of conversational gifts. But he admired Anne immensely, and was puffed up with pride over the prospect of driving to White Sands with that slim, upright figure beside him. Anne, by dint of talking over her shoulder to the girls and occasionally passing a sop of civility to Billy—who grinned and chuckled and never could think of any reply until it was too late—contrived to enjoy the drive in spite of all. It was a night for enjoyment. The road was full of buggies, all bound for the hotel, and laughter, silver clear, echoed and reechoed along it. When they reached the hotel it was a blaze of light from top to bottom. They were met by the ladies of the concert committee, one of whom took Anne off to the performers’ dressing room which was filled with the members of a Charlottetown Symphony Club, among whom Anne felt suddenly shy and frightened and countrified. Her dress, which, in the east gable, had seemed so dainty and pretty, now seemed simple and plain—too simple and plain, she thought, among all the silks and laces that glistened and rustled around her. What were her pearl beads compared to the diamonds of the big, handsome lady near her? And how poor her one wee white rose must look beside all the hothouse flowers the others wore! Anne laid her hat and jacket away, and shrank miserably into a corner. She wished herself back in the white room at Green Gables. It was still worse on the platform of the big concert hall of the hotel, where she presently found herself. The electric lights dazzled her eyes, the perfume and hum bewildered her. She wished she were sitting down in the audience with Diana and Jane, who seemed to be having a splendid time away at the back. She was wedged in between a stout lady in pink silk and a tall, scornful-looking girl in a white-lace dress. The stout lady occasionally turned her head squarely around and surveyed Anne through her eyeglasses until Anne, acutely sensitive of being so scrutinized, felt that she must scream aloud; and the white-lace girl kept talking audibly to her next neighbor about the “country bumpkins” and “rustic belles” in the audience, languidly anticipating “such fun” from the displays of local talent on the program. Anne believed that she would hate that white-lace girl to the end of life. Unfortunately for Anne, a professional elocutionist was staying at the hotel and had consented to recite. She was a lithe, dark-eyed woman in a wonderful gown of shimmering gray stuff like woven moonbeams, with gems on her neck and in her dark hair. She had a marvelously flexible voice and wonderful power of expression; the audience went wild over her selection. Anne, forgetting all about herself and her troubles for the time, listened with rapt and shining eyes; but when the recitation ended she suddenly put her hands over her face. She could never get up and recite after that—never. Had she ever thought she could recite? Oh, if she were only back at Green Gables! At this unpropitious moment her name was called. Somehow Anne—who did not notice the rather guilty little start of surprise the white-lace girl gave, and would not have understood the subtle compliment implied therein if she had—got on her feet, and moved dizzily out to the front. She was so pale that Diana and Jane, down in the audience, clasped each other’s hands in nervous sympathy. Anne was the victim of an overwhelming attack of stage fright. Often as she had recited in public, she had never before faced such an audience as this, and the sight of it paralyzed her energies completely. Everything was so strange, so brilliant, so bewildering—the rows of ladies in evening dress, the critical faces, the whole atmosphere of wealth and culture about her. Very different this from the plain benches at the Debating Club, filled with the homely, sympathetic faces of friends and neighbors. These people, she thought, would be merciless critics. Perhaps, like the white-lace girl, they anticipated amusement from her “rustic” efforts. She felt hopelessly, helplessly ashamed and miserable. Her knees trembled, her heart fluttered, a horrible faintness came over her; not a word could she utter, and the next moment she would have fled from the platform despite the humiliation which, she felt, must ever after be her portion if she did so. But suddenly, as her dilated, frightened eyes gazed out over the audience, she saw Gilbert Blythe away at the back of the room, bending forward with a smile on his face—a smile which seemed to Anne at once triumphant and taunting. In reality it was nothing of the kind. Gilbert was merely smiling with appreciation of the whole affair in general and of the effect produced by Anne’s slender white form and spiritual face against a background of palms in particular. Josie Pye, whom he had driven over, sat beside him, and her face certainly was both triumphant and taunting. But Anne did not see Josie, and would not have cared if she had. She drew a long breath and flung her head up proudly, courage and determination tingling over her like an electric shock. She would not fail before Gilbert Blythe—he should never be able to laugh at her, never, never! Her fright and nervousness vanished; and she began her recitation, her clear, sweet voice reaching to the farthest corner of the room without a tremor or a break. Self-possession was fully restored to her, and in the reaction from that horrible moment of powerlessness she recited as she had never done before. When she finished there were bursts of honest applause. Anne, stepping back to her seat, blushing with shyness and delight, found her hand vigorously clasped and shaken by the stout lady in pink silk. “My dear, you did splendidly,” she puffed. “I’ve been crying like a baby, actually I have. There, they’re encoring you—they’re bound to have you back!” “Oh, I can’t go,” said Anne confusedly. “But yet—I must, or Matthew will be disappointed. He said they would encore me.” “Then don’t disappoint Matthew,” said the pink lady, laughing. Smiling, blushing, limpid eyed, Anne tripped back and gave a quaint, funny little selection that captivated her audience still further. The rest of the evening was quite a little triumph for her. When the concert was over, the stout, pink lady—who was the wife of an American millionaire—took her under her wing, and introduced her to everybody; and everybody was very nice to her. The professional elocutionist, Mrs. Evans, came and chatted with her, telling her that she had a charming voice and “interpreted” her selections beautifully. Even the white-lace girl paid her a languid little compliment. They had supper in the big, beautifully decorated dining room; Diana and Jane were invited to partake of this, also, since they had come with Anne, but Billy was nowhere to be found, having decamped in mortal fear of some such invitation. He was in waiting for them, with the team, however, when it was all over, and the three girls came merrily out into the calm, white moonshine radiance. Anne breathed deeply, and looked into the clear sky beyond the dark boughs of the firs. Oh, it was good to be out again in the purity and silence of the night! How great and still and wonderful everything was, with the murmur of the sea sounding through it and the darkling cliffs beyond like grim giants guarding enchanted coasts. “Hasn’t it been a perfectly splendid time?” sighed Jane, as they drove away. “I just wish I was a rich American and could spend my summer at a hotel and wear jewels and low-necked dresses and have ice cream and chicken salad every blessed day. I’m sure it would be ever so much more fun than teaching school. Anne, your recitation was simply great, although I thought at first you were never going to begin. I think it was better than Mrs. Evans’s.” “Oh, no, don’t say things like that, Jane,” said Anne quickly, “because it sounds silly. It couldn’t be better than Mrs. Evans’s, you know, for she is a professional, and I’m only a schoolgirl, with a little knack of reciting. I’m quite satisfied if the people just liked mine pretty well.” “I’ve a compliment for you, Anne,” said Diana. “At least I think it must be a compliment because of the tone he said it in. Part of it was anyhow. There was an American sitting behind Jane and me—such a romantic-looking man, with coal-black hair and eyes. Josie Pye says he is a distinguished artist, and that her mother’s cousin in Boston is married to a man that used to go to school with him. Well, we heard him say—didn’t we, Jane?—‘Who is that girl on the platform with the splendid Titian hair? She has a face I should like to paint.’ There now, Anne. But what does Titian hair mean?” “Being interpreted it means plain red, I guess,” laughed Anne. “Titian was a very famous artist who liked to paint red-haired women.” “Did you see all the diamonds those ladies wore?” sighed Jane. “They were simply dazzling. Wouldn’t you just love to be rich, girls?” “We are rich,” said Anne staunchly. “Why, we have sixteen years to our credit, and we’re happy as queens, and we’ve all got imaginations, more or less. Look at that sea, girls—all silver and shadow and vision of things not seen. We couldn’t enjoy its loveliness any more if we had millions of dollars and ropes of diamonds. You wouldn’t change into any of those women if you could. Would you want to be that white-lace girl and wear a sour look all your life, as if you’d been born turning up your nose at the world? Or the pink lady, kind and nice as she is, so stout and short that you’d really no figure at all? Or even Mrs. Evans, with that sad, sad look in her eyes? She must have been dreadfully unhappy sometime to have such a look. You know you wouldn’t, Jane Andrews!” “I don’t know—exactly,” said Jane unconvinced. “I think diamonds would comfort a person for a good deal.” “Well, I don’t want to be anyone but myself, even if I go uncomforted by diamonds all my life,” declared Anne. “I’m quite content to be Anne of Green Gables, with my string of pearl beads. I know Matthew gave me as much love with them as ever went with Madame the Pink Lady’s jewels.” About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. L. M. Montgomery (2008). Anne of Green Gables. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45/pg45-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org , located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html . The lead image was generated using HackerNoon's Stable Disffusion Al Image Generator feature, via the prompt "Anne of Green Fables".

The Hotel Concert

Sentiment, Inc.

THE ENCOUNTER AT STONEHENGE

Growing up, I liked stories with magical forests and creatures. Grimm's tales, , , and even , to name a few. No matter how dangerous a magical forest may be, it always seemed like a fun place to explore, even with all the crazy shit you might come across. But, since magic forests do not exist in reality, I had to imagine myself wandering through them. The Hobbit, Winnie-the-Pooh My Neighbor Totoro Bambi Video games, however, have made visiting a magic forest easier than ever. and almost any game in the series feature forests that are filled with mysterious creatures, spirits, and treasures hidden among the trees. Ori and the Blind Forest, The Witcher 3, Zelda Newly added to this collection is a title from Moonlight Kids and Humble Games, recently released for Switch (and a few months earlier for other platforms). is not only an immersive game that transports you to a magical wood but also tells you an unexpectedly satisfying story. The Wild at Heart As with many magical-wood tales, this one starts with a troubled kid, a don't-look-for-me note, and a wrong turn. Synopsis: Two Kids with a Plan In , two teenagers, Wake and Kirby, come up with a plan to escape the hardships in their homes and build a treehouse somewhere in the wilderness. The Wild at Heart You begin the game as Wake on a rainy autumn day around 15:00. It's time to enact "The Plan" and meet Kirby in the forest. But soon, Wake finds himself completely lost, unsure of where to go next or how to find Kirby. Disheartened, Wake spots a tiny, mysterious creature who invites him deeper into the woods in the best tradition of "follow the rabbit" plot twists. And at this moment, the real adventure begins. The Wild at Heart Gameplay Overview: A Seek-and-Fight Adventure with Puzzle Elements is a game that could probably be best described as a seek-and-fight adventure with puzzle elements and incremental map discovery. The deeper you venture into the woods, the more artifacts you find and the more creatures you meet on your way. The Wild at Heart Spritelings of all kinds, for example, are meant to be the minions that collect items for you and help you fight monsters. As fighters, however, Spritelings do not fare well, die easily, and do best only when in multiples. So finding eggs to hatch more of these cute and adorable creatures is one of the most basic elements of the game mechanics. This is because some of the map areas could only be accessed with the help of dozens of Spritelings. Most of the other creatures you'd encounter in are hostile. They prevent you from reaching your objective in every possible way, by biting you, chasing you, attacking you with poisonous gas, or throwing heavy stones at you. Most of the attacks can be countered by throwing all of the Spritelings you have at the enemy. However, some dangerous monsters can easily take away a lot of lives and are still not willing to die. This is especially true with creatures that can be battled only by specific kinds of Spritelings, who may die before finishing the job. In this case, you would need either to reload the game or go back to the camp to hatch more little fighters. The Wild at Heart One of the most terrifying enemies you'll encounter in the game is known as The Never. A nastily malicious entity appears at random places on your way after dusk. You get real chills when you see it, and your characters can actually die, sending you back to the last saved moment. You cannot fight The Never until a certain point in the game. Therefore, it is always a wise idea to go back to the camp and sleep until the morning. Great Storytelling with No Sense of Urgency The beauty of The Wild at Heart is that it tells the story of a magical forest, giving you a glimpse into the history of why things are the way they are and what needs to be changed. The subplots of Wake and Kirby, woven into the main plot, contribute to the emotional depth of the story. With a satisfying end cutscene, the storylines of Deep Woods and the kids are merged into a single compelling narrative. has another great feature: it does not create a sense of urgency that you may feel in other adventure games. With beautiful artwork and a peaceful soundtrack, playing the game feels like visiting a therapeutic modern art museum (is there such a thing?) or taking part in an art meditation session. The Wild at Heart The Wild at Heart Total Playtime Most of the puzzles you must solve are not too difficult, but they may require a multi-step approach. As an example, you might switch between Wake and Kirby, or use Spritelings to reach for items or throw them at switches. You might also repeat the cycle multiple times before figuring out the right order. Due to this, takes between fifteen and twenty hours to complete, but it could easily take longer if you follow all the subquests. The Wild at Heart The Wild at Heart Review Verdict: 4/5 has its downsides, especially when it comes to Spritelings. They are notoriously inept at fighting and sometimes just stand next to an enemy, taking hits without fighting back (and dying in the process). So always have a sufficient supply of these cute creatures before you start fighting anything dangerous. The Wild at Heart The game-saving mechanics are also not obvious, as you might reappear in the wrong place with fewer resources than you expected. So make sure you always save the game in the camp before moving to the next battle or level. Despite the minor drawbacks and sometimes tedious puzzles, is the perfect game to escape reality for a while and relax on a cold winter evening. And you don't even have to enact "The Plan" or get lost in the forest to do that. The Wild at Heart Just don't forget to brew yourself a warm cup of tea before playing the game. Trust me, you’ll love it.

The Wild at Heart Game Review (Nintendo Switch)

Answering the most common and most pressing questions about MRR to guide your yearly planning. Monthly recurring revenue is one of the least exciting topics to take on in 2021. It is simple (to calculate). Everyone knows what it is about. It is hard to act on it (especially if you’re gunning for immediate results). So why deal with it in the first place? Well, the reality is people that familiar with MRR. aren’t While I was researching this topic, I reached out to our Customer Success and Sales teams to see if many customers were coming to them with questions about MRR. I didn’t expect to get many. But in fact, they bubble up all the time. And they range from the simple ( ) to the really complex “down-the-rabbit-hole” type ( ) What’s a good MRR? What specific experiments can I run that would affect MRR? In addition, some of the most popular searches on Google suggest that people still struggle with the basics: We wanted to produce a holistic guide that covers everything people want to know about MRR in 2022 and beyond (it’s never too early to start planning for next year!), so we reached out to our customers, partners, and readers to learn what gaps still exist in their knowledge of the subject. This is our attempt to answer all the questions people ask about MRR daily. We start with answers to the basic questions (no guide on MRR would be complete without getting the fundamentals right) and gradually explore some of the more advanced topics. Feel free to jump forward to the topics that feel most relevant and interesting to you. What is MRR? MRR stands for . It measures the total revenue your company generates each month. Monthly recurring revenue repeatable Because MRR is based on subscriptions, it has a strong forward-looking element. For example, if a customer pays for a whole year in advance, you should spread their payment over the 12 months it covers and count each share towards your MRR for the year ahead. Example: A customer pays $60 for an annual subscription. Their MRR is $5 for the next 12 months, not $60 in Month 1 followed by $0 in Months 2-12. You should exclude any type of non-recurring payment from your MRR calculation. Any setup or consulting fees that are not naturally shouldn’t be included in the calculation. recurring How do you calculate MRR? Add up all the revenue that customers pay on a monthly/subscription basis. If customers pay for an extended period — for example, a full year — you should split the payment by the number of periods (12 in this example) and add that to your MRR. Let’s look at another example: You have 5 customers: Customer A is paying you $10/month Customer B is paying $10/month as well but also paid a one-time $100 setup fee Customer C paid $60 in January for the whole year Customer D was at risk of churning, so you offered them a 20% discount and they’re now paying $8/month Finally, Customer E recently converted to your Premium plan and are now paying $15/month In this example your MRR is (10 + 10 + (60/12) + 8 + 15) = $48 MRR should only include the recurring portion of the revenue — any type of one-time charge or fee should be excluded from your calculation. Thus, the setup fee has no effect — the MRR includes only subscription charges. What is the difference between MRR and ARR? The abbreviations are misleading! MRR stands for . ARR is short for the . Monthly recurring revenue Annual run rate This is not just a detail of vocabulary. ARR is a forward-looking metric that projects your revenue over the next 12 months based on the MRR you have . today In terms of a formula, it is as simple as . ARR = 12 x MRR Do discounts affect MRR? There seems to be a bit of confusion and discussion around whether discounting should influence the MRR calculation. Some argue that a one-time discount or such that applies only to a specific period (for example 3 months or 1 year) should not affect MRR (because they’re not recurring). However, lifetime discounts are treated differently — because they affect MRR for the whole lifetime of a customer. If someone signs up on a $500/mo plan, but only pays $100/mo for the duration of their engagement, counting their MRR as $500 would be misleading. But the same logic can be extended to cases where you apply a time-limited discount (say 3 months) and a customer churns after 2 months. They never paid the full price, so why would you apply it to your full MRR calculation? We are big proponents of consistency. We believe the MRR calculation should include the recurring revenue that your business is generating. If a customer is going to be paying $100/mo for the first 3 months and then switch to paying $500/mo after that, then those are the numbers that should go in your MRR. true ( or CMRR is an especially useful metric that can help you navigate all these forthcoming corrections to MRR.) Committed MRR Do custom enterprise deals count towards MRR? The same rules apply as with your other customers — the subscription payment is divided over the period it covers (typically 12 months) and gets added to your MRR. Consulting and setup fees (which occur much more frequently in custom deals) are excluded from the MRR calculation. You should include custom deals in your MRR — without it, you won’t have a full view of how your company is doing. What are the types of MRR? I thought MRR was just a single number? Sure, it is. But your MRR changes based on decisions your customers make about their subscription — they can buy new, upgrade to a more expensive plan, downgrade to a cheaper plan, reactivate an expired subscription, or cancel altogether. We call these the 5 . MRR movements The better you understand these 5 elements, the sooner you can start influencing them — and thus growing your total MRR. Understanding the MRR movements allows you to implement initiatives to influence them. These 5 elements include: : This is the new (recurring) revenue you added during a given period. A typical example is a new client who signed up during a given month. New Business MRR : Includes the revenue added during a specific month from existing customers. This typically covers two common cases: Expansion MRR Customers paying more as a result of upgrading to a higher pricing tier (like the customer who went from the Standard plan to the Premium plan in the example above) or due to expanding their usage of the product (something like adding more seats/users to the plan). Customers who buy add-ons (these should also be ). recurring : Sometimes customers who have churned come back and start paying again. Their revenue is counted towards during the period in which they reactivate their accounts. Reactivation MRR Reactivation MRR : This is the opposite of — customers do not always switch to paying you more, sometimes they will switch to a lower-priced plan, lower their usage of your product, or stop using an add-on they were paying for. Contraction MRR Expansion MRR : This section covers the people who cancel their plans during a given period. Churned MRR Each of these elements has either a positive or a negative effect on your total MRR. Keeping track of these 5 categories is useful because it allows you (and different teams within your company — such as success, product, marketing, etc.) to focus on different segments and customers and understand what is driving their behavior. Why is MRR important? . It accumulates and compounds over time. Subscription revenue is powerful Subscriptions (and SaaS in particular) are great for buyers as well. They’re low-commitment, low-cost, and you can upgrade/downgrade or even cancel at any time. There’s no lock-in and you typically get additional features and functionality for no additional cost. As a seller, once you’ve won a customer, you don’t need to sell to them every month. Some churn is natural and customers will leave over time, but with subscriptions, you can focus on acquiring new customers and retaining those who are most likely to leave you. This is where the compounding effect kicks in. (Also remember that happy customers not only tend to stick longer but also advocate your product in front of friends, peers, etc.) MRR is one of the most important metrics for subscription companies of any kind. It shows how far along the road you are in a way that is easy to communicate to internal and external stakeholders alike. It makes it easy to communicate goals and progress towards attaining them to your team and to report on your progress when you’re talking to investors. Many founders we talk to say that MRR is their “North Star” metric. “I’m always looking at MRR. At the end of the day, that’s our revenue and drives a lot of other strategic decisions such as hiring and other spend.” - Joel Gascoigne, Buffer However, it is important to remember that MRR is a trailing metric. You can act on it and the efforts you put into it will be reflected in your MRR, but sometimes it can take weeks or even months to see that effect. MRR vs. Cashflow: How are they different? It seems that quite a few SaaS operatives struggle with the difference between MRR and cashflow reporting and the usefulness of each. What happens when someone pays you a full year in advance? Let’s use an example again: In terms of MRR, you should split the charge over 12 months and add the monthly charge to your MRR. In this case, your MRR grows by $5,000 for the next 12 months (the MRR calculation excludes one-time charges as we discussed above). Customer A signs an annual contract at $60,000 + a one-time implementation charge of $10,000 with a full upfront payment. You invoice them and they wire the money to your bank account. But in terms of cash flow, the money is already in your bank account (including the one-time fee) and you have taken on a promise to provide a service (implementation + the use of your product) for the next 12 months. Cashflow reporting allows you to look at the actual cash you have in the bank and compare it against the expenditures you have and the services you have to provide before it becomes earned revenue. Both MRR and cashflow reporting are useful for different things. We already spoke about MRR at length above. Looking at cash flow allows you to do things like: : making sure you have enough money to make payroll 3-6-12 months down the road. Planning your runway : since cashflow planning also requires that you look at the money you spend, it is very helpful to understand where all your money goes and whether it’s spent wisely. Understand your expenditure : As discussed above, MRR is a great metric, but it only looks at the current state of your business. Cashflow planning allows you to play out different scenarios and see what would happen with your company if they materialize. For example, you can see what your vital stats would look like with a 2% vs. 3% churn. Play out and plan for different scenarios How do you grow your MRR? That’s a very common question that comes up often. The challenge here is that a lot of the initiatives you can implement are reflected in MRR at a much later stage. very Nevertheless, MRR can be influenced (obviously) and it is important to understand how that works. There are only 5 ways you can grow your MRR — it’s by changing one of the 5 movements we covered above (New Business, Expansion, Reactivation, Contraction, and Churn). New Business and Churn usually get the most coverage, but all 5 elements can be influenced and they all change the outlook on your MRR. And there are many different ways in which these elements can be influenced. For example, devising a monetization strategy that uses scalable pricing is one way to optimize the Expansion element of your MRR. A consistent feature in some of the most successful subscription companies is a strong number — they grow very fast not just because they add new customers, but also because the revenue they generate from their existing customer base . Net Dollar Retention expands faster than it churns In essence, that means companies like Slack . continue to grow even if they don’t add any new customers Segmentation and MMR I do not want to imply that MRR is a static metric. Using segmentation along with your monthly revenue can help you make better decisions. Segmenting customers allows you to understand what initiatives drive (long-term) customer loyalty. We often hear people ask about segmenting MRR per sales rep/account executive — this is something we use for our team at ChartMogul as well. But there are many additional ways in which you can use this — segmenting MRR (especially when looking at New Business MRR) per marketing channel is used by many teams for attribution and to figure out how to optimize marketing budgets. Success teams would often compare NPS scores vs. MRR to make sure the best customers are getting value out of the product and so on. MRR segmentation allows you to gain insight and generate new ideas to optimize your product, monetization, and go-to-market strategies. What’s a good MRR? The answer to this question is the Winnie the Pooh-esque . only good The higher, the better There’s no straight answer to this question and a lot depends on your circumstances — what your goals are for the business, how big your team is, and so on. But if you’re not looking to sell or to hire more people on your team, a MRR is one that allows you to continue operating the business. good What effect does reducing churn have on MRR? Churn is one of the 5 MRR movements we reviewed above. Reducing churn also generates a compounding effect — customers who do not churn, continue to generate revenue in every month after that. is one of the most commonly discussed ways of growing your MRR. Managing churn But there are other ways in which reducing churn has a (positive) effect on your MRR. A churned customer cannot upgrade their account or buy an add-on (thus limiting the potential of Expansion MRR). They also can’t (or most likely won’t) refer your product to a friend/peer, which is a lost opportunity in terms of word-of-mouth New Business MRR for you. But there are other ways in which reducing churn has a (positive) effect on your MRR. A churned customer cannot upgrade their account or buy an add-on (thus limiting the potential of ). They also can’t (or most likely won’t) refer your product to a friend/peer, which is a lost opportunity in terms of word-of-mouth for you. Expansion MRR New Business MRR MRR is the mother of all metrics MRR is a reflection of everything about your company — your decisions as a founder, your hiring, even your culture. Make good decisions, hire good people, and create a nurturing environment and your MRR will grow. Of course, this is an oversimplification — you can write a book on each of these — but it’s how companies grow in reality. However, it might take a while before you start to see it moving. Learning how to segment and analyze MRR in a way that allows you to extract actionable insight is what you can do with your MRR number today. We hope you found this useful, but if any questions remain get in touch with us.

The MRR Guide that Actually Makes Sense

200 Black Women In Tech To Follow on Twitter {2021 List}

Where do you keep your money? Your fiat assets are probably in a bank account of some kind, maybe more than one. You most likely have some kind of online access to the account, so you can log in at any time and check where it is, see any account movements or payments, and essentially see your money (even if we know that the bank itself of your wealth ready for you withdraw if you wanted it). You also have some day-to-day spending money in your wallet/purse, for cash transactions and small payments — not least because it’s costly for retail merchants to accept small amounts via debit cards. isn’t required to actually hold more than a fraction Your assets are hopefully held in a secure wallet, because as a regular reader of this blog you understand the importance of never leaving your private keys on a centralized exchange. You might view your balances on some kind of portfolio app, but a wallet is where the keys live. cryptocurrency However although we use the word wallet, this is a slightly unhelpful metaphor — because your crypto coins are not actually in there, not in the same way that your folding money physically resides in the pocket of your jeans. Your cryptocoins live on the , the distributed ledger on which they were created, and that’s really the whole point: what makes cryptocurrency both immutable and secure at the same time. blockchain So what’s in the wallet? Your private keys are, which prove you own and control that specific cryptoasset — you can move it, spend it, or cash it out to fiat, because you have that string of code which connects you uniquely to it. And your private keys are controlled in most cases by a recovery seed, which is a string of 12 or 24 words. The is a protocol used by hardware wallets, to replace the computer-generated randomness of a private key with a human-readable transcription, whilst maintaining the security. It consists of 2048 unique words from which a seed phrase is generated (that’s just the English word list by the way, there are several others). The words are chosen to avoid similarities, and such that you only require the first four letters to unambiguously identify the word (very helpful if restoring a hardware wallet with a fiddly little interface). BIP39 wordlist Because you can use this phrase to restore the private keys on any wallet, you can think of this phrase as the real asset, which you need to keep both secure and retrievable at all times. Many solutions exist for this, from the good old-fashioned pen and paper (ideally in more than one location), through to options designed to withstand fire and water damage. engraved steel or titanium One place you could consider keeping one backup of this word list is — in your head. Whilst we’d never recommend this being the only place you keep the list, it’s a location worth exploring. I first came across the linking memorization method in a book by the stunningly talented psycho-showman Derren Brown, called Tricks of the Mind. If you don’t know Derren then check him out, he is careful to insist that his profession is that of entertainer and trickster rather than possessing supernatural powers (and he has debunked many a fraudster), but he uses a highly-trained memory amongst his many intellectual assets to pull off his incredible stunts. He describes in this book many techniques for memorizing different things, but the linking method ( a variation on the Memory Palace concept) lends itself beautifully to a list of words in a seed phrase. The idea is to create powerful sensory associations between one word and the next, to embed them in your mind. For example imagine the first 4 words of your recovery phrase were: AnchorHoneyBoilMirror (these words are all drawn from the BIP39 list, but none of them are in “my” recovery phrase by the way. Just sayin’…) So you start with the first two words, you need to connect Anchor with Honey. Perhaps you picture a ship’s anchor dripping with golden honey, the color of the oozing sweetness transparently blending with the rusty metal. Or maybe a big ship is being weighed down with a huge pot of honey attached to it on the ocean floor, a big ceramic pot like the original Winnie the Pooh illustrations. Once your first mental picture is consolidated in your mind, create a second one to associate Honey with Boil. What happens if you boil honey? A big sticky mess perhaps. What does it smell like, sound like? Use as many senses as you can to bring the vision to life as three-dimensionally as possible. The third image links and . If your mind boiled honey in a pot before, choose something different — perhaps use the word as a noun instead and imagine looking in the mirror and seeing a massive boil erupting on your nose — arghh! Perhaps it feels like it’s burning and itchy too. Boil Mirror … You get the idea. The effectiveness of this method depends upon creating really imaginative multi-sensory representations of the two words which powerfully links them together. Each word is associated with two images, and thus with two other words, in a strict order where each helps you to recall the next one. Your very own mental blockchain, which controls the access to your cryptoassets. What I like about this method is that you are creating these vivid mental pictures to link the words together in something rather like a chain. You might think this sounds like a fanciful and unreliable way to secure your private keys, but think about the complexity and uncertainty of the world we live in. If the for their perusal, do we truly have any kind of privacy left? Your mind is a private space which you can take with you anywhere in the world. You control access to it absolutely, it can’t get stolen, or lost (hopefully). Even when memories get forgotten or suppressed they can often be triggered by some stimulus, such as hypnotic regression. It’s the ultimate secure storage that we all have access to, for free. TSA can make you unlock your smartphone Or picture a refugee, escaping on foot from war-ravaged Syria, perhaps. A perilous and complex journey overland to the port where she was assaulted and abused, results in her life-savings being ripped off by a trafficker, exploiting her desperate need to rebuild a life destroyed. As the overloaded boat sinks and she loses her ID and last bundle of worldly possessions disappears beneath the waves, a frantic swim to the beach on the distant horizon is the only hope. Being lucky with the tidal flow she claws her way ashore on hands and knees. And as she looks up at the shores of Europe and a chance to live, to thrive, to be reborn, you can hear the mantra-like inner monologue: “ANCHOR, the anchor is made of HONEY. It’s a bad anchor because it’s dissolving into stickiness on the ocean floor as the ship full of bees pulls away. Then I am going to BOIL down the honey, in a big cooking pot on the stove of the kitchen in my apartment that the regime blew to bits…” Life and circumstance have stripped her of she ever lived for, worked for, learned to love. Except that the keys to her wealth are safe where no-one can touch them or take them away. everything It’s a compelling idea, isn’t it?

Money in mind: radical remembering, for extreme crypto survival

Exploring Downloadable Fonts using Support Library & Android Studio I recently had the pleasure of using the newly supported feature that was introduced with Oreo, when changing font from Roboto to Lato. Downloadable Fonts Android Winnie’s Along with , Support Library 26 introduced support for Downloadable Fonts, with backwards compatibility till API 14. Historically, using custom fonts have usually required the use of third-party libraries, so it was nice to see more support from the Android framework itself. Fonts in XML Roboto to the left, Lato to the right. What is Downloadable Fonts, and why use it? Downloadable Fonts allow the ability for apps to request fonts from a font provider application instead of including font files in the apk or downloading it themselves. A font provider application retrieves fonts and caches them locally so that other apps can request and share fonts. How cool is that! Image credit: https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/look-and-feel/downloadable-fonts.html Google Play Services (on devices with version 11+) is one such font provider, which I used for Lato as it is a . There isn’t documentation yet on how to implement your own font provider if you were to use a custom font not available through Google Play Services, however you can use fonts in XML which is still an improvement over what it used to be! Google Font As you can see in the image above, apps using Downloadable Fonts make a using the API which retrieves the from the Font Provider. The Font Provider does not need to download fonts if it already exists in the Font cache. FontRequest FontsContract Typeface Developers don’t need to use these APIs directly if using Downloadable Fonts through XML, which is described more in the next section. Advantages of using Downloadable Fonts: Reduced APK size — which can significantly ! impact your app installs Since the apps can share fonts from the same provider, this results in less usage of precious memory, disk space and cellular data. Can you guess how many Roboto font files are in your phone’s storage right now? 🙀 (yes there are apps that have them in their APKs). Great, let’s get started! There are three ways of implementing Downloadable Fonts in your app — using Android Studio & Google Play services, programmatically or via the Support Library**.** I used Android Studio to generate the required files, and used the Fonts in XML feature from the Support library to apply the downloaded fonts. I decided to do it via XML because then you can declare the required fonts in your app’s manifest file, which allows the framework to . If doing it programmatically, you can only request for fonts after the app is launched, which can cause a delay in the first layout time. Also, it is less work do it via XML! download them ahead of time 1. If you want to use Android Studio to generate the required files, then you’ll need version 3.0+. Add the following (version 26+) to your module’s build.gradle: implementation "com.android.support:support-compat:27.0.2" 2. Select a text view in your app that you want to apply the font to and click on the fontFamily attribute under Attributes in the graphical layout. Select the “More Fonts…” at the bottom, which will open the dialog below. 3. Make sure to have “Create downloadable font” selected. This results in three files being downloaded — lato.xml, font_certs.xml and preloaded_fonts.xml. **lato.xml**This file contains the font attributes for loading a Typeface from the Google Fonts Provider Application. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><font-family xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"app:fontProviderAuthority="com.google.android.gms.fonts"app:fontProviderPackage="com.google.android.gms"app:fontProviderQuery="Lato"app:fontProviderCerts="@array/com_google_android_gms_fonts_certs"></font-family> **font_certs.xml**The system uses these certificates to verify the font provider’s identity, to avoid getting fonts from an unknown source. If using the steps above, Android Studio should have automatically generated the string certificates for dev and prod in font_certs.xml below. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><resources><array name="com_google_android_gms_fonts_certs"><item>@array/com_google_android_gms_fonts_certs_dev</item><item>@array/com_google_android_gms_fonts_certs_prod</item></array><string-array name="com_google_android_gms_fonts_certs_dev"><item></item></string-array><string-array name="com_google_android_gms_fonts_certs_prod"><item></item></string-array></resources> **preloaded-fonts.xml**This file is referenced in the Android manifest which helps the framework pre-load fonts to avoid delays when the app is launched. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><resources><array name="preloaded_fonts" translatable="false"><item>@font/lato</item><item>@font/lato_bold</item></array></resources> 4. Make sure this line is added to your app’s Manifest file, Android Studio should have done this automatically: <meta-dataandroid:name="preloaded_fonts"android:resource="@array/preloaded_fonts"/> 5. Great, now you are ready to apply the fonts in XML! <style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.NoActionBar"><item name="colorPrimary">@color/colorPrimary</item>.... </style> <item name="android:fontFamily">@font/lato</item> All I had to do was set the to get TextViews throughout the app to change to Lato, including parts that were bold or italicized. However, if you want to configure the weights, you can follow the same steps to get Lato Bold using Android Studio, and change the weight manually in lato_bold.xml that you can then apply in XML layouts: font family in the app’s theme app:fontProviderQuery="name=Lato&weight=700" //can modify the weight here The whole thing felt like magic! But…. Gotchas When using Support Library 26, I noticed that the toolbars throughout the app was still in Roboto, resulting in a hideous Roboto-Lato combination! Even explicitly setting the fontFamily of the toolbar in XML didn’t work. This is because Toolbar , like a TextView does. does not implement the fontFamily property Including the fontFamily in an XML style and setting that to be the toolbar’s app:titleTextAppearance worked — the toolbar titles were now in Lato! Good news is that this seems to be , so this workaround shouldn’t be needed. fixed in Support Library 27 There were a couple of other places where Lato did not get applied — one where I was dynamically creating textviews with bold styling, and the bottom navigation view for which I used a third-party library. I initially thought that this would do the trick: val typeface = ResourcesCompat. (this, R.font. ) getFont lato //for the third-party bottom navigation viewbottomNavigationView.setDefaultTypeface(typeface) //for the bolded text viewtextView.setTypeface(textView.getTypeface(), Typeface. ) BOLD I used the method to load the Typeface and set it on both views, and voilà, there was no more Roboto! However, at one point I saw a when setting the Typeface for the BottomNavigation using this method. ResourcesCompat.getFont() ResourcesNotFound exception Essentially, if the font hasn’t been loaded by the time this method is called or the user doesn’t have the required version of Google Play Services, it will throw this exception. The safest way to avoid this is to load the font programmatically, if you are unable to set the style through XML. is the official documentation on how to do that. Here There is also with FontsContractCompat in 27.0.2, it has been fixed for a future release of support library and doesn’t seem to be an issue in 26.1.0 this crash Other requirements and limitations worth noting: Your compileSDK should be at least SDK 26, and if you want to use Android Studio to generate the font files, it should be . If programmatically or using Fonts in XML to apply Downloadable Fonts, you must use at least Support Library 26. version 3.0+ Using Google Play Services as a font provider works on devices that have and above, otherwise it uses the default system font. version 11 As mentioned earlier, you may not be able to use Downloadable Fonts if you’re using a custom font that isn’t available through Google Play Services. You might have to in this case which doesn’t have documentation yet. write your own custom FontProvider I (surprisingly) enjoyed transitioning our from Roboto to Lato thanks to Fonts in XML & Downloadable Fonts, hope you enjoy these features too! I’d love to hear from you in the comments or on , and don’t forget to 👏 the post :). app Twitter

Downloadable Fonts for Android

By , CEO & Co-founder, Winnie. on . Sara Mauskopf Originally published Quora Before I spill all my secrets about building a personal brand, I’ll start off with a disclaimer: I’m not a branding expert by any stretch. I have not studied branding or marketing nor do I have any professional experience in branding or marketing roles. However, I have had a lot of success building a large social audience on platforms and am for all things at the intersection of tech and parenting. Also thanks in large part to my following, I was able to secure funding for my company , something that would have been more of a struggle early on if people didn’t know who I was. like Twitter frequently getting mentioned Winnie I didn’t really set out to become “tech famous” (i.e. well known in Silicon Valley circles) but a few things that I did in particular had a really big impact on my ability to grow an online following. If you’re looking to build an online personal brand and an audience, here are some ways to start. Stand out from the crowd It’s easier to build a brand when you embody a concept that few others represent. For example, if I wanted to build a personal brand around being really beautiful and sexy, I’d probably (ok, definitely) be unsuccessful. There’s a lot of competition for that brand and I’m not exactly a competitive candidate. On the other hand, if you choose a brand that’s a bit more obscure (for example, being beautiful and sexy while wearing a colostomy bag), you can be known for that thing. Try combining two concepts that are rarely combined in a public way and that you can really embody. For me that was tech startup CEO + mom. Sure moms have been tech startup CEOs before but they don’t usually make that a central part of their identity and personal brand for fear it could hurt their credibility. I have taken the opposite approach and . Because my brand is pretty unique, it’s easier for me to be one of the few people known for it. been vocal about how it makes me a better CEO Share the good and especially the bad Of course no one likes following a depressing sob story, but on the flip side, if the personal brand you put out there is just an Instagram highlight reel of your life it becomes really hard for people to feel any connection to you. People like to root for an underdog and when you share some of the less flattering moments of your life, it can be a way to garner support. I stumbled across this by accident when I started diagnosis and treatment. I originally started the blog as a way to inform my family and friends about his status and have an outlet for my emotions, but as a side effect I grew a following on Medium of people who wanted to offer support to me and my family. Recently I’ve taken this more to heart and shared as well. I’m not suggesting you turn your life into a tragedy for the sake of building an audience, but rather that you should be authentic and remember that sometimes your most vulnerable moments are an opportunity for people to form a personal connection to you, and therefore, your personal brand. blogging about my husband’s cancer my infertility journey Be funny Some people get a kick out of following me just for the ridiculous things that I say. Sarcasm is tough to get right on the internet and it’s pretty easy to say something stupid and offend thousands of people (ask me how I know) but one way to minimize the number of people you are likely to offend with your jokes is to make fun of yourself. It turns out that if you make fun of yourself, very few people will be offended on your behalf (sorry to break it to you). Besides maybe your mom. My mom does get offended when I make fun of myself on Twitter and will call to check on me, so that’s nice. Put yourself out there This is my most important tip. No one can discover and follow your personal brand unless you get out there, early and often. Most people make the mistake of honing their voice and waiting too long to try things and get real feedback. Here’s a dirty little secret: each thing you blog, tweet, or speak publicly about will only ever get to a small fraction of your potential audience. Even if you completely flop during a speaking gig or write something that resonates with no one, you hopefully learned something and can try again next time. Also be sure to test different platforms. Building a large following on YouTube is very different from being popular on Twitter or Instagram. There may be a platform that works better for the kind of content you produce and you won’t know until you try them. By , CEO & Co-founder, Winnie. on . Sara Mauskopf Originally published Quora For more trending tech answers from , visit . Quora HackerNoon.com/quora

4 Ways to Build Your Personal Brand Online

Photo credit : http://www.magic4walls.com/crop-image?id=14269 My career started two-and-a-half years ago, when I transitioned from back-end development to mobile , along with the support of a four-person Android team. A year later, I joined a series-B startup, where I was one of two Android engineers for most of my time there. Working on small teams was a great way to have independence and also learn from other engineers. Android development But then, five months ago, I took a leap from small team to no team when I joined a seed-funded startup of six employees as their Android engineer. In my new role, I’ve been building the app from scratch, which just got ! only Winnie released It turns out this was a big leap. Flying solo has been a challenge, but it’s also been extremely rewarding. I’ve learned along the way that there are pros and cons to working alone. Most importantly, there are things you can do to set yourself up for success. Here are some of the tactics that have helped me thus far. Be connected with the community. Do your homework. One of my worries about going solo was not having Android teammates to discuss new ideas with or be a sounding board for their ideas, which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed in my previous roles. The good news is that there are tons of resources available online to expand your knowledge and perspectives. From online talks from various conferences such as etc to your timely dose from and , there are many ways to broaden your thinking. DroidCon , 360|AnDev , Fragmented Podcast , Android Dialogs Android Weekly My personal favorite is — the code samples with every bite-sized lecture keeps me on my toes! Local meet ups or virtual communities like the , Slack groups and Twitter are great places to continue the conversation and ask questions when stuck! Caster.io AndroidDev subreddit Google+ communities , Review your own PR’s and maintain high standards. I highly encourage opening PR’s and then reviewing them yourself. It will feel silly commenting on your own PR’s, but I think it’s a healthy habit when working by yourself (also discussed in this relevant Android Dialogs ). episode I do a first-pass using the preview feature of Github, and then let it sit for a while before I look at it again. I try my best to review my PR’s as I would review PR’s from a peer, and thus hold myself to the same standards. A second look at all your code also helps catch bugs and edge-cases, as well as keeps your code consistent and clean. A “bad” pattern is often better than no clear pattern. You will have to make many decisions — should you use , , , and/or another architectural pattern? Fragments or custom ViewGroups? What should have abstractions and what shouldn’t? MVVM MVP Flux It’s not uncommon to start with one pattern and then realize another pattern is better when you’re at the beginning of a project, which leads to either some refactoring or diverging of patterns. While it makes sense to break your patterns for certain cases, it is best to be mindful of refactoring and changing it consistently everywhere when you’ve found something you like better. This might sound obvious but it’s easy to just use the new pattern for all the new code when you’re working by yourself, which can quickly result in a confusing and incoherent codebase before you know it! . Even if the patterns aren’t great, consistency makes it easier to fix down the line Strongly consider using Kotlin. Especially if you are starting from scratch! If not, consider giving it a shot with the next class you’re going to write. I didn’t end up using because I wasn’t confident about pitching the idea, since I had zero experience with it at the time and didn’t want to discourage the back-end Java developers on the team from contributing to the codebase. Kotlin However, after watching on Kotlin and doing more research, Kotlin has plenty of advantages — even just avoiding crashes because of null pointer exceptions and not dealing with Java boilerplate has me sold! This by Jake Wharton is also a great starting-point. Christina’s talk if I were to do it again, I’d have at least tried it. talk Try to keep control by not being too reliant on third-party libraries. I remember spending a bunch of time trying to decide on a library to use for MVP, as there are many of them. While being spoiled for choice is a great problem to have, I ended up implementing a simple version myself and have been very happy with it! When choosing what third-party libraries to use, I’d suggest considering whether you really need it and how it would restrict the development of the app in the future — does it make unit testing harder? Does it restrict using features that Android gives for free, like transition animations between screens? Is it actively under development and do many apps use it? This helped me make informed trade-offs and decisions. There is a library out there for pretty much everything, but you’re better off implementing some stuff yourself. I’d recommend optimizing for retaining as much control as possible without reinventing the wheel. Have a testing and accessibility plan. If you are building from scratch, it is very exciting that you have a from day one! And if not, you can try doing it right with all the new code you write! chance to do this right It isn’t uncommon that testing and accessibility take the backseat when trying to hit aggressive deadlines — and when you’re solo, it can be harder to find time for it since you aren’t sharing the load with anyone else. I will admit that I am only in the beginning of this journey myself, however I wrote code with testing in mind by using dependency injection, Model View Presenter pattern, exposing only interfaces of my model objects to the UI, and so forth with the goal of making it easier to test. I also had build after each commit from the beginning of the project, as a sanity check and to get closer to running tests. CircleCI For accessibility, I add content descriptions whenever I can, and use the before a release to figure out what I should focus on next. There is definitely more work to be done, but it is a start. Here is a great by Kelly Schuster on actionable steps that developers can take to make their apps more accessible. Accessibility Scanner talk If you aren’t able to spend time on writing tests, then have a manual testing plan handy. For example, write down different test cases (positive, negative) in a document for each feature and make sure to test those before every release! . Set deadlines for yourself to start writing tests, and do the same for accessibility improvements, otherwise they’ll most likely never get done Tell your iOS designers that they are wrong and look for potential Android converts :-). Don’t be afraid to stand up for what is right for your platform! When you’re solo, you are responsible for bringing others up to speed with the latest Android UI patterns, as well as the codebase. I mostly worked off iOS screenshots but used the and well-designed Android apps as resources to help me convert those designs to Android. Also, there is nothing better than linking to the official material design documentation to make your point! material design spec Regarding the codebase, I helped bring my CEO up to speed with our architecture and concepts like MVP, Dagger2, RxJava2 and so forth when she helped out for a couple of months. I’d recommend keeping a lookout for potential Android converts, as explaining your decisions to someone or teaching them a new concept helps you really own it or alternatively, realize your mistake. Go to beta as early as possible. This is applicable if you are working on app that hasn’t been launched yet or are making major changes to an existing app. Google play has an , and within the beta channel you can either have a closed or open beta. alpha and beta channel If you are working on an existing app, you can still have a beta run in parallel, so long as it’s version is higher than the production app. If it is an open-beta, users will be able to opt in on the playstore or by clicking on a link. If you are trying to test out changes of a smaller scale, then might be better for that. staged-rollouts If you are working on a new app, I’d suggest Our first closed beta had very few features, but it helped us iron out bugs early on, get onto a regular release train and receive valuable feedback throughout the process. This also resulted in a stress-free and smooth launch! having a closed beta as soon as possible, and converting that to an open beta when it’s ready, before the launch. Going solo for the first time is a great learning experience as you get to like never before, be more self-reliant, exercise total creative control over the codebase (for better or for worse), learn more about what you like, and deal with making mistakes that you only have yourself to blame (yay). I was nervous about going solo but it turned out to be a fun experience as the above suggestions worked for me. I hope they will be helpful for you too! challenge yourself Are you considering going solo or want to share your experience? I’d love to hear from you! Please comment or ❤ the post, or feel free to get in touch on . Twitter

Flying Solo with Android Development

It was a really full on week so I will do the reflection for Week 3 in two parts. I’m going to do this in two parts because I didn’t have the time to do a daily one on the week when it was happening. A lot happened that week and I think after three weeks of being in the programme, I started to realise what I was really in for. It has been really intense so far and it’s only about to get more full on! In Week 3, I had one goal in mind: getting my empathy interviews done before the Christmas holidays. I was pretty drained by the end of the week then went into Christmas holidays which, as we all know, is a very busy season, so I haven’t been able to write a post until today. But tomorrow, we are back at it for Week 4 of the programme. So it is about time I write my reflection journal for Week 3. I’m going to write this in a different format and only write about the day’s highlights to summarise our activities rather than the way I usually do my day-to-day post. I have decided to do this because in the weeks to come we are going to get busier so I am less likely to be able to keep up with my daily reflection journal entries. Live the Dream is a 9-week intensive accelerator programme for Kiwis aged 18–30. Develop your social entrepreneurship and enterprise capability, and grow your ideas for a better world. What we were in for in Week 3 Day 9–10 | 14–15 Dec Preparing Christmas treats for the team! I kicked off the final week of 2015 with our secret family recipe Christmas Krinkles for everyone in the chapter. Just a little treat for the holidays! Day 9 BUSINESS MODELS WORKSHOP with Wayne We kicked the day off with the usual overview + stand up to continue with the habit of reporting on our Scrum Boards. Then we headed off to our first workshop for the week with Wayne. He’d sent us some reading to prepare for the workshop and only April, Kate, and Patience actually read them. The rest of us were naughty and didn’t read the material. So Wayne put them in a team and made them have the option of choosing an additional team mate. I am schooled up on business models having gone to Business School so they chose me to be their fourth team member. The workshop was designed to be a competition where we were split into three teams and we had to write about business models. The three teams were assigned either Countdown (a supermarket), CPIT (a tertiary education provider), or Black Betty (a cafe). We chose Black Betty. We then had to present our findings and the winner was going to be shouted lunch at Winnie Bagoes. Since I was in the team that is actually schooled up about business models, we had an upper hand and won. Wayne has yet to shout us lunch at Winnie Bagoes. (AHEM!) EMPATHY INTERVIEWS The rest of the day and Day 10 was spent doing empathy interviews with freelancers and entrepreneurs. These two days were jam packed with meetings as I have quite a large network of freelancers and entrepreneurs that I can access to do my research, so filling my days were easy. I met with an freelance photographer named Dennis to kick off my morning, he is based near my home so we met at a local cafe. After that I also met with April and Robbie over lunch, we discussed where our projects overlap and how we can help each other in our research as well as how it would be useful for us to continue meeting on a regular basis as we progress through the programme. On Day 10 Straight after that I met with creative entrepreneurs based in XCHC on Wilsons Road then whizzed across town to meet with a couple more to wrap up my afternoon before I presented my Validation Board back at HQ. In my research, some key themes started emerging about what freelancers and entrepreneurs struggle with. Funnily enough, the key one is something that Wayne had discussed in one of his workshops: Freelancers and entrepreneurs tend to do everything for themselves so what many struggle with are areas they are not fond of doing but have to do. Some struggle with administrative management, some struggle with marketing themselves or their products, and some struggle with networking. Additional themes include: Freelancers and entrepreneurs struggle with making ends meet, especially during the start. Freelancers and entrepreneurs wish they knew how to place a monetary value on what they do when they were first starting out. Validation Boards I headed back to the HQ where we had to report on our validation boards. A is a table that shows the then where your research leads you to based on validating invalidated . It’s a really great tool to use to whether or not your idea is worth pursuing based on whether it actually is that people actually have. Validation Board Customer Hypothesis, Problem Hypothesis, and Solution Hypothesis Pivot Core Assumptions validate solving a problem Below are photos of Louis doing his report and behind him to the left hand side is Serafin’s . Swarm Session A is when the team works together to help with doing the elements of a Validation Board. It’s pretty much a session where the team gives their two cents about anything that anyone needs feedback on, really. Swarm Session Sorry, Louis! You are the chosen model for my photos! I didn’t present my Validation Board, I didn’t feel I was ready. But I did get the team to brainstorm with me about a finding I had from my research: Financial Literacy. I wondered…if we were taught financial literacy before we’d left school, maybe we would make different choices? If we actually knew then how much is taken off our pay in taxes and compulsory government levies, maybe we would make different (possibly wiser) choices on how we would like to be employed or how we would generate an in come? If, before we left home, we understood and were taught about how rent, and bills, and insurance, and all our on-going expenses actually work, expenses that we need to or should have paid for before we even get to enjoy the money we earn, maybe we’d make different choices? I just started a discussion around this because it was a huge part of what many entrepreneurs and freelancers wish they’d had a better grip of earlier. Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for — in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it. -Ellen Goodman Day 11 | 16 Dec FIELD TRIP to Eagle Consumables Another round of stand up then we headed to our field trip to the first ever B-Corp in New Zealand — . Eagle Consumables We were tasked to do a report on Eagle Consumables’ business model so I paid real good attention on what was discussed. The Founder, Steve Ardagh, welcomed us and took us through their building. After the tour, he took us into his office and kicked off his session with some really good lessons to teach us. What really resonated was the advice that he gave around solving a real problem and really understanding the problem we are trying to solve. In the programme, this is what where we currently are so his advice around it was quite relevant to the work we were doing at the time. He then went on to discuss Eagle Consumables Vision and Purpose. They use business for good, which is why they opted to become a B-Corp. Eagle Consumables was the first B-Corp in New Zealand but there are now a few across the country, mostly in the South Island, that have this status. But what is a B-Corp? It was really fascinating to know that B-Corps are becoming a thing in this day and age. It is inspiring and I would want this status when I build my Social Enterprise. Eagle Consumables and their founders are really admirable and it was an amazing field trip. They even put on a lunch for us! FOUNDERS’ CIRCLE with Jaya Gibson and Mike Field I won’t go into too much detail about these two founders but if there was one thing that we took away from the session with them was lessons about failure and how it is ok to fail. Jaya Gibson Funnily enough, I actually applied to be the CEO of White Elephant Trust, Mike Field’s job, and when he arrived, it got me thinking since I got as far as the final 3 or 4 candidates for his job. Admittedly, if I was Nathan (the CEO of White Elephant at the time who hired Mike), I would’ve totally hired him over me too because this guy is pretty amazing! “Man, I could’ve been the one speaking to this group” White Elephant Trust CEO Mike Field to be continued…

LTD-Week 3 (PART 1) | Day9–11 | 14–16 Dec

Bahamut Foundation has announced the Grants program to support the growing ecosystem of Bahamut and foster the expansion of decentralized projects and applications. This initiative provides multi-faceted support for a wide range of projects based on categories mainly revolving but not limited to DeFi, gaming, and NFTs. Bahamut Blockchain has already witnessed the successful results of the grants program with the latest launch of 3 DeFi projects - Lolik, Mutuari, and SilkSwap. These platforms have successfully passed all the qualification stages and, after an extensive development process, are now live on the Bahamut blockchain. The appearance of new DeFi projects will surely increase the scalability and adaptability of the native coin of Bahamut, FTN, and expand its usability and relevance. Mutuari is a lending protocol made for decentralized lending and borrowing of assets directly on Bahamut. Mutuari gives the users access to diverse crypto assets, including FTN, USTD, USDC, stFTN, and is accessible through all EVM-supporting non-custodial wallets, among them Fastex Wallet, Metamask, and WalletConnect. The project has been selected and successfully completed the task under the category of “Lending Protocol” with a prize of 60.000 FTN. Lolik is the next project that has received a grant from Bahamut Foundation. It is a liquid staking platform that supports staking on leading blockchains such as Bahamut, with other blockchains, including Ethereum and Polygon, coming soon. With Lolik, each user can earn rewards by participating in the validation processes of the blockchain directly with their Web3 wallet. \And the last one is the DeFi trading platform, SilkSwapthat allows users to enjoy peer-to-peer trading and easy and fast transactions. The application stays true to a pure Web3 concept, totally eliminating any third-party interactions.The application process continues, accepting more and more applications. The step-by-step description of the application process and information on preferable categories and their funding are available on Bahamut.io/grants. The process is transparent and fair, keeping it real with web3. Bahamut Foundation is currently announcing the list of approved applications that will start building their projects on Bahamut through the Bahamut Arena contest and wishes them the best of luck and successful completion of their projects. Gotbit Labs Category - DEX aggregator Category Prize fund - 40,000 FTN Delivery deadline - 2 months Lost Lore Category - NFT Marketplace Category Prize fund - 40,000 FTNDelivery deadline- 4 months Blockstars (Greedy Lottery) Category - Decentralized Game Category Prize fund - 13,000 FTN Delivery deadline - 1 month Erinaceus RNG Oracle Category - RNG Oracle Category Prize fund - 50,000 FTN Delivery deadline - 3 months Erinaceus Price Feed Oracle Category - Price Feed oracle Category Prize fund - 50,000 FTN Delivery deadline - 3 months Additionally, the Bahamut Foundation is hosting a series of meetups at the__ftNFT Phygital Spaces__ located in Dubai, Venice, and Yerevan. These events are designed to promote community engagement by bringing together Web3  developers, newcomers, and enthusiasts. The meetups aim to foster growth and development within the global and local Web3 sector through knowledge exchange and collaboration. Moreover,  a partnership with Yerevan State University has been announced to support blockchain education and community development in Armenia's growing Web3 industry. This collaboration--formalized through a memorandum of cooperation--represents a significant step towards integrating educational and research programs focused on blockchain and virtual assets, underscoring a shared commitment to promoting blockchain education and community development. About Bahamut Foundation The Switzerland-based Bahamut Foundation stays at the forefront of innovation, offering support and funding to the projects that foster advancements in the field, generate value for the blockchain ecosystem, and bring new users into the world of Web3, laying the foundations for future generations to learn and build upon. This story was distributed as a release by Btcwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here. Bahamut Foundation has announced the Grants program to support the growing ecosystem of Bahamut and foster the expansion of decentralized projects and applications. This initiative provides multi-faceted support for a wide range of projects based on categories mainly revolving but not limited to DeFi, gaming, and NFTs. Bahamut Blockchain has already witnessed the successful results of the grants program with the latest launch of 3 DeFi projects - Lolik, Mutuari, and SilkSwap. These platforms have successfully passed all the qualification stages and, after an extensive development process, are now live on the Bahamut blockchain. The appearance of new DeFi projects will surely increase the scalability and adaptability of the native coin of Bahamut, FTN, and expand its usability and relevance. Mutuari is a lending protocol made for decentralized lending and borrowing of assets directly on Bahamut. Mutuari gives the users access to diverse crypto assets, including FTN, USTD, USDC, stFTN, and is accessible through all EVM-supporting non-custodial wallets, among them Fastex Wallet, Metamask, and WalletConnect. The project has been selected and successfully completed the task under the category of “Lending Protocol” with a prize of 60.000 FTN. Mutuari Mutuari Lolik is the next project that has received a grant from Bahamut Foundation. It is a liquid staking platform that supports staking on leading blockchains such as Bahamut, with other blockchains, including Ethereum and Polygon, coming soon. With Lolik, each user can earn rewards by participating in the validation processes of the blockchain directly with their Web3 wallet. Lolik Lolik \And the last one is the DeFi trading platform, SilkSwapthat allows users to enjoy peer-to-peer trading and easy and fast transactions. The application stays true to a pure Web3 concept, totally eliminating any third-party interactions.The application process continues, accepting more and more applications. The step-by-step description of the application process and information on preferable categories and their funding are available on Bahamut.io/grants . The process is transparent and fair, keeping it real with web3. SilkSwap that allows users to enjoy peer-to-peer trading and easy and fast transactions. The application stays true to a pure Web3 concept, totally eliminating any third-party interactions. The application process continues, accepting more and more applications. The step-by-step description of the application process and information on preferable categories and their funding are available on SilkSwap Bahamut.io/grants Bahamut Foundation is currently announcing the list of approved applications that will start building their projects on Bahamut through the Bahamut Arena contest and wishes them the best of luck and successful completion of their projects. Gotbit Labs Category - DEX aggregator Category Prize fund - 40,000 FTN Delivery deadline - 2 months Lost Lore Category - NFT Marketplace Category Prize fund - 40,000 FTN Delivery deadline- 4 months Blockstars (Greedy Lottery) Category - Decentralized Game Category Prize fund - 13,000 FTN Delivery deadline - 1 month Erinaceus RNG Oracle Category - RNG Oracle Category Prize fund - 50,000 FTN Delivery deadline - 3 months Erinaceus Price Feed Oracle Category - Price Feed oracle Category Prize fund - 50,000 FTN Delivery deadline - 3 months Additionally, the Bahamut Foundation is hosting a series of meetups at the__ ftNFT Phygital Spaces __ located in Dubai, Venice, and Yerevan. These events are designed to promote community engagement by bringing together Web3  developers, newcomers, and enthusiasts. The meetups aim to foster growth and development within the global and local Web3 sector through knowledge exchange and collaboration. ftNFT Phygital Spaces Moreover,  a partnership with Yerevan State University has been announced to support blockchain education and community development in Armenia's growing Web3 industry. This collaboration--formalized through a memorandum of cooperation--represents a significant step towards integrating educational and research programs focused on blockchain and virtual assets, underscoring a shared commitment to promoting blockchain education and community development. About Bahamut Foundation The Switzerland-based Bahamut Foundation stays at the forefront of innovation, offering support and funding to the projects that foster advancements in the field, generate value for the blockchain ecosystem, and bring new users into the world of Web3, laying the foundations for future generations to learn and build upon. Bahamut Foundation Bahamut Foundation This story was distributed as a release by Btcwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here. This story was distributed as a release by Btcwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here . here here

Bahamut Foundation Announces The Launch Of  Three DeFi Projects And The Winners Of Bahamut Arena

বাহামুত ফাউন্ডেশন তিনটি ডিফাই প্রজেক্ট চালু করার ঘোষণা করেছে এবং বাহামুত এরিনার বিজয়ীদের ঘোষণা করেছে

Bahamut Foundation gibt den Start von drei DeFi-Projekten und die Gewinner der Bahamut Arena bekannt

La Fundación Bahamut anuncia el lanzamiento de tres proyectos DeFi y los ganadores del Bahamut Arena

La Fondation Bahamut annonce le lancement de trois projets DeFi et les gagnants de la Bahamut Arena

बहामुट फाउंडेशन ने तीन DeFi परियोजनाओं के शुभारंभ और बहामुट एरिना के विजेताओं की घोषणा की

バハムート財団、3つのDeFiプロジェクトの立ち上げとバハムートアリーナの優勝者を発表

Bahamut Foundation, 3개의 DeFi 프로젝트 출시 및 Bahamut Arena 우승자 발표

Fundação Bahamut anuncia o lançamento de três projetos DeFi e os vencedores da Bahamut Arena

Фонд Бахамут объявляет о запуске трех проектов DeFi и победителях Bahamut Arena

Bahamut Vakfı Üç DeFi Projesinin Lansmanını ve Bahamut Arena'nın Kazananlarını Açıkladı

Bahamut Foundation thông báo ra mắt ba dự án DeFi và những người chiến thắng Bahamut Arena

Bahamut 基金会宣布启动三个 DeFi 项目以及 Bahamut Arena 获胜者

Game of Threats: Winning Strategies for Proactive Cyber Defense

হুমকির খেলা: সক্রিয় সাইবার প্রতিরক্ষার জন্য বিজয়ী কৌশল

Spiel der Bedrohungen: Erfolgsstrategien für eine proaktive Cyberabwehr

Juego de amenazas: estrategias ganadoras para una ciberdefensa proactiva

Jeu de menaces : stratégies gagnantes pour une cyberdéfense proactive

खतरों का खेल: सक्रिय साइबर रक्षा के लिए विजयी रणनीतियाँ

脅威のゲーム: 積極的なサイバー防御の勝利戦略

위협 게임: 사전 예방적 사이버 방어를 위한 승리 전략

Jogo de Ameaças: Estratégias Vencedoras para Defesa Cibernética Proativa

Игра угроз: выигрышные стратегии превентивной киберзащиты

Game of Threats: Proaktif Siber Savunma için Kazanma Stratejileri

Trò chơi đe dọa: Chiến lược chiến thắng để phòng thủ mạng chủ động

威胁游戏：主动网络防御的制胜策略

**BUCHAREST, Romania, April 17th, 2024/Chainwire/--**As part of its innovative approach to combining education and technology, Banksters, an EduTech simulator with advanced NFT capabilities, is in the midst of an airdrop campaign that has captured the attention of the gaming and crypto communities. The unique contest, which began on April 3 and is set to conclude on April 17, grants players an opportunity to win exclusive NFTs based on their activity levels within the game. Throughout the contest’s duration, the top 1,000 most active Banksters users will be eligible to win non-fungible tokens that showcase a variety of traits and rarities, with a total equivalent value of 100,000 USDT. These NFTs will be vested for 60 days following the official game launch following the upcoming NFT sale. Alexandru Carbunariu, CEO and CMO at Banksters, highlighted the strategic nature of the contest, stating, “To succeed in the airdrop contest, a different strategy is essential: actively engage in Invest Runs, level up avatars, utilise the Banksters Academy for NFT minting, including the upcoming Minting Scroll on Magic Eden, stay involved in the community, and leverage your Banksters Unique abilities and skills for victory. He added, “Banksters is more than a game; it’s an educational journey into the world of cryptocurrency. The airdrop contest along with the Minting Scroll on Magic Eden, present unique opportunities for players to acquire new skills and empower their characters.” To coincide with the end of the airdrop contest on April 17, and the naming of winners, Banksters will provide 2,000 Minting Scroll NFTs available for sale on the leading marketplace Magic Eden, providing additional opportunities for players to engage with the platform and enhance their gaming experience. The upcoming Banksters token sale is another keenly anticipated event, scheduled to take place on April 24 across a trio of launchpads: BullPerks, Games Pad and other leading Launchpads.. The sale represents a major milestone in Banksters’ ongoing development and expansion within the cryptocurrency and gaming sectors. About Banksters: Banksters is an EduTech simulator that incorporates NFT technology to offer an immersive experience that gamifies common elements of our everyday lives. The platform expands on this niche genre by successfully ‘gamifying’ trading, making it more accessible and enjoyable for a diverse audience, including traditional gamers. Website | Telegram | X | YouTube | Instagram | Discord | TikTok | Medium Contact Irina Gatilova irina.gatilova@banksters.com This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here. **BUCHAREST, Romania, April 17th, 2024/Chainwire/--**As part of its innovative approach to combining education and technology, Banksters , an EduTech simulator with advanced NFT capabilities, is in the midst of an airdrop campaign that has captured the attention of the gaming and crypto communities. Banksters Banksters The unique contest, which began on April 3 and is set to conclude on April 17, grants players an opportunity to win exclusive NFTs based on their activity levels within the game. Throughout the contest’s duration, the top 1,000 most active Banksters users will be eligible to win non-fungible tokens that showcase a variety of traits and rarities, with a total equivalent value of 100,000 USDT. These NFTs will be vested for 60 days following the official game launch following the upcoming NFT sale. Alexandru Carbunariu, CEO and CMO at Banksters, highlighted the strategic nature of the contest, stating, “To succeed in the airdrop contest, a different strategy is essential: actively engage in Invest Runs, level up avatars, utilise the Banksters Academy for NFT minting, including the upcoming Minting Scroll on Magic Eden, stay involved in the community, and leverage your Banksters Unique abilities and skills for victory. “To succeed in the airdrop contest, a different strategy is essential: actively engage in Invest Runs, level up avatars, utilise the Banksters Academy for NFT minting, including the upcoming Minting Scroll on Magic Eden, stay involved in the community, and leverage your Banksters Unique abilities and skills for victory. He added, “Banksters is more than a game; it’s an educational journey into the world of cryptocurrency. The airdrop contest along with the Minting Scroll on Magic Eden, present unique opportunities for players to acquire new skills and empower their characters.” He added, “Banksters is more than a game; it’s an educational journey into the world of cryptocurrency. The airdrop contest along with the Minting Scroll on Magic Eden, present unique opportunities for players to acquire new skills and empower their characters.” To coincide with the end of the airdrop contest on April 17, and the naming of winners, Banksters will provide 2,000 Minting Scroll NFTs available for sale on the leading marketplace Magic Eden, providing additional opportunities for players to engage with the platform and enhance their gaming experience. The upcoming Banksters token sale is another keenly anticipated event, scheduled to take place on April 24 across a trio of launchpads: BullPerks, Games Pad and other leading Launchpads.. The sale represents a major milestone in Banksters’ ongoing development and expansion within the cryptocurrency and gaming sectors. About Banksters: Banksters is an EduTech simulator that incorporates NFT technology to offer an immersive experience that gamifies common elements of our everyday lives. The platform expands on this niche genre by successfully ‘gamifying’ trading, making it more accessible and enjoyable for a diverse audience, including traditional gamers. Banksters Banksters Website | Telegram | X | YouTube | Instagram | Discord | TikTok | Medium Website Website Telegram Telegram X X YouTube YouTube Instagram Instagram Discord Discord TikTok TikTok Medium Medium Contact Irina Gatilova irina.gatilova@banksters.com This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here. This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here . here here

EduTech Platform Banksters Set To Reward Airdrop Winners Following End Of Contest

Welcome to the Startups of the Year Winner Interview Series. Congratulations for being one of the top 3000 startups worldwide! The HackerNoon team is thrilled to know more about you! What follows is an interview with Mark Zalan, CEO of GoMining, winner of the HackerNoon Startups of the Year 2023 in the British Virgin Islands Misc, Oceania. What does it mean for you to win this title? We are pleased and gratified at the recognition of our contributions. We are constantly looking for community feedback to improve our products, and this kind of appreciation helps make our efforts worthwhile. Winning the Hackernoon community recognition is a significant indicator for us that our team is moving in the right direction. Since our product targets a fairly broad audience, the trust of the audience and feedback help us better understand user needs, and Hackernoon provides the perfect environment for addressing this task. What sets you apart from the competition? We are focused on making the superior economics of Bitcoin mining accessible to everyone.  In building products that allow our users to start mining Bitcoin within a matter of minutes and at a cost as low as $25, we are unique. The explosive customer demand we’ve seen over the past 2 years is a confirmation of that. Check out our What do you love about your team, and why are you the ones to solve this problem? \We are irreverent around challenging every assumption and traditional way of doing things.  Obviously, this can be a strength and a weakness, and if not done right, can lead to reinventing the wheel.  However, we’ve managed to maintain a healthy balance between blazing new trails and inventing a new product (that hundreds of people told us couldn’t be done), making the economics of Bitcoin mining accessible to non-industry insiders and leveraging traditional approaches that we’ve confirmed are useful in what we are trying to do. This blend of questioning the way things are and inventing new and better ways while staying practical and leveraging that which works for purpose has allowed us to offer a successful product that is posting world-class growth rates. If you weren’t building your startup, what would you be doing? My other passions are history and political science, as well as understanding how our societies function and evolved to where we are today.  In another life I would likely be lecturing at a university and writing history books. At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your core metrics? We are seeing double-digit monthly growth rates while working hard to expand the business that is profitable, positioned in the middle of an industry that is projected for staggering worldwide growth.  All of the above are how we think about success and how we want to position our ecosystem to take advantage of the global and industry trends we see for the near future.  If I had to narrow it down to one metric, it is definitely the customer growth rate, which tells us we are tackling a significant pain-point that exists for a large number of people, in a way they appreciate. Tell us how your startup is changing the world. We make the excellent economics of Bitcoin mining available to regular people. Getting a financial return with Bitcoin mining traditionally required millions of dollars in capital and highly specialized technical skills (that also cost money to develop or hire).  We’ve built a product that obfuscates that complexity and allows customers to start participating in Bitcoin mining in minutes and with as little as $25, with the first profit landing in the customer’s Bitcoin wallet the very next morning.  By lowering the barriers to entry for normal people to earn rewards, while strengthening, securing the Bitcoin network infrastructure, we make our positive impact on the world. How do you or your company intend to embrace the responsibility of this title in 2024? We believe the best way to contribute and to give back is to do what we do best, continue to innovate, while lowering barriers to entry, and to be a good citizen of the Bitcoin and broader technology community. The recognition from users and the community serves as a driving force for our continued advancement and, as I mentioned earlier, provides vital feedback on the quality of our product. What goals are you looking forward to accomplishing in 2024? We expect 2024 to be transformational for us through a variety of factors. Firstly, the Bitcoin halving will impact our business and our vertical in a significant way.  The economics will change, and the market participants will change. We’ve been preparing for this event for the past three years ensuring our business is cost optimized and as efficient as possible, as we expect this will allow us and our user community to pass through the upcoming disruption, and to be best positioned to take advantage of the changing economics following the halving.  Secondly, our user community is scaling by orders of magnitude, and we place a major focus on ensuring our support and engagement processes are peerless in creating a world-class user experience. Which trend(s) are you most excited about in 2024? Share your reasons. 2024 Is a paradigm-shifting year for the Bitcoin mining community with the ETFs and the halving taking place within three months of each other.  We are very excited to see the ways in which our industry and the broader technology space will transform to take advantage of the changes. 2023 had been another crazy year, especially in tech, with layoffs and the Generative AI takeover! Which trend are you most concerned about? Be as brief or as detailed as you like. I wouldn’t say concerned, but we are very cognizant of the pace of change. It seems things are speeding up, paradigms are shifting quickly, changes that used to take decades now take years or sometimes months. The way the world became location-independent in the past four years is very illustrative of that. We expect changes of the same scale to happen as quickly or faster going forward, so it will be important to be diligent in always learning, looking for ways to do something better, and being flexible, adjusting to take advantage of new trends, technologies, and opportunities. We don’t know what specifically those will be, five years ago, hardly anyone would have said that remote work, generative AI or Bitcoin ETFs/general institutionalization would be a thing over the next 5 years, so we don’t think it's worthwhile to predict specifics. We do think it's important to understand that changes happen quickly. They bring threats and opportunities, and figuring it out is a fun and exciting part of it. Share your biggest success so far and/or your biggest failure so far. Building a career out of always learning, developing, and pushing myself into new pursuits, taking advantage of opportunities that may have scared others off, is probably the biggest success. In terms of failure, I certainly wish I was smarter along the way, and figured out many things faster than I did! :) We would love your feedback on HackerNoon as a tech publication! How has your experience been with us? HackerNoon is an excellent platform for showcasing our technological solutions to a wide and relevant community capable of providing objective feedback. We closely monitor all materials about our product appearing on Hackernoon and pay attention to UX moments that require improvement. In a broader sense, your platform is a great place to feel the pulse of Web3, track emerging trends, and receive important insights directly from where they originate. Any words of wisdom you’d like to share with us? Not wildly original here, but the advice I most want to pass on to my children is to enjoy the journey, whatever destination one travels. This is one of the things I wish I would have figured out sooner. Welcome to the Startups of the Year Winner Interview Series. Congratulations for being one of the top 3000 startups worldwide! The HackerNoon team is thrilled to know more about you! Welcome to the Startups of the Year Winner Interview Series. Congratulations for being one of the top 3000 startups worldwide! The HackerNoon team is thrilled to know more about you! Welcome to the Startups of the Year Winner Interview Series. Congratulations for being one of the top 3000 startups worldwide! The HackerNoon team is thrilled to know more about you! What follows is an interview with Mark Zalan, CEO of GoMining, winner of the HackerNoon Startups of the Year 2023 in the British Virgin Islands Misc, Oceania. What follows is an interview with Mark Zalan, CEO of GoMining , winner of the HackerNoon Startups of the Year 2023 in the British Virgin Islands Misc, Oceania . GoMining British Virgin Islands Misc, Oceania What does it mean for you to win this title? What does it mean for you to win this title? We are pleased and gratified at the recognition of our contributions. We are constantly looking for community feedback to improve our products, and this kind of appreciation helps make our efforts worthwhile. Winning the Hackernoon community recognition is a significant indicator for us that our team is moving in the right direction. Since our product targets a fairly broad audience, the trust of the audience and feedback help us better understand user needs, and Hackernoon provides the perfect environment for addressing this task. What sets you apart from the competition? We are focused on making the superior economics of Bitcoin mining accessible to everyone.  In building products that allow our users to start mining Bitcoin within a matter of minutes and at a cost as low as $25, we are unique. The explosive customer demand we’ve seen over the past 2 years is a confirmation of that. Check out our What do you love about your team, and why are you the ones to solve this problem? \We are irreverent around challenging every assumption and traditional way of doing things.  Obviously, this can be a strength and a weakness, and if not done right, can lead to reinventing the wheel.  However, we’ve managed to maintain a healthy balance between blazing new trails and inventing a new product (that hundreds of people told us couldn’t be done), making the economics of Bitcoin mining accessible to non-industry insiders and leveraging traditional approaches that we’ve confirmed are useful in what we are trying to do. This blend of questioning the way things are and inventing new and better ways while staying practical and leveraging that which works for purpose has allowed us to offer a successful product that is posting world-class growth rates. If you weren’t building your startup, what would you be doing? My other passions are history and political science, as well as understanding how our societies function and evolved to where we are today.  In another life I would likely be lecturing at a university and writing history books. At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your core metrics? We are seeing double-digit monthly growth rates while working hard to expand the business that is profitable, positioned in the middle of an industry that is projected for staggering worldwide growth.  All of the above are how we think about success and how we want to position our ecosystem to take advantage of the global and industry trends we see for the near future.  If I had to narrow it down to one metric, it is definitely the customer growth rate, which tells us we are tackling a significant pain-point that exists for a large number of people, in a way they appreciate. Tell us how your startup is changing the world. We make the excellent economics of Bitcoin mining available to regular people. Getting a financial return with Bitcoin mining traditionally required millions of dollars in capital and highly specialized technical skills (that also cost money to develop or hire).  We’ve built a product that obfuscates that complexity and allows customers to start participating in Bitcoin mining in minutes and with as little as $25, with the first profit landing in the customer’s Bitcoin wallet the very next morning.  By lowering the barriers to entry for normal people to earn rewards, while strengthening, securing the Bitcoin network infrastructure, we make our positive impact on the world. How do you or your company intend to embrace the responsibility of this title in 2024? We believe the best way to contribute and to give back is to do what we do best, continue to innovate, while lowering barriers to entry, and to be a good citizen of the Bitcoin and broader technology community. The recognition from users and the community serves as a driving force for our continued advancement and, as I mentioned earlier, provides vital feedback on the quality of our product. What goals are you looking forward to accomplishing in 2024? We expect 2024 to be transformational for us through a variety of factors. Firstly, the Bitcoin halving will impact our business and our vertical in a significant way.  The economics will change, and the market participants will change. We’ve been preparing for this event for the past three years ensuring our business is cost optimized and as efficient as possible, as we expect this will allow us and our user community to pass through the upcoming disruption, and to be best positioned to take advantage of the changing economics following the halving.  Secondly, our user community is scaling by orders of magnitude, and we place a major focus on ensuring our support and engagement processes are peerless in creating a world-class user experience. Which trend(s) are you most excited about in 2024? Share your reasons. 2024 Is a paradigm-shifting year for the Bitcoin mining community with the ETFs and the halving taking place within three months of each other.  We are very excited to see the ways in which our industry and the broader technology space will transform to take advantage of the changes. 2023 had been another crazy year, especially in tech, with layoffs and the Generative AI takeover! Which trend are you most concerned about? Be as brief or as detailed as you like. I wouldn’t say concerned, but we are very cognizant of the pace of change. It seems things are speeding up, paradigms are shifting quickly, changes that used to take decades now take years or sometimes months. The way the world became location-independent in the past four years is very illustrative of that. We expect changes of the same scale to happen as quickly or faster going forward, so it will be important to be diligent in always learning, looking for ways to do something better, and being flexible, adjusting to take advantage of new trends, technologies, and opportunities. We don’t know what specifically those will be, five years ago, hardly anyone would have said that remote work, generative AI or Bitcoin ETFs/general institutionalization would be a thing over the next 5 years, so we don’t think it's worthwhile to predict specifics. We do think it's important to understand that changes happen quickly. They bring threats and opportunities, and figuring it out is a fun and exciting part of it. Share your biggest success so far and/or your biggest failure so far. Building a career out of always learning, developing, and pushing myself into new pursuits, taking advantage of opportunities that may have scared others off, is probably the biggest success. In terms of failure, I certainly wish I was smarter along the way, and figured out many things faster than I did! :) We would love your feedback on HackerNoon as a tech publication! How has your experience been with us? HackerNoon is an excellent platform for showcasing our technological solutions to a wide and relevant community capable of providing objective feedback. We closely monitor all materials about our product appearing on Hackernoon and pay attention to UX moments that require improvement. In a broader sense, your platform is a great place to feel the pulse of Web3, track emerging trends, and receive important insights directly from where they originate. Any words of wisdom you’d like to share with us? Not wildly original here, but the advice I most want to pass on to my children is to enjoy the journey, whatever destination one travels. This is one of the things I wish I would have figured out sooner.

Meet GoMining: Winner of the Startups of the Year, British Virgin Islands 

This interview series celebrates all the phenomenal . Congratulations! Well-Deserved, Champion.The HackerNoon community is excited to learn more about you! Startups of the Year Winners share the link to your winning city award here [example: ] https://hackernoon.com/startups/north-america/north-america-toronto-canada What does it mean for you to win this title? To us, it highlights that people recognize the need for a VPN in the privacy space that takes privacy seriously - and that you can do this while still maintaining a sense of humor. We’ve been working tirelessly to ensure connectivity in many challenging regions lately. Be it politics, censorship, or dictatorial aggression – we will power through with smiles on our faces. What sets you apart from the competition? I briefly mentioned our sense of humor, and that really does have an impact on all aspects of Windscribe. I think that shows. We get a ton of feedback from people saying that they love our VPN not just because it works well; it’s because of how we communicate with our community. We have the largest VPN community at discord.gg/VPN. We get fan mail from people around the world saying how certain jokes made their day - it’s great, our user base is so awesome. It makes us more approachable and that allows us to cater to their needs better than anyone else. We genuinely love this business and what it does for others. What do you love about your team, and why are you the ones to solve this problem? Our team is awesome: super smart people, from around the world, that get along and are genuinely concerned with privacy. Obviously, there are a lot of VPN companies out there, but we don’t cut corners, we don’t waste money on advertising or affiliate marketing, and we have rigid ethical standards (sometimes to the detriment of our revenue, but to the relief of our consciousness). We have the largest physical network out of any of our competitors. We are entirely self-funded so no one can force us to abandon our ethics. We are open about our ownership and our location - basically, there is a face behind the company, instead of a series of hidden shell companies. We spend a lot on talent, infrastructure, and researching the best solutions to online privacy issues. We take our mission very seriously, but we don’t take ourselves seriously. If you weren’t building your startup, what would you be doing? Eating chili cheese dogs and letting shit slide? Enjoying having a good posture, unburdened by sitting and typing for 11 hours a day? Yelling at the moon for not being the sun? Teaching my dog how to drive? There is so much I could be doing. At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your core metrics? We have a ton of internal metrics. Speed, reliability, and ability for quick turnaround on new features. To roll out fixes, find solutions for censorship, and ensure we respond to any issue within hours. Tell us how your startup is changing the world. At the risk of sounding like we are pitching to a bunch of out-of-touch San Francisco VCs - we are changing the world by helping people who are isolated in countries with restricted internet the means to stay connected and informed about the world around them. We help journalists, protestors, and activists to champion their cause. We provide a means of communication between loved ones. We allow those in countries with only state-approved media a glimpse at the truth of issues that affect them from sources they may not traditionally have access to. We fight for an open internet and privacy for all. We’re also kind of funny, so there’s that, too. How do you or your company intend to embrace the responsibility of this title in 2024? I think if we’re able to maintain and improve on the level of service and reliability of our network, we’ll be able to make Windscribers proud. We often have cat-and-mouse-like antics with those who attempt to censor their citizens. They will often try to find a way to block us which requires us to then find ways to circumvent their censorship. Luckily our circumvent censorship feature, something we’re very proud of, works incredibly well to this extent. Our team knows what to look for, how to adapt, and how to overcome these challenges. What goals are you looking forward to accomplishing in 2024? We want to continue to grow both of our companies, Windscribe and Control D, internally and externally. It feels genuinely great knowing that we can help more and more people access information in traditionally “closed-off” parts of the world and manage their knowledge on their own terms - and do so with an international team of people who care about it just as much, and in some cases, even more than I can (some of our employees live in heavily censored countries). Pretty cliché answer, I know - we just want to keep growing. Which trend(s) are you most excited about in 2024? Share your reasons. Broccoli-style haircuts. Their rise in popularity has given us much to laugh at. But we will be much more excited once that trend dies like the man-bun trend before it. What will come after? Who knows. In the realm of technology, the list is really endless: rocketry and space exploration, AI, increasingly more useful and easier-to-access online educational content… there is a lot of interesting technology being worked on - so we are permanently excited to see what awaits the world. 2023 had been another crazy year, especially in tech, with layoffs and the Generative AI takeover! Which trend are you most concerned about? Be as brief or as detailed as you like. Honestly, AI has been really helpful to our teams. We have adopted it to help teams do more in less time — it eases the burden/annoyance of repetitive and lower-priority tasks, giving everyone more time to work on engaging problems. As for the layoffs, we haven’t had to lay anyone off, which is a blessing. We know it really sucks being let go from a company, but at the same time, this market has allowed us to scoop up a ton of really high-level talent. We have been hiring like crazy, and are still hiring more. Come and apply! Share your biggest success so far and/or your biggest failure so far. We have a company filled with very smart people who all get along to work on problems that affect people directly (censorship, access to information, etc). The team is our biggest success. We also are close to having 69 million users, which is numerologically important to us because funny sex number. My dog didn’t poop in the office this week either. Really, it’s a string of one success after another. Biggest failure? Can’t remember, overshadowed by too much success (see previous sentence). Any words of wisdom you’d like to share with us? At a time when the world is increasing its interconnectivity, it is becoming harder and harder to safeguard one’s own privacy. The main word of “wisdom” (I’ll leave it to you to decide whether it is wise), is that everyone should pay close attention to their online privacy and protect it fiercely, as it is becoming a commodity for companies, governments, and various groups to exploit citizens, and profit off of them both monetarily and psychologically. Take your privacy seriously because no one else will. Other than that… never judge a group of people by the way their government acts. Startups of The Year is HackerNoon’s Flagship community-driven event celebrating startups that survived and thrived in 2023. 30,000 startups across 4200+ cities and six continents participated this year to be crowned the best startup in their city. See our global winners announcement . here Companies that blog more get 67% more leads - Jumpstart your company’s blogging journey by purchasing our . Business Blogging Package The 2023 Startups Of The Year is sponsored by: . . The winners will get a free .Tech Domain, a HackerNoon NFT, and a Tech Company News Page. TECH Domains

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