Author: abubakar

Wordle today: Here’s the answer, hints for February 21

Hey, happy Tuesday! It’s Shrove Tuesday aka Pancake Day, and we hope you have a stack of something delicious and maple-covered to mark the occasion. Oh, there’s also a new Wordle! We’ve got a stack of fresh hints and tips to help you figure it out.
If you prefer to just be told the solution, you can jump to the end of this article for February 21’s Wordle solution revealed. But if you’d rather work through it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
Where did Wordle come from?
Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans have even sprung up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once. 
Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the Wordle answer for February 20.
What’s the best Wordle starting word?
The best Wordle starting word is the one that brings joy to your heart. But if what brings you joy is strategy, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.

What happened to the Wordle archive?
The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles used to be available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it. Unfortunately it has since been taken down, with the website’s creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times.
Is Wordle getting harder?
It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn’t any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle’s Hard Mode if you’re after more of a challenge, though.
Why are there two different Wordle answers some days?
Though usually Wordle will only accept one correct solution per day, occasionally it will rebel against the norm and deem two different answers acceptable. This is due to changes the New York Times made to Wordle after it acquired the puzzle game.
The Times has since added its own updated word list, so this should happen even less frequently than before. To avoid any confusion, it’s a good idea to refresh your browser before getting stuck into a new puzzle.
Here’s a subtle hint for today’s Wordle answer:
This word might make you think of Ant-Man. Or anti-ageing products.
Does today’s Wordle answer have a double letter?
Yup!
Today’s Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with…
Today’s Wordle starts with the letter R.

SEE ALSO:

Wordle-obsessed? These are the best word games to play IRL.

What’s the answer to Wordle today?
This is your last chance to get your guesses in before we reveal today’s answer!
Drumroll, please!
The solution to Wordle #612 is…
RUDDY.
Don’t be sad if you didn’t get it this time. The beauty of Wordle is that there’s always a new one to try the next day, and we’ll be here again with more helpful clues and hints.

Hey, happy Tuesday! It’s Shrove Tuesday aka Pancake Day, and we hope you have a stack of something delicious and maple-covered to mark the occasion. Oh, there’s also a new Wordle! We’ve got a stack of fresh hints and tips to help you figure it out.

If you prefer to just be told the solution, you can jump to the end of this article for February 21’s Wordle solution revealed. But if you’d rather work through it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

Where did Wordle come from?

Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans have even sprung up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once

Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.

Not the day you’re after? Here’s the Wordle answer for February 20.

What’s the best Wordle starting word?

The best Wordle starting word is the one that brings joy to your heart. But if what brings you joy is strategy, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.

What happened to the Wordle archive?

The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles used to be available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it. Unfortunately it has since been taken down, with the website’s creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times.

Is Wordle getting harder?

It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn’t any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle‘s Hard Mode if you’re after more of a challenge, though.

Why are there two different Wordle answers some days?

Though usually Wordle will only accept one correct solution per day, occasionally it will rebel against the norm and deem two different answers acceptable. This is due to changes the New York Times made to Wordle after it acquired the puzzle game.

The Times has since added its own updated word list, so this should happen even less frequently than before. To avoid any confusion, it’s a good idea to refresh your browser before getting stuck into a new puzzle.

Here’s a subtle hint for today’s Wordle answer:

This word might make you think of Ant-Man. Or anti-ageing products.

Does today’s Wordle answer have a double letter?

Yup!

Today’s Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with…

Today’s Wordle starts with the letter R.

What’s the answer to Wordle today?

This is your last chance to get your guesses in before we reveal today’s answer!

Drumroll, please!

The solution to Wordle #612 is…

RUDDY.

Don’t be sad if you didn’t get it this time. The beauty of Wordle is that there’s always a new one to try the next day, and we’ll be here again with more helpful clues and hints.

Read More 

This Black Mom Invented Skin Tone Emojis, But Her Patent Attempts Have Been Shot Down Repeatedly

Now, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee are trying to help her and other inventors from underrepresented backgrounds.

View Entire Post ›

Now, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee are trying to help her and other inventors from underrepresented backgrounds.

View Entire Post ›

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Stay Ahead of the IoT Curve: 10 Experts Shaping the Industry

In today’s world, almost everything is connected. Everything is linked together in a networked world — from your appliances to your cars. This interconnectedness has led to a host of new and exciting opportunities for businesses, and the IoT (Internet of Things) is no exception. As the IoT industry continues to grow in popularity, so
The post Stay Ahead of the IoT Curve: 10 Experts Shaping the Industry appeared first on ReadWrite.

In today’s world, almost everything is connected. Everything is linked together in a networked world — from your appliances to your cars. This interconnectedness has led to a host of new and exciting opportunities for businesses, and the IoT (Internet of Things) is no exception.

As the IoT industry continues to grow in popularity, so does the number of experts shaping the industry. In this blog post, we’ll introduce you to the top 10 experts shaping the IoT Industry — and reveal their unique insights and perspectives on the future of this growing sector.

Alicia Asín Pérez

Alicia Asín Pérez

Alicia Asín Pérez is an expert in IoT technology and has been instrumental in shaping the industry. Asín is CEO and co-founder of Libelium and has helped bring innovative IoT solutions to the market — including the Waspmote, a wireless, modular, open-source hardware sensor platform for IoT.

Moreover, Asín is a renowned speaker known for her expert analysis of data mining. She sheds light on the pressing concerns surrounding Big Data, highlighting the importance of security and privacy in the rapidly evolving Internet of Things (IoT) landscape.

Dr. Mazlan Abbas

Dr. Mazlan Abbas

CEO and Co-founder of FAVORIOT, Dr. Mazlan Abbas, is another IoT expert who has significantly impacted the industry. FAVORIOT presents a tailor-made IOT platform for all Internet of Things (IoT) ventures. This platform streamlines the integration of sensor and actuator data on the Internet, making collecting and storing IOT device data effortless. Furthermore, the platform provides peace of mind for developers as they create vertical applications and offer seamless hosting solutions.

He has been recognized for his significant contributions to the field and has been a speaker at numerous industry events. As CEO of FAVORIOT, Dr. Abbas is responsible for the company’s overall strategy and vision and is committed to driving the industry forward.

Kevin Ashton

Kevin Ashton

The co-founder of the Auto-ID Centre at MIT — Kevin Ashton is a pioneer in the IoT industry. He is best known for coining the term “Internet of Things” and has been instrumental in shaping the industry since its inception. With over 20 years of experience in technology, Kevin has a deep understanding of IoT and has been a critical player in its development.

Kevin Ashton’s contributions to the field of Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) are noteworthy. As a co-founder of the Auto-ID Centre at MIT, he was instrumental in developing and promoting RFID technology for tracking and managing physical assets. Under his leadership, the Auto-ID Centre conducted groundbreaking research on RFID, creating a global standard for RFID tags and readers.

This standard has become the foundation for many RFID-based applications, including supply chain management, inventory control, and asset tracking. Through his work at the Auto-ID Centre, Kevin helped demonstrate RFID technology’s vast potential and paved the way for its widespread adoption. Today, RFID is an integral part of the Internet of Things (IoT) and continues to play a crucial role in many industries and applications.

Stacey Higginbotham

Stacey Higginbotham

Stacey Higginbotham is a technology journalist and writer. She has a background in covering the Internet of Things (IoT) and other technology-related topics. She has written for various tech publications, including Gigaom, where she was a senior writer and editor, covering IoT and other tech trends.

Stacey is known for her insightful reporting and analysis of IoT trends and her ability to explain complex technical concepts clearly and concisely. She remains a prominent figure in the tech community and is widely respected for her contributions to the IoT industry.

Peggy Smedley

Peggy Smedley

Peggy Smedley is a prominent thought leader and influencer in technology and the Internet of Things (IoT). She is a writer, speaker, and consultant known for her expertise in IoT and its impact on business and society.

Moreover, Peggy is the editorial director of IoT Institute, providing insights and analysis on the latest developments in IoT technology.

She is also the host of “The Peggy Smedley Show,” a popular podcast covering IoT and technology topics. Peggy has been recognized for her contributions to the IoT industry and has received numerous awards and accolades for her work. Through her writing, speaking, and consulting, Peggy is dedicated to promoting the understanding and adoption of IoT technology.

Andrew Thomas:

Andrew Thomas

As the CRO of SkyBell, Andrew Thomas likely made a significant contribution to the Internet of Things (IoT) industry through his work with the company. SkyBell is a leading provider of smart home products, including video doorbells connected to the Internet and controlled and monitored through a smartphone app.

By developing and marketing these products, Andrew Thomas and SkyBell have helped advance the IoT industry by making smart home technology more accessible and user-friendly.

Additionally, by driving the company’s revenue growth, Andrew Thomas has helped increase investment in the IoT industry and drive innovation in the field. Through his efforts, SkyBell has likely contributed to the growth of the smart home market and the development of new and innovative IoT products.

Pete Wassell

Pete Wassell

Pete Wassell is the Founder and CEO of Augmate Corporation, a technology company specializing in developing wearable and IoT devices for enterprise customers. Augmate provides a platform for managing and deploying these devices, helping organizations efficiently and securely integrate wearable technology into their operations.

As the founder and CEO of Augmate, Pete Wassell is likely responsible for leading the company’s strategy and vision and overseeing its day-to-day operations and growth. He has likely played a significant role in shaping the company’s wearable technology and IoT approach. He has been instrumental in helping Augmate to establish itself as a key player in the industry.

Charlie Kindel

Charlie Kindel

Charlie Kindel is a former General Manager of Amazon’s Alexa Smart Home division. He worked at Amazon for over five years and was responsible for developing and launching various Alexa-enabled smart home devices and services.

Kindel is a well-known figure in the technology industry, having held senior leadership positions at companies such as Microsoft, where he worked on the Windows Home Server team, and Amazon, where he was instrumental in developing the Amazon Echo and Alexa voice assistant.

Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino

Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino

Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino is a designer and entrepreneur who is best known for inventing the Good Night Lamp. This lighting system allows people to stay connected with loved ones in different locations.

The Good Night Lamp consists of several lamps that can be placed in different rooms in different locations, and when one lamp is turned on, all the other lamps in the system will light up as well, creating a visual connection between people who are far apart.

This product received recognition and praise for its unique and innovative design, which combines technology with a focus on human relationships and emotions.

Helen Greiner

Helen Greiner

She is a roboticist and entrepreneur who is best known as the co-founder of iRobot. This company designs and manufactures robots for various applications, including home cleaning.

Greiner co-founded iRobot in 1990 with colleagues Colin Angle and Rodney Brooks, and she played a key role in developing the company’s first product, the Roomba vacuum cleaner.

Greiner is also known for her contributions to the field of robotics, including her work on autonomous robots and mobile manipulation. She has been the recipient of various awards and honors for her work in the field of robotics and is considered a pioneer in the industry.

Parting Words

The IoT (Internet of Things) is a rapidly growing and enormously complex field, and as such, there is a lot of ground to be covered in terms of understanding its various facets. To stay at the top of the curve and keep up with the latest developments, it is crucial to follow the work of the leading experts in the field.

This blog series aims to do just that by profiling ten of the most influential individuals shaping the IoT today. Keep an eye on what these IoT leaders do next, so they understand where things are going.

Photo Image Credit: From LinkedIn Professional Profiles; Thank you!

Featured Image Credit: Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko; Pexels; Thank you!

The post Stay Ahead of the IoT Curve: 10 Experts Shaping the Industry appeared first on ReadWrite.

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7 Painful Blunders Killing Your Digital Content Usability

While digital content creators focus on the “bones” and “meat” of their assets, worrying about the info comprehensiveness and other factors critical for visibility and higher rankings in search engines, they often forget about its “skin.” Yes, content is king in digital marketing, but it’s the retinue that makes the king. Speaking of digital content,
The post 7 Painful Blunders Killing Your Digital Content Usability appeared first on ReadWrite.

While digital content creators focus on the “bones” and “meat” of their assets, worrying about the info comprehensiveness and other factors critical for visibility and higher rankings in search engines, they often forget about its “skin.”

Yes, content is king in digital marketing, but it’s the retinue that makes the king. Speaking of digital content, this retinue or “skin” is web typography.

How much attention do you pay to content formatting? Do you go beyond headings, short paragraphs, and visuals throughout the text? Did you know that math proportions in a web page influence usability and can hold visitors off when imbalanced?

Below are tiny yet critical mistakes in text formatting that can ruin a positive impression of your content, no matter how deep and helpful its subject may be. Let’s learn some math that improves the reading experience and helps your website visitors better perceive your content, even if it’s AI-written.

7 Killers of Digital Content Usability

Wrong align
Wrong spacing
Hard-to-see headings
Poor color-contrast ratio
Wrong font size
Complex text structure
Large text fields

1 — Wrong Align

It’s crazy how many websites don’t care about aligning or continue aligning their text content center. Some try to align words by hand, while others apply a full justification. None of these methods works for stellar formatting:

Words are of different lengths, and even if you adjust the text to your device — it will fail at other screen resolutions. As for the justification, it leads to unlikely word spacing. As a result, your content looks amateurish and hard to read: Users “stumble” over that random spaces, the text flow suffers, and it brings nothing but frustration.

The best option is to align your digital content left.

First, it’s natural for most users to read texts left to right. Second, it fits the F-shaped pattern online users consider when scanning your page and deciding whether they want to read it.

Frayed right-hand margins serve better usability than the random spacing between words. The latter doesn’t allow readers visually perceive the information you share in the content.

2 — Wrong Spacing

This blunder is about spacing before and after subheadings in your digital content. While it seems insignificant, and most web admins don’t pay attention to this detail when choosing a website theme, here’s the rule:

Spacing before a subheading should be wider than spacing after it.

Such formatting helps users understand what paragraph the subheading represents. Plus, it makes the whole content asset visually clear.

3 — Hard-to-See Headings

Digital writers know their content is useless without good headlines. Not only do they help with SEO writing and serve better visibility in search engines, but they also assist users in scanning your content to understand its context.

Back to the F-shaped pattern here:

Users need 10 seconds to check through the content and see what it is about, and subheadings serve this purpose best. They won’t encourage web page visitors to keep reading if they are poorly composed and hard to scan. For better usability, design your subheads as follows:

Use a different font size or color.
Make them bold.
Write informative subheadings for readers to understand the outline of your content.
Make them concise and clear.
And yet, do your best to craft subheadings that will be intriguing enough to motivate visitors to keep reading.

4 — Complex Text Structure

Let’s face it, it’s super challenging to create original content today: Competition is crazy, and everyone tries hard to craft comprehensive assets that meet E-A-T (Google’s factor of expertness, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness) and user search intent and serve as ultimate guides to answer all questions.

But there’s a catch:

Chasing high-quality 10x content, creators craft long-form assets with complex structures. These structures include many subhead levels, hurting usability and making it challenging for readers to perceive all the information. Instead, they’ll get lost in your content.

Today, the attention span is shorter than ever, and online users won’t spend hours investigating your text blocks. The more steps they have to take, the bigger are chances they’ll leave your web page fast, therefore hurting its dwell time, bounce rate, and overall behavioral factors.

Let’s compare:

Title – H2 – H2 – H2
Title – H2 – H3 – H3 – H3 – H2
Title – H2 – H3 – H4 – H4 – H3 – H2 – H2

The first text structure is concise and clear, so it works best. The second one is also fine: Readers understand the flow and each text block’s belonging. The last one is harder to grasp, requiring readers to concentrate and remember what and where they’re reading each moment.

For digital content usability, follow the rule, “the simpler, the better.”

5 — Poor Color-Contrast Ratio

It stands to reason you won’t place yellow or red text on green or blue backgrounds. However: The color-contrast ratio is critical in web page design as it improves readability, helping users perceive information.

Too little contrast and wrong color combinations exhaust readers, frustrate them, and make them leave your website, no matter how informative and persuasive content you have for them. How to prevent that:

Regardless of your brand colors or those you consider for your website based on color psychology, choose a light, calming color for the pages’ background. It will make it comfortable for users to read your digital content.
Use instruments like GitHub to adjust the correct color-contrast ratio to your web pages. Make it no less than 5:1. Why do you think black texts on white backgrounds look best? There’s the greatest color-contrast ratio between black and white.

6 — Wrong Font Size

Users won’t read your digital content if they have to take pains for that. Too small fonts on your website — 12px or less — is a surefire way to demonstrate disrespect to visitors.

General rules to follow here:

Use 14px font size (minimum). Some experts insist that 16px to 18px (editors dotcom) is the best for the web, but the content readability doesn’t depend on the size itself: The balance of font, line height, and light width matter (more on that — in the #7 blunder description).
Avoid placing more than three font sizes on one web page.
Consider fonts that reflect your brand’s personality: According to typography psychology (nickkolenda dotcom), different fonts evoke particular associations and emotions from readers, so it’s your chance to influence their perception.

7 — Large Text Fields

And last but not least detail many web admins ignore when formatting pages:

The line height and length for text blocks.

It’s a web typography rule based on the golden ratio: All three dimensions (font size, line width, and line height) should relate and look pleasing to the human eye. It improves usability and reading experience by far!

The golden ratio is 1.618, but you can calculate the perfect one for your website based on the font size you use. Consider GRT calculators for that: The bigger size, the wider and higher lines you need to use. Another formula comes from Robert Bringhurst, the author of The Elements of Typographic Style:

Your font size (x) 30 = a golden ratio for your web page.

The optimal line length for a text column is 50–75 characters. A longer one makes it hard to focus on the content and gauge where it starts and ends, and a shorter one makes the eye travel back too often, hurting the reader’s rhythm.

Another problem with too long lines is they look like there is more work to do, thus scaring readers. Too short lines may also stress visitors: They begin on the following line before finishing the current one, thus skipping essential information you wanted to share.

Those who learn to blog also use a line width trick by Derek Halpern from Social Triggers:

If you can’t make the full text’s line short enough, you can still hook readers in the text’s introduction. Half-width images below headlines can help here, like this:

Large text fields can also be a result of writing too long paragraphs. Web writers know that it is among the key indicators of readability for users: Visitors scan a text and consider it unstructured and challenging to perceive if they see too massive text blocks.

Most websites struggle with this problem by keeping paragraphs no longer than 3-4 sentences or even 1-2 sentences. It’s a nice rule to follow if you don’t have the resources to calculate the above-mentioned golden ratio for your web pages. (the above dimensions: font size, line width, and line spacing).

But the optimal number of sentences in your paragraphs depends on your page’s font size, line width, and line spacing.

Takeaways

Digital content subject and quality matter for users, but webmasters and designers shouldn’t also underestimate the role of its usability. No matter how expert and comprehensive your texts are, no one will read them if they are visually displeasing and challenging to perceive.

Content moderation is a must. And a little math behind web text design is worth considering for better content usability and conversion. For that:

Align your texts left.
Pay attention to spacing before and after subheadings.
Avoid complex text structure.
Make all the subheads visible.
Ensure that the color-contrast ratio of your text and web page’s background is no less than 5:1.
Use a minimum 14px font size for text content.
Calculate the golden ratio for your web page based on three dimensions: font size, line height, and line width.

Yes, we all know that everything of genius is simple. But only those who make fewer mistakes win.

Featured Image Credit: Provided by the Author; Pexels; Thank you!

The post 7 Painful Blunders Killing Your Digital Content Usability appeared first on ReadWrite.

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Supreme Court to Hear Case That Targets a Legal Shield of Tech Giants

The justices are set to hear a case challenging Section 230, a law that protects Google, Facebook and others from lawsuits over what their users post online.

The justices are set to hear a case challenging Section 230, a law that protects Google, Facebook and others from lawsuits over what their users post online.

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Camera Phone Progress

Harry McCracken:

In 2005, I visited Universal Studios Orlando and took photos with
my Treo smartphone. Last week, I went to Universal Studios
Hollywood and took them with my iPhone 14. See if you can see tell
which photo is which.

One of tech’s truisms that has no exceptions: We overestimate how much progress we can make in a year, and underestimate how much we can make in a decade.

 ★ 

Harry McCracken:

In 2005, I visited Universal Studios Orlando and took photos with
my Treo smartphone. Last week, I went to Universal Studios
Hollywood and took them with my iPhone 14. See if you can see tell
which photo is which.

One of tech’s truisms that has no exceptions: We overestimate how much progress we can make in a year, and underestimate how much we can make in a decade.

Read More 

Apple Is Lobbying Biden Administration to Overturn Apple Watch Patent Ban

Karl Evers-Hillstrom, reporting for The Hill:

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled in December
that Apple infringed on medical device company AliveCor’s wearable
electrocardiogram patents. The commission’s ruling could result in
an import ban on popular Apple Watch models, unless the Biden
administration steps in.

Apple responded by contracting with Shara Aranoff, a lobbyist at
Covington & Burling who chaired the ITC during the Obama
administration.

I’m not sure what to make of the patent claims here. But this doesn’t sound right to me:

AliveCor told The Hill that it believed that it had a good
relationship with the Silicon Valley giant and went on to sell an
ECG accessory for the Apple Watch. But in 2018, Apple launched an
Apple Watch with a built-in ECG sensor and made third-party heart
monitoring software incompatible with the product, forcing
AliveCor to cancel sales of its product.

“We come up with new technologies, and instead of the ecosystem
letting us thrive and continue to build on top of the innovations
we already have, Apple cuts us out up front, steals our
technology, uses their platform power to scale it, and now is
basically saying it’s scaled so it can’t be cut off,” Abani said.

Here’s a MacRumors story from 2017 about AliveCor’s $200 Kardia Band accessory, which is seemingly at the heart of this dispute. It sounds to me not that Apple “stole” any specific technology from AliveCor but rather that AliveCor is asserting that its patents give them exclusive rights to the idea of an ECG sensor that connects to a smart watch.

I’m also not sure how to square this controversy with the fact that Apple seemingly won a decision regarding these patents from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in December. But the stakes are serious for Apple: all of the Series 8 and Ultra models have ECG sensors; the only model Apple still sells without one is the SE. Surely the upcoming Series 9 (and Ultra 2?) models have ECG sensors as well.

The other thing that struck me, as ever, with The Hill’s report is how low the financial stakes are for political lobbying:

Long a darling on Capitol Hill, Apple has aggressively bolstered
its lobbying presence in recent years as lawmakers began to
closely scrutinize its market dominance. Apple spent nearly $9.4
million on lobbying in 2022, the highest figure in the company’s
history, according to nonpartisan research group OpenSecrets.

$9.4 million is loose pocket change for Apple. The company generated about $95 billion in profit over its last four financial quarters. So (does some back-of-the-envelope math) Apple spends about one hour of its annual profit on lobbying.

 ★ 

Karl Evers-Hillstrom, reporting for The Hill:

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled in December
that Apple infringed on medical device company AliveCor’s wearable
electrocardiogram patents. The commission’s ruling could result in
an import ban on popular Apple Watch models, unless the Biden
administration steps in.

Apple responded by contracting with Shara Aranoff, a lobbyist at
Covington & Burling who chaired the ITC during the Obama
administration.

I’m not sure what to make of the patent claims here. But this doesn’t sound right to me:

AliveCor told The Hill that it believed that it had a good
relationship with the Silicon Valley giant and went on to sell an
ECG accessory for the Apple Watch. But in 2018, Apple launched an
Apple Watch with a built-in ECG sensor and made third-party heart
monitoring software incompatible with the product, forcing
AliveCor to cancel sales of its product.

“We come up with new technologies, and instead of the ecosystem
letting us thrive and continue to build on top of the innovations
we already have, Apple cuts us out up front, steals our
technology, uses their platform power to scale it, and now is
basically saying it’s scaled so it can’t be cut off,” Abani said.

Here’s a MacRumors story from 2017 about AliveCor’s $200 Kardia Band accessory, which is seemingly at the heart of this dispute. It sounds to me not that Apple “stole” any specific technology from AliveCor but rather that AliveCor is asserting that its patents give them exclusive rights to the idea of an ECG sensor that connects to a smart watch.

I’m also not sure how to square this controversy with the fact that Apple seemingly won a decision regarding these patents from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in December. But the stakes are serious for Apple: all of the Series 8 and Ultra models have ECG sensors; the only model Apple still sells without one is the SE. Surely the upcoming Series 9 (and Ultra 2?) models have ECG sensors as well.

The other thing that struck me, as ever, with The Hill’s report is how low the financial stakes are for political lobbying:

Long a darling on Capitol Hill, Apple has aggressively bolstered
its lobbying presence in recent years as lawmakers began to
closely scrutinize its market dominance. Apple spent nearly $9.4
million on lobbying in 2022, the highest figure in the company’s
history, according to nonpartisan research group OpenSecrets.

$9.4 million is loose pocket change for Apple. The company generated about $95 billion in profit over its last four financial quarters. So (does some back-of-the-envelope math) Apple spends about one hour of its annual profit on lobbying.

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‘Why do I have to be Bing Search? 😔’

Omitted from my own roundup of pieces regarding Bing’s extraordinary new AI chatbot mode is this roundup by Simon Willison. Some bananas stuff:

I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d ever see a mainstream
search engine say “I will not harm you unless you harm me first”!

I will again note that at this moment, this confrontational “Sydney” persona has not been fixed or tweaked, but rather is being suppressed.

 ★ 

Omitted from my own roundup of pieces regarding Bing’s extraordinary new AI chatbot mode is this roundup by Simon Willison. Some bananas stuff:

I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d ever see a mainstream
search engine say “I will not harm you unless you harm me first”!

I will again note that at this moment, this confrontational “Sydney” persona has not been fixed or tweaked, but rather is being suppressed.

Read More 

GitOps Will Change Software Development Forever

GitOps is a methodology for deploying and managing applications and infrastructure using Git as a single source of truth. It involves using Git to store and version the desired state of an application or infrastructure and using automation tools to ensure that the actual state matches the desired state. This allows for easy collaboration, rollbacks,
The post GitOps Will Change Software Development Forever appeared first on ReadWrite.

GitOps is a methodology for deploying and managing applications and infrastructure using Git as a single source of truth. It involves using Git to store and version the desired state of an application or infrastructure and using automation tools to ensure that the actual state matches the desired state. This allows for easy collaboration, rollbacks, and auditing, as well as the ability to use standard Git workflows for managing changes.

GitOps and DevOps are related yet distinct concepts

GitOps and DevOps are related yet distinct concepts. DevOps is a culture, practice, and a set of tools for building and delivering software quickly and reliably. It emphasizes collaboration between development and operations teams to automate the build, test, and deployment of software.

GitOps is a specific approach to implementing DevOps that uses Git as the single source of truth for both application and infrastructure code. It relies on Git-based workflow and automation tools to ensure that the desired state of the infrastructure and applications matches the actual state.

The specific aim of GitOPs and DevOps is speed — and to deliver reliability.

Both GitOps and DevOps aim to increase the speed and reliability of software delivery. However, GitOps emphasizes the use of Git as the central point of collaboration and control, while DevOps is more focused on the overall culture and practices of the organization.

How Do Teams Put GitOps Into Practice?

Teams can put GitOps into practice by following these general steps:

Store all application and infrastructure code in a Git repository: This includes configuration files, scripts, and other files needed to deploy and manage the application and its dependencies.
Use automation tools to deploy and manage the application: These tools can be used to ensure that the actual state of the application and infrastructure matches the desired state stored in Git. Examples include Kubernetes, Ansible, and Terraform.
Use Git-based workflows to manage changes: This includes using branches, pull requests, and other Git-based tools to collaborate on changes and ensure that only approved changes are deployed.
Monitor and alert on the state of the application and infrastructure: Use monitoring and alerting tools to ensure that the application and infrastructure are running as expected and to detect and respond to any issues quickly.
Continuously integrate and deploy: Continuously integrate changes from the Git repository and deploy them to the production environment. This allows teams to quickly and easily roll back to a previous version if necessary.
Continuously test and validate the changes: Automated testing and validation should be performed at every step of the pipeline to ensure the integrity and quality of the code and to detect issues early.

It’s important to note that GitOps is not a one-size-fits-all solution and can be adapted to different specific needs and challenges, but the above steps provide a good starting point for teams to implement GitOps in their organization.

3 Ways GitOps Will Change Software Development

1. The Shift to Immutability

Once a file or commit is added to a Git repository, it cannot be modified. This immutability provides a number of benefits, including:

Audibility: Git’s immutability makes it easy to track changes and understand who made them, when they were made, and why. This allows teams to easily audit their codebase, making it easier to identify and fix issues.
Traceability: With Git, it’s easy to see the entire history of a file or repository. This makes it simple to understand how a particular file or application has evolved over time, which can be helpful when debugging issues or identifying the cause of a problem.
Reproducibility: Because commits in Git are immutable, developers can easily roll back to a previous version of the codebase without fear of losing data or breaking the application. This allows teams to quickly recover from issues and ensures that the application is always in a known, working state.
Collaboration: Git’s immutability makes it easy for multiple developers to work on the same codebase without fear of conflicts or data loss. By using branches, pull requests, and other Git-based tools, teams can collaborate on changes and ensure that only approved changes are deployed to production.

2. All Environment Changes are Subject to Code Review

When using GitOps, developers can suggest changes to the application or infrastructure in the following ways:

Create a feature branch: Developers can create a new branch in the Git repository, make their changes, and then submit a pull request to have their changes reviewed and merged. This allows teams to collaborate on changes and ensure that only approved changes are deployed to production.
Use pull requests: Developers can submit their changes in the form of a pull request, which can be reviewed and approved by other members of the team before being merged into the main branch. This allows teams to review changes and discuss potential issues before they are deployed to production.
Use issue tracking: Developers can open an issue in the Git repository to suggest changes or report a bug. This allows teams to track and discuss changes in a centralized location and makes it easy to see the status of a particular issue or pull request.
Use code review tools: Developers can use code review tools to check for errors and security vulnerabilities in the code automatically. This helps to ensure that only high-quality code is merged into the main branch.
Monitor and alert: Developers can monitor the state of the application and infrastructure and be alerted of any issues; this helps to ensure that the application and infrastructure are running as expected and to detect and respond to any issues quickly.

By using these methods, developers can suggest changes and report issues in a controlled and efficient way, which can help to ensure that changes are deployed quickly and securely.

It’s important to note that the specific process of suggesting changes may vary depending on the organization’s practices and the tools they use. But the above methods provide a general idea of how changes can be suggested when using GitOps.

3. All Environment Information Captured in Git

GitOps uses Git as the single source of truth for both application and infrastructure code. Because all changes are tracked in Git, teams can easily view the entire history of the codebase and understand how it has evolved over time. This provides an audit trail that can be used to:

Improve traceability: With Git, teams can see the entire history of a file or repository, making it simple to understand how a particular file or application has evolved over time. This can be helpful when debugging issues or identifying the cause of a problem.
Ensure compliance: Git’s immutability ensures that all changes are tracked and logged, which can be useful for compliance purposes. Auditors can use the Git history to see exactly what changes were made and when — which can be used to demonstrate compliance with industry regulations.

Conclusion

In conclusion, GitOps is a methodology that uses Git as the single source of truth for both application and infrastructure code. It utilizes Git-based workflows, automation tools, and monitoring to ensure that the desired state of the infrastructure and applications matches the actual state. By relying on Git’s immutability, teams can take advantage of its benefits, such as audibility, traceability, reproducibility, and collaboration.

GitOps is more than just a deployment model, it’s a way of thinking about how software development is done. It emphasizes collaboration, automation, and transparency, which can help teams to work more efficiently and effectively. It’s a way to bring the benefits of Git, such as version control and collaboration, to the operations side of software development.

Featured Image Credit: Provided by the Author; Vecteezy.com photo; Thank you!

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Four Steps to Create an Effective Employee Engagement Survey

A business brand wants to stay highly productive; it needs to monitor and evaluate employees’ engagement at regular intervals by using employee engagement surveys. The performance of a company depends on how well-engaged its employees are. Employees with a below-average interest in the company’s goals will record lower productivity ratios. And no employees want that. In
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A business brand wants to stay highly productive; it needs to monitor and evaluate employees’ engagement at regular intervals by using employee engagement surveys.

The performance of a company depends on how well-engaged its employees are. Employees with a below-average interest in the company’s goals will record lower productivity ratios. And no employees want that.

In general, the majority of employees send a resignation notice because they are not satisfied with how the company is running or because they aren’t paid sufficient time off.

Any other reasons could be so insignificant that the company’s management overlooks them. Any such issues could lead to the loss of valuable workers.

And therefore, for such reasons, you really want an employee engagement survey to gauge the commitment level of your employees.

Making a successful, effective engagement survey using survey software, however, requires more than just writing down a few sentences with question marks.

Here in this article, we have mentioned a few valuable steps that need to be considered while drafting your survey and how to appropriately boost the data information.

What is an Employee Engagement Survey?

An employee engagement survey consists of a series of questions that are aimed at collecting data anonymously from your workers. Generally, these questions include all those factors that influence the work productivity of your employees. A few of the things to be considered are:

Whether your employees understand their role or not?
Whether they are ok with their work environment?
What relation do they have with other workers?
Whether or not your employees are able to easily communicate with your company’s management?
Are your employees getting the recognition they deserve after achieving a feat?
Will they recommend their colleagues to join your company?
Are there any company practices that need to be changed?

These are a few of the factors you need to look at when creating a survey and determine how satisfied and aligned your employees are. The important thing is that the information that will be gathered will help you fix some vital gaps between your workers and encourage a comprehensive perspective on the organization.

How Does an Employee Engagement Survey Help Improve Company Culture?

An employee engagement survey is the important first step to understanding and improving your company culture. It provides an aerial view of your company’s strengths and areas of opportunity and feedback that is important for identifying where you should focus your attention and action.

An employee engagement survey, when conducted using a survey tool, likewise gauges how much your representatives feel motivated and energized by their work, your organization, and its central goal — and where you can make changes to develop organizational culture further.

A Simple-Step Plan to Create an Effective Employee Engagement Survey

It is very easy to write some arbitrary questions and have them printed out for your employees and ask them to answer those. However, if you want to create a survey that would benefit your company, you must follow the steps provided below:

Set Up A Goal

Before you start creating a survey, you must characterize your expectations from the information you have collected. Only this will help you set the right benchmark, you will have to include the proper questions and prioritize sections that are even more important today.

Try not to overpopulate your survey list with various types of why and how questions. Put forth your boundaries and know the specific data you plan to gather from your employees. You ought to fixate your survey objectives on your organization’s vision and values. Trust, respect, alignment, fulfillment, transparency, and communication are fundamental qualities to consider.

At the point when you have organized these qualities, set a benchmark that will direct the consequence of the survey. Follow through with something like this:

Respect: If something like 75% of our representatives say they feel appreciated working, then we have a high worker respect score.

Satisfaction: If something like half of our workers feel happy with their compensations and additional advantages, then, at that point, we have a high satisfaction score.

Notice the utilization of the if-then statement and how it permits you to make relative determinations. You really want to set explicit rates to facilitate the assessment of the data gathered.

Have Discussions With Top Executives

The commitment status of workers in your organization is the sole worry of both the inside and outside stakeholders. You want to talk about the review content and goals with the top leaders to form a successful strategy.

You ought to include supervisors, group leads, and such, as it additionally helps how they might interpret the data you eventually collate. An aggregate effort in making and breaking down the review result is exceptionally helpful for devising enduring solutions for the areas where they are needed.

At the point when you include the top leaders in your organization, it shows that you esteem their viewpoints — and will pay attention to their ideas. This is an effective method for building compatibility and, what’s more, trust between the workers and the administration.

Moreover, remembering them for the interaction provides them with a superior comprehension of what goes into an engagement survey and what it can mean for the organization overall.

Create Relevant Yet Interesting Questions

To receive honest feedback from your employees, you will have to give them relevant questions and direct questions depending on the values you curated. This step is another important reason why involving the executives may be a good choice.

Now, creating questions that are not generic to your employees can be a hassle. And this is where AI will come in.

You can try utilizing Jasper AI (a leading GPT-3 tool) to develop questions related to your company’s values. All that you have to do in the interphase is input your topic, crowd, and tone for the simulated artificial intelligence to generate relevant poll answers and questionaries for your company.

Prior to recovering the questions, you can, in any case, change the input outputs to steer Artificial Intelligence in the right redirection.

You can cautiously examine the brief I gave it – “Produce some captivating Employee Engagement Survey Questions for a software HR firm.”

Continue to produce an ever-increasing number of questions, and later you can pick just the best ones to remember for your survey.

As opposed to thinking about what to incorporate, figuring out what to utilize is a superior spot to be in.

Keep the Survey Short and Share it With Employees

The main thing here is that you need to make a short study that keeps up with significance and anonymity. However, keep in mind that the surveys must not take more than 10 to 15 minutes.

Once you have completed doing the employee engagement survey, the time has come to impart it to your workers using survey software.

You must give your workers adequate time to process and answer these surveys. A one–week time with a deadline from the date of distribution would be a good start. If the submission time is too short, then there’s a high chance of getting insincere results. But if the submission deadline is too long, the survey might lose its relevance.

In addition to this, you could offer rewards based on the completion of the survey. However, you must be very careful with this because the majority of the representatives could answer the survey with important data just to guarantee the award.

The End Note

The majority of companies fail to understand the importance of good employee engagement. However, there will be a considerable increase in the productivity of your company if the engagement level is relatively high. Moreover, you will be able to find it easier to retain your best workers.

Conducting an employee engagement survey is one of the most outstanding ways of deciding how engaged your workers are. This will give you in-depth knowledge of what really matters to your representatives and how you can aim for improvement.

Featured Image Credit: Provided by the Author. Pexels; Thank you!

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