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NEW FORETHOUGHT TOOL LETS YOU BUILD WORKFLOWS WITH NATURAL LANGUAGE

TENSION RISES BETWEEN COINBASE AND SEC OVER CELSIUS BANKRUPTCY PLAN

In the midst of a suit between the two entities, the SEC is now scrutinizing Coinbase's role in Celsius’ bankruptcy plan. The SEC argues that Coinbase's services in the process go beyond being a distribution agent to offering brokerage and trading services. This raises issues that reflect those outlined in the SEC's lawsuit against Coinbase for allegedly operating as an unregistered broker violating federal securities laws.

BREACH

The Mixin Network, a crypto project offering a wallet for cross-chain asset transfers and a decentralized exchange, was hacked, exposing up to $200m in potential losses. Deposit and withdrawal services were suspended to stop any bad actors from acting on the exploit. The incident is being investigated with assistance from Google and SlowMist. It has raised questions about the network's centralization, specifically around its reliance on its cloud service provider.

SOLANA DEPIN PROJECTS AIM TO TAKE GIG ECONOMY TO NEXT LEVEL

Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks have the potential to revolutionize traditional infrastructure models. Solana Foundation DePIN lead Kuleen Nimkar compares them to the gig economy. The Solana projects Hivemapper, Render, and Helium show potential, offering opportunities for additional income by contributing hardware to DePIN protocols. Nimkar believes Solana will be the "default choice" for such projects due to its low transaction cost and scalability. This has already been proven somewhat as Helium previously transitioned from its own chain to building on top of Solana.

ORDINALS

In this post, Rod Armor, the creator of the Ordinals protocol, lays out an idea for a new fungible token protocol for Bitcoin. While he thinks most fungible tokens are either scams or memes and can be harmful to users and speculators, he concedes that there is no stopping them, much like gambling or casinos. In light of this, he proposes a simple fungible token protocol that could potentially bring significant transaction fee revenue, developer mindshare, and users to Bitcoin.

HOW TOKENIZATION IS RE-SHAPING BANKING AND PRIVATE EQUITY

This post explains how tokenization is altering the role of banks and private equity, with private markets shifting to digital platforms. Banks are lending to PE firms, which are gradually assuming bank lending functions. This development is causing a significant change in the operation of credit markets. Companies like Apollo, KKR, and Wellington are adopting tokenization, allowing private equity funds to start to resemble banks. Shadow banking is mimicking traditional banking systems through tokenization, replicating their functions.

BITWISE SPOT BITCOIN ETF UPDATE

The NYSE has filed an amended application to list the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF Trust, which includes over 40 pages of new research from Bitwise. This research aims to confront the key concerns the SEC has regarding spot bitcoin ETFs. Bitwise continues to develop innovative research supporting their bitcoin ETF filings, arguing that the CME futures market impacts price discovery in the bitcoin market.

MILLION

MicroStrategy has increased its bitcoin holdings by purchasing an additional 5,445 BTC at an average price of around $27,053. The latest acquisition, valued at around $147.3m, boosts the company's total bitcoin holdings to a total of 158,245 BTC or 0.7% of the total Bitcoin supply.

PROFITABLE’

Maple Finance, a crypto lending protocol, has mostly switched from under-collateralized to over-collateralized loans due to the extended bear market impacting the creditworthiness of borrowers. As a result, only 10% of outstanding loans on the platform are under-collateralized. Despite a significant loan default in December 2022, the platform's value has slowly risen due to offering underwritten loans and access to US Treasury yields.

COMPARING ETHEREUM TO OTHER SOFTWARE PLATFORMS

7 years since its inception, Ethereum has hit $10 billion in all time revenue. The only software platform that has hit this milestone more quickly is Google. Ethereum narrowly edged out Facebook’s time to hit it.

HUOBI IS PROBABLY INSOLVENT AGAIN

Huobi may be insolvent as there are discrepancies between its ETH and USDT holdings. Justin Sun is being accused of manipulating stUSDT to prop up JustLend and amassing a $2.4 billion debt across Huobi and Tron.

2024’

This article covers Bernstein’s predictions about how the crypto fund management industry could grow from $50 billion to $500-650 billion in 5 years, driven by investment products and bitcoin ETFs.

ARBITRUM TREASURY RICHER BY $59M AS USERS MISS CLAIMS DEADLINE

The Arbitrum Foundation transferred 69 million unclaimed ARB tokens worth $59 million to its treasury after 93% of eligible users claimed them. The treasury now holds $3 billion in ARB.

THE LATEST WINDOWS 11 UPDATE WILL HELP YOU DITCH PASSWORDS FOR GOOD

The latest Windows 11 update will allow users to create, manage, and store passkeys and use them to access supported websites and services using their device’s authentication systems. Passkeys are expected to eventually replace passwords entirely as a new standard for login technology, but it’s going to take a while for them to be widely supported. Microsoft is one of the earliest supporters of the technology, which will vastly improve the user experience of unlocking devices.

The most significant upgrade in the iPhone 15 Pro is the Action Button, which replaces the mute switch. This button, programmable through Apple's Shortcuts app, offers versatile functionality beyond just changing ringer settings. Users can create custom shortcuts, enabling a wide range of actions, making the iPhone feel more like a powerful computer.

OPENAI GIVES CHATGPT A VOICE FOR VERBAL CONVERSATIONS

OpenAI is expanding ChatGPT by adding voice and image-based capabilities to its text-based AI assistant. Users can now have voice conversations with ChatGPT, ask it to generate stories verbally, and search for answers using images. The voice feature includes human-like voices generated from text and speech samples.

8 MORE MICRO TIPS FOR REMARKABLY BETTER TYPOGRAPHY

8 more micro tips for better typography in less than 8 minutes: Adjust the size of different fonts, increase line height when using inline code snippets, condense huge type, check the legibility and the kerning of fonts, use proportional figures in tables, use larger margins above headings than below, and adjust the line height to the language used.

UI DESIGN BY DOING

Achieving excellence doesn’t revolve around being the best or knowing all trends and tools: it’s primarily about learning by doing. Tutorials are great for replicating someone else’s work, but they don’t spark the originality in designers. Reading about design principles is all well and good, but nothing beats the real-world experience of just getting your hands dirty and creating something.

AI CAN ALREADY DESIGN BETTER CITIES THAN HUMANS

A study published in Nature Computational Science shows that machine learning can generate more efficient spatial layouts than humans can and in a fraction of the time. Scientists developed an AI system to tackle urban planning and found it produces urban plans that outperform human designs by about 50 percent on access to services, green spaces, and traffic levels.

FIGMA GUIDE TO HANDOFF

Figma is increasingly becoming a shared workplace for designers and developers, so why not adopt some solid standards? This handy guide covers file organization, documentation, collaboration, and more.

HITS

Creative burnout might manifest as a lack of motivation or inspiration, feelings of emptiness after completing a project, avoidance of projects or tasks, or pure physical and mental exhaustion. Burnout is a natural part of the creative process, but it doesn't have to be a roadblock. Activities like meditation, journaling, and regular breaks can do wonders for your creative juices.

WHY NAPKIN IS A GREAT APP FOR GATHERING AND EXPLORING YOUR IDEAS

Napkin is a unique service for jotting down quick ideas or notes and connecting them. It is ideal for gathering project ideas, collecting quotes, drafting Twitter threads, and keeping track of idea seeds.

ILLUSTRATION

What if the Ampersand were not just a character but a character with character? Amid the bustling streets of New York City in 2020, renowned designer and illustrator Diego Pinilla Amaya embarked on a playful typographic escapade. This delightful daydream birthed ‘The Ampersand Crowd’ — a brigade of ten unique ampersands, each imbued with its persona.

BUILDING AND EVALUATING UX RESEARCH PORTFOLIOS

Only 1 out of 5 UX research job posts require a portfolio. Yet when the state of UXR hiring was recently surveyed, most participants (69%) indicated that they have presented or expected to present past case studies in later rounds as a work sample test. So, although these materials often aren’t required up front, they will likely come into play later on.

SUGGESTS

Facebook is designed to build communities around the things people care about. It can be a problem when the audience cares about the wrong things. A study led by researchers at George Washington University found that the core design features of the platform itself undermined Facebook's efforts to fight COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.

GETTY MADE AN AI GENERATOR THAT ONLY TRAINED ON ITS LICENSED IMAGES

Getty Images has partnered with Nvidia to launch "Generative AI by Getty Images," a tool that allows users to create images using Getty's extensive library of licensed photos. This AI tool, trained exclusively on Getty Images content, provides users full copyright protection for images created and published commercially.

DIRECTLY INTO THE BROWSER

Chrome now directly tracks users as it generates a “topic” list it shares with advertisers. Despite massive opposition from almost every non-advertiser, Google owns Chrome and is one of the world's biggest advertising companies, so this is being railroaded into the production builds. This new invasive ad platform is being camouflaged under the name “Privacy Sandbox.”

INSTAGRAM KILLED CREATIVITY WITH THE REMOVAL OF RECENT HASHTAGS

It's getting harder to find those hidden gems on Instagram. The tendency toward homogeneity is exemplified by the platform's decision to remove the ability to see recent posts under hashtags. The consequence? Content producers are hacking their way to fit the formula for being more relevant to their audience, usually by copying the latest new technique for bubbling up in people's feeds.

OPENAI GIVES CHATGPT A VOICE FOR VERBAL CONVERSATIONS

ChatGPT’s new voice feature will be powered by a text-to-speech model that can generate human-like voices from text using a few seconds of sampled speech. This opens doors to many creative and accessibility-focused applications. It is set to roll out to paying Plus and Enterprise users in the coming 2 weeks.

EXCLUSIVE TO X PREMIUM SUBSCRIBERS

X plans to introduce audio and video calls to its platform. These features will reportedly only be available to X Premium subscribers. Users will be able to receive audio and video calls from Verified users, those they follow, or contacts in their address book.

GETTY IMAGES LAUNCHES AN AI-POWERED IMAGE GENERATOR

Getty Images launched Generative AI by Getty Images, a tool powered by Nvidia's AI model that can create images from text descriptions or prompts. Users will receive Getty's standard royalty-free license, which includes indemnification against copyright lawsuits. The tool has safeguards to prevent it from being used for disinformation or replicating the style of living artists. It also adds a watermark to identify AI-generated images.

HOW TO BUILD YOUR CONTENT STRATEGY IN 4 STEPS

Powerful content builds brand awareness, creates demand, and closes deals. This guide contains 3 underutilized sources of content ideas, 4 key ingredients for excellent content, and tips for surfacing the right content at the right point in the customer’s journey.

HOW CONTENT AGGREGATORS CAN HELP YOUR BRAND

A content aggregator, such as Google News, funnels content into a platform and uses algorithms to decide where it should be distributed on other websites around the web. Brands can use these services to extend the reach of their content and engage with a broader audience. Marketers can also use these tools to compile outside content for research and idea creation purposes.

2023 AVERAGE SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT RATE BY INDUSTRY AND PLATFORM

This guide, sourced from Hootsuite’s internal data, provides the average engagement rate per post in 13 top industries across Instagram, Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and TikTok. These stats are useful for benchmarking your own brand’s performance on these social platforms.

GUIDE

Core Web Vitals are a set of performance signals that Google deems critical to all web experiences and considers in its search algorithm. This in-depth guide explains what each metric means, how to assess your site for better UX and SEO results, which tools to use, and how to interpret and resolve specific issues. This is an essential guide for any marketer dealing with Core Web Vitals issues.

7 TOOLS TO AUGMENT YOUR MARKETING WORKFLOW

This post lists 7 marketing AI, no-code, and automation tools designed to help marketers work more efficiently.

WHY CANADA GOOSE SOARED AND SHINOLA SPUTTERED

This podcast transcript shares the challenges in elevating a mass-market brand into the luxury industry by analyzing two contrasting cases: Canada Goose and Shinola. Canada Goose, a winter-wear producer, successfully transitioned into a luxury brand by emphasizing its functional benefits and attracting high-status endorsements. In contrast, Shinola, known for shoe polish, attempted to become a luxury wristwatch brand, but faced difficulties due to incoherent branding and issues with product origin claims.

MARKETING, MORE CONTROL TO IT

This article discusses a notable shift in the ownership of marketing technology responsibilities from the marketing department to IT. The shift is driven by the increasing complexity and diversity of martech stacks, with companies adopting a strategy of aggregation rather than consolidation to address these challenges. The change is expected to empower marketing operations by freeing up time to build better processes and tap into new data and services offered by aggregation platforms.

HOW REAL ARE THE PROBLEMS WITH GA4?

In this interview, the product director of Google Analytics addresses some of the complaints about GA4 and gives a preview of upcoming changes.

RULES TO KEEP UP

Social platforms are facing an influx of AI-generated spam, leading to the development of new rules to counter this issue across platforms including TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.

5 COMMON MISTAKES FROM A META AD ACCOUNT

The author of this post audited a Meta account spending $180K/month with a 1.2X ROAS and outlined 5 mistakes that even big brands make.

OPTIMIZING BUILD PERFORMANCE IN NEXT.JS

Build performance is the time it takes to build your application. A faster build time lets you iterate faster and deliver your app to customers quicker. This article provides a nice checklist of things to do to optimize build performance. It also gives an overview of techniques and tools you can use to improve the critical rendering path, which is important to a web app’s initial load time and perceived performance.

BUN VS NODE.JS: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW

This article provides a detailed comparison of Bun vs Node.js, from low level runtime engine to web APIs to package manager and more. Overall, Bun has wide support for many JavaScript use cases and it’s faster than Node.js. For example, hot reloading is better with Bun than with Node.js because Node.js methods sometimes require a full process restart.

5 RULES THAT WILL DRIVE A LONG, HEALTHY CAREER

This article, written by a VP of Product at Meta, gives sage advice on how to have a great career. For example, people must think long-term when making a change, ensuring each career transition is career additive. Developers must also find a strength area and try to build a superpower in it as developing a specialty makes one more valuable.

TEXT EDITING ON MOBILE: THE INVISIBLE PROBLEM

Android and iOS share a common problem: they copied desktop text editing conventions, but without a menu bar or mouse. This forced them to overload the tap gesture with a wide range of actions: placing the cursor, moving it, selecting text, and invoking a pop-up menu. This results in overly complicated and ambiguous taps, leading to a variety of user errors.

KITFORSTARTUPS

KitForStartups is an open-source SvelteKit SaaS boilerplate. It comes with Typescript support, Tailwind CSS, and adapters for multiple databases, like MySQL and PostgreSQL.

MINUM

Minum is a minimalistic experimental Java web framework. It features an in-memory database with disk persistence, server-side templating, a logging framework, and more.