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WIREX PAY LAUNCHES NON-CUSTODIAL CRYPTO PAYMENTS

MOUNTAIN DEW AIMS TO "RECLAIM ITS LEGACY" WITH MOUNTAIN-FOCUSED REBRAND

Mountain Dew has unveiled its first rebrand since 2009. Featuring a new logo and packaging highlighting its mountain roots and incorporating the landscape into its identity, the redesign includes the return of "Mountain" in the logo, a citrus leaf outline for the "I," and updated colors, reflecting the brand's adventurous legacy.

ZOOM WILL LET AI AVATARS TALK TO YOUR TEAM FOR YOU

Zoom is advancing its AI capabilities by allowing users to create personalized AI avatars to attend meetings, initially focusing on sending brief video messages through the Clips feature. Users will have to record an initial video, which Zoom's AI uses to generate an avatar resembling their appearance and voice. Zoom has addressed potential deepfake concerns with advanced authentication, watermarking, and strict usage policies.

ADOBE HAS A NEW TOOL TO PROTECT ARTISTS' WORK FROM AI

A new web app launching in early 2025 will expand Adobe's Content Credentials system, helping creatives protect and attribute their work. The app will allow users to apply tamper-evident metadata to content, opt out of AI model training, and recover credentials even if stripped. Its success will depend on industry-wide adoption.

CAN FACEBOOK WIN BACK GEN Z?

Facebook's popularity among U.S. teens has declined significantly over the past decade, with usage dropping from 71% to 33% as Gen Z prefers image- and video-focused platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. It is adopting TikTok-inspired features to address this, but it's unclear if the changes will attract Gen Z back.

YOU'RE TRYING TO TURN AN OIL TANKER

Large organizations are like supertankers. Driving change requires time, patience, and consistent effort. Persistent communication, relationship-building, and a deep understanding of colleagues' needs helped gradually influence decision-makers at Cisco. The company only formed a dedicated engineering team for its design system after years of uphill struggle.

DESIGNING FOR COMPLEXITY: START WITH THESE QUESTIONS

The flexible framework introduced in this article offers an effective way to tackle project complexity. By breaking down systems into interconnected parts and asking specific questions, designers can gain clarity and prioritize solutions.

AFTER EFFECTS CUSTOM PANELS

MoBar is a powerful After Effects toolset that boosts your workflow, lets you create custom panels, and offers over 130 pre-built tools for your creative needs.

APPLY DITHERING EFFECT FOR ANY IMAGES (FIGMA PLUGIN)

This plugin lets you apply stunning dithering effects to any image. Fine-tune details, add noise, adjust brightness, and enhance glow.

CREATE TEXT-BEHIND-IMAGE DESIGNS EASILY

This tool allows you to place text behind elements in your photos like a pro.

HOW DESIGNERS CREATE ALIGNMENT

Projects are often delayed due to team misalignment, where unclear roles and steps lead to wasted time and confusion. Design plays a key role in creating alignment at strategic, operational, and tactical levels. Tools like product development journals help teams stay organized and move projects forward efficiently.

DIXONBAXI'S FRESH IDENTITY FOR INSTRUMENT MAKER ROLI HELPS CUT THROUGH THE NOISE

ROLI, known for innovative instruments like the Seaboard, collaborated with DixonBaxi to create a unified brand identity that reflects its mission to "free the music" within everyone. The rebrand features a new logo inspired by piano keys, a flexible color system, and a warm, accessible tone, uniting ROLI's diverse audience of musicians, from beginners to professionals, while streamlining its product ecosystem.

INTRODUCING GENERATIVE CANVAS

Salesforce's new “generative canvas” pilot introduces AI-driven, adaptive UI for CRM users. It dynamically assembles content and layouts based on user context, offering personalized experiences. Combining AI flexibility with Salesforce's design consistency, it tailors interfaces in real-time, improving efficiency and user relevance.

UX DESIGN CASE STUDY: STARBUCKS' BEHIND-THE-COUNTER SYSTEM

Tactile's project for Starbucks created a unified design system for in-store connected devices, enhancing usability and employee efficiency through a cohesive UX strategy and intuitive interface.

I JUST DISCOVERED WEB DESIGN MUSEUM AND GOT LOST FOR TWO HOURS

The Web Design Museum offers a nostalgic journey through digital design evolution, showcasing forgotten websites from the 90s to the 2010s for retro design enthusiasts.

HOW TO PAIR FONTS: A PRACTICAL GUIDE

Effective font pairing involves balancing personal preferences, project needs, and cultural context.

FOURTEEN AGS SUE TIKTOK, ACCUSING IT OF HARMING CHILDREN'S MENTAL HEALTH

14 attorneys general, led by officials in New York and California, have filed lawsuits against TikTok. They are accusing the platform of affecting the mental health of young users and collecting data from minors without parental consent. The lawsuits contend that TikTok misleads users about its safety, focusing on addictive features such as persistent notifications and autoplay videos, as well as risky challenges. TikTok has denied the claims.

A GOOGLE BREAKUP IS ON THE TABLE, SAY DOJ LAWYERS

WIN REPORT: HOW A SIMPLIFIED SIGN-UP FLOW INCREASED CONVERSIONS BY 12%

Mobbin increased conversions by 12% by consolidating and optimizing its sign-up process. Redirecting users from an initial modal to a dedicated sign-up page, with improved headlines and messaging, simplified the user journey and addressed key objections. Consolidating these two user journeys also made future testing easier by allowing tests to reach statistical significance faster.

HAVE WRITER'S BLOCK? DELETE YOUR DRAFTS

A study of jazz guitarists in 2023 found that better improvisation comes from automatic, unconscious brain processes, not overthinking. This insight supports the idea that deleting drafts can free up creativity, allowing creators to take risks and move beyond perfectionism. Rediscover creative freedom by discarding drafts and letting go of audience expectations.

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FABULATE

Fabulate streamlines content creation and ensures brand safety in influencer collaborations. Its newest product, SparQ, offers video-focused AI capabilities that scan social media content from platforms like TikTok and Instagram, helping brands avoid aligning with creators who produce high-risk or inappropriate content. Features like "Brand Safe" identify potential issues in creator content, while "Audience Overlap" checks follower similarities across creators to optimize unique audience reach. Fabulate aims to simplify the content vetting process for marketers.

4 TOOLS TO FIX EMAIL DELIVERABILITY

Gmass tests if emails go to promotions, updates, or spam in Gmail. Mail-Tester checks if you're being blacklisted or hitting spam. MxToolBox checks your DMARC and SPF for DKIM. GlockApps analyzes email content and sender reputation.

THE EMERGING STARTUP PLAYBOOK

Copy.ai scaled to 10 million users in just four years. Its shift away from the conventional startup playbook prioritized rapid launches and MVPs. Newer startups including Jam and Pinecone focus on releasing polished products and using storytelling to attract audiences. This new approach emphasizes quality, audience engagement, and strategic channel testing over more traditional outbound tactics.

CAN FACEBOOK WIN BACK GEN Z?

Facebook's redesign emphasizes features like Marketplace, Groups, and a TikTok-style "Explore" page to regain Gen Z users. Its outdated reputation and political controversies had driven the demographic away. Gen Z prefers video-centric apps like Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube over text-heavy platforms like Facebook and X. While Marketplace remains popular, Facebook's core purpose of connecting with friends is less relevant as Gen Z engagement declines.

YOUTUBE SHORTS JUST GOT MUCH EASIER FOR BRANDS

YouTube Shorts' new 3-minute limit allows brands to easily repurpose content from Instagram Reels and TikTok. With all three platforms supporting up to 90-second videos, brands can maximize reach by sharing the same content across them. There is no need for platform-specific content as users behave similarly on each. Treat platforms as distribution channels and post the same videos on all major social networks.

THE U.S. NAVY IS LOOKING FOR SUBMARINE RECRUITS ON REDDIT

The U.S. Navy has launched an interactive recruitment campaign on Reddit called "Sub Reddit Hunt" to attract potential recruits for its submarine crews. The campaign involves users solving puzzles and deciphering clues to find hidden submarines. This approach is part of broader efforts by the Navy to boost recruitment, which has been challenging due to factors like a strong job market and stricter enlistment requirements. The Navy and other military branches have increasingly turned to digital platforms and gaming to engage younger audiences.

MOST WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD ARE AVID SPORTS FANS

THE INFLUENCER + AFFILIATE FORMULA (WEBINAR)

This webinar on October 15 covers how to reap big spikes in reach and conversions from influencer and affiliate partnerships.

X CHANGES CREATOR PAYOUTS TO DEPEND ON ENGAGEMENT, NOT ADS

X now pays creators based on engagement with Premium users instead of ad revenue, a shift that could encourage content designed to generate replies.

>> Read the article on the Adevinta tech blog

WHY GOV.UK'S EXIT THIS PAGE COMPONENT DOESN'T USE THE ESCAPE KEY

GOV.UK's Exit this Page component uses the Shift key instead of the Escape key for its shortcut function due to several technical limitations. The Escape key is not a reliable option because it's commonly used by browsers and operating systems for other functions, and its use is not always considered a user interaction by browsers. Other keys like Control or Alt have their own challenges, so Shift was chosen as the least flawed option.

JOHN CARMACK ON INLINED CODE

Doom co-creator John Carmack advocates for inlining code as a way to improve code clarity and reduce bugs. Inlining helps programmers become aware of all the code being executed, eliminates the possibility of functions being called from unintended places, and reduces the risk of bugs stemming from state changes. As an example, aerospace software uses inlining for reliability.

YOU DON'T KNOW JACK ABOUT BANDWIDTH

Internet performance issues are often caused by latency, not insufficient bandwidth. This latency is exacerbated by outdated router software that leads to buffering and congestion, especially during video calls and other high-demand activities. There are various software solutions to address these latency problems at the ISP level that have proven effective in the real world.

WHY THE ISO FORMAT HAS TO DIE

The ISO format is arguably outdated and should be retired. The image format is better because it's simpler and easier to use.

WARM HANDOFFS

Warm handoffs are when questions are redirected in chat channels to the appropriate team and channel. By involving the initial contact in the handoff, providing context, and ensuring the requester's continued involvement, warm handoffs create a more efficient and collaborative environment. An organization that encourages warm handoffs ends up collaborating better over time.

HOW TO MAKE PRODUCT GIVE A SHIT ABOUT YOUR ARCHITECTURE PROPOSAL

Software engineers should advocate for robust, well-designed solutions, even if they require significant time and resources. It's important to learn to negotiate scope and time with product teams while maintaining quality standards.

PLACEHOLDERJS

PlaceholderJS is a free, lightweight service for developers that provides simple image placeholders with customizable size, text, text color, and background color.

HULY PLATFORM

Huly Platform is a framework designed to accelerate the development of business applications. It includes several applications such as Chat, Project Management, CRM, HRM, and ATS.

HOW FIRESHIP BECAME YOUTUBE'S FAVORITE PROGRAMMER

Fireship is a popular YouTube channel that has over 3 million subscribers through its unique style of fast-paced, humorous, and meme-filled videos explaining programming concepts. The channel's strategy focuses on evergreen videos, such as its "X in 100 Seconds" series, and “trend-jacking,” with its "The Code Report" series.

REACT AT META CONNECT 2024

Meta Connect 2024 showcased several projects built using React and React Native. React and React Native help teams develop for Meta Quest, Instagram, Facebook, the Meta Horizon mobile app, and the Meta Horizon Store. The Meta Spatial Editor, a desktop app for creating 3D experiences, was built using React Native for Desktop.

BUILDING OFFLINE-FIRST MOBILE APPS WITH SUPABASE, FLUTTER, AND BRICK

Brick is a Flutter data management tool that simplifies building offline-first mobile apps with Supabase. It handles data synchronization between Supabase and local caches and it offers a single repository to interact with data. This allows for easy data fetching and caching while also providing features like reactivity and upserting for efficient data updates.

THE INTERNET ARCHIVE IS UNDER ATTACK, WITH A BREACH REVEALING INFO FOR 31 MILLION ACCOUNTS

The Internet Archive suffered a data breach affecting 31 million accounts and is currently under a DDoS attack, with the perpetrators defacing the website using a JavaScript library and disrupting its services with popups.

THE IMPENDING FATE OF THE .IO DOMAIN

The .io domain might face dissolution due to political shifts, specifically the UK's decision to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

I WASTED A DAY ON CSS SELECTOR PERFORMANCE TO MAKE A WEBSITE LOAD 2MS FASTER

This developer spent a day optimizing CSS selectors to improve website performance, only to discover that the perceived improvement was the result of profiling tools - the actual performance gain was negligible.

‘THE COMMUNITY IS IN CHAOS:' WORDPRESS.ORG NOW REQUIRES YOU DENOUNCE AFFILIATION WITH WP ENGINE TO LOG IN

WordPress co-creator Matt Mullenweg has escalated his dispute with WP Engine, forcing WordPress.org users to denounce any affiliation with the hosting platform before logging in.

GRATEFUL: COLORS IN CONSOLE.LOG()

This developer used CSS styling to visually differentiate console.log statements and debug a UI state issue.