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PATCH TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2024 EDITION

Microsoft, Adobe, and Apple have released security updates to fix numerous vulnerabilities, including active attacks on Windows and other software.

LUA MALWARE TARGETING STUDENT GAMERS VIA FAKE GAME CHEATS

Lua malware has been discovered in fake game cheats and is spread globally through techniques like SEO poisoning.

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ON TIKTOK, POP CULTURE PREVAILS OVER NEWS AND POLITICS

While TikTok accounts focused on news and politics comprise less than 1% of those followed by U.S. adults, the platform is emerging as a news destination. About 50% of followed accounts are influencers and creators, with only 10% sharing content related to politics and news. Despite the low percentage of political accounts, 43% of TikTok users follow accounts discussing politics and current events, and celebrity endorsements have proven to boost voter registration efforts.

INFLUENCERS ARE POSTING LESS FASHION CONTENT THIS YEAR

There has been a 14% decrease in fashion content posted by influencers in 2024 compared to the previous year. This decline coincides with a significant shift towards video content, with video views increasing by 28% across regions and a 63% rise in views of fashion-related videos on Instagram. Influencers may be adapting their strategies to align with the growing demand for engaging video formats rather than traditional fashion posts.

EFFECTIVE INTERNATIONAL BRAND NAMES

Successful international brand names are under 4 syllables, easy to pronounce, and free of long consonant or vowel sequences. Avoid culture-specific meanings and names that need translation. Effective logos should align with the brand's purpose, especially in Eastern markets where visuals hold greater significance. Ensure the name lacks unintended meanings in other languages and prioritize simplicity and memorability in both name and logo design.

DOLLAR A DAY IN ACTION: PROVEN STRATEGIES TO BOOST ENGAGEMENT AND SALES

The Dollar-a-Day tactic is where brands allocate $1 daily to test ads on platforms like Facebook or Instagram. The key advantage is identifying high-performing ads before scaling, making it suitable for those with limited budgets. It typically takes 2-3 days to gather enough data to evaluate the ad's performance and adjust for optimization.

SUPERNORMAL

Supernormal streamlines meeting notes, prep, and insights. It integrates with Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams, providing features such as in-meeting agendas, task tracking, and automatic transcription. Users can also sync notes with Salesforce and Asana, allowing actionable follow-ups.

TALL UPDATES COMING TO SHORTS

YouTube Shorts is extending the maximum video length on October 15 from 60 seconds to 3 minutes. The update includes new templates for easier content creation, the ability to remix existing YouTube videos directly, and the introduction of Google DeepMind's Veo for unique video backgrounds. Users will also have access to a trends page to stay updated on popular content and can customize their feed with an option to see fewer Shorts.

PRODUCT DRIVE (WEBINAR)

The last day of Product Drive takes place today with speakers like Anthony Pierri, Wes Bush, and David Pereira covering topics on GTM strategy, product analytics, and growth. Replays of past talks are available for free.

THE POWER OF PASSIONS: TAPPING INTO CONSUMERS' EMOTIONAL BONDS

92% of purchasing decisions are driven by emotion. Three-quarters of people surveyed across eight markets say engaging in their passions is a part of their identity. Marketers should focus on segmenting audiences by their interests (ie. music, food, travel, and sports), rather than traditional demographics. By leveraging insights from neuromarketing and understanding consumers' emotional ties, brands can better resonate with their audiences.

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF RANKING VARIABILITY

Search result variability increased for non-branded and location-based keywords after Google's March 2024 Core Update. Certain industries, like legal services and restaurants, show more regional competition in search rankings, while national brands like Yelp and Liberty Mutual see fluctuating performance across states. Localized SEO strategies, such as using geographic modifiers in meta tags, are key for both national and regional brands. SEOs must adjust strategies based on industry, leveraging regional content to rank competitively in specific locations.

REPLIT'S PATH TO PRODUCT-MARKET FIT—THE $1 BILLION SIDE PROJECT

Amjad Masad's Replit evolved from a side project into a billion-dollar startup by addressing a need for real-time collaborative coding in a web browser. Initially targeting students and educators, Replit later expanded its user base with AI-powered tools like Ghostwriter and Replit Agent, contributing to rapid user growth.

INSTACART ADDS GAMES, PERSONALIZED COUPONS TO ITS SMART CARTS

Instacart is adding gamification, location-based coupons, and “aisle-aware” advertising formats.

SMALL BUSINESSES ARE GETTING CREATIVE ON SOCIAL MEDIA—AND DRIVING FOOT TRAFFIC

Small businesses are leaning into viral humor and employee-led content on TikTok to gain customers from miles away.

LESSONS FROM TUPPERWARE'S SELF-INFLICTED DEMISE

Tupperware's downfall stems from complacency, resistance to change, and a failure to adapt to evolving customer preferences.

MIGRATING IN-PLACE FROM POSTGRESQL TO MYSQL

Yelp Reservations, acquired in 2013, was originally built with a PostgreSQL database. Recently, the service was migrated in-place to a Yelp-standard MySQL database. This involved overcoming challenges like data consistency, handling PostgreSQL-specific features, and managing the release process with minimal service disruption.

DO NOT USE SECRETS IN ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES. HERE'S HOW TO DO IT BETTER

Storing secrets in environment variables is a common practice but actually may be a security risk when secrets are poorly managed, leaked through frontend code, exposed in .env files, logged unintentionally, or inherited by child processes. Developers should try to use secrets stores instead.

SMOLDERINGLY FAST B-TREES

The benchmark matters when comparing the performance of B-trees and hashmaps. Different benchmarks show hashmaps benefit more from cache behavior and speculative execution. B-trees avoid hashmap pitfalls like flooding and rehashing, but hashmaps with additional measures for order and iteration may be easier to use in development.

COGNITIVE LOAD IS WHAT MATTERS

Cognitive load refers to the mental effort required to understand and work with code. Excessive cognitive load can lead to confusion, errors, and delays. Developers should work on reducing extraneous cognitive load while working on code by avoiding overly complex conditionals, minimizing inheritance, and using clear, self-describing variable names.

THE STATIC SITE PARADOX

Ironically, professional software engineers are more likely to use simple static HTML websites for their personal blogs, while regular users are often stuck with more resource-intensive CMS platforms like WordPress. This disparity is because creating a static website requires technical knowledge and effort that many users lack, while readily available CMS solutions are much easier to use (even though they are more complex under the hood).

A MODEST CRITIQUE OF HTMX

htmx is an open-source front-end JavaScript library that extends HTML with custom attributes that enable the use of AJAX directly in HTML. While the core concept of htmx is appealing, its implementation is more complicated because of issues with inheritance, state management, and integration with other libraries like React. For example, htmx's reliance on replacing DOM elements wholesale causes problems with maintaining browser-local state and conflicts with libraries like React that manage their own state.

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BRISA

Brisa Framework is a web platform framework that aims to unify server and client-side development. It offers server-rendered JSX components and minimal JavaScript shipped to the browser. Brisa uses a web component island-based architecture, allowing for interactive elements to be rendered on the server and hydrated on the client with native Web APIs.

PLAYER.STYLE

Player.style offers a collection of pre-built video and audio player themes designed to be easily implemented in any web player or app framework.

THE REAL DATA WALL IS BILLIONS OF YEARS OF EVOLUTION

The current focus on data as the driving force of AI progress is misguided. Instead, the real data wall is the vast amount of information encoded within our evolutionary history, far exceeding any data set used in AI training. This "evolutionary data" includes not only DNA but also the complex information embedded in the structure and function of our cells.

IS AGE REALLY A FACTOR IN TECH?

Age doesn't matter in tech as long as individuals possess the necessary skills. While some tech giants are taking steps to address age diversity, there still needs to be systemic changes to combat ageism in tech.

ON THE NATURE OF TIME

From a computational perspective, time is not a fundamental coordinate but rather a reflection of the universe's computational processes. This idea is supported by the concept of computational irreducibility, which states that the only way to determine a system's future state is to trace through each computational step. Time, therefore, becomes a robust and irreplaceable element of our experience, reflecting the fundamental nature of computation.

CANVASES VERSUS DOCUMENTS

Web design may be shifting away from immersive "canvas-style" layouts and back to more structured, document-like designs.

DON'T LET DICTS SPOIL YOUR CODE

For better code structure and maintainability in Python, it's better to use dataclasses, Pydantic, and TypedDicts instead of using dictionaries.

AUTOMATTIC IS DOING OPEN SOURCE DIRTY

The creator of Ruby on Rails argues that Automattic's demand for 8% of WP Engine's revenue is a violation of open source principles and the GPL license.

WHAT'S NEW IN RUBY ON RAILS 8

Rails 8 introduces updates like easier deployments, a modern asset pipeline, improved SQLite capabilities, and more Active Record features.

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GOOGLE MUST CRACK OPEN ANDROID FOR THIRD-PARTY STORES, RULES EPIC JUDGE

Google has been ordered to effectively open up the Google Play app store to competition for three years. It will have to distribute rival third-party app stores within Google Play and give third-party app stores access to the full catalog of Google Play apps unless developers opt out. Google must also, between November 1, 2024, to November 1, 2027, stop requiring Google Play Billing for apps distributed on the Google Play Stores and let Android developers tell users about other ways to pay from within the Play Store, link to ways to download their apps outside of the Play Store, and set their own prices for apps irrespective of Play Billing. Many more details on the ruling are available in the article.

FIRST WAVE OF M4 MACS, INCLUDING SMALLER MAC MINI, COMING NOVEMBER 1

M4 Macs are predicted to launch on November 1 following a late-October announcement. Apple is expected to launch refreshed 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros with M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max chips, a new M4 version of the 24-inch iMac, and an M4 update to the Mac mini. The refreshed Mac mini will come with a fully revamped design and be closer in size to an Apple TV box. It will have fewer ports than current models. The new Macs should launch around the same time as the macOS Sequoia 15.1 update. M4 Macs likely won't get any unique Apple Intelligence features.

SPACEX LAUNCHES EUROPE'S HERA ASTEROID MISSION AHEAD OF HURRICANE MILTON

NASA smashed a spacecraft into an asteroid millions of miles from Earth two years ago to test a technique for deflecting objects off a collision course with Earth. The European Space Agency launched a mission on Monday to go back to the crash site to see the damage done. The Hera mission will arrive in late 2026 to perform a comprehensive survey. It will help scientists better understand the inner structure of asteroids, allowing future mission planners to know how best to deflect hazardous objects that threaten Earth.

AGILITY ROBOTICS, MAKER OF HUMANOID BOTS, SHOWS OFF ITS ‘ROBOFAB'

Agility Robotics' RoboFab will produce its first bot sometime this month. The company is among a number of robot makers that are combining increasingly powerful batteries, motors, and sensors with software to create bots that can work in spaces designed for humans. It will set up as many as four production lines. RoboFab doesn't require the expensive machinery usually found in auto plants. Agility's robots can mostly be assembled by humans wielding hand tools.

ALI DIAMOND, FROM HAK5: "I'M A SOFTWARE ENGINEER, AND I HAVE TO MAKE BAD SECURITY DECISIONS—WHY?" Save your spot!

SQ DATA WRANGLER

sq is a command line tool that provides jq-style access to structured data sources. It executes jq-like queries and can join across sources. sq outputs to a multitude of formats and can insert query results directly to a SQL database. It can inspect sources to view metadata about the source structure.

UNLOCKING THE ‘AHA' MOMENT: DEVELOPER RELATIONS FOR STARTUPS

While developer relations can be the cornerstone of product adoption and growth for early-stage companies, many of these companies often focus on the wrong things. Success lies in how quickly developers reach their first 'aha' moment - the moment when they truly grasp a product's core value and potential. This article discusses the importance of getting developers to the 'aha' moment and how using a product marketing mindset can help, how to build an incredible developer experience, how to use open source to drive growth and build a community, and more.

PRIVATE EQUITY RUINS TECH COMPANIES

Private equity firms raise money from investors to buy companies, restructure them, and sell them for a profit. They're all about maximizing returns in the fastest time possible. When these firms acquire a tech company, they focus on aggressive cost-cutting and streamlining operations to boost short-term profitability. This is extremely destructive - private equity-backed companies are 10 times more likely to go bankrupt than public companies. Open source communities are particularly vulnerable to this model.

THE 30-YEAR-OLD INTERNET BACKDOOR LAW THAT CAME BACK TO BITE

China-backed hackers have compromised the wiretap systems of several US telecom and internet providers. These wiretap systems typically grant a select few employees nearly unlimited access to information about customers, including internet traffic and browsing histories. Technologists have warned for years about the security risks of legally required backdoors. The wiretap systems are mandated under a 30-year-old US federal law, which requires communication providers to provide the government with all necessary assistance to access customers' information when presented with a lawful order.

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US ANTITRUST CASE AGAINST AMAZON TO MOVE FORWARD

VIRTUALIZING IOS ON APPLE SILICON

This post explores how to virtualize iOS on Apple Silicon Macs.