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LIFT-TO-WAKE CONTROLLER

WHY ARE CNN, FOX, AND US WEBSITES VISUALLY SO AGGRESSIVE?

THE 7 DEADLY SNARES OF STRATEGY

RULE OF THIRDS: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE & EXAMPLES

TURN YOUR SCREENSHOT CHAOS INTO GOLD

Take a screenshot, upload it, and receive insightful AI-generated summaries. Easily retrieve and interact with your saved screenshots and instruct the AI to provide extra insights.

LEARN VARIABLES - 50+ RESOURCES

DEVTOOLS FOR DESIGNERS

Open a website, click on any element, and change it on the fly. Grab the result as code and use it as you want. CSS Pro is a browser extension that runs on top of any page.

USER INTERVIEWS 101

THE SURPRISING ORIGINS OF OUR OBSESSION WITH CREATIVITY

ADOBE HIKES CREATIVE CLOUD PRICES AS IT RAKES IN RECORD REVENUE

WE'RE STILL NOT INNOVATING WITH AI-GENERATED UI

CLIENTS

INSTACART PRICES SHARES AT $30 AS IPO MARKET WARMS UP

Instacart plans to sell 8% of its stock, which could bring in around $660 million, in order to fuel demand for online grocery shopping post-pandemic.

SANTANDER COMMITS TO €100 MILLION FUND FOR SPANISH STARTUPS

Santander committed €67m to a new €100m fund in an effort to help boost Spain’s entrepreneurship ecosystem. It’s always cool seeing large global banks invest in their roots.

MY REFLECTIONS ON MY SUMMER IN INDIA’S SILICON VALLEY

In this article, Ashu Garg, General Partner at Foundational Capital, compares Bangalore’s emerging SaaS scene to Silicon Valley, predicting that by 2030, the enterprise software industry will revolve around two poles—Silicon Valley and Bangalore.

SUBSCRIPTION VS USAGE BASED PRICING MODELS

A fascinating read that breaks down the pros and cons of usage-based versus subscription pricing. More founders are leaning into usage-based pricing as a way to better align their revenue with the value a user extracts from their product.

CAN WE EVEN AFFORD TO DO SMB SALES IN THE U.S. ANYMORE?

Inflation up, salaries up, marketing costs up, CAC on the rise. In response to higher expected OTE from sales reps, some startups are moving their SMB sales teams outside of the US.

HOW SAAS BUSINESS MODELS ARE CHANGING

The market is tough right now and it's impacting how founders grow their SaaS startups. We’re seeing product-led growth tactics surge, headcount-based growth being less rewarded, pricing changes being used as a strategic lever, and increased focus on reducing cloud costs.

AI REGULATION FROM ELAD GIL

This article unpacks the challenges with regulation, including how it can stifle innovation, slow progress, and ultimately drive these innovators to build their technology in alternative countries where restrictions may not be as…strict.

FIGHTING AGAINST REGULATORY CAPTURE FOR A BETTER FUTURE

Regulation tends to slow things down and make innovation more expensive. To overcome regulatory barriers, startups need to be both well-resourced and well organized. Regulations are a set of rules and you need to know them in order to play the game. Now is the time for innovation hubs like Silicon Valley to get closer to and work with Washington DC.

A GOLDEN AGE OF BUILDING?

An informative read of lessons from people achieving great things quickly, for example, the Empire State Building, the Pentagon, Skunk Works, and SpaceX.

THE FUTURE IS UNCERTAIN, LIVE IMMEDIATELY

Who knows what’s around the corner. Enjoy the good times, plan for the worst, but just make sure you’re living.

RELATED TO INSTACART, THIS IS COOL

A nice reminder that serendipity works in mysterious ways, and venture capital is a long game.

THE ONLY WAY TO GUARANTEE STARTUP SUCCESS

Instead of focusing solely on the outcome, remember to enjoy the journey as well.

RCE VULNERABILITY

VulnCheck has found that around 12,000 Juniper firewall devices exposed on the internet are vulnerable to a recently disclosed remote code execution (RCE) flaw. The vulnerability could be exploited by an unauthenticated and remote hacker to execute arbitrary code on Juniper firewalls without creating a file on the system. It was patched by Juniper Networks last month, but the company warned that it detected exploitation attempts in the wild.

Malwarebytes reports that a malicious Google Ad impersonating the official Webex download portal has managed to garner the top search result spot for the term Webex. The download page includes a fake Webex installer that downloads the BatLoader malware which then downloads the DanaBot credential stealer. A Google spokesperson commented that actions were taken against the account that listed the ads.

HACKERS BREACHED INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT’S SYSTEMS LAST WEEK

The International Criminal Court (ICC) announced a cyberattack on its systems last week and is currently investigating with the Dutch authorities. The extent of the impact is unknown, and the Court is working to ensure its core work continues. The ICC plans to intensify its cybersecurity defense and expedite the adoption of cloud technology.

A BIG LOOK AT SECURITY IN OPENAPI

This blog post discusses security options in OpenAPI and what companies are doing regarding API security. Large companies like Facebook and Github use OAuth2 for API security. The document recommends using OAuth2 for authentication but acknowledges that it can be complex. API keys are still commonly used for security in smaller APIs. Basic authentication is not recommended due to its insecurity.

CENTRALIZED DASHBOARD FOR AWS CONFIG AND SECURITY HUB

A tutorial from AWS on creating a centralized, multi-account, and multi-region Security dashboard that aggregates AWS Config and Security Hub compliance scores.

CHINESE HACK

A State Department cybersecurity expert implanted a warning mechanism in 2020 to detect future hacks. It went off in June 2022, alerting the US government to a Chinese hack. The State Department's actions likely prevented Beijing from gaining more extensive access to the private communications of key US officials.

GRAPHQL-ARMOR

GraphQL-Armor is a dead-simple yet highly customizable security middleware for various GraphQL server engines.

COBALT STRIKE 4.9: TAKE ME TO YOUR LOADER

Cobalt Strike 4.9 has been released with new features, including an overhaul to its post-exploitation capabilities, the ability to export Beacon without a reflective loader, support for callbacks in built-in functions, and a new in-Beacon data store. Its post-exploitation capabilities now support prepend-style User Defined Reflective Loaders and updates to Beacon User Data as well as Aggressor Script support for sending and receiving data between Cobalt Strike clients.

CROWDSTRIKE TO ACQUIRE APPLICATION INTELLIGENCE STARTUP BIONIC

CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity vendor, has announced plans to acquire Bionic, a Silicon Valley startup that sells tools in the Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) category. The cash-and-stock transaction is valued at around $350 million, allowing CrowdStrike to enhance its enterprise cloud security portfolio.

PENALTIES

This article talks about the various risks and penalties of not complying with various cybersecurity best practices or compliance frameworks. Non-compliance in cybersecurity can lead to several risks, including vulnerability to cyberattacks, data breaches, and damage to a company's reputation. While non-compliance with legal frameworks like HIPAA and GDPR can result in severe penalties, including substantial fines and legal action, not implementing adequate controls required by these frameworks also often leave systems vulnerable to cyberattacks.

25 LESSONS FROM 17 YEARS IN CYBERSECURITY

Mike Privette presents 25 lessons that he’s learned from his 17 years in the cybersecurity industry. The lessons range from observations about the industry, career development, to cybersecurity culture and conferences. He concludes with some takeaways.

A REVIEW OF NIST’S DRAFT CYBERSECURITY FRAMEWORK 2.0

The NIST has released its draft of the updated Cybersecurity Framework. After a decade, the NIST has updated the Cybersecurity Framework to reflect the changing cybersecurity landscape. The scope of the five existing pillars has been expanded and a sixth pillar, govern, has been added. The post claims that it is unlikely to fundamentally improve the nation's cyber posture.

XBOX VS FTC COURT DOCUMENTS LEAKED

A trove of documents from the Xbox vs FTC court case have been leaked. The documents detail confidential business secrets on acquisitions and product roadmaps. The FTC reports that Microsoft is responsible for the leak.

RECENT CYBER ATTACK IS CAUSING CLOROX PRODUCTS SHORTAGE

The recent cyber attack on Clorox is still affecting the supply of its cleaning products. The company has taken some of its systems offline and implemented additional security measures. It has engaged third-party cybersecurity experts to investigate the incident.

GOOGLE QUIETLY INCREASES AD PRICES TO MEET TARGETS, CLAIMS EXEC

Google admitted to increasing its ad prices by up to 10% without informing advertisers. The revelation came up in the federal antitrust trial and raised concerns about the company potentially manipulating its bidding system for profit. The price tweaking could bolster the argument that Google holds an illegal monopoly.

BLUESKY SEES RECORD SIGNUPS DAY AFTER MUSK SAYS X WILL GO PAID-ONLY

Bluesky, a decentralized alternative to X, experienced its largest influx of new users, with over 42,000 signups on a single day. This surge in registrations followed Elon Musk's announcement that he planned to charge X users a small monthly payment.

WHEN TO USE REAL VS. UNREALISTIC PRODUCT IMAGES

This post explains how to use realistic images to make consumers more conscious of your physical product's main benefits. It argues to use cartoons or graphics if your product’s core characteristics might be a drawback or to draw focus attention elsewhere.

HOW WISE GREW TO $1B IN REVENUE

This post highlights how Wise found its big growth lever to grow from $0 to $1B in revenue in the past 10 years in a very competitive market. It focused on understanding the levers that increased its viral coefficient and honed in on being more interesting and memorable than the typical money transfer company.

12 CASE STUDIES OF USING A CHATBOT FOR GROWTH

Chatbots are commonly used to engage site visitors and qualify leads. This post summarizes 12 case studies from clients, which vary from fintech to e-learning companies, who use chatbot tools. It also covers several use cases for chatbots, including video popups, pricing page lead gen, and user onboarding.

IAB MENA MEASUREMENT GLOSSARY

This glossary, put together by the IAB MENA Measurement Task Force, offers consensus-based definitions covering a wide range of measurement concepts. No information is required to download the report.

TIKTOK LOOKS PAST LAST-CLICK AS PART OF MEASUREMENT SUITE EXPANSION

TikTok has announced several new measurement capabilities to effectively track campaign conversions. The new Attribution Analytics aims to paint a clearer picture of the non-linear path to purchase, including awareness, discovery, and action. TikTok is also shifting to a Self-Attributing Network (SAN)—a separate MMP network integration that can pinpoint conversions and other campaign outcomes more effectively than legacy MMPs.

DON’T RUSH INTO TACTICS AND CHANNELS

Too often, brands will go straight to marketing tactics instead of first understanding competitive gaps. Before executing a single campaign, marketers should make a list of competitors, and then research their go-to-market, branding, and messaging. The key is to identify places where competitor marketing doesn’t address customer needs fully and use that to develop a customer acquisition strategy.