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WHAT ARE THE MOST POPULAR BLOCKCHAIN ECOSYSTEMS?

RSIC VS RUNESTONES - A COMPARISON OF TWO BITCOIN ORDINALS PROJECTS

This thread explains the differences between RSIC and Runestones, two Bitcoin-based Ordinals projects that airdropped to early adopters.

AI + DESIGN: FIGMA USERS TELL US WHAT’S COMING NEXT

A survey by Figma involving over 1,800 designers, developers, and executives revealed a disparity between the high expectations for generative AI's impact on products and services and the current experimental stage of AI integration, with less than a third of builders proud of their AI features. Companies recognize the need for well-designed user experiences to unlock AI's potential amid concerns about feature fatigue and challenges in enhancing actual product usefulness with AI.

MICROSOFT'S NEW CONSUMER AI UNIT TO ENHANCE USER EXPERIENCE IN COPILOT, BING, AND EDGE

Microsoft will create a consumer AI division to consolidate its artificial intelligence efforts and enhance user experiences across its products, including its Copilot chatbot, Bing search, and Edge browser. Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of Inflection AI and DeepMind AI, will be the CEO of the new unit.

FORMER NIKE CREATIVE TEAM LAUNCHES NEW AD AGENCY

Three former Wieden+Kennedy executives, known for creating iconic Nike ads, have launched Someplace, a new ad agency in Los Angeles. The agency offers a hands-on approach to creative and media strategy for major brands and startups. The executives express a desire to stay close to the creative work and plan to differentiate with their combined expertise, seizing the opportunities presented by media fragmentation.

DIGITAL ARTISTS: HOW TO KEEP YOUR EYES HEALTHY

Digital artists and others who frequently use screens can maintain eye health by incorporating regular breaks, eye exercises, and proper screen and room lighting settings into their routines. Symptoms of digital eye strain include headaches, blurred vision, and eye discomfort. Although there's no evidence that it causes permanent damage, it is recommended to seek professional advice if symptoms are persistent.

MIXED REALITY: THE FUTURE OF AUTOMOTIVE UX PROTOTYPING

Designers can test in-car interfaces quickly and cheaply with affordable mixed-reality headsets, like Meta's Quest 3, paired with gaming wheels. This post outlines the setup and process involved and the system's pros and cons. While the interaction feels real, calibration is time-consuming and passthrough objects could be better.

WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH FREE FONTS AND WHEN CAN YOU USE THEM? WE ASKED ITF, MONOTYPE, AND COTYPE

There are five classifications of free fonts: Open-source fonts, open-source fonts with commercial use limitations, system fonts, fonts from subscription-based services, and fonts from free trials. Designers may offer their typefaces for free to showcase their work, ensure wide recognition, or aid fellow designers with budget constraints. However, balancing financial gain with a larger sense of responsibility to the design community is essential.

23 PROTOTYPING RESOURCES TO BOOKMARK RIGHT NOW

23 Figma prototyping resources to improve prototyping skills for beginners or those looking to delve into more complex features like variables and conditional logic.

COLORS IN BETWEEN

Find the perfect gradient or a seamless transition between two colors, with intermediate colors that blend well together.

3D DESIGN ASSETS (FIGMA PLUGIN)

Instantly transform your Figma vector designs into stunning 3D renders.

PLAY STUDIO GIVES A DISTINCT AND MEMORABLE VIBE TO OPENAI CONFERENCE

Held in San Francisco, OpenAI's DevDay was a one-day conference hosted for hundreds of developers. The OpenAI team worked closely with Play Studio to develop branding for the event, which included a logo, a visual identity system, art direction, signage, environmental design, motion design, advertising, photography, and UX/UI design.

NEW STAR WARS POSTER IS A DRAMATIC DESIGN DEPARTURE

The Acolyte, the newest Star Wars franchise show, is being teased with a new poster that features a lightsaber hilt with a bloody streak instead of a blade. This radical visual departure hints at a potentially more mature series.

AVIF IS THE FUTURE OF WEB IMAGES

AVIF promises to redefine the online visual experience with superior compression without sacrificing quality.

CHECK-ALL/EXPAND-ALL CONTROLS

Controls in HTML that can operate other controls in bulk are not new.

I’M SO OLD: WEB EDITION

Webpage layouts used to be done with tables and rounded corners were achieved via images - many things that used to be true sound absurd now.

REDDIT'S SHARES SURGED 48% ON IPO THIS THURSDAY

Reddit's shares surged 48% on their debut. A significant IPO event, the company and its shareholders raised about $750 million. The stock's performance reflects strong investor interest despite recent market hesitations toward tech IPOs. Reddit's financials show a 20% increase in annual sales to $804 million for 2023 with a narrowed net loss compared to the previous year.

AI INFRASTRUCTURE EXPLAINED

AI infrastructure, underpinned by GPUs, specialized software, and cloud services, is essential for the deployment and scaling of AI technologies. It is important to invest in this infrastructure to support the growing demands of powerful AI models. This analysis aims to guide founders and innovators by dissecting the AI infrastructure stack, from the fundamentals of GPUs to market segmentation and product delivery.

ICYMI: MICHAEL SEIBEL STEPS DOWN AS YC’S MANAGING DIRECTOR/CEO

After 8 years as Managing Director/CEO of Y Combinator's accelerator program, Michael Seibel is stepping back into a full-time Group Partner role. In this post, he reflects on transforming YC into a remote experience during COVID-19, funding over 3,000 startups including 30+ unicorns, and increasing applications 10x during his leadership tenure. Looking ahead, Seibel is excited to spend the next decade investing in and mentoring early-stage founders, especially in the new wave of AI startups.

READ THIS BEFORE YOU PIVOT

This article highlights the significance of the startup pivot using examples of successful pivots from both historic and modern times to explain the importance of making decisive pivots. It covers the importance of validating problem/solution fit through rapid building, identifying the right audience for feedback, focusing on pursuits you're passionate about, and redefining your target customer.

HIGH-QUALITY PRINCIPLES TO SUPPORT YOUR PRODUCT-LED-GROWTH

Kate Syuma (Ex-Miro Head of Growth Design) explores how successful PLG companies such as Notion, Canva, and Figma manage to establish and maintain a high level of product quality during the onboarding process. This article offers a practical guide to creating straightforward and intuitive onboarding experiences that effectively showcase the product's core value right from the start.

MAYBE YOU DON’T NEED PLG AFTER ALL

This article discusses the author's experience with removing the free tier from their product, CommandBar, and transitioning to a sales-led approach, which resulted in more meaningful engagement with prospects, better qualification of product-solution fit, and increased deal sizes and conversion rates. Despite some negative feedback, the author found that for their product, which requires team use and organizational trust, a sales-led model was more effective than a product-led growth (PLG) strategy.

CONSUMER TREND REPORT 2024 (PRESENTATION)

In-depth breakdown of the latest developments in consumer trends.

DUB

Link management for modern marketing teams.

ARC

AI-powered remote jobs marketplace for hiring software developers.

PURSUITS THAT CAN’T SCALE

This essay explores why successful entrepreneurs such as Mark Zuckerberg and Audrey Gelman of The Wing turn to non-scalable pursuits like martial arts and small businesses. The author theorizes that these activities help ground the founders and restore their sense of self after experiencing the dehumanizing effects of hyper-growth in their startups.

HOW THE FED AND INTEREST RATES IMPACT STARTUPS

It might seem odd to think about the macro whilst your startup is micro, but you should. Interest rate changes directly impact startups, influencing borrowing costs, venture capital funding, hiring costs, and exit strategies. Cash becomes king in high-interest rate environments. You should be thinking about your cash management strategy.

THE REDDIT STORY

The founders of Reddit, Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, served as the inspiration for the creation of Y Combinator. Their initial proposal for a mobile fast food ordering service was rejected. However, they were encouraged to submit a new application with a simpler idea, which ultimately led to the creation of Reddit.

9 LESSONS ON NAILING SALES DEMOS FROM GONG'S METEORIC RISE

A former executive at Gong shares nine lessons on delivering compelling SaaS sales demos, which the company learned during its journey from $200K ARR to a $7.2B valuation.

IF THINGS AREN’T GOING WELL, SHOULD YOU GIVE VCS THEIR MONEY BACK?

Returning VC funds is a personal decision, dependent on individual circumstances.

AI SAAS COMPANIES WILL BE MORE PROFITABLE

AI software companies might initially have higher expenses, but their profitability potentially surpasses traditional SaaS companies due to AI's deflationary effects across marketing, sales, operations, and software development.

UNPATCHABLE VULNERABILITY IN APPLE CHIP LEAKS SECRET ENCRYPTION KEYS

Researchers have discovered a side-channel vulnerability in the Apple M-series chips. This vulnerability allows attackers to extract secret encryption keys during common cryptographic operations. The flaw is inherent to the chip design and cannot be patched with software updates.

FUJITSU HACKED - ATTACKERS INFECTED COMPANY COMPUTERS WITH MALWARE

Fujitsu has reported that its internal systems were breached. An internal investigation revealed that customers’ personal information may have been accessed and exfiltrated. At this time, Fujitsu has not reported any illicit use of the stolen data.

FRAUD RISK FOR VANS CUSTOMERS AFTER DATA BREACH

VF Group - which owns brands such as Vans, The North Face, and Timberland - reported that it suffered a data breach in December 2023. Stolen information included email addresses, full names, phone numbers, and billing and shipping addresses. The company maintains that no financial information could have been stolen as it doesn't collect or retain any.

AMAZON S3 BLOCK PUBLIC ACCESS BYPASS

A group of researchers discovered a method to bypass AWS’ Block Public Access protections in a way that will not be detected by AWS. The method requires using a Customer Managed KMS key and a permissive bucket policy.

PERSISTENCE - VISUAL STUDIO CODE EXTENSION

This post discusses utilizing Visual Studio Code extensions as a persistence mechanism. It begins with an overview of the process of creating extensions for VS Code and then walks through the process of developing a malicious extension that utilizes activation events to install a malicious implant.

CODE INJECTION ON ANDROID WITHOUT PTRACE

This post describes a project, inspired by linux_injector, for injecting code into a process on Android without the use of ptrace. The injector locates a function in /proc/mem to overwrite and then utilizes a multistage shell code injector to map memory and inject to it. The post goes through the process of developing the shell code and the injector in Rust.

BINCAPZ

bincapz is a tool to enumerate a list of predicted capabilities of a binary. It can be run in diff mode to catch any supply chain vulnerability.

AUTOSMUGGLE

AutoSmuggle is a tool that creates HTML or SVG files that can be smuggled past content filters.

REVERSERAI

ReverserAI provides automated reverse engineering assistance through the usage of LLMs. The LLMs are locally hosted and can be run on consumer-grade hardware.

APFS: FILES AND CLONES

This article provides an overview of the APFS file system. It begins by describing the data structures that make up a file in APFS, then describes the clone operation that allows for efficient file duplication and how hard links work. The post concludes by describing how to use the author’s tool to inspect APFS file attributes.

LAWMAKERS PASS MILESTONE PRIVACY BILL

The House has passed a landmark data privacy bill. The bill prevents any company that is defined as a data broker from selling data to foreign adversaries. It now moves to the Senate along with the TikTok ban. The bill faces much wider bipartisan support.

GITHUB’S LATEST AI TOOL CAN AUTOMATICALLY FIX CODE VULNERABILITIES

GitHub has launched a beta for its code-scanning autofix feature. This feature combines CodeQL and Copilot to suggest fixes for detected vulnerabilities. GitHub promises that the feature can remediate two-thirds of vulnerabilities it finds with 90% coverage of its supported languages.

US WEIGHS SANCTIONING HUAWEI’S CHINESE CHIP NETWORK

The U.S. is reportedly considering blacklisting the Chinese chipmakers that are responsible for making Huawei’s chips.

GLASSDOOR WANTS TO KNOW YOUR REAL NAME

Glassdoor has announced a new policy that requires posters to verify their real names.

HACKERS EARN $1,132,500 FOR 29 ZERO-DAYS AT PWN2OWN VANCOUVER

Hackers at Pwn2Own Vancouver 2024 earned $1,132,500 by demonstrating 29 zero-day vulnerabilities across various categories like web browsers, enterprise applications, and more.

THE FOMO EFFECT: WHY SPOTIFY‘S PERSONALIZATION FEATURES ARE IN THE MARKETING SPOTLIGHT

By tapping into the FOMO effect, Spotify's Daylist feature has emerged as a key element in the company's marketing strategy. It capitalized on users' desire to be part of the cultural zeitgeist while highlighting the platform's commitment to personalization. The move not only enhanced user loyalty, but also served as a catalyst for broader user engagement and adoption of Spotify's personalized features.

RETURN POLICIES SWAY CUSTOMER BEHAVIOR

A recent survey showed that return policies significantly influence consumer behavior, with 82% of respondents saying that they consider them when making purchases. Data also shows that in-store return rates are notably lower than those for online purchases. Retailers should adjust strategies to address evolving preferences to mitigate the impact of returns on their businesses.

HOW TO WRITE COPY AS STICKY AS LEMON JUICE

Marketers need to repeat the same message to buyers several times before it sticks. Rather than showing the same exact ad over and over, it’s more effective to communicate the message from various angles, with different wording and in new formats. This article breaks down an old Schweppes ad that masterfully sells a drink with effective copy.