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INTER 4.0

One of the most widely used product design fonts has been updated after two years of work. Inter 4.0 includes six additional "Display" designs, thousands of redesigned glyphs, and humanist-style italics.

CYBERTRUCK 2.0 CONCEPT SHOWCASES AN ELEGANTLY CURVED DESIGN, COLOR OPTIONS, AND A 'FRUNK'

In his Cybertruck 2.0 concept, automotive designer Dejan Hristov seeks to correct what was arguably wrong with the first truck. As opposed to focusing on creating a bulletproof truck, the Cybertruck 2.0 uses a gentler, less aggressive design with soft curves instead of sharp angles.

HOW LONG UNTIL YOUR WEBSITE IS ACCESSIBLE?

Most web developers lack the accessibility experience and in-depth knowledge needed to effectively fix issues in an audit. As a result, you end up asking your accessibility auditor for additional guidance or retesting, a process that can take many months. There's a better way to do things.

MAP UI – THE MOST POPULAR LAYOUTS AND DESIGN TIPS

A well-designed Map UI allows users to navigate, explore, and engage seamlessly with their environment by balancing aesthetics with functionality. This post discusses the user interface elements involved in designing maps, cross-platform requirements, use cases for consideration, and critical interaction patterns.

OPENAI’S MISALIGNMENT AND MICROSOFT’S GAIN

The OpenAI crisis is moving fast. This analysis breaks down events so far and offers a forward look at the options ahead for OpenAI, Microsoft, and Sam Altman. What seems clear is that Altman and Microsoft are in the driver’s seat of AI.

THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE OPENAI FIASCO ON STARTUPS

HAS THE GLOBAL UNICORN CLUB REACHED ITS PEAK?

Over 100+ unicorns were minted per quarter from Q1’21 to Q1’22. However, from Q2’22, things changed enormously. Unicorn births reached a low point in Q3’23 at 12, with the fewest in over 6 years.

5 WAYS TO LEVERAGE AI IN TECH

Freshworks CIO Prasad Ramakrishnan walks through some viable use cases of AI in your startup. From enhancing user experience to onboarding and data platform optimization, this article shares five ways organizations can leverage AI to solve problems and grow.

ADVICE FOR SENDING COLD EMAILS AND DMS

Whether it’s to investors, potential partners, or customers, even as founders, you still need to reach out to people cold. This post is a nice reminder of the tactics to keep at hand when you do it.

SO, YOU MADE A MISTAKE …

In light of the dumpster fire that is the tech landscape this week, we thought it made sense to dig into this gem around dealing with the mistakes you have made. Own up to them, be transparent, and tell the story about how you won’t let it happen again.

FLOWLA (PRODUCT)

A digital sales room that wows buyers.

ASKPOT (PRODUCT)

Make competitive analysis 5x faster.

KWHERO (PRODUCT)

Scientifically crafted SEO content to skyrocket Google ranks.

2023 OPERATING BENCHMARKS

OpenView recently dropped its SaaS Benchmarking Report. This article walks through the key highlights, which include an analysis of growth rates, median headcount changes, and CAC payback periods at private companies.

WHAT MAKES A SUCCESSFUL CEO?

Transitioning from Founder to CEO requires active thinking. It involves shifting from managing a product or small team to really managing a company. This article unpacks the elements of a successful CEO and the things you need to think about before, during, and after the step into a CEO role.

A GOOD FRAMEWORK TO USE WHEN HIRING YOUR FIRST SALES REP

It’s quite simple, during your interview, assess whether you’d buy your product from them. Don’t hire someone just because they have a certain number of years of experience or worked at a certain company.

WHAT’S THE BEST CITY FOR TECHIES IN 2024?

An exploration into the best city for techies, with Seattle coming out on top.

HOW DO YOU HIRE UPWARDS?

This post is really timely given the gaping holes that likely need to be filled by the OpenAI team, with takes from some really sharp people on how to find the best-of-the-best even when it seems impossible.

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THIRD-PARTY DATA BREACH AFFECTING CANADIAN GOVERNMENT COULD INVOLVE DATA FROM 1999

Canada’s government has confirmed a breach on two of its third-party service providers after 1.5TB of data was leaked by ransomware group LockBit. Some of the data dates back to 1999. The leak impacts anyone who was relocated while using public services. Potentially impacted individuals are being offered credit monitoring services and the option to be reissued valid passports that might have been compromised.

HACKERS ACCESSED SENSITIVE HEALTH DATA OF WELLTOK PATIENTS

Healthcare engagement platform Welltok confirmed hackers stole 1.6M+ people's data by exploiting MOVEit. It reported that names, dates of birth, addresses, social security numbers, and other sensitive data were leaked

MYSQL SERVERS TARGETED BY DDOSTF BOTNET

The Ddostf botnet is targeting MySQL servers for use in its DDOS-as-a-Service platform. The botnet is gaining access by brute-forcing weak admin credentials and then installing User Defined Functions to act as a C2 server for use in the botnet.

WPA-WPA2 WI-FI HACKING: A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE

This is a simple step-by-step learning guide on how to hack WPA-protected Wi-Fi.

BOLSTERING SECURITY & AUTOMATING MANAGEMENT OF TARGET AUSTRALIA’S EKS CLUSTERS

This post from Target Australia details the decisions and migrations that it made to improve scalability and security in its EKS clusters. Target Australia moved from manually security-hardening Amazon Linux AMIs to using BottleRocket OS-based AMIs and adopted Karpenter (running on Fargate) to replace Cluster Autoscaler to replace AutoScaling Group-based compute with EC2-based compute for its clusters.

DETECT TRANSITIVE ACCESS TO SENSITIVE GOOGLE CLOUD RESOURCES

This article discusses transitive access via service accounts in GCP that could allow users to access services as Service Accounts, gaining access to all the IAM resources tied to those accounts. It details the IAM permissions that allow for this, detection methods like using Google Policy Analyzer, and how to identify these service accounts using Google APIs.

LASSO SECURITY (PRODUCT LAUNCH)

Lasso aims to take over LLM security by detecting and monitoring LLM data flow in real time and alerting for possible breaches of policy, enabling organizations to safely deploy LLMs in production environments.

LME

Logging Made Easy (LME) is a free and open logging and protective monitoring solution serving all organizations.

HACKTHEBOX LAUNCHES SHERLOCK

HackTheBox has announced the launch of a new set of labs called Sherlock that focuses on DFIR skills. 15 Sherlock labs will be available for free to all users before the labs are split into 8 free labs and the rest being premium.

PLAYCRYPT RANSOMWARE-AS-A-SERVICE EXPANDS THREAT FROM SCRIPT KIDDIES AND SOPHISTICATED ATTACKERS

The ransomware strain known as Play is being offered to other threat actors as a service. Adlumin has identified and stopped PlayCrypt attacks that had nearly identical tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs), hinting at people buying these attacks as a service, allowing anyone with a wallet to do a ransomware attack.

GOOGLE’S NEW TITAN SECURITY KEYS ARE READY FOR A WORLD WITHOUT PASSWORDS

Google has released new Titan security keys that support passkeys for passwordless authentication. The new keys are available in USB A or C, support FIDO2, are NFC compatible, and can store up to 250 passkeys.

YOUTUBE WILL SHOW LABELS ON VIDEOS THAT USE AI

YouTube has announced that it will be requiring creators to add labels to realistic content that features AI in the coming months. Creators who consistently fail to add these labels may be suspended from the YouTube Partner Program. Music labels and distributors will be able to request the removal of AI-generated content that mimics artists' voices.

CELEBRATING TEN YEARS OF THE MICROSOFT BUG BOUNTY PROGRAM AND MORE THAN $60M AWARDED

Microsoft has paid out $63 million in rewards to security researchers participating in its bug bounty programs throughout the last 10 years. Of the $63 million awarded since 2013, $60 million of that was allocated in the last five years.

MORGAN STANLEY FINED $6.5 MILLION FOR EXPOSING CUSTOMER INFORMATION

Morgan Stanley has agreed to a $6.5 million settlement over the insecure disposal of hardware containing unencrypted personal information.

OPEN SOURCE THREAT INTEL FEEDS

A repository containing open source and freely usable Threat Intel feeds that can be used without any additional requirements.

85% OF CONSUMERS NOT INTERESTED IN USING AI TO MAKE ONLINE PURCHASES

There is a stark disconnect between what brands believe consumers want and what they really need from their online shopping experience. 85% of consumers aren’t interested in using AI to help them decide on purchases. Additionally, if offered an AI recommendation, 60% said it wouldn’t make them more likely to buy something. 17% said it would, in fact, make them less likely to make a purchase.

GOOGLE CHROME WILL LIMIT AD BLOCKERS STARTING JUNE 2024

Google is bringing back its plan to limit ad blockers in Chrome starting June 2024. The company will be turning off Manifest V2, the current format for Chrome extensions, and will no longer allow users to install Manifest V2 extensions from the Chrome Web Store. This will effectively cripple popular ad blockers like uBlock Origin.

DECREASE COST PER DEMO WITH VISUAL METAPHORS AND MEMES

Reply.io wanted to try a more eye-catching strategy on LinkedIn and Facebook. It tested using visual metaphors and memes to convey its key messages. This resulted in a 66-69% decrease in cost per demo with similar lead quality, as well as a 375% increase in LinkedIn ad CTR.

THE RIGHT WAY TO RUN B2B ADVERTISING

The traditional playbook of spending $100K/month on LinkedIn ads to promote a gated e-book doesn’t work anymore. Companies in 2024 need to relook at their outdated attribution models and build a thought leadership strategy internally before outsourcing production or creative work.

CREATING A BOFU-FIRST CONTENT STRATEGY

Structuring blogs with a BOFU-first strategy drives pipeline quicker, makes content attribution easier, and significantly shortens sales cycles. This post includes a framework on how to structure your content strategy that’s profit-first and organize your site hierarchy to show Google topical relevance.

3 AI-POWERED SERP ANALYZERS

RivalFlow from Spyfu helps uncover organic search opportunities and suggests content improvements for an inputted domain. Thruuu is an AI-powered SERP analyzer and content strategy creator. SERP Sonar is a free Chrome extension that analyzes real-time Google search results and lists data of each ranking page.

10 CHATGPT PROMPTS FOR MARKETING THAT YOU SHOULD BE USING

These prompts include writing conversion-focused subject lines for an email, creating mockups, and generating blog post ideas.

THE THREE NEXT-GENERATION MARKETING SKILLS YOU NEED

Marketers face a dichotomy of opportunities and challenges in a shifting marketing environment driven by IoT growth. The surge in IoT devices and the emergence of Customer Success Management is reshaping customer expectations and demands for measurable ROI. Future marketing success relies on three crucial skills: proficiency in digitization, proactive contingency planning, and adept real-time communication to navigate uncertainties.

IS CONSUMER-LED GROWTH A THING OF THE PAST?

Despite the prevalent focus on global macro concerns impacting consumer behavior, research reveals that individual micro concerns, like personal finances and job security, play a more significant role in guiding spending and saving habits. Consumer resilience, driven largely by these personal factors, varies greatly across demographics, countries, and product categories, with 83% of it tied to micro considerations. Growth opportunities persist among young adults, affluent households, and in emerging markets.

STABILITY AI GETS INTO THE VIDEO-GENERATING GAME

USE NON-ROUNDED DISCOUNT PERCENTAGES TO INCREASE PURCHASE INTENTION BY UP TO 18%

Display your discounts precisely (ie. 12.5%) instead of as rounded numbers (ie. 13%). People will perceive your discounts to be shorter in duration and be more likely to buy right away.

YOUTUBE STEPS UP ITS FIGHT AGAINST AD BLOCKERS WITH NEW LOAD DELAYS

YouTube is slowing its website load times for users who are detected using an ad blocker when visiting the platform.

BRIEFING CALL CHECKLIST

A comprehensive marketing checklist for tackling a new campaign or project.

THE ROOTS OF TODAY'S MODERN BACKEND ENGINEERING PRACTICES

Backend practices in software engineering have seen significant changes over the years. In the early days of the internet, backend development involved rudimentary tools like shell scripting, Perl, and hand-rolled C-code, with version control systems like CVS. Amazon, then a startup, ran its entire operation on a single DEC AlphaServer, using basic methods like symlink flipping for code updates. Eventually, as tech companies started growing faster and getting larger, it was necessary to start implementing distributed systems to handle increasing demand.

HOW A 3RD PARTY API CAN RUIN YOUR WEEKEND

This is a story of how a critical microservice that depends on a 3rd-party API failed and caused a disruption for over two weeks. The API suddenly failed one day, and because the handling of API events was not done in real time, the failed events piled up, reaching the API limit and causing many events to be dropped. The post dives into the lessons learned from the incident, such as automating re-runs of failed jobs, involving other teams more, and establishing an on-call rotation earlier.