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DESIGN WEBSITES WITH AI (FIGMA PLUGIN)

Musho converts prompts into near-complete, developer-ready websites with simple layouts, excellent copy, and stunning imagery.

HOW THE GUARDIAN DESIGNED ITS THOUGHTFUL NEW LONG-FORM MAG

A new magazine from The Guardian dedicated to long-form journalism hits newsstands on November 11. When designing the magazine, a lot of attention was given to packaging its large volume of text – clocking in at 55,000 words – to make the reading experience as relaxing as possible, from body type size to column widths.

DESIGN VALIDATION GUIDE: PLAN, PROCESS, EXAMPLES

With design validation, you can ensure your design is user-friendly and considers the business goals. In this practical guide, you will learn how to formulate a design validation plan, tools, and common mistakes to avoid.

HOW TO USE CHATGPT IN YOUR DESIGN WORK

AI-assisted design is poised to change design forever, but most people are stuck on the beginner level. To become proficient, they should try to use it for rapid prototyping of conversational interfaces, user persona generation, generating and iterating on design ideas, copywriting and content creation, usability testing scripts, accessibility and inclusive design, personalized user experience, and microscopy.

CREATING INCLUSIVE AI: A STRENGTHS-BASED APPROACH TO ACCESSIBLE DESIGN

AI-powered systems often overlook people with varying cognitive abilities and disabilities. Researchers are looking for ways to create more accessible intelligent systems that empower users across the spectrum of human ability.

FONTS FOR RENDERING LINES AND BARS FROM DATA

Google Fonts now provides two open-source fonts by Dmitry Ivanov (Linefont and Wavefont) that let you make simplified, small to medium line and bar charts based on data. These might be useful when you want to embed small charts in body text.

THINGS AREN’T GETTING BETTER IN SAAS, YET

HubSpot, Datadog, Wix, and Shopify all recently posted healthy growth rates. However, the reports from the CEOs at HubSpot and Zoominfo were clear - things aren’t getting easier, but perhaps the worst has bottomed out.

BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR ASKS

Imprecise asks from leaders cause a disproportionate amount of turmoil and wheel-spinning. As founders, you can fall into the trap of asking for something perceivably small in a meeting that actually compounds into a large task involving lots of your team. Weigh those asks carefully before you make them.

PURCHASING PATTERNS IN SOFTWARE

You’ve perhaps felt this firsthand from either side of the table. We’re seeing slower and fewer new purchases of software. The average sales cycle has lengthened from 32 to 44 days for net new software, a 37% increase.

THE 10X EXERCISE FOR FOUNDERS

As a thought exercise, think about what would happen if your business grew 10x. This thinking acts as a forcing function to think about the future, now.

TEAM CHARTERS ARE A TRAP

Building team charters probably shouldn’t be too high on the priority list. The reasons involve the conflicts between bottoms-up v. top-down creation and buy-in.

YOUR SMALL IMPRECISE ASK IS A BIG WASTE OF THEIR TIME

A good read about how to think through “managing up” as you navigate decisions in a complex organization. While this may not be founder-specific, it is helpful insight for anyone working in a large company.

VOCAI CHATBOT (PRODUCT)

Resolve 80% of your customer support questions with no code.

SPEEDVITALS (PRODUCT)

Performance insights to help improve your website’s speed.

HIRING TOOL (PRODUCT)

An AI applicant tracking and hiring tool.

BRIAN CHESKY’S CONTRARIAN APPROACH TO PRODUCT, GROWTH, AND LEADERSHIP (73 MINUTE PODCAST)

Brian Chesky is the co-founder and CEO of Airbnb. This podcast dives into how Airbnb thinks about product development, unconventional growth channels, and how you can encourage your team to set ambitious goals.

THOUGHTS ON BENCHMARKING

How do you know what the average compensation or R&D expenses should be for a company of your size, location, and function? Benchmarks. A word of caution - benchmarking data doesn’t answer questions, but it helps ask the right questions. You still need to do your own work to answer them.

AI DOOMERS ARE FINALLY GETTING SOME LONG OVERDUE BLOWBACK

Those who said that AI would doom us all are now having to revisit their positions. “AI doom” really only helps the big guys and opportunities abound for the open source movements happening in AI.

A SAAS GROWTH SHEET

Community-led growth via Notion or personal branding plays via Keyplay - this sheet shows 18 ideas and examples from the best in SaaS to inspire your next move.

WHAT ARE THE BEST ARGUMENTS AGAINST RAISING VENTURE CAPITAL?

Playing the venture game certainly straps you into a set of expectations. Here’s an outline of the key things to consider before you raise funding.

MO’ FOUNDERS, MO’ PROBLEMS

A guide to navigating the politics that typically comes with cofounder relationships.

See the Hyperproof advantage in action

ZERO-DAY ALERT: LACE TEMPEST EXPLOITS SYSAID IT SUPPORT SOFTWARE VULNERABILITY

Lace Tempest, a threat actor known for distributing the Cl0p ransomware, has been exploiting a zero-day flaw in SysAid IT support software. Tracked as CVE-2023-47246, this is a path traversal vulnerability that allows for code execution in on-premise installations. SysAid has released a patch for the flaw in version 23.3.36 of the software.

MARINA BAY SANDS DISCLOSES DATA BREACH IMPACTING 665K CUSTOMERS

Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands luxury resort revealed that 665,000 of its customers were impacted by a recent data breach on Tuesday. Personal information such as name, email address, and phone numbers were affected but no credit card data was compromised.

1.3 MILLION MAINE RESIDENTS IMPACTED BY MOVEIT HACK

The State of Maine is the latest entity to disclose a significant impact from the cyberattack targeting a zero-day in Progress Software’s MOVEit file transfer tool earlier this year. The Maine Department of Health and Human Services and the Maine Department of Education were the most affected organizations.

DEMYSTIFYING COBALT STRIKE’S “MAKE_TOKEN” COMMAND

This article explains the inner workings of Cobalt Strike's "make_token" command, which allows users to impersonate other users through their credentials with the goal of enumerating or moving laterally to remote systems.

BYPASSING ANDROID 13 RESTRICTIONS WITH SECURIDROPPER

This post examines SecuriDropper, the first widely distributed Android dropper bypassing Android 13's Restricted Settings defense. Droppers separate attack execution from payload install, which is offered for Malware as a Service (MaaS). SecuriDropper shows that actors are quickly adapting to platform protections, highlighting the ongoing cat-and-mouse game around Android malware distribution.

UNDER THE LENS: THE LNK FILE INVESTIGATION

Shortcut files (.lnk files) might look innocent, but they can cause devastating damage. This post dives into how shortcut files can be exploited for ransomware and more, compromising your computer and the data within it.

SECRETIVE

Secretive is a macOS app for storing and managing SSH keys in the Secure Enclave. It allows for requiring TouchId or Apple Watch authentication as a 2FA for accessing SSH keys and can send notifications whenever a key is accessed.

CAVELO (PRODUCT LAUNCH)

Cavelo provides organizations with the necessary means to scan their environments for data that might be at risk in the event of a breach, including personally identifiable information (PII) and financial information.

AWS-ML-OPT-OUT

aws-ml-opt-out is a terraform module to opt out of any AWS AI/ML data collection. Unless explicitly opted out, any data fed through AWS’ AI/ML offerings can be used by AWS. This terraform module adds a Service Control Policy (SCP) to opt out of all data collection at the organization level.

IMPATIENT LOCKBIT SAYS IT'S LEAKED 50GB OF STOLEN BOEING FILES AFTER RANSOM FAILS TO LAND

Ransomware group LockBit leaked ~50GB of data allegedly stolen from Boeing after Boeing refused to pay. The full release of this data includes system backups and compressed archives. Citrix logs suggest a potential CitrixBleed breach vector. Boeing won't verify data or comment on incident specifics, underscoring disclosure challenges after attacks.

THIS TOOL AIMS TO KEEP TERRORISM CONTENT OFF THE INTERNET

Altitude is a free tool created by Jigsaw and Tech Against Terrorism to give smaller platforms the ability to detect and remove terrorism content on their network. Many groups have moved to smaller platforms as larger platforms have dedicated tools to remove content from groups like ISIS. Altitude seeks to aid these platforms in identifying and contextualizing terrorism content.

SPAMMERS ABUSE GOOGLE FORMS QUIZZES TO DELIVER SCAMS

Spammers are using Google Forms quizzes to deliver email scams. They are creating a new quiz in Google Forms, using the victim’s email address to respond to the quiz, and then abusing the “Release Scores” feature to deliver their spam.

OVERVIEW AND COMPARISON OF A FEW POPULAR CYBERSECURITY FRAMEWORKS: NIST, SOC 2, AND ISO 27001

This post compares the three major standards — NIST, SOC 2, and ISO 27001 — and breaks them down in an easy-to-consume manner.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE WIZ 2023 KUBERNETES SECURITY REPORT

Wiz observed that Kubernetes clusters are being discovered and targeted quickly and noted that container security and other native security features of Kubernetes are frequently underutilized, leading to lateral movement and privilege escalation being increasingly easy after initial access.

CYBER ATTACK FORCES WORLD’S BIGGEST BANK TO TRADE VIA USB STICK

The Industrial & Commercial Bank of China’s US branch was hit by a ransomware attack that forced systems to be disconnected from the network. Trades had to be carried out by sending USB sticks via messengers through Manhattan.

LINKEDIN SAYS PAST CAROUSEL POSTS WILL BE DELETED NEXT MONTH

LinkedIn will be removing carousel posts, profile videos, and in-image linking on December 14. This will also result in the removal of previously posted carousels and the deactivation of in-image links. Users can still share external links in the description of any post.

TRENDPOP: 2023 HOLIDAY TREND REPORT

Trendpop leveraged TikTok data and analyzed how creators are interacting with this holiday’s biggest trends to create its 2023 Holiday Trend Report. The report covers the biggest trends and creators to watch for in the categories of food and drink, beauty, fashion, aesthetics, and sports/fitness.

YOUTUBE PAGES ARE GETTING A TIKTOK-LIKE FOR YOU FEED

YouTube is debuting a new For You section for creators’ channels on November 20 that will be personalized to whoever opens the page. The section will recommend a mix of content from creators’ channels to viewers based on their watch history. Creators can turn the feature on or off in the customization menu under channel settings. YouTube advises creators to review settings and select formats before the rollout.

3 SIMPLE WAYS TO SEGMENT ECOMMERCE EMAIL LISTS

First, segment your “customers” based on the number of purchases they have made. The goal is to convert one-time customers into repeat customers or superfans. Next, create an “engagers” segment with people engaging with your site but haven’t made a purchase. The goal is to convert them into customers. Finally, interact with people who are neither customers nor engagers. The goal is to convert them into engagers.

COMPETITIVE VS. CONTEXTUAL POSITIONING

This post shows examples of how brands like SparkToro, Crayon, and Paddle use competitive vs. contextual positioning in their product messaging. A general rule of thumb is to choose whichever option makes the value of your product clearer in a shorter amount of time.

MESSAGING TEMPLATE FROM PRODUCT MARKETING ALLIANCE (GOOGLE DOC)

This template can be used as a foundation when crafting product messaging. It acts as a guide to formulate cohesive and effective product/feature details, value propositions, and elevator pitches.

HOW TO FIND BUGS, BAD URLS, AND BROKEN LINKS ON YOUR WEBSITE USING GA4

A 7-step GA4-powered website audit. This article shows step-by-step on how to use GA4 to locate 404s, broken internal links, and browser compatibility issues. It also addresses where to look for insights if engagement and conversion metrics are lower on desktop vs. mobile and how to set up custom insights to monitor traffic anomalies.

DECODING THE B2B BUYER JOURNEY

73% of B2B buyers surveyed in this report agreed their purchase decisions were directly swayed by a brand’s content. The report dives into the role of content in the B2B buying process, buyers’ preferences for different types of content, and strategic considerations for your brand’s GTM motions.

HALO EFFECT: WHY GREAT BRANDS ARE BUILT IN DETAILS

The Halo Effect is when a customer’s positive experience with one aspect of a company gives them a favorable opinion of the brand as a whole. For example, Ritz-Carlton gives any employee the authority (and the budget) to solve a customer problem, which in one case caused a guest to take his business conference to its hotels. Brands can achieve this by chasing excellence in every detail of the customer’s experience. On the other hand, having a wide range of products or services risks the Horn Effect, which is the opposite of the Halo Effect.

BRIAN CHESKY'S NEW PLAYBOOK FOR AIRBNB

In this podcast, Brian Chesky discusses various topics related to marketing, product, and growth. He talks about why Airbnb moved away from traditional growth channels, best practices for A/B testing, and how they set up marketing functions at Airbnb.

7 PROVEN AD COPY FORMULAS

Use your target audience and pain points to fill in these 7 winning ad copy templates.

GOOGLE ADS HOLIDAY TIMESAVERS

Use Google Ads Editor to find and replace generic text in favor of sale-specific copy. Use automation rules to enable and pause promotion assets or add a countdown in ads.