fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Introducing ReBirth: Genesis of a Metaverse
By: Star Atlas
Tags: AR, Gaming, Metaverse, Nft, Blockchain

Atlassians will have the chance to own, lease and sell posters as NFTs purchased from each drop. The more posters an Atlassian collects, the more opportunities will open. The incremental drop process repeats each Saturday until July 24th when all open-edition posters will be converted into NFTs available as in-game rewards.

One more thing: Atlassians who purchase a variety or all of the posters will gain the opportunity to unlock a lifetime treasure chest of exclusive metaverse incentives and rewards down the road, but we don’t want to give away too many details just yet. So stay tuned!

“Each poster, no matter the tier, will provide a unique and immersive AR experience, using sound effects and visuals that instantly transform your living room into the farthest reaches of the universe. The mood-altering effects, paired with audio collaborations from some of Star Atlas’s favorite musicians will provide an experience like no other. Each poster will provide a metaverse-centric transformational experience that is out of this world,” said Pablo Quiroga, co-founder and COO of Star Atlas.

The 14 super high definition meta-posters blur the line between the real and the virtual world, simultaneously bringing utility and rewards to both. This is just a taste of what Atlassians will experience once the metaverse launches.

Welcome aboard. 🚀

ABOUT STAR ATLAS

Star Atlas is a virtual gaming metaverse emerging from the confluence of state of the art blockchain, real-time graphics, multiplayer video game, and decentralized financial technologies.

Real-time graphics technology using Unreal Engine 5’s Nanite allows for cinematic-quality visuals. Blockchain technology using the Solana protocol established a largely serverless and secured gameplay experience. NFTs obtained and traded within Star Atlas creates an economy that replicates the tangibility of real world assets and ownership. To learn more, please visit staratlas.com

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Creating an AR-enabled prototype with Figma.
By: Siddarth Kengadaran
Tags: Augmented Reality, AR, Vectary, Prototyping, Figma

Creating an AR-enabled prototype with Figma.

Step 1: Creating the interface

Create your mobile app interface on the Figma. For this example, I used a plant shop template from figmacrush and tweaked it out a little bit.

Add a call to action to trigger the AR workflow, here I added a view in the 3D button so the user will be able to see the plant in the real world.

Step 2: Creating the 3D model on the Vectary

You can import the 3D model or create one yourself in vectary. For this example, I am using a free 3d model.

To import just drag and drop the 3d model.

Once your done importing, click on the viewer tab in the top bar.

In the viewer, window click on the generate button and then copy the generated URL.

Step 3: Bringing the 3D as a 2D image into your prototype.

To do this you need the Vectary 3D plugin installed on your Figma account.

Open the plugin, paste the copied URL and load the model into your Figma prototype. You can use the best view that fits your prototype by rotating the model before you save it as an image.

Step 4: Adding the AR viewer to the prototype.

Open the copied link in a new tab and click on the AR button on the top right.

Right-click on the displayed QR Code and copy the image address to copy the URL with a decoder or use a QR code scanner to get the address.

Now add this to link to the View in 3D button on the Figma prototype.

Step 5: Testing

Now open this prototype on any AR-supported phone and click on the link to see it opening the AR viewer and you will be able to see the 3D object in the real world.

Tada, your first AR-enabled prototype is ready.

Figma File for reference: https://www.figma.com/community/file/947832835915257827/View-in-3D---Reference-File
Sundays with Stephen King’s “On Writing”
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Screenwriting, Fiction, Creative Writing, Writing Tips, Writing

One night while we were eating Chinese before a gig in Miami Beach, I asked Amy if there was any one question she was never asked during the Q-and-A that follows almost every writer’s talk — that question you never get to answer when you’re standing in front of a group of author-struck fans and pretending you don’t put your pants on one leg at a time like everyone else. Amy paused, thinking it over very carefully, and miss said: “No one ever asks about the language.”

I owe an immediate debt of gratitude to her for saying that. I had been playing with the idea of writing a little book about writing for a year or more at that time, but had held back because I didn’t trust my own motivations — why did I want to write about writing? What made me think I had anything worth saying?

The easy answer is that someone who has sold as many books of fiction as I have must have something worthwhile to say about writing it, but the easy answer isn’t always the truth. Colonel Sanders sold a hell of a lot of fried chicken, but I’m not sure anyone wants to know how he made it. If I was going to be presumptuous enough to tell people how to write, I felt there had to be a better reason than my popular success. Put another way, I didn’t want to write a book, even a short one like this, that would leave me feeling like a literary gasbag or a transcendental asshole. There are enough of those books — and those writers — on the market already, thanks.

But Amy was right: nobody ever asks about the language. They ask the DeLillos and the Updikes and the Styrons, but they don’t ask popular novelists. Yet many of us proles also care about the language, in our humble way, and care passionately about the art and craft of telling stories on paper. What follows is an attempt to put down, briefly and simply, how I came to the craft, what I know about it now, and how it’s done. It’s about the day job; it’s about the language.
Deploying a Kubernetes application to AWS EKS using Terraform and Ansible
By: Colin But
Tags: AWS, DevOps, Ansible, Terrorism, Software Development

Background

First of all, let me lay down some definitions and terms and explanations of those technologies & tools so that we are all on the same page. Also, please allow me to set the scene of the application i am going to deploy.

My Application Overview

As part of this demo, I have built an example application that represents an online catalog ordering system used for sales management.

This application is a microservice application meaning the application is built with a combination of several different services (of different sizes). Adopting a microservice approach for the architecture is a modern way of building software applications compared to the old days where we built the so-called ‘monolithic applications’.

Each backend microservice is a Java Web Service bootstrapped with Spring Boot. Each backend microservice connects to a different data store that is suited to the functionality of that microservice.

The full architecture diagram of my application is shown below:

From the above, you can see that the User Service microservice uses a H2 embedded database where as the Customer Service microservice connects to a relational MySQL database. The Order Service microservice is backed by a NoSQL document data store in MongoDB and lastly, the K/V Data Store of Redis backs up the Product Service microservice.

Kubernetes

Kubernetes is a container orchestration framework that manages the lifecycle of containers. Docker is a very famous Container technology but managing many Docker containers can be very tedious and error prone hence the need for a container orchestration tool. This is where a tool like Kubernetes comes in. Other similar technologies in this space include Docker Swarm (from Docker itself), Apache Mesos, Hashicorp’s Nomad, AWS ECS etc.

Terraform

Terraform is an infrastructure resource provisioning tool created by Hashicorp. Basically, it is a tool that allows you to define your infrastructure resources as code and creates those resources for you on your chosen provider platform easily. Additionally, it allows you to easily tear down your infrastructure resources easily as well.

This is implementing Infrastructure as Code (IAC) concepts.

Ansible

Ansible is mainly a general IT Automation tool that enables the automation of common IT related tasks. However, Ansible is commonly categorized in the same brackets as other Configuration Management tools such as Puppet, Chef, Salt. Ansible is also Infrastructure as Code.

Technology Stack
My Journey to McKinsey & Company
By: Aakash Dhoundiyal
Tags: Interview, Management, Jobs, Mckinsey, Consulting

| How to prepare for McKinsey & Co. (Or BCG/Bain/Consulting firms)

I was good in numbers and calculations from my college-time as I spent too much time on solving case studies during my stint at college. I was also preparing for GMAT in 2016 (scored 740 ; Q47, V45) , so most of my time was spent with numbers and doing calculations. Additionally, during my 3.5 years work stint at Accenture, I got a nice exposure to business consulting and product management. I also use to casually solve case studies online. So, I was already in good touch with business cases, what I just needed was to brush up and enhance my skills and think how businesses work in real.

Since I was already working, therefore it was hard for me to get time for preparation on weekdays. Accenture was challenging and there were times I was working on weekends as well. Consulting is tough, but interesting. Coming back to the story, so, honestly, I could have managed some time for preparation on weekdays after 7 pm, but I was not appreciative of pressuring myself after work. However, despite working on weekends on some occasions, I was able to steal some time for preparation. Note, I was fully dedicated to the preparation during all this time; it was close to 6 hours a day (on weekends). I was effectively giving 10–12 hours a week to prepare for McKinsey.

What went well for me during the preparation was, I was always in touch with my mentor for discussing the interesting business problems I was solving, and we would also discuss other factors which could have been considered while reaching out to the final case recommendation. My mentor always motivated me and made sure I always had a positive approach throughout the preparation. This helps immensely! In my own case, this helped me in thinking out-of-the-box ideas. You certainly think better when you think positively.
Uploading JavaScript objects as JSON-files to Firebase Storage without having or creating a JSON-file yourself
By: Dora Szucs
Tags: Json, Web Development, Firebase Storage, File Upload, Firebase

The day might comes when you ask yourself: can I upload a JavaScript object from my client web application to my Google Firebase Storage bucket directly, i.e. by not creating a temporary JSON-file on the disk or doing something insane with in-memory filesystems? It is indeed possible and pretty simple. This tutorial will show you, how to upload your JavaScript objects into your storage bucket as JSON-files without you having to create the JSON-files.

First, make sure to initialize your Firebase app in your client web application:

import * as firebase from "firebase/app" // Initialize Firebase

let config = {

apiKey: "YOUR_API_KEY",

projectId: "YOUR_PROJECT_ID",

authDomain: "YOUR_PROJECT_ID.firebaseapp.com",

storageBucket: "YOUR_PROJECT_ID.appspot.com",

}; firebase.initializeApp(config)

You probably already have a JavaScript object that you want to upload. Here is a small simple example that we use for uploading:

var json = {

"name": "John",

"age": 30,

"car": "BMW"

}

So how do you upload this JavaScript object as a JSON-file into your storage bucket? The essential part is converting your object into a JSON-string and creating a Blob (binary large object) with the MIME-type “application/json”.

// convert your object into a JSON-string

var jsonString = JSON.stringify(json); // create a Blob from the JSON-string

var blob = new Blob([jsonString], {type: "application/json"})

Lets assume we have a bucket named “files” and want to create a JSON-file named “my-file.json”. To upload the data from your client web application, the code looks as follows:

import firebase from "firebase/app"

import "firebase/storage" // create a reference to the storage

var storageRef = firebase.storage().ref(); // Create a reference to the file you are about to create

// the reference points to "/BUCKET_NAME/FILE_NAME.json"

var fileRef = storageRef.child("/files/my-file.json") // upload you blob into the storage fileRef.put(blob).then(function(snapshot) {

console.log('Uploaded a blob!');

});

And that’s it, the JSON-file containing your object will show up in your storage bucket. In case your request gets rejected, review your Firebase security rules and make sure you have the necessary permissions to write into the target bucket.
Swift protocol extension. I got 99 models but one has bugScore twice before you cut once
By: Dmitrii Ziablikov
Tags: Json, Protocol, Codable, Protocol Extensions, Swift

Swift protocol extension. I got 99 models but one has bugScore twice before you cut once Dmitrii Ziablikov Nov 15, 2019·2 min read

Everyday most of iOS developers work with different APIs, send network requests, parse JSON models. So I want to share with my interesting experience.

Let’s try to imagine that you have a large number of models. Almost all models have several identical properties.

Property “category” defines a strategy how to fill model.

Example:

struct MyModel: Codable {

let category: String

let checked: Bool

let status: String

let warning: String let name: String

...

}

I decided it would be a good idea to close models by protocol. Further more I implemented a class that processes models and fills fields depending on certain logic.

So fields “category”, “checked”, “status”, “warning” are declaired in protocol

My genius protocol:

protocol Input {

var category: String { get set }

var checked: Bool { get set }

var status: String { get set }

var warning: String { get set }

}

But there are several models where “status”, “warning” are not needed. For those case I added protocol extension and made it optional.

Extension:

extension Input {

var status: String {

get { return "" } set {}

} var warning: String {

get { return "" } set {}

}

}

Okay, the models are closed by protocol and class receives an abstract model and returns filled fields.

Something goes wrong

I found out bug in one model that fields “status”, “warning” were empty.

I checked server’s response in debag mode and saw that fields are filled. What’s going on?!

Model with bug 👹

struct BugModel: Input, Codable {

var category: String

let status, warning: String

var checked: Bool

...

}

As you can see fields “status”, “warning” are declared as let and this is the answer. The fields are optional in protocol and declared immutable in model that is why it values are always empty.

Good model👍🏻

struct NiceModel: Input, Codable {

var category: String

var status: String

var warning: String

var checked: Bool

...

}

Well done, I fixed bug.

If you don’t understand what’s happened I recommend to read about Method Dispatch in Swift.

I also wish me and all us to be more attentive and Xcode become smarter🤓

If you want to make me glad make 3 clap🙃
Recipe of the day: JSON to CSV
By: Alexander Vingardt
Tags: Csv, Json, Jq, Pandas

In this recipe we will use JSON that is returned from Yelp API’s business search endpoint. It has the following structure —

{

"total": 8228,

"businesses": [

{

"rating": 4,

"price": "$",

"phone": "+14152520800",

"id": "E8RJkjfdcwgtyoPMjQ_Olg",

"alias": "four-barrel-coffee-san-francisco",

"is_closed": false,

"categories": [

{

"alias": "coffee",

"title": "Coffee & Tea"

}

],

"review_count": 1738,

"name": "Four Barrel Coffee",

"url": "https://www.yelp.com/biz/four-barrel-coffee-san-francisco",

"coordinates": {

"latitude": 37.7670169511878,

"longitude": -122.42184275

},

"image_url": "http://s3-media2.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/MmgtASP3l_t4tPCL1iAsCg/o.jpg",

"location": {

"city": "San Francisco",

"country": "US",

"address2": "",

"address3": "",

"state": "CA",

"address1": "375 Valencia St",

"zip_code": "94103"

},

"distance": 1604.23,

"transactions": ["pickup", "delivery"]

},

// ...

],

"region": {

"center": {

"latitude": 37.767413217936834,

"longitude": -122.42820739746094

}

}

}

It is nested several levels deep. In this exercise we want all business listings flattened out into a CSV.

Step 1 — Flatten keys under businesses[]

Step 2 — Convert JSON to CSV

Voila!
Reading from MongoDB database in Javascript with MongoClient
By: László Harri Németh
Tags: Json, JavaScript, Mongodb, Expressjs, Nodejs

In a different shell window we need to start the MongoDB shell ( mongo ).

./mongodb/bin/mongo

In the MongoDB shell we can issue commands to the mongodb server to manipulate data in the database.

MongoDB stores data records in collections and the collections in databases. In this step we will create a new database called tododb . For this we will use the use statement.

use tododb

(The shell will return switched to db tododb .)

We will create a new collection todolist in this tododb database, and a new document in this todolist collection. The following command will create the collection as well as the new document.

db.todolist.insertOne({description: 'Register for the marathon', details: 'it must be done until 4.7.2018'})

The shell returns something like the following:

{

"acknowledged" : true,

"insertedId" : ObjectId("5ac8fbc723f00907d3d1be99")

}

This means the document was created successfully. You can query this by the following command:

db.todolist.find()

Result:

{ "_id" : ObjectId("5ac8fbc723f00907d3d1be99"), "description" : "Register for the marathon", "details" : "it must be done until 4.7.2018" }

Or in a formatted way:

db.todolist.find().pretty()

Result:

{

"_id" : ObjectId("5ac8fbc723f00907d3d1be99"),

"description" : "Register for the marathon",

"details" : "it must be done until 4.7.2018"

}

Let’s add another entry to the todolist :

db.todolist.insertOne({description: 'Get money from ATM', details: '100 USD'})

Express app creation

In this step we will create an express app. For this we need a new directory. We initialize the content (actually the package.json file) with npm.

npm init -y

We need to install Express by issuing the following command. --save will save the dependency to package.json. We will also install mongodb which is the official MongoDB driver for Node.js.

npm install --save express mongodb

Express server implementation: without db read

Create index.js:

touch index.js

The implementation of the server looks like the following. This needs to be put to index.js

var express = require('express');

var app = express(); app.get('/', (req, res) => {res.send('Hello World!')})

app.listen(3000, () => console.log('Example app listening on port 3000!'))

The app can be run by issuing the following command:

node index.js

And then in the web browser enter localhost:3000 to the URL.

Express server implementation: implementing db read using MongoDB Node.js driver

To read the data from the database the MongoDB Node.js driver MongoClient is used.
Clojure Bits: Working with JSON
By: Alexander Oloo
Tags: Clojure, Json, Programming, Development, Technology

Bit-sized and human friendly bits of Clojure. Today, let’s chat about JSON, the backbone of the internet.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

I’ve written a ton of web applications in Clojure and so far my favourite library for working with JSON is Cheshire. It’s simple to use and fast. Really fast. Here’s how you can get started with it.

Installation

To install cheshire, add it to you list of dependencies in project.clj like so

:dependencies [ ...some dependencies... [cheshire "5.9.0"] ; installed! ...more dependencies...]

It’ll download when you use lein to run your program or start the REPL .

Using it

Start by adding cheshire to the current namespace. You can do this in two ways depending on whether you’re working in the REPL or in a file.

In a file => (:require [cheshire.core :as json])

In the REPL=> (require '[cheshire.core :as json])

The API

Clojure map to JSON

(json/encode {:message "build passing"})

;; "{\"message\":\"build passing\"}"

JSON to clojure map

(json/decode valid-json-object)

;; {message "build passing"}

;; notice the map doesn't have keywords



JSON to clojure map with keywords

(json/decode valid-json-object true)

;; {:message "build passing"}

;; Yay, much nicer!

Cheshire can do a lot more than this. But this is all you need 99% of the time.
Has the Freelance Writing Industry Collapsed?
By: Michael Brooks
Tags: Writing Challenge, Freelancers, Freelance Writing, Freelancing, Writers Life

Photo by Micah Williams

The freelance writing industry is deteriorating in quality rapidly and inevitably. Why?

The bitter truth about freelancing writing is that not all clients appreciate the top quality work. The price is all that matters.

Copywriting vs Content Writing — It Is More Than Just Semantics

We have a growing demand for the constant supply of articles for the strict SEO purposes. All you have to do is match the proper number of words and the keywords density, and you’re good to go. The clients’ expectations in this field are focused on the proper grammar and more or less meaningful content. That’s all. That’s why the freelance writers can’t expect to get paid enough for their work.

What I’ve just said is true for freelance content writing. We have a completely different situation when it comes to copywriters. Their copywriting tasks and VIP articles are properly compensated because the high conversion rate is expected by the clients who order them. Of course, there’s an extremely limited number of these jobs available compared to the overwhelming number of freelancers competing in this field.

So, here you are where you are right now and there’s not much you can do about it. Unless you’re an extremely talented writer or someone who enjoys writing more than anything in the world, you are going to have one hell of a time as a freelance writer.

Is There a Light at the End of the Freelance Writing Tunnel?

Should freelance writers simply give up on writing and start learning programming or design instead?

Who wants to be a part of the collapsing industry? Right?

What can we do to save the freelance writing industry? I think that freelance writers should do something about it rather than to wait to be rescued. It’s easy to complain and point fingers. It’s a bit harder to stick to your freelance writing guns and insist on the quality.

There are still freelancers who don’t think that every writing gig or project is worth accepting at all costs. They refuse to be a part of the meaningless and harmful cutthroat race to the bottom.

If you’re asking me, I would rather have a handful of quality self-respectful writers working on our platform than hundreds of self-proclaimed writers who bite to write with no criteria at all. How is an article or the content for a web page that’s worth a few bucks going to help a client, benefit a freelancer, and eventually our freelance website?

This domino effect has to be prevented at its very source. I respect my freelance writers for a simple reason. I don’t even want to know what’s the alternative. Either I would have to write it myself or hire a “tourist” in the freelance writing industry. Needless to say that would be a perfect waste of my money and a freelancer’s time.

Happy freelance writing!
Optimization Algorithms for Machine Learning
By: Aviejay Paul
Tags: Gradient Descent, Convexity, Eigen, Hessian, Gradient

In this section, we will look into the graphical interpretation of gradient. We saw in the earlier section that gradient of a 3-D plot are vectors in 2D. So, if the 3D plot has its center at origin, the gradient vectors of the 3-D plot move away from the center. Refer to the diagram below that shows the gradient vector space of a paraboloid in the x-y plane .

Gradient vector point of the paraboloid in the x-y plane (image by author)

The gradient vector space in the x-y plane of the paraboloid has been shown above. As you can see, the projections of the points P and Q in the paraboloid has been shown using points Ṕ and Á. Ṕ and Á represent the gradient vectors of the points P and A in the paraboloid. Similarly, the vector space (the space in which all the vectors lie in) represents the gradients at all the points in the paraboloid. Imagine that you am climbing up the paraboloid. Say you are at point P and you want to know the direction to walk, in order to reach the top of the paraboloid the fastest. Looking the paraboloid from below, we can see that in order to climb the paraboloid the fastest, we need to go directly away from the origin. This is because at directions that are directly away from the origin is when the paraboloid the steepest. Thus, a gradient points at the direction of the steepest descent that is basically a tangent to the curve, the paraboloid in this case. Refer to the following diagram to understand this better.

Viewing the paraboloid and the vector space from bottom (image by author)

In the diagram above, the vectors in blue represent the steepest direction and hence are the gradient vectors. The vectors shown in black represent other directions of movement that are not the steepest. Also, note that the length of the gradient vector of a point in the curve tells us the steepness of the curve at that point.
Podcast discovery is podcast visibility
By: Matt Macdonald
Tags: Podcast Discovery, Podcasting, Podcast Promotion, Podcast

A sampling of the PROmoted rotation from three refreshes on a RadioPublic.com podcast landing page from Friday morning. Refresh again (and again and again) to see a new set of shows!

A selection of PRO podcasts will be highlighted on all Basic accounts-on show pages and episode pages and in the embed player alike-selected at random from podcasters creating the best experience for new visitors. We encourage PRO accounts to have:

Written a logline for your podcast

Selected at least one featured gateway episode

Highlighted at least one listener testimonial

These three things will help people who click on your podcast in one of the promotional slots understand what your show is about. And it will also make your dedicated RadioPublic landing page amazing—spotlighting all your best work and of course, keeping all the focus on you and your show.

Want to know that the promotion of your podcast is turning into visitors, listeners, and subscribers? Podcasters with a PRO account with Podsite add-on will be able to see attribution information via these highlighted promotional sections so you can identify new listeners in Google Analytics. Coming soon: you’ll also see data on the number of display impressions and click-through rate, too.

Add your logline, featured gateway episodes and listener testimonials, and your Google Analytics tracking code from your RadioPublic dashboard.

Want to be featured in the rotation of shows on RadioPublic.com podcast pages? Start your RadioPublic PRO account today by logging into your dashboard.
A guide to creating your first Podcast
By: Paola Ferrari Tambo
Tags: Content, Podcasting, Podcast, Creativity

THE PROCESS

1. Start by choosing the blog post (or multiple blog posts) you wish to convert into podcasts.

2. Rewrite your content as talking points.

Remember to sound casual and add real-life examples or stories in the script. People love when they can relate to what the speaker is saying. You may even want to mention a joke or two! Overall, know what you are going to say and try to avoid awkward pauses (unless there is a purpose for them).

3. Buy a high-quality microphone.

Even though any microphone will work for recording, listeners can easily tell the difference between a good and a bad microphone. If you are thinking in podcasting long term then it would be efficient for you to invest in a high-quality microphone to help you provide the best audio content for your audience. You can either purchase a USB microphone that plugs directly into your computer’s USB port, or an analog microphone, which requires another device to move the audio onto your computer.

Some microphone recommendations:

a. Audio Technica AT2020

4. Don’t rush it!

Make sure to do some audio tests before you start recording, and talk in an evenly paced tone. You don’t want your listeners misunderstanding what you are trying to say but rather have them interested and engaged in the content.

5. Edit your recording before publishing it.

Don’t feel overstressed about it, it doesn’t have to be a complicated process. Some programs that can help you with this phase include:

a. Garageband: This is good for Mac users.

b. Adobe Audition: Although it is expensive, the quality is one of the bests. It offers a free trial but you can either buy it as an individual application or get it with the Adobe Creative Cloud plan.

c. Audacity: A free platform.

d. WinLame: An audio encoder necessary to convert WAV files to MP3.

Make sure to tag your audio file, give it an episode title, genre (podcast), artist (you!), album title (your podcast title), copyright, copyright-free cover artwork, etc.

6. Choose a host for your podcast.

You need to have a place somewhere online where you can store your podcasts so that you can share them with your audience. You can then share the host on your Social Media platforms to get some “podcast awareness.”

Some hosting options include:

a. Soundcloud (free)

Podbean (considered to be one of the best) Podmatic (free) Libsyn (plans start at $5) Amazon S3 Fireside TuneIn

Remember to fill out all the necessary information after signing up for a service, including profile and podcast description, files, etc.

7. List your podcast on iTunes.

iTunes is the powerhouse for podcast listings. Once you’re listed in the iTunes podcast directory, you’ll be able to promote your show for the best outreach possible. In the Podcasts section of iTunes, find the Submit A Podcast link under Podcast Quick Links. Paste in your RSS feed URL and submit! Your podcast will be verified by a team of people and added as soon as possible (assuming there are no issues).

Try podcasting and see how it works out for you and your blog today!
Writers’ Rooms with Screenwriter and Script Editor Wendy Hanna
By: Taku Mbudzi
Tags: Screenwriting, Writing Tips, Women In Television, Podcasting, Screenwriter

“Read scripts from the shows you like and shows you don’t like. Have a good look at how they lay things out. “ — Wendy Hanna

Wendy Hanna’s episode is full of great tips about writing, finding other writers, growing your community of writers and even entering writing competitions. Hear how we first met at an Animation Writing Workshop and how the mock writers’ room she created inspired me to re-think how I’d find writers for my show.

Podcast Guest Profile

Wendy Hanna is an AWGie nominated screenwriter and creative development consultant with a passion for people, characters and big ideas.

Her credits include iconic serial Neighbours, popular drama Love Childand docu-drama Dating the H-Bomb, as well as numerous children’s programs including Giggle & Hoot, Dumbotzand Sydney Sailboat. She is also is co-creator of factual teen format MY:24. A former Development Executive for Essential Media & Entertainment, she has extensive development experience across genres including kids, drama, animation and factual, and regularly works with creative teams to help concepts find their best form. In 2017, Wendy was nominated for an AWGie for her work on ABC’s Hoot Hoot Go!

Time Stamps

0:53 | How I’ve set up my writers’ room…so far

7:20 | Interview with Wendy Hanna

Interesting Links

Wendy’s website https://wendylikesstories.com/

Wendy’s Instagram https://www.instagram.com/wendylikesstories/

Australian Writers Guild https://www.awg.com.au/

Women In Film and TV Australia https://wiftaustralia.org.au/

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It’s Okay to Be Happy: Bye-Bye, All of Evangelion
By: Reid Braaten - Themamaluigi
Tags: Anitay, Features, Evangelion, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Anime

Note: This article contains explicit spoilers for Evangelion 3.0+1.0 and the entire Evangelion franchise.

A lot can change in twenty-five years — I should know, I’m twenty-five-years old. So, too, is the Evangelion franchise. Hideaki Anno’s monolith, multimedia, much-debated opus remains a cornerstone of anime discourse both openly and as a thematic and contextual foundation. Contemporary anime would not be here without Evangelion, and that’s its most terrifying prospect.

To have one’s intensely personal descent and re-emergence endlessly discussed, deconstructed, and, often, defaced must be an ungodly burden to bear. Anno has made it no secret that Evangelion is based on his own declining and fluctuating mental state before, during, and after its creation; to be forced to relive that ongoing moment in time is a cycle one would not wish upon their worst enemy. And, yet, here we are.

Anno’s characters, too, face this endless return to despair. Shinji Ikari, Asuka Langley Soryu/Shikinami Langley, and Rei Ayanami are characters reduced to their base traits: the former a depressed hedgehog unable to get in the robot, the latter two eternal rivals in an ongoing shipping war. Time weathers the sharp edges that make these core three extraordinary, their importance subsumed into a cultural consciousness so concerned with the next hit, the next Zero Two.

Then, 2007 comes along. A new Evangelion. A retread of the first with all the benefits afforded by a decade of advancements in animation. Some scenes are new, but the larger plot remains the same. 2009 sees the release of a second Rebuild, complete with an entirely new ending that signals the start of something new. Neo Neon Genesis Evangelion. 2012’s Evangelion 3.33: You Can (Not) Redo completely splits from what we know, taking our characters in bold new directions that, at the time, were equal parts exciting, intriguing, and worrying.

Earlier this month, Evangelion 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon a Time released worldwide. An end to the Rebuilds and, as the promotional material repeated, the end of Evangelion. Twenty-five years since the original finale, twenty-four since The End of Evangelion. A lot has changed in that time. And Evangelion 3.0+1.0 is the culmination of that time. A confrontation of a franchise with itself, deconstructed and rebuilt into something final, life-affirming, and utterly, jubilantly hopeful. It is what the series has always been working towards — we just didn’t know it yet.
Netflix Hack Day — Winter 2021. By: Carenina Garcia Motion, Leslie…
By: Netflix Technology Blog
Tags: Hackathons, Anime, Remote Working, Netflix

NetSpace

Like many companies, Netflix employees have video meeting fatigue and miss their watercooler conversations. We built NetSpace as an outlet to address both issues. In short, it is an internal, web-based, pixel art, digital workplace environment. We started the hack by creating pixelized versions of popular Netflix characters and placing them in an interactive 2D setting. Then we added bleeding edge audio technology to allow the players to have drop-in audio conversations. It’s not quite an “in office” experience, but it feels a little closer to home.

By: Brian Raleigh, Alexis Block, Carl Mastrangelo, Estee Castillo, Gabe Cura-Castro, John Gesimondo, Jose Fernandez, Kim Roberson, Lauren Slusser, Vince Bello

Where Was I?!

“Where Was I?!” automatically generates on-screen text summaries of what’s happening in each scene inside the Netflix UI. This helps people jump back into a series or movie after distractions and interruptions, especially built for those with attention and memory disorders or significant distractions, like kids at home during lockdowns! The scene descriptions are generated from data sources that already exist in the production workflow and have historically been discarded after production, such as one-liners or script breakdowns. “Where Was I?!” gives this dead-end data new life by using an open source framework called OpenTimelineIO to contextualize it and provide ongoing value to finished content.

By: Kylee Pena, Steven Kang, Stephen Chiu, Artem Shtatnov, Matthew Mang, Eric Reinecke, Michael Min, Aymee Kennett, Megha Manohara

Storyboard.ai

Storyboard.ai is an internal hack day project to assist artists in bringing scripts to life with machine-assisted animatics. When the creators are visualizing and iterating over the look and feel of a given script, they have multiple versions of storyboards of the scripts. With Storyboard.ai, we leveraged research from the Fluid Interfaces group MIT Media Lab called “Paper Dreams” to automatically help artists draw characters with few lines of strokes. We are also helping artists discover existing drawings to reuse and add automatic colors and textures to bring hand-drawn characters to life.

By: Apurva Kansara, Cristina Segalin, Max Mautner

Anime All you Want

There are a lot of anime lovers on the Netflix streaming platform. To better entertain them, we propose to convert the real-world visual assets shown in our service including artwork images and trailer videos into the Anime style. We explore leveraging the latest “Generative Adversarial Neural Network” technique to perform pixel-to-pixel transformation and obtain high-quality animized visual assets.

By: Dong Liu
Hone In On Your Distinct Message
By: Cody Libolt
Tags: Platform, Speaking, Entrepreneurship, Social Media, Blogging

Q: Do you have advice for honing in on specifics in blogging/podcasting without being “another one of those”? I know the topics I’m passionate about, but there are already thousands of articles and podcasts like that. I don’t know how to stand out...

That is a big question.

First, let’s bust one myth:

Sure, it may be true that one or another person has already said the same things you want to say. (At least in some form.)

BUT:

Someone out there needs to hear it from YOU. You have a unique way of communicating, and there is someone who will be only be helped by you.

3 rules for creating quality content:

Create material:

On things you are most passionate about, In the way you most enjoy doing, According to a schedule you will be able to maintain consistently.

Do the above, and you will attract the people you need as fans.

How will I become known for something in particular?

It’s a good goal to become known for something. But that’s not something you should decide until after you have developed at least a medium-sized audience (maybe 10k Facebook fans or 10k Twitter followers or 1000 email subscribers).

For now it is okay if you have a general premise about what you offer. For instance, you could say “I offer Christian commentary.” Then go ahead and talk about the things that interest you, as long as they fit in that general area.

Answer people’s questions.

Make up questions and answer them. Or if you have people asking you questions (genuine ones) that’s a BIG CLUE about what content to create.

If you ever get three people asking you the same question, then you need to write a book or product about that topic.

about that topic. If you have one or two people asking you a question, write an article about it.

about it. If a thought crosses your mind and you like it, write a social media post about it. Collect these and later you’ll have material for the articles.

Your “positioning” will be one of the last things you figure out how to get right.

Even after you define your positioning, you will likely update it over time. For now, focus on quantity and consistency of content and focus on growing an audience that wants to come back.

How to differentiate your blog/podcast from others:

Your process should be iterative.

Every time you put out something on social media, blog, email, or video, you have the chance to find out what helped people, what moved them, or what caused them to want to interact. Do more of that.

For an example of how this works, this very blog post came as an answer to a question from a friend. It was quick to write because my friend gave me the motivation and the specific context. I knew who I was writing for. And I knew what I wanted him to know.

Thanks for reading!
Waterfield Energy Software for Drilling and Well Work
By: Richard Waterfield
Tags: Platform, Technology, Waterfield Energy, Software

Computer Photo by luis gomes from Pexels

A former equity advisor at Goldman Sachs, Richard Waterfield became one of the youngest professionals to ever manage a hedge fund on Wall Street. Richard Waterfield serves as co-chairman at the Waterfield Group, where he manages one of the largest private financial organizations in the United States.

Since its founding in 1928, the Waterfield Group has worked to build a better America. The firm, which is based in Indiana, operates as the parent group of a number of subsidiaries that includes Waterfield Technologies and Waterfield Energy Software.

Waterfield Energy Software provides enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems for the oil and gas industry. In addition to a variety of software modules designed to support midstream workflows such as liquid transportation and gas pipelines, Waterfield Energy also supports upstream tasks that include land management, product operations, and drilling and well work.

A cloud based software package, WE Drilling and Well Work manages well work projects and supports sub-tasks that range from workover and repairs to drilling and maintenance. The program also handles financial and accounting tasks, including tracking expenses. Moreover, WE Drilling and Well Work offers critical data capture and report generation capabilities.

Waterfield is building a better America. For more information, please visit www.wenergysoftware.com
All Behavior is telling us something. Learn to read behavior.
By: Becky Blake
Tags: Parenting, Help, Behavior, Autism, Sensory

I have been focusing on health, happiness, best behavior and outcomes since I was a little girl. I did not understand people, how to be social, how to be in this world. I would have major meltdowns at bath time, on my birthday when people would sing happy birthday to me, walking on roads with ditches. My world would fall apart, I would become inconsolable. Nothing would make sense. The world would disappear. My behavior was my needing to get out to the world what I was experiencing and not doing a very good job at it.

I know that when I had my meltdowns there was a reason for it. I could not explain it to myself or to others. Then when the meltdown was over it was over and life went back to status quo.

I am my first client. I know what it feels like to be so overwhelmed, emotions come, the brain shuts down to the reptilian survival brain. I know there were reasons. Now I want to help others better understand themselves as well as the children in their lives.

I teach how to read behavior as communication. The brain, body and nervous system speaks loudly if we are willing to listen. Go to my website Creating Super Kids to learn more. Email me at Becky@creatingSuperKids.com with your questions. Let me help you learn how to read behavior in yourself and others.
Hot To Avoid Regrets And Make A Move
By: Prince Chopra
Tags: Regret, Help, Pandemic, Time, Time Management

Photo by Joshua Rawson-Harris on Unsplash

Pandemic gave everyone opportunity, to learn, grow, and think about what’s next?

Since we have started doing things remotely, I’m sure we are left with plenty of time throughout the day which we usually used to spend commuting, water-cooler conversations, etc.

Not sure what everyone is up-to, but everyday since I have started working remotely, I’m getting hundreds of ideas in my mind, and things which can help extend my horizon. But I was not motivated enough or lazy to start anything, and due to this, everyday I sleep with a regret of lost opportunity.

I don’t want everyone to feel the same so wanted to share few things which I can help everyone achieve what they are thriving for.

There are few thumb rule or principles you should follow and make them as part of life even outside this unprecedented scenario:

Don’t be afraid of criticism Fail fast, learn fast Do what feels right to you Seek help

Let’s discuss these one by one briefly:

Don’t be afraid of criticism

Humans are made in such a way, where they try to think what others will think. I would like to say only one thing, if you will think what others will think then what will other do? So, let’s delegate the job of thinking/giving critics to others and we should focus on our primary job of doing what feels right to us.

At first, this may be daunting but always remember if people are giving opinion then your point is getting heard and people want to start a discussion or want you to improve on it. Always remember, take that feedback positively and do some thinking but always do what feels right to you.

Fail fast, learn fast

Yes, you heard it right, as easy and straightforward it may sound but humans are afraid of failing. Humans treat failing as failure rather than a learning opportunity to make a come back stronger and wiser.

Cannot emphasize more, do not be afraid of criticism and failing. If you are not failing then you are not trying, so keep trying until you find yourself at the spot you want to be.

Do what feels right to you

Don’t get influenced by others, always take opinion but try to think your version of the story. If you are doing something in which you are convinced then no one can stop you from moving forward, you will be able to handle all the things we discussed earlier.

Seek help

People out there are happy to help, you have to collect yourself and make your move. It will help open many doors, get different perspective, and learn early. This is the thing which everyone knows how to do but sometime they don’t find right words or are not confident enough to ask questions. So, go out there, nudge someone, they will be happy to give you advice.