fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
To Protect Privacy, IoT Regulations Must Have Consequences
Tags: Smart Cam, Smart Plug, Smart Camera, Smart Home

With millions of people working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, digital device privacy and security have become front of mind. Homes are doubling up as workplaces, and businesses are now exposed to the same privacy and security threats as consumers. Many concern Internet-connected devices or the Internet of Things (IoT).

Source: CPOMAGAZINE’s JOSEPH CARSON

Security and privacy by design Some risks are there by design and others because the devices were not designed to be connected to the Internet or otherwise used in ways that were not foreseen by their designers. They may be used in smart cities, critical infrastructure, and smart grids. And the more lightweight, high-speed connectivity we have — think about 5G for a moment — the more of these devices will be connected to the public domain.

The Australian government’s recently released Draft Code of Practice for Securing the Internet of Things for Consumers, for example, is a good example of the challenges that governments face around the world in regulating the technology industry to make connected devices more resilient to cyberattacks and protect the privacy of personal information.

Whether such a code is effective or not depends on if it is going to be clearly enforced. Any code of practice or other regulatory regime without real penalties for non-compliance will allow manufacturers and service providers to continue to focus on ease of use at the expense of security and privacy best practices.

Serious consequences for failure When device manufacturers focus on ease of use, privacy and security suffers. We end up making things too difficult for people. In the worst cases the use of devices must be limited in certain ways because security is not done by design, it is just bolted on at the end. Telling people to use a headset during conference calls is a great way to protect their privacy. But not everyone is going to do it — most people just want to do their jobs or get on with their lives.

While a voluntary code is absolutely not sufficient, it is a great starting point. The Australian government should be congratulated for taking a proactive approach on this critical challenge and continuing to make the country more resilient from cyber threats and increasing the digital safety and privacy of its citizens. Not only are the new initiatives very much welcomed by industry, they are also putting Australia on the forefront of global cybersecurity standards and setting a good example for other countries in its region.
Google WiFi is the iPhone of routers!
Tags: Router, Mesh Router, Google Wifi, Smart Home, Google

You would know by now if you have read any of my stories from the start that I am a fan of Google services and products, but this comes from a pleasing experience I had and still have with Google in general (although there are frustrating issues with Google like their unavailability of most products and services in the MENA region).

Google WiFi

Plain simple, Google WiFi is an excellent choice if not the best choice for a mesh network solution you need for your home. What makes it unique are these major advantages over other mesh routers in the market:

Seamless setup and easy to use interface

Google WiFi app is accessible through the cloud when your out and about

“Family WiFi”

So to explain more, Google WiFi is a Mesh WiFi Router which extends your home WiFi to more rooms by placing several of them around your house and they work seamlessly together.

In my case I purchased a “Google WiFi — 3 Pack” to distribute around my house to get optimal coverage wherever I sit at home.

Google WiFi 3 Pack

So what you do basically is connect one of the routers to your internet modem by using an ethernet cable and just download the Google WiFi app available in both Android and IOS to easily follow the setup process provided.

The great thing about Google’s WiFi app is that you don’t need to be connected to your WiFi to use it, so you could be out running errands and want to check on your kids if they really are not surfing the net while your gone while also going further and pausing their internet connection is great to have.

Google WiFi App

What’s also great is that you can monitor which specific device is consuming most in real time while also having the option to “prioritize” a certain device so you wouldn’t have to worry if someone else was binge watching Netflix and interrupt your device’s internet consumption.

Finally, no more kids sneaking and streaming on their devices when they’re not allowed to with “Family WiFi” which is controllable through the app.

Easy as that, once you assign which devices you label, you can pause their connection while also blocking sites not suitable for children.

Overall internet quality was great and the mesh system was spreading my WiFi connection all over my home seamlessly.

Pricing wise, a single pack is priced at $99 on the US Google Store while the 3-pack is $259. So it’s not the cheapest out there but also not as expensive as others, but for what it offers to my needs, I can’t find a better alternative.
Un-Dumbing A Dumb Device
Tags: Google Assistant, Smart Home Automation, Smart Home Device, Smart Home, Switchbot

I know that “un-dumbing” is not a word, but I couldn’t think of anything else to describe this wildly strange but smart (in its on way) device.

I wanted to share with you the stuff I search for to satisfy my smart home needs, and I could not think of a better way to start without mentioning this product.

Recently I was looking for smart light switches that work with the Google Assistant to replace my current wall light switches but thought why go through the hassle of dealing with wires and calling an electrician to do it for me.

So that’s when I digged deep and found the most fitting thing for me, and so I found the Switchbot:

Switchbot

Switchbot is a small device with only one purpose which is to click on things, and I mean anything that has the space for it to stick on and the good thing is that it works with Google’s Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa and IFTTT but keep in mind that you have to purchase the Switchbot Hub to integrate with them, other than that you can still use it with their mobile app without the need for their hub. The whole idea of it is to make dumb devices with buttons or switches to be automated or controlled through WiFi. I know it sounds ridiculous but from the reviews I read, it actually works. I will hopefully make a personal review once I get one for myself in the near future.
The Best Photo Sharing Experience Starts With the Cloud Frame
By: Sungale Electronics
Tags: Family, Digital Photography, Smart Home, Android, Touchscreen

The after Christmas joyous feeling when you opened all your gifts is here! You received a Cloud Frame as a gift, now what? Since the Cloud Frame is more than photo viewing and equipped with smart WiFi technology here are a few features you may want to try right now.

Upload Photos from Your Desktop

To get the best enjoyment, you first have to register your Cloud Frame, after you have done the first steps, gather all your favorite photos on your desktop and import them on the Cloud Frame management portal. Here, you can create different albums and slideshows for your viewing preference.

Send Photos Directly from your Phone

If you’re out on a trip and would like to directly share special moments with your family who wasn’t able to make it, you can download the Sungale Cloud Frame app from the Google playstore or apple app store.Your family won’t have to take any additional steps! It’s really that simple and they’ll receive photos to their frame instantly.

Share Photos to a Different Cloud Frame

If you happen to have 2 frames or know a close friend that has one — you can share your favorite photos directly to their frame from your desktop and Cloud Frame app! Learn how here.

Enjoy Movies, Music, Audiobooks and Social Media

Access the Sungale provided APP list or Google Play store to install your favorite apps. Download popular apps, like Netflix, Pandora Radio, Facebook, and more. You’ll have hours of entertainment time, perfect for a nice day in.

Video Chat With Distant Family

Both models CPF1518 and CPF1903 have high definition video chatting capabilities, where you can use Skype to stay connected with the ones that matter.

Didn’t receive a Cloud Frame for Christmas?

Shop Cloud Frames
Toyota and Panasonic are all for ‘connected homes’
By: Uttara Jindal
Tags: Autonomous Cars, Smart Homes, Toyota, Electric Vehicles, Panasonic

Deepening their existing relationship in the electronic vehicle segment, Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp and Panasonic Corp have now announced a joint venture into smart home space.

The duo plans to set up a new company early next year that will focus on technology that could be used to offer personalized services in the home, moving towards the smart home dream. They will be entering a 50–50 partnership in a new firm increasing cooperation at their respective housing operations in Japan.

“We will put our respective strengths together to offer new value in everyday life,” Panasonic President Kazuhiro Tsuga said in a joint statement on Thursday.

The move comes at a time when lower-emissions vehicles and ride-sharing services have opened up the auto industry to new competitors, leaving traditional car makers and their suppliers scrambling to find alternate revenue streams.

Toyota has been developing connected cars that can share information on usage — data that could be leveraged for on-demand ride-sharing, insurance and maintenance.

The automaker has said it will tap into its partner network and its operations which range from building and selling cars, homes and companion robots to expand into new transportation and home energy services.

“If we are able to use this network going forward not only to manufacture and sell vehicles but to also provide new services, our future possibilities will greatly expand,” President Akio Toyota told reporters on Wednesday.

“In addition to cars, I think that having our own housing business and connected business will be a big advantage for us.”
Make Alexa speak any language with a little help of Home Assistant
By: Michał Konieczny
Tags: Home Automation, Smart Home Automation, Smart Home, Home Assistant, Alexa Skills

Python script on AppDaemon

First create tts directory in /config/www path. In this location we will store audio files generated by TTS service. It is important to keep them in www because that directory is publicly available on the URL https://abcdefghijklmnoprstuwxyz0987654321.ui.nabu.casa/local

WARNING!!!

I’m using Nabu Casa HA Cloud because it’s fairly cheap and provides Amazon certified HTTPS. You can use other way to make your HA instance available on the internet but make sure to use SSL certificate signed by Amazon-approved authority.

The MP3 files you use to provide audio must be hosted on an endpoint that uses HTTPS. The endpoint must provide an SSL certificate signed by an Amazon-approved certificate authority. Many content hosting services provide this.

Then go to /config/appdaemon/apps and create a file alexa_google_tts.py with following content:

See the comments on the listing above, just in case

Script uses gTTS package, you can read more here.

The language setting is located in line 27. It is hardcoded for simplicity because my use case doesn’t require dynamic change of the language, however it can be stored as another text_input or text_select entity.

Sound encoder forces 16k sample rate (line 34) as a safe fallback for older devices. Do some testing to find out if your device is capable to play 24k and alter that setting according to the research result. One of my 3 Echo dots gen. 3 failed so I decided to go with 16k for all of them.

Here’s more information about audio encoding for Skills purposes on SSML markup reference.

Output files are cached for re-usage. If exactly same text (md5 hash based on text input) is typed as input TTS service is not being called again to save the request quota and bandwidth.

Next, edit /config/appdaemon/apps/apps.yaml to look like this:

You should be able to access AddDaemon admin dashboard on port 5050 and see something like this:

Done! Let’s go to the next step.
We are sofiathinks, welcome to the intelligent home era
Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Sofiathinks, AI, IoT, Smart Home

In February 2017, a group of data scientists, electronic and software engineers, and industrial designers, all senior professionals from top companies with an extensive background in AI and IoT, joined forces to embark on a journey as stimulating as it was challenging. We founded Smart IoT Labs with a clear goal: to progress from the Smart Home to the real Intelligent Home while making it accessible for everyone — not only a few tech-savvy people.

We managed to create a technology capable of using AI for self-learning and autonomous decision-making

After these years of hard work, we have managed to create a technology capable of using AI for self-learning and autonomous decision-making. This ushers in a new era: one in which our homes learn about our habits and anticipate our needs before we even think about it. Smart IoT Labs took us to this point. Now it gives way to sofiathinks, a startup whose technology provides services that improve people’s lives in the place that matter the most: their homes.

A brain in the heart of the house

Our product is set to revolutionize this area of technology. Sofia is a virtual brain that self-learns, thinks, and makes decisions autonomously and proactively to ensure the comfort and safety of the household, with a different approach to what has happened previously in the sector: maximum respect for users’ privacy.
World of IOT
By: Ifran Rahman
Tags: Smartphones, Tech, Smart Cities, Smart Home, Automation

In this age, wherever you look you’ll find electronic gadgets, devices. Many of them are connected to the internet. From, your smartphone to your smartwatch, home, office even in cars and other numerous things are cloud based. Taking all the things in the world and connecting them to the internet is called “The Internet of Things”. Fun part is, this technology is really taking the world to a new era. How? let’s find out.

Google Home Mini

Let’s start with where every day of ours begins. Home. Smart-home is a very common term these days. You can control almost every single electronic thing in your house from your smartphone. Things are smart themselves. Automated lights, thermostat adjustment, scheduling appliances, mobile notifications even remote video surveillance are part of these. And with Google home & Amazon Alexa, things get lot easier. Just place the smart assistant in a corner and order it to do what you want. That’s how iot making our houses smarter day by day.

After house the next thing comes to our mind is may be our car. Wait what? You saw it right. Investors are spending huge amount of money in developing iot connected cars. Every year throught the world large number of people are died of traffic accidents. And the crucial part is great amounts of them are caused by human error. But, think of a future where every car will be self-driven. And there will be proper computerized management of traffic system. So, number of people hospitalized because of road accidents will be reduced in significant amount.

Talking about hospitals I just remembered the fact that, today iot of health care is already a reality. Iot of healthcare is spreading all over the world. It’s been included to each little thing from patient monitoring system to diagnostic medical equipment. Just think of yourself, watching your sick father’s medical condition anytime anywhere just with your phone! Or think about your smart band /fitness tracker, which can track your heart rate and stuffs. Thus, even hospitals and health care systems are getting smarter every day.

In past couple of years iot devices have grown at a faster rate than ever. They are not only for home, cars & health care system but also business, administration as well as places you can’t even think of. Maybe it will take time for us to be fully engaged with internet of things, but today or tomorrow it will become a basic part of human life.
Samsung SmartThings App will soon connect to cars too
By: Gadget Gram
Tags: Smartphones, Gadgetgram News, Apps, Smart Home, Samsung Smartthings App

Samsung SmartThings App

With technology evolving, cars naturally become smarter. As 2020 started, companies like Tesla announced some serious new upgrades to their electric vehicles, bringing cool things like new voice commands for automated text-messaging and streaming into all its EV car models. Now that CES 2020 kicked off, South Korean multinational tech. giant Samsung revealed that its Samsung SmartThings App will soon connect to cars too.

The company announced that it is partnering up with Smartcar to make its smart home ecosystem compatible with “most new cars” in the US.

While newer technologies have brought us better smart-home features and smarter vehicle (cars) features, those have always been separated. Nonetheless, the partnership between Samsung and Smart car aims to change that. According to both companies, the SmartThings App will become the very first smart home App to feature smart-vehicle integrations.

Samsung’s SmartThings App will let users locate and unlock their vehicle as well as allow them to check their vehicle’s mileage, fuel level, and EV battery status. Users will also be able to customize their settings for different scenarios. For example, users might have the platform turn on the AC at home while leaving the office in their car.

The SmartThings App already counts on more than 50 million active users. Since the App will work with most new vehicles (as stated in the partnership announcement), this could bring a lot of new interesting updates and new integrations. The new vehicle feature should be ready this year, which means that anyone that’s interested in checking it out won’t have to wait much more.

If there’s anything to take from this is that more and more companies are starting to look into integrating smart features into cars. This basically means that the year 2020 might very well be packed with new car features that we’ve never seen before.

For More Latest Technology News and Daily Updates, Visit Gadgetgram.com
Renee D. Burreson
By: Elizabeth N. Harris
Tags: Poetry, Debut Novel, Poet, Writer

The Author of the Week is Renee D. Burreson who has released her debut book of poetry, Breakthrough.

I interviewed Renee this week, so why don’t you come and find out more about this exciting poet.

What’s the main thing you love and hate about writing?

​I love the creative process and the freedom in it. The ability to shape and create worlds and do things that otherwise I might not be able to is something truly profound. Especially in a world where we often find ourselves limited. While there are some elements of writing that are challenging, I am not sure if I can say I hate an aspect of the writing process and art form.

​Who is the worst villain you’ve ever written, and why?

​Right now, society. In my recently published poetry book, Breakthrough, I touched on society’s basic response to issues that are too often shirked at and the negative impact of such. As well as the importance of growth and the need for change. We, as people, have the power to change and shape the world around us in ways that we don’t realize.

https://www.elizabethnharris.net/author-of-the-week-renee
Why watching The Sopranos in 2020 is like time travelling!
By: Matt Johns
Tags: TV Shows, Globalization, The Sopranos, Time Travel, TV Series

As I was starting to go insane doing self isolation I come across the TV show The Sopranos which I had never seen before. It was strange that I never watched the show given a lot of my friends consider it one of their favorite shows ever.

So with the 873276327238723 extra hours I now had available due to this global pandemic I decided that I would devote time to watching The Sopranos, and wow… what turned out to be an amazing TV show also turned out to be a supercharged journey back in time!

I know what you are thinking - of course if you watched a TV show from 20 years ago then of course you would see what the world was like then, but in the case of The Sopranos there were a few key items and themes that seemed to be magnified and evident when watching the transition from Season 1 which started to air in 1999 to the TV show finale in season 6 that aired during 2007.

The Technology: This was most evident!!! Firstly the computers situation. Big bulky personal computers and the transition to laptops — albeit the laptops were still chunky in 2007. Then there was the mobile phones which were an essential item as a gangster! Big “brick” mobile phones are shown in season 1, with the phones getting smaller and smaller during the following seasons with the man himself Tony Soprano running the latest Motorola Razor in season 6! Also seeing the upgrades in home entertainment units from big bulky TVs to flat screens with universal remotes. The War: The tragic events of 9/11 happened during the early seasons of the show and set the scene for the following seasons. It was a reminder of how America went about retaliation with the Soprano kids sharing different views to the adults at the time. The show gave an insight of how law and order changed focus to terrorism instead of the purely on the mob! The Sopranos writers seemed to write into the story line the disagreement about invading Iraq. Racism, Sexism, and homophobia: Its a shame that these issues are still prevalent across the world 20 years later! In terms of racism and sexism these issues were again highly evident in the show and to some degree a way off life among the mob however the big issue of homophobia was focused on during the story line. A mobster who was gay who couldn't tell his friends or family. The strain, stress, and unbelievable hurt he went through to try keep it a secret is something that I am sure many people who identify as gay go through. This was tough viewing in 2020 however unfortunately it still remains an issue. Globalization: Well this was very evident and especially for the mob! Giant corporations were buying up small players and bringing food and beverage chains to local neighborhoods.

So there you have it. I watched the 6 seasons of The Sopranos over a couple of weeks and after it I felt that I did got back in time covering 7 years of the world getting more mature over a two week period!
Discover This New Online Affiliate Strategy That Almost Nobody Knows About…
By: Julia James Brathwaite
Tags: Earn Money, Make Money Online, Earn Money Online, Money, Earn Money From Home

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Mama Monologues — Day 25 of Self Quarantine
By: Aly Tracy
Tags: Selfquarantine, Stories, Mothers, Motherhood, Moments

My husband and kiddo are currently in the shower and this is the first moment in over a week I’ve been “alone” in our home in about 23 days.

What am I doing with this glorious time, you ask?

Sitting in silence, having myself a little mini vacay… well sort of.

Toddlers aren’t quiet, especially when they have water to play with (and a Dada to scream at — so fun). And I’m still sitting in my PJs from last night (it’s currently 6:19PM). But I will take what I can get, and live my best life in this moment (meaning I will sit by my favorite window and think and drink my Rose Cider with my essential oils going, while writing what comes to my whirlwind mind).

These days are so strange. I know we all feel it. And I honestly can’t believe I haven’t been alone in our home in over 3 weeks. It’s not that my husband hasn’t been willing to keep our kiddo entertained, it’s just that life’s been crazy — everything has been absolutely mind boggling and mind blowingly crazy.

And while I’m unnecessarily explaining my thoughts (I do that… sometimes I hate that I do it, but other times it brings connection, which I’m down for — so here I am), I’ll also say that my “best life” isn’t usually away from my people. It’s not usually away from my perfectly precious (and a little bit psycho — if you sang the song as you read that, we can absolutely be friends) toddler and dreamy hubby.

But today… oh yes, today I am just praying my husband can tolerate my daughter’s bossy-ness just a wee bit longer than normal so I can have this moment of almost-solitude. These are crazy days, and my need to be away from my favorite people is okay. Hear me — YOUR need to have a moment, to take same space — It’s OKAY. It doesn’t make me or you ungrateful or anything else. It makes us human. It makes us someones trying to wade through a crazy time in history and adjust to about 47 major life changes in the last several weeks (okay, I’m exaggerating… call me #dramaqueen — it’s fine).

I’m still thankful and grateful for SO MANY THINGS, despite the struggles we all are facing …. despite the struggles I am personally facing right now. But gosh, I needed to sit in kind-of-silence tonight for 11 minutes. And that’s okay.

And it’s okay for you, too.

Sending love and light,

Aly
The Spring and the Cistern
By: Loser S Thoughts
Tags: Ceremony, Clean, Christian, Jewish, Jesus

The Spring and the Cistern

I recently finished reading the work of Stoic Philosopher, Marcus Aurelius, called Meditations. In it, Aurelius is mostly jotting down scattered thoughts, word pictures, and self-advice. One particular word picture stuck out to me however, and I want to talk about it for this weeks blog post. The picture was of a spring and a cistern, each being soiled when a man throws mud into them. The spring washes away the crud with new water, cleaning itself; whereas the cistern is ruined and stuck with the same water, becoming stagnant and rancid.

There is a way of viewing this concept with “Honest Eyes” as I call them, in order to see a Truth not necessarily intended by Aurelius. The Christian who knows scripture and has a relationship with God, but does not cultivate that relationship is akin to the cistern: they have water, but they don’t have a source that renews itself, but rather a stagnant motionless pool of water easily able to be muddied. The Christian who knows scripture and does it (as explained James chapter 1) is likened to a spring because they have a relationship with the source of Truth that constantly renews itself and brings forth new water by a return to scripture and action.

Christians are called to be doers of the word, not merely hearers — not cisterns. We’re not meant to merely house the Word of God, or His blessings, in us like a cistern. We are called to pour out these things to the people around us, spreading the gospel, love, and kindness, to everyone. A final thought that I wanted to share is vaguely tied to this idea of spring and cistern because of the concept of clean and dirty.

In the Ancient Near Eastern Jewish tradition, ceremonial cleanliness was an extremely important aspect of religion. You could not participate in the spiritual or societal practices of Jewish tradition, if you were not ceremonially clean. One way that a person became unclean was through contact with a dead body. This contact rendered a Jew unclean for 7 days and if another person came into contact with this unclean person, they themselves would be made by unclean too.

How fascinating then that Christianity would be the inverse of this concept. Ut makes all who are unclean through the marred nature of sin, clean again through the acceptance and contact of a dead body — Jesus’ body. This Old Testament Law was fulfilled through Jesus because He rendered us clean before God through His death — a dead body that made all it touches clean, rather than unclean. It is most important however, that this dead body did not remain dead. Jesus was raised from death to life, and in doing so, secured cleanliness, Holiness, and salvation for all who accept it. A powerful truth to remember this Holy Monday.
Unity is the most basic need for the Muslim world now a days and it is lacking the most.
By: Rayyan Bey
Tags: Kashmir, Muslims, Palestine, Unity

UNITY

Unity is the most basic need for the Muslim world now a days and it is lacking the most. Our disunity is a fruitful chance for enemies to destroy us. We are scattered like straws. But now it’s time to unite and become a whole bunch which neither be broken nor scattered.

AS IQBAL SAID:

محبت کا جنوں باقی نہیں ہے

مسلمانوں میں خوں باقی نہیں ہے

صفین کج،دل پریشاں،سجدہ بے ذوق

کہ جزب اندروں باقی نہیں ہے

ISLAMOPHOBIA

The islamophobia is increasing due to our foolishness. We are just enjoying our rich lives and careless about our brothers who are lying on their death bed for nothing. No body cares about the innocent. We have forgotten that we will be answerable to ALLAH on the judgment day. My only purpose is to unite the scattered brothers and put them on one page.

Do you know that the biggest weapon of enemies against us is their unity? Look Israel have occupied Palestine illegally and the same is in India, they have occupied Kashmir by force aren’t they both working on the same page. They are smaller in number but they have controlled all over the world. Just think for a minute if we unite we will be a big strength and show everybody that WE ARE MUSIMS. Tell me what we are doing with our HOLY PROPHET (P.B.U.H)? He didn’t leave us in Firqas but he left us as an UMMAH. Why are we wasting our time in useless things? we are Muslims and we were born with a purpose. This is our love for HOLY PROPHET? Do Islam teaches us to call our brothers kafir? The Sunnis say Shias are kafir the vahabi says barelvis are kafir are these the teachings of Islam. we have to remember who we are? We are the people who smashed the thousand years old Persian empire. We are the people who taught the others how to live. We are the people who ruled 600 years on half of the world. We have potential to do it again but the only condition is unity. We are the people who exposed the real face of hypocrisy, oppression and conspiracy. We are the people who stood against injustice. our government was famous for justice but why the worlds best judges are Non-Muslims although Islam teaches us to be just.
On simplicity
By: Aravind Bharathy
Tags: Human Behavior, Values, Kindness, Simplicity

On simplicity (part of the “On …” series)

Simplicity is being able to look at the essence of life and consider things as they are.

In pop media, this term is often used for a multitude of scenarios. Being simple is often a tag for rich people who dress simply. Or for popular people who stand in line for voting. Or for someone who is phenomenal to come and talk to someone to someone deemed by society as inferior to them.

Hmm, does that mean a poor man cannot be a simple man?

A simple man is just someone who can treat everyone equally, with respect and kindness. A simple man understands the disparity between the rich and the poor, and wants to minimize the divide. The simple man understands with gratitude that he is blessed and just lucky, no matter his condition.

When we ask such people, how they are able to be so simple, they all say the same thing. “Why? I have no interest in such things.”

But how can you eat with them? “Why? They are just like us no.”

But that food? — with a look of subtly hidden disgust.

“I love it actually, I loved dosa ever since I was a child.”



If you aspire to be simple, start be realizing that who you are is just spirit, and not in what you wear, or what you are seen as.

When one is simple, one is closer to reality. Once the veil of superficiality is removed, what remains is the pure truth. The more simple you are, the more such people you will attract.

This all sounds nice, but in a world where we are constantly judged by our dresses, looks, how can one aspire to be simple? To be simple is not about wearing a khadi dress. Simplicity is to have thoughts that reflect that you are a creation that is no greater or lesser than anyone else. Simplicity is to always keep your feet on the ground, and to never forget who you are, where you came from. Simplicity is being the same to everyone, at all times.

Quotes

What we admire as simplicity, the simple man says, “What else is there?” In the eyes of the god and that of the simple man, all are equal. At the end of all lives, simplicity dawns. The question is, can it dawn sooner? When superficiality wears off, the simple man is born. To see each person and thing as what it is, makes a world of difference.

This article is part of a “On ….” series in which we will talk about different emotions, aspects of life.
What Are Your Personal Core Values?
By: Debra Shepherd
Tags: Core Values, Entrepreneur, Values Based Leadership, Values

What are your personal core values? If you’ve defined then, when was the last time, you gave them a thought?

I’ve always had core values; however, they haven’t always been at the forefront of my mind when I’ve been making decisions. This can often be the case because we write them down in a journal, close the journal and then put the journal away. Or, we type them out and they stay filed away forever. You may include your values in your business plan only to review them in 12-months when it’s time to update your plan again.

Living your core values daily will support you in creating more ease, joy and meaning in your life. You’ll make better decisions, have more clarity, confidence and they’ll help you determine what to do, where to spend your time and who to spend your time with.

My personal core values

I have a handful of core values that I make every single decision by. I’ll be honest, I’m not perfect, no one is perfect and yes at times I make decisions that aren’t based on my values. The thing is that when this happens, I’m aware of it and I feel it. There’s resistance and I feel out of alignment with how I want to co-create my life.

From my experience, I’ve found coming up with an initial set of core values to be a relatively quick process however in the first instance they never feel right, and I know it’s about going deeper and not playing on the surface. One thing I know for sure is that when you get to the heart of your core values, you will know because you will feel them deeply.

Click here to read the full post at www.debrashepherd.com.au
A Boogie wit da Hoodie — Artist 2.0 Review + Analysis
Tags: Hip Hop, Music, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Artist, Rap

A Boogie wit da Hoodie — Artist 2.0

Confession: I am an A Boogie wit da Hoodie stan. When Artist 2.0 dropped I celebrated by wearing 10 hoodies. I fasted all week leading up to the release because I knew I’d be eating.

A Boogie is an incredibly dynamic artist with a range of different styles and a unique voice that works both rapping and singing. He shows off his eclecticism and evolution on Artist 2.0.

A Boogie’s sound is his biggest priority. Above everything, the song needs that right sound. As he’s done throughout his career, he explores this sound with beat switches, voice alterations, and lyrical repetition. While these themes stay consistent, his only constant style is change. Reshape the sound. Reshape the sound multiple times per song. A Boogie updates his style on Artist 2.0 to separate this work from previous projects.

In interviews, A Boogie said there’s a guitar theme on Artist 2.0 as compared with the piano theme on the first Artist album. We can easily see this shift from piano to guitar in the album art, song titles (Me and My Guitar), and lyrics (“With a guitar now, I’m a lane switcher”). What does this mean as we dig deeper into the album? As we’ll see, sometimes the guitar is woven into the beat. Other times, it’s his voice that’s mixed in to sound like a guitar.

Let’s dig into the analysis of Artist 2.0, using a few standout songs to further explain A Boogie with da Hoodie’s artistry. I’ll include links to each song — this article works better if you listen as you read.
Rose, hear me out one last time
By: Nitin Gupta
Tags: Love Letters, Romance, Lovestory, Love, Creativity

Available in audio on Spotify.

I know we don’t talk the same way anymore, Rose, and not one day goes by when I don’t regret losing you. But the thing is I’m still not used to this. I’m not used to you being so close yet so far. I’m not used to talking to you and knowing it’s just not the same. I’m not used to the fact that whatever we had is in the past. I’m not used to our memories being just that – memories. I wish I could turn back time, I wish I could stay in your arms just a bit longer. You told me several times that it would end, that everything ends, but I guess, it’s difficult to admit that when you’re in love? Or was it love? Was it love that made me bury my face in your bosom? Was it love that made me try to walk beside you at your pace so my hands would brush against yours? Was it love that made you feel warmer? Was it love that made it so hard to walk away? Or was it just the fact that you were new? But you’re not new now. Why do I still ache for you? Why do I yearn to pick up my pen and write a letter that I know you’ll never read? What makes me wish for a way to get back our memories? What makes me hope? I don’t know and I guess I’ll never know. But maybe that’s the beauty of it – that all things end and you never know when.

I would’ve kissed you a little longer. I just didn’t believe it was the last time.
Reflection on Amal Totkay
By: Alisha Shabbir
Tags: Amal Totkay, Reflections, Totkay, Amal Fellowship

Today I want to talk about Amal totkay which help us to develop a growth mindset. First of all I want to share Amal totkay which are:

Self-talk: In this we have to talk with ourselves by sitting in a separate place and talk about our goals and what can we do to achieve it. When we talk with ourselves we get a lot of self motivation and make our mind growing by saying that if others can do it you can also do it.

Get out of comfort zone: In this we have to challenge ourselves that this is a situation which is difficult but not impossible and try our best to solve that situation which will help us a lot to think deeply and grow our mindset.

Create new habits: in this you have to create new habits which are very useful for you and help you to change and grow your mind and also write daily learning so that you can easily assess what you have learnt each day.

Ask people help: In this make a solution or just start your work and then ask the people which you know will help you genuinely and then make your work more effective.

Fake it till you make it: In this we have to fake the things which we are learning daily and it help us a lot to increase our competency and confidence.

Now, after observing all the Amal totkay which are very helpful to make our mind grow I want to share about my personal favourite totka is self talk because by self talk we can give ourselves motivation to start working on it and also tells ourselves which strategies are required to make the work successful and also reach it to extra mile.

I started implementing already is self talk and ask people help and open my mind to seek help from my dearest people to make my work better because we clearly know that ek or ek gyara concept.
Machine learning, data annotation and text analytics for designers
By: Sofiya Urumova
Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Product Design, Design Systems, User Experience, AI

Artificial Intelligence has been a trending topic for the last 5+ years. It had its peek for a most searched term on Google in January, 2018. I had the chance to join the front line in April, 2018 and I have been honored to do my small part in the contemporary Machine Learning landscape.

Often when people refer to Artificial Intelligence, they mean Machine Learning. Machine Learning is a scientific study explored in detail by many an expert in the field. In simple terms, it is the process of teaching a machine to deduct information in order to complete given tasks. It may be a simple task as classifying a paragraph of text or a more complex one as named-entity recognition.

For further readings on the subject, I recommend these helpful resources: Machine Learning from The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series and the Artificial Intelligence Driven Design Series from Awwwards.

The project

In order to learn, the machine needs to be taught through training data.

For that project, the training data was written text that varied from online product reviews to survey responses to chat bot conversations and others.

The process of transforming the original data into training data involves manual annotations of the text. This is a long, painstaking and error-prone approach.

The problem

How to annotate data fast and produce high quality text annotation on a large scale?

There are existing tools that offer rapid annotations such as Brat and Prodigy but none of them provides the base of a scalable annotation process in a timely manner.

A very talented engineer and I, the product designer, took the initiative to design an internal annotation platform, which will allow :

text annotation,

curation,

correction and

review of the data.

The final goal was to design a suite of products that will allow the NLP(Natural Language Processing) team to work together in a fast and collaborative manner on the same platform. That was how Sapiens was born.

The solution

A multi-faceted platform for data annotation.
Building a colour system to unify illustrations
By: Tung Pham
Tags: Branding, Design Systems, Illustration, UI, Case Study

HSL colour model seemed to be a better solution as it produced a more vivid colour palette. I however was not really satisfied with dark yellow swatches so I did some further experiments. Let’s have a look at 2 examples below:

Figure 1 is showing 2 yellow swatches of same saturation and lightness but different hues while Figure 2 is showing 2 yellow swatches of same hue and brightness but different saturation. You can see that the yellow swatches on the right of both examples seem to be darker even though they have the same lightness or brightness as their counterpart. This experiment brought me to a point that Lightness (in HSL) or Brightness (in HSB) is not necessary the only parameter that control how light or dark a colour could be seen. Apparently, each colour naturally has its own luminance — the perceived brightness of a colour. If we convert the whole colour spectrum to grayscale, we can easily see that at the same Lightness / Brightness, yellow is brighter than orange; orange is brighter than red; cyan is brighter than blue and etc... It means that instead of only adjusting lightness of yellow for example, we could shift the hue toward orange to get a darker swatch while maintaining the vividness.
These little things … surgical gloves and winter hats
By: Deborah Unger
Tags: Masks, Hats, Surgical Gloves, Spring, Winter

In 2003 we bought a box of surgical gloves. The SARS epidemic was a threat. We had moved from India to Brazil at the beginning of the year and worried the virus would catch up with us. We bought masks too. These items, well past their sell-by-dates, have since travelled with us from Brazil to Germany and then to the UK. I found them recently at the bottom of a pile of things in my under-stairs cupboard and was quietly pleased.

Now ,as I walk the streets exercising myself and the dog, I have noticed that used gloves and masks are dotted all over the place, discarded prophylactics that no one tries to hide — though they are litter. Most of the gloves are blue.

There’s one other item that I am seeing more than before: winter woollen hats. They are of all colours, some striped, some with pompoms. It’s a sign that spring is here. People forget they were wearing them when it felt nippy as they left home and don’t miss the warmth when they fall off or out of bags. I don’t think of them as litter but, as I don’t wear my gloves to walk the dog, I leave them where I see them.
Covid-19 & the Mask Conundrum — Part II
By: The Grey Matter
Tags: Covid 19, Flu, Health, Masks, Coronavirus

What more happened on masks?

Some cities and states in the US, like Colorado and New York City, have asked people to cover their faces when out in public. The US CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) also released new guidelines recommending that people wear homemade face coverings to prevent spread of Covid-19.

They also reiterated that respirators like N95 should be used by health care providers only. CDC also released a video where the US surgeon general demonstrates how face masks can be made at home itself.

There was also one easy to read twitter thread by a Virologist which summarized the insights from researchers in Germany from studying the replication pattern of Covid-19 in small number of patients.

The summary of the thread being that we should be wearing masks, even if we aren’t infected.

Another study, which was published in The Lancet, by researchers from University of Hongkong looked at how long the virus can survive on surfaces. The most important takeaway, w.r.t. masks, was that the virus can survive on outer layer of face mask for a week!