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Geeks

geeks

The Geeks of War: How Dzyga's Paw Innovated Ukraine's Drone Operations

I’ve recently bumped into a couple of thought-provoking R&D research studies that inspired me to dive in and elaborate further on their findings. One recent study by suggests that although supply chain disruption is the top challenge that organizations across different domains are grappling with today, they’re also facing growing pressures due to continuously accelerating innovation development cycles and faster time to market. Deloitte Another study by finds that “attracting and retaining technical talent” is the top challenge facing R&D leaders in 2022. In particular, of R&D leaders surveyed by Gartner say it’s critical to solve this challenge for the overall performance of their department, and of leaders are confident in their company’s ability to solve it in the next 12 to 18 months. One more significant challenge identified by Gartner is that of R&D Heads find it challenging to optimize their R&D resourcing. Gartner 96% 53% 81% These findings imply that the lack of qualified R&D talents can significantly slow down corporate innovation in general and next-generation product development. This can drastically affect the evolution of the cutting-edge technologies required to remove current technical constraints and find non-trivial, outside-the-box solutions for newly discovered problems that had never existed before. To better understand the difference between R&D engineers and mainstream, regular developers and how to bridge the R&D skills gap effectively, I’ve talked to Victor Dornescu , Chief Innovation Officer and Co-Founder of a Romanian software company rinf.tech that has its own R&D Center for Embedded Development and IoT in Bucharest. Victor, what defines a good R&D strategy today? Essentially, it’s a Team. A cohesive multidisciplinary team can drive any R&D project to success and bridge the gap between science and engineering. For R&D engineers to bring value to any research, they must work closely with people skilled in many other areas and leverage the so-called “group intelligence.” Working in a multidisciplinary team can help engineers abstract from generic findings and self-evident conclusions and focus on discoveries that can create from scratch or disrupt and enrich the existing body of knowledge on a particular subject matter. That being said, a good is to: R&D strategy properly define the problem that needs to be solved through research, assemble a team that will provide space for people with different skill sets and backgrounds to complement each other’s knowledge, and expand and narrow the scope while filtering and venting the backlog by killing zombie ideas/features that will take the team astray. Given the current shortage of R&D engineering talent, as indicated by many recent research studies, where can businesses (especially the non-tech ones) looking to innovate and indulge in engineering research source such talent? And what should they focus on when building their R&D teams? Co-creation is emerging as today’s innovation model of choice, with corporations exploring collaboration with academia, startups, custom software development providers, and even competitors. Pairing engineers with scientists and researchers to work on R&D pilots and proof-of-concept (PoC) projects isn’t easy, as these two groups of specialists are used to different methodologies and approaches. Scientists discover new things while engineers make things work. So, answering your question, there’re a couple of factors to consider. First, make sure you have the ability to search for diverse, multidisciplinary talents both inside and outside your organization. Second, when creating perfect candidate profiles, focus on attracting people from different domains with strong . system- and innovative thinking skills Third, make sure they have done the same or similar thing before and have relevant composable (reusable) assets to speed up the work. Can you provide a real-world example? Some time ago, Honda Research Institute built a multidisciplinary R&D team to explore in-depth data structure format. As they were looking to integrate real-world software engineers with their research team, they turned to rinf.tech and involved three of our team members as research contributors. Our employees participated in the early discussions on the research concept, reviewed the study, and helped develop the virtual language and debugging tool to validate the findings. Multithreading in JavaScript using a JSEN That being said, Honda Research Institute assembled a multidisciplinary team and created conditions supporting cross-skill collaboration, brainstorming, agility, innovative thinking, and others. Thanks to this strategy, they came to several important conclusions like this one: with JSEN, it is possible to execute functions concurrently, avoiding blocking the JavaScript main thread. Today, there’s an acute need to integrate scientists and researchers with coders and software developers, architects, hardware engineers, business analysts, marketing and HR people. Instead of applying when evaluating potential R&D team members, consider applying the so-called . T-matrix π (pai)-matrix Can you explain more about the π-matrix? It is a concept first coined by Airbus. In the past, people were expected to specialize in just one technology area ( ) and have some knowledge of related technical topics ( ). a vertical line in T-matrix a hotizontal line in T-matrix In software engineering, this created a situation when developers lacked business understanding and didn’t share their clients’ mission, vision, and values when building their custom products. This resulted in a strong technical focus but a disconnect from the development strategy, engagement model, overheads at post-production stages, cumbersome, buggy, and partially effective solutions, and other negative business consequences. Over 70% of the code written is never used. A new breed of engineers should have multidisciplinary technical specialization plus related technical disciplines as in the full T-matrix), as well as a good understanding of business functions ( ) paired with mastery of the innovation contradictions ( ). the horizontal line in the π-matrix second vertical line in the π-matrix π-shaped engineers typically work at the intersection of technology, business and society and understand the key performance indicators and functions such as sales, marketing, and HR to be able to deliver actual value and drive modern research. To better manage expectations and R&D outputs, they need to be flexible in changing things on the fly, as projects can change a lot after an MVP stage and target user feedback. They need to be elastic in giving up their planning and direction for a pivot towards a new set of objectives, then renounce their attachment to the comfort of carefully built client relationships and select just a few out of many in order to essentialize new features and scale with those only. They are required to mind-bend in changing research concepts and shifting from an initial focus. It may seem like a straight line, but it’s cyclical like innovation itself, so the engineers must accommodate contradictory directions. Summing up, the ‘T shaped’ engineers are those who appreciate the existence and importance of other engineering roles and technical disciplines and can cross technical boundaries conceptually and in terms of vocabulary and ways of working. Extending this ‘T’ to ‘π’ means engineers are additionally able to work effectively with all business functions (2nd horizontal line) - marketing and sales, services, finance and procurement, etc. - which must be supported by the (2nd vertical line). innovation competency And what constraints exist in transitioning from a T-shaped into a π-shaped engineer? I’d say many constraints are coming from the innovation life cycle. Many engineers still live in the paradigms of fixed-scope projects or agile models, which affects how they treat projects and deliver value. Modern R&D engineers should be able to pivot and change directions. Therefore, they need to keep an open scope and be able to brainstorm, accommodate, reorient and find the way forward within cyclical roadmaps. It’s a new shift in the engineering mindset they should pursue to become π-shaped. So what does it take to turn T-shaped people into π-shaped ones? I think this happens naturally. Today, engineers are influenced significantly by entrepreneurs and salespeople, scientists and researchers, HR and marketing people, creative hipsters, growth hackers, , etc. They form a new social club, and they add value to any type of project, not just R&D. hustlers But still, how is this possible? Well, the engineers are users as well! As new technologies emerge, evolve and catch on, more engineers tend to master them, so there’s an interesting trend of “traditional” engineers transforming themselves into data engineers or AI engineers. Considering the boost in Quantum Computing research (with 127 Qubits of data having been processed by Intel to date and 300 Qubits expected to be processed by the end of the year), many new opportunities pop up for R&D engineers to become π-shaped. So, to wrap it up, modern R&D leaders should be driving the evolution and maturity of a new generation of π-shaped engineers by creating favorable conditions for multidisciplinary collaboration among diverse skills and functions within their teams. On the other hand, academia should promote such new skills among STEM students and adjust their curricula and programs accordingly. This should be a joint effort between the corporate (business) and education (science) worlds. And keep in mind – it is well underway already. Images courtesy of rinf.tech

Growing Geeks Into π-shaped R&D Engineers

Some gift ideas for your programmer friends and family members for holidays and links to buy them. Hello guys, it’s that time of the year again when we love to spend time with family and friends, buy gifts for them and show our love and care to them. My friend circle has a lot of programmers and non-programmers and when it comes to buying gifts for birthdays, anniversary or holidays, I receive a lot of queries from my non-programmer family and friends about what to buy for a programmer? Well, buying a gift is easy but choosing the right gift for someone is really really tough. I have had this experience when it comes to buying gifts for kids. I know they like toys but my wife told me to buy something more valuable, which will not only keep them engaged but also provide some value, help them in learning and they appreciate every time they use. That’s a lot to cater in one single gift, but that’s the perfect gift, isn’t it? Same goes for programmers, you buy them something which they don’t care will not make a difference, they will gleefully accept it and it will remain in a corner of the house. But, if you give something which they can use daily or carve for, they will not only remember you every day but also appreciate your sense of gift. You will be on their good books for a long time. This is particularly important if you try to impress your colleague or boss, who happens to be a technical guy or programmer. some are good but if they are very expensive and you can’t afford them then it not useful. Like any gift, the budget is very important, gifts But, if you want to give someone who is dear to you e.g. your husband, boyfriend, brother, or just a close friend, you definitely want to buy more valuable gifts. That’s why I have included both valuable and somewhat expensive as well as many affordable gifts, which you can buy under 100$ or a little bit higher. Top 10 Gifts for Programmers and IT Pros Here are some of the best gifts you can give to your programmer friends. The gifts are listed in random order and some of them are costly, you can choose based on your budget. 1. MacBook Pro Programmers Love Gadgets and nothing beats Apple when it comes to gadgets. If you are programmer friends doesn’t have MacBook Pro then its a very good idea to gift that to him. Sure, it’s costly, but if he is someone you love or very close to, then its definitely worth it and whoever you gift it, will not forget you for a long time. 2. Plurasight Membership Programmer appreciates memberships and Pluarlsight is like the NetFlix for Software developers. It contains 5000+ online courses on all latest topics like front-end and back-end development, machine learning etc. It also includes interactive quizzes, exercises, and latest certification material. Since learning is an important part of programming job, Plurlasight membership is a great way to stay ahead of your competition. You can buy the , which cost around 299$. It’s the little bit expensive but it offers him a lot of choices on learning and your programmer friend will appreciate everytime he uses it. Plurasight annual membership If you are concerned about the cost side then monthly membership is also a good option, which cost around 29$. The annual membership of Pluralsight is a little bit costly, but it’s worth every penny. Btw, if you get lucky, you may get some holiday offers, last time I bought Pluarlsight membership on during the same period. 33% discount 3. Amazon Prime Music subscription Another thing Programers Loves is music, they just never get tired of listening to music. Many programmers, in fact, need music to work and increase their productivity. Amazon Music is the biggest collection of music and your programmer friend will surely find something he loves in this big store of music. He will appreciate your thoughts and effort, every time he listens to music on his bose headset as well. 4. A Raspberry Pi Raspberry Pi has been around for a while, but it seems like it just keeps getting awesome. Programmers are curious people and them to play with electronics. Raspberry Pi is an entire mini-computer for a ridiculously cheap price and you can get an awesome bundle, like this one, which adds all kinds of cool stuff to play with. It’s also great for tinkering around with a teaching programming to kids or making your own network of servers. Once, I ran Linux on my and used putty to connect it, how awesome is that? In short, one of the best gadget to gift your programmer friend. Rasberry Pi 5. Books Similar to gadgets and music Programmers also like books a lot, but with the book, there is confusion. Which book you should buy for them? A novel, a programming book or something else. Well, even though many programmers like fantasy books and novels they are not so valuable for them but if you buy them something like , books which every programmer can read, they will appreciate it more. Soft Skills: The software developer’s life manual If you need more books to gift programmes there are a lot of choices available, you should check out my list of 10 books every programmer should read . here 6. A Fitness club membership This is another awesome gift you can give someone you love. Since many programmers lack physical activity, you not only encouraging to do more physical activity but also improving their lifestyle. They may not appreciate in a short time but they will surely do in the long run :-) After all, Health is Wealth and you have just got one body to live in :-) If you want some inspiration, you can also read book, another perfect gift when it comes to combining both Fitness and book. The Healthy Programmer The Healthy Programmer 7. Logitech G710+ Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Every programmer needs a good keyboard and your friend will not be different. Though some programmer like silent keyboard and some programmers like a Gaming keyboard, I like gaming one more because I also play games on my PC. Logitech is one of the best companies for peripheral devices, so to me, this keyboard is a great buy. In addition to being a fantastic mechanical keyboard, it also has a bunch of really cool gaming features, so I’m a big fan of it. 8. Games Like gadgets, music, and books, Programmers loves Games too, well I certainly do. I have grown up playing Nintendo games like Super Mario Bros, Mortal Combat and I still play games on my . Xbox So, either you can buy your friends a gaming console like Xbox or Nintendo PI or if he already has one, you can buy them games like . That’s something they will enjoy for sure. Minecraft 9. Intel Boxed Compute Stick with Windows 10 Pre-Loaded This is a really awesome gift for tech geeks? An entire computer, complete with Windows 10, on a stick. You just plug this thing into a TV or monitor and you have a computer. And the best part of it is that it will just you over $100. Simply Awesome. 10. Gift a course from Udemy Programmers love online courses, including me and Udemy is the biggest collection of online courses. It has got over 85,000 online courses to learn anything e.g. starting from popular programming language like Java and Python to advanced technology e.g. Big Data, Automation, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Machine learning, Robotics etc. Udemy allows you to send a course or a gift card to your programmer friend, you just need to enter his email while purchasing the course. My wife gifted me the and I simply loved it. If your husband is interested in Data Science, Machine Learning, or Artificial intelligence then you can gift that too. Machine Learning A-Z: Hands-On Python & R In Data Science Machine Learning A-Z: Hands-On Python & R In Data Science If you know what your husband or boyfriend like then you can choose some awesome courses from Udemy otherwise just bought a gift card for them. That’s all on this . I am sure, your programmer friend or colleague will love any gift from this list. You can buy them for their birthday or them during the coming holidays. list of 10 awesome gift ideas for programmers gift I know its hard to choose a gift but whatever time and effort you put to select a gift will be remembered forever by your friend if you keep their interest and needs in mind. Btw, if you are still not sure what to buy, you can also check out this from Amazon. Biggest Electronic Gift Guide If you have any other gift ideas then please share as I have told you … Buying a Gift is easy but finding the right gift for someone is really really tough. Happy Holidays and New Year.

10 Awesome Gift Ideas for Programmers and Geeks

Reading Tolkien can Broaden Your Command of English (even if you aren’t taking SATs) When I was in business school a few years ago, all the students were categorized (very informally) into “quants” or “poets” — based on whether you had an engineering/math background, or a liberal arts background. While I didn’t mind this categorization at all, I recall during my own middle and high school years that we geeks were stereotyped as not appreciating literature. Which is odd, because the one thing we geeks love to do is read. We may (or may not) have read Hemingway (except for in a class); but almost all geeks like to read SF&F (science fiction and fantasy). I first read t_he Hobbit_ ( a pretty easy read) and started reading the _Lord of the Rings (_not so easy read) when I was in the sixth grade. I’ve probably re-read them every few years since then (at least until the Peter Jackson movies came out) owning many different editions of the books. It wasn’t just Tolkien’s love for made-up languages that made it a tougher read (Tolkien after all was a professor of medieval languages at Oxford, and in fact, at one point he described the whole reason for the Middle Earth was that he wanted to complete the language of the Elves). For an impatient teenager like me who had grown up on Star Wars and Superman movies, it was also the “pacing” and what I thought of informally as the “boring parts”. I couldn’t really tell you the difference between dales and vales and glens and ferns and dells, I honestly could’ve cared less. I just wanted to get to the Elves and wizards and dwarves, and the incredible fantasy locales like Rivendell , the Mines of Moria, the Bridge of Khaza-dum or the magical Lothlorien. Tolkien liked to spend many paras describing the landscape that the hobbits were traveling through, including descriptions of flora and fauna and weather and the road on days where nothing of note happened. “It was the night of the fifth of October, and they were six days out from Bree. In the morning they found, for the first time since they had left the Chetwood, a track plain to see … It dived into dells, and hugged steep banks …” And then, every now and then there would be a passage like this one: “Great ilexes of huge girth stood dark and solemn in wide glades with here and there among them hoary ash-trees, and giant oaks …” I certainly know what an oak tree is. I am not ashamed to admit that I don’t know what an is (most likely a kind of tree!). I couldn’t tell you off hand what a glade is — something to do with trees (or lack thereof) . But what the hell are ? Again, I am not ashamed to admit, that as a fairly well educated geek — having read Tolkien dozens of times, and armed with degrees from MIT and Stanford — I have no idea what these are! ilex exactly hoary ash-trees Recently, I had a lot of time on my hands, and I re-read the full quadrilogy — rather than watching the Peter Jackson movies (which is what I had been doing in recent years when I was missing hanging out with some of my oldest friends — Bilbo, Frodo, Gandalf, not to mention Gimli, Legolas, Merry, Pippin and of course Strider). This time, I read the books on my kindle, which made it easier to look up the definitions of: a word that I had never heard of (happened now and then), a word that I only vaguely knew the meaning of (happened very often). Looking back, I wish I had this auto lookup ability when I was reading LOTR in high school - it just might have helped me with my verbal SAT scores! So, in honor of the many Geeks who love to read, and the many fans of Tolkien, here are 20 vocabulary words that I came across (and their corresponding definitions) in LOTR that you may not know: If you’ve read LOTR, how many of the words you already know ? Bonus if you can figure out where in LOTR the sample usage is located! : usage in LOTR : “‘No mail have we to fit you,’ said Eowyn, ‘nor any time for the forging of such a ; but here is also a stout of leather, a belt, and a knife.” def: a piece of armor originally covering only the neck and shoulders but later consisting of a full length coat of mail or military tunic. hauberk hauberk jerkin — def: a sleveless jacket. jerkin — def; “another term for HOLM OAK”, or “a tree or shrub of a genus that includes holly and its relatives”. ilex usage in LOTR given earlier. — usage in LOTR given earlier. def: this can mean “grayish-white” or “old and trite”. hoary —usage in LOTR: “Luminous these were too, beautiful and yet horrible of shape, like the demented forms in an uneasy dream; and they forth a faint sickening charnel-smell;” def: “associated with death”. charnel — usage in LOTR: “Looking out from the covert he could see only a dun, shadowless world, fading slowly into a featureless, colourless gloom.” def: of a dull grayish-brown color. dun — usage in LOTR: “and there were acres populous with the leaves of woodland hyacinths; already their sleek bell-stems …”. def: a bulbous plant of the lily family, with starlike leaves and a compact spike of bell shaped fragrant flowers. hyacinth —usage in LOTR: “Here Spring was already busy about them: fronds pierced moss and mould, larches were green-fingered, small flowers were opening in the turf, birds were singing.” def: the leaf or leaflike part of a palm, fern or similar plant. frond — a yellow flowered shrub of the pea family, the leaves of which are modified to form spines. LOTR usage: “For the most part it was covered with a thick growth of gorse and whortleberry, and low tough thorns.” gorse — usage in LOTR : “The host was bivouacked in the pine-woods that clustered about Eilenach Beacon, a tall hill standing up from the long ridges of he Druaden Forest …” def: a temporary camp without tents of cover, use esp. by soldiers or mountaineers. bivouac — LOTR usage: “The townlands were rich, with wide tilth and many orchards and homesteads there were with oast and garner, fold and byre, and many rills rippling through the green…”. def: a kiln for drying hops. oast — a concrete, stone, or metal platform lying alongside projecting into water for loading and unloading ships. “There Anduin, going in a wide kneee about the hills of Emyn Arnen in South Ithilien, bent sharply west, and the out-wall rose upon its very brink; and beneath it lay the quays.” quay — LOTR usage: “far back into the vanished years before the failing of the kings, since Vorondil father of Mardil hunted the wild kine of Araw in the far fields of Rhun.” def: cows collectively. kine — LOTR usage: “He cut out some turves at the foot of the bank just outside the fern-brake, and made a shallow hole and laid his fuel in it.” def: plural form of turf. turves — LOTR usage: “.. and other kinds unknown in the Shire, with wide glades among them;” def: an open space in a forest. glade — LOTR usage: “They are like great carrion birds.” def: the decaying flesh of dead animals. carrion — LOTR usage : “They were very small to look at, yet he knew, somehow that they were huge, with a vast stretch of pinion, flying at a great height.” def: the outer part of the a bird’s wing including the flight feathers. pinion — LOTR usage: “It seemed as if whole armies were on the march, though fro the. most part they were hidden by the reeks and fumes drifting form the fens and wastes beyond.” def: a low and marshy or frequently flooded area of land. fen — LOTR usage: “Day came, and the fallow sun blinked over the lifeless ridges of Ered Lithui.” There are several definitions and I got the wrong one at first: plowed and harrowed but left unsown for a period. The right definition: a pale brown or reddish yellow color. fallow . LOTR usage: “Many great trees grew there, planted long ago, falling into untended age amid a riot of careless descendants; and groves and thickets there were of tamarisk …” def: An Old World shrub or small tree with tiny scalelike leaves borne on slender branches, giving it a feathery appearance. tamarisk Bonus words: The townlands were rich, with wide tilth and many orchards and homesteads there were with oast and garner, fold and byre, and many rills rippling through the green…” OK so what exactly are: tilth, garner, fold, byre, and rills?? And there you go — these 20 are by no means the only vocabulary words I found in LOTR that I didn’t know. You can just pick up the book and within a few pages I think most modern readers, esp. geeks like me, won’t know the exact definition of. Tolkien had quite the vocabulary. In some cases he used words that while apparent to him what they meant, were hard even for the Kindle to look up using the New Oxford dictionary. As you’ll see above, many of the words dealt with nature — these may have been common knowledge to educated Englishmen of Tolkien’s generation, but to today’s American city-dwelling geeks, they might as well be made up Elvish names from the Undying Lands! Still, this time when I read the whole books, by not skipping “the boring parts”, I actually enjoyed his descriptions of the countryside. It really enhanced my respect for Tolkien the writer but also my appreciation for the clarity of his vision of Middle Earth. So who says SF&F can’t be educational too?

Vocabulary for Geeks and Hackers: Lord of the Rings Edition

A few days ago, I stumbled upon the following Tweet, claiming that this is the best cryptocurrency scam the author has ever seen Well if this scam is so brilliant, then it surely deserves a full-blown inquiry. In this post we will go through the details of this scam and hopefully we’ll learn a thing or two about Ethereum, private keys and scams. The Scam The scam is presented from the victims’ point of view, quoting their potential thoughts as they go through the steps of this scam. To make things even more entertaining, I encourage the readers to actually follow the steps on their own, but obviously refrain from sending money to any of the mentioned addresses. Part I: The Discovery The scammers have posted their private key in several public forums and chats. When other members of the forum had seen it, they probably thought: “Such a newbie IDIOT posting his private key: 716560d7fb3c7b937d9af8a532ff154e583320fc42abc46dfc29e0171a6a38e2!” A screenshot of one of the public forums in which the private key was disclosed https://tgwidget.com/widget/?id=5a04632283ba88122a8b4567 Disclosing a private key is of course a big no-no, as the private key is the only information needed to spend cryptocurrency. It’s the equivalent of leaving your wallet in the main street unattended. Part II: Looking inside the Wallet The next step for the more curious members of the forum was probably to find about the contents of this seemingly unattended wallet, left in the main street. “Well, let’s take a look what’s in the wallet.” Viewing the wallet contents and effectively taking control over it is achieved by importing the wallet through feeding the private key to a wallet app. For example, we can use the popular wallet app (MEW) MyEtherWallet Importing a wallet using its private key in MEW https://www.myetherwallet.com/#send-transaction “I’m pressing “unlock”… to find the public address associated with the private key 0x4F805BF6843b6dBd10F9066f27c0cd10fdB444ac and I’m very disappointed to see that the wallet has 0 Ether (ETH).” The public address of the wallet: 0 ETH, but may contain tokens “However, since I know that MEW does not excel in supporting tokens, I follow its suggestion and take a deeper look on the address using EtherScan” EtherScan view of the address. It contains $5K of coins https://etherscan.io/address/0x4f805bf6843b6dbd10f9066f27c0cd10fdb444ac “Ooh-La-La! Although there’s no Ether in the wallet, it holds more than $5000 worth of other Tokens!” Part III: Taking the Money out of the Wallet “Now let’s transfer the money from this poor fellas’ wallet to my wallet quickly, before someone else will get a hold of this treasure.” To do the transfer the account must pay fees, or “Gas” in the Ethereum lingo. MEW suggests the Gas amount to be paid is 21K, which is about 0.0005 Ether or $0.25. “Well, $0.25 is a very small amount, compared to the $5000 I can earn. So I transfer a small amount of Ether for the Gas to the wallet I’m about to empty its contents. Now I’m ready to make the transfer… But wait! I have no Ether in the address again! How did it happen?” Part IV: The Realization “Oh No! Someone had transferred the money I just sent to another address!” Taking a deeper look into the wallet’s history, we can see that it’s not the first time it happened. In fact there are many pairs of incoming transaction followed by an immediate transfer of the same amount (minus Gas) to another address 0x3f3eacb691462d3d067f031f88c9a8bc54fabc79 Taking a deeper look in the history of the address reveals multiple pairs of subsequent transactions https://etherscan.io/address/0x4f805bf6843b6dbd10f9066f27c0cd10fdb444ac “Damn! I was tricked! That poster in the public forum was not the IDIOT in this story, I was!” The scammers have probably written a script (just a regular script, nothing fancy or specific to Ethereum such as smart contract) to monitor their address before disclosing its private key, and whenever Ether is sent to the address, the scammers’ process creates a transaction, signed using the private key and transfers the money to another wallet of the scammer. That other wallet’s private key is not disclosed, naturally. Viewing this address’ history reveals that the scam had earned its creator a nice sum of almost $400 The scammers target address in which they store their loot https://etherscan.io/address/0x3f3eacb691462d3d067f031f88c9a8bc54fabc79 BTW, there’s even more technical depth to it, as the $5K worth of Tokens isn’t really spendable, but that’s a topic for another post. If you would like to dig deeper, please check Adam Hadar’s tweet The Social Engineering Elements in this Scam Although the scam has is interesting from the technical perspective, I think it’s even more intriguing from the psychological point of view. It’s basically an elegant version of the “ applied to cryptocurrency. In the original Nigerian Prince scam, the scammer persuades the victims that they can earn a lot of money, but just need to pay a relatively small amount before. When the victim pays, the scammer disappears with the loot. Nigerian Prince” scam All the elements of the Nigerian Prince scam are present: Easy money, that the victims feel that they already won, just need to pay a small amount to take care of some bureaucracy. In this case the Gas for the Ethereum transaction. Sense of urgency: Since the private key is “a wallet left in the main street” (i.e. posted in a public forum) it creates a potential race between the potential takers, as the winner takes it all. Sense of urgency is a as it disrupts the victim’s better judgement. common element of effective scams Accomplice in crime: Nigerian prince scams try to involve the victims in a shady operation, to make sure the victim will hesitate to report to the authorities. Similarly, in this case since the victims originally thought they are scamming the scammer, therefore they are not likely to protest as much. What makes this cryptocurrency version of the Nigerian Prince scam even more elegant than the original, is the fact there is no dialogue between the scammer and the victims to persuade them to do anything. It’s just an inevitable slippery slope once the victims start with it. Summing Up Once more it’s proven that honesty is the best policy. Don’t do shady things, even if you think that you know what you are doing. Private keys should be private. If you are using a private key that may have been published, you are at risk as you don’t know what others may do with the account and what they will do might eventually surprise you.

Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts: Autopsy of an Ethereum Based Scam

Being a Geek I Demand More Power From My Browser Hi there! My name is . I’m a webdesigner, coder and . I write about my journey in the . Alexander Isora entrepreneur startup Telegram channel My browser is my main weapon. I use it daily for 90% of my tasks. My life wouldn’t be so smooth without all these awesome extensions I’m about to share with you. Similar Web This is the extension I couldn’t even dream about. Similar Web uses dark magic to display traffic of websites, the traffic sources, geo some more extremely useful info. Get it: _See website traffic and key metrics for any website, including engagement rate, traffic ranking, keyword ranking and…_chrome.google.com SimilarWeb - Traffic Rank & Website Analysis Vimium: Vimium is the belle of the ball of the this list. Vimium makes using browser super fast by adding tons of tricky hotkeys. The key feature of Vimium is it’s modes. E.g. if you press ‘f’ you will enter the link mode. Each link on the page is now has it’s own short ID. Typing this ID will trigger the link. See the screenshot below. If I press “D” I will open the “About” page in the new tab. So damn fast 🚀 However, Vimium is not prfect. Some AJAXy websites will not work with this extension. So it’s too early to throw your mouse away 😅 See docs: _vimium — The hacker’s browser._github.com philc/vimium Get it: _The Hacker’s Browser. Vimium provides keyboard shortcuts for navigation and control in the spirit of Vim._chrome.google.com Vimium Grammarly Grammarly will make sure your messages, documents, and social media posts are clear, mistake-free, and impactful. It has neat UI and UX. I also love the way Grammarly encourage people to buy a pro version. You must pay to fix issues. Neat! advanced Get it: _Enhance your written communication everywhere you type!_chrome.google.com Grammarly for Chrome Image Size Info This small extension does only one thing: it shows an image’s dimensions. Since Chrome is not so geeky oriented as FireFox, we need such tiny extensions. Get it: _Inserts option in the browser's image context menu to view image width, height and file size._chrome.google.com Image Size Info Google Analytics Debugger Prints useful information to the JavaScript console. I use this tool when I need to debug custom Google Analytics events. Get it: _Prints useful information to the JavaScript console by enabling the debug version of the Google Analytics Javascript._chrome.google.com Google Analytics Debugger Tabstop Tabstop prevents tabs from loading when you start Chrome. Click on the blocked tab and it will automatically reload. This simple extension can dramatically reduce Chrome starting time. Get it: _Stops tabs from loading on startup_chrome.google.com Tabstop Session Buddy Session Buddy is a must have for anyone who can not The extension allows saving sessions, name them and search through them. A must have ⚡️ simply close all those tabs. Get it: _Manage Browser Tabs and Bookmarks with Ease_chrome.google.com Session Buddy Octotree This extension shows code tree for GitHub and GitLab. Much simpler to navigate through repos with 🐙tree. Get it: _Code tree for GitHub_chrome.google.com Octotree Ratings Preview for YouTube™ Another ‘why did not they do this themselves?!’ extension. It shows a small rating bar under each thumbnail. So you know in advance whether a video is nice or not. Get it: _Show the likes and dislikes bar over every video thumbnail in YouTube so that you can know its rating before watching…_chrome.google.com Preview for YouTube™ The Great Suspender This extension suspends unused tabs and frees up system resources. Neat! Get it: _Automatically suspends unused tabs to free up system resources_chrome.google.com The Great Suspender Papier I need maaany places to drop my thoughts. Evernote for a structured data, Telegram for fast todos on-the-way, Notion for collaboration, stickers, whiteboard. And here is another one I use: Papier. It’s a simple text editor that shows itself when you open a new tab. Get it: _Open a new tab and trap your best thoughts._chrome.google.com Papier Fontface Ninja Ever asked yourself ‘what font does this website use?‘. Then you will love Fontface Ninja. Get it: _Explore fonts within a website, try, bookmark and buy them !_chrome.google.com Fontface Ninja Marmoset Marmoset is actually not an extension but an app. Anyway, it’s pretty damn great. Marmoset allows creating beautiful code screenshots fast: Perfect for the ones who often writes tech articles. Get it: _Create gorgeous code snapshots._chrome.google.com Marmoset Lighthouse And the last but not the least, is an open-source, automated tool for improving the performance, quality, and correctness of your web apps. Lighthouse Made by , and 100 more awesome contributors, Lighthouse is the number one software to track performance today. Paul Irish Paul Lewis Get it: Lighthousechrome.google.com Lighthouse Conclusion 🔥 Hope you guys enjoyed this list. If so, clap your hands — it’s the best gratitude. I’m hungry for new terrific extensions. Got something not listed here? Share in the comments or in . Twitter Btw, if you want to learn more about , check out this post in my blog: launching a product on Product Hunt https://isora.me/what-ive-learned-from-publishing-10-product-hunt-projects/

14 Hot Chrome Extensions for Geeks 🔥

Thank you for having elevated our evergreen community, we cannot wait to hear your story 💚 Introduction Introduction My I.T. superhero origin story goes like this: I got my degree in Theater and promptly realized the world didn’t need another short young scrawny nebbishy looking actor (at the time, Matthew Broderick had that corner of the market sewn up). I fell into IT training almost by accident, but it allowed me to feed my family while also having a very perform-ative element to it. I was able to take complex technical concepts and make them understandable, relatable, and even funny. After 5 years of in-class work I was ready to take my show on the road. I got a job at a “real” company and worked my way up the IT food chain from helpdesk to desktop support to sysadmin and network engineering. Then I took a weird sideways shift to work on “Tivoli”, a monitoring, inventory, and software distribution tool. From that point on, for the next 27 years, monitoring and observability was my jam. I used just about every tool out there, and applied it in environments that ranged from modest to moderate to mind-boggling. And then, 11 years ago, one of those monitoring vendors asked if I’d like to be one of their “Head Geeks”, a term that seemed cooler than “Technical Evangelist” - the prevailing term at the time. The role allowed me to leverage the technical knowledge I’d acquired up until then, but weave in my penchant for writing, public speaking, and being an all-around show-off. And that’s what I’ve been doing since. How Did You Start Writing? I’ve always been a person-who-writes. Whether it was diary entries or compulsive classroom notes (not about the subject. That was boring. But if you wanted to know who’s chair made a fart noise in social studies, I was your guy.) When I became a Head Geek / Developer Relations Advocate / Technical Evangelist / Dancing Bear the writing I did naturally became part of my job. How Has Technology Impacted The Way You Write? While I imagine myself as the type of writer who could do well with a trusty underwood or even a fancy IBM selectric, the truth is that there are a number of tools that I use in small but significant ways. Obviously the internet itself - with the ability to research almost anything without leaving the comfort of my chair - is a biggie. Likewise are utilities that have become so ubiquitous as to be virtually invisible at this point - everything from spell- and grammar-checking to word counters and beyond. Beyond that, the most important tool I have isn’t one that helps me do this, but rather a tool that helps me NOT do things: focus mode. My cell phone is another important tool (not to writing specifically, but to my life in general), but it’s also a huge stumbling block to me when I need to get work done. As a 57 year old guy with undiagnosed ADHD, someone who learned to cope back before all the amazing adaptations we have today, I have nevertheless amassed my own collection of coping mechanisms. Focus mode on my phone is one of them, and a big one at that. However, at the very top of my list of technologies that impact my writing are keyboards. Yes, I’m one of THOSE people. The kind of person who knows the difference between Cherry MX red, brown, or blue and have an opinion about it to boot. My all time favorite keyboard is an old Sun Microsystems Type 5 keyboard. It’s got just the right amount of play but also a softness to it. It also has a Mini-Din 8a connector. Yes, it looks like an old PS2 connector but it is decidedly NOT. Which is why I was DELIGHTED to drop $65 for an adapter that lets me use my favorite keyboard with modern equipment. an adapter For me, having a keyboard that feels good using is a big part of getting past my lizard brain that comes up with all kinds of reasons NOT to write. Share About Your Journey Highlights? (Share with us the highs and the lows, pivotal moments that reshaped your creative path.) The most important moment that helped me pivot from a-person-who-likes-to-write to “a writer” came 11 years ago, when my career shifted from being an individual contributor (specifically a IT practitioner who helped design, implement, and maintain monitoring systems) to a developer relations advocate for a software vendor. That role is ALL ABOUT writing, and it gave me the reason, time, and motivation to spend serious quality time at the keyboard, and make the mistakes necessary to learn and grow in the craft. What’s Your Creative Process? (Do you have a specific writing routine? How do you get ideas for your articles?) In her now-famous TED talk, “Your Elusive Creative Genius“, author Elizabeth Gilbert talked about her creative process. Rather than the cliched lightning stroke of inspiration, of the artist crying “Eureka” and leaping out of bed to immediately (and instantly, in one sitting) create a masterpiece, Ms. Gilbert said of herself, TED talk, “Your Elusive Creative Genius“ I’m a mule, and the way that I have to work is I have to get up at the same time every day, and sweat and labor and barrel through it really awkwardly. I’m a mule, and the way that I have to work is I have to get up at the same time every day, and sweat and labor and barrel through it really awkwardly. That is a really important point to share here, to anyone reading this and wondering “Why is this so hard for me? Maybe I’m just not a creative person.” Please never doubt that you, dear reader, ARE. It is hard for all of us. It is a slog, sometimes. It is work  - “…the dogsbody work of writing” was how another writer put it once. dogsbody That said, my creative process is a blend. There are days when the topic isn’t grabbing me and  the ideas simply aren’t there. In those moments, the advice of every writing coach on the planet holds true: keep writing anyway. Write anything. Write about not having any good ideas. Write about what you see out your window. Just. Write. But… Other moments - happily for me, many moments - the ideas fly faster than my fingers can type them. In those moments my ADHD brain isn’t a freight train, it’s the Broadway production of Starlight Express - dozens of actors on rollerblades streaking in multiple directions at breakneck speed, all vying for my attention. I bounce from typing a paragraph for the work at hand to jotting notes in Joplin - sometimes on the same topic, sometimes something completely disassociated. By the time I’m done, I might have 3 or 4 paragraphs of good material, and 6 or 7 other essay ideas (not all of them good). But if I try to focus down to one thing, I end up with no-thing. The act of saying “stop” to any of those ideas ends gives me a case of creative constipation. So my process has adapted to just keep the movement going, and clean up the mess afterward. Also… ew. Sorry for that mental image. Your Favorite Memory/Article(s) to This Day? Over the 11 years as a DevRel Advocate, I’ve had a chance to create a lot of stuff. With that volume of work, it’s hard to pick a favorite. Also, like coding itself, when I look back on older things I’ve written there are parts I like and there are parts that I wish I’d done better (but I also recognize I couldn’t have done them better because I wasn’t at that point in my journey yet.) create a lot of stuff With all of that said, so far this year, the piece I’ve enjoyed most is “HOW TO DEVREL: It Might Not Be New, But It’s Yours” HOW TO DEVREL: It Might Not Be New, But It’s Yours How Did You Hear About HackerNoon? Share With Us About Your Experience With HackerNoon. I originally heard about HackerNoon from one of my DevRel coworkers. I was looking for a community that had a large, vibrant, engaged audience where I could share my thoughts - ostensibly about tech, but also about whatever was top of mind for me - and I realized that HackerNoon, from the bright 8-bit aesthetic to the cheeky notifications, was the right place for my work. What Have You Learnt From Your Journey? I’ve been around the block a time or 10 so there are SO MANY things I’ve learned along the way: The single greatest skill anyone can have is the ability to quickly and comfortably say “I don’t know, but I would love to find out and share it with you.”
You will always learn more from your mistakes, mis-steps, and missed shots than you will from your nothing-but-net wins. Learning to see those moments for what they are and make the most of them is huge.
Just because you don’t feel like it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. Conversely, just because you want to do it doesn’t mean you should.
Putting gas in the tank - yes I mean taking a break, but also reading, talking to other people, and experiencing other people’s creative work - is critical to your growth as a creator.
Anybody who tells you that you’re not enough - not old enough or young enough or experienced enough or skilled enough or whatever - is scared of you. Not just who you are today, but what you might become tomorrow if they don’t shut you down now. See them for what they are, and get past them as quickly as you can.

That also applies to the voice in your own head telling you that you can’t.
Yes, I have one of those voices too. I know how hard it is to shut it down or ignore it. Keep trying. The single greatest skill anyone can have is the ability to quickly and comfortably say “I don’t know, but I would love to find out and share it with you.” You will always learn more from your mistakes, mis-steps, and missed shots than you will from your nothing-but-net wins. Learning to see those moments for what they are and make the most of them is huge. Just because you don’t feel like it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. Conversely, just because you want to do it doesn’t mean you should. Putting gas in the tank - yes I mean taking a break, but also reading, talking to other people, and experiencing other people’s creative work - is critical to your growth as a creator. Anybody who tells you that you’re not enough - not old enough or young enough or experienced enough or skilled enough or whatever - is scared of you. Not just who you are today, but what you might become tomorrow if they don’t shut you down now. See them for what they are, and get past them as quickly as you can.

That also applies to the voice in your own head telling you that you can’t.
Yes, I have one of those voices too. I know how hard it is to shut it down or ignore it. Keep trying. That also applies to the voice in your own head telling you that you can’t.
Yes, I have one of those voices too. I know how hard it is to shut it down or ignore it. Keep trying. That also applies to the voice in your own head telling you that you can’t. Yes, I have one of those voices too. I know how hard it is to shut it down or ignore it. Keep trying.

Meet HackerNoon Top Writer: Leon Adato - Discussing Transition to Tech, Writing, And Overall Journey

As someone who has spent years in the trenches of startup and tech ecosystems, I’ve seen a common thread: incredible products with underperforming sales teams. I wanted to unpack this deeper and find out how the top revenue operators break that cycle. That search led me to Ashkan Rajaee. Ashkan isn’t your typical sales leader. He’s an architect of sales systems—an engineer at heart who just happens to work in revenue. When I spoke to him about how he’s grown companies across sectors like SaaS, telecom, real estate, and travel tech, one thing became clear: Ashkan approaches sales the way a CTO approaches system design. And it works. Sales Isn’t About Hustle—It’s About Engineering Ashkan’s philosophy flies in the face of the old-school “coffee is for closers” attitude. He’s built repeatable, scalable systems that have generated hundreds of millions in revenue and closed deals spanning continents. 300% revenue growth at a telecom firm, becoming one of the youngest senior directors in the industry.
520% market expansion for a travel SaaS company breaking into new regions.
€700M in assets secured for a real estate asset manager entering U.S. and European markets.
850%+ revenue surges in multiple SaaS ventures, one of which exited via acquisition. 300% revenue growth at a telecom firm, becoming one of the youngest senior directors in the industry. 300% revenue growth 520% market expansion for a travel SaaS company breaking into new regions. 520% market expansion €700M in assets secured for a real estate asset manager entering U.S. and European markets. €700M in assets 850%+ revenue surges in multiple SaaS ventures, one of which exited via acquisition. 850%+ revenue surges But numbers only tell part of the story. What struck me is how Ashkan builds teams that replicate his success, turning knowledge into a framework that outlives his direct involvement. replicate Inside Ashkan’s Playbook: Lessons for Tech Founders and Operators So, what exactly makes Ashkan’s approach stand out for someone who geeks out on ops, growth loops, and product-market fit like I do? Mindset Engineering: Ashkan starts by rewiring how teams think about selling. “Sales is about confidence through competence,” he told me. It’s not bravado—it’s understanding a product so well you can communicate its value without breaking a sweat. Think: technical fluency meets storytelling.


Buyer Psychology is UX Research: Ashkan treats client motivations the way a product team treats user personas. He teaches teams to map emotional and business triggers—risk aversion, innovation appetite, cost sensitivity—and adjust their narrative accordingly. It’s not just about selling a product, but solving a pain point buried beneath corporate politics.


Sales Ops is a Tech Stack, Not a To-Do List: Whether it’s wrangling a messy CRM or building out real-time pipeline dashboards, Ashkan applies the same rigor you’d expect from a well-oiled dev workflow. Deal velocity, conversion rates, and lead scoring become KPIs that trigger interventions before problems snowball.


Long-Term Pipelines > Short-Term Wins: Some of the most successful deals Ashkan has led turned into long-term partnerships that fed revenue streams for years. His coaching emphasizes that follow-ups, account nurturing, and client success = competitive moat. Mindset Engineering: Ashkan starts by rewiring how teams think about selling. “Sales is about confidence through competence,” he told me. It’s not bravado—it’s understanding a product so well you can communicate its value without breaking a sweat. Think: technical fluency meets storytelling. Mindset Engineering: Ashkan starts by rewiring how teams think about selling. “Sales is about confidence through competence,” he told me. It’s not bravado—it’s understanding a product so well you can communicate its value without breaking a sweat. Think: technical fluency meets storytelling. Mindset Engineering Buyer Psychology is UX Research: Ashkan treats client motivations the way a product team treats user personas. He teaches teams to map emotional and business triggers—risk aversion, innovation appetite, cost sensitivity—and adjust their narrative accordingly. It’s not just about selling a product, but solving a pain point buried beneath corporate politics. Buyer Psychology is UX Research: Ashkan treats client motivations the way a product team treats user personas. He teaches teams to map emotional and business triggers—risk aversion, innovation appetite, cost sensitivity—and adjust their narrative accordingly. It’s not just about selling a product, but solving a pain point buried beneath corporate politics. Buyer Psychology is UX Research Sales Ops is a Tech Stack, Not a To-Do List: Whether it’s wrangling a messy CRM or building out real-time pipeline dashboards, Ashkan applies the same rigor you’d expect from a well-oiled dev workflow. Deal velocity, conversion rates, and lead scoring become KPIs that trigger interventions before problems snowball. Sales Ops is a Tech Stack, Not a To-Do List: Whether it’s wrangling a messy CRM or building out real-time pipeline dashboards, Ashkan applies the same rigor you’d expect from a well-oiled dev workflow. Deal velocity, conversion rates, and lead scoring become KPIs that trigger interventions before problems snowball. Sales Ops is a Tech Stack, Not a To-Do List Long-Term Pipelines > Short-Term Wins: Some of the most successful deals Ashkan has led turned into long-term partnerships that fed revenue streams for years. His coaching emphasizes that follow-ups, account nurturing, and client success = competitive moat. Long-Term Pipelines > Short-Term Wins: Some of the most successful deals Ashkan has led turned into long-term partnerships that fed revenue streams for years. His coaching emphasizes that follow-ups, account nurturing, and client success = competitive moat. Long-Term Pipelines > Short-Term Wins A Case Study: How He Turned Rookies into Closers Fast One story Ashkan shared stuck with me. He took a team of junior reps with no enterprise experience and within a month had them closing multi-million-dollar deals. No magic wand. Just hands-on coaching: live-call feedback, role-playing tough negotiations, and breaking down real objections. The impact? Their pipeline doubled, and deal velocity shot through the roof. Why Tech Founders Should Pay Attention If you’re scaling a SaaS startup or leading a technical product team, there’s a strong chance you’ve under-invested in your sales systems. Here’s what I took away from my time with Ashkan: Sales is a system, not a personality contest.
Training > talent acquisition—Ashkan’s teams win because of how they’re built, not just who’s on them.
Data-fueled sales ops is the untapped growth lever most companies ignore.
Customer lifetime value starts at hello, not post-close. Sales is a system, not a personality contest. Sales is a system Training > talent acquisition—Ashkan’s teams win because of how they’re built, not just who’s on them. Training > talent acquisition Data-fueled sales ops is the untapped growth lever most companies ignore. Data-fueled sales ops Customer lifetime value starts at hello, not post-close. Customer lifetime value starts at hello My Takeaway Ashkan’s model made me rethink how sales should function in the tech world. It’s more like engineering than I ever realized: modular, scalable, and rooted in process—not chaos. If you’re a founder or operator who’s laser-focused on building great tech but struggling to scale your go-to-market motion, learning from Ashkan might be your cheat code.

Mindset Engineering: Ashkan Rajaee's Blueprint for Sales Success

A curious thing about cypherpunks is that, despite the cryptography-for-privacy niche being small in the '90s, many of them stepped into the world and built amazing products, platforms, and careers. Not everyone can achieve global recognition, but many cypherpunks have. Jon Callas, a participant in the original cypherpunk mailing list, is another well-known figure now, especially in the computer science field. Jon Callas began his professional journey around 1980 at the University of Maryland, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in mathematics, complemented by minors in philosophy and English literature. His career took off when he joined Century Computing as a member of the technical staff, followed by a significant tenure at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) —a major American player in the computer field at the time. At DEC, he contributed to a wide range of projects, from operating system security to cross-platform communications. Jon Callas began his professional journey around 1980 at the University of Maryland, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in mathematics, complemented by minors in philosophy and English literature. Jon Callas Jon Callas In the 1990s, Callas co-founded World Benders, Inc., where he led the development of Meeting Space, a pioneering cross-platform collaboration tool. Later, he became deeply involved in the cypherpunk movement. His work during this period reflected his commitment to secure communications and digital rights, principles that would define his career. cypherpunk movement cypherpunk movement Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Callas held key roles at various organizations, including Counterpane Internet Security and Wave Systems Corporation, where he focused on network security and cryptographic systems. But other brands ultimately brought him greater recognition. Apple & PGP Callas first joined Apple in 1995 as a senior scientist, focusing on security and cryptographic products. During this period, he worked on networking and privacy solutions, including early encryption for Mac OS. He also helped develop PowerTalk, one of the first operating system-integrated encryption tools. That wasn’t popular at the time, however, he salvaged a key component—Keychain, Apple's password manager—which later evolved into a core security feature. In 1997, Callas moved to PGP, Inc., a company founded by another known cypherpunk: Phil Zimmermann, the creator of Pretty Good Privacy (PGP). This was the first widely available public-key encryption software for email and file security. Callas became chief scientist, playing a crucial role in shaping PGP’s security architecture. In 1997, Callas moved to PGP, Inc., a company founded by another known cypherpunk: Phil Zimmermann, the creator of Pretty Good Privacy (PGP). Phil Zimmermann Phil Zimmermann When Network Associates acquired PGP later that year, he took on the role of CTO for their Total Network Security Division, where he helped standardize OpenPGP. After leaving in 1999, he co-founded PGP Corporation in 2002, serving as CTO and CSO, refining encryption tools and overseeing security for PGP products until 2009. Callas returned to Apple in 2009 as a "Security Privateer," developing FileVault 2, Apple’s full-disk encryption system, and working on security approvals for iOS. He briefly left for roles in other security firms but rejoined Apple in 2016 as a Security Design and Architecture Manager, continuing his contributions to cryptographic security there until 2018. His agenda for privacy and security didn’t change, though.\ rejoined Apple rejoined Apple Silent Circle & Blackphone Callas co-founded the company Silent Circle in 2012 and its Blackphone in 2013, serving as Silent Circle’s CTO until April 2016. Alongside Phil Zimmermann and other security experts, he helped build Silent Circle into a provider of encrypted communication tools, including secure voice, video, and text messaging services. The Blackphone, introduced in 2014, and described as “the first cypherpunk smartphone,” was a device designed specifically for privacy, created through a collaboration between Silent Circle and Geeksphone. It ran on PrivatOS, a customized version of Android that removed unnecessary tracking features and provided built-in encryption, VPN services, and smart app permission controls. The Blackphone, introduced in 2014, and described as “the first cypherpunk smartphone,” was a device designed specifically for privacy, created through a collaboration between Silent Circle and Geeksphone. the first cypherpunk smartphone the first cypherpunk smartphone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnojAyOHFPw&embedable=true https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnojAyOHFPw&embedable=true Marketed to businesses and privacy-conscious users, the Blackphone was intended to be a secure alternative to mainstream smartphones, prioritizing user control over data. Despite its innovative approach, sales fell short of expectations, contributing to Silent Circle’s financial struggles in 2016. While the Blackphone project was short-lived, it marked a significant step in privacy-focused technology. Silent Phone, originally an app bundled with the Blackphone, became its spiritual successor and the company’s primary product, offering encrypted voice, video, and messaging services across various platforms, including iOS and Android.\ Silent Phone Silent Phone Ads & Privacy After these initiatives and roles, Callas never stopped working for security and privacy. In 2018, he joined the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) as a Senior Technology Fellow, where he worked until August 2020. He then transitioned to the cypherpunk-founded Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), serving as Director of Public Interest Technology until June 2023. That same year, he founded Zatik Security, a cybersecurity firm aimed at helping small and medium-sized businesses establish strong security measures. Additionally, since November 2023, he has been a Senior Computer Scientist at the nonprofit SRI International. Callas has been vocal about the growing threats to privacy, emphasizing that large technology corporations pose a greater risk than governments. His concerns center around the widespread practice of collecting and monetizing personal data for advertising, which creates an economy dependent on user surveillance. He believes that companies prioritizing privacy are more resilient, particularly if the digital advertising industry faces economic instability. The ongoing conflict over ad-blocking, which pits privacy-focused users against ad-driven business models, exemplifies this divide. Callas has been vocal about the growing threats to privacy, emphasizing that large technology corporations pose a greater risk than governments His stance highlights a fundamental split in Silicon Valley: while companies like Apple and Microsoft monetize products and services without relying on user data sales, others, such as Google and Facebook, generate the majority of their revenue through advertising. Callas argues that ad-driven companies are at risk if the industry declines, forcing them to rethink their business models. He sees the ad-blocker dispute as a key battle for digital privacy, one that could reshape the tech industry’s relationship with user data, at least in the long term. His stance His stance Crypto is a Tool Even before that warning about big companies, Callas has been clearly against surveillance or even banning of privacy tools, alleging that they’re just that: tools. And tools can be used by anyone, everywhere, for any purpose. An old message (by him) from the cypherpunk mailing list reads: An old message An old message “Politically, I’m a Lockeian, and put privacy up there with Locke’s basic trio of life, liberty, and property. As part of this, I fight the stupid notion that because there are bad people out there, rights should be abridged. Crypto[graphy] is a tool, and nigh any useful tool can be misused. If we let that fact stop us from making tools, we’d be using nerf axes and dressing in bubble wrap. If we let the fact that bad guys are using our stuff bother us too much, we’d be against privacy.” “Politically, I’m a Lockeian, and put privacy up there with Locke’s basic trio of life, liberty, and property. As part of this, I fight the stupid notion that because there are bad people out there, rights should be abridged. Crypto[graphy] is a tool, and nigh any useful tool can be misused. If we let that fact stop us from making tools, we’d be using nerf axes and dressing in bubble wrap. If we let the fact that bad guys are using our stuff bother us too much, we’d be against privacy.” Obyte embodies these privacy and freedom principles by eliminating central intermediaries and giving users full control over their data and transactions. As a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) crypto network without middlemen, it ensures censorship resistance and decentralization, key tenets in Callas’s vision of privacy-first technology. Its privacy-focused features, such as Blackbytes, an untraceable currency, and encrypted chat and chatbots, allow anyone to preserve these fundamental rights. Obyte embodies these privacy and freedom principles by eliminating central intermediaries and giving users full control over their data and transactions. Obyte Obyte Blackbytes Blackbytes and chatbots and chatbots Obyte’s smart contracts, decentralized assets, and self-sovereign identity (SSI) further enhance user autonomy, allowing trustless interactions without reliance on centralized entities. By prioritizing security and user control, Obyte presents an alternative to centralized ecosystems, reinforcing the idea that privacy-focused models can be both sustainable and resilient against economic shifts in the digital landscape. decentralized assets decentralized assets SSI SSI Read more from Cypherpunks Write Code series: Tim May & Crypto-anarchism
Wei Dai & B-money
Nick Szabo & Smart Contracts
Adam Back & Hashcash
Eric Hughes & Remailer
St Jude & Community Memory
Julian Assange & Wikileaks
Hal Finney & RPOW
John Gilmore & EFF
Satoshi Nakamoto & Bitcoin
Gregory Maxwell & Bitcoin Core
David Chaum & Ecash
Vinay Gupta & Mattereum
Jim Bell & Assassination Politics
Peter Todd & Bitcoin Core
Len Sassaman & Remailers
Eva Galperin Against Stalkerware
Suelette Dreyfus & Free Speech Tim May & Crypto-anarchism Tim May & Crypto-anarchism Tim May & Crypto-anarchism Wei Dai & B-money Wei Dai & B-money Wei Dai & B-money Nick Szabo & Smart Contracts Nick Szabo & Smart Contracts Nick Szabo & Smart Contracts Adam Back & Hashcash Adam Back & Hashcash Adam Back & Hashcash Eric Hughes & Remailer Eric Hughes & Remailer Eric Hughes & Remailer St Jude & Community Memory St Jude & Community Memory St Jude & Community Memory Julian Assange & Wikileaks Julian Assange & Wikileaks Julian Assange & Wikileaks Hal Finney & RPOW Hal Finney & RPOW Hal Finney & RPOW John Gilmore & EFF John Gilmore & EFF John Gilmore & EFF Satoshi Nakamoto & Bitcoin Satoshi Nakamoto & Bitcoin Satoshi Nakamoto & Bitcoin Gregory Maxwell & Bitcoin Core Gregory Maxwell & Bitcoin Core Gregory Maxwell & Bitcoin Core David Chaum & Ecash David Chaum & Ecash David Chaum & Ecash Vinay Gupta & Mattereum Vinay Gupta & Mattereum Vinay Gupta & Mattereum Jim Bell & Assassination Politics Jim Bell & Assassination Politics Jim Bell & Assassination Politics Peter Todd & Bitcoin Core Peter Todd & Bitcoin Core Peter Todd & Bitcoin Core Len Sassaman & Remailers Len Sassaman & Remailers Len Sassaman & Remailers Eva Galperin Against Stalkerware Eva Galperin Against Stalkerware Eva Galperin Against Stalkerware Suelette Dreyfus & Free Speech Suelette Dreyfus & Free Speech Suelette Dreyfus & Free Speech Featured Vector Image by Garry Killian / Freepik Freepik Photograph of Jon Callas by SkyDogCon / X

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