Good morning. Alphabet’s revenue comes in shy of estimates. Coffee prices are still on the rise. And prime cuts of steak are luring Londoners to top restaurants. Listen to the day’s top stories.

Alphabet’s Cloud Revenue Trails Estimates - Bloomberg

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How one startup is changing financial education for kids

Good morning. Joe Biden takes one final stand to limit AI chip exports. Apple loses its latest plea to keep iPhones in Indonesia. And a late football manager’s cozy lakeside mansion is up for sale. Listen to the day’s top stories.

Biden Further Limits Nvidia, AMD AI Chip Exports - Bloomberg

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I know it’s childish. I don’t care. Listen. I’m aware that it’s childish but the reason I refuse to code in Kotlin is what I call the Kult of Kotlin.​ I know Kotlin is a nice language. In fact, I have studied it quite a bit. I bought (and read) books about it, purchased and watched tutorials on Udemy, the works. The reason? I didn’t want to get left behind. I wanted to be fitter, happier, more productive. Turns out, I wasn’t fitter (that’s an understatement). I wasn’t happier. And I wasn’t more productive. Do you know what I was? Pretty comfortable in Java land. But still, I wouldn’t rule Koltin out as a language for my future Android programming endeavors. Something was still bothering me, though. I just couldn’t put my finger on it. Until one day, a developer buddy of mine made the following comment Kotliners are the Android world’s Jehovah’s Witnesses And I was like… woah! It’s not Kotlin itself that’s bothering me. It’s the constant attemps to shove Kotlin down my throat that are really bothering me.​ No, I don’t want a copy of Watchtower. Same as I don’t really care about type inference. No, I don’t want a copy of Watchtower. Same as I don’t really care about type inference. And yet… you see it everywhere: “Oh, you’re still coding in Java? *snigger*” Perfectly fine accepted answer on StackOverflow in (god forbid) Java? Can’t have that, can we? Let’s write the exact same thing… in Kotlin! Buy Antonis Tsagaris a Coffee - BuyMeACoffee.com_I write about Android, life, the universe and everything._www.buymeacoffee.com Is it a stupid reason to not code in Kotlin? I don’t think so. First you’d have to give me a really good reason to give up on a language I know intimately for another, new language with its own quirks and edge-cases that I’d have to deal with again. I know Jake Wharton and his disciples love it. But as the developer buddy of mine has pointed out, Jake Wharton’s initials spell JW C O I N C I D E N C E? I’m calling Dan Brown. There’s a great book somewhere in there. I know it’s childish. I don’t care. Listen. I’m aware that it’s childish but the reason I refuse to code in Kotlin is what I call the Kult of Kotlin .​ Kult of Kotlin I know Kotlin is a nice language. In fact, I have studied it quite a bit. I bought (and read) books about it, purchased and watched tutorials on Udemy, the works. The reason? I didn’t want to get left behind. I wanted to be fitter, happier, more productive. Turns out, I wasn’t fitter (that’s an understatement). I wasn’t happier. And I wasn’t more productive. Do you know what I was? Pretty comfortable in Java land. But still, I wouldn’t rule Koltin out as a language for my future Android programming endeavors. what Something was still bothering me, though. I just couldn’t put my finger on it. Until one day, a developer buddy of mine made the following comment Kotliners are the Android world’s Jehovah’s Witnesses Kotliners are the Android world’s Jehovah’s Witnesses And I was like… woah! It’s not Kotlin itself that’s bothering me. It’s the constant attemps to shove Kotlin down my throat that are really bothering me.​ No, I don’t want a copy of Watchtower. Same as I don’t really care about type inference. really really No, I don’t want a copy of Watchtower. Same as I don’t really care about type inference. No, I don’t want a copy of Watchtower. Same as I don’t really care about type inference. really And yet… you see it everywhere: “Oh, you’re still coding in Java? *snigger*” Perfectly fine accepted answer on StackOverflow in (god forbid) Java? Can’t have that, can we? Let’s write the exact same thing… in Kotlin! that, Buy Antonis Tsagaris a Coffee - BuyMeACoffee.com _I write about Android, life, the universe and everything._www.buymeacoffee.com Buy Antonis Tsagaris a Coffee - BuyMeACoffee.com Buy Antonis Tsagaris a Coffee - BuyMeACoffee.com _I write about Android, life, the universe and everything._www.buymeacoffee.com Is it a stupid reason to not code in Kotlin? I don’t think so. First you’d have to give me a really good reason to give up on a language I know intimately for another, new language with its own quirks and edge-cases that I’d have to deal with again. again. I know Jake Wharton and his disciples love it. But as the developer buddy of mine has pointed out, Jake Wharton’s initials spell JW C O I N C I D E N C E? I’m calling Dan Brown. There’s a great book somewhere in there.

Why I refuse to code Android apps in Kotlin

Everyone Thinks They’re a Good Listener — Most Are Just Waiting to Talk

What Does It Take to Make AI Watch, Listen, and Understand Videos Like Us?

Authors:
(1) Shehan Munasinghe, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI and Equal Contribution;
(2) Rusiru Thushara, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI and Equal Contribution;
(3) Muhammad Maaz, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI;
(4) Hanoona Abdul Rasheed, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI;
(5) Salman Khan, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI and Australian National University;
(6) Mubarak Shah, University of Central Florida;
(7) Fahad Khan, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI and Linköping University. Editor's Note: This is Part 5 of 10 of a study detailing the development of a smarter AI model for videos. Read the rest below. Table of Links Abstract and 1 Introduction
2. Related Works


PG-Video-LLaVA


3.1. Overview
3.2. Architecture


Experiments


4.1. Implementation Details
4.2. Stronger Baseline
4.3. Spatial Grounding in Videos
4.4. Zero-Shot Visual Question Answering
5. Conclusion and References Supplementary Material A. Audio Modality Integration
B. Visual Grounding: Quantitative Evaluation
C. Qualitative Results for Visual Grounding
D. Quantitative Evaluations of Video-based Conversation Performance 4.1. Implementation Details For audio transcript extraction, base Whisper model is used. Our grounding module is based on GroundingDINOT variant and CLIP ViT-B/32. For the image-tagging model we use RAM Swin-Large variant (with input size 384). DEVA Tracker is applied under online-setting in our experiments. Vicuna-13b-v1.5 model is used in performing videobased conversational benchmarking, zero-shot question answering evaluation, and extracting the key noun or referring expression from the model output in the quantitative evaluation of the spatial grounding task. Further, Vicuna-13b-v1.5 was used to implement the entity matching as in [49]. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. Authors: (1) Shehan Munasinghe, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI and Equal Contribution; (2) Rusiru Thushara, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI and Equal Contribution; (3) Muhammad Maaz, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI; (4) Hanoona Abdul Rasheed, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI; (5) Salman Khan, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI and Australian National University; (6) Mubarak Shah, University of Central Florida; (7) Fahad Khan, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI and Linköping University. Authors: Authors: (1) Shehan Munasinghe, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI and Equal Contribution; (2) Rusiru Thushara, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI and Equal Contribution; (3) Muhammad Maaz, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI; (4) Hanoona Abdul Rasheed, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI; (5) Salman Khan, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI and Australian National University; (6) Mubarak Shah, University of Central Florida; (7) Fahad Khan, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI and Linköping University. Editor's Note: This is Part 5 of 10 of a study detailing the development of a smarter AI model for videos. Read the rest below. Editor's Note: This is Part 5 of 10 of a study detailing the development of a smarter AI model for videos. Read the rest below. Editor's Note: This is Part 5 of 10 of a study detailing the development of a smarter AI model for videos. Read the rest below. Editor's Note: This is Part 5 of 10 of a study detailing the development of a smarter AI model for videos. Read the rest below. Table of Links Abstract and 1 Introduction 2. Related Works PG-Video-LLaVA 3.1. Overview 3.2. Architecture Experiments 4.1. Implementation Details 4.2. Stronger Baseline 4.3. Spatial Grounding in Videos 4.4. Zero-Shot Visual Question Answering 5. Conclusion and References Abstract and 1 Introduction Abstract and 1 Introduction 2. Related Works 2. Related Works PG-Video-LLaVA PG-Video-LLaVA PG-Video-LLaVA 3.1. Overview 3.1. Overview 3.2. Architecture 3.2. Architecture Experiments Experiments Experiments 4.1. Implementation Details 4.1. Implementation Details 4.2. Stronger Baseline 4.2. Stronger Baseline 4.3. Spatial Grounding in Videos 4.3. Spatial Grounding in Videos 4.4. Zero-Shot Visual Question Answering 4.4. Zero-Shot Visual Question Answering 5. Conclusion and References 5. Conclusion and References Supplementary Material Supplementary Material A. Audio Modality Integration B. Visual Grounding: Quantitative Evaluation C. Qualitative Results for Visual Grounding D. Quantitative Evaluations of Video-based Conversation Performance A. Audio Modality Integration A. Audio Modality Integration B. Visual Grounding: Quantitative Evaluation B. Visual Grounding: Quantitative Evaluation C. Qualitative Results for Visual Grounding C. Qualitative Results for Visual Grounding D. Quantitative Evaluations of Video-based Conversation Performance D. Quantitative Evaluations of Video-based Conversation Performance 4.1. Implementation Details For audio transcript extraction, base Whisper model is used. Our grounding module is based on GroundingDINOT variant and CLIP ViT-B/32. For the image-tagging model we use RAM Swin-Large variant (with input size 384). DEVA Tracker is applied under online-setting in our experiments. Vicuna-13b-v1.5 model is used in performing videobased conversational benchmarking, zero-shot question answering evaluation, and extracting the key noun or referring expression from the model output in the quantitative evaluation of the spatial grounding task. Further, Vicuna-13b-v1.5 was used to implement the entity matching as in [49]. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. available on arxiv

UAE Researchers Teach AI to Watch, Listen, and Understand Videos Like Humans

Authors:
(1) Shehan Munasinghe, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI and Equal Contribution;
(2) Rusiru Thushara, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI and Equal Contribution;
(3) Muhammad Maaz, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI;
(4) Hanoona Abdul Rasheed, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI;
(5) Salman Khan, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI and Australian National University;
(6) Mubarak Shah, University of Central Florida;
(7) Fahad Khan, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI and Linköping University. Editor's Note: This is Part 3 of 10 of a study detailing the development of a smarter AI model for videos. Read the rest below. Table of Links Abstract and 1 Introduction
2. Related Works


PG-Video-LLaVA


3.1. Overview
3.2. Architecture


Experiments


4.1. Implementation Details
4.2. Stronger Baseline
4.3. Spatial Grounding in Videos
4.4. Zero-Shot Visual Question Answering
5. Conclusion and References Supplementary Material A. Audio Modality Integration
B. Visual Grounding: Quantitative Evaluation
C. Qualitative Results for Visual Grounding
D. Quantitative Evaluations of Video-based Conversation Performance 3.1. Overview In this paper, we introduce PG-Video-LLaVA, a novel Large Multimodal Model (LMM) designed to align video and audio representations with a Large Language Model (LLM). This integration equips PG-Video-LLaVA with the capability to proficiently manage both video and audio data in conversational contexts. Additionally, our method integrates a specialized plug-and-play module for effective video grounding (see Figure 2). In constructing PG-Video-LLaVA, our approach integrates sophisticated mechanisms for aligning video and audio signals with language processing capabilities, thereby facilitating a comprehensive multimodal analysis. Central to our model is an advanced CLIP-based video encoder, which has been specifically adapted to process both spatial and temporal dimensions of video data. This adaptation enables a deeper understanding of video content, setting PGVideo-LLaVA apart from conventional image-centric models. For training, PG-Video-LLaVA utilizes the VideoInstruct100K [22] dataset comprising 100K video instructions derived from ActivityNet-200 [11]. This diverse dataset ensures that the model is well-equipped to handle a broad spectrum of video contexts with high accuracy. In addition to visual processing, PG-Video-LLaVA incorporates stateof-the-art audio analysis by leveraging advanced audio transcription techniques, similar to those employed in WhisperX [2] and Whisper-AT[10]. This integration allows the model to process and understand audio inputs effectively, enhancing its overall multimodal interpretation capabilities. While PG-Video-LLaVA’s foundation is based on the LLaVA-1.5 [18] framework, it is extended for videos to incorporate spatio-temporal representations, audio understanding and visual grounding capabilities. Its unique combination of enhanced video encoding, extensive training dataset, integrated audio processing and grounding capability marks it as a forward step in the field of LMMs. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. Authors: (1) Shehan Munasinghe, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI and Equal Contribution; (2) Rusiru Thushara, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI and Equal Contribution; (3) Muhammad Maaz, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI; (4) Hanoona Abdul Rasheed, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI; (5) Salman Khan, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI and Australian National University; (6) Mubarak Shah, University of Central Florida; (7) Fahad Khan, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI and Linköping University. Authors: Authors: (1) Shehan Munasinghe, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI and Equal Contribution; (2) Rusiru Thushara, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI and Equal Contribution; (3) Muhammad Maaz, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI; (4) Hanoona Abdul Rasheed, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI; (5) Salman Khan, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI and Australian National University; (6) Mubarak Shah, University of Central Florida; (7) Fahad Khan, Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI and Linköping University. Editor's Note: This is Part 3 of 10 of a study detailing the development of a smarter AI model for videos. Read the rest below. Editor's Note: This is Part 3 of 10 of a study detailing the development of a smarter AI model for videos. Read the rest below. Editor's Note: This is Part 3 of 10 of a study detailing the development of a smarter AI model for videos. Read the rest below. Editor's Note: This is Part 3 of 10 of a study detailing the development of a smarter AI model for videos. Read the rest below. Table of Links Abstract and 1 Introduction 2. Related Works PG-Video-LLaVA 3.1. Overview 3.2. Architecture Experiments 4.1. Implementation Details 4.2. Stronger Baseline 4.3. Spatial Grounding in Videos 4.4. Zero-Shot Visual Question Answering 5. Conclusion and References Abstract and 1 Introduction Abstract and 1 Introduction 2. Related Works 2. Related Works PG-Video-LLaVA PG-Video-LLaVA PG-Video-LLaVA 3.1. Overview 3.1. Overview 3.2. Architecture 3.2. Architecture Experiments Experiments Experiments 4.1. Implementation Details 4.1. Implementation Details 4.2. Stronger Baseline 4.2. Stronger Baseline 4.3. Spatial Grounding in Videos 4.3. Spatial Grounding in Videos 4.4. Zero-Shot Visual Question Answering 4.4. Zero-Shot Visual Question Answering 5. Conclusion and References 5. Conclusion and References Supplementary Material Supplementary Material A. Audio Modality Integration B. Visual Grounding: Quantitative Evaluation C. Qualitative Results for Visual Grounding D. Quantitative Evaluations of Video-based Conversation Performance A. Audio Modality Integration A. Audio Modality Integration B. Visual Grounding: Quantitative Evaluation B. Visual Grounding: Quantitative Evaluation C. Qualitative Results for Visual Grounding C. Qualitative Results for Visual Grounding D. Quantitative Evaluations of Video-based Conversation Performance D. Quantitative Evaluations of Video-based Conversation Performance 3.1. Overview In this paper, we introduce PG-Video-LLaVA, a novel Large Multimodal Model (LMM) designed to align video and audio representations with a Large Language Model (LLM). This integration equips PG-Video-LLaVA with the capability to proficiently manage both video and audio data in conversational contexts. Additionally, our method integrates a specialized plug-and-play module for effective video grounding (see Figure 2). In constructing PG-Video-LLaVA, our approach integrates sophisticated mechanisms for aligning video and audio signals with language processing capabilities, thereby facilitating a comprehensive multimodal analysis. Central to our model is an advanced CLIP-based video encoder, which has been specifically adapted to process both spatial and temporal dimensions of video data. This adaptation enables a deeper understanding of video content, setting PGVideo-LLaVA apart from conventional image-centric models. For training, PG-Video-LLaVA utilizes the VideoInstruct100K [22] dataset comprising 100K video instructions derived from ActivityNet-200 [11]. This diverse dataset ensures that the model is well-equipped to handle a broad spectrum of video contexts with high accuracy. In addition to visual processing, PG-Video-LLaVA incorporates stateof-the-art audio analysis by leveraging advanced audio transcription techniques, similar to those employed in WhisperX [2] and Whisper-AT[10]. This integration allows the model to process and understand audio inputs effectively, enhancing its overall multimodal interpretation capabilities. While PG-Video-LLaVA’s foundation is based on the LLaVA-1.5 [18] framework, it is extended for videos to incorporate spatio-temporal representations, audio understanding and visual grounding capabilities. Its unique combination of enhanced video encoding, extensive training dataset, integrated audio processing and grounding capability marks it as a forward step in the field of LMMs. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. available on arxiv

This New AI Doesn’t Just Watch Videos—It Listens, Learns, and Talks Back Too

Having had a nearly 4-year career, I know this is relatively short, but I have worked for different companies with vastly different approaches. Along the way, I realize some things that as a student I could never have fully comprehended. Things that, had I known, might have saved me unnecessary stress and self-doubt. I share them here in the hope that it might help you on your journey. 1. Do Not Underestimate the Power of Documentation When I first started, all I wanted to do was write code and build features, which made me neglect documentation most of the time. More often than not, this is how this usually looked: something goes wrong in your code, and you go straight to Stack Overflow, find the solution, plug it in, and move on. However, even after those sessions in Stack Overflow, I wasn't getting knowledge or skill to handle that issue or similar issues in the future. In fact, without careful study of the documentation, there is no way to deeply understand the library or functionality - its strengths, weaknesses, etc. Well-written documentation is essential in building that deeper understanding. 2. It's More Important to Know "What" to Do Rather Than "How" A common beginner's mistake is focusing too much on learning every tool or technology. However, I’ve come to realize that it’s more important to understand what problem you’re solving than to know how to solve it. Tools and frameworks will constantly change; what’s popular today may be irrelevant tomorrow. But the ability to think critically, identify problems, and approach them logically is invaluable. Master the principles and fundamentals-these will guide your choices of tools and solutions. 3. Impostor Syndrome and How to Handle It One cannot know everything. When you're a student, it feels like there's some sort of threshold you can cross beyond which you can confidently claim you can do everything, but that's just not true. This syndrome may be present throughout your career. When you start getting overwhelmed by how knowledgeable others seem-like a conference speaker for instance - just remind yourself that it's most likely that you know something he or she doesn't know, perhaps even something most of the experts in that room don't know. And that is OK since nobody knows it all. 4. Learn, Learn, and Learn More The tech world moves fast, and standing still is falling behind. As you start your career, the finish line seems to get a degree or even the first job. In reality, it's just the beginning. Always be learning - new frameworks, languages, even soft skills like communication and teamwork. Your acceptance of continuous growth and ability to adapt will be your biggest asset over time. 5. Never Listen to the Alarmists Every industry has its doomsayers, those who spread panic and fear about the future. They will tell you the industry is dying, AI is coming for your job, or that you are doomed if you don't master the latest technology. Don't buy into it. Panic-driven thinking rarely leads to rational decisions. Stay focused on your goals, keep learning, and be adaptable. Like all industries, the tech industry has its ups and downs, but resilience and proactive thinking will pull you through those challenges. These are the things I want somebody to have told me before I joined the profession. Earlier in life, I would have been more confident and better prepared for the challenges of professional life. What might you say to your younger self? Having had a nearly 4-year career, I know this is relatively short, but I have worked for different companies with vastly different approaches. Along the way, I realize some things that as a student I could never have fully comprehended. Things that, had I known, might have saved me unnecessary stress and self-doubt. I share them here in the hope that it might help you on your journey. 1. Do Not Underestimate the Power of Documentation When I first started, all I wanted to do was write code and build features, which made me neglect documentation most of the time. More often than not, this is how this usually looked: something goes wrong in your code, and you go straight to Stack Overflow, find the solution, plug it in, and move on. However, even after those sessions in Stack Overflow, I wasn't getting knowledge or skill to handle that issue or similar issues in the future. In fact, without careful study of the documentation, there is no way to deeply understand the library or functionality - its strengths, weaknesses, etc. Well-written documentation is essential in building that deeper understanding. 2. It's More Important to Know "What" to Do Rather Than "How" A common beginner's mistake is focusing too much on learning every tool or technology. However, I’ve come to realize that it’s more important to understand what problem you’re solving than to know how to solve it. Tools and frameworks will constantly change; what’s popular today may be irrelevant tomorrow. But the ability to think critically, identify problems, and approach them logically is invaluable. Master the principles and fundamentals-these will guide your choices of tools and solutions. 3. Impostor Syndrome and How to Handle It One cannot know everything. When you're a student, it feels like there's some sort of threshold you can cross beyond which you can confidently claim you can do everything, but that's just not true. This syndrome may be present throughout your career. When you start getting overwhelmed by how knowledgeable others seem-like a conference speaker for instance - just remind yourself that it's most likely that you know something he or she doesn't know, perhaps even something most of the experts in that room don't know. And that is OK since nobody knows it all. 4. Learn, Learn, and Learn More The tech world moves fast, and standing still is falling behind. As you start your career, the finish line seems to get a degree or even the first job. In reality, it's just the beginning. Always be learning - new frameworks, languages, even soft skills like communication and teamwork. Your acceptance of continuous growth and ability to adapt will be your biggest asset over time. 5. Never Listen to the Alarmists Every industry has its doomsayers, those who spread panic and fear about the future. They will tell you the industry is dying, AI is coming for your job, or that you are doomed if you don't master the latest technology. Don't buy into it. Panic-driven thinking rarely leads to rational decisions. Stay focused on your goals, keep learning, and be adaptable. Like all industries, the tech industry has its ups and downs, but resilience and proactive thinking will pull you through those challenges. These are the things I want somebody to have told me before I joined the profession. Earlier in life, I would have been more confident and better prepared for the challenges of professional life. What might you say to your younger self?

Never Listen to Alarmist, and Other Career Advice I Would Give Myself If I Could Go Back in Time

CrowdStruck: How the CrowdStrike Outage Taught Me the Value of Listening

Thailand is one of the most popular destinations for expats. It boasts a relatively low cost of living and a friendly attitude towards visitors. Due to the large number of expats, the country plays the role of a hub between East and West. However, most expats at least have questions about getting long-term residence. In general, in Southeast Asia (unlike the EU), there are very few such options. The Thai government recently introduced a new visa option for remote workers - the DTV visa. In this article, I'd like to provide an overview of this visa and other legalization options in the country. DTV visa and other changes in the Thai migration system At the end of May, the Thai government announced several new initiatives to attract foreigners to the country. One of them is the launch of a new visa program called "Destination Thailand Visa" (DTV). This is a very affordable visa. To obtain it, you will need to prove that you have savings of 500,000 baht—about $13,500. The visa fee will be 10,000 baht ($270), and you also need to prove that you have a permanent source of income (for example, employment in a foreign company). After your visa is approved, you can stay continuously in Thailand for 180 days, and visa run is essential only two times a year. Previously, most expats could stay in Thailand only for 30 days without a visa. From June 1st, this period for residents of 93 countries has increased to 60. To stay for another 30 days is enough to apply for a short-term tourist visa on the spot. The total time for most expats (from 93 counties on the list) will be 90 days with a short-term tourist visa. Afterward, you will still need to go out and get a visa. Unfortunately, most Thailand visas, including a new DTV visa, will not help you obtain permanent residence and Thai citizenship. In addition, each time you do a visa run, you must pay the visa fee again. Two other long-term visas In Thailand, there is a five-year residence visa called a Long Term Residence Visa (LTR). With LTR, you can permanently reside in the country without visa runs with the prospect of obtaining permanent residence and citizenship. Unfortunately, the conditions for receiving an LTR visa won't work for everyone - you must confirm an annual income of at least $80,000 or savings of $1,000,000. However, this type of visa provides quite large tax benefits - a flat rate of 17% instead of the basic 35%. Also, since 2018, Thailand has had another type of long-term visa for foreigners  - the Smart Visa. It can be obtained by startup founders, investors, and talented employees. Depending on the type of smart visa, an income level of 100,000 baht per month ($2,700) or savings of 600,000 baht ($16,000) is required to prove financial solvency. For investors, these requirements are much higher - to invest 20,000,000 baht ($540,000) in promising startups in Thailand. Applicants' requirements also depend on the period for which they want to get a smart visa—from 6 months to 4 years. In general, the easiest option for this visa is the startup founder smart visa. The immigration system of Thailand and Thai Citizenship The immigration system of Thailand is really complex. It has dozens of types of visas represented on the website of the local Immigration Office. Long-term visas in Thailand can be considered analogous to temporary residence permits. Still, not all of them have the right to apply for permanent residence. Unfortunately, living in the country as a tourist and most other types of visas is not counted for this purpose, as is customary, for example, in the European Union. Previously, the main types of visas essential for long-term residence were non-immigrant visas for work. Maybe that's also possible for business non-immigrant visas and Smart visas. A long-term residence visa (LTR) will definitely give you this status. I need help finding out whether the opportunity to obtain permanent residence extends to holders of the Smart Visa and the new Destination Thailand Visa (DTV). If you know anything about this, please write to me on my X account or editor@cryptopenetration.com To obtain Thai citizenship by naturalization, you must have lived there for at least five years and have permanent resident status.  For permanent residence, you must live in Thailand for at least three years on a non-immigrant visa (there are 17 different types) and be sure to fulfill one of the following criteria: -do business in Thailand -officially work and have a work permit -live in Thailand for family reasons -conduct scientific research Moreover, there is a quota for obtaining permanent residence for applicants from one country—no more than 100 approved applications per year. The good news is that if your visa is not suitable for permanent residence, you can change to another type later. Suppose you want to move to Thailand as your new home. In that case, the main recommendation is to check whether your visa gives you long-term residence status and Thai citizenship by naturalization. Currently, there is yet to be an official source with an exact list of visas giving permanent resident status. In general, if you wish and have a legal income and type of activity in the country, you can obtain Thai citizenship by naturalization, but it will take you at least 6-7 years and most likely more. Thailand Tax System A new DTV visa (and most other Thai visas) doesn't have tax incentives options. Thailand has a progressive income tax rate from 5% to 35%. If your annual income is above 1,000,000 baht ($27,000), the tax rate will be 25%. The maximum rate of 35% applies to annual income of 5,000,000 baht. Previously, the PIT tax was applied only to domestic income from Thai sources. Still, since 2024, most foreigners spending in the country for more than 183 days per year should pay a personal income tax of 5% up to 35% of worldwide income. However, other tax rates in Thailand are relatively low: the VAT rate is only 7%. The corporate tax rate is 20%, and the capital gains tax on cryptocurrency sales is 15%. Asian Schengen Thailand has also invited other countries in the region to create a common visa zone for tourists, such as the Schengen area. Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin discussed this initiative with colleagues from Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia. But in general, an analog of the Asian Schengen has already existed for a long time—this is the APEC business card. This card allows 60 days a year to be located in most countries of Southeast Asia, including Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong. It also provides visa-free travel to Australia and New Zealand. However, the procedure for obtaining this card is quite complicated. What about crypto regulation in Thailand? The Kingdom of Thailand has legislation regulating cryptocurrencies since 2018. The main regulator is Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Over the last two years, regulations have been updated a lot - the rules have become clearer, but some restrictions have also appeared. As of July 31st, 2023, the SEC banned staking and cryptocurrency lending services. Also, in 2022, custodial wallet requirements were raised, and crypto payments, including crypto wages, were banned. However, the new Thai government, represented by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, has promised a crypto policy in August 2023. Being a real estate developer, this politician is also an active crypto investor.  The local SEC has softened regulations and removed the limit for investing in RWA assets—digital tokens backed by real estate or infrastructure. Also, the regulator recently approved Bitcoin ETF. After Hong Kong, Thailand is the second nation in Asia to do this. This year, Binance exchange got a license in the country and launched its official subsidiary in Thai. What's the result? Thailand has taken another step towards facilitating foreigners' access to the country. It's one of the most expat-loyal countries in Southeast Asia, and the new government is betting heavily on this as a key to the country's economic growth. For digital nomads who want to move to Asia, getting long-term residency status in the country may still be a challenge, especially given the new tax requirements, including a progressive PIT rate of 35% for worldwide income. However, the Thai Government may introduce new changes that will eliminate them in the future. In addition, other popular destinations in Asia (Vietnam, Indonesia, Sri Lanka) need suitable legalization programs with long-term residence status for digital nomads too. Therefore, the new DTV visa in Thailand is so far one of the best and most inexpensive programs of its kind in the region. If you are interested in getting more relocation and crypto regulation insights, you can watch the global crypto regulation rating here or get updates on my Telegram channel. Thailand is one of the most popular destinations for expats. It boasts a relatively low cost of living and a friendly attitude towards visitors. Due to the large number of expats, the country plays the role of a hub between East and West. However, most expats at least have questions about getting long-term residence. In general, in Southeast Asia (unlike the EU), there are very few such options. The Thai government recently introduced a new visa option for remote workers - the DTV visa. In this article, I'd like to provide an overview of this visa and other legalization options in the country. DTV visa and other changes in the Thai migration system At the end of May, the Thai government announced several new initiatives to attract foreigners to the country. One of them is the launch of a new visa program called "Destination Thailand Visa" (DTV). This is a very affordable visa. To obtain it, you will need to prove that you have savings of 500,000 baht—about $13,500. The visa fee will be 10,000 baht ($270), and you also need to prove that you have a permanent source of income (for example, employment in a foreign company). After your visa is approved, you can stay continuously in Thailand for 180 days, and visa run is essential only two times a year. Previously, most expats could stay in Thailand only for 30 days without a visa. From June 1st, this period for residents of 93 countries has increased to 60. To stay for another 30 days is enough to apply for a short-term tourist visa on the spot. The total time for most expats (from 93 counties on the list) will be 90 days with a short-term tourist visa. Afterward, you will still need to go out and get a visa. Unfortunately, most Thailand visas, including a new DTV visa, will not help you obtain permanent residence and Thai citizenship. In addition, each time you do a visa run, you must pay the visa fee again. Two other long-term visas In Thailand, there is a five-year residence visa called a Long Term Residence Visa (LTR). With LTR, you can permanently reside in the country without visa runs with the prospect of obtaining permanent residence and citizenship. Unfortunately, the conditions for receiving an LTR visa won't work for everyone - you must confirm an annual income of at least $80,000 or savings of $1,000,000. However, this type of visa provides quite large tax benefits - a flat rate of 17% instead of the basic 35%. Also, since 2018, Thailand has had another type of long-term visa for foreigners  - the Smart Visa. It can be obtained by startup founders, investors, and talented employees. Depending on the type of smart visa, an income level of 100,000 baht per month ($2,700) or savings of 600,000 baht ($16,000) is required to prove financial solvency. For investors, these requirements are much higher - to invest 20,000,000 baht ($540,000) in promising startups in Thailand. Applicants' requirements also depend on the period for which they want to get a smart visa—from 6 months to 4 years. In general, the easiest option for this visa is the startup founder smart visa. The immigration system of Thailand and Thai Citizenship The immigration system of Thailand is really complex. It has dozens of types of visas represented on the website of the local Immigration Office. Long-term visas in Thailand can be considered analogous to temporary residence permits. Still, not all of them have the right to apply for permanent residence. Unfortunately, living in the country as a tourist and most other types of visas is not counted for this purpose, as is customary, for example, in the European Union. Previously, the main types of visas essential for long-term residence were non-immigrant visas for work. Maybe that's also possible for business non-immigrant visas and Smart visas. A long-term residence visa (LTR) will definitely give you this status. I need help finding out whether the opportunity to obtain permanent residence extends to holders of the Smart Visa and the new Destination Thailand Visa (DTV). If you know anything about this, please write to me on my X account or editor@cryptopenetration.com X account To obtain Thai citizenship by naturalization, you must have lived there for at least five years and have permanent resident status.  For permanent residence, you must live in Thailand for at least three years on a non-immigrant visa (there are 17 different types) and be sure to fulfill one of the following criteria: -do business in Thailand -officially work and have a work permit -live in Thailand for family reasons -conduct scientific research Moreover, there is a quota for obtaining permanent residence for applicants from one country—no more than 100 approved applications per year. The good news is that if your visa is not suitable for permanent residence, you can change to another type later. Suppose you want to move to Thailand as your new home. In that case, the main recommendation is to check whether your visa gives you long-term residence status and Thai citizenship by naturalization. Currently, there is yet to be an official source with an exact list of visas giving permanent resident status. In general, if you wish and have a legal income and type of activity in the country, you can obtain Thai citizenship by naturalization, but it will take you at least 6-7 years and most likely more. Thailand Tax System A new DTV visa (and most other Thai visas) doesn't have tax incentives options. Thailand has a progressive income tax rate from 5% to 35%. If your annual income is above 1,000,000 baht ($27,000), the tax rate will be 25%. The maximum rate of 35% applies to annual income of 5,000,000 baht. Previously, the PIT tax was applied only to domestic income from Thai sources. Still, since 2024, most foreigners spending in the country for more than 183 days per year should pay a personal income tax of 5% up to 35% of worldwide income. However, other tax rates in Thailand are relatively low: the VAT rate is only 7%. The corporate tax rate is 20%, and the capital gains tax on cryptocurrency sales is 15%. Asian Schengen Thailand has also invited other countries in the region to create a common visa zone for tourists, such as the Schengen area. Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin discussed this initiative with colleagues from Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia. But in general, an analog of the Asian Schengen has already existed for a long time—this is the APEC business card. This card allows 60 days a year to be located in most countries of Southeast Asia, including Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong. It also provides visa-free travel to Australia and New Zealand. However, the procedure for obtaining this card is quite complicated. What about crypto regulation in Thailand? The Kingdom of Thailand has legislation regulating cryptocurrencies since 2018. The main regulator is Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Over the last two years, regulations have been updated a lot - the rules have become clearer, but some restrictions have also appeared. As of July 31st, 2023, the SEC banned staking and cryptocurrency lending services. Also, in 2022, custodial wallet requirements were raised, and crypto payments, including crypto wages, were banned. legislation However, the new Thai government, represented by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, has promised a crypto policy in August 2023. Being a real estate developer, this politician is also an active crypto investor.  The local SEC has softened regulations and removed the limit for investing in RWA assets—digital tokens backed by real estate or infrastructure. Also, the regulator recently approved Bitcoin ETF. After Hong Kong, Thailand is the second nation in Asia to do this. This year, Binance exchange got a license in the country and launched its official subsidiary in Thai. What's the result? Thailand has taken another step towards facilitating foreigners' access to the country. It's one of the most expat-loyal countries in Southeast Asia, and the new government is betting heavily on this as a key to the country's economic growth. For digital nomads who want to move to Asia, getting long-term residency status in the country may still be a challenge, especially given the new tax requirements, including a progressive PIT rate of 35% for worldwide income. However, the Thai Government may introduce new changes that will eliminate them in the future. In addition, other popular destinations in Asia (Vietnam, Indonesia, Sri Lanka) need suitable legalization programs with long-term residence status for digital nomads too. Therefore, the new DTV visa in Thailand is so far one of the best and most inexpensive programs of its kind in the region. If you are interested in getting more relocation and crypto regulation insights, you can watch the global crypto regulation rating here or get updates on my Telegram channel . here Telegram channel

Digital Nomads Listen Up: What You Need To Know About The New DTV Visa of Thailand

ডিজিটাল যাযাবর শুনুন: থাইল্যান্ডের নতুন ডিটিভি ভিসা সম্পর্কে আপনার যা জানা দরকার

Digitale Nomaden aufgepasst: Was Sie über das neue DTV-Visum für Thailand wissen müssen

Nómadas digitales escuchen: lo que necesitan saber sobre la nueva visa DTV de Tailandia

Nomades numériques, écoutez : ce que vous devez savoir sur le nouveau visa DTV de la Thaïlande

डिजिटल खानाबदोशों सुनो: थाईलैंड के नए डीटीवी वीज़ा के बारे में आपको क्या जानना चाहिए

デジタルノマドの皆さん、タイの新しい DTV ビザについて知っておくべきこと

디지털 유목민 들어보기: 태국의 새로운 DTV 비자에 대해 알아야 할 사항

Digital Nomads Ouçam: O que você precisa saber sobre o novo visto DTV da Tailândia

Цифровые кочевники слушают: что нужно знать о новой визе DTV в Таиланде

Dijital Göçebeler Dinleyin: Tayland'ın Yeni DTV Vizesi Hakkında Bilmeniz Gerekenler

Những người du mục kỹ thuật số hãy lắng nghe: Những điều bạn cần biết về Visa DTV mới của Thái Lan

数字游民请注意：您需要了解泰国新推出的 DTV 签证

initially started as a pet project for my coding sessions. It gradually turned into something that would be useful for other developers, too, so I made it public, and I still can't believe how far it has come! DevTunes FM I am so grateful to announce that we recently hit a major milestone of 700K+ listens. I want to thank you all for being so supportive, and this means the world to me! To celebrate this, I decided to write an article where I could take you behind the scenes and share some of the most valuable lessons I've learned. Tune in here: radio.madza.dev Also, I created some visuals to illustrate the core ideas better and gave practical examples for each point. I hope you will enjoy this article! 1. Clear vision is key When it comes to the vision, having a clear goal is essential. It's the foundation of your project, so the more concise it will be, the easier it will be to build upon. Before I started to build anything, I knew my focus would be on simplicity, usability, and the design of the app. I based all my further decisions on that. 2. Planning rewards itself As A. Lincoln once said, "Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe". The same could be applied to development. I spent quite a lot of time planning all the features. But it made the design and coding part way easier since I knew what functionality I was going for. 3. UI is thinking made visual Once you have planned everything, coming up with the UI is like displaying your thought logic so that users can interact with it. For example, I used Figma to create all of the UI components for the app. The UI is your presentation, so it should be easy to use and straightforward. 4. UX is all about the details The UX should not be underestimated since all the little things combined leave an impression on users and affect whether or not they will come back. I spent time improving UX, such as the loading screen, transitions between the background changes, implementing keyboard shortcuts, and more. 5. Passion projects boost motivation I am a strong believer that passion fuels success, therefore I feel that it is important to work on something that genuinely interests and attracts you. I've been listening to various genres of electronic subgenres for a couple of decades now, and it was a dream of mine to compile them all on this app. 6. Don't settle for less "Build it, and they will come" is a myth! Spread the word about your work wherever you can! Listen to your users and improve your project accordingly. I launched the project on Product Hunt, wrote about it on DEV, Hashnode, and Medium, and now I'm actively using Twitter and LinkedIn to announce updates. 7. Responsive design = priority With so many devices out there, your app should be adapted for various screen sizes. Use analytics like Umami to get to know your audience better. For example, I like to listen to DevTunes FM via the web version while I am coding, and I am also listening when I am running or biking via the mobile version. 8. Persistence pays off Keep learning new stuff, consume quality content, and work on new ideas. No problem is hard enough if you put enough thought into it. I've been working on DevTunes FM for about two years and learned a lot along the way. I still keep setting new goals and celebrating exciting milestones! Try it out yourself: radio.madza.dev Writing has always been my passion, and it gives me pleasure to help and inspire people. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out! Make sure to receive the best resources, tools, productivity tips, and career growth tips I discover by subscribing to ! my newsletter Also, connect with me on , , and ! Twitter LinkedIn GitHub Also, published . here

8 Valuable Lessons I Learned After My Online Dev Radio Reached 700K+ Listens🙏💖

OpenAI is groundbreaking features to ChatGPT, allowing it to break barriers by enabling the AI to see, hear, and speak. The multimodality and enhancements in user interaction are set to roll out in the next two weeks, a significant leap from the text-based interactions. Here’s what you need to know about this version: introducing 1. Voice Interaction: For the first time, ChatGPT will respond verbally to user queries, turning it into a more interactive and engaging conversational partner. This feature will be available on iOS and Android, and users can opt-in to use voice to engage in back-and-forth conversations with the AI. This places ChatGPT in direct competition with renowned voice assistants like Siri and Alexa. 2. Enhanced Multimodal Interaction: Users can now show images to ChatGPT and have live conversations about them, allowing for a more intuitive and enriched user experience. This feature is a significant step in providing more context during interactions and is available on all platforms. 3. Personalized Artificial Personas: Five neutral artificial personas including Juniper, Breeze, and Ember, will be answering verbally to user queries. Eventually, OpenAI plans to allow users to create their personalized voice, broadening user experiences. 4. Advanced Whisper Engine: The advanced Whisper engine powers the AI voices, which have received positive initial reviews for their human-like interaction, despite having a style that some may find intrusive. 5. Subscription-Based Access: The new voice and image capabilities will be exclusive to ChatGPT Plus subscribers, priced at $20 per month, focusing on providing advanced features to dedicated users. 6. Addressing Ethical Concerns: OpenAI is confident of having resolved most bugs and is focusing on addressing ideological issues, including potential voice fraud, discrimination against uncommon accents, and inadvertent attribution of social and political baggage to the AI's voice. They assure that the capability for de-anonymizing individuals through photos in ChatGPT has been blocked. 7. New Use Cases: These features provide more versatile applications, allowing users to take pictures of landmarks or their fridge contents and have real-time conversations about them, thus helping in various scenarios like travel, cooking, or learning. Want to check the tests of the new Voice feature and understand how to get started with Voice in ChatGPT? I will be testing and reviewing it in my newsletter ‘ . There you can find new instruments and use cases for the most groundbreaking AI instruments. ; it’s absolutely free! AI Hunters’ Subscribe Summary: OpenAI's ChatGPT is poised to become more interactive and user-friendly with the introduction of these new features, aligning it more closely with the needs and preferences of users and expanding its range of applications. The amalgamation of voice interaction, image recognition, personalized AI personas, and ethical considerations, all underscore OpenAI's commitment to providing innovative and responsible AI solutions. With the deployment of these enhancements, ChatGPT is not just another chatbot but is becoming a multifaceted assistant, bringing an intuitive and enriching experience to its users.

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