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Your guide to the internet’s most (and least) important moments

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Have you ever wondered how companies on social media know what gets you pumped up? Social media is full of potential, allowing brands to connect directly with users. Those clever algorithms can make every online moment feel like it’s about you. How do they do it? There are numerous ways social media impacts the customer experience through personalization and business growth. What is a personalized customer experience? Do you ever see ads that seem perfectly targeted for you when you're scrolling through your feeds? Maybe an advertisement for the latest smartphone popped up the day after you started thinking about getting a new phone. In this instance, the social media platform seemed to know what you were just thinking. While it looks like companies behind the ads are using a crystal ball, this is a personalized customer experience at work. A personalized experience is when companies use what they know about you to promote products or services you may be interested in. They’ll use customized messaging tailored to your needs and preferences. They gather information from your past behavior and target you with things they know you’ll like. When brands monitor users’ behaviors and have a deeper understanding, they can provide an experience that makes customers feel heard and important. How does personalizing the customer experience achieve business growth? Personalizing the customer experience on social media is the key to achieving business growth. This is because personalization makes folks feel like you’re talking right to them, whether it’s a tweet, story, or an ad that pops up at the right moment. Actions like these — even if they’re small — can turn a casual browser into a loyal fan. Rather than the customer being someone who makes a one-time purchase, they become repeat shoppers who are more than willing to tell all their friends. Offering this high-end service to customers often leads to increased sales, are more diligent about making sure shoppers feel like VIPs. They’re investing more time and money into unified platforms to stitch together all the ways they chat with you. As such, this ensures every interaction feels tailor-made just for you, keeping you coming back for more. and 60% of retailers How social media tackles the personalized customer experience Jumping into social media and its knack for crafting personalized customer experience, consider how LinkedIn to catch the right eyes. Just like you’d tweak your LinkedIn page to attract your dream job, social media platforms fine-tune your online interactions to ensure every message feels like a brand hand-picked them for you. lets its users tailor their profiles Here’s exactly how companies are putting their social media tools to work to offer a better digital experience: Have you ever dropped a comment on a brand’s post, and they hit you back with a reply? It can be a similar feeling to having a chat with a friend. This immediate conversation builds a bond between you and a company, the most memorable. A direct line of interaction: making 51% of brands Messenger apps allow brands to provide custom solutions with instant replies from savvy bots. Automates customer service via chatbots: Companies on social media platforms use what they know of you to hit the sweet spot of your interests. Targeted advertising: Behind every like, share and follow, brands use a mountain of data to understand you better. This goldmine of info helps companies tailor their approach to ensure you see more of what you love. Data-driven insights: When you see a post, you may wonder how it feels too relatable. Brands can get creative with posts that speak directly to you. Content personalization: You may have seen your favorite internet personality team up with a brand you like. Influencers help brands craft personal and relatable messages by bridging the gap between corporate speak and a friendly chat. Influencer collaborations: Future trends for social media and customer experience Social media and the customer experience will evolve as technology and gadgets develop. As for what the future holds, exciting possibilities could open up and redefine shoppers’ digital experiences. 1. Conversational AI Beyond simple chatbots, conversational AI will take place and overhaul customer interactions on social media. This means more natural, human-like conversations with AI that can understand context, sarcasm and humor. 2. Augmented-reality experiences The future of social media will also allow customers to get up close and personal with brands’ offerings. Through virtual product demos, businesses will use these technologies to provide a more immersive experience. 3. Voice-activated interactions Voice assistants are set to become more integrated with social media experiences. You may ask one to fetch the latest reviews on a new product or find the best prices through voice commands on social media. 4. Hyper-personalization Social media provides a wealth of information for companies. Businesses can use AI to analyze this data and predict preferences with incredible accuracy. As a result, brands can suggest products and content that resonate on a deeper level. Expect greater experiences through social media Social media can make everything feel like it was tailor-made for you, allowing brands to achieve growth in ways previously unimaginable. Whether a company is chit-chatting with its top fans or creating content that speaks to you, social media can make every click and scroll feel personal. As platforms evolve, every interaction will bring you closer to the brands you can’t get enough of. Businesses have the potential to transform customer experiences in real-time. Sources: A Guide to Building an Effective LinkedIn Profile and Using It to Your Advantage: Part 2 - San Diego’s Office Furniture & Cubicles. (2019, January 11). COE Office. https://www.coeoffice.com/guide-building-effective-linkedin-profile-using-advantage-part-2/ August 18, & 2023. (2023, August 18). 1 in 6 Shoppers Have Used Generative AI for Purchase Inspiration - Salesforce Report. Salesforce. https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/trends-in-retail-2023/ Smith, A. (2024, January 9). Social media personalization: The opportunity and risks to consider. Sprout Social. https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-personalization/

The Role of Social Media in Personalizing Customer Experience for Business Growth

Generative AI is the flavor of the times and tools like ChatGPT and Google Bard promise to upend branding and marketing as we have conventionally known it. Its primary impact has been in the way that businesses connect and communicate with their prospects, customers and clients. This is achieved through highly personalized content creation that such tools enable. Generative AI algorithms allow marketers to come up with content that speaks to every individual in a manner that resonates with them immensely by precisely catering to their preferences. The sheer level of personalization and customization results in spectacular success with regard to customer engagement leading to higher conversions and enhanced brand loyalty. A great example of this is the ability of generative AI to analyze very large amounts of data in real time to generate highly personalized and pertinent suggestions to customers, thereby providing them with a customer experience that is totally out of the ordinary. Why is Generative AI so hot? The almost God-given ability to come up with stellar quality content promises to revolutionise digital marketing with regard to both SEO and PPC.  The speed with which marketers can take generative-AI-assisted initiatives is a game changer. From building any number of landing pages in no time and creating websites in double quick time to mass dissemination of product descriptions to creating stellar quality landing pages with the help of inputs obtained from chatbot assist, Generative AI redefines the paradigm of marketing like nothing else. Not doing so might cost them.  As many as 60% of marketers are of the belief that Generative AI will transform their roles. At the same time, they are concerned about how accurate its output would turn out to be. [1] Marketers, therefore, would do very well to apprise themselves fully with Generative AI and understand what it is all about. Leveraging Generative AI to Propel Marketing via Content Generative AI with its superlative ability to come up with text, images, audio, video, simulations, code and myriad other types of content can do things with content marketing that were not possible earlier. With its algorithm-based ability to create content that speaks precisely to the needs and requirements of the target audience by analyzing very large amounts of data comprising things like market trends and customer behaviour. From bespoke social media posts to customized product descriptions and topical newsletters, content tailored to address the pain points of prospects and customers inevitably leads to higher engagement and ROI. Evolution of Marketing in the Age of Generative AI Marketing as a discipline is rapidly evolving because of the advent of Generative AI technologies like Chat GPT and Open AI with the key impact being on content generation, data analysis and customer interactions. With their outstanding ability to transform and automate a range of dull and repetitive tasks, marketing personnel can be freed up to perform more strategic tasks that have a seminal impact on the customer. These include things like strategy development or managing campaigns that can have a very beneficial impact on team productivity. Generative AI will also help revolutionize advertising by its ability to analyze performance data in double quick time and make highly accurate recommendations to improve the conversion rate. In fact, algorithms can help come up with optimized copy and visuals and even translate the campaigns into different languages. What's more, they can even make perfect budget allocations that will help enhance the ROI. Above all the scaling of customization and personalization driven by Generative AI will lead to ever better results. This would happen because of better customer segmentation and the extremely fast creation of bespoke content leading to curated customer journeys. Preparing for Generative AI The advent of any seminal technology leads to a lot of anxiety and fear about what it portends for the future as it promises to upend existing certainties. Marketers should not shy away from using Generative AI tools to perform their roles and tasks better, so as to tremendously improve the effectiveness of their marketing efforts.  Business leaders while adopting Generative AI technology need to guard against potential pitfalls pertaining to in-built biases, data protection and intellectual property. It would be a good idea to understand the legal aspects that impact the adoption of this technology enabling one to manage any risks that may arise. Conclusion Generative AI promises to metamorphose marketing and usher it into a whole new era of super-efficient outreach and sales by leveraging curated bespoke content. Its advent might have caused disquiet and alarm amongst many on account of its supposedly disruptive nature, but Generative AI is actually a force for good that promises to help businesses and marketers perform way beyond their fondest imagination. The future of marketing is great in the age of ChatGPT. [1] https://www.salesforce.com/ap/blog/generative-ai-for-marketing-research/

Marketing in the Age of ChatGPT

Microsoft v. United States (2016) Court Filing, retrieved on July 14, 2016, is part of . You can jump to any part in this filing . This part is 1 of 22. HackerNoon’s Legal PDF Series here Introduction Microsoft Corporation appeals from orders of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (1) denying Microsoft’s motion to quash a warrant (“Warrant”) issued under the Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2701 et seq., to the extent that the orders required Microsoft to produce the contents of a customer’s e‐ mail account stored on a server located outside the United States, and (2) holding Microsoft in civil contempt of court for its failure to comply with the Warrant.  We conclude that § 2703 of the Stored Communications Act does not authorize courts to issue and enforce against U.S.‐based service providers warrants for the seizure of customer e‐mail content that is stored exclusively on foreign servers. REVERSED, VACATED, AND REMANDED. Judge Lynch concurs in a separate opinion. E. JOSHUA ROSENKRANZ, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP (Robert M. Loeb and Brian P. Goldman, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, New York, NY; Guy Petrillo, Petrillo Klein & Boxer LLP, New York, NY; James M. Garland and Alexander A. Berengaut, Covington & Burling LLP, Washington, DC; Bradford L. Smith, David M. Howard, John Frank, Jonathan Palmer, and Nathaniel Jones, Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA; on the brief), for Microsoft Corporation. JUSTIN ANDERSON, Assistant United States Attorney (Serrin Turner, Assistant United States Attorney, on the brief), Preet Bharara, United States Attorney for the for Southern District of New York, New York, NY. Brett J. Williamson, David K. Lukmire, Nate Asher, O’Melveny & Myers LLP, New York, NY; Faiza Patel, Michael Price, Brennan Center for Justice, New York, NY; Hanni Fakhoury, Electronic Frontier Foundation, San Francisco, CA; Alex Abdo, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, New York, NY; for Amici Curiae Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, American Civil Liberties Union, The Constitution Project, and Electronic Frontier Foundation, in support of Appellant. Kenneth M. Dreifach, Marc J. Zwillinger, Zwillgen PLLC, New York, NY and Washington, DC, for Amicus Curiae Apple, Inc., in support of Appellant. Andrew J. Pincus, Paul W. Hughes, James F. Tierney, Mayer Brown LLP, Washington, DC, for Amici Curiae BSA | The Software Alliance, Center for Democracy and Technology, Chamber of Commerce of the United States, The National Association of Manufacturers, and ACT | The App Association, in support of Appellant. Steven A. Engel, Dechert LLP, New York, NY, for Amicus Curiae Anthony J. Colangelo, in support of Appellant. Alan C. Raul, Kwaku A. Akowuah, Sidley Austin LLP, Washington, DC, for Amici Curiae AT&T Corp., Rackspace US, Inc., Computer & Communications Industry Association, i2 Coalition, and Application Developers Alliance, in support of Appellant. Peter D. Stergios, Charles D. Ray, McCarter & English, LLP, New York, NY and Hartford, CT, for Amicus Curiae Ireland. Peter Karanjia, Eric J. Feder, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, New York, NY, for Amici Curiae Amazon.com, Inc., and Accenture PLC, in support of Appellant. Michael Vatis, Jeffrey A. Novack, Steptoe & Johnson LLP, New York, NY;  Randal S. Milch, Verizon Communications Inc., New York, NY; Kristofor T. Henning, Hewlett‐Packard Co., Wayne, PA; Amy Weaver, Daniel Reed, Salesforce.com, Inc., San Francisco, CA; Orin Snyder, Thomas G. Hungar, Alexander H. Southwell, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, New York, NY; Mark Chandler, Cisco Systems, Inc., San Jose, CA; Aaron Johnson, eBay Inc., San Jose, CA, for Amici Curiae Verizon Communications, Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc., Hewlett‐Packard Co., eBay Inc., Salesforce.com, Inc., and Infor, in support of Appellant. Laura R. Handman, Alison Schary, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, Washington, DC, Media for Amici Curiae Organizations, in support of Appellant. Philip Warrick, Klarquist Sparkman, LLP, Portland, OR, for Computer and Data Science Experts, Amici Curiae in support of Appellant. Owen C. Pell, Ian S. Forrester, Q.C., Paige C. Spencer, White & Case, New York, NY, Jan Philipp for Amicus Curiae Albrecht, Member of the European Parliament, in support of Appellant. Owen C. Pell, Ian S. Forrester, Q.C., Paige C. Spencer, White & Case, New York, NY; Edward McGarr, Simon McGarr, Dervila McGarr, McGarr Solicitors, Dublin, Ireland, Jan Philipp Albrecht, for Amicus Curiae Member of the European Parliament, in support of Appellant. SUSAN L. CARNEY, Circuit Judge: Microsoft Corporation appeals from orders of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York denying its motion to quash a warrant (“Warrant”) issued under § 2703 of the Stored Communications Act (“SCA” or the “Act”), 18 U.S.C. §§ 2701 et seq., and holding Microsoft in contempt of court for refusing to execute the Warrant on the government’s behalf.  The Warrant directed Microsoft to seize and produce the contents of an e‐mail account that it maintains for a customer who uses the company’s electronic communications services.  A United States magistrate judge (Francis, M.J.) issued the Warrant on the government’s application, having found probable cause to believe that the account was being used in furtherance of narcotics trafficking.  The Warrant was then served on Microsoft at its headquarters in Redmond, Washington. Microsoft produced its customer’s non‐content information to the government, as directed.  That data was stored in the United States.  But Microsoft ascertained that, to comply fully with the Warrant, it would need to access customer content that it stores and maintains in Ireland and to import that data into the United States for delivery to federal authorities.  It declined to do so.  Instead, it moved to quash the Warrant.  The magistrate judge, affirmed by the District Court (Preska, C.J.), denied the motion to quash and, in due course, the District Court held Microsoft in civil contempt for its failure. Microsoft and the government dispute the nature and reach of the Warrant that the Act authorized and the extent of Microsoft’s obligations under the instrument.  For its part, Microsoft emphasizes Congress’s use in the Act of the term “warrant” to identify the authorized instrument.  Warrants traditionally carry territorial limitations:   United States law enforcement officers may be directed by a court‐issued warrant to seize items at locations in the United States and in United States‐controlled areas, see Fed. R. Crim. P. 41(b), but their authority generally does not extend further. The government, on the other hand, characterizes the dispute as merely about “compelled disclosure,” regardless of the label appearing on the instrument.  It maintains that “similar to a subpoena, [an SCA warrant] requir[es] the recipient to deliver records, physical objects, and other materials to the government” no matter where those documents are located, so long as they are subject to the recipient’s custody or control.  Gov’t Br. at 6.  It relies on a collection of court rulings construing properly‐ served subpoenas as imposing that broad obligation to produce without regard to a document’s location.  E.g., Marc Rich & Co., A.G. v. United States, 707 F.2d 663 (2d Cir. 1983). For the reasons that follow, we think that Microsoft has the better of the argument.  When, in 1986, Congress passed the Stored Communications Act as part of the broader Electronic Communications Privacy Act, its aim was to protect user privacy in the context of new technology that required a user’s interaction with a service provider.  Neither explicitly nor implicitly does the statute envision the application of its warrant provisions overseas.  Three decades ago, international boundaries were not so routinely crossed as they are today, when service providers rely on worldwide networks of hardware to satisfy users’ 21st–century demands for access and speed and their related, evolving expectations of privacy. Rather, in keeping with the pressing needs of the day, Congress focused on providing basic safeguards for the privacy of domestic users.  Accordingly, we think it employed the term “warrant” in the Act to require pre‐disclosure scrutiny of the requested search and seizure by a neutral third party, and thereby to afford heightened privacy protection in the United States.  It did not abandon the instrument’s territorial limitations and other constitutional requirements.  The application of the Act that the government proposes ― interpreting “warrant” to require a service provider to retrieve material from beyond the borders of the United States ―would require us to disregard the presumption against extraterritoriality that the Supreme Court re‐stated and emphasized in Morrison v. National Australian Bank Ltd., 561 U.S. 247 (2010) and, just recently, in RJR Nabisco, Inc. v. European Cmty., 579 U.S. __, 2016 WL 3369423 (June 20, 2016).  We are not at liberty to do so. We therefore decide that the District Court lacked authority to enforce the Warrant against Microsoft.  Because Microsoft has complied with the Warrant’s domestic directives and resisted only its extraterritorial aspects, we REVERSE the District Court’s denial of Microsoft’s motion to quash, VACATE its finding of civil contempt, and REMAND the cause with instructions to the District Court to quash the Warrant insofar as it directs Microsoft to collect, import, and produce to the government customer content stored outside the United States. Continue Reading . Here About HackerNoon Legal PDF Series: We bring you the most important technical and insightful public domain court case filings. This court case No. 15–777 retrieved on September 27, 2023, from is part of the public domain. The court-created documents are works of the federal government, and under copyright law, are automatically placed in the public domain and may be shared without legal restriction. cases.justia.com

Microsoft Refuses to Turn Over Emails of Customer Suspected of Drug Trafficking

In today’s episode of the Brains Byte Back podcast, we speak with , Vice President of Marketing at , a company that democratizes the use of AI and Machine Learning by making it simple for organizations to leverage the power of their data through fast, unique, and easy-to-use tools. Walter Paliska dotData In this episode, we discuss how the company first began, how it has grown, and the solutions it currently offers. We also explore predictive mining and how it helps businesses leverage historical data to make accurate predictions about future behavior or outcomes. data Paliska draws on the example of marketing, arguing that a company could use predictive data mining to predict the behavior of visitors on a website for personalized targeting. Additionally, Paliska shares how dotData was founded, after the company’s CEO and founder, Ryohei Fujimaki, noticed that his team of data scientists would spend a huge amount of time on the feature engineering process. Since this was the most time-consuming and manual part of the data science process, Fujimaki decided to utilize automation to solve this problem, thus dotData was born. Paliska also shares how the company helps clients save time and cost on data science projects, democratizing data science for non-data scientists, and improving the accuracy and speed of models. machine learning He argues that these are just a few of the ways dotData distinguishes itself from the competition. But Paliska advocates that one of the biggest differentiators is the core engine of dotData, which automates the feature engineering process. Feature engineering is a vital step in building effective machine-learning models, but it is also a complex process that can be very time heavy. Normally, data scientists would spend months building feature tables that would then be entered manually into the machine learning algorithms. However, dotData automates this process, identifying the connections between different tables and building feature tables automatically. According to Paliska, this approach allows dotData to stand out and is one of the key reasons why the company has achieved such a high level of success in the market. Watch the Podcast Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46zOpjfiU0s&embedable=true You can listen on , , , , , , , , , and Spotify Anchor Apple Podcasts Breaker Google Podcasts Stitcher Overcast Listen Notes PodBean Radio Public. Alternatively, you can find a transcript below: My name is Walter Walter Paliska. I’m the VP of Marketing for dotData. I’ve been with dotData since May of 2019. So almost four years now. And dotData is a leading provider or data science automation solutions, we have largely broadly speaking to customer types that we tend to target, experienced assigned teams primarily in larger organizations that are looking to automate the feature engineering part of their work. And the other one are more companies that are just getting started in the world of predictive analytics and in the world of data science, and are looking for automation solutions to try and empower non-data scientists in the process of building machine learning models and data science processes integrated to do predictive analytics. Walter: Awesome, fantastic. Well, thank you so much for joining me today. It’s a pleasure to have you here. And I’m really curious to know like when and how to dotData first stop? Sam: Yeah, so great question. So actually, the dotData story goes back quite a ways. Ryohei Fujimaki the CEO and founder of dotData, is a former employee of NEC in Japan. So he was actually what’s known as an NEC fellow Research Fellow. Now, there haven’t been that many in the history of the company, and he sees quite an old company goes back well over 100 years. And I forget the exact number, I don’t want to lie to you. But I know that, you know, there’s been very few NEC research fellows in the history of the company, he was the youngest one ever in the history of the company. And he was part of their data science team, and pretty much trend data, their data science organization from a services perspective, right. So they would do project based work going to accounts. And the idea behind dotData actually originated. Through the course of his experience with NEC, one of the things that he consistently kept noticing was that his team of data, scientists would always spend an inordinate amount of time on specific parts of the data science process. And getting a little bit into the technical weeds here. But there’s one part of specialty known as feature engineering, which is really the most time consuming the most manual part of process. And he kept seeing that they would literally be spending months on the feature engineering process. And they would still be at a point where they hadn’t even played with any machine learning algorithms yet to figure out what the model should look like. And you know, that’s obviously an aha moment, at some point that tells you there’s something there. So there’s a need here, there’s automation could perhaps solve that problem. And that’s where the idea behind dotData originated in the company was founded as a spin off from NEC Corporation in 2018. In Japan, and so originally born in Japan, but fully headquarter nine, United States, we have all of our headquarters, if you have staff and pretty distributed company. We’re worldwide we have people in Europe, we have people in Japan, with people in the United States. And that brings us to where we are today. Walter: Awesome. That’s a fantastic success story. And I’m also very curious to know what is the story behind the name dotData because for our listeners, it’s spelled like dot d o t, but with a lowercase d, and then data with a capital D right after it. Where did that come from? Sam: Great question. So the original inspiration behind the name dotData really comes from, you know, one of the ideas that they were the group of people to found that a company was toying with was, you know, we’re talking like, probably when this idea was first being kicked around 2016 2017. So there were a lot of conversations in the world going on about data and the volume of data and how much data was being generated around the world on a daily basis. And it sort of dawned on them, you know, the previous iteration of the internet, so to speak, in the 1990s, and the 2000s. Were all about dotnet. Right? And the network, and they thought, well, the next iteration of the world is really going to be about data. So that data, so instead of.net dot data. So that was the original intent behind the dotData name. Walter: Okay, yeah, that makes sense with a lot more clarity. With that in mind. I also really do love the alliteration of it the D D, the dot data, it’s got a really nice sound to it when you say Sam: Yeah it is a memorable name, and it’s, it’s easy to mark it. Walter: Yeah, yeah, I completely get that. And I also want to know, like, in November last year, you folks there at dotData published an article called what is predictive data mining? Obviously, I would highly recommend listeners go check it out. But while you’re here, like could you give us a brief overview regarding what predictive data mining is? Sam: Sure, absolutely. So obviously, you know, from a perspective of the audience, those that are not familiar with it, you know, you may have heard of it in different terminology may have heard of referred to as predictive analytics, predictive data mining data mining by itself, technically, they’re not quite the same thing, if you really want to split hair, but for, you know, sort of a broad audience, predictive data mining and predictive analytics are really about leveraging historical data that you have in your organization. You know, for example, a good use case might be in marketing, you might want to predict behavior of visitors on your website for a shopping cart, right? And you have historical data about, you know, what are the actions that certain people take before they purchase a specific product. And you want to use that data, you want to mine that data, and use very specific techniques and algorithms things like and you know, decision tree analysis or rule induction, clustering, outlier detection and other types of data mining techniques, to identify the patterns, determine, you know, sort of visit the insights, part of predictive analytics, build those insights. These are also sometimes referred to as features in the world of machine learning, but figure out the insights that tell you okay, this is what tends to happen. Every time somebody buys a particular product in the example we just had, and then taking it one step further and saying, Okay, now I can use certain machine learning algorithms to try and predict a probability of somebody purchasing a product when they take certain specific actions. The reason that’s important you as a marketer for the example that I just gave is, if I can predict with a certain degree of accuracy, what’s going to happen when somebody takes certain specific actions, I can drive people towards those actions, I can now leverage that information to optimize my marketing campaigns. So that’s predictive data mining in a nutshell, it gets a lot more complicated very quickly, there’s a lot more to talk about. So I’ve given you literally the marketing guys 32nd version, a lot more information available on our website, and we’re happy to meet with anybody that obviously wants to learn more about this. We’re very keen on educating the market as much as possible about this. Walter: Yeah, I can imagine that can get pretty complicated pretty quickly. So I really do appreciate you giving us that brief overview. And I think you did a good job of summarising what appears to be a very complex topic. Now, I also want to know like, are there other companies operating this space? And if so, like, how do you folks at dotData, differentiate yourself from the competition? Sam: Great question. So the short answer is yes, of course, there are plenty of other companies that operate in this space. And having, you know, having said that, the one thing that is probably also a truism about the Machine Learning slash predictive analytics space, is that it is developing and is changing at an incredibly fast pace. So if you look at the positioning of companies, say, three, four years ago, when I first joined up dotData, versus how those same companies are positioning themselves today, how their products are built today, where they do today, radically different conversations. And that’s really been driven largely by how quickly the market is developing. Through all of that, however, the one huge differentiator for that data really comes down to the core engine of dotData and how dotData works. So one of the things that I haven’t, we haven’t talked about, and again, this gets a little bit technical depth of this conversation, but it’s important is that in the world of predictive analytics, right, when you go and use these machine learning algorithms to build your predictive models, these machine learning algorithms like flat tables, essentially, they’re not happy. So if you know if you don’t know how much you know about enterprise data, but especially in the world of enterprise data, if you think about something like salesforce.com, for example, as a user of salesforce.com, I just see a leads screen and it has lead information. And as my activities against my leads, it’s all in one location. But if I take the covers off of that, and look underneath in the guts, so to speak, of how this system operates, it’s basically what’s called a relational database. So all of those fields that I’m seeing many of them are really parts of different tables delivered in different parts of salesperson, they’re all connected together. Well, machine learning algorithms don’t like those things, machine learning algorithms, like flat tables, machine learning algorithms, like things that look like CSVs looks like spreadsheets. So a big part of machine learning is what’s called Feature engineering, which is essentially a process of taking these complex relational data tables, figuring out the patterns that make sense for your machine learning algorithm and building these flat tables essentially, that you then have to feed into machine learning algorithms. The biggest core differentiator for dotData is that we do that part automatically. That’s traditionally a very hands on process. If I go back to when you asked me the very first question about, you know how that data originated. That was the aha moment that our CEO had was watching In these data scientists spent literally months on building these feature tables that they would then have to manually put into the machine learning algorithms. And realizing there’s got to be a better way, we have to be able to build a system that will automatically find the connections between these tables automatically identify the patterns that are relevant and purposeful, and build these feature tables automatically. So that’s by far our biggest differentiator. And today, we’re really the only company in the market that provides that functionality. Walter: Okay, that makes sense. Yeah. And I always love the fact that whenever I interview people, it always seems like there is some kind of aha moment at the basis of all of these companies I speak with. And it’s really, it’s a really fun part of my job getting to that core drive, I guess, so that makes absolute sense. And I’m curious to know, what is next on the horizon for you folks at dotData? Sam: : So I think from, you know, sort of a couple of perspectives, right. One is from a, obviously, as a business growth is the biggest area of interest for us. And actually, one of the things that we think, especially given the economic uncertainty that’s happening right now, systems like that data actually become even more beneficial to organizations. You know, when money went investment, capital was plentiful, and organizations didn’t have to worry about headcount and didn’t have to worry about, you know, you could just hire to solve the problem, right? You needed to do things faster, you hire more data scientists, you needed to build products faster, you hired more data engineers, and so on. Well, with the economy doing what it’s doing right now, we’re actually seeing an uptick in demand, we’re actually seeing more companies saying, I don’t have the ability to expand my team, I don’t have the permission, so to speak financially, to go and hire 1015 20 More data scientists. So how do I make my existing team more productive. And that’s where dotData can give them a lot of help. So we see a lot of opportunity in the short term, as well as a long term from that perspective. And obviously, we have a whole lot of ideas and a whole lot of new things coming down the line from a product perspective, most of which I can’t really talk about just yet, but some very exciting things that are coming in the second half of this year, that will continue to expand on the capabilities of the product and also take us into some new areas we haven’t been in before. Walter Fantastic. Well, it sounds like you folks have a lot going on. And I wish you the best of luck with that. And if people are listening, and they’re interested in keeping up with you, personally, Walter or dotData, where can they go to do that? Sam: Great question. So that dotData is easiest one, just go dotdata.com. To connect with me personally, you can find me on the leadership page. If you go to our about page and then leadership, you’ll see my picture my bio, and you can click directly to my LinkedIn profile, or my LinkedIn profile is simple enough. It’s just https://www.linkedin.com/in/walterpaliska/ go to my LinkedIn profile and just reach out to me. Walter: : Excellent. Well, we’ll include links as well in the description of this episode, so listeners can go there. But otherwise, Walter, thank you so much for joining me today. Sam Thank you very much for the opportunity, and thank you to all your listeners. Walter: This article was originally published by Sam Brake Guia on The Sociable The lead image for this article was generated by HackerNoon's via the prompt "people on computers in an internet cafe at nighttime". AI Image Generator

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Introduction The API (Application Programming Interface) economy has become the cornerstone of modern digital transformation. It offers a vast ecosystem of connectivity, integration, and collaboration, enabling businesses to unleash the power of data-driven enterprises. This article will dive deep into the API economy, referencing various sources, making predictions about its business impact, and highlighting the importance of API security. Part 1: Understanding the API Economy The API economy revolves around the exchange of data and services between businesses, developers, and consumers. APIs are the building blocks that enable software applications to communicate and share data, streamlining the way businesses operate and innovate. According to , companies that adopt an API strategy can increase productivity, revenue, and agility. As a result, more businesses are embracing APIs to stay competitive in an increasingly connected world. MuleSoft's 2023 Connectivity Benchmark Report Part 2: Business Impact of the API Economy Enhanced collaboration APIs facilitate seamless integration between different software systems, promoting collaboration among businesses, developers, and consumers. Salesforce's API-first approach exemplifies how organizations can capitalize on APIs to foster collaboration and create innovative solutions. // Sample code to access Salesforce API const sfApi = require('salesforce-api'); const client = new sfApi.Client({ instanceUrl: 'https://your-instance.salesforce.com', accessToken: 'your-access-token' });

client.query('SELECT Name FROM Account LIMIT 10')
.then(response => console.log(response))
.catch(error => console.error(error)); Faster innovation APIs empower businesses to quickly adapt to changing market conditions, fostering rapid innovation. For example, Stripe's API has simplified online payment processing, allowing developers to integrate payment systems with minimal effort. import stripe
stripe.api_key = 'your-stripe-api-key'

charge = stripe.Charge.create(
amount=1000,
currency='usd',
source='tok_visa',
description='My first API charge'
)

print(charge) Revenue generation APIs can become a new revenue stream for companies by monetizing data or services. Twilio exemplifies this, offering a suite of communication APIs that developers can use to embed voice, messaging, and video capabilities into their applications. Part 3: Predictions for the API Economy Growth in API adoption: As more businesses recognize the value of APIs, the demand for API-related services and tools will rise, accelerating the growth of the API economy. Increased focus on standardization: As API adoption grows, standardization and best practices will become more critical. Organizations like the OpenAPI Initiative will play a crucial role in driving these standards. Data-driven decision-making: APIs will enable businesses to access and analyze data more effectively, leading to better, data-driven decision-making across industries. Part 4: The API Security Market The rapid explosion of the API economy has also led to increased concerns about API security. The API security market runs parallel to the API economy, focusing on protecting sensitive data and ensuring that APIs are not exploited by bad actors. As the API economy grows, the importance of API security becomes more critical. Here are some of the key business values that API security brings to the table: : APIs enable the exchange of data between various systems and applications. As a result, securing APIs is crucial for protecting sensitive information and adhering to data protection regulations like GDPR and CCPA. Investing in API security tools like Wallarm or Ping Identity can help businesses safeguard their data. Protecting sensitive data : Ensuring API security is essential for maintaining customer trust. A security breach could lead to loss of customer data, reputation damage, and legal consequences. By proactively addressing API security risks, businesses can demonstrate their commitment to data protection and privacy. Maintaining customer trust : Implementing robust API security measures helps businesses comply with various industry-specific regulations and guidelines. For instance, financial institutions must adhere to the to protect payment data. Facilitating compliance Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) : Unsecured APIs can lead to security vulnerabilities, which might result in downtime and loss of revenue. By prioritizing API security, businesses can reduce the likelihood of disruptions and ensure business continuity. Ensuring business continuity : Secure APIs can accelerate innovation by providing a safe environment for businesses to experiment and collaborate. With a strong security foundation in place, developers can confidently build and integrate applications, promoting creativity and driving business growth. Encouraging innovation Part 5: Powerful Conclusion - Emphasizing API Security Market Size, Growing Threats, and Digital Transformation As we've explored the API economy and its impact on businesses, it's essential to reiterate the significance of the API security market. With the ever-increasing adoption of APIs, the security market is poised for substantial growth, driven by the need to protect sensitive data and mitigate potential threats. Some data points: The global API security market revenue totaled ~US$ 783.9 Mn in 2021 and it is likely to reach US$ 984.1 Mn in 2022. Furthermore, with rising incidence of malicious attacks on APIs, the overall demand is expected to grow at a staggering CAGR of 26.3% between 2022 and 2032, totaling around US$ 10,185.4 Mn by 2032. Currently, API security market accounts for around 12.0% of global application security market and this number is likely to further increase with rising need for improving security across industries such as healthcare, BFSI, retail and manufacturing. https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/api-security-market?embedable=true The growing number of cyber threats and security breaches further underscores the importance of API security. . Akamai's State of the Internet / Security Report highlights that API attacks are on the rise, with cybercriminals exploiting vulnerabilities in API implementations As digital transformation continues to accelerate across industries, businesses must prioritize API security to protect their assets, maintain customer trust, and ensure regulatory compliance. In conclusion, the API economy is a driving force behind digital transformation, enabling enhanced collaboration, rapid innovation, and data-driven decision-making. However, to truly harness its potential, businesses must remain vigilant about API security. By investing in comprehensive API security measures and staying abreast of emerging threats, organizations can safeguard their data, maintain a competitive edge, and ultimately, thrive in the age of digital transformation.

API Economy for Data-driven Enterprises 

Part One: SOAP-based APIs Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) is a messaging protocol based on requests and responses using an XML format. Although some legacy systems still use SOAP over SMTP, the transport method typically used for SOAP requests is HTTP. As an API protocol, SOAP is platform- and language-agnostic, allowing for two applications running on completely different systems to communicate with one another. This post is part of a two-part series covering how to create custom API endpoints in Salesforce with APEX. In Part One, we’ll walk through how to create a SOAP-based API endpoint for other applications to use when communicating with your Salesforce org. A Brief Introduction to SOAP Each SOAP message is contained in an “envelope,” which has a header and a body. The header contains application-related information, such as the date when the message was generated or ids related to the message context. The body contains the actual message. Here is an example SOAP message with a format that would be used for authenticating to Salesforce: <soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:urn="urn:enterprise.soap.sforce.com">
   <soapenv:Header>
      <urn:LoginScopeHeader>
         <urn:organizationId>12345</urn:organizationId>
         <urn:portalId>abcde</urn:portalId>
      </urn:LoginScopeHeader>
   </soapenv:Header>
   <soapenv:Body>
      <urn:login>
         <urn:username>johndoe</urn:username>
         <urn:password>mypassword</urn:password>
      </urn:login>
   </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope> Since each message has the same structure, SOAP is system agnostic. For example, an application running on a Windows 11 machine can send a message to another application running on a Unix-based web server. Though the message can be sent using SMTP or HTTP, SOAP messages should ideally be sent with HTTPS, with either simple or mutual authentication. SOAP is mostly used to create an or to exchange server-to-server information. Therefore, it is very important for the two systems to establish trust. Salesforce provides multiple ways to accomplish authentication. API web service The relationship between SOAP and WSDL Although all SOAP messages have the same structure, the SOAP specification doesn’t define other aspects, such as message format or transport protocol. The Web Services Description Language (WSDL) describes the message formats, transport details, and operations of the web service. The WSDL file can be considered a contract between the client and the service. How to Create a SOAP-based API in Salesforce Now that we have covered the fundamentals let’s begin implementing our SOAP API. Set up a Salesforce org First, you need a Salesforce org. Salesforce provides free Developer edition orgs, and signing up for one is straightforward. Go to the and provide your details. You should receive an invite link within a few minutes. sign-up page Creating a global class with Apex To create a SOAP web service in Salesforce, we will need to create a globally defined Apex custom class. In our class, we’ll use the keyword and definition modifier for every method we want to expose. Adding the keyword automatically gives global access to the method it is added to. webservice static webservice In order to create this class in our shiny, new org, we go to , and then find . In the table listing existing classes, we click . Setup Custom Code -> Apex Classes New To learn more about Apex and how to create classes, check out this and the . Trailhead page Apex documentation Below, we have a sample class that exposes a method used to create new Contact records in Salesforce. The method accepts a Contact’s details as parameters and inserts a new Contact record. ContactAPI createContact If successful, it returns the ID of the newly created Contact along with a message. In case of a failure, it returns an error message. Please copy the code and paste it into the newly created empty class. global class ContactAPI {
  webservice static String createContact (String firstName, String lastName, String contactEmail, String salutation) { 
    try {
      Contact newContact = new Contact();
      newContact.Salutation = salutation;
      newContact.FirstName = firstName;
      newContact.LastName = lastName;
      newContact.Email = contactEmail;

      insert newContact;
      return 'Successfully inserted new Contact! Id:' + String.valueOf(newContact.Id);
    } catch (Exception e) {
      return 'Error:' + e.getMessage();
    }
  }
} Next, we click . Save That’s it! Our web service is ready for operations. We have successfully created a SOAP API in Salesforce. Generate the WSDL We now need to generate a WSDL file and provide it to the external application or third-party developers who can then consume it to call our method. createContact Salesforce provides two out-of-the-box WSDL files to integrate client applications with Salesforce: The is optimized for a single Salesforce org. It’s strongly typed, meaning it contains objects and field definitions for this particular org. Whenever there is a change in the metadata (object and/or fields) in the Salesforce org, a new WSDL needs to be generated and provided to the client (to consume again). Enterprise WSDL The is optimized for use with many Salesforce orgs. It’s loosely typed, and it doesn’t change based on an org’s specific configuration. Partner WSDL In order to utilize our web service, we’ll use the WSDL for our Apex class (to actually call our web service), and we’ll use the Enterprise WSDL to authenticate to Salesforce. After creating our class, we see it show up in the list of Apex classes. In the row for ContactAPI, we click on the link to generate a WSDL. ContactAPI WSDL This will open a new tab with our WSDL, which will look similar to this: We save this file to our local machine, naming it . contactAPI-wsdl.xml To generate the Enterprise WSDL for our Salesforce org, we go to the Setup page, and then find . Then, we click on . Integrations -> API Generate Enterprise WSDL Your generated WSDL should look similar to this: We save this file to our local machine, naming it . enterprise_wsdl.xml To generate the WSDL for your Apex Class: Go to the Setup page. Type and select Apex Classes. Find your class. In our case, it’s ContactAPI. Click on the name. On the next screen, you will have the class page where you have the button. Generate WSDL Test and validate To ensure that the web service works, we’ll consume it by calling it from our web application and see if it responds correctly. We’ll also cover how to validate our API with unit testing. Consume the API For the purpose of this demo, we’ll use , which is an open-source tool to test SOAP (and other protocols) web services. With SoapUI installed and running, we create a new SOAP Project, providing a name and selecting our file as the initial WSDL. SoapUI enterprise_wsdl.xml We now have all available Salesforce SoapBindings listed on the left. First, we need to authenticate our web application to Salesforce. We do this by using the call and providing our login credentials. login Use a security token For added security, we also need to add a to our password to authenticate. We can get a security token by going to the page and selecting on the left. Then, press the button with the same name. We will then receive our security token by email. Security Token Settings Reset My Security Token Log in with the token and credentials With our token in hand, we select the SoapBinding in SoapUI. Ensure you have the correct URL depending on your org. If you just signed up for a developer account, the URL should be . If you are testing this in a Sandbox, then the URL should be . Ideally, the generated Enterprise WSDL will already have the correct URL. login https://login.salesforce.com https://test.salesforce.com For demo testing, we can comment out all other parameters except username and password. We press the green button on the top left of the window to send the request. We receive a response that looks like this: Play The critical pieces that we are looking for in the response are and . In order to call our web service, we need to provide the together with other parameters in our call. We copy down this , as we will need this later. sessionId serverUrl sessionId sessionId Call our SOAP API Let’s call our class and create a Contact in Salesforce. To do this, we need to add our ContactAPI WSDL file, , to our project. We right-click on the project folder and select . ContactAPI contactAPI-wsdl.xml Add WSDL After adding the WSDL, it also appears in the left menu like below. Double-click on to see the request. For this example, we can remove everything from the SOAP envelope header except for the with node. Request 1 SessionHeader sessionId After removing the unwanted nodes, we provide the that we copied from our login call earlier. Then, in the section of the envelope, we provide the details of the contact to be created. sessionId Body We press the green button on the top left. Vóila! We have successfully created a Contact in Salesforce and received its . Play Id Check Salesforce org for new contact Let’s look inside our Salesforce org to see if everything was created correctly. We go to our Salesforce org, click the waffle icon on the left and then type in the search bar to find and select . App Launcher Contact Contacts By default, we land on the Contacts page with the list view. Click the down arrow and select either or list view. Recently Viewed Contacts All Contacts My Contacts : If you are in a Developer org, you will see a bunch of dummy Contacts (and other records) that Salesforce creates for you to test the platform. Note We type the name of our newly created contact in the list search box on the right, and we see our new contact! When we click on the Contact name, we end up on the Details page for that Contact. Call our SOAP API with invalid data Lastly, in order to ensure that our API is working properly, let’s send a bad request to see what we get as a response. We’ll simply send another request to our SOAP web service, but this time replace the in the email address with a instead. . , This time, we receive an (as we programmed in the API). error message The entire error message reads like this: Error:Insert failed. First exception on row 0; first error: INVALID_EMAIL_ADDRESS, Email: invalid email address: sheila@gmail,com: [Email] This shows that our SOAP-based API is working as designed. With this foundation, we can build other SOAP-based APIs to create records for different objects. Unit Testing Besides consuming our SOAP-based API, another way to validate it works properly is through testing. Test Driven Development (TDD) is at the core of Salesforce development. To ensure the stability and reliability of the platform, Salesforce requires your custom code to have a minimum of 75% code coverage via unit tests in order to deploy it to a production environment. Let’s create some unit tests for our web service. @isTest
private class TestContactWebService {
  static testMethod void testInsertNewContact() {
    // Create test data for positive test
    String salutation = 'Mr.';
    String firstName = 'Max';
    String lastName = 'Bond';
    String emailAddress = 'm.bond@mi5.gov.uk';
  
    Test.startTest();
    //Call the method with parameters
    String result = ContactAPI.createContact(firstName, lastName, emailAddress, salutation);
    Test.stopTest();

    Contact newContact = [SELECT FirstName FROM Contact WHERE LastName = 'Bond'];
    System.assertEquals(newContact.FirstName, 'Max', 'Assert Error: Please check the ContactAPI class');
  }

  static testMethod void testInsertNewContactFail() {
    // Create test data for failing test
    String salutation = 'Mr.';
    String firstName = 'Max';
    String lastName = 'Bond';
    // The email address has , instead of .
    String badEmailAddress = 'm.bond@mi5,gov,uk';
    
    Test.startTest();
  
    //Call the method with parameters
    String result = ContactAPI.createContact(firstName, lastName, badEmailAddress, salutation);
   Test.stopTest();

   // This should contain the Error substring that we added to the catch block above.
   System.assert(result.contains('Error:'), 'Fail Assert Error: Please check the ContactAPI class');
  }
} In our unit test, we created two scenarios: a “happy path” that verifies valid inputs result in a newly created Contact record, and a “sad path” where we expect the API to return an error on invalid inputs. Salesforce also provides a . Trailhead on unit testing in Apex Conclusion In this post, we only scratched the surface in terms of the capabilities that Salesforce provides when it comes to SOAP. As we saw, the generated Enterprise WSDL makes a long list of SoapBindings available. In addition, we can create our own custom classes and SOAP-based web services. If you have a (legacy) application that uses SOAP to communicate with other systems, you now have the tools to connect that application to your Salesforce org. With enterprise-level security baked into the platform, you can be sure that your connection is safe and your data is protected. In Part Two of our series, we’ll cover REST APIs, demonstrating how to use Apex to create a custom REST API endpoint for our Salesforce org.

Creating Custom API Endpoints in Salesforce with Apex

The Internet is a mirror of the collective human psyche, and it’s nothing if not downright chaotic. Just like the people that give it life, the internet is an imperfect entity rife with the propensity for good or downright terrible. However, just as light banishes darkness, we hope that the good and reasonable initiatives on the world wide web continue to thrive. This year, Noonies’ Award Category, presented by ,  shines a light on the thinkers, builders, and of course, users that ensure that the gift of the internet keeps on giving. Internet Heroes HackerNoon Writing Contests Here are the stats: 4,743 nominees. 371 HackerNoon awards for 2022 Across 5 award categories: Web3, Emerging Tech, Gaming, Internet Heroes, and Programming. And a monumental 143,156 votes cast over at noonies.tech To see the winners simply visit , pick an award, and discover which name appears at the top. That’s the winner! noonies.tech The category alone is announcing 100 winners this year. Let’s congratulate them all! Internet Heroes HackerNoon Contributor of the year - CYBER SECURITY AWARENESS With 1,891 votes, Cloud Security Engineer and Cybersecurity , smashed this category. Engr Naina Emmanuel HackerNoon Contributor of the year - MANAGEMENT an International recruitment agency, won this category by writing about lessons and laws in different management styles. Alcor, HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- SEO Sleuth SEO is the spice of the Internet and, is the spice master. Manfye Goh HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- EDUCATION From the origins of decentralized finance to what the metaverse will look like in a few years, taught us a lot in 2022. Mickey Maler HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- All About Teamwork , founder at Adadot.com, the world’s first fitness tracker for work won, this round. Alex Harris HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- LEARNING For sharing her learning journey and garnering 637 votes, won this category. Shloka Shah HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- Most Valuable Marketer , Head of Product Marketing at Livecycle gets the trophy for this one. Zevi Reinitz HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- BUSINESS-STRATEGY Marketing, Product Guy & Writer, brought high-value content, such as his which is probably why he got 549 votes to win this category. Kolapo Imam interview with Google Product Marketing Manager Vincent Xu HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- CAREER-DEVELOPMENT And the winner of this category is serial entrepreneur . Kirill Manaenko HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- FACEBOOK NFT and Web3 guru wins this category. Tigerchops HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- INTERNET is the winner in this category. Ewere HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- SOCIAL-MEDIA Congratulations to the head of Admitad ConvertSocial ! Ksana Liapkova HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- ONLINE-EDUCATION won this category, a step further in reaching her goal of educating 100-out-of-school children in Nigeria using music, literacy, and technology. Celine Aju HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- JOBS CEO of SIDUSHEROES.COM won this category. Congratulations! Dan Khomenko HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- CLIMATE-CHANGE Certified Zero Waste professional and Co-founder BreatheIO won this category. Sana Nauman Chaudhry HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- BUSINESS-GROWTH After smashing the BUSINESS STRATEGY category, won the BUSINESS-GROWTH category too. Kolapo Imam HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- PSYCHOLOGY Congrats to , a Backend Developer with Coding and Philosophy as main interests. Leela Krishna Kumarz HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- CYBER-THREATS Cyber threats are not to be taken likely and cybersecurity writer Nduka knows why! John HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- HIRING Software Engineer won this category. Andrei Molchanov The Greatest Storyteller is officially the greatest storyteller of 2022. Zevi Reinitz HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- DESIGN , thank you for your amazing stories. Sergey Golitsyn Super Career Strategist of 2022 And the award goes to a Software Engineer with impeccable writing. Andrei Molchanov HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- GROWTH-HACKING bags his third award for the year! Kolapo Imam HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- INVESTING Besides teaching about investment, stories are fun to read. Congratulations! David O’s HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- DATA-SECURITY creates content to make the web a better place! Zell Liew Critical Thinker of the Year Eight-Time "Noonies" Award Winner, wins again! Nebojsa ”Nesha” Todorovic HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- BOOKS Congratulations to , one of the world's leading consumer product industry experts. Keep up the good work. Branden HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- GROWTH Congratulations to , a software engineer writing about how we can all keep growing professionally and personally. Andrei Molchanov HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- ART is a Senior Advisor, General Counsel, New Pavilion, Senior Counselor, American Blockchain PAC associate AND a HackerNoon Contributor of the Year in Art! Ralph Benko HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- JOB-HUNTING shares the latest trends in hiring and workplace culture at some of the largest tech companies. Rick Chen HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- MOTIVATION is a Backend Developer with Coding and Philosophy as his main interests. Leela Krishna Kumar HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- PRODUCT-MANAGEMENT Congratulations to . Kolapo Imam HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- PHILOSOPHY Congratulations for winning his second award! Ralph Benko HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- COMPANY-CULTURE shares the latest trends in hiring and workplace culture at some of the largest tech companies and wins the HackerNoon Contributor of the Year in Company Culture award. Rick Chen HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- ELON-MUSK , an award-winning writer & guerrilla marketer wins another award! Ghost of HackerNoon HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- BOTS Congratulations to , a Senior Python Developer. Maksim Kuznetsov HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- BEST-PRACTICES Congratulations to , a Senior Ruby on Rails Developer Alexey Shepelev HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- DEVELOPER Congratulations to , a software tester. Sergei Shaikin HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- LEADERSHIP is the example of a leader herself! She has focus in User Acquisition & Growth, enjoys running marathons, is a fitness enthusiast and a TEDx Speaker. Annica Lin HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- BEGINNERS-GUIDE Congratulations to , a full-stack web developer, crafter, blogger, cosplayer, fiber artist, yoga teacher, and gamer. Abbey Perini HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- FREELANCING Congratulations to once again! Ghost of HackerNoon Best Productivity Software Everybody's favorite - , is on fire! Notion HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- CUSTOMER-EXPERIENCE Congratulations to , the CEO of SupportYourApp, Co-founder of Label Your Data and Outstaff Your Team! Daria Leshchenko HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- CUSTOMER-SUCCESS Congratulations to for winning second award in a row! Daria Leshchenko HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- WOMEN-IN-TECH Congratulations to for winning the HackerNoon Contributor of the Year on Women in Tech! Annica Lin HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- FOUNDER-INTERVIEW is building digital products at Evrone.com and winning the Noonies! Elizabeth Lvova HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- CYBERCRIME Congratulations to , a Ph.D. Candidate, Blockchain Researcher,  web3 technical writer, developer, and Audio platforms researcher. Olusegun Joel Titus HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- INTERNET-CENSORSHIP is on fire! Ghost of HackerNoon HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- PRODUCTIVITY has read 6000 pages of programming books per year since 2016 and just like that wins the Noonies award! German Tebiev HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- FUNDING Congratulations to , a seasoned blockchain writer interested in crypto education, DAO, NFT, Defi, and Web3. Olayimika Oyebanji Remote Work Warrior is the remote work warrior of the year! Chingiz Nazar HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- PODCAST is building digital products at Evrone.com and smashing this year's Noonies. Elizabeth Lvova HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- MUSIC is a content creator with 20 years of experience and over 5 million views who writes about Content Creation, Self Help & Business. Jesse Young El Best Online Lecturer Please welcome , the best online lecturer! Abdul Bari Patron Saint of Privacy is our Patron Saint of Privacy this year. Avast Secure Browser HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- HACKATHONS Congratulations to ! Alex R HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- BLOGGING Congrats to , well deserved! Erik Emanuelli HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- ADVERTISING is on fire this year and wins her third award! Annica Lin Coolest Chrome Plugin helps remove known paywalled sites from your search results. A free and open internet is just one click away! Free Internet Plugin HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- ENTREPRENEURSHIP is the host of the Success Story Podcast and Founder/CEO of OnMi Patch. Scott D. Clary HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- CREATIVITY wins for his expertise on creativity. Sourav Das HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- SCIENCE-FICTION Congratulations to , well deserved! Axel Best Technology Email Newsletter content on copywriting, marketing & creativity brings him an award this year. ’s Eddie Shleyner HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- CONTENT-STRATEGY is a freelance writer for B2B SaaS. When she's not writing for clients, she's managing her own blog and winning Noonies! Favour Agari HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- COVID19 Congratulations to ! Kyle W. Beach HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- LIFE-LESSONS Congratulations to , a web developer writing essays about mindset, productivity, tech, and others. Roxana Murariu HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- MENTAL-HEALTH is a six-figure freelancer and strategic advisor who has helped companies secure more than $500 million. Matthew Proffitt HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- FOUNDER-ADVICE Congratulations ! Alex Paden Best Social Media Tech Educator is the best social media tech educator! He discusses various software engineering topics with examples and adds fun elements to them. He always tries to teach by example here on this educational Youtube channel which he believes is the right way to learn. Hussein Nasser Tech CEO of the Year is the Tech CEO of 2022! Congratulations! Troy Goode Best Tech Educator on Instagram is a Computer Scientist who likes to engineer things and share them online. Estefannie HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- COPYRIGHT is an artist by trade (acting, music, writing) and a blockchain by necklace.Congratulations! Nile Sarkisian HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- HISTORY If today is going to be a part of history then sure is going to be remembered as a prominent historian in cyberspace who is a cold-brew addict who simplifies Web3 for the curious men and women. Congratulations! Joel Mascarenhas Green Tech Advocate of the Year Congratulations for being the shining example for everyone in the cyberspace on how tech and nature can go hand in hand! He is the founder and CEO of Salesforce.com Mark Benioff HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- DIVERSITY has given the most diversified stories to his readers this year, he is a marketing executive, digital junkie, and pop culture lover. Congratulations! David Deal The Twitter Animal Account That Most Brightens Your Day is the twitter animal account of 2022 that brightened up everyone’s day and improved our spirits throughout the year. Congratulations! 🐕 genius_dogs HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- CULTURE 2022 sure has proved as a man of culture who is also a marketing executive, digital junkie, and pop culture lover. Congratulations! David Deal Best Use of Tech for Democracy While democracy is what keeps us and our rights safe, its quite astonishing how made sure to keep the very foundation of it out of harm's way. He is the founder and CEO of Change.org, the world's largest platform for social change. Ben Rattray HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- MANAGEMENT-AND-LEADERSHIP is an Author and a Former AVP Engineer @Swiggy. Congratulations! Vinita Bansal HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- SALES Congratulations to ! Scott D. Clary HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- ETHICS is the World’s 1st AI-Powered Omni Social Shopping Network, for People, Brands, and Sustainability.Congratulations! Ã€LA.HAUSSE Tech Career Trendsetter is the world's largest professional network on the internet. You can use LinkedIn to find the right job or internship, connect and strengthen professional relationships, and learn the skills you need to succeed in your career. Congratulations! LinkedIn HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- DATA-PROTECTION Data has always been a top tier asset that helps one gain leverage but it also brings the horrors of it being taken from us without our consent, and has been at par with keeping us updated on how to stay protected. Or Hillel HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- FOUNDER-STORIES Congratulations to . Julie Plavnik HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- LAW is the Founder & CEO of ROYBI Robot and a member of the Forbes Technology Council. Congratulations! Elnaz Sarraf HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- SELF-IMPROVEMENT combines ideas from data science, humanities, and social sciences. Congratulations! Nikola O. HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- GOVERNMENT rises with the strength of a thousand generations. Chitose Nakamoto HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- HUMOR It's said the most difficult emotion to crack is humor but has been blessed with comical wittiness. Congratulations! Valerie Ejegi Who is the Real Captain Kirk? Congratulations to . William Shatner - Star Trek: The Original Series Who is the Real Dr. Leonard McCoy? Congratulations to . Karl Urban - Star Trek (Kelvin Timeline) Who is the Real Spock? Congratulations to . Leonard Nimoy - Star Trek: The Original Series HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- PERSONAL-DEVELOPMENT is an author, entrepreneur, and growth advisor. Congratulations! Baptiste Monnet Who is the Real Hikaru Sulu? . Congratulations! George Takei - Star Trek: The Original Series HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- FUNDRAISING In a world that runs on money has the super power to know how to get it. She is the Co-Founder & CEO of Atri Labs - Creating a new full-stack web development framework. Congratulations! Darshita Chaturvedi Most Controversial Tweeter of the Year They say any type of publicity is good publicity and used it quite well but at what cost. JK Rowling HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- MVP Congratulations to , who is a Software Engineer from the Land Down Under. Valerii Udodov HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- NETWORKING is a full-stack computer science engineer and Linux lover who writes about programming. Congratulations! Aitor Alonso HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- PERSONAL-DATA is an SEO & Affiliate Marketer for Finance & Technology. Congratulations! George Tam RICK SANCHEZ OF THE YEAR It would be an understatement to call a brilliantly mad man just like Tony Stark. Congratulations! Elon Musk

#Noonies2022 Awards: The List of Winners in the Internet Heroes Category

Premios #Noonies2022: la lista de ganadores en la categoría Héroes de Internet

#Noonies2022 Awards : la liste des gagnants dans la catégorie Internet Heroes

#Noonies2022 पुरस्कार: इंटरनेट हीरोज श्रेणी में विजेताओं की सूची

#Noonies2022 Awards: インターネットヒーロー部門の受賞者リスト

Prêmios #Noonies2022: a lista de vencedores na categoria Heróis da Internet

#Noonies2022 Awards: Danh sách những người chiến thắng hạng mục Người hùng Internet

#Noonies2022 奖项：互联网英雄类别获奖名单

Part One: Java Calling Salesforce The Salesforce ecosystem is pretty massive. Developers need to work hard to stay up-to-date with the latest and greatest features and tools coming from Salesforce. In this article, we’ll mix a little bit of the and the . We’ll combine Java-based applications with Salesforce, and we’ll do so via web services. old new Java is a programming language and computing platform first released by Sun Microsystems back in 1995. Since then, we’ve seen the rise of Web 2.0 and web programming languages, containers, microservices, and cloud-native architectures. Yet even now, many new products and digital services designed for the future continue to rely on Java. Java will be around for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, Salesforce has established itself as the world’s top CRM and customer success platform. With today’s enterprises relying on multi- and hybrid-cloud setups with applications that need to integrate seamlessly with one another, it’s not surprising that Java applications and the Salesforce Cloud need to intersect. So how do we get our Java and (SFDC) applications integrated and talking with one another? Salesforce.com In this article, we’ll discuss how to implement this integration using the Web Services Connector (WSC). We’ll use an example use case—a business that wants to use its Java application to manipulate Salesforce org data—and show you how to set up your developer environment and connect the pieces. However, before we start, let’s talk briefly about Salesforce and its API-first approach. Salesforce and the API-first Approach If you’re familiar with the SFDC ecosystem, then you will know that Salesforce takes an API-first approach when building features on its platform. In fact, Salesforce was to deploy web APIs! While the platform has many great built-in capabilities, Salesforce wants to enable its customers to create the capabilities and custom experiences they need for their own platforms. By offering APIs, Salesforce ensures that SFDC can be customized and connected to any external application that can interact with web services. Some of the APIs from Salesforce (and there are of them) include: one of the first companies a lot SOAP API REST API Bulk API Metadata API Chatter REST API Streaming API Tooling API Suffice it to say that Salesforce has its platform pretty well-covered by APIs, opening up access to its capabilities for countless different use cases. That being said, let’s dive into our use case. In our example use case, we have a Java application that helps a business generate leads for their sales organization. That business would like the Java application to push the qualified leads directly to their Salesforce CRM, avoiding the need for manually entering lead data into Salesforce. To integrate Java and Salesforce, we’ll use the Salesforce SOAP API and the library, which serves as a wrapper layer that simplifies working with the API in Java. Web Services Connector (WSC) Initial Setup The initial setup of our Java developer environment requires taking several steps. Fortunately, we had guidance from this . Nonetheless, we’ll provide an overview of the major steps here. Salesforce tipsheet Install the Java Developer Kit (JDK) To use Salesforce APIs in our Java application, we’ll install the Java Developer Kit (JDK) at version 11.0 or later. You can do that by visiting and finding the appropriate binary for your local machine. this page Install Eclipse Next, you’ll need a Java development IDE. While there are several options available to you, the steps for our walk-through will go with the Eclipse IDE. You can find the latest Eclipse IDE packages . Download and install the IDE on your local machine. here Install the WSC Since we’ll be using the Salesforce SOAP API, we need to install the WSC. Download WSC pre-built .jar files The for the WSC shows all of the versions available: Maven repository Navigate to the page for the version that that you’re using. In our example, we’ll use . matches the API version of Salesforce 56.0.0 Under , we click on . This takes us to the of actual files we will need to download. Files View All ` .jar Download the following four files to your local machine: force-wsc-56.0.0-javadoc.jar force-wsc-56.0.0-sources.jar force-wsc-56.0.0-uber.jar force-wsc-56.0.0.jar We will use these files to generate stub files with the WSDLs from our Salesforce org. Generate and download the WSDL for your Salesforce org Next, we’ll generate an WSDL to use in generating our .jar stub files. We can’t use pre-built .jar files here because the WSDL is specific to our Salesforce Org. If there are custom objects and fields defined in our Org, then the WSDL will reflect those, and the generated .jar will contain them. We log into our Salesforce developer organization. Then, we navigate to , , , . We click on “Generate Enterprise WSDL.” Setup Platform Tools Integrations API This will open a new tab in your browser, displaying your WSDL file. Save this file to your local machine with the name . Put it in the same folder where you downloaded the WSC .jar files. sfdc.wsdl Generate Java stub file To use the SOAP API with Java, we need to generate .jar stub files for use in our application project. We run the following command to generate the stub file: $ java -classpath force-wsc-56.0.0-uber.jar com.sforce.ws.tools.wsdlc sfdc.wsdl sfdc_stub.jar

[WSC][wsdlc.main:72]Generating Java files from schema ...
[WSC][wsdlc.main:72]Generating 1206 java files.
[WSC][wsdlc.main:72]Compiled 1210 java files.
[WSC][wsdlc.main:72]Generating jar file ... sfdc_stub.jar
[WSC][wsdlc.main:72]Generated jar file sfdc_stub.jar Create Java Project in Eclipse In Eclipse, start a new Java project and a new Java class, , using the following code: Main package wsc;
// Depending on wsdl chosen, change this to enterprise or partner
import com.sforce.soap.enterprise.*;
import com.sforce.soap.enterprise.sobject.*;

import com.sforce.ws.*;

public class Main { 
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    ConnectorConfig credentials = new ConnectorConfig();
    credentials.setPassword("YourPassword!apPenDdedSecurityToken);
    credentials.setUsername("yoursalesforceusername@yourdomain.com");

    EnterpriseConnection connection;
    try {
      connection = Connector.newConnection(credentials);
      Lead le = new Lead();
      le.setLastName("AcmeEnterprises");
      le.setCompany("JavaPush");
      le.setIndustry("Hospitality"); 
      connection.create(new Lead[]{ le });
    } catch (ConnectionException e) {
      e.printStackTrace();
    }
  }
} Add .jar files to project Next, we need to connect the generated four .jar files with the build path for our project. Right-click on your project and select , . Build Path Configure Build Path In the modal that comes up, navigate to in the left side panel. Click on the tab. Select , and then click the button. Find the four .jar files that you downloaded from the Maven repository and the generated stub file ( ), and add them. Then, click on . Java Build Path Libraries Modulepath Add External JARs sfdc_stub.jar Apply and Close Test the Application We are all set up, with our code and our .jar files all in place. Now, right-click on your file in Eclipse. Select -> . Main.java Run As Java Application After we run our application, we navigate to Sales in our Salesforce org, and we see that we have a new lead! Leads Our Java application has successfully tapped into our Salesforce org through the SOAP API, using the WSC to insert a new lead! Next Steps Now that we have verified the initial proof of concept, you can begin expanding your Java application to perform other operations, including reads, updates, and deletions. You can incorporate your own custom business logic to create a Java application that handles your Salesforce org data for you! For more information on many of the core concepts we covered, here are links to helpful resources: Web Services Connector (GitHub) Salesforce Master GitHub Repo (a treasure trove of SFDC repositories)

Build a Java Backend that Connects with Salesforce

Something that has always baffled me is the way that fashion trends go around in circles, seemingly at whim and without warning (for those of us who don't attend Fashion Week, anyway). Round glasses have been resurrected from the '20s, mom jeans have made a triumphant return from the '90s, and even shoulder pads have made a brief reappearance in recent years. And yes, I'm dreading the day that fedoras make a comeback. While some of these resurgent trends are pretty whack, a lot of them make sense – and it isn't just the fashion industry that sees the old become new again. Featured in my newsletter today is David Wachs, CEO of . He revived the ancient art of handwritten letters, but with a modern spin... he produces them en masse with the help of 115 custom robots. Handwrytten I'm mind blown! Let's talk about it. From New to Old David Wachs is an engineer and serial entrepreneur who's managed to exit his first company – Cellit – and launch an incredibly successful second company called Handwrytten, of which he's now the CEO. Let's talk about Cellit first. Interestingly, David started this company as a real estate service. "The whole purpose of Cellit was to provide information on real estate – so you would drive by a house, text a number, and get info on the house. And then the realtor would capture a lead. We were kind of the first ones doing that." It slowly turned into something else, though. As their work grew more and more promotional, Cellit branched out into the hospitality space, and then onto big name brands like Abercrombie and Fitch, Toys R Us, and Sam's Club. It would eventually become a full-service mobile marketing agency. Cellit was sold to HelloWorld in 2012 which eventually became Merkle; and with that, David knew it was time to pivot. “I felt that text messaging had kind of run its course. I always felt that way – even when I started Cellit. People are now inundated with 1000s of text messages and emails a day... an average office worker spends about a quarter of their time managing their inbox. It's all just noise at this point.” The Handwrytten Revolution I told you that today's newsletter guest was someone who resurrected an old trend – and that's exactly what David did with his next project after Cellit, which he called Handwrytten. The inspiration struck when David was leaving his old company behind. “When I left, I wanted to send my employees and my customers 'thank you' notes for sticking with me, and helping us grow this business. I didn't want to send them an email – I wanted to send them a handwritten note.” He sat down with pen and paper and started writing handwritten notes. But of course, his hand cramped (we've all been there) and he ran out of stationery. “I thought there must be a better way; a way to scale handwritten note outreach, so that it was as easy as sending an email, but would still be noticed. And it would be easy for me to do. Even better if we could automate the whole process.” Handwrytten was born – and David started the iterative process pretty much the day after leaving his previous company. How It All Works Handwrytten is a software platform where you can use handwrytten.com or their iPhone/Android app, as well as integrate with salesforce.com and HubSpot. The company uses a number of ways to get data in, including Zapier and Integromat. You order the message, stationery, handwriting style, and volume, and Handwrytten does the rest. But don't worry – it isn't run by a factory of workers with impeccable handwriting and carpal tunnel. "What we actually do is we have 115 custom robots here in Phoenix that write the notes out in pen. Currently, each robot is custom-built; I wrote the software that actually does the writing. But they all can write in realistic handwriting, which is the most realistic handwriting available on the market today.” What's more, the company now offers a premium option where you can have your own handwriting style programmed into the robots. I'm absolutely blown away by the tech this guy has developed, and according to David, his robots are top of the range. “There's just nobody that comes close. So we're doing about 5,000 to 10,000 notes a day, on average, for everything from realtors to luxury brands and car dealerships, solar panel installers, etc.” Why Does It Work? So we know how Handwrytten manages to pump out thousands of notes every day – insane robot writers. (They're seriously cool. You can see a video of them in action .) here But my question to David was... why does this work? What's the appeal? If we've moved way beyond snail mail and into the cloud, why are people using a service like this? The Uniqueness Factor “Email is just junk at this point," David explained. "Sending somebody a text doesn't really say 'I care about you.' But when you receive a handwritten note in the mail, it's unique now. What's old is new again, right?” His explanation reminded me a lot of antique furniture. People love handmade things because they're unique – and they were made with time, effort, and care. I also thought about Mother's or Father's Day gifts; it's always lovely to receive a bought gift from your kids, but there's no denying that homemade gifts feel extra special. From a customer perspective, we all want to feel that we're cared about by the brands we buy from – even on a subconscious level. (I don't think any of us truly believe that a brand cares about us as individuals, but it's still nice to feel like they do.) The Spam Factor "When you're going through your mail, it's just bill, bill, bill, bill, bill – but if you see this nice handwritten note, you'll save that. You'll open that last." I definitely second that one. I know I've been way more likely to open and save a handwritten envelope than one that looks like it contains a bill. Plus, as David pointed out, with so much spam and junk mail floating around, getting an actual piece of mail feels special in itself. It's not often you get something physical in the mailbox these days. "Not only will you read it (which is pretty much a 99 to 100 percent read rate, because everybody wants to know who took the time and effort to write a note), but often you keep it.” The Time Factor And of course, time. We're all short on it. We all feel like we don't have enough hours in the day. “Nobody has any time anymore, right? Everybody's responding to 12 emails at once, and their Slack is going off, their Teams is going off, their emails are going off... nobody can sit down to focus and concentrate. So when you receive a handwritten note, you realize time went into it. And that's the gift that you're receiving.” What a beautiful sentiment. If someone takes time out of their day to write you a handwritten note, it really does mean the world – especially knowing how busy we all are. Of course, Handwrytten is in the business of creating that illusion. And I think it's one of the most fantastic business concepts I've heard in a while. It's seriously a win-win scenario; the customer feels cared about, the company gets repeat business, and the world gets a little more handwritten love. The Take-Home: Go Analog or Go Home When the whole business world was going digital, David and his team thought outside the box – or rather, they went back to an old-school way of thinking. And it's paid off in a big way. I'm not suggesting that Apple goes back to making handsets with rotary dials (though I'm sure there are a few of us who would be into that), or that Nintendo starts selling board games again. But there's always room for old trends to be revived in new and interesting ways. Let's look at some examples: Fujifilm revived Polaroid-style cameras with its line of brightly-colored Instax camera kits. Impala Skates relaunched the classic roller skate with a modern twist, and they're now one of the most popular brands in the industry. Depop gave thrifting a major facelift by providing an online platform for people to sell their retro and vintage finds. The list goes on – and B2B and SaaS companies are jumping on board as well. Moo.com brings the classic business card into the 21st century with their stylish and customizable designs. Trello revived the Kanban board, a system that was originally developed in the 1940s using pen and paper. The bottom line? There's always room for old trends to make a comeback – and businesses that are able to tap into that nostalgia are bound to find success. Wrap-Up Hearing David talk about Handwrytten was such an incredible experience for me. It was a throwback to the movie Her – the one where Joaquin Phoenix works for a company that generates handwritten letters based on a person's relationship with the recipient. Well, turns out it's not too far from reality. If you found this whole concept as mind-blowing as I did, make sure you where we discuss Handwrytten, entrepreneurship, pivoting, and more. check out our interview Remember – if you're tired of the new, go back to the old. You might just find your next big break.

David Wachs | Resurrecting an Old Trend

The fundamental capabilities of the internet can be boiled down to one simple interaction: a call and a response. One machine (the client) sends to another machine (the server), which with a reply. This back-and-forth request-and-response cycle is how every phone, television, smart fridge, or computer sends and receives data. requests responds However, there are several security risks inherent in this model, from application vulnerabilities to DDoS attacks. In this post, we’ll take a closer look at how Cross-Origin Resource Sharing, or , mitigates these risks and how it operates. By working with a small Node.js app that interacts with several Salesforce APIs, we will see the differences in responses when CORS is enabled and disabled, as well as what effect it has on our client. CORS First, let’s take a deeper look at what CORS is and why it exists. Web Pages Call External Resources Whenever a browser requests a web page, the server sends back a chunk of HTML. The browser then draws that HTML and, crucially, continues to ask the server for more information when necessary. For example, if there’s any content that can’t be parsed, such as images or videos, or code that needs to be executed (such as JavaScript), then the browser continues making requests to the server, and the server happily fulfills them. Security Risks Suppose you’re browsing around at , and your browser encounters some JavaScript that executes a request to . For example, say a piece of code wants to get a list of a user’s completed trails using the API: salesforce.com trailhead.com fetch let response = await fetch('https://api.trailhead.com/user/1/trails'); On the surface, this JavaScript code is pretty innocuous, but it presents a fundamental question about how the web operates: If a browser is loading , should it also be able to load data from ? One’s instinct might be to say, “Yes, of course.” But if we allow to load from , why not allow loading code from , , or ? Why not just load code from anywhere? salesforce.com trailhead.com salesforce.com trailhead.com heroku.com github.com google.com Walking the slippery slope of making requests from any site in the world also introduces the security risks mentioned above. In this example, without any boundaries, can’t control who is requesting data from them. What would be is if a server could make a list of whom it trusts to be given access out on the web. Perhaps will allow users on to load scripts, but not from anywhere else. trailhead.com ideal trailhead.com salesforce.com Enter CORS! CORS is designed to plug this hole. A server dictates not only which domains can access its resources, but the types of HTTP verbs as well. If a client isn’t able to satisfy the server’s CORS requirements, then data cannot be executed or delivered. CORS is a concept that extends beyond any one programming language and is configured on a web server, such as nginx or Apache. Most crucially, it’s enforced by the browser: there’s no way around it, and data enforced by CORS can’t be accessed by browser clients outside of that context. CORS is designed to walk the line between enabling a client’s productivity and enforcing a server’s security. CORS is enforced through , which can be thought of as additional metadata attached to HTTP requests and responses. You might be familiar with adding headers for (such as ) or to specify the data types the client understands (via ). CORS has , which a server uses to state where a browser may load its resources from. HTTP Headers authentication Authorization: token xxx Accept its own category of headers To demonstrate what this means in practice, let’s take a look at how a demo app using the Salesforce platform interacts with CORS. Demo prerequisites Before getting started, make sure that your . If you don’t have access to the Salesforce platform, then you can . You can use this org to test what developing on the Salesforce platform looks like. Salesforce instance supports access to its API create a free Developer Edition account Requesting Salesforce resources Open a browser tab and navigate to . In the box that says JavaScript, paste these lines of code: https://jsfiddle.net const run = async () => {
const response = await fetch('https://myInstance-dev-ed.my.salesforce.com/services/data');
const responseJson = await response.json();
responseJson.forEach( (e) => document.write(e.label + "<br/>"));
document.body.style.background = "white";
}
run(); Replace with the actual name of your Salesforce instance. Click in the top menu bar. You should see….nothing. myInstance-dev-ed Run However, if you open , you’ll see a message indicating that CORS has blocked access: the Browser Console Access to fetch at 
'https://myInstance-dev-ed.my.salesforce.com/services/data' from origin 
'https://fiddle.jshell.net' has been blocked by CORS policy: No 
'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' header is present on the requested resource. 
If an opaque response serves your needs, set the request's mode to 'no-cors' to fetch the resource with CORS disabled. What’s going on here? Well, Salesforce provides semi-open access to its data and assets. In this case, we tried to use JavaScript’s function to make a request and retrieve some JSON data. However, due to CORS, we were blocked from doing so. Unauthorized access is exactly what CORS was designed to prevent. fetch Specifically, we were blocked by the lack of a proper definition. This header states which URLs a browser is permitted to load resources from. If this information is missing, then the browser simply cannot load the external resource, which in this case was the content at the path of our Salesforce instance. There are many other types of CORS headers, such as , which defines which HTTP methods a browser is permitted to make. Access-Control-Allow-Origin /services/data Access-Control-Allow-Methods Enabling CORS in Salesforce Fortunately, it doesn’t take much to enable CORS on the Salesforce APIs. Follow the short steps , and enter as the allowed domain: in this guide https://fiddle.jshell.net Make sure there’s no trailing slash at the end of this URL. Click , then run that code snippet one more time. Voila! It’s not much, but you should see a list of some Salesforce editions. Save Other CORS Considerations While Salesforce takes the utmost effort to provide a way to securely retrieve data, other platforms might not be as secure. Fortunately, CORS also provides the ability to pass in credentials . Credentials are useful if you’re navigating on a site that, unlike Salesforce, does not use an authentication mechanism. By setting an additional option in your client-side JavaScript request ( ), your browser’s cookies are sent over along with the request. Cookies have been used as an identifying mechanism since the very early days of the internet. Although they’ve largely been abandoned as an authentication method, some websites still do use them as such. It’s the server’s responsibility to receive the cookies and perform any additional validations on them. credentials: "include" Since CORS support is largely a consideration for servers (that is, servers should have CORS enabled by default), there isn’t much else for the client to do. There are different that a client can set, which have a variety of purposes. For example, if you’re building a series of microservices, then you may find that the ’s strict domain matching may be useful for doubly ensuring that requests and responses come from the same domain. modes same-origin We’ve largely been talking about CORS and JavaScript, but there’s another important component to web development where CORS can step in: the humble . The iframe element allows you to embed the contents from another URL into a web page. What keeps me from registering and just setting the page to the contents of Salesforce? CORS, of course! <iframe> www.not-salesforce.com Conclusion Ultimately, not every server supports open CORS access, and it’s at the server’s discretion. Improperly configured CORS settings have the potential to impede legitimate user workflows, but disabling CORS entirely will certainly make your application more vulnerable to attacks from malicious clients. In general, as a developer, if an action can be done on the server, it’s more likely to be safer than performing work on the client, so make sure you are disabling CORS for a good reason if you’re thinking of it. We’ve just taken a brief look at Salesforce APIs here. You can also manipulate data or retrieve all sorts of Apex data. We encourage you to take a look at for more information on what the APIs allow you to do. You can also find to help you build your integrations with the platform. the Force.com REST API Developer Guide a bevy of tutorials on Trailhead

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