Specializing in Computer Repair, Networking, Internet Solutions, Web Designing, Hybrid App Designing and Windows Operating systems.
Niall Firth / MIT Technology Review:
Critics contend that predictive policing algorithms need to be dismantled due to biased training data, even as advocates say that algorithms can be made fair — Lack of transparency and biased training data mean these tools are not fit for purpose. If we can't fix them, we should ditch them.
Christine Hall / Crunchbase News:
CampusLogic, whose SaaS tech is helping simplify student financial aid processes at 750+ colleges and universities, receives $120M investment from Dragoneer — CampusLogic's new $120 million growth investment will help the education technology company expand its student financial success platform.
South China Morning Post:
CloudMinds CEO, a Chinese engineer who started the cloud-based robotics company in SV, says he will not consider US listing after sanctions hurt the business — CloudMinds lost almost 75 per cent of orders in the US and cut 80 per cent of its US workforce after Washington imposed sanctions …
We’re a few years out from the call to action Bill Gates made in his TED Talk on preparing for pandemics back in 2015, yet the state of scalable software for important workflows like data collection and contact-tracing has greatly lagged expectations during the current pandemic.
The Trump administration’s letter to health agencies regarding data-sharing guidelines asked for daily Excel uploads, and manual contact-tracing efforts without software have proven difficult given the scale of the current pandemic.
Everything is being built right now.
Research universities are helping build models used by the CDC for case prediction, and that’s brought to light the dire issues around incomplete data sharing between health institutions and governments.
Dozens of contact-tracing apps are springing up, surfacing design decisions around privacy, the need for newer technologies beyond Bluetooth for near-field communication and leading companies like Google and Apple to strike partnerships to power cross-platform mobile capabilities.
The good news is that the current efforts are taking seriously the need for better software and driving necessary innovation to help society better prepare for pandemics.
How can detailed case data be shared by hospitals with governments to better predict case and mortality numbers, and used to better allocate medical and labor resources?
How can software help local and state governments make better policies, and help digitize contact tracing while appeasing privacy concerns?
Software has the ability to power many of these capabilities, and it is creating new opportunities for startups to vet the newly formed appetite for better data and digitized workflows on the part of health agencies, local and state governments and other organizations involved in fighting pandemics.
Nikhil Basu Trivedi / next big thing:
A look at the bifurcation of the VC industry between agglomerators, who invest at every stage and across every sector, and specialists, who focus on one — Welcome to issue #10 of next big thing. — On one side of the venture capital industry are the agglomerator firms.
Cecilia Kang / New York Times:
Sources: FTC's antitrust probe of Facebook will probably roll into next year when there may be a new president as FTC looks into its acquisition of Giphy — The agency's handling of the case stands in stark contrast to the antitrust investigation into Google by the Justice Department.
While it’s no secret Hispanics represent unparalleled growth opportunities for the U.S. economy, most startups don’t realize Hispanic youth means an abundance of prime spending years (translation: dollars for businesses). The average age of a Hispanic living in the U.S. is 28. Meanwhile, the average age of their white counterpart is 42. Nearly one in every five people in the U.S. identifies as Hispanic.
Those few companies that do notice Hispanics and their massive purchasing power (~$1.5 trillion) tend to be legacy companies doing a subpar job at capturing the Hispanic consumer. Furthermore, they don’t target the most valuable member of the Hispanic community — what I call, the “Hypercultural Latinx.” They are where tons of unspent dollars lie.
As an investor and member of the Hispanic community, I’m confident the startups solving problems for this Hypercultural Latinx member will have the potential to create companies with venture-like returns.
The Hypercultural Latinx is a second-generation Hispanic who is 100% Hispanic and 100% American. And while that might sometimes lead to misunderstandings and conflicts with her white counterparts, it also means she excels by creating a pseudo culture where she can thrive best. She brings her unique characteristics to this self-created culture — a culture where her customs, language and values shine through. Furthermore, this person, who often identifies as a Gen Zer or young millennial, is a fanatic of mobile. After all, across socioeconomic classes, their disposable income is disproportionately going to screens (of all types) and tech toys.
I mean, just go into your Hispanic friend’s home: They are likely to have more TV screens than people residing in that household. In fact, a bewildering 29% of U.S. Hispanics planned to purchase a new TV set just ahead of the Super Bowl (guilty as charged). For reference, of the 30% of overall Americans that planned to buy a TV in 2017, only 2.8% purchased in the days before the Super Bowl. Heck, when my family moved, we bought TV screens for every room even before the living room was furnished. Technology — especially newer tech, is significantly more tempting to Hispanics.
The Hypercultural Latinx should be top of mind for venture investors and founders. She desires to test the untested, and thus, is likely to cross the chasm before the early majority. This makes her an ideal customer segment for consumer startups.
Image Credits: Ilsa Calderon
Startup founders and VCs alike are missing out. As an investor, I often find myself reduced to frustration with the lack of founders and investors committed to exploring audience segments outside cookie-cutter ones. We might not need another consumer vertical product solving a half-felt pain point for the highly educated, white female with a $100,000+ salary living in NYC, SF or LA. However, we do need more products catered toward the Hypercultural Latinx who, by the way, outspend their white counterparts across most categories. In the same way Fenty Beauty exists to solve the make-up needs of primarily Black women, we need that for the Hypercultural Latinx population.
Numbers aside, investors should care about Hypercultural Latinx because they are tech-forward trendsetters who adopt social media at higher rates than their white peers. For example, a Hispanic youth is 87% more likely to use WhatsApp. Additionally, they produce an exorbitant amount of videos on Tik Tok. Several Tik Tok Hispanic-centric hashtags, such as #hispanicmom, are wildly popular and boost over 44 million views. For reference, the most followed Tik Tok stars, like Addison Rae, have just over 47 million followers. In fact, one Hispanic Tik Tok queen, Rosa, has already reached pop culture peak.
Examples of ads I ran. (Image Credits: Ilse Calderon )
If you are more driven by quantitative data, know that paid spend targeting this Hypercultural Latinx could result in lower click cost rates and higher engagement. I ran a two-week experiment on Facebook to prove out this hypothesis. I created a landing page for a fake sunscreen brand, Bounce Skin, with a fake first product, an SPF mist. I created a couple of ads. Then, I ran ads on Facebook targeting two audiences: young Hispanic girls (the Hypercultural Latinx audience) and white girls. The average click cost for the young Hispanic girl audience was $0.06 per click; for white girls, it was $0.33 per click. Of course, my experiment was limited, but it did demonstrate that the Hypercultural Latinx is out there and craving content that tells the narrative of her life. (For more details, please check out this Medium post).
Three key reasons: fear, the subpar state of Hispanic marketing and white men cannot relate to the Hypercultural Latinx.
Fear. There’s always risk associated with offending the same audience you are trying to captivate. Just take a look at the beauty industry and its frequently associated race problem. The world is not white, and beauty brands that think it is have lived through PR nightmares. Even beyond beauty, tech startups fear negative press cutting short the life of their business. However, it is this gap that creates opportunity.
I encourage the right set of up and coming startups to authentically pursue the Hypercultural Latinx. Even though legacy companies might have heavier balance sheets, they don’t have the clout to lure this young, bicultural consumer. Let’s just say, no 18-year-old is going to be rushing to the Walmarts of the world looking for aspirational goods. They are even less likely to browse Walmart.com for content.
The state of U.S. Hispanic marketing is ridiculous. In fact, there’s a graveyard of failed marketing attempts to the Hispanic community. Most recently, there was a Mother’s Day Kmart ad that blended two Spanish words (Mama + Namaste) to accidentally create a word translating into a very vulgar and offensive word. Furthermore, given most businesses’ “one size fits all” approach to Hispanic marketing, it’s no surprise they keep getting it wrong. However, if anyone is best positioned to take Hispanic marketing out of the 20th century, it’s small, nimble startups with no history of bad marketing or image problems.
Perhaps the biggest reason the tech community isn’t approaching the Hypercultural Latinx is because most venture-backed founders and investors are white men. These white men cannot possibly relate to the life experiences of young, biracial teenagers and young adults living in white America. Last year, a measly less than 2% of venture funding went to Hispanic founders — those are the founders best suited to be able to genuinely capture the eyeballs and wallets of this Hispanic youth. On the investor side, it’s even worse with only 1% of venture investors identifying as Hispanic.
The solution is complex, and frankly, I can’t provide a solution with clarity. However, we can start by building goodwill and non-transactional relationships with those role models Hypercultural Latinx admire. I’ve found that these role models are usually under-the-radar influencers, like Glenda. We as investors can also diversify our top of funnel deal flow to include more underrepresented founders. Lastly, founders with a reach and network of Hispanic youth should consider diving deep into the pain points of Hypercultural Latinx lives.
In order to become this new VC darling, founders approaching the Hypercultural Latinx should consider two suggestions: a platform play and an army of social guides.
The platform approach entails creating an organization of brands that later spew out new brands horizontally or vertically. An example of this is the company behind my favorite over-priced lemon drink, Iris Nova, or Glossier-team spin-off, Arfa.
The second approach, an army of social guides, means combining elements of affiliate marketing with a kick-ass referral program to create loyal fans that are financially incentivized to sell your products. Sequoia-backed Stella & Dot built out their version of social guides that ultimately became its most defensible strategy. Additionally, in a post-coronavirus world, this strategy is a way for an ever-increasing labor force to get back on their feet.
At the end of the day, the Hypercultural Latinx demographic is only increasing, and so are its needs. For founders who truly care about the U.S. Hispanic market, pay attention to this hidden generation. For investors, look beyond solutions for your own problems. Winning over the multi-faceted Hypercultural Latinx is not easy, but startups that successfully do so attract my attention and my investment dollars.
Shaun Nichols / The Register:
Researchers say seven Hong Kong-based “no log” VPNs have left 1TB+ of user logs and personally identifiable info exposed on the internet — Maybe it was the old Lionel Hutz play: 'No-logging VPN? I meant, no! Logging VPN!' — BIO EMAIL TWITTER
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Twitter says hackers downloaded account info, which may include DMs, of up to 8 accounts via its “Your Twitter Data” tool, but none of the 8 were verified users — But it sounds like the attackers didn't get Biden's data cache — On Friday evening, Twitter issued …
Louise Matsakis / Wired:
Some experts agree that TikTok may pose a threat to the US national security because of China, but blocking the app would be too drastic a measure — Concerns about the Chinese government shouldn't be dismissed, experts say. But banning TikTok would be a drastic measure.
Erin Griffith / New York Times:
Current and former employees provide an inside look at Airbnb amid layoffs, as its warm and fuzzy office culture met with the business realities of a pandemic — What happens when a kumbaya office culture meets the business realities of a pandemic? — SAN FRANCISCO — On May 5 …
Adam Clark Estes / Vox:
A brief history of video chat, how it has evolved, and how the pandemic has forced big tech to develop new ways to make it feel more like real-life interactions — It looks like we're stuck with video chat. Is that such a bad thing? — It's well over 100 days into the Covid-19 crisis …
Children need to learn, play, and stay active for well-rounded growth. These free websites for activities, crafts, and arts for kids will ensure they stay occupied while growing their skills and knowledge.
This article focuses more on non-screen activities, although some of the websites include those. But there’s always a happy go-between. these free interactive art games for kids will develop color and art skills, and are child-appropriate. It’s no substitute for paints and palettes, but it is a launching point for digital design.
Oh, the creations you can make out of a simple piece of paper! Origami Way and Proud Paper teach both adults and children basic papercrafts with a focus on origami, the Japanese art of paper folding. From cranes to planes to Wolverine claws, you’ll learn it all.
Origami Way is a website with step-by-step instructions for each project. Each step has images, so you can take your time and do it at your own pace. It also specifies the kind of paper you need for any creation, with instructions on how to make a square paper sheet which several origami projects need.
YouTube channel Proud Paper hosts origami and papercraft projects for all skill levels. The videos have no instructions or voice notes, it captures the process of any creation. Kids should start with the basics like paper boats and butterflies, before moving on to more complex creations.
Given that origami has no tools involved, it’s a great activity to keep kids occupied with a large sheet of paper. Just ensure you gently encourage them to keep trying even if they aren’t getting it right the first time.
Which kid doesn’t love playing with Slime? The good news is that you and your child can make slime at home with regular store-bought safe ingredients. And once it’s ready, your child can go wild with it.
The Craft Patch made the best guide on how to make DIY slime at home. You’ll find all the ingredients, step-by-step instructions, and different recipes for different types of slime. Yup, you can make slime without borax, make slime without glue, make fluffy slime, clear slime, or butter slime.
The website also includes a few suggestions of things to add to the slime to make it your own, like glitter, foam balls, confetti, etc. All the recipes are free to download and print, and there’s a helpful video of everything too.
And don’t throw away the slime just yet when they are done playing with it. You can use DIY slime to clean gadgets and other hard-to-clean things.
The Kids Activities Blog hosts a variety of projects across age groups. You can quickly filter the site by activities for baby, toddler, preschool, kindergarten, elementary, and middle school. As a parent, you can browse and choose the things you want for your children. It’s not meant for your child to browse it.
Mother-of-three Holly Holmer has all types of activities, wisely combining both screen-time activities and non-screen-time activities. There is a paid printables library. But browse the website and you’ll find more than your fair share of free printables and activities.
It also has a quarantine special “Stuck At Home Survival Guide” for things to do while your kids are stuck at home. It suggests a full day’s schedule that mixes play, rest, learning, exercise, eating, and cleaning. The guide has kid-friendly things to watch for free, and a special pack of Quarantine Printables for non-screen fun too.
Jackie Currie has run a daycare for 25 years, and she’s sharing her secrets on the internet for free. Happy Hooligans has a mission to help children grow through easy and inexpensive arts and crafts, and good old fashioned play.
The website features sections for arts, crafts, activities, recipes, and parenting. Currie offers a mix of items that cater to kids of different ages, including both supervised and unsupervised projects. Among the recipes and parenting, you’ll find simple, fuss-free ways to keep your child happy and nourished.
The Best Ideas for Kids is as simple as it gets to quickly find activities and printables for children. The three main sections are crafts, activities, and slime, with plenty of free articles in each. No signups, no payments, it’s all right there.
There’s an entire section for free printables worth checking out. The “holidays” section gives you activities for different American holidays like Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, etc. Keep checking for new items on the website.
If your children are bored teenagers and you want to reduce their screen time, DIY Projects for Teens suggests several different activities. Even though it’s not actively updated now, the website has projects for food, fashion, arts, gadgets, crafts, and other DIY things.
The four main self-explanatory categories are DIY & How-to, Creative Crafts, Style & Fashion, and Cool Videos. The website is a mix of original projects and collections of activities suggested by the internet. You’ll find long curated lists of topics like the best room decor ideas for teens, drawing tutorials to refine your skills, and so on.
The Butlers (the makers behind the site) try out the best ideas and post their own detailed instructions and experiences. These are the best posts to look for, as they actually try out something from a popular DIY video and explain what went right and wrong in recreating it.
Self-isolation or lockdowns are tough on families with children. Hopefully, the above resources will help keep your kid entertained and learning at the same time, making it a tad easier to manage things.
For more ideas, please listen to the MakeUseOf podcast episode on lockdown entertainment for families. From free resources to innovative ideas, you’ll have an easier time handling your kids after this.
Read the full article: 6 Kid-Friendly Websites for Free Arts and Crafts Activities for Children
