May, 2024 - Faz Business | فاز الأعمال

SpaceX Unveils EVA Spacesuit for Upcoming Private Spacewalk

Posted on May 7, 2024 by faz_business

SpaceX is moving toward another private crewed Dragon mission called Polaris Dawn this summer. In addition to testing new ultra-high orbits and assessing the Starlink laser communication net, Polaris Dawn will feature the first flight of SpaceX’s new spacesuits. The spaceflight firm has just unveiled the long-awaited Extravehicular Activity (EVA) suit, which can protect astronauts from the harsh environment of space. The Polaris Dawn crew will use the new EVA suits to venture outside the Dragon capsule for the first time, testing the advanced composite materials, streamlined joint design, and in-helmet heads-up display.

The SpaceX EVA suit looks very similar to the standard flight suits used thus far. We’ve all seen images of the NASA Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) and Russian Orlan, which are considerably bulkier. That’s partially because they were designed decades ago, but they also have different use cases. The SpaceX suits will be tethered to the Dragon spacecraft by an umbilical to provide life support. The EMU and Orlan both have independent life support systems—they’re essentially single-occupant spacecraft that can operate for eight hours at a time.

SpaceX hasn’t offered too many details on the functional limits of its new EVA suit, but it will be put through its paces during the Polaris Dawn mission. SpaceX had hoped to launch Polaris Dawn in 2022, but it has been pushed back repeatedly while development of the EVA suit continued. These sleek suits have a 3D-printed polycarbonate helmet and visors coated with copper and indium tin oxide, which prevent glare and fogging. A HUD inside the helmet provides real-time data on pressure, temperature, and humidity. Most of the suit control is automatic, but there’s a dial to control oxygen levels, which is piped in via the Dragon umbilical.

The suits use a flame-resistant material and a spiral zipper design for added strength. The boots are composed of the same material SpaceX uses in the Dragon capsule’s trunk and Falcon 9 rocket’s interstage. The company says the combination can survive a wide range of temperatures and pressures. They can also be scaled up and down to accommodate various body sizes.

All four members of the Polaris Dawn crew will have to wear the suits as SpaceX will need to depressurize the entire ship to conduct the spacewalk.
Credit: SpaceX

The suit will be pressurized to 5.1 PSI, a bit higher than the 4 PSI used in NASA EMU suits. NASA’s suits have rigid rotator joints, which help astronauts move their limbs without fighting against the pressurization, but they’re essentially useless when unpressurized. That effect is multiplied as pressure increases, too. SpaceX says the new suit uses semi-rigid rotator joints that are much more compact than the EMU’s, and they should be equally usable in both pressurized and non-pressurized states. That will be important because all four members of the Polaris Dawn crew will wear them throughout the five-day mission.

Dragon does not have an airlock, so SpaceX is working on a system to vent and repressurize the capsule during the mission. Two crew members will head out of the airlock at an altitude of 435 miles, spending up to two hours testing the suits. SpaceX has said it may eventually transition all flights to the new EVA suit, making it easier to service spacecraft like the in-development Starship. Billionaire businessman Jared Isaacman, a longtime SpaceX collaborator and commander for Polaris Dawn, has also suggested that SpaceX EVA suits could be used to service the Hubble Space Telescope. We’ll have to see how the test goes this summer before getting too excited. SpaceX has yet to nail down an exact date for the launch.

Top 10 Proven Ways To Get Massive Blog Traffic and Loyal Readers

Posted on May 7, 2024 by faz_business

Are you struggling to get blog traffic? Today’s post focuses on the most effective to get massive blog traffic and loyal subscribers for years.

With platforms like WordPress, it has become very easy to create, set up, and manage your own website. If you are still finding it difficult to create your own blog site, you can get instant access to my FREE blog training here. This 3-part video series will help you create a professional blog within minutes.

Now that you have found your way around creating your blog, the next big challenge becomes how to drive traffic to your blog or website. Getting traffic to your website is one of the biggest factors that determines whether you will succeed as a blogger or not. For instance, if your end goal is to make money while blogging, it would be impossible to achieve it without adequate traffic on your blog. Even if the end goal is not money, you will not be able to pass your message across to your audience if there is no traffic on your blog.

I know you are wondering how you can promote your blog for traffic despite the fact that you do are not a marketing expert. Not to worry, I am here to help you. In today’s post, I will be 10 proven ways to drive massive traffic to your blog. All you need to do is relax, read, and apply the techniques as instructed.

Want To Start Your Own Money-Making Blog?

My FREE 3 part-video series will show you why blogging is one of the best ways to make money online today. Watch now!

The tips I will be sharing in this post have been tried and tested by me and it has helped to enhance my website pageviews greatly.

Create your audience profile

Before you start creating contents on your website, you must take time to understand your target audience and their preferences. Ask yourself questions like, “Who are my target audience?”, “What is the age grade of my target audience?”, “What are my audience interested in?”. Providing answers to these questions will help you to create the perfect mental picture of your audience and what they like. You will also know the appropriate tone and approach to adopt while creating your content.

Carry out Keyword Research

This is one of the most important tips you need to drive traffic to your blog or website. Most bloggers use keyword research to discover specific words that users frequently search for on search engine. Using the right keywords in your contents goes a long way to determine whether your contents will do well in search engine or not. If you want Google to put your website on its first page, you need to carry out adequate keyword research.

Create Informative content

Your audience will not be able to relate with you if your contents are always dull and filled with blunders. Before you create, ensure that it is informative, unique, and that it provides solution to some of the problems your audience may be facing.

Make your contents readable

As much as you would love to pass adequate information through your contents, you must ensure that it is readable. Do not write long essays when your audience loves short articles. Write in a way that your audience will be able to relate with. Your contents must engage your viewers and must be free of any form of grammatical error.

Use Basic SEO techniques

Optimizing your website for search engine will help you get more traffic. There are lots of SEO tools and plugins that you can use to drive traffic to your website. For instance, I use Yoast SEO and it has really helped me to increase my search engine visibility.

Make your headlines catchy

There is nothing that will attract anyone than a great headline. A blog post with a catchy headline will get more views than one with a bland headline.

Use Graphics on your posts

Many people love contents that are laced with images, infographics, charts, and other supporting information. Do these and watch your blog traffic blossom within minutes.

Share your contents on Social Media Platforms

Virtually, 90% of your audience have a presence on Social Media. Social media has proven to be one of the biggest traffic generation tools. Once you have made a post on your website, ensure you share the link on Social Media. You can join focus groups or forums on some of these social media platforms and share your contents and links with members. There are also automated tools that you can use to share your blog posts directly to Social Media. I recommend IFTTT. It is free to use and will help you gain massive blog traffic in a short time.

Optimize your site for mobile and web speed

Nobody wants to visit a website that tags ages to load. If your site is slow, users will leave before they even get a chance to read your contents. Search engines also consider your speed while ranking your website. You can use caching and image optimization to boost the speed and loading time of your WordPress site.

Always write on trending topics

There is always a hot topic to discuss every day. You must keep yourself abreast of trending topics in your niche and ensure you give your users the right information on the topic every time.

Getting traffic to your blog is not as difficult as you may have imagined. Above all, you must be consistent in your blogging activity. Frequent blogging and sharing of relevant information helps to create momentum in search engine results. It also helps you to become more popular in the social communities.

Ready to launch your own blog? Get instant access to my free blog training.

iPhone 16 Models Rumored to Come in These Colors

Posted on May 7, 2024 by faz_business

Apple will unveil its new iPhone 16 lineup in a range of new colors later this year in the fall. Here are all the rumored colors so far for the four models: ‌iPhone 16‌, ‌iPhone 16‌ Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌ Max.

iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus

In the last few years, ‌iPhone‌ lineups have launched with five color options. This year, however, Apple could buck that trend for the 6.1-inch ‌iPhone 16‌ and 6.7-inch ‌iPhone 16‌ Plus. At least one of the standard models will come in more color options than ever before, claims one rumor.

According to the Weibo-based leaker “Fixed focus digital,” Apple’s upcoming larger 6.7-inch ‌iPhone 16‌ Plus model will come in as many as seven colors that either build upon the existing five colors in the standard iPhone 15 lineup, or recast them in a new finish.

The following table shows the existing ‌iPhone 15‌ Plus color options alongside the colors rumored for the ‌iPhone 16‌ Plus:

‌iPhone 15‌ Plus (2023)	‌iPhone 16‌ Plus (2024)
Blue	Blue
Pink	Pink
Yellow	Yellow
Green	Green
Black	Black
–	White
–	Purple

The leaker in question did not provide any more context for the rumor beyond the model name, therefore it is not clear if they are claiming that the seven color options are exclusive to the ‌iPhone 16‌ Plus.

On the other hand, the leaker may have only seen materials for the larger device in the supply chain, in which case the same colors could also be coming to the smaller 6.1-inch ‌iPhone 16‌. Given that the two models are expected to be identical apart from their size difference, this possibility seems the most likely.

Note that this is the first rumor we have received about potential colors for the standard ‌iPhone 16‌ models, and the leaker has an unproven track record for accurate leaks, so the alleged colors need corroboration from other sources before we can definitively say they are coming.

iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max

Apple typically chooses four, cooler-toned colors for its ‌iPhone‌ Pro models. For last year’s iPhone 15 Pro and ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ Max, for example, Apple introduced a titanium chassis that came in four muted finishes: Natural Titanium, Blue Titanium, White Titanium, and Black Titanium.

According to one rumor out of China, the existing Blue Titanium color will be dropped from the ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌ lineup in favor of a new “rose” titanium color, while Black Titanium will allegedly be replaced with a “space black” color, which is said to be similar to the iPhone 14 Pro color of the same name.

Additionally, the same source claims that the Natural and White Titanium colors will be slightly different on the ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌ models. Natural Titanium is said to be returning, but with more of a gray tint to it. Meanwhile, White Titanium will appear more like a “silver white” color, which is also said to be similar to the silver version of the ‌iPhone 14‌ Pro.

Last year, Apple surprised some ‌iPhone‌ fans by not offering a gold option. Gold was available through the ‌‌‌iPhone‌‌‌ 5S to the ‌‌‌iPhone‌‌‌ 8, and then on the ‌‌‌iPhone‌‌‌ XS to the ‌‌‌iPhone 14‌‌‌ Pro. Given the popularity of gold, the rumored new “rose” color could well be the titanium version of a gold-like shade.

According to a rumor from another source, the ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌ models will be available in “Desert Titanium” and “Titanium Gray” color options. These names suggest there could be some overlap with the separately rumored rose color and the tweaked Natural Titanium.

In another twist, a recent rumor out of Korea claimed that Apple’s upcoming ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌ models will use an improved process for finishing and coloring titanium. According to the source, the new process will make the ‌‌iPhone 16 Pro‌‌ and ‌‌iPhone 16 Pro‌‌ Max look more polished than the ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ models, which have a brushed finish.

‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ (2023)	‌iPhone 16 Pro‌ (2024)
Natural Titanium	Natural Titanium
Blue Titanium	Rose / Desert Titanium
White Titanium	Silver / White Titanium
Black Titanium	Space Black Titanium

The improved manufacturing process will allegedly result in a glossy appearance that is more akin to the heavily polished stainless steel material used in earlier Pro devices before the ‌iPhone 15‌ series. However, the new titanium finish will be less prone to scratches compared to stainless steel.

Summing Up

As of writing this, we are still around five months away from Apple announcing the ‌iPhone 16‌ series, so a lot can change in the meantime, and we could see additional rumors that corroborate or conflict with those we have uncovered so far. Either way, we will keep this article up-to-date with any subsequent developments, so be sure to check back.

You can read about everything else that we know about the ‌iPhone 16‌ lineup by visiting our dedicated iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro roundups. Apple is expected to release the ‌iPhone 16‌ series sometime around September.

OpenAI and Moderna Team Up, Microsoft Phi-3, and Sam Altman and AI Leaders Join Homeland Security AI Board

Posted on May 7, 2024 by faz_business

In an episode of fascinating topics and exploration of evolving models, The AI Show hosts Paul Roetzer and Mike Kaput explore the rise of AI Emergent companies like Moderna and Asana, Microsoft’s introduction of the Phi-3 family of small language models, and the formation of the US government’s AI Safety and Security Board featuring tech leaders like Sam Altman, Satya Nadella, and Sundar Pichai. Our rapid fire section covers news from Eric Schmidt-backed Augment, Expansion of Meta Ray-Ban Smart Glasses Collection, Hubspot AI Updates and more. Continue reading “OpenAI and Moderna Team Up, Microsoft Phi-3, and Sam Altman and AI Leaders Join Homeland Security AI Board”

Redefine blocks across many drawings with JTB Batch Change

Posted on May 7, 2024 by faz_business

JTB Batch Change can simplify AutoCAD work like redefining blocks across many drawings.

On the Drawing List tab in the Excel file that comes with JTB Batch Change add all drawings you want to have updated.

This is the drawing I want to update.

On the Import tab select Block Definition as a command to use and select source drawing where the new block definition exists.

This is the updated block I want to apply to my drawings.

Select the row with the Import command and click on Run and select the drawings to update.

Here is the result.

There is much more JTB Batch Change can do. Take a look at the webpage and try it yourself.

A Brief Hades II Spoiler-Free Starter Guide

Posted on May 6, 2024 by faz_business

Hades II has launched into Steam Early access, and it’s also Game Informer’s next cover story (which launches on May 14). Whether you’re a returning fan or a newcomer, it may take a few runs to get your bearings as Hades II sports new progression systems, resources, and new layers to existing mechanics. It can be a lot to dig into, given the game more or less tosses you into the deep end without context for how things work, at least initially. Instead of spending several runs figuring things out, here’s a short, spoiler-free primer explaining some core new features to get you going on the right foot.

What Are Ashes?

Ashes are a currency used for unlocking Arcana cards. They serve a similar purpose as Darkness from the first game. They often appear as a reward for completing a room, but you can also purchase more from the Wretched Broker’s shop.

What Are Arcana Cards, Grasp, And Psyche?

These are unlockable character perks found at the Altar of Ashes, located in The Crossroads. Fans can draw a similarity to the Mirror of Night from Hades 1. Examples of Arcana card effects include gaining two health points every time you exit a location or starting each run with 200 gold. Arcana cards require spending a certain amount of Ashes to obtain (and some require an additional resource). Cards consume portions of your Grasp.

Grasp of the Arcana (or just Grasp for short) is a meter dictating how many Arcana cards a player can have active at once. Every Arcana card consumes a certain number of Grasp bars. If the Grasp meter has 10 bars, then equipping cards that consume 5, 3, and 2 bars would max it out. If you’re a Transistor fan, this system is similar to how managing Functions worked in that game.

By spending a large amount of Psyche, another currency obtained by completing rooms, you can increase the limit of your Grasp. For example, instead of having only 10 bars, it could have 12 or 16. This way, you can have more cards active or use more powerful cards that consume a larger portion of Grasp.

What Are The Purple Bones?

This is another resource/currency called Ancient Bones. It’s a reward for completing encounters and is primarily used to purchase resources from the Wretched Broker’s shop.

How Do I Mine Ore, Fish, And Compel Shades?

During runs, you’ll come across metal ores prompting you to mine. In the first area, Erebus, you’ll find piles of silver crescent moons, for example. Additionally, certain shades prompt you to “compel” them, and you’ll also encounter fishing holes.

These situations require one of Hades II’s Gathering Tools. Mining ore requires a pickaxe, fishing holes need a respective rod, and compelling shades require a magical tablet. You gain Gathering Tools at the Cauldron, but you’ll still need to trade specific resources to unlock them fully.

How Does The Cauldron Work?

The Crossroads features a giant cauldron situated in front of Hecate. This is where you’ll bring resources/currencies gathered during runs to perform “incantations,” which are permanent upgrades for The Crossroads and general quality-of-life perks.

For example, one incantation summons the Wretched Broker, allowing him to permanently set up shop in the Crossroads. Another unlocks the aforementioned Gathering Tools. One incantation even allows you to view the recipes for other incantations in the menu (before unlocking this, you can only view these recipes at the cauldron itself). One particular incantation is called Fated Intervention; without spoiling, prioritize unlocking this one. It likely won’t have an immediate effect, so be patient.

One incantation that becomes available early (that you should unlock as soon as it does) is called Divination of the Elements. It allows Melinoe to perceive the elemental affinities of Olympian boons.

What Are Elemental Affinities?

Olympian boons now have one of four elemental properties tied to them: fire, water, air, and earth. After unlocking Divination of the Elements, you’ll see small icons indicating each element on every boon you encounter. Demeter’s frost-based boons are generally (but not always) water types, while Hestia’s tend to be fire.

The elemental affinity matters because there are now boons that can only be used if you possess enough boons of a certain elemental type. One may require you to have three wind-based boons in exchange for a powerful ability, for example. This adds another layer of strategy to selecting boons, as you’ll be torn between chasing a long-term investment or short-term power gain.

Hades II is available now in Early Access on Steam and in the Epic Games Store. Be sure to check out our cover story hub below for exclusive Hades II stories and videos throughout the month.

NDI Partner Spotlight – Panasonic

Posted on May 6, 2024 by faz_business

In the “NAB 2024 Partner Spotlight – Panasonic” video, witness how Panasonic’s PTZ cameras steal the show. Delve into the critical importance of superior picture quality and seamless workflows for customers. Panasonic rises to the occasion by integrating NDI (Network Device Interface) into multiple models from their Platinum Series and premium PTZ cameras, ensuring full bandwidth and NDI HX support. The convergence of NDI and Panasonic Connect is set to revolutionize workflow efficiency, directly addressing user needs. Unlock the full potential of Panasonic’s cutting-edge technology for your content creation endeavors.

Watch the full video from NDI below:

Learn more about Panasonic below:

Inconsistent unresolved symbols in math and stdlib in Visual Studio

Posted on May 6, 2024 by faz_business

Building a C/C++ DLL in Visual Studio 2022 converted from a VS 2005 project from years ago that was in production for many years). The linker is complaining on a handful of math and stdlib calls as if they are missing. Strangely, the linker errors listed are a small fraction of all the math and other stdlib calls made (so most are resolved — yet some aren’t?) See below image. For example, fmaxf is used many places and files yet only one invocation in a particular file has a problem!? Also, there are other symbols that I’m not even recognizing (except_handler4_common). Tried searching and stuck. Win32 and x64 both yield the same linker issues.

As a multi-form indie dev I’m spread thin and would deeply appreciate help!

Strategic Project Management: Benefits, Tools & More

Posted on May 6, 2024 by faz_business

Without looking at your business objectives and setting up a long-term strategy, projects can derail and potentially go horribly out of scope. Using strategic project management is an essential process that will help keep your business on track and help your business plan, execute, and control its projects.

Strategic project management involves aligning projects with the overall business strategy to achieve organizational goals effectively. Successful strategic project management requires a systematic approach incorporating best practices, methodologies, and tools to ensure project success.

This guide will explore the benefits of strategic project management, best practices, and software tools to help you manage your projects effectively.

Why use strategic project management for your business?

As a business owner, you will do anything to keep your business successful and profitable. Because if it is neither of those things – what’s the whole point of having a business in the first place?

However, to grow your business and remain (or become) profitable, you must be able to manage all of your projects successfully and scale and pivot along the way. This is where strategic project management comes into play.

Strategic project management focuses on the big picture we discussed earlier and the goals that must be achieved. This type of strategy focuses on long-term goals and not day-to-day tasks. It involves creating a plan, setting objectives, and monitoring and controlling progress.

Benefits of strategic project management

If you don’t use strategic project management because you think that your business is chugging along okay, and you are hitting all your metrics – think again. Using strategic project management comes with many benefits you could miss out on if you don’t implement them now. Some benefits of using strategic project management include:

Better Alignment with Business Goals: Strategic project management helps align project goals with overall business objectives, ensuring that projects contribute directly to the organization’s success.

Improved Communication: This type of operational tracking facilitates effective communication among project stakeholders and team members, fostering a shared understanding and commitment toward achieving common goals.

Increased Efficiency: Using a structured approach when everyone is on the same page and the team is aligned for better resource allocation and decision-making. This leads to increased efficiency and productivity.

Better Risk Management: By taking a strategic approach, project managers can identify potential risks early on and implement immediate measures to minimize the impact on the project’s outcome.

Improved Project Outcomes: Strategic project management will lead to better project outcomes when used correctly. These positive outcomes were from following up on tasks and ensuring that projects are completed on time, within budget, and to the satisfaction of all stakeholders.

5 Key steps for strategic project management

If you have ever seen a project get “into the weeds” and struggle to get back out–it’s clear that not all project management steps were followed. While there are often missteps along the way, if you follow a specific set of steps through each of your projects, you will see better success in the long one.

While these are not all the steps to follow for a successful project, they are some of the most important and best practices you can implement to see the best results.

Define Clear Objectives: Before starting any project, define clear objectives and align them with the overall business strategy.
Develop a Project Plan: A well-developed project plan ensures that all project stakeholders are on the same page and everyone knows their roles and responsibilities.
Establish a Communication Plan: Communication is key to successful project management. Establish a communication plan informing all stakeholders of project progress, changes, and risks.
Manage Risks: Identify potential risks early on and develop a risk management plan to minimize their impact on the project’s outcome.
Monitor and Control Progress: Regularly monitor project progress and make adjustments as necessary to keep the project on track.

How are projects linked to the strategic plan?

One of the most common mistakes business owners make is forgetting to align specific projects with their company’s strategic plan. When employees know why their tasks are important, and what is the role they play in the achievement of the company’s mission, they are more likely to have motivation and enthusiasm to complete the project goal.

This mistake is often made because leaders might have a vision but a difficult time communicating it to the rest of the team. Sometimes this challenge has a lot to do with the leadership style of the individual, other times, it’s just a matter of improving remote communication. It’s vital to have a project manager acting as the bridge between the strategic plan and project execution.

The role of project managers in the alignment of projects and strategic plan

Project managers are responsible for translating the company’s strategic goals into achievable project objectives, ensuring that project activities and deliverables contribute to the overall organizational strategy.

A company struggling to show stakeholders how projects are linked to a strategic plan can use a clear communication plan and the help of smart tools to overcome this issue.

Take Hive Goals, for example, an in-app solution that lets you do just that in an effective, automated and precise way. All you have to do is to set your goals and decide how you’d like them to be measured, so your teams know what to expect from their performance.

You can track your progress based on:

Completed actions
Status of subgoals
Numerical values

If you want to know the overall time spent on a project, use Hive time tracking. This feature lets you record how long a task takes to complete. Hive lets you choose between automatically or manually tracking your time by action. Enable the timer in your action card to track time for you, or add it at the end of the day, week, or month.

With Hive Goals you can also:

Create one, ten, twenty, or more goals for your team, so everyone understands what they’re contributing to.
Centralize and automate your goal tracking and reporting.
Pull data from other systems into Hive to streamline operations and reporting.
Share your goal or goals, assign the goal to relevant teammates, track activity, and give yourselves a deadline.
Understand how your team and organization are pacing towards an individual goal or a set of goals.
Color-coded designations allow an easy understanding of “on-track” items.
When it’s time to review progress, accomplishments, and achievements, easily export all relevant information.

There’s much more you can accomplish for your business success when you align your strategic plan with projects.

Best software for strategic project management

From tracking communications to monitoring the progress of your project, there are many moving pieces for a successful strategic plan. To ensure projects don’t go off the rails and out of scope, you don’t pay for two projects – you need strategic planning software to keep you on track and accountable. Some of the best software tools for strategic project management you can use to keep track of your projects include:

1. Hive

Hive is a powerful project management software made by users, for users. It has powerful capabilities and tools to help managers track all of the tasks and moving pieces within their strategic projects. With Hive, you can collaborate with your team, manage tasks, track time, and monitor project progress. Hive’s collaboration features also enable businesses to collaborate seamlessly with their teams, share files and communicate effectively.

With Hive Goals, the app’s built-in goal-setting tool, you can track progress towards your business goals and integrate Hive with other platforms to make sure you are targeting strategic initiatives and maximizing efficiency across all teams. While Hive is a powerful project management software, it’s also intuitive and easy to use, making it the perfect productivity platform to meet the strategic needs of businesses of all sizes. Start a free 14-day trial of Hive today.

2. Asana

Asana is a popular project management tool that provides a range of features to help you manage projects effectively. It has a highly user-friendly interface and checks all the boxes to track projects and check in with team members in real-time. With Asana, you can create and assign tasks, set deadlines, and track progress. Asana also offers customizable reports that you can fine-tune for your specific needs.

3. ClickUp

This is another fantastic platform to use for strategic project management. ClickUp also provides project templates, which businesses can use to create new projects quickly and easily. These templates are designed to help companies get started with their projects quickly without extensive planning and preparation.

In addition to task management and project templates, ClickUp provides calendars and time-tracking tools. These tools help businesses manage their schedules and track time spent on tasks, essential for effective project management.

4. Monday.com

With its user-friendly and intuitive interface, the collaborative environment created by Monday.com enables team members to assign tasks, establish project plans, set due dates and dependencies, communicate in real-time, share files, and more. Monday.com provides users with productivity features to streamline workflows, enhance cross-team collaboration, and optimize time and resource management.

5. Wrike

Wrike is a project management company with comprehensive features tailored for strategic project monitoring. Wrike has built-in time tracking, advanced reporting, and resource management features that make it more suitable for larger teams working with complex, multi-stage projects. Wrike also offers a variety of integrations with other tools, such as CRM systems, ERP systems, and BI tools. This can help teams to streamline their workflow and automate tasks while targeting their strategic goals and projects. Wrike has a free plan with limited capabilities. Their most popular plan starts at $24.80 per month/user, but you can get great features under a lower tier called “Team” for $9.80 per month/user.

6. Nifty

Nifty is a project management tool that can assist with strategic planning, as it has features such as collaboration tools, milestone trackers, workflow automation, as well as customizable dashboards and a variety of views.

In comparison to other PM tools, like Hive for instance, Nifty has a troublesome onboarding which may create a steady learning curve for teams that are not tech savvy or new to project management platforms. Nifty also has many missing features, such as recurring tasks and due date options. Nifty’s free plan offers unlimited users,100 MB storage, but limited to 2 projects. If you need more flexibility, the software offers five different paid tiers, with paid plans starting at $9 per user per month.

6. Trello

With key definitions of objectives, you can develop a project plan on Trello by creating boards that will help your internal communication. The platform has templates that can assist you in managing risks and tracking progress of your projects. Mostly known for its board view, Trello is not as flexible as other softwares to manage projects, like Hive, but it offers two additional views: list and card views.

Another disadvantage of Trello is its limited reporting capabilities and restricted ability to manage complex projects. For example, you won’t be able to build roadmaps, review iterations, or attach specific tasks to subtasks to this platform. Trello has a free plan and a limited plan for small teams for $6 per user a month.

Strategic project management is essential for organizations to achieve their business objectives effectively. By implementing best practices and using the right software tools, project managers can successfully manage projects and ensure that they are completed on time, within budget, and to the satisfaction of all of all project stakeholders.

These dangerous scammers don’t even bother to hide their crimes

Posted on May 6, 2024 by faz_business

One hundred dollar bill Benjamin Franklin portrait looks behind brown craft ripped paper

Most scammers and cybercriminals operate in the digital shadows and don’t want you to know how they make money. But that’s not the case for the Yahoo Boys, a loose collective of young men in West Africa who are some of the web’s most prolific—and increasingly dangerous—scammers.

Thousands of people are members of dozens of Yahoo Boy groups operating across Facebook, WhatsApp, and Telegram, a WIRED analysis has found. The scammers, who deal in types of fraud that total hundreds of millions of dollars each year, also have dozens of accounts on TikTok, YouTube, and the document-sharing service Scribd that are getting thousands of views.

Inside the groups, there’s a hive of fraudulent activity with the cybercriminals often showing their faces and sharing ways to scam people with other members. They openly distribute scripts detailing how to blackmail people and how to run sextortion scams—that have driven people to take their own lives—sell albums with hundreds of photographs, and advertise fake social media accounts. Among the scams, they’re also using AI to create fake “nude” images of people and real-time deepfake video calls.

The Yahoo Boys don’t disguise their activity. Many groups use “Yahoo Boys” in their name as well as other related terms. WIRED’s analysis found 16 Yahoo Boys Facebook groups with almost 200,000 total members, a dozen WhatsApp channels, around 10 Telegram channels, 20 TikTok accounts, a dozen YouTube accounts, and more than 80 scripts on Scribd. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Broadly, the companies do not allow content on their platforms that encourages or promotes criminal behavior. The majority of the Yahoo Boys accounts and groups WIRED identified were removed after we contacted the companies about the groups’ overt existence. Despite these removals, dozens more Yahoo Boys groups and accounts remain online.

“They’re not hiding under different names,” says Kathy Waters, the co-founder and executive director of the nonprofit Advocating Against Romance Scammers, which has tracked the Yahoo Boys for years. Waters says the social media companies are essentially providing the Yahoo Boys with “free office space” to organize and conduct their activities. “They’re selling scripts, selling photos, identifications of people, all online, all on the social media platforms,” she says. “Why these accounts still remain is beyond me.”

The Yahoo Boys aren’t a single, organized group. Instead, they’re a collection of thousands of scammers who work individually or in clusters. Often based in Nigeria, their name comes from formerly targeting users of Yahoo services, with links back to the Nigerian Prince email scams of old. Groups in West Africa can be often organized in various confraternities, which are cultish gangs.

“Yahoo is a set of knowledge that allows you to conduct scams,” says Gary Warner, the director of intelligence at DarkTower and director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Computer Forensics Research Laboratory. While there are different levels of sophistication of Yahoo Boys, Warner says, many simply operate from their phones. “Most of these threat actors are only using one device,” he says.

The Yahoo Boys run dozens of scams—from romance fraud to business email compromise. When making contact with potential victims, they’ll often “bomb” people by sending hundreds of messages to dating app accounts or Facebook profiles. “They will say anything they can in order to get the next dime in their pocket,” Waters says.

Searching for the Yahoo Boys on Facebook brings up two warnings: Both say the results may be linked to fraudulent activity, which isn’t allowed on the website. Clicking through the warnings reveals Yahoo Boy groups with thousands of members—one had more than 70,000.

Within the groups—alongside posts selling SIM cards and albums with hundreds of pictures—many of the scammers push people toward other messaging platforms such as Meta’s WhatsApp or Telegram. Here, the Yahoo Boys are at their most bold. Some groups and channels on the two platforms receive hundreds of posts per day and are part of their wider web of operations.

After WIRED asked Facebook about the 16 groups we identified, the company removed them, and some WhatsApp groups were deactivated. “Scammers use every platform available to them to defraud people and constantly adapt to avoid getting caught,” says Al Tolan, a Meta spokesperson. They did not directly address the accounts that were removed or that they were easy to find. “Purposefully exploiting others for money is against our policies, and we take action when we become aware of it,” Tolan says. “We continue to invest in technology and cooperate with law enforcement so they can prosecute scammers. We also actively share tips on how people can protect themselves, their accounts, and avoid scams.”

Groups on Telegram were removed after WIRED messaged the company’s press office; however, the platform did not respond about why it had removed them.

Across all types of social media, Yahoo Boys scammers share “scripts” that they use to socially manipulate people—these can run to thousands of words long and can be copied and pasted to different victims. Many have been online for years. “I’ve seen some scripts that are 30 and 60 layers deep, before the scammer actually would have to go and think of something else to say,” says Ronnie Tokazowski, the chief fraud fighter at Intelligence for Good, which works with cybercrime victims. “It’s 100 percent how they’ll manipulate the people,” Tokazowski says.

Among the many scams, they pretend to be military officers, people offering “hookups,” the FBI, doctors, and people looking for love. One “good morning” script includes around a dozen messages the scammers can send to their targets. “In a world full of deceit and lies, I feel lucky when see the love in your eyes. Good morning,” one says. But things get much darker.