4 Software Developments that can Simplify Design

For all types of designer, life has been made much easier by the introduction of technology and useful applications and software that can help to simplify tasks. From PCB to graphic design, all design industries are complemented by the increases in technology, helping designers to digitize their designs and bring them to life quickly. For the most important software developments in terms of design, this article will track some of the most recent and useful that are currently in use.

PCB Design Software

It is not only artists that benefit from online software, and, for engineers and designers of PCB and circuit boards, there is ample software to help them to design simple layouts whenever they need them. PCB design software such as CircuitStudio powered by Altium allows potential designers to base their designs off simple layouts that allow them to create circuit boards without an intricate knowledge of PCB design. This allows designers to create the exact design that they are looking for much quicker than attempting this manually.

Website Design Software

Website design software is all the rage at the moment, and it has become so easy that anyone can now create their own websites. This is excellent news for individuals looking to start up their own blog or retail shop as websites can be easily created in a matter of second through website designers such as WordPress. On designers such as Wordpress, you can choose from a simple selection of layouts. Then you will have the option to quickly personalize these at will to ensure that your website stands out, with the designers giving you all the tools that you need to do so.

Coding Software

If you want to create more complex websites without an understanding or basic knowledge of coding, coding software allows you to create complex HTML coding from the ease of your laptop and the use of online software. These can allow you to create websites and applications quickly without too much knowledge of the coding process, allowing you to simply fill in pre-determined formats based on a set of syntax rules. Then, you can create complex technological applications and websites and edit your website’s coding without extensive knowledge, and yet ensure that this stays looking as professional as possible.

Graphic Design Software

Graphic design software is also of utmost importance to designers as it allows them to create products and images from scratch, turning their designs into digital formats that they can then edit and work on in an online format. Applications such as Photoshop and Indesign allow you to create everything from leaflets to newspapers in a professional design and format, regardless of your prior expertise.

5 Tips for Choosing a Digital Marketing Agency

In this digital world, it is likely that your potential customers are looking for the product you are selling online. As a seller, you need to have your product on those online platforms for your potential customers to find you easily and make a purchase. Competitors also pick on this and place their items out there. You need to also rise above the competition and remain at the top by marketing your products better. Since digital marketing can be a hard-nut-to-crack, you can hire a qualified digital marketer or agency to carry out this task for you. This leaves you enough time to focus on your actual business operations. Below are the tips to help you choose the very best digital marketing agency:

1)    Services

Before settling on a digital marketer, you need to define what services you are looking for and compare them with those offered by each agency. Once you find a digital marketing agency that is offering what you need, proceed to contact them. You can choose one or several agencies to handle all your digital marketing tasks. Their knowledge and expertise in that field can help you achieve your targets. However, it is advisable to work with one agency that offers all the services since this saves on time and costs.

2)    Price

You ought to compare the costs you are likely to incur with several agencies and the amount you are willing to spend. This means that you will not be stretching your budget more than needed. It also protects you from extreme losses in case digital marketing fails to deliver results as expected. You can have several agencies quote their prices for you and choose the most favorable. You can also use different agencies for different services. This will even cut costs even further. You can also negotiate the prices with agencies since some may be open to making cost reductions if the task is easy or long term.

3)    Give a Test

You can assign a small task to several agencies. Assess how they do it, and the time they take to deliver. Choose the most prompt since this will be proof enough that they can deliver on time. It would help if you also considered other factors such as quality, uniqueness, and relatability of the content to your needs. This helps you settle for the very best. The test can be free or paid for to entice participants. You need to specify what you are looking for to reduce vague responses. You can advertise this task on all marketing platforms to ensure it gets to as many agencies as possible.

4)    Recommendations

Recommendations and referrals are a sure way to get a digital agency to work with. A referral or recommendation comes from others who have also worked with the agency and liked their services. You can ask friends or other businesses to make the recommendations for you. You can also search for recommended firms on search engines too to increase your options.

5)    Track Record

Agencies list the companies and brands they have worked with on their sites. You can use this to measure their success metrics. Companies that rank high will prove the implemented marketing tactics worked and that they may work for you too. You can also check the growth rate of the agency by checking their growth records. You can settle for those with a high growth record as this shows that their clientele is increasing due to quality services offered.

4 Ways to invest in cryptocurrency

Digital currency or coins have brought about a new investment hype. There is a lot of money circulating in this industry such that you can easily make massive profits, in a short span or serious losses in the same span. Bitcoin and Ethereum are the most popular cryptocurrency with great potential, but of late, other coins referred to as altcoins have been developed. Having multiple coins give investors a wider pool for investment. It is important to note that cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile, thus, you need to be very cautious when investing.  Here are 4 ways in which you can invest in this industry.

1. Cryptocurrency Mining

Mining is one of the ways in which you can invest in cryptocurrency. It involves solving complex cryptographic problems using specialized mining machines to earn coins. You can then sell these coins on various exchanges for fiat currency or make online payments. You need specialized mining equipment which you can find at crypto drilling to mine profitably. Ensure that you also identify highly liquid coins so that you can sell them easily after you mine them successfully.

2. You Can Buy and Hold

Like stocks and other commodities, you can also speculate on digital currency. About eight years ago, Bitcoin was less than $100. In just a few years, the coin had shot to more than $1000, at one point reaching a high of $20,000. Those who had bought and kept the coin while it was still below the $100 mark made a substantial amount of money. There are many more other coins apart from Bitcoin that have shown potential for growth. The best investment strategy is to buy different coins and diversify your portfolio, thus, spreading your risk. In case some coins lose value, they can be covered by the rest in your portfolio.

3. Buy from an Exchange and not from Brokers

Buying and selling coins will involve paying fees to exchanges and brokers. You can avoid these fees and increase your profit margin. Try and look for exchanges that request for low fees but also check for their reputation. It is very easy to get scammed if you fail to carry out due diligence. Avoid buying these coins from brokers as they charge a substantially high fee. Brokers pose a greater risk of getting scammed as compared to crypto exchanges.

4. Long and Short Selling

If you are looking for immediate returns, you can either go long or short a particular cryptocurrency. Taking long position is betting on the value of a particular digital currency going up, while going short is betting on the value going down. Considering the volatility nature of most cryptocurrencies, there are usually massive fluctuations in prices that can earn you handsome profits if a trade favors your position. There are various trading sites that now list major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether with some enabling leverage trading. Be aware that you can as well make significant losses if the position you place goes against you.

4 Things you should know about Bitcoin

In the past few years, you may have heard about Bitcoin, the digital currency. Bitcoin is a type of cryptocurrency, where the security and encryption implication is essential. Since its discovery in 2008, the price of Bitcoin has gone up sparking a lot of conversation. Even the great investors have debated on the legitimacy and relevance of this new form of currency. The discussions have left us with more thoughts to review. However, those are opinions, and while useful, it is critical to know the facts. Here are four things you should know about Bitcoin.

1. What is Bitcoin?

As discussed earlier, Bitcoin is an encrypted digital currency, which is also known as a cryptocurrency. This currency is a global payment system and is built on the idea of a technology called blockchain. The technology is a virtue ledger that that keeps track of every transaction. No one controls Bitcoin, and the accounting is publicly distributed. In theory, anybody can track the operation and verify its legitimacy. Therefore, Bitcoin is neither a fraud nor a golden nugget. In the analogue world, physical money such as goods and paper money is limited by distance. In the digital world, we eliminate the constraint of distance and speed. However, banks control the rate. The crypto world eliminates both human and institutional constraints.

2. How is Bitcoin Created? 

Bitcoin is created through a mining process. Blockchain depends on a network of exchange that ensures the integrity of the transaction history by achieving consensus. The mining process starts with validating a transaction. Once certified, the exchangers need to race, using trial and error, to solve a mathematical puzzle that requires massive computing resources. The first computer to solve the math issue is rewarded with Bitcoins. Bitcoin mining serves two purposes: the process creates new coins and facilitates the processing of transactions in the network. The protocol of creating the currency is known as Proof of Work (PoW).

3. The value of Bitcoin. 

Only 21 million Bitcoins will ever be built, meaning that the currency is deflationary compared to paper money, which is inflationary. Bitcoin derives its value and security from the fact that you can prove the substantial computing power and electric energy used to solve a mathematical problem. In this process, you are protected against fraud and fake information. While PoW creates Bitcoin, a verifiable network backs and authenticates the currency. Anyone can create their own money, but you need a community to accept it for it to have value. Bitcoin has existed for eight years, and the global community has been transacting with the currency.

4. Where to use Bitcoin. 

You can use Bitcoin for both local and global payments. For example, Bitcoin Prediction market and Exchange is a global betting site that allows users to place bets using the currency.  Bitcoin provides a faster, more efficient and hassle-free way to exchange money. The cryptocurrency allows money transfers, peer-to-peer, without an intermediary like a bank. You can transfer Bitcoin at a faster rate at a lower fee compared to digital money.

Bitcoin was the first successful cryptocurrency on the blockchain that gave the world universal, virtual, and borderless money. Bitcoin defined the future of money since it is shaping the future of economies and transactions.  

Replicate Real world Security Vulnerabilities with HackerOne Sandboxes for free

Popular bug bounty platform HackerOne is know to help the community in learning new skills and helping beginners get started. They already have Hacker101 where one can learn about security for free. Recently HackerOne tied up with cyber security training company HackEDU and offered five sandbox environment modeled after popular security bugs reported through their platform.

Its a very good step by them as most of the time when we are learning we don't get something like this and always trying things in live websites is a risk.

All the five hackboxes that they developed is very interactive and they guide you throughout.

Here are the five hackboxes

1. Worm Clickjacking in Twitter

This hackbox replicate a wormable clickjacking attack via playcards which was reported in May 2018 to twitter. You can access it here.

2. XXE flaw in Semrush

This attack challenges users to reproduce XML external Entity that could be exploited to at read arbitrary files from a server. This flaw was reported to SEMrush in March 2018. You can access it here.

3. Command Injection attack in Imgur

The third hackbox is for trying to get control of a server by using command injection attack. The real vulnerability was discovered in Imgur and reported in April 2017.

4. SQL Injection Grabtaxi

This flaw is about about a SQL injection that was discovered in Grabtaxi back in November 2017.

5. XSS in HackerOne

The final hackbox is about a Cross site scripting issue in a third party component used by hackerone to manage contact forms which was disclosed in August 2017.

The main purpose of these demos is to provide a safe and legal way to practice real case hacking techniques and best part is that it comes with explanations on how each bugs works and also they guide the uses in exploiting it.

Joyoshare Media Cutter for Mac - Best Video Cutter? [ Review ]

These days making videos is very trendy. Almost all social media platform started giving more importance to video content. We have seen how youtubers have grown over the last few years and how facebook and instagram too started working on their own video platforms like IGTV and facebook watch.

One of the most important factor of making video is having a good video editor and a good audio and video cutter. I see a lot of people asking their favorite youtubers what video editor they use. Often it becomes difficult for beginners to use the same video editors that are used by big youtubers as it cost a lot of money and beginners are not able to afford it.

Today we will review a video and audio  cutter which has all the premium features and is not heavy on your pocket. Lets me share with you Joyoshare media Cutter for mac. The best thing ? It has a free trial option for you to try. Interesting right ? Lets get started

Joyoshare Media Cutter for Mac Review

Joyoshare Studio is a renowned name as one of the pioneer software companies offering a wide range of video and audio tools. Currently, the company provides tools such as video converter, media cutter, HEIC converter, and screen recording apps for both Windows and Mac users.

The best part that i like about them is that they don't compromise on features in the trial version. You get to use every feature available. It is a smart modern and easy to use multifunctional video/audio cutter. Their UI is som simple that you does not need to have any previous experience in using it or any other alternative aoftwares. The simple user interface lets you either drag-and-drop or upload media files to the software and allows you to cut, split, and merge video clips as per your needs. Also, if you like any favorite scene or music from your favorite movie or TV show, you can just cut that part and export it to your device. With a wide range of video and audio cutting tools, you can do a lot more with raw videos.

The software helps you to split, cut, merge both the video as well as the audio files and supports formats like MP4, MKV, AVI, 3GP, MOV, MPEG along with audio formats like MP3, WAV, WMA etc.

System Configuration:

Joyoshare Media Cutter for Mac occupies very low memory on your system and it works on almost all kinds of Mac PC’s with the following specs:

Processor: The Apple computer should have a minimum of 1GHz Intel processor

RAM: With at least 512MB RAM

Supported Operating System: Mac OS X 10.8, 10.9, 10.10, 10.11, 10.12 Sierra and the latest 10.13 High Sierra

Cut and convert Videos / Audio to all Popular Formats

Any video or audio file can be cut, merged and converted using Joyoshare Media Cutter because it supports all popular video and audio formats used today. You don't have to worry about not supporting any specific formats.

Work at 60x Faster Speed with Lossless Quality

Joyoshare Media Cutter in one of the innovative processor and one of its kind and it balances both the conversion speed as well as the quality of the video. The processor works at 60X speed without loss of any quality of audio and video making the seamless experience of the quality of the video.

Improve the Efficiency and Accuracy of Cutting Videos/Audios

The reason why it is one of the best media cutter for mac is that it got a very clean UI and it is very efficient and accurate in cutting videos and audios.  You can select a start and end time or use the four adjusting buttons which drastically improves how clean, precise and crisp your editing is making your exported videos clean with precise editing.


 Steps to Crop Videos with the media Cutter

Step 1 : Add the target

You have two methods to do this. One is click the “Open” button and import the target video or audio. The other is to just drag and drop the file to the program. Remember that you can only add one file at a time.

Step 2 : Determine the cut segment

Just use the control key to select the trimming segment. Alternatively, manually set the temporal interval as you like. Both ways allow you to have a real-time preview about the source file.

Step 3 : Choose the output format

Then click the “Format” button and select an output format as you like. We recommend you to tick the “High-Speed Mode”, so you can get the video fast and losslessly. You are also enabled to customize your own video/audio if you choosing the “Encoding Mode”.

Step 4 : Cut the video/audio now

After all the settings are finished, click the “Start” button to cut the file and while for a while till it's completed. Open the destination folder to find your new video or audio.

Final Verdict

If you are someone who would like to edit one video at a time lets say your college farewell, birthday party etc then this software is best for you as it is lightweight and easy to use. You cannot do complextask with it but its very good to do small works like editing one video or audio file. Most of the video and audio cutter ruin the quality but using Joyoshare media cutter you can be sure that your quality is not compromised.