User ExperienceSecurity

U X Trends, Cultivated Data and White Hats

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Nick Cotton Aug 9, 2019

Will These UX Trends Stick or Fade Away?

By Miklos Philip from Medium

“Over the past decade, everyone—and I mean everyone—with an online presence felt the pressure to become a content publisher. Coca-Cola. Costco. Tiny midwestern lawn care companies. Because attention can often lead to revenue, companies produce articles, videos, and podcasts in hopes of engaging with consumers, and a rapidly-maturing UX design industry answered the call.”

“…there’s the Calm Tech movement, championed by Amber Case. Calm Tech is the practice of building the minimum amount of technology to solve a problem, with as little ambient distraction as possible—that means no endless phone notifications or pop-ups. While it’s catching on in leadership circles, we’ve still yet to see its practices take hold in consumer design.”

“But times are changing, and perhaps the internet as we know it today will look vastly different in a decade. Paywalls are starting to go up. Distribution companies like Netflix are showing signs that they can’t continue to pour endless money into content.”

Cultivated data is the next Gold Rush

By Bernard Moon from Tech Crunch

“I define “cultivated data” as existing data (i.e. ERP data, Google Analytics, public health data, inventory data) that is analyzed and developed into a more usable form than it was before. This doesn’t have to be the complex data sets using inordinate amounts of computing power that signifies “big data,” but approaches and techniques to data sets that previously weren’t utilized. Cultivated data isn’t always about volume, variety or velocity of data — it’s more important for the output to be relevant and actionable.”

“In the years to come, we expect to see more of these new data middlemen — because of similar “trusted source” issues, the shortage of good data scientists and some will want to create their own future and launch their own startups.”
“From well-coordinated government policies to market forces to increased startup activity around cultivated data, these trends and developments are a harbinger that this space will be one of the major gold rushes for startups and venture capital over the coming years.”

The life of a white-hat hacker

By Zoe Schiffer from Vox

“Dardaman and Wheeler are ethical hackers — people who break into systems for a living to help make technology more secure. These ‘white-hat hackers’ differentiate themselves from criminal hackers in that they won’t do anything illegal. Many work for government agencies or corporations, while others operate out of home laboratories, preferring to just hack for fun.”

“the relationship between ethical hackers and the companies they hack into can be tenuous. While some organizations welcome the knowledge, others see hackers as the enemy and hardly distinguish between white hats and cybercriminals. ‘For many companies, it’s cheaper to pay a fine than do security right,’ wirefall added. Without adequate regulation, some hackers say, media attention and public pressure can be the best way to enforce security.”

Most white-hat hackers say they are not trying to make companies look bad. Typically, they’ll notify an organization privately and give them about 90 days — a norm promoted by Google’s Project Zero — to patch any security vulnerabilities.”


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