Kozminski Techblog

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Have you ever wondered what the success of TikTok is all about?
Analysts introduced the concept of “digital tobacco” in 2021. According to them, the biggest social media platforms are like the biggest tobacco companies because of the way they create addictive products.
At the end of 2021, the editors of the New York Times found internal TikTok documents related to the construction and operation of the application algorithm itself. TikTok itself is a unique phenomenon in the world of online platforms. The application is known to be the most effective in “drawing” the user into its snares. The said documents marked as “TikTok Algo 1010” obtained by NYT are true – representatives of the Chinese giant confirmed their authenticity.
According to them, addiction by means of algorithms is a successful, proportional combination of pure mathematics and psychology. A network of connected vessels working together for success.
In addition to numbers, TikTok uses natural traits and cultural cues in its models behind the app. Feeling bored is one of the most important factors in the addiction process. This boredom is, of course, covered with a whole host of other bricks. TikTok knows what we like, how we comment on who we follow, knows the appropriate hashtags, captions, sounds, language preferences and localization.
According to the Wall Street Journal, TikTok’s algorithms are able to analyze your reaction on an ongoing basis, what you click, which moments (within seconds) you don’t like, or where you paused.

Source: https://ohmydev.pl/post/dlaczego-algorytmy-potrafia-nas-tak-szybko-uzaleznic-3bi8?fbclid=IwAR1T90JfPjFHPn8bK7irU-X1-IrZHngsdTZBS03mJzTKLsQUQkecsOsw8Ig

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The Russian design bureau ОКБМ Африкантов has presented a miniature and maintenance-free nuclear power plant. Everything is contained in a metal tank in the shape of a cistern and can even be placed under water. The power plant was designed to operate in Arctic conditions to power oil rigs, Arctic research units and other facilities that are currently powered by diesel generators, to which large amounts of fuel must be transported by helicopters.
The reactor module is completely maintenance-free. Just connect it to the network and press start. The power plant can run for a minimum of 8,000 hours (1 year) without interruption at full capacity of 24 MW. Service life is estimated at 30 years.
Miniature reactor modules are to be completely built at the factory under one roof and then transported in one piece to their destination. When the module is no longer needed, it can be moved to another location or sent to the factory for disassembly.

Source: https://www.atomic-energy.ru/photo/120146?fbclid=IwAR2-PJjPlJF_k9fGt4uZHwLecvAR7li1Uuoa0vevYfD8HrtNs1PfhJLliBM

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Penji is one of the biggest unlimited design services. You pay them a monthly, quarterly, or yearly fee and you get access to their team of designers to whom you can make unlimited design requests.

Unlimited? How can that be real?

You can send unlimited requests, but their designers will work on them one by one. So despite you ask for 1,000 logos, they will work on one logo at a time, finishing all the work probably in many months or years.

Why would I go with an unlimited design service?

Because, if you have recurring design tasks that need to be done, but not enough of them to hire a full-time designer, it can be much cheaper than hiring freelancers or agencies.

The way Penji can have so cheap prices is that the same designer that works for you, works for other companies, so his wage is distributed between many businesses.

Pros:

• Design quality: Many unlimited design services provide work that’s just okay in terms of quality. Penji, in my opinion, is really over most of the other services in terms of quality and innovation.
• Price: They are similar or even lower than the standards of the industry. Their “Team” plan pricing includes all the design tasks a business founder may need and turnaround times are perfect. If you’re in a rush or need many design requests, the “Agency” plan and pricing make a lot of sense as well.
• Company: The company is great. They care about social issues and do their contribution by donating 10% of the profits and providing their services for $1/month to non-profit organizations. Everyone I’ve talked to in the company has also been really friendly.

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Cons:

• Communication: There’s no other communication method more than Penji’s internal dashboard (which is amazing, anyway). Most other unlimited design services allow you to send and manage requests over email, Slack, etc. You’ll have to add Penji’s dashboard as a new tool to check every day, instead of being able to have everything withing the tools you are already using.
• Price: Penji may prove to be expensive if you don’t use it and do many monthly design requests. But that’s a common problem of unlimited design services, not only of Penji (and Penji’s price isn’t more expensive than other services).

Source: https://penji.co/

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Tired of getting ready for Christmas? Me too. So I inform you as briefly as I can about a great thing: scientists in Oxford have just figured out a way to convert carbon dioxide into jet fuel. So far, they have only tested the process in a laboratory, but there is already talk in the foreign media about a potential breakthrough. Whether it is possible, they will show tests on a larger scale.
In a laboratory where a few milliliters of the substance was produced, the carbon dioxide came from the container. But scientists predict that jet fuel plants could be built next to a steel or cement factory or a coal-fired power plant – and capture carbon dioxide there. The process, however, may also involve drawing CO2 higher out of the atmosphere.
Scientists say the new method would be cheaper than other similar methods – mainly because it would use less electricity.
“It could work,” says Joshua Heyne, an associate professor of mechanical and chemical engineering at Dayton University, who was not involved in the experiment. – Scaling up is always a problem, and as you go larger, new surprises arise. But when it comes to a long-term solution, the idea of ​​a circular carbon economy is definitely something that could be the future, he adds.
The Wired emphasizes that the new fuel will likely have to compete with many other applicants already being tested as a replacement for traditional jet fuel. These fuels are produced, for example, from straw, wood biomass, and even … used cooking oil (this process is being tested by the energy giant – BP).
Currently, airplanes emit about 2% of greenhouse gases. It is predicted that by 2050 it will be several times more. Unless new opportunities revolutionize the market and flying will become neutral for the planet.

Source: https://www.wired.com/story/could-carbon-dioxide-be-turned-into-jet-fuel/?fbclid=IwAR2pso1suM7-QVjJ-IHKpAZ0eDtYF5tUOfifZCp79UCdCX7I9dNP_hrODTY https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-20214-z?fbclid=IwAR1Epb2-HyMC8PWYPmmB1Pcc7UKSyBzjlnhBD5LwKKfZ4H2lMbEgm8Kqu9s

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Dinnr was a web platform which allowed customers to select a recipe on the website and order pre-measured ingredients accompanied with printed instruction which would be delivered to them on the same day. The only item clients were required to have at home, besides an equipped kitchen, were oil, salt, and pepper.

Dinnr failed as there was no real market need for the company from the start. If people had supermarkets and supermarkets nearby (as is often the case in developed countries), they wouldn’t have to order ingredients when they could go out and buy what they need. Dinnr has focused on ingredient sourcing and delivery, but the reality is that most potential customers would rather order ready meals than just an ingredient that they then have to prepare. And while the product may have been useful in some cases, the demand for the product was low, resulting in a low profit margin.

The Dinnr team seems to have created a product they personally like without first doing thorough market research. They conducted multiple interviews and focused on marketing their services rather than asking about the challenges the average customer faces when shopping for groceries. It was overlooked that the presentation of a product instead of reliable market research on paper provides great statistics, but often leads to disappointment when it is launched on the market.

Additionally, Dinnr initially set lofty monthly goals, but they were overly ambitious and failure to meet their own expectations could have dealt them a psychological blow later on.

Sources:https://medium.com/indian-thoughts/seven-lessons-i-learned-from-the-failure-of-my-first-startup-dinnr-c166d1cfb8b8