Maps and money dominated the broadband discourse in 2022 FierceTelecom
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Maps and money dominated the broadband discourse in 2022 - FierceTelecom
While new restaurants opened their doors to the community with fresh tastes and dishes, a few old favorites closed their doors this year.
Stockton really does have an amazing dining scene.Our diverse population lends itself to having such diverse dining options, stated Timm Quinn, CEO of the Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce. I hear it all the time from friends or colleagues who have left Stockton that they cant find a certain food in their new town.Or if they do it doesnt hold a candle to what Stockton has to offer.
If your favorite spot like Golden Star Caf or Moo Moo's Burger Barn is no longer in business, you can try one of these new restaurants that you may have not heard of until now.
A lot of these new restaurants filled long empty buildings/spaces, having businesses open in these spots brings jobs, tax revenue and a boost to the local economy, Quinn said.
Angry Chickz opened in Stockton in July on North Wilson Way. They serve the franchise menu items such as sliders, tenders, angry fix, angry mac and angry fries.
The line for the Angry Chickz ribbon cutting was one of the longest I have ever seen.It wrapped around their building and snaked through the parking lot, same with the drive thru line that day," Quinn said.
A buffet restaurant with shrimp chow mein, chicken wings, egg rolls, orange chicken, and more. The eatery opened its doors last month at Stonecreek Village in what used to house the former Hometown Buffet.
In business since 1993, Davids Pizza opened a new location in June. Unlike the original Hammer Lane site, this one is only take-out.The pizza joint has a lot of options, from creating your own pizza, to pizzas by the slice and a happy hour for $18.49.
El Siete Mares restaurant opened in September in downtown Stockton in what used to be the former Moo Moo's Burger Barn. El Siete Mares offers Mexican dishes such as pozole, tacos, enchiladas, and mariscos.
The owners of Thai Me Up opened Lao, Der! in June. The restaurant serves authentic Laotian cuisine with Yam Salad, Nak Kao, Kao Poon, and Bamboo Soup.
If axes and beerare your thing, then this place is for you. Limitless Axes and Ales opened at the former Fleet Feet, an athletic shoe store at Lincoln Center.
This is an axe-throwing bar with some bar bites, flatbreads and pizzas, entrees and desserts.
This new pizza place opened its doors in June. Lovotii Pizza Pub offers pizzas, sandwiches, burgers, appetizers and even a happy hour menu from 4-6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and Friday through Saturday one hour before closing.
Mochi doughnuts, hot dogs, drinks, and soft serves can all be found at Mochinut Stockton. The location opened in February and offers mochi doughnuts in all flavors from matcha, churro to a strawberry funnel.
Milk tea, smoothies, Thai and mochi drinks can all be found at this new bubble tea shop Stockton location that opened in January.
Some of the customer favorites are the Lychee Flamingo tea, Ube Latte, and the Strawberry Matcha Latte, barista Alvin Torres told The Record in March.
The Vietnamese restaurant opened in February with well-done steak pho, chicken pho, shrimp spring rolls, Vietnamese sandwich barbeque beef, and pork chop rice plate. They also serve sugar cane juice, arare Vietnamese delicacy difficult to find, server Zack Le said.
The Pho opened its doors at 2819 W. March Lane A1, where Centrale Kitchen & Bar used to be on Palm Crossings. This is their second location, with their first location in Modesto.
The health food restaurant opened at the Waterfront this July. The S.H.A.W. Bar offers grab and go bundle meals, immunity shots, a 10-day green smoothie cleanse and even burgers.
Treats by Ness has opened at the former Jumpn Tastebuds space at Weberstown Mall. This location opened in November with sweets and chocolate-covered treats.
The Japanese restaurant serves filet mignon, chicken teriyaki, garlic shrimp, tofu, grilled vegetables and even sake and soju.
"Everything is served fresh, seasoned fresh," ownerBinh Nguyen toldthe Record earlier in the year.
The catering business opened its doors in January at the former Saigon Restaurant at 1904 Pacific Ave. Sakura Hibachi continues to cater for events.
The Miracle Mile location is currently closed for renovations but will re-open. There is no re-opening date, KimberlyByrd, Executive director for the Miracle Mile Improvement District said.
The Filipino cuisine restaurant Sisig + Boba opened its doors this march. They offer turon, fried chicken to milk teas and fruit teas.
From their Chicken Cholula specialty sandwich to a traditional turkey sandwich to a New England clam chowder Sourdough & Co., has options for all. Their new location is on West March Lane at the former Rita's Italian Ice space.
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Overwatch 2 server down: Where to check the Overwatch 2 Server status
Server outages are common in multiplayer video games that are based on online servers. Overwatch 2 is a popular online hero-shooter game that features a dense player base. As a result, technical issues and server-based challenges commonly appear. Such hiccups can frustrate players, and calls for immediate attention.
Unfortunately, server-based issues in Overwatch 2 can be caused by many possible reasons. The usual cause can be attributed to developer-sided server maintenance sessions, which are usually announced ahead of schedule. However, the trigger could also be an unanticipated bug, a new update, or an error in the game's code.
Whatever the reason, players should stay informed about the server status to avoid running into mysterious errors and crashes in Overwatch 2.
Unlike some video game titles, Overwatch 2 doesn't feature a dedicated server status page that players can visit to gather updates. Instead, one needs to keep an eye on Blizzard's customer service handles on Twitter for an announcement.
Blizzard has customer service pages on Twitter for every region. You can also report issues by tagging the specific handle for your area. Here are the handles you should take note of:
Alternatively, users can check out Overwatch 2-related public tweets for confirmation. One can also head over to the official Blizzard Support forums to check for similar complaints.
Apart from announcements on Twitter, the Battle.net launcher will also display a notification regarding the same.
There are no workarounds if the outage is caused by an officially acknowledged maintenance session or a bug. All one can do is wait until the maintenance period ends or the bug is addressed.
While most server outages affecting Overwatch 2 are caused internally, some issues could also be related to client-end hiccups. If you don't come across any reports or official acknowledgments regarding server maintenance, the issue is likely from the client's side and can be fixed with some basic workarounds.
Here are a few things you can try:
1) Restart your system
By this time, you have probably tried restarting the Battle.net client and the game. If not, try doing so. If that doesn't help, try a full system reboot.
2) Check your network
Check for an unstable network connection by performing a ping test. If you detect a problem, try fixing it. Try restarting your router and modem. Also, wireless connections are pretty unstable for gaming, and switching to a wired/ethernet connection may help.
You can try switching to a different DNS server and see if that helps the situation. If none of the basic internet-fixing workarounds help, contacting your ISP should be the next best option.
3) Attempt to Scan and Repair
Although a far-fetched idea, this could help trigger a missed patch update or fix corrupted game files. Click on the cog icon beside the Play button and the option should appear. Click on it to initiate the repair and try launching the game after the process is complete.
4) Contact Blizzard support
Make note of the error/issue you are facing and report it to Blizzard Support via Twitter or the forums.
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One of the best defenses against phishing attacks is training. By teaching your employees how to recognize and report phishing attempts, you can help keep your company safe from hackers. But with so many training options available, how do you choose the right one for your business? Weve compiled a list of the best phishing training options to help you decide.
Phishing awareness training is a program that helps employees learn how to identify and avoid phishing emails. These emails are designed to lure employees into clicking on a phishing link or opening an infected file.
Phishing awareness training can help employees stay safe online by teaching them how to:
Phishing training for employees can also help them understand the risks of sharing personal information online.
People are often the weakest link in an organizations cybersecurity posture. Phishing attacks involve tricking employees into revealing sensitive information or clicking on malicious links, which is a common way for cybercriminals to gain access to company networks.
Thats why organizations need to offer phishing training for employees. Training can help employees learn how to identify phishing emails and protect themselves from becoming victims of these attacks.
In addition to training, there are other things that organizations can do to protect their networks from phishing attacks, such as implementing a strongcybersecurity policyand using anti-phishing tools.
But education is key, and companies must train their employees to avoid cyber risk and stay safe online.
Here are the top options for simulated phishing campaigns and security awareness training programs:
KnowBe4sKevin Mitnick Security Awareness Training (KMSAT) allows you to run tests regularly with real-life examples of malicious emails. You can start by testing how prone your employees are to phishing, then move on to train them.
KMSAT includes a mix of interactive modules, videos, and newsletters to train users. You also get insights into employee performance to assign additional training if needed.
Phishing simulations and training fromInfosec Institutehave over 1,000 templates to build simulated campaigns. And that library is updated regularly to simulate recent and ongoing attacks.
With Infosec, you can provide personalized anti-phishing training to your employees on auto-pilot. Once you configure the schedule, users start receiving the simulated emails and training videos automatically.
Phished delivers interactive cybersecurity education with the help of automated simulations. WithPhished Phishing Simulations, you can train employees to spot phishing emails and smishing (SMS phishing) attacks. The knowledge is imparted through a series of micro-learnings.
It sends AI-driven simulations and reports back with the results. The entire sequence is automated. So, you can set it up and forget.
PhishingBox simulator uses test phishing attacks to train employees. It provides a range of templates and landing pages for quick setup.
WithPhishingBox Phishing Simulator, you can ensure your employees are fully prepared for an attack. PhishingBox also has a Learning Management System (LMS) to monitor everyones progress.
Gophish is a phishing framework to help you test how phishing-prone your organization is. This free tool can design phishing email templates and schedule them. And then, you can track the results in near real-time.
Unlike other tools,Gophishdoesnt have a host of complex features. Its a minimal and intuitive program designed just for testing.
Infosequre has many premade scenarios with realistic phishing emails and text messages. You can use exercises ofInfosequre Phishing Simulationto track your employees capability and presence of mind. The platform sends custom exercises and feedback depending on how someone acts.
You can use your own dedicated server. So, no one outside your organization can access your information, phishing tests, and feedback.
Proofpoint Security Awareness Training is the key to cyber defense. You can use it to train your team to identify and report phishing messages. It helps make everyone better aware of the cyber threats looming in the air.
WithProofpoint Security Awareness Training, you can run phishing USB simulations based on real-world threats, get knowledge and culture assessments, and get a report that identifies your top clickers.
TerranovasPhishing Simulationleverage dynamic content in various formats to engage the users. It helps you identify the employees at the most risk and make them aware of it.
With its simulation, you can create mock phishing attacks to train your employees for D-day. You can empower them with all the skills to recognize and report phishing emails.
SafeTitan is an advanced platform for real-time training. It has several templates to automate your training campaign fully. Each user gets personalized training depending on their test responses.
The program uses short gamified tests to create an interactive and enjoyable environment for employee training. The content library ofSafeTitan Plus Phishing Protectionalso has an extensive amount of training resources.
Hook Securitys phishing training toolkit is a complete training resource for your most significant asset: the employees. It uses a series of bite-sized training modules to make learning easy.
WithHooks Phishing Testing, you can easily set up mock tests for phishing and spear phishing attacks.Employees get instant feedback and learn to make themselves better aware of the risks. And you get comprehensive reporting to drill down into specifics.
Phishing attack exercises are a type of mock cyber-attacks in which the attacker attempts to acquire login credentials by masquerading as a legitimate entity in emails or other communication channels. Phishing attack exercises or phishing tests are often used in training simulations for employees of organizations.
It depends on the organization. While a few smaller companies may only spend $500 or less per year, the average medium-sized company spends about $1,600 annually, and large organizations can spend up to $50,000 or more.
Several phishing awareness training options are available, ranging from online tutorials and self-paced courses to live classroom sessions led by expert instructors. Organizations should consider their specific needs and pick the phishing training program that suits their requirements.
Yes. Phishing training definitely works, but its crucial to ensure that the phishing awareness training is practical and provides employees with the knowledge they need to protect themselves from phishing attacks.
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Best Phishing Training Options for You and Your Employees - Small Business Trends
From Mark Zuckerbergs mad metaverse musings to mass layoffs and Musk-induced mayhem at Twitter, 2022 has been a tumultuous twelve months for the technology industry.
Along the way, a whole host of new phrases and words, virtually unused and unheard of in January, have slowly crept into our conversations. Looking ahead to 2023, it's likely you'll see these terms used even more frequently, as we continued to adapt to the modern and often novel post-pandemic world of work.
Here are all the important tech terms you need to brush up on before 2022 ends and the new year begins.
The term Quiet quitting garnered significant media attention after being discussed extensively by employees on social media throughout the year, particularly in younger millennial and Gen Z circles.
The term refers to doing the absolute bare minimum your job requires you to do, and nothing beyond that. Its precisely the opposite of going above and beyond at work, which is perceived by Quiet Quitters to negatively impact a healthy work-life balance.
Re-recruiting isn't necessarily a brand-new term and probably arose before the year began but it was honed in on by Microsoft in their September 2022 Work Trend Index, for which 20,000 workers from across the globe were surveyed.
One key takeaway from the survey was that staff need to be re-recruited to their roles in order to ensure theyre continuing to develop and grow within their company.
This effectively means giving employees ample opportunity to expand their skill sets and learn more about both their own roles and roles that exist above them. The hope is that providing employees with this will help minimize job-hopping, which has made it difficult for companies to retain staff all year.
A Decentralized VPN sometimes called a dVPN refers to any VPN that does not have centralized control over the individual servers that make up its server network.
As popular VPN company Surfshark puts it, instead of a single VPN provider supplying and maintaining the servers, dVPN's servers are hosted by independent users. They could be using dedicated server machines or just installing dVPN software on their home computers.
There are some definite advantages to Decentralized VPNs, but perhaps the biggest one is that your privacy is secured by the very nature of the network infrastructure, rather than a private company (i.e. a VPN provider) giving you their word however trustworthy that they wont log your data.
Coined by project management software provider Wrike, the Dark Matter of work lives in synchronous applications and unstructured work, such as instant message threads and video calls, as well as the gaps between systems and applications that arent integrated.
Workplace dark matter consists of all the little tasks you have to complete in your workday that take very long to complete in isolation, but slowly add up and eat into your time. As alluded to above, the project management provider suggests thinks the explosion of workplace applications is to blame for an exponential increase in workplace dark matter.
Conversely to Quiet Quitting, Quiet Firing is enforced by managers. Instead of just firing an employee outright, during a Quiet Fire, a boss will slowly remove one of their staff members duties until their position becomes obsolete or unneeded.
Bosses engaging in the practice may reassign these tasks to other employees, change the employee's job description, demote them, or simply block them from pursuing opportunities that will expand their horizons within the company.
If an employee is quietly fired in this way, it makes it significantly harder for them to launch legal action against the company than if they were fired outright.
Workfluencers are essentially influencers that create content about their jobs. those who are interested in learning more about their field and what their day-to-day work life is like.
They often make money from brand partnerships like standard influencers and seek engagement from followers in much the same way, but focus their content entirely around the 9-5.
Workfluencers have been aided significantly by changes to business and career apps like LinkedIn, which have continuously borrowed features from mainstream social media sites over the past few years to make their platforms more accessible and usable.
Now, over 13 million LinkedIn users have their profiles set to creator mode, which will, in theory, more people will see their posts. Workfluencers are here to stay, whether we like it or not, and there'll probably be plenty more who try their hand at it in 2023.
MFA Fatigue is a novel hacking technique that was used to great effect by thereat actors throughout 2022, and is thought to have been the catalyst behind successful breaches of Uber, Microsoft, and CISCO's networks.
In MFA Fatigue attacks, perpetrators will run a script that attempts to log into a targets account that has multi-factor authentication turned on using stolen credentials. The victim will then receive a seemingly unending stream of authentication requests as the script runs.
The hackers are hoping that the victim is so irked by the constant string of notifications that they finally approve one of the requests out of frustration. After that, they'll have access to the account and can wreak whatever havoc they please.
Overemployment is a modern term for someone working multiple jobs which has become increasingly common since the post-pandemic economic downturn were all experiencing began.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4.9% of the 164 million-strong US workforce held two or more jobs in September 2022, which amounts to almost 8 million people.
As the name would suggest, boomerang employees are staff members that are employed at companies theyve previously left, typically on good terms (hence the return). One analysis of LinkedIn members job histories shows boomerang employees accounted for 4.3% of US hireslast year.
Some companies are now encouraging this practice, setting up alumni networks and other ways to stay connected with former employees once they leave in order to coax them into the office and back onto the payroll at a later date.
However, some research suggests that employees returning to more senior positions after leaving previously can have a negative impact on staff morale, particularly for those who are still in the same roles they were in when their returning co-workers first departed.
Ransomware-as-a-Service a play on the more widely-known term Software-as-a-Service is a term given to any ransomware that is made commercially available as a subscription service, enabling affiliates to use the already-developed tools to execute their own attacks.
The rise of Ransomware-as-a-Service has materialized alongside many ransomware gangs moving from double extortion tactics both encrypting and exfiltrating a victim companys data and threatening to publish it to triple extortion tactics.
In a triple extortion attack, a companys data will first be encrypted (coupled with the threat of deletion) and exfiltrated (coupled with the threat of publication), all while the threat actor also orchestrates a third stage, such as a DDoS attack or threatening the companys clients.
Productivity paranoia refers to a disparity between how productive CEOs, bosses, and managers think their staff members are, and how productive staff members actually believe themselves to be.
The disparity is stark, too. According to a Microsoft Work Index study released this year, although 87% of employees believe themselves to be productive at work, only 12% of leaders believe their employees are making the most of their time.
Productivity paranoia has likely been exacerbated by the rise of hybrid, flexible and remote approaches to working, which many bosses feel has given them less visibility over their teams.
Email Bankruptcy occurs when a person deletes or ignores emails that are older than a certain date, or in more extreme cases, abandons their inbox altogether due to the volume of emails theyre receiving.
Granted, this term has been around a lot longer than just this year but considering the rise of project management software apps with built-in collaboration tools as well as business communication platforms like Slack, you might hear it a whole lot more in 2023. Around 30% of US adults have already declared email bankruptcy, with inboxes becoming increasingly clogged with spam, junk, and marketing emails.
While as equally interesting as it has been exhausting, 2022 has left many people working in and around the tech sector with more questions than answers.
Will the mass layoffs weve experienced this year continue? What cyber threats will be used to target businesses? Will Twitter survive until the end of the year with Musk at the helm, or will Googles scarily sentient AI have taken over the world before we can find out?
Whatever happens in 2023, well be keeping you up to date with daily news updates on the platforms, services, and businesses that matter to you.
If youre yet to declare email bankruptcy and would like to get all of Tech.cos news straight to your email inbox, sign up for our newsletter today:[/vc_column_text]
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Quiet Quitting, Re-Recruiting: New Tech Terms That Arose in 2022 - Tech.co
Yes, you read that right: this is a popular subreddit about bread that has been stapled to trees. That's it. That's the sub. This thriving community of bread stapled to tree enthusiasts runs about 318,000 deep. According to Bon Appetit, it was started by two friends back in 2017 as a joke, but has taken off ever since. Users come to r/BreadStapledtoTrees to share images oftoasted white bread stapled to an ash tree, a marbled rye stapled to a palm tree, and even a sourdough starter stapled to a tree. There's something weirdly wholesome and calming about the thread. Redditors seem to understand and even celebrate the silliness of this tradition, while still respecting the strict rules.
Yes, there are rules. Lots of them, in fact. For starters, the founders of the thread spoke to tree conservationists who confirmed that staples won't hurt mature trees. But the group does have a strict no young trees, bonsai, or cactus policy (via Bon Appetit.) There is also a list of approved breads, which is quite extensive and ecompasses everything from Pop Tarts, taco shells, and more typical types of bread. So if you're inspired, why not grab some challah, matzah, or even some gingerbread menalong with a stapler and join in on the fun?
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There's an experimental McDonald's franchise in Fort Worth, Texas, different from any other you've been to. On entering the restaurant, you'll note it's tiny. Moreover, while there are human employees, they aren't necessarily tired-looking teens running registers.
A human restaurant team preps food orders and places them onto food and beverage conveyors, but automation is key in ensuring customers get their orders. Success or failure may hint at fast food's near future.
In an email to Entrepreneur, a McDonald's spokesperson stressed that there aren't actual robots serving the food. Additionally, they stated that the company has no plans to test the concept in other locations. "McDonald's is always testing and learning from new concepts and technologies to ensure a best-in-class, seamless experience for our customers," the spokesperson wrote, "This is the first restaurant concept of this kind to be introduced in the U.S. and for now is only being tested in one location outside Fort Worth, Texas."
Newsweek reported on the experimental McDonald's after a video from foodiemunster, a TikToker and Instagram user, went viral.
The video, which already has well over a million views, illustrates the ordering and pickup process. It's not that different from newer, human-staffed McDonald's, where you can order using touchscreens. The change is apparent when customers pick up their food from an automated machine server.
In a statement quoted by Newsweek, McDonald's explained why the robot-operated restaurant is so small and how it works:
When you step inside the test restaurant concept, you'll notice it's considerably smaller than a traditional McDonald's restaurant in the U.S. Why? The featuresinside and outsideare geared toward customers who are planning to dine at home or on the go...
Inside the restaurant, there's a delivery pick-up room for couriers to retrieve orders quickly and conveniently. There are also kiosks, where customers can place their orders to go, and a pick-up shelf for orders. Outside the restaurant, there are several parking spaces dedicated to curbside order pick-up, as well as designated parking spaces for delivery drivers.
Reactions from those commenting on foodiemunster's video reflect an ongoing debate about automation in several industries. "It's cool but I don't think I'm a fan," said one Instagram commenter, "I rely on the indoor play grounds ... Also we already have too many automated things happening and I feel like we don't need more stuff where you don't interact with actual people. I don't know."
Newsweek quoted other comments that were more frank, one person writing, "Well there goes millions of jobs," and another stating that if the company leans into the experiment, "I'll just boycott McDonald's, their food's mid at best anyway."
There's been a heated debate over similar automation like retail self-checkout since the latter was introduced in 1986. As CNN noted in an article published in July this year, 67% of retail customers "said they'd experienced a failure at the self-checkout lane."
According to Newsweek, this is a singular experiment for McDonald's to see how it goes. If the fast food giant judges it a success, who knows? One day in the future, you might be plucking your Big Mac and fries from cold robot hands.
Correction, Dec. 23
The original version of this story misstated the nature of the experimental restaurant. It does feature new automation but is still staffed by human crew members who prepare the food and aid customers who encounter issues with self-serve kiosks or incorrect orders.
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McDonald's Is Testing Robot Servers at Drive-Thru in Texas - Entrepreneur
Its social media for Web3. An NFT grifters saleroom. Chat rooms for gaming-adjacent crypto natives. Whatever the social media app Discord is, if youre into digital art, you are on it. And if youre trying to reach those who are into digital art, thats the place to go. From fashion brands like Gucci or Adidas, to art galleries like Pace, starting a Discord channel is a key part of integrating into the decentralized ethos of web3.
At least that was true when the NFT bubble began to inflate in 2021.
As NFTs grew in popularity, there was an equal rise in conversation about these so-called non-fungible tokens that live on the blockchain. Much of this chatter was happening behind the scenes on Discord, a more multifaceted platform than Twitter or Instagram, both of which are more commonly used in the traditional art world.
Discord, which doubled in membership in the pandemic, allows a group of users to build their own community server, which can be public (anyone can join) or private (invite-only). Each server hosts its own unique spread of chaotic, always-on channels on different topics, like whos going to Art Basel or the odd artist shilling their NFTs. Often, theres a meme channel (these days, filled with self-deprecating GIFs of crypto-apocalyptic losses). In the morning (depending where you are), users greet each other daily. Gm (meaning good morning) is the universal Web3 greeting on Discord, where time zones are an irrelevant nuisance and friendly brevity is of the essence.
Zach Lieberman, A globe, a world, (2022.) Courtesy of the artist and Unit London.
Its like 24/7 communication, its very fast, said Joe Kennedy, founder of Mayfair art gallery Unit London, who made Discord part of his strategy in May 2021 to build a community outside of the traditional collecting spheres. Now, the gallery uses its server to announce artist collaborations, and issue statements on artist royalties. Theres a good network effect, he said. Weve met lots of new collectors we wouldnt have access to otherwise. With its busy, unfamiliar interface, Discord appeals more to those that work in tech, he noted. Theyre in their 40s, and tend to be a bit more open-minded, he said. These collectors might not even use Instagram, he noted, and would be more comfortable on Reddit or Twitter.
This year, the gallery has been focused on small, curated sales via their marketplace Unit London Web3; for Kennedy, Discord is most successful in working with large editions, which the gallery has in the pipeline next year. Thats the perfect format for Discord, he said. Its a much more beneficial platform if theres lots of people who are invested in a project by collecting.
Caroline Busta, who co-founded the art-adjacent media project New Models well before cryptos 2021 explosion, noted that the need for a Discord channel was initiated by their community in 2019, who werent satisfied with simply commenting on New Models content. A lot of people were already into Discord and they held our hand, she said. We were like why not? Then, in spring 2021 the crypto boom happened, and people suddenly entered the Discord channel, often looking for trading tips.
But now that the NFT bubble has burst, and the crypto winter shows signs of a permafrost, stakeholders on the Discord servers are wondering if the app is worth fighting for.
Screenshot of the website New Models.
The old art world and the new digital art world are, in part, engineered on exclusivity. One advantage Discord has for the burgeoning crypto-sphere (and the crypto-loving art world) is that it can provide a similarly gated space. With technology integrated into the app, some channels on certain servers are only open to those who own specific NFTsthink of it like a blockchain-enabled VIP card for Art Basel. The Discord server for Friends with Benefits, a cheekily-named crypto-enabled community of artists, developers, and cultural thinkers, is only accessible to those who hold a certain number of crypto tokens in their wallet. Discord, meanwhile, (the company declined to comment for this story) has, at times, signaled further crypto integrations, like in a recent tweet by their founder Jason Citron (he walked back the comment two days later).
While its functionalities are not vastly different from an app like the workplace messaging program Slack, the pace and insider knowledge required to participate in Discord conversations can be overwhelming. The bricks-and-mortar art world has been, on the whole, slow to adopt it. Maybe that is because its roots stem to the gaming worldas such, it has retained idiosyncratic elements like badges and special roles that can be awarded to members, as well as a young demographic. Though the gaming-friendly design may alienate non-gamers, it is also a natural home for projects focused on web3, a version of the internet that is decentralized, blockchain-built, and token-based.
In the early days of Web3 and crypto, there was this correlation with folks who were really into gaming, said Malcolm Levy, an artist who runs a digital arts festival platform called RefractionDAO, which also runs a Discord server. For those building culture and tools for digital art and NFTs, he said, Discord became the default app for both collaboration and socializing.
Tara Donovan, QWERTY, (2022). Pace Verso
As voice-chatting apps became more popular during the lockdowns of the early pandemic, Discord became newly attractive. I think Clubhouse led to Discord, said Justin Aversano, a photographer who works with NFTs and runs the Discord server Quantum, a server with over 14,000 members that announces drops from his curated NFT platform. Clubhouse, that fleetingly buzzing app in the art world, was where someone suggested he set up a Discord server for his collectors so that he could keep them updated on his work while they chatted to one another.
More traditional industry players followed the wave of creatives like Aversano there.
When Knig Galerie set up its digital marketplace Misa.art, now rebranded as Expanded Art, they ran a Discord server alongside it. (Despite the rebrand, Misa.arts official Discord server is still online as of December 14; a representative of Expanded Art declined to comment, though online posts suggest the Discord will remain, under the new branding. There is a new community manager in place, and the channel promises to bring the discord back to life.)
Screenshot of Unit Londons Web3 platform.
Pace Verso, the web3 arm of the blue-chip gallery Pace, launched its Discord in March this year, intending to connect directly with the segment of the NFT community outside Paces orbit, according to Amelia Redgrift, Paces chief marketing and communications officer.
It quickly became clear that establishing a Discord server needed to be one of our first steps in growing an audience for Pace Verso, she said. The platform is used for sales announcements and programming, but also, increasingly, for conversation, she noted, adding that one of the most notable differences from other platforms is its informal nature of Discord and the potential for two way engagement. The Pace spokesperson said that the Discord had been uniquely successfulindeed, they are creating a new communications role at Pace Verso that will, in large part, be dedicated to managing and strategizing the platform.
Random International and Danil Krivoruchko, Life in Our Minds, (2022). Pace Verso
But is Pace moving in the opposite direction from the rest of the market? As another crypto winterwhich saw a major downturn in the value of tokens, a devaluation of NFTs, as well as the folding of major web3 corporation FTXdraws in, Discord devotees have noticed a slide in the participation levels.
In September 2021, there were multiple gms every day on Unit Gallerys Discord server, for instancenow, they pop up once or twice a week. A lot of people have just stopped using [Discord], probably to do stuff in the real world, said the photographer, Aversano. All the mania of 2021 has ceased. These days, his works are mostly sold to NFT funds or DAOs, he said, so his Discord isnt as important as a sales conversion pipeline. There really is no conversation when the art ends up in the final place for it to be, he said.
Levy, from RefractionDAO, said that he felt artists in particular were becoming burned out on the platform. Meanwhile, theres no sign of traditional collectors joining the conversation: If you profile a traditional art collector whos buying paintings and sculptures, for them, its seen as tiring and exhausting, said Kennedy.
Discords fate has not been helped by its susceptibility to hackers. Pace Verso has a section of its Discord server dedicated to scam warnings, and joining most NFT-related Discord servers results in an influx of spam messages promising get-rich-quick schemes. Indeed, in three separate incidents between April and June this year, hackers have successfully used phishing links on Discord to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of NFTs from Bored Apes Yacht Club (BAYC) owners this year. After the third, BAYC co-founder Gordon Goner wrote in a tweet: Discord isnt working for web3 communities. We need a better platform that puts security first.
Bored Ape Yacht Club collection in OpenSea displayed on a phone screen. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
In an email to Artnet News, BAYC co-founder Greg Solano (also known as Garga) said: Scams are an unfortunate part of the crypto world right now, and relying on a platform we dont control can be a little nerve-wracking. BAYC have now created a bespoke security verification system for posting announcements on their own website.
Levy said they have begun hosting Town Hall meetings on Twitter instead. Friends with Benefits have developed an app (soft-launched in Miami in early December during Art Basel Miami Beach) that will play the role of Discord for their members. Even the CryptoPunks Discord channel, which is where Justin Aversano was convinced of the platforms community utility, has now fractured. That conversation is now happening on a Telegram group started by members of the community, he said.
While crypto was riding high, there was a financial incentive to learn about some of the cumbersome user interface required to use Discords token-gated mechanisms, said Busta, from New Models. At this point. I dont see that happening, she said.
Though some have proposed Discord as a replacement for an imploding Twitter, she noted that the platform encouraged siloed communities that dont communicate with one another: it doesnt provide a public, open space. I think that web3 may hold the answer to this public square question, but Discord alone cant yet solve that, she said.
What is certain is that this community of tech-literate art aficionados will keep looking for new ways to connect. This industry is not just volatile in that the coins change, but also in how communities formits really rapid, said Aversano. It literally changes on a week-to-week basis. Watch this space.
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Twitter is in crisis these days. Under new owner Elon Musk, the service has lost more than half its staff through layoffs and quitting, made erratic moves in its product and platform strategies and is facing up to reports about its financial state.
That disruption, in true tech industry style, has led to the emergence of a plethora of alternatives, some still in germination and some fully formed and waiting for their moment in the spotlight.
Among them, one of the leaders that has emerged is Mastodon a network created on the ActivityPub protocol that runs servers itself and allows others to join and/or establish their own servers to engage with and see each others content.
Eugen Rochko, Mastodons creator and currently sole full-time employee said in an interview with TechCrunch that the service has ratcheted up numbers very fast, and it now has 2.5 million monthly active users across no less than 8,600 different servers. Mastodon operates a couple of these directly, and the biggest of them, mastodon.social, has 881,000 registered users, 210,000 of them active.
Rochko has closed Mastodons servers for new signups. Its a move he described as a victimless decision, because there are so many other places to register an account and still interact with the wider Mastodon universe. Nonetheless, the move has created a curious scarcity/demand situation: People and organizations have contacted Rochko asking for access to getting accounts on his servers anyway.
The main reason that the registration is closed right now is just that it is a big burden to the DevOps, to scale up, beyond the number of users [we have now], he said. I dont want to say, oh, the software is not good enough to scale or whatever. Thats not really the reason, its just a question of not having a dedicated DevOps employee right now. I cant run all of these organizational things and the rest. Its just easier to close registrations and ensure that the people who are already on there have a good quality of service, instead of allowing more people to sign up, and then it slows down. And then I have to stay up, sleepless nights fixing things.
The decentralized nature, and the fact that theres plenty of other servers to choose from to sign up on means that its kind of a victimless decision to make.
Now Rochko is eyeing up the next steps for his operation.
Mastodon as it currently exists is set up as a not-for-profit organization, financed for the most part by a Patreon account that Rochko set up that currently brings in $31,000 each month a figure that he says has risen dramatically over the past month from $7,000.
Mastodon is going to remain not-for-profit, Rochko said, but its looking at what he describes as a split model, like Mozillas, where the nonprofit will continue working on the core product, which will remain open source, nonprofit and so on, and we might start a for-profit side business for software as a service, first to provide hosting for Mastodons for those who desire that.
The aim, he said, is a sustainable and fair business we would do just the hosting and the server would be completely under your control. And obviously, we would allow you to take take your data and move it to your own hosting provider in the future, or migrate from another hosting provider, and so on.
Unlike the approach taken by WordPress, there are no plans to incorporate ads as part of the hosted service, he said. Its a position that seems to come out of his own sentiments about them, but he doesnt dismiss them altogether.
You have to consider that the fediverse nature of the network, he said. Anyone could develop another platform, using the same ActivityPub protocol [that Mastodon does], but with completely different software around it, with different expectations and different features. And if they wanted to build ads into it, they could, in theory.
The question is only as a user, would you go to a service that has ads, and to make those ads effective, the service keeps track of your interests and location? Or would you just go to another one that doesnt have that? We, Mastodon, are not interested in the ad business and implementing ads into our code. But as I said, its free and open source, so anyone could modify it. Theyd do it at their own risk, with different business models.
As for those operators of Mastodon servers, he said, he leaves it open to them, but ironically favors something not unlike what Musk has floated for Twitter itself.
I think that I see a method in the sort of framework for building interoperable social media networks; you could think of an individual server as a separate social network, like Tumblr, or Instagram, he said. With interoperability built in straightaway, I think that it makes sense that they would be able to explore different business models, or maybe build out different features. I think that probably the fairest model that could appear in the ecosystem would be the paid accounts model. This is something in the past App.net tried to do but, I feel, did not succeed. It wasnt clear if that was because of the paid account part, or because they didnt really build out a good flagship product.
He revealed that he also has been talking with investors, although for the most part it seems that a lot of those who want to give him money dont really understand what hes trying to do, with one recurring theme being the idea of further commercializing the platform.
Over the years, Ive definitely received a lot of unprompted cold contacts from various VCs. Ive previously ignored them, but now we have Felix [Hlatky], who works as basically a CFO, but he doesnt have the title officially, yet. Now I forward those to him and then he tries talking with them, or sometimes I tune into the calls, he said. Weve tried talking to some VCs about this hosting business thing in the past couple of weeks. I have to say, though, theyre interested in somehow getting into the main product and theyre not so much interested in a sustainable hosting business. So, VCs are not going to help here. Were not letting them into the main product in any way. So yeah, were probably going to have to go with an angel investor, or just crowdfunding the hosting business separately or just, I dont know, maybe personal funds would be enough. Thats not entirely clear.
Mastodon has been notable for how its been picking up attention in the wake of Twitters drama so much so that it triggered a new Musk-era rule forbidding links to competing social networks, suspending Mastodons Twitter presence in the process.
Its also interesting because of how its approaching the social space.
Mastodon is based on an open source, federated concept, where different servers use the same protocol to speak to each other and share content; server operators oversee the activity of the users registered and hosted on their respective servers.
It might sound a little confusing to the uninitiated, but there are tools out there to help import your Twitter world over to Mastodon and retain much of the same experience.
To follow the metaphor, the servers become like a herd of animals, Mastodons even, distinct but generally moving in the same direction. To move away from the metaphor, though, Mastodons ethos is far from extinct: As weve detailed, open source is something that a number of other social media platforms, Twitter among them, are also contemplating quite seriously.
Mastodon in particular seems to have really struck a chord. The platforms mobile apps are seeing about 4,000 downloads per day on average, but at one recent peak saw downloads of 149,000 on Android and 235,000 on iOS.
This spike took place, Rochko said, over the days when Twitter announced a huge swathe of job cuts that wiped out entire departments at the company, including those managing communications with the media but also those working on moderation, security and curation, as well as a number of technical teams.
Indeed, that inverse variation Twitters fall equals Mastodons rise is one that is playing out very well for the latter right now.
The question is whether it will last. To be sure, Twitters ups and downs as a platform have been a hallmark of the company almost from its start, so much so that many have wondered if its better thought of as a utility, not a business.
Regardless, Twitter has stayed and grown. And although this latest bout has, for many, felt like the last straw, only time will tell if everything settles down and users eventually accept whatever becomes the new status quo, or if meaningful change in social platforms really is coming.
In any case, sometimes evolutions in tech seem to happen overnight, but sometimes they take years. (Read more about how Rochko spent those years over on TC+.)
For Mastodon, the financial aspect is one that continues to hover over it, regardless.
For one, its played a part in how the company has grown. Rochko may be the sole full-time employee, but there are five others working freelance as moderators on Mastodons own servers, in addition to Felix Hlatky on the financial front, named on Mastodons about page. One focus has been to figure out how to bring on more people in a stable way.
The $31,000 per month he makes through Patreon is not really enough, nor stable enough, to finance a staff, Rochko said, but he has been thinking about a secondary level of business to generate a more stable income for the business, operating a second service where it provides services to host Mastodon servers for others.
Im the only full-time employee, and the rest five people are contractors at the moment, he said. Im looking to expand the full-time team and have been working on some job listings. Its kind of a slow process. I wish I could do it a lot faster. But its a new frontier for a company that has been a one-person venture for six years. It has been fine so far, but now we need more people.
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How Mastodon is scaling amid the Twitter exodus - TechCrunch