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NEW FAMILY OF OPEN-SOURCE AI MODELS - GEMMA

NEW FAMILY OF OPEN-SOURCE AI MODELS – GEMMA

NEW FAMILY OF OPEN-SOURCE AI MODELS – GEMMA

Google Gemma Family

Google Gemma Family

In the dynamic landscape of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) outsourcing  solutions, innovation is the key to staying ahead. At Xpertech Solutions Group, we are at the forefront of embracing cutting-edge technologies that redefine how businesses operate and thrive in a rapidly evolving digital world. One such groundbreaking advancement that has captured our attention is the emergence of Gemma, a revolutionary family of open-source AI models developed by Google. In this blog, we delve into how Gemma is reshaping the way we approach AI applications, enhancing efficiency, customization, and accessibility for businesses across industries.

open-source AI - Gemma.

open-source AI – Gemma.

A new family of open-source AI models introduced by Google. Gemma is a set of lightweight, state-of-the-art open models developed from the same research and technology as Google’s Gemini models. These models are designed to assist developers and researchers in building AI applications. Gemma models are available in two sizes: Gemma 2B and Gemma 7B, with pre-trained and instruction-tuned variants. They can run on laptops, workstations, or Google Cloud, with easy deployment options. Gemma models are optimized for various AI hardware platforms, including NVIDIA GPUs and Google Cloud TPUs.

 

What are the differences between Gemma and Gemini models

Gemma and Gemini models are related but distinct in several aspects: Overall, Gemma models represent Google’s effort to provide advanced AI models that are more accessible and adaptable to a broader audience of developers and researchers.

  1. Purpose: Gemma models are designed specifically for developers and researchers, whereas Gemini models are primarily intended for consumers through web apps, Android apps, or the Google app on iOS devices
  2. Size: Gemma models are lighter and more portable than Gemini models, making them suitable for a wider array of devices, including laptops, desktops, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, mobiles, and cloud computing
  3. Performance: Despite their smaller size, Gemma models still deliver strong performance comparable to other similarly sized open models, even outperforming larger models like Meta’s Llama-2 on key benchmarks
  4. Customizability: Gemma models were created with customization in mind, allowing developers to tailor the models to specific needs or tasks
  5. Accessibility: Gemma models are open-source, meaning they are freely available under license agreements that allow access, redistribution, and model variant creation and publication, although there may be limitations to prevent misuse.
  6. Safeguards: Gemma models include measures to ensure safe and responsible usage, such as automated techniques to remove personal information and sensitive data from training sets, reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF) to promote responsible behavior, and robust model evaluation.

What are the benefits of using Gemma models over Gemini models

The benefits of using Gemma models over Gemini models include: In summary, using Gemma models offers advantages in terms of portability, speed, customizability, responsiveness, accessibility, and cost-effectiveness compared to the larger and more specialized Gemini models.

Open-Source AI Models

Open-Source AI Models

  1. Portability and Accessibility:
    • Gemma models are smaller and more portable, running on various consumer hardware like laptops, cloud environments, or standard workstations without the need for specialized data center hardware required by Gemini models
    • Gemma is open-source and readily available to developers, researchers, and businesses for experimentation and integration into their applications, unlike Gemini, which is primarily accessible through APIs or Google’s services
  2. Speed and Efficiency:
    • Gemma models offer faster inference speeds due to their smaller parameter sizes, making them suitable for real-time applications even on devices like laptops’ CPUs
    • The efficient distillation in Gemma leads to significant cost savings when deployed compared to the computational requirements and latency issues of larger models like Gemini
  3. Customizability and Responsiveness:
    • Gemma models are designed with customization in mind, allowing developers to adapt them to specific data types or tasks more easily than Gemini models
    • Google has incorporated responsible AI toolkits with Gemma models to promote safer and more reliable performance, including techniques like data filtering and reinforcement learning from human feedback
  4. Performance:
    • Despite their smaller size, Gemma models have shown impressive performance in benchmark tests, outperforming larger models like Meta’s Llama-2 on key benchmarks for reasoning, math, and code tasks
    • Gemma 7B has been reported to surpass other models of equivalent size in benchmark tests, showcasing the efficiencies Google has embedded into these smaller configurations

 

Credit: @ Google

sure-seo-myths-you-need-to-know

Separating Fact from Fiction: Debunking the Myths About On-page and Off-page SEO

Separating Fact from Fiction: Debunking the Myths About On-page and Off-page SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is an essential part of any good digital marketing strategy. With so much conflicting advice on the web and all the myths about on-page and off-page SEO, it can be hard to know what’s true and what’s not. In this blog post, we’ll explore some of the most common myths about SEO so you can separate fact from fiction and make sure you’re optimizing your website correctly.

Introduction

There’s a lot of misinformation out there about on-page and off-page SEO. In this article, we’ll separate fact from fiction and debunk some of the most common myths about on-page and off-page SEO.

 

 Myth #1: On-page SEO isn’t important

Wrong! On-page SEO is just as important as off-page SEO. The two work hand-in-hand to help you rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Myth #2: Keyword density is the most important on-page ranking factor

It’s true that keyword density is a ranking factor, but it’s not the most important one. The three most important on-page ranking factors are content, links, and user experience. So, while keyword density is important, don’t obsess over it. Just focus on creating high-quality content that your readers will love.

Myth #3: You need to stuff your keywords into your tags and titles

Nope! That’s called keyword stuffing and it’s a sure-fire way to get penalized by Google. Instead, use your keywords sparingly and only when they make sense. For example, if you’re writing an article about tennis shoes, make sure to mention them in your title and throughout the body of your article. But don’t go overboard – a couple of mentions should be enough.

 

What is On-Page SEO?

On-page SEO is the process of optimizing a website for Google search with the goal of earning higher web traffic levels and improving the visibility of the site. The main focus of on-page SEO is to create content that is both relevant and keyword rich so that when people search for those keywords, your site comes up as a top result.

 

There are many different factors that go into on-page SEO, but some of the most important include:

  • Title tags: These are the headlines for each page on your site, and they should be reflective of the page’s content. In addition, title tags should also include your target keywords.
  • Meta descriptions: These provide a brief summary of what each page on your site is about. They show up in Google search results underneath the title tag, so it’s important to make them clear, concise, and keyword rich.
  • Header tags (H1, H2, H3): Header tags help break up your content into smaller, more manageable sections. They also allow you to further optimize each page for specific keywords by including them in the header tags.
  • Image optimization: Whenever you upload an image to your website, be sure to include keywords in the file name and fill out the alternate text field with a brief description of the image. This will help Google index your images and improve your site’s overall ranking.

Common Myths About On-Page SEO

There are a lot of myths out there about what on-page SEO is and how it works. Here are some of the most common ones:

 

1. On-page SEO is all about keyword stuffing.

This is one of the most prevalent myths about on-page SEO. Keyword stuffing used to be an effective way to improve your search engine rankings, but it no longer works. In fact, it can actually hurt your ranking. Search engines have become much better at detecting keyword stuffing, and they will penalize you for it.

 

2. You need to use all of the keywords on your page to be successful with on-page SEO.

This is also not true. In fact, using too many keywords on your page can actually harm your ranking. Search engines will penalize you for keyword stuffing, as mentioned above. Only use keywords that are relevant to the content on your page.

 

3. On-page SEO is not important because it’s all about off-page SEO anyways.

Both on-page and off-page SEO are important for achieving good search engine rankings. You need to optimize your website for both search engines and users if you want to be successful with SEO.

What is Off-Page SEO?

Off-page SEO is the process of optimizing a website for search engines with the goal of earning higher web traffic levels and improving the visibility of the site. It encompasses activities such as link building, social media engagement, and other factors that can impact your site’s ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs).

While on-page SEO focuses on optimizing your website’s content and code for search engines, off-page SEO looks at factors that are external to your website but can still impact your ranking. Because off-page SEO is more about building relationships and generating popularity for your site, it can be seen as a more long-term strategy than on-page SEO, which is more focused on immediate results.

There are many different techniques that can be used as part of an off-page SEO strategy, but some of the most common include link building, social media engagement, and brand mentions. Link building involves getting other websites to link to yours, while social media engagement refers to actively promoting your content on popular social networks like Twitter and Facebook. Brand mentions occur when someone talks about your website or business without actually linking to you; these can come in the form of blog posts, forum comments, or even news articles.

While off-page SEO is a complex topic with many different facets, the basic goal remains the same: to improve your site’s visibility and organic traffic levels by building relationships and generating popularity for your brand online.

Common Myths About Off-Page SEO

There are many misconceptions about off-page SEO. Here are some common myths:

  1. Off-page SEO is not important.
  2. Off-page SEO is all about link building.
  3. Link building is the only way to improve your off-page SEO.
  4. Social media has no impact on off-page SEO.
  5. You need to spend a lot of money on off-page SEO tools and services.

 

All of these myths are wrong! Off-page SEO is just as important as on-page SEO, and it can be improved through various means, such as link building, social media, and others.

Combining On and Off-Page SEO for Maximum Results

It is a common misconception that on-page and off-page SEO are mutually exclusive – this simply is not the case. In reality, the two types of SEO are quite complimentary, and combining them can lead to maximum results. Here we will dispel some of the myths about on-page and off-page SEO so that you can see how both can be used together for optimal results.

 

Myth #1: On-page SEO is all about optimizing your website’s code and content, while off-page SEO has nothing to do with your website

This could not be further from the truth! While it is true that on-page SEO focuses on optimizing your website’s code and content, off-page SEO also has a lot to do with your website. In fact, one of the most important factors in off-page SEO is link building, which directly affects your website’s ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs).

 

Myth #2: Off-page SEO is more important than on-page SEO

Again, this is simply not true. Both on-page and off-page SEO are important for achieving high rankings in SERPs. That being said, your website’s overall relevance and authority are determined by a variety of factors – not just the number of links pointing to it. So, while link building is an important part of off-page SEO, it’s not the only factor that matters.

Conclusion

On-page and off-page SEO are two distinct yet equally important strategies for optimizing your website. Knowing which myths to ignore and which tactics to focus on can make all the difference when it comes to achieving success with search engine optimization. With this article, we have attempted to separate fact from fiction in order to help you get a better understanding of both concepts so that you can develop an effective strategy for your own website.

Eenterprise-Solutions-and-Technology

Enterprise Solutions and Technology – Xpertech Solutions

Enterprise Solutions and Technology | Xpertech Solutions

In today’s fast-paced business world, companies need reliable and efficient technology solutions to stay ahead of the competition. Xpertech Solutions is a leading provider of enterprise solutions and technology services that can help your business achieve its goals. Our team of experts has years of experience in delivering innovative solutions that can streamline your operations, improve productivity, and enhance your bottom line. In this blog post, we’ll explore some of the key enterprise solutions and technology services that Xpertech Solutions offers.

The Basics: What Is an Enterprise Solution?

An enterprise solution is a software application that helps businesses manage their core operations. These solutions are usually tailored to the specific needs of a business and can be used to automate tasks, improve communication, and increase efficiencies.

There are many different types of enterprise solutions available, but some common examples include customer relationship management (CRM) systems, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, and supply chain management (SCM) systems. Each type of system offers different benefits, but all can help businesses save time and money by streamlining their operations.

If you’re considering implementing an enterprise solution in your business, it’s important to first assess your needs and choose a system that will best fit your company’s goals. Working with a reputable provider is also key to ensuring a successful implementation.

Why Should You Care About Enterprise Solutions?

If you’re like most people, the phrase “enterprise solutions” probably doesn’t mean much to you. But if you’re a business owner or manager, it’s important to understand what enterprise solutions are and why they can be so beneficial for your company.

An enterprise solution is a software application that is designed to meet the specific needs of a large organization. Enterprise solutions are usually much more robust and comprehensive than the types of software applications that are designed for small businesses or individual consumers.

There are many different types of enterprise solutions, but some common examples include customer relationship management (CRM) software, enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, and supply chain management (SCM) software.

The benefits of using enterprise solutions are numerous. Perhaps the most important benefit is that these types of software applications can help you manage and automate complex business processes. This can free up your time so that you can focus on other aspects of running your business. Additionally, enterprise solutions can improve your company’s efficiency and productivity, and they can help you make better decisions by providing you with actionable insights into your data.

If you’re considering implementing an enterprise solution at your company, it’s important to partner with a reputable and experienced provider. At Accelone, we have extensive experience helping businesses select and implement the right enterprise solution for their needs. We’ll work with you to understand your unique business requirements and then recommend the best possible solution for your company.

What types of solutions exist?

There are a few different types of enterprise solutions that exist. The most popular type is the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. This type of system helps businesses manage their resources and processes more effectively. Other popular types of enterprise solutions include customer relationship management (CRM) systems and supply chain management (SCM) systems.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems help businesses manage their resources and processes more effectively. ERP systems typically integrate with a company’s existing accounting and finance software to streamline data entry and improve efficiency.

Customer relationship management (CRM) systems help businesses manage their customer relationships more effectively. CRM systems typically include features such as contact management, opportunity tracking, and sales force automation.

Supply chain management (SCM) systems help businesses manage their supply chains more effectively. SCM systems typically include features such as inventory management, order tracking, and supplier management.

How do enterprise solutions work?

There are a lot of enterprise solutions out there, and they all work in different ways. But there are some commonalities among them that make them all effective.

First, enterprise solutions need to be able to integrate with other software systems. This allows businesses to get the most out of their investment by using the solution as part of a larger system.

Second, enterprise solutions need to be scalable. This means that they can grow with a business as it expands. They should also be able to handle more users and more data as a business grows.

Third, enterprise solutions need to be secure. This is especially important for businesses that handle sensitive data. Enterprise solutions should have robust security features that protect data from unauthorized access and keep it safe from cyber threats.

Fourth, enterprise solutions must be easy to use. They should have intuitive interfaces that make it easy for employees to use them. They should also come with comprehensive training materials so that employees can learn how to use them effectively.

Fifth, enterprise solutions must offer excellent customer support. This is essential for businesses that rely on their solution to run smoothly. If a problem arises, businesses need to know that they can contact customer support and get help quickly.

IT Consulting
Our IT consulting services can help you develop and implement a technology strategy that aligns with your business goals. We offer a range of IT consulting services, including:

  • Technology Assessment: We can assess your current technology infrastructure and provide recommendations for improvement.
  • IT Strategy Development: Our team can help you develop a technology strategy that aligns with your business goals.
  • Implementation and Support: We can help you implement and support your technology solutions to ensure that they are working effectively.

Xpertech Solutions is a leading provider of enterprise solutions and technology services. Our team of experts has years of experience in delivering innovative solutions that can help your business grow and thrive. Whether you’re looking for cloud services, cybersecurity solutions, data analytics, or IT consulting, we have the expertise to help you achieve your goals. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your business succeed.

Our enterprise solutions and technology services can help your business grow and thrive. Learn more about our services here.

For more information on the latest technology trends and news, check out TechCrunch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

outsource-ict-service

Facts & Benefits of Outsourcing ICT Services to Offshore Companies

The Importance of Outsourcing Technology Projects to a Professional Company & How it Can Benefit Your Business

Outsourcing technology is the process of getting a third party to complete your IT tasks.

Outsourcing technology is a cost-effective way to get help on your IT tasks, and it can be difficult to find staff with the necessary skills.

The benefits of outsourcing are that you can get help from professionals who have the knowledge and expertise that you need, without having to hire new staff members or invest in training. You’ll also save money by not having to pay for office space for these outsourced professionals and by not having to pay for their travel expenses.

There are a number of reasons why outsourcing IT projects is beneficial to companies:

IT outsourcing services help companies to focus on their core competencies.

A company that outsources its IT projects can focus on what it does best, while the outsourced company manages the day-to-day operations of the IT department.

Outsourcing an IT project also helps a company to save money. This is because an outsourced company will charge less than a full-time employee would, and there are no benefits or other expenses involved with hiring an outside contractor. This means that a company can spend more time and money on its core competency without having to worry about spending too much on technology infrastructure.

So what are the benefits of IT Outsourcing?

 Outsourcing your IT functions is cost-effective

One of the first selling points with regard to  IT  offshore development is that it has proved to be highly cost-effective, especially when looking at companies that offer outsourced information technology services.  The Philippines in particular is renowned for being an outsourcing company hub due to their low minimum wage, but also their advanced English proficiency, work ethic, and Americanised culture, which helps establish easy business relationships. You also only have to pay your offshore staff/individuals for the time they spend on any project, instead of an in-house employee where you require to provide a fixed salary regardless if there’s any major work to be done.

You get access to the latest technology

If you were to have an in-house IT department, you would have to invest in infrastructure and equipment that can take out a generous chunk of the capital expenditure. Furthermore, keeping up to date with the latest gadgets and gizmos is almost impossible these days if you don’t want to break the bank – upgrades after updates happen almost yearly and for the budget of a small to mid-sized company, it’s a highly unlikely reality to even think about. However outsourcing it services to a third-party company you partner with is responsible for these expenses and holds the duty of being up to date for the benefit of their clients. And you can sit back and reap the rewards.

Save time and reduce distractions

As a managing director or executive, you already have a lot on your plate and the last thing you want to do is waste time attempting to cover IT jobs yourself or find an in-house expert to help you out. Outsourcing companies are designed to help you out from the very beginning – all you have to do is tell them exactly what needs to be done and they will scout however many people you need who hold the right qualifications and expertise to join you on the ASAP. By allowing them to handle this time-consuming task, you can focus on your actual job instead and make a difference in areas you’re specialized in.

Minimum liability

This is probably the most underrated on the list of benefits of IT outsourcing. Partnering with a business process outsourcing company means you have no direct liability over the employees at the company you’re hiring from. If you aren’t satisfied with those who are working on your project, you can easily request a replacement who is a better match without any consequences. This is much different from hiring directly within your company, where letting go of someone quickly isn’t so easy if you don’t have a pressing or serious reason.

***

Outsourced Quality Xpertech Solutions ltd. is a leading outsourcing company that offers highly qualified remote staff and solutions that specializes in IT servicesAs one of the leading outsourcing companies in IT xpertech solutions ltd, we assure our clients of exceptional and high-quality offshore work and services. For more information on how to get started with us, contact us today!  

This is how to calculate Personal finance Math; your score might shock you

You might be surprised by your score when you calculate Personal Finance Math

You might be surprised by your score when you calculate Personal Finance Math

 

This is how to calculate Personal finance Math; your score might shock you

This is how to calculate Personal finance Math; your score might shock you

This week we are going to do some maths.

Personal Finance is all about planning for and deploying your cash flow to meet financial goals whilst managing risk. Personal Finance covers your income, expenses, assets, and liabilities. It seeks to answer money questions like, how much liquidity is appropriate for you? How much should you save there?

This week we will highlight some personal finance metrics and how to calculate them. These are calculations that you can do on an excel sheet or a calculator, all that is needed is the raw data. (No algebra)

Savings:

Savings is the start of any financial journey and the hardest of the process. When you earn and do not spend, you have saved. There can be no investment without savings; thus, the goal of salvation is to ensure that as income increases, our savings rate also increases. The target is to save a percentage of income and not a nominal value, so the target is to save, for example, 5% of income rather than a nominal figure. The measurable goal is the Savings Rate, simply a percentage of savings to total income.  if you make N1000 and spend N900, then you have a Savings rate of 10, which is calculated as

(Savings/Total Income) *100; (100/1000)*100= 10%

Unsure of what saving rate to adopt? In practice rule of thumb is to save 10% of your income, but do not do this if your budget will be stretched. Instead, start small and adjust your budget to reduce expenses or earn more and meet your target savings. A higher savings rate is preferred because it equips you, the investor, with a tool (cash) to invest.

A good activity is to keep a detailed spending journal, possibly using an app like Modify; this allows you to track back and see where you can adjust savings to raise your savings rate.

Cash flow:

Cash flow is essentially how much you are earning, subtracted from how much you are spending. In essence, are you living within the means of your income? If you have a high savings rate, your cash flow will be increased; if your saving rate is low or negative, your cash flow is negative. The calculation of cash flow is super easy, All cash inflow less all cash outflow. (Note the emphasis on cash)

Keep in mind debt is income to you; thus, when calculating cash flow, ensure you subtract out the cost of any debt incurred to attain that cash. The target is to have a positive cash flow.

Emergency Fund:

As the name implies, an emergency fund is set up to cover unforeseen events that require finances to resolve a medical emergency. Having emergency funds helps avoid liquidating an investment portfolio to meet this unplanned need.

An emergency fund is recommended for 3-6months of your non-discretionary expenses, meaning expenses you must make like food and rent. The emergency fund is usually cash or near cash assets.

We take liquid assets divided by monthly non-discretionary expenses to calculate an emergency fund. Let’s assume we calculate non-discretionary expenses to be 100,000 every month, and we have accumulated 300,000 in liquid assets. Our emergency fund ratio will be 300,000/100,000 or 3. This means the finances can support three months of emergency spending without another inflow. The key to this equation is a proper and accurate determination of “non-Discretionary” expenses.  An emergency fund ratio is three is preferred.

Net worth:

It is a straightforward calculation; Net worth is your total assets, less your total liabilities.

The real work is scheduling all your assets and segmenting them into income-earning and non-incoming assets. Thus, an apartment you own and rent out will be an income-generating asset, while a gold watch will be a non-income generating asset. Similarly, a car you own bought with a bank loan will be an interest-bearing liability for liabilities. In contrast, a zero-interest loan from your employer will be a non-interest-bearing liability.

Then arrange those categories from most liquid to less liquid. Thus, cash in the bank will come before a corporate bond. Similarly, credit card debt will arrive before the principal repayment of a bond you issued for liabilities; Then net off. On my network sheet, I always compare what I earn from my income-bearing assets to what I am paying on the liability side, just as an anchor.

Debt to Asset Ratio:

Keeping a tab on debt is extremely important. Debt allows the acquisition of assets without the payment of cash. For some assets like a home, the cash cost is very high that it makes sense to leverage up to acquire it. Debt is only advisable to buy assets that generate income or reduce an existing expense. A measure to use for debt is the Debt to Asset Ratio, which is Total Liabilities/Total Assets expressed as a percentage.

If your total liabilities are calculated at 25m whilst your total assets are valued at 30m, the debt ratio will be 25/30 or 83%, meaning 83% of your assets are financed by debt. The objective for debt is to trend down level of debt gradually. So, as you begin to approach retirement years, your interest-bearing debt must be significantly reduced or eliminated.

Debt Coverage Ratio: The debt coverage ratio measures how much your cash income meets debt obligations. For instance, if your earn 100,000 a month and you have two loans; an auto loan of 2500 a month and a mortgage of 2000 a month, then your debt coverage ratio will be

100,000/ 2500+2000

100,000/4500 or 22 times cover.

This means the total income earned can cover the interest-paying obligations twenty-two times. This is good.  A low or negative coverage ratio will indicate that your current cash income cannot cover or repay your existing debt.

Another calculation of debt related to income is the long-term debt to Gross Income. This calculation seeks to determine how much of your gross income can be earmarked toward the repayment of longer-termed debt like a mortgage. Most mortgage companies will score your mortgage application based on a variation of this formula. The frame of this measurement is to assume that only a certain percentage of your gross income can be deployed towards long-term loans.

Let’s assume a mortgage company has a 30% debt to a gross income hurdle rate; it essentially means you can only deploy 30% of your gross income to repay the mortgage. In other words, if 30% of your payment cannot refund for your monthly mortgage obligation, you will not qualify for the loan.

Finally, The 72 rule this s a simple hack to know. If you take the rate of return of any investment and divide it by 72, the answer tells you how long before that investment can double your money.

E.g. If I invest in an apartment building with ten rooms and it costs me N10m to build, I expect to earn an 8% return from the rental property. How long before I double my N10m

Using the 72 rule, I divide 72/8 or 9 years.

Remember, the use case of these calculations is to enable you to measure your progress towards a goal. If applied early and adequately, these rations can help you adjust your spending or investment behavior. If you want to buy a home, you know that you have to reduce your other long-term loans to create sufficient space to keep your mortgage payments under the lenders’ recommended hurdle rate.

CREDIT:|| Nairametrics

Hiring for certain roles is slow as GitHub prioritizes 'strategic hires'

Hiring for certain roles is slow as GitHub prioritizes ‘strategic hires’

Hiring for certain roles is slow as GitHub prioritizes ‘strategic hires’

Hiring for certain roles is slow as GitHub prioritizes 'strategic hires'

Hiring for certain roles is slow as GitHub prioritizes ‘strategic hires’

GitHub appears to have pulled back on hiring across certain parts of the organization, becoming the latest tech giant to refactor its recruitment strategy in anticipation of an economic downturn. According to reports on Twitter and several candidates TechCrunch spoke with, GitHub has in recent days closed roles that were previously open, canceling interviews and putting applications on hold.

All the candidates received the same email, which cites “an effort to prioritize [GitHub’s] hiring and be strategic about the roles [it continues] to hire for.” There’s no obvious pattern to the outreach. Developers applying for manager- and director-level roles at the Microsoft-owned company in a range of departments and locations, including San Francisco and London, have been impacted.

In a statement provided to TechCrunch, GitHub said that hiring “continues to be a priority” but that it’s prioritizing “strategic hires” that will “increase long-term business impact.”

“We are monitoring the broader economic climate,” a GitHub spokesperson said via email. “We are actively hiring for the positions listed on our careers page and will continue to update that page as our hiring needs evolve.”

The reduction in roles could be related to a broader, expanded hiring slowdown at Microsoft announced this week, first reported by Bloomberg. Microsoft said in an internal email that it would eliminate many open jobs, including in its Azure cloud business and security software unit, while making some exceptions for “critical” positions.

Earlier in the month, Microsoft cut around 1% of its 180,000-person workforce as part of what it called a strategic “realignment.”

Layoffs within the tech sector have accelerated over the past few months as fears of inflation, the war in Ukraine and the lingering pandemic mount. Startups have had to bear the brunt of the impact. But as the unfavorable conditions persist, there’s been a knock-on effect up the corporate totem pole.

The five biggest technology giants in the U.S. — Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Microsoft — have collectively lost more than $2 trillion of stock market value this year. As CNBC noted Tuesday, the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index closed trading early this week down more than 26% year-to-date, while the Dow Jones U.S. tech sector shed more than 26%.

Oracle is said to be considering a $1 billion cost-cutting initiative that would include thousands of layoffs. Just yesterday, Google said that it would pause all hiring for two weeks after announcing it would slow down its hiring process for the remainder of the year. Meta has reportedly halted hiring across teams and directed managers to “move to exit” any poor performers. And Apple is planning to tap the breaks on hiring and spending at some divisions next year, according to Bloomberg.

Elsewhere, Twitter let go a third of its recruiting team. Tesla has been laying off hundreds of employees over the past month. And Nvidia, Lyft, Snap, Uber, Spotify, Intel and Salesforce have slowed hiring this spring into summer.

Source:| Techcrunch / Github

Sitemap Generators For Faster, More Productive Crawling

Sitemap Generators For Faster, More Productive Crawling

Sitemap Generators For Faster, More Productive Crawling

Ensure more pages are indexed and crawled. Get it done with these top 10 best sitemap generators (with recommendations for every budget).

 

Sitemaps are a powerful tool for SEO pros and webmasters. They help Google and other search engines navigate through a website and find new pages and content.

It’s not guaranteed that search engines will index the content but telling them what pages are important can make a significant difference.

Sitemaps can help you:

  • Get an overview of your website’s structure.
  • See which pages are being crawled by Google and other search engines.
  • Know how frequently the pages are being crawled.
  • Identify pages that are not being indexed.
  • Determine which pages have errors that need to be fixed.

With help from sitemap generators, the search engine crawls of your website will be faster and more efficient.

If you have a small site i.e., less than a few hundred pages, managing your sitemap on your own is doable.

But if you have a medium or large site and regularly add a significant amount of new content, you may want to consider either adding a dynamic sitemap to your site or looking into a sitemap generator.

A dynamic sitemap automatically adds new pages to the sitemap file.

It is usually faster and requires fewer resources than writing to a static file.

Choosing A Sitemap Generator

If you decide on a sitemap generator, many tools are available online – but which one is the best for you?

Here are 10 of the best sitemap generator tools I’ve found for SEO pros:

1. Google Sitemap Generator

This plugin for WordPress creates a sitemap for your website that will be compatible with all Google requirements.

It’s easy to use and works for all sizes of websites.

The plugin also comes with various translations which can be a great add-on.

2. Screaming Frog

One of the most popular crawlers in the SEO community, Screaming Frog can be used to create sitemaps for any size website.

It also offers an XML sitemap generator.

This tool is a bit more advanced and is specifically designed for larger websites.

The XML sitemap generator follows this progression: Crawl The Website > Click Sitemaps > XML Sitemap > Select Pages To Include.

One of my favorite Screaming Frog features is it allows you to create a sitemap from a list crawl.

For example, if you want to check the status codes of a list of URLs and perform a list crawl, you can create an XML sitemap from that list crawl quickly and easily.

3. XML-Sitemaps.com

This sitemap generator tool allows you to create sitemaps for your website quickly and easily.

It also offers a range of features such as support for multiple languages and the ability to include/exclude certain pages.

With the online generator, you can create a small sitemap for up to 500 URLs.

Check for over 130+ common website issues and get special reports about your site’s crawlability, internal linking, speed & performance, and more.

If you need to create a bigger sitemap (up to 1.5M pages), there’s a pro model.

4. Yoast SEO Sitemap Plugin

A popular WordPress plugin that helps you optimize your website for search engines, Yoast SEO also includes a sitemap generator tool that can help you easily create sitemaps for your website.

One of the most appealing features about the Yoast sitemap generator is its set of sensible defaults for what goes into the sitemap – and for excluding many pages that should not be there.

Yoast SEO chooses to break larger sitemaps into smaller sitemaps. Their sitemaps hold up to 1,000 connected URLs.

5. Inspyder

This website software company offers an XML sitemap generator that is super easy to use and can handle complex sites.

It runs on your PC. You can schedule a sitemap generation and receive an email notification when the sitemap is complete, and also get a sitemap in multiple formats – images, video, etc.

6. Slickplan

A website planning company, Slick plan offers a sitemap generator that is easy to use and offers a WordPress plugin.

A valuable feature of Slick plan’s tool is that it allows you to build a sitemap from scratch using drag and drop or start with an existing website by importing its URL, sitemap index file, or Google XML file.

Slick plan’s visual sitemap generator builds easy-to-navigate hierarchical sitemaps to help you present and test a variety of architecture scenarios for web pages.

You can also offer batch editing for large sitemaps that require numerous edits.

Another cool feature of Slick plan is that it gives users the ability to easily import a website into the application from a previously exported XML file.

Additionally, you can export your existing XML website sitemap directly from WordPress and import it into Slick plan.

7. Dyno mapper

This generator gives you a good solution for realizing and displaying the true architecture of a website with interactive visual sitemaps.

Dynomapper’s sitemap is capable of crawling 200K pages per crawl. The sitemap editor enables users to rework the hierarchy, categorize pages, and assign a workflow status to each page.

8. Sitemap Writer Pro

This is a terrific tool for creating sitemaps fast, and for managing large sites that have millions of URLs.

Sitemap Writer Pro offers eight types of sitemaps to properly index your website: Standard Sitemap, Google Image, Google News, Google Video, Google Images, Google Code Search, Google Geo, and Google Mobile.

9. Write Maps

This is another visual sitemap builder that you can use to create a sitemap without investing time in formatting.

One of the great features of Write Maps is that you can export your visual content into a PDF or share it with a unique URL.

You can also upgrade, downgrade or cancel at any time.

  • Price: The monthly plans are free for three sitemaps up to 50 URLs and go up to $29.99 a month for unlimited sitemaps.

10. Octopus.do.

Eating super-fast visual sitemaps is what Octopus.do does best.

You can generate sitemap XML from visual sitemaps and submit it to Google, Bing, and other search engines to improve your visibility and SEO.

Octopus.do offers an interactive flow, taking full advantage of drag and drop.

You can also export your sitemap to various formats including PDF, PNG, TXT, and XML.

  • Price: Free for one project, then all the way up to $120 per month for unlimited sitemaps and projects.

Takeaways

These are the top 10 sitemap generators based on my experience.

There are many others out there, so be sure to do your research to find the one that is right for you.

Make sure it generates a sitemap that is formatted correctly and that you can easily upload and validate.

I’ll leave you with the following time-saving tips.

Sitemap Tips

Always create multiple sitemaps for different sections of your site. This will help you see which sections of your site have issues getting indexed.

The limit of a single sitemap is 50MB (uncompressed) and 50,000 URLs. If you have a larger file or more URLs, you will need to break your list into multiple sitemaps.

Alternatively, you can create a sitemap index file (a file that points to a list of sitemaps) and submit that single index file to Google.

Google does not consider priority in the sitemaps, so placing one URL as a higher priority will not have any impact on indexing.

Once your sitemap is created, place it on the root, add it to your robots.txt file and submit it to Google via Google Search Console.

After you’ve submitted it, watch for any errors, and check to see that the file has been submitted and read successfully.

 

Credit| (searchenginejournal.com)

 

Top Networking Trends & Developments 2022

Top Networking Trends & Developments 2022

The networking market is regularly adjusting its hardware and software components to meet the growing data demands of users, both in corporate and residential settings.

Networking use cases and network solutions are expanding as the cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), and edge computing markets continue to grow.

Top Networking Trends & Developments 2022

Top Networking Trends & Developments 2022

Learn about some top networking trends that are spearheading or supporting these technological changes in the market:

[5 Top Networking Trends]

1. Enterprise Network Strategy In The User’s Home

The COVID-19 pandemic and changing workforce expectations have led many companies to a more globally distributed remote workforce.

As a result, enterprise networking infrastructure now has to support users in their individual homes.

Drit Suljoti, co-founder and CTO of Catch point, a digital experience monitoring platform provider, explained that consumer-grade networking technology does not always offer the levels of support and visibility necessary for remote work, which is increasingly becoming a problem.

“Organizations across the board have experienced the frustrations and performance volatility that can result from consumer-grade Wi-Fi, VPN clients, and increased dependence on the internet from the employee’s wider household,” Suljoti said. “At the ground level, how can IT support desks ensure they have the necessary visibility into the daily digital life of their remote employees?

“These mission-critical teams need the ability to understand the digital performance of an individual’s device, network, and applications, and the third-party providers they rely on. This is even more essential when employees are working remotely, without on-site support to troubleshoot performance issues.”

Bob Friday, VP and CTO of Mist, Juniper’s artificial intelligence (AI)-driven enterprise business, believes that many companies are starting to respond to this remote work shift by increasing networking security and monitoring in their employees’ remote work environments.

“[A] major shift is in how enterprise-level networking trends are becoming increasingly important for personal users as well,” Friday said. “Whether you’re an executive at a company or you work in a profession that puts you into contact with sensitive information, the continued normalization of remote and hybrid work environments means that enterprise-grade networking and security will move into the home networking space.

“To ensure end-to-end network visibility, reliability, and security, we can expect enterprise-grade networking solutions to begin permeating the remote and hybrid workforce, as enterprise IT teams take an even sharper look at their network edge.”

2. Networking With Remote AI Support

Users and enterprise devices often need technical support that was normally provided in the office.

As remote work continues to become a standard approach, many companies are adopting AI solutions to assist with customer experience (CX) and support requirements of the network.

“More help is needed in managing this critical infrastructure, which is why AI has become a necessity for network management,” said Friday with Mist. “Enterprises and technology providers have already adopted AI assistants in their networking support teams. Cloud AI has enabled a new tech support model, one that has created the volume and quality of data necessary to train AI technologies.

“This AIOps model has led to incredible progress. At present, AI can answer up to 70% of support tickets with the same effectiveness as a domain expert. Eventually, this AIOps technology will move all the way to the end-user.

“And like the average human employee, AI has the ability to learn and improve over time, thus providing a better customer experience consistently and proactively. But unlike the average human employee, that skill and expertise is not lost when they retire or quit. The more that AI is used as part of the IT help desk, the more the technology can improve its answers and, ultimately, the end-user experience.”

3. The Growth Of Intent-Based Networking (IBN)

Networking technology continues to grow more sophisticated. Particularly with the more widespread use of software-defined networking (SDN), intent-based networking is being used more in enterprise networks that want additional business intelligence (BI), configuration management, and other features embedded in their networks.

Eric McGee, senior network engineer at TRGDatacenters, a data center vendor, explained why IBN is helpful to network administrators who want to better understand and manage their networks.

“One important networking technology trend that network engineers need to take note of is the emergence of intent-based networking,” McGee said. “The main role of IBN is to capture business intent and apply these insights across the network, ensuring that network administration is aligned with business intent. In other words, the IBN framework will receive an intent from the business and translate it, or encode it into the configuration of the network, resulting in the desired changes. Now, the network infrastructure is aligned to the business’s current needs.

“IBN also enables the automation of network administrative tasks involved, such as the configuration of networks, mitigation of risks, as well as the reporting and solving of network issues. Implementing IBN as a form of network administration makes the process of creating, managing, implementing, and monitoring network policies easier, simpler, and less labor-intensive. A lot of the manual effort put into traditional configuration management is made redundant when IBN is implemented.”

4. Holistic Networking Offerings

Traditional networking solutions typically require a variety of hardware and software components to work properly. However, as networks continue to evolve their software-defined, cloud, and edge, and solutions, many networking vendors are offering more holistic networking packages to manage every aspect of the network.

Patrick MeLampy, Juniper Fellow at Juniper Networks, a top global networking company, believes that enterprise client-to-cloud connectivity is one of the biggest drivers behind more unified networking packages.

“I’d have to say that there are a few key networking trends that are gaining steam and should be big next year,” MeLampy said. “Enterprise client-to-cloud connectivity service offerings will take off. This means we’ll see Wi-Fi, wired, routing, and security capabilities pulled together, all in one simple offering, making it more efficient and effective for teams to manage ever-expanding networks.”

More on networking offerings: Guide to Network-as-a-Service (NaaS)

5. Managing Network Data With Different Ops Methodologies

With more software- and cloud-based networking solutions used across the board, a number of companies are looking into new ways to manage and read their networking data.

Richard Larkin, manager of North America sales engineering at Net Brain, a next-gen network operations company, believes that the knowledge and approach of different ops teams are particularly applicable to new ways of automating network data management.

“The days of managing networks with SNMP polling and traps as well as syslog data are almost over,” Larkin said. “Many enterprises still leverage these telemetry sources, but it’s not enough. We need a more comprehensive solution harvesting data, from API, CLI, packet, net flow, and other sources, to get the complete picture as well as visibility into SD-WAN, SDN, cloud, and SaaS offerings.

“A trend that I am seeing is the blending and blurring of lines between Net Ops, Sec Ops, and DevOps. With networks becoming more software-defined and cloud-based, organizations are trying to fill the gap with the traditional network monitoring data (SNMP, syslog, etc.) with homegrown solutions using Python, Ansible, and other coding. What would be interesting is if there was an easier way to codify the knowledge of the Net Ops teams that required minimal coding and can be produced in minutes, not hours, days, and weeks.

COPY:| @Datamation

10 Important Areas to Explore During Your Company’s Mid-Year Check-In

10 Important Areas to Explore During Your Company’s Mid-Year Check-In

Mid-year checks are a great time to revaluate the goals your company made at the beginning of the year and ensure employees and metrics are on the right track. When conducting these check-ins, it’s crucial to look at a few pertinent areas that could hinder your company’s success. To that end, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) weigh in on the following question:

“When conducting a mid-year check on company goals, what’s one area you’ll want to take a look at, and why? How will this help you gauge your progress?”

Here are their top recommendations.

1. Processes Hindering Employees

“The goal is to understand if any parts of the process are hindering employees from reaching their targets and setting goals. Regular check-ins should be in place, not just mid-year, to consistently evaluate strategies and how the entire team works together. It’s critical to understand if there are bottlenecks in any areas and to optimize how employees meet targets.” ~ Thomas Smale, FE International

2. Mid-Year Successes

“We all know that we need to analyze our goals, evaluate our communication channels and so on, but one area that is often overlooked is reasons to celebrate. Take time to celebrate any mid-year goals you’ve already reached, and recognize yourself and your company for the hard work. Plus, celebrating helps create a winning mindset that will help carry your company forward.” ~ Shu Saito, Fact Retriever

3. Company Culture

“I often think company culture gets overlooked in the midst of mid-year budget and production checks. How is the energy on your team? How are your employees? Mid-year is a great time to take stock of the promises you made at the beginning of the year internally and ensure that your actions match your commitments. Your team is the core of your success, so spend time to make sure they are engaged.” ~ Ashley Sharp, Dwell with Dignity

4. Customer-Facing Communication

“One important area that I like to check is our customer-facing communication. I do a thorough check of our social media content, email newsletters and customer support tickets. This is critical because it helps me find any holes in our communication and make sure our marketing is moving in the right direction. It also gives me the chance to see how customers respond to our marketing.” ~ Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner

5. Your Team’s Performance

“One area to look at is employee productivity. Ultimately, your team’s performance determines how far you go. You can track employee productivity by monitoring their progress on specific projects or goals. Also, check engagement. How connected and motivated are employees to do their work? Consider using surveys, focus groups and interviews to measure

6. Customer Retention and Satisfaction

“I always look at retention and customer satisfaction as the most important metrics. Retention shows us how well we are serving our customers. This results in higher business value and increased loyalty overall. Satisfaction scores like NPS divulge what they’re really feeling and where we can improve. With looming stiff competition, it’s a good challenge for us to retain and satisfy customers.” ~ Candice Georgiadis, Digital Day

7. Your Current Goals’ Progression

“Check on the goals themselves. It’s likely they’ll need to be updated in one of two ways: either scaled back or made more aggressive. This will depend upon current progress. This is the best way to gauge your progress by reviewing what you set out to accomplish in the first place and then acting accordingly.” ~ Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance

8. Your Team’s Happiness

“The first item I look at before the results is how my team is doing. Are they happy (or at least content), and do they still want to be working with me? None of the other goals mean anything if the team is not happy and working toward the same goal together.” ~ Zane Stevens, Protea Financial

9. Cash Flow

“In addition to looking at the profit and loss statement to make sure the company is staying on budget and on target to hit its financial projections for the year, I recommend looking at cash flow, which is the best indicator of your company’s solvency and whether or not you’ll be able to keep your doors open at the end of the year. You always need to have enough cash on hand to pay your bills.” ~ Jonathan Prichard, MattressInsider.com

10. Individual Employee Goals

“Individual employee goals are one thing we check mid-year. We ask employees to log measurable goals with their manager on our HR website and develop plans on how to accomplish them. Then, every quarter during a review, the manager asks the employee how well they performed. If an employee shows they can plan for the long term, that forward thinking can only boost your business.” ~ Duran Inci, Optimum7

 

Credit | @GoogleNews, @SmallBussinessTrends

IMPROVING ACCESS WITH DATA CENTER VIRTUALIZATION

IMPROVING ACCESS WITH DATA CENTER VIRTUALIZATION

IMPROVING-ACCESS-WITH-DATA-CENTER-VIRTUALIZATION

Today’s business climate is changing at a remarkable pace. This has created opportunities that did not exist decades ago. If you want to get ahead, however, you need to know what you are doing. In today’s world, data center virtualization is remarkably popular. This is a noteworthy strategy because it creates a IMPROVING-ACCESS-WITH-DATA-CENTER-VIRTUALIZATIONdisconnect between hardware and software. If you’re looking to improve productivity, this can be a great option. You may or may not understand this now, but the truth is that this is a huge improvement over existing information technology.

Appropriate software plays a big role in any data center virtualization strategy. Strong software gives you a great way to communicate efficiently and effectively. In the twenty first century, there are dozens of businesses that specialize in data center virtualization. Because there are so many options out there, it can be tough to make a good decision. If you review things carefully, though, you will inevitably find something that works for you.

 

First, you need to think about what you need. Make a comprehensive list of all the software and hardware that you are using now. What are your security needs? Are you using a great deal of storage space? Which operating systems do you run on? Once you know what you are looking for, it will be easy to find a virtualized data center that will meet your needs. Integration is crucial. This will make the conversion process quicker.

Data center virtualization relies on your network. You need a strategy that is compatible with your pre existing network. There is only one thing that you really need to think about. Are you looking for a process that is local or hosted? In a local approach, an abstraction is applied to the single computer that is on the system. If you want information stored on a separate serve, you should go with the hosted option. This plan involves creating a permanent connection between the computer and the server. Both of these approaches have their advantages and disadvantages. The bottom line is that you need a data center virtualization strategy that will suit your company’s needs.

Remember that it is not the strong that survive. The truth is that survival is a matter of adaptability. Today, things are changing more quickly than ever. Follow the link to learn more about unified communications. The only way to succeed in business is to change with the times. This means that data center virtualization is crucial. It will dramatically improve your company’s ability to be flexible and versatile. As time goes on, this should have a positive influence on your bottom line.

 

credit: google trends blogs / Data Center management blog