check out this post on Nobel Prize In Chemistry 2017 Awarded For Imaging The Molecules Of Life
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2017 has been awarded to three researchers, Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank & Richard Henderson, for their work on imaging the molecules of life.
The three, including Cambridge University’s Richard Henderson, were able to develop a revolutionary new electron microscopy imaging technique that can see these molecules at the atomic level.
Atomic structures of a) protein complex that governs circadian rhythm b) pressure sensor of the type that allows us to hear c) Zika virus pic.twitter.com/ixAyJesj99
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 4, 2017
“This method has moved biochemistry into a new era,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement awarding the $1.1 million) prize.
“Researchers can now freeze biomolecules mid-movement and visualize processes they have never previously seen, which is decisive for both the basic understanding of life’s chemistry and for the development of pharmaceuticals.”
The breakthrough has been compared to being able to actually photograph a person on the Moon from Earth in minute detail.
Traditionally one of the biggest hurdles in using electron microscopes is that the water surrounding these molecules simply evaporates in the vacuum chamber.
Will chatbots become part of the consumer search experience?
See details of post Will chatbots become part of the consumer search experience? below
When thinking about the future of organic search, common considerations include the impending mobile-first index, machine learning, AI, natural language processing, voice search, site speed, HTTP 2, personalization and consumer behavior changes led by the Internet of Things and digital assistants.
However, during an inspirational Future of Search meeting with the Bing team and Rik van der Kooi, corporate vice president for Microsoft advertising worldwide, discussion focused on a different topic — how chatbots could form a much greater part of the consumer search experience. Van der Kooi explained that since May in the US (Seattle area), Bing has been testing chatbots directly in paid and organic search results, as shown below.
While chatbot integrations have been in the news over recent months, most people outside of the Seattle area won’t have seen them in action or truly considered how such integrations could be used.
For instance, if chatbot integrations within search results become a future reality, they could be used to carry out the following without ever leaving search results:
- Book a test drive
- Engage with customer service
- Order products and services
The possibilities are vast and shine a light on the importance of APIs and data integrations to enable the next generation of consumer interaction.
The challenges of a chatbot future
For a moment, let’s assume Bing’s testing is successful, and we see chatbots roll out in search results. Getting brands to a point where they can leverage the technology is going to be a challenge never before experienced by owned performance and marketing teams.
Do brands have the data infrastructure and customer service setup to make this happen? Who leads these teams, and are they willing to cooperate? What reporting metrics will be required? New relationships and process will have to be forged and maintained.
Measurement and reporting will also pose new challenges, as consumers will interact with brands through search results pages rather than on-site. Analytics platforms will need to find a way to track these interactions.
If chatbots are to become a part of the consumer search experience in the future, agencies and in-house teams have to set expectations with brands about the level of resource and data integration requirements.
For instance, being an early adopter and investing in new technology may produce underwhelming results until consumer usage becomes mainstream; however, at that point, you’ll be a front-runner with an advantage over competitors.
On the other hand, you can wait until consumer adoption has reached high levels, but you’ll then be playing catch-up to earn visibility within search results.
Prioritizing the short-term, middle and long-term future
Nobel Prize In Chemistry 2017 Awarded For Imaging The Molecules Of Life
check out this post on Nobel Prize In Chemistry 2017 Awarded For Imaging The Molecules Of Life
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2017 has been awarded to three researchers, Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank & Richard Henderson, for their work on imaging the molecules of life.
The three, including Cambridge University’s Richard Henderson, were able to develop a revolutionary new electron microscopy imaging technique that can see these molecules at the atomic level.
Atomic structures of a) protein complex that governs circadian rhythm b) pressure sensor of the type that allows us to hear c) Zika virus pic.twitter.com/ixAyJesj99
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 4, 2017
“This method has moved biochemistry into a new era,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement awarding the $1.1 million) prize.
“Researchers can now freeze biomolecules mid-movement and visualize processes they have never previously seen, which is decisive for both the basic understanding of life’s chemistry and for the development of pharmaceuticals.”
The breakthrough has been compared to being able to actually photograph a person on the Moon from Earth in minute detail.
Traditionally one of the biggest hurdles in using electron microscopes is that the water surrounding these molecules simply evaporates in the vacuum chamber.
Nobel Prize In Chemistry 2017 Awarded For Imaging The Molecules Of Life
check out this post on Nobel Prize In Chemistry 2017 Awarded For Imaging The Molecules Of Life
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2017 has been awarded to three researchers, Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank & Richard Henderson, for their work on imaging the molecules of life.
The three, including Cambridge University’s Richard Henderson, were able to develop a revolutionary new electron microscopy imaging technique that can see these molecules at the atomic level.
Atomic structures of a) protein complex that governs circadian rhythm b) pressure sensor of the type that allows us to hear c) Zika virus pic.twitter.com/ixAyJesj99
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 4, 2017
“This method has moved biochemistry into a new era,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement awarding the $1.1 million) prize.
“Researchers can now freeze biomolecules mid-movement and visualize processes they have never previously seen, which is decisive for both the basic understanding of life’s chemistry and for the development of pharmaceuticals.”
The breakthrough has been compared to being able to actually photograph a person on the Moon from Earth in minute detail.
Traditionally one of the biggest hurdles in using electron microscopes is that the water surrounding these molecules simply evaporates in the vacuum chamber.
Safari’s New “Intelligent Tracking Prevention” — What Does it Mean for Marketers?
Here is an essay on Safari’s New “Intelligent Tracking Prevention” — What Does it Mean for Marketers?.
Be sure to digest the entire article and view the original site
Along with the release of the iPhone 8, Apple’s new operating system, iOS 11 and its browser, Safari 11 on desktop, are causing quite a stir among advertisers and marketers. Not for their new design or ease of use but for their release of “Intelligent Tracking Prevention” — a feature which would limit website owners’ ability to track users across domains. But what does that mean exactly, and how can marketers best prepare for it? Let’s take a closer look:
What Does Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) Actually Do?
In a nutshell, ITP limits the ability for advertisers and site owners to track users across domains. Any websites that load things like scripts or image across domains are classified according to a machine-learning algorithm, and cookies that those sites deposit are essentially sectioned off — preventing them from tracking the user 24 hours after they first interacted with the site. Why 24 hours? The cookie is stored in the system in case the user wants to user their login information from one domain on a separate service — for example, logging into a service using your Facebook or Google credentials.
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Once the cookie is partitioned away, it sits there until 30 days have passed. If the user hasn’t interacted with that site any more after 30 days, the cookie is purged.
What Does This Mean for Advertisers?
Currently, ITP is only enabled for mobile and desktop versions of Safari. According to Statcounter as of August 2017, Safari holds a little over 20% of the desktop browser market – but as much as 58% of the iPad tablet market (Android mobile devices do not support Safari). This may not sound like much compared to Firefox or Chrome, but it actually represents millions of users. And, as privacy concerns grow, advertisers and marketers alike can expect this type of technology to spread across all popular browsers and devices.
The question then becomes, what does this actually mean for advertising – particularly platforms like Google Adwords?
Google has responded to the Intelligence Tracking Prevention initiative by changing how it captures and reports conversions within Adwords. According to Apple’s own recommendations, which recommend “server-side storage for attribution of ad impressions on your website” and that “[l]ink decoration (padding links with information) [be] used to pass on attribution information in navigations”.
According to Chi Hea Cho, a spokesperson for Google, “[w]e are updating our measurement tools, consistent with Apple’s recommendations for ad attribution, to help our customers continue to accurately measure ad clicks and conversions. These changes are designed to work for all browsers, but are timed to adapt to the new settings Apple is introducing. Our goal is to limit interruptions to our users’ experiences and to preserve our partners’ ability to evaluate their investments in digital advertising. As always, giving users choice and control of their data and how it’s used is a top priority for us.”
To that end, Google has also sent out an email to Adwords users with the following technical details:
To help ensure conversions are reported accurately in your AdWords account, we’ll be making three changes, consistent with Apple’s recommendations for ad attribution:
- If you have auto-tagging enabled and a Google Analytics tag on your website, we’ll begin to set a new Google Analytics cookie on that site’s domain, which will store information about the ad click that brought a user to your site. If you have linked your AdWords and Google Analytics accounts, the AdWords conversion tracking tag will be able to use that click information.
- AdWords will continue to report conversions for users who have recently interacted with Google services and domains.
- AdWords will also use statistical modeling to estimate website conversions that could not be measured from Safari, and include them in your AdWords reporting.
To help with these changes, Google Analytics has created a new type of cookie, called _gac which extends Google Analytics tracking to include Adwords conversions. Whenever auto-tagging is enabled, the cookie is used to store ad click details. Right now, the cookie is sent from Googleadservices.com — which makes it a third-party cookie and one of the types that Apple’s machine learning process would in turn segment and separate.
With _gac, the cookie is instead set on the advertiser’s domain and thereby becomes a first-party cookie — one that conforms to ITP’s rules and recommendations. That means all the ad data associated with that particular user will continue to be sent across for conversion reporting and attribution.
So if you’ve linked your Adwords and Google Analytics campaigns, as most people have, you won’t see any changes and will continue to record conversion data from Safari users. Those that haven’t will notice that Google records the conversion activity only within that first 24-hour period.
How Can Marketers Be Prepared?
The biggest shift that affects reporting and tracking is going to be the migration from third-party to first-party cookies. Still, even first-party cookies aren’t a foolproof solution since no one is truly certain how Safari’s machine learning processes will identify them, and whether or not human ingenuity will work to circumvent these changes and continue to track users as it has in the past.
If you’re working with a vendor that uses its own form of reporting and measurement, ask them what steps they have put into place to mitigate the issues arising from potentially lower data quality from Safari users. It’s important to note that there will likely be shifts and changes in the performance data that’s gathered in the coming weeks and months — so avoid any rash decisions for the time being until things settle.
Of course, the ever-looming elephant in the room is the issue of how effective campaigns will be now that this type of remarketing has effectively been cut off or severely restricted. What happens when users view products across multiple devices but wait longer than 30 days to purchase? The data you gather in these cases is simply not going to be an accurate reflection of what’s really happening.
AdWeek has joined the fray, expressing their concern to Apple and others about how this change has affected business models and the nature of the internet as a whole. They write:
The infrastructure of the modern Internet depends on consistent and generally applicable standards for cookies, so digital companies can innovate to build content, services, and advertising that are personalized for users and remember their visits. Apple’s Safari move breaks those standards and replaces them with an amorphous set of shifting rules that will hurt the user experience and sabotage the economic model for the Internet.
We strongly encourage Apple to rethink its plan to impose its own cookie standards and risk disrupting the valuable digital advertising ecosystem that funds much of today’s digital content and services.
October 2017 Google Webmaster Report
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Beat high-cost paid search clicks by sweating the details
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In some industries and sectors, the per-click cost of search keywords is notoriously expensive — so expensive, in fact, that it dissuades some businesses from even stepping into the fray. When a click can cost you $200 or more, that reluctance is understandable.
At the same time, the costs of not stepping into PPC might be just as pricey, even if they’re not as obvious. In industries where competition is stiff, you could stand to lose a lot by being conspicuously absent from PPC.
So, what’s a business to do?
Fortunately, expensive clicks — even really expensive clicks — don’t have to stop you from venturing into PPC. You just have to make sure that every click counts.
Industries where clicks are costly
Before we get into a discussion about how to make sure every click counts, let’s get clear on the industries and sectors we’re talking about.
Though most advertisers aren’t paying more than a few dollars per click, some industries have average CPCs of $50 or more. Which keywords are garnering these high rates? Here are a few:
- Business services
- Bail bonds
- Casino
- Lawyer
- Asset management
- Insurance
- Cash services & payday loans
- Cleanup & restoration services
- Degree
- Medical coding services
My agency has clients in education, insurance and legal sectors, and I can attest to the sky-high rates. In fact, I’ve seen click costs of $200 or more with some clients!
How can a business justify playing on this field? Mostly, it comes down to sweating the details to make sure every one of those clicks counts. And by sweating the details, I mean doing the following:
1. Pay more attention to Quality Score
Normally, my team doesn’t manage to Quality Score. This is partly because most of our clients already have excellent Quality Scores, so it’s a non-issue. But sometimes we onboard new clients that have Quality Scores that are just okay.
Usually, we won’t worry too much about these scores because we know they’ll improve over time as a byproduct of good account management. But when a client is in an industry with high costs per click, we give these Quality Scores more attention.
As you know, Ad Rank is determined by a combination of factors, as stated in AdWords Help:
We combine the components of Quality Score (expected clickthrough rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience), the max. CPC bid, and the expected impact of extensions and other ad formats to determine Ad Rank. When estimating the expected impact of extensions and ad formats, we consider such factors as the relevance, expected clickthrough rates, and the prominence of the extensions or formats on the search results page.
Consequently, in a high costs-per-click environment, we’ll look closely at ad extensions, keywords, ad relevancy and landing pages to make sure everything’s set up perfectly to boost the Quality Score.
Recently, we went through this with a law firm client. The firm came to us with a decent Quality Score, but we wanted to get it even higher. We ended up creating additional landing pages to make sure that our keywords lined up perfectly with our landing pages. In fact, we ended up creating one set of landing pages for “lawyer” themed pages and another set of “attorney” themed pages to make the match seamless.
2. Keep a tight handle on location targeting
Again, this is something my team does for all accounts, but it becomes even more critical in a high-click-cost environment. Obviously, you want to minimize “wasted” clicks as much as possible — and having your client’s ad display in areas they don’t serve is a big waste!
You might think this point is self-evident, but we recently on-boarded a new client and found that its ads were showing up across the US, even though the bulk of its business was in one particular city. Needless to say, we quickly clamped down on location targeting.
The lesson here? Target the geographic radius of the company’s business, and check traffic periodically to make sure nothing extraneous is getting through. Then exclude as necessary.
3. Look for lower weekend bids
Amazingly, some advertisers turn off their ads on weekends. I can’t fathom why this is. Perhaps they think no one researches universities or lawyers on the weekend. However, weekends can present an excellent cost-saving opportunity.
In some cases, we’ve lowered bids by as much as 75 percent on weekends, and the ads continue to display in the second ad position. More importantly, we haven’t experienced a dip in leads over the weekend or during the week.
4. Focus on what’s converting
Generally, it’s better to have a handful of well-converting campaigns with generous budgets than a wide swath of campaigns with limited budgets.
The problem with campaigns with limited budgets is that those budgets can get used up quickly. In fact, a severely limited budget might not even meet minimum bid thresholds. Consequently, your campaign ends up sitting there, doing nothing.
It’s much better to cut back on the number of campaigns and give more generous funding to those that are actually converting.
To give a simplified example: You have 10 campaigns with a total budget of $100. You assign each campaign a budget of $10. If clicks rise to $12 each, nothing is going to happen.
Instead, pick your one or two top-converting campaigns and assign them appropriate budgets so they can actually convert.
5. Experiment with shared budgets
Another way to address the above scenario is to set up a shared budget. A shared budget is a single budget that’s shared among several campaigns. With a shared budget, you don’t have to try to guess which campaigns are going to convert. It’s also an excellent option when costs and campaign volume vary significantly from day to day.
We’ve deployed this strategy with some of our university and law firm clients, and it’s worked well. It avoids scenarios where some campaigns have used up their entire budget allotment, while others have budget remaining but aren’t seeing any action.
6. Lean into the Google Display Network
Often, we find that costs per click are lower on the Google Display Network (GDN) — sometimes much lower. In fact, I’ve seen $200 Search Network clicks priced at $5 on the GDN!
In addition, the GDN has all kinds of options for placement and targeting, which allows you to get super-specific and thereby minimize waste.
That’s why we’ll often suggest starting on the GDN before moving to the Search Network when industries are hypercompetitive, and clients are competing against big brands with big budgets.
7. Choose your devices wisely
Sometimes, clients feel they should run their ads across all devices: desktop, tablet and mobile. But this isn’t always the case.
Sometimes, click costs are lower on some devices (e.g., mobile) than others, which can create another cost-saving opportunity.
We recently came across a retailer who was running all of their campaigns on mobile — and just mobile. This may seem surprising (especially for a retailer), but for this client it made sense. They were getting great performance on mobile — and cost per acquisition was lower there, too.
8. Spend more time looking forward than back
We constantly look at comparative month-over-month and year-over-year data. But when clicks are super-pricey, there’s a danger in putting too much emphasis on this data. Things always change. New competitors enter the market. Google raises their prices. Or any other number of things can happen.
So rather than getting tied up in knots wondering, “Why are we paying $59 per click when we paid $50 last year?,” you’re better off spending your time on the things you can control.
Don’t stop sweating the (right) details
Sweating these details won’t turn expensive clicks into cheap clicks. But it can sometimes bring down costs a bit and, more importantly, help make sure that every click counts.
Online Safety: A Lesson All Students Need To Learn
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August this year was an exciting month for those students finishing sixth form and college. After spending months disconnected from the world to focus on their studies, their A-Level results were released. For many, it was an opportunity to celebrate and let off some steam before setting off for pastures new. The prospect of university and expanding their minds, surroundings and opinions is too good to turn down for many people. It is where, some say, you ‘find yourself’. But during this rollercoaster ride of meeting new people and experiencing new things, it’s important to stay safe.
From spraying traceable SmartWater on possessions, to using anti-drink spiking straws, safety lessons are instilled into students by the bucket load as they leave for higher education. However, there isn’t much advice concerning their digital safety. We live in an age where there are just as many people looking to do you harm online as there are in real life and it’s important for students to stay vigilant. While it’s essential to enjoy their new home, they need to ensure their personal details are secure and that they’re the only one that can truly ‘find themselves’ online.
Recent attacks like the one on UCL in July show that universities are prime targets when it comes to cyberattacks. Students’ details are highly sought after and hackers have a number of ways of targeting them. From phishing scams like the one seen in September, where cyber scammers posed as the Student Loans Company, to the creation of a completely fictitious university, cyber-attackers are not short of creativity. Students need to be aware of their online behaviour and learn how to best mitigate risks. By following a few simple steps, students won’t have to worry about who can see their information, leaving them lots of extra time to attend those all-important lectures.
P1ck1ng Pa55w0rd5
Some people, no matter how many times they’re told, simply never change their passwords. They stick with predictable standbys and default options like ‘123456’ or even worse, ‘password’. Remembering them can be a chore, yes, but ensuring you have different passwords for each account is a necessity. If you don’t have the memory to remember all these different variations then a password manager is the answer for you.
Password managers greatly simplify the entire password process, enabling you to secure all your passwords behind one master password. All you have to do is remember one secure password and your accounts will auto-fill with their applicable passwords whenever you need access. Remembering one password isn’t too hard, right?
Keeping Social Media Social
Adding new friends on social media is a first step for many students cementing friendships. With so many fresh faces in such a short period of time it can be hard to keep track, but it really is imperative. Thousands of fake profiles are made every day with malicious intent, so be aware that it isn’t difficult for those same impersonators to list a university on their profile, too. Make sure you don’t accept anyone you haven’t physically met, no matter how attractive they are.
Sampling the offerings of your new surroundings is essential if you’re to feel at ease in your new home.
But as you post pictures on Instagram, or check-in on Facebook, remember that this information is permanent and available for many to see. It’s easier than you might think to accidentally reveal sensitive information such as your card details, address and when you’re out of the house, through pictures on social media. Be aware that most social media platforms are, in their essence, public.
Sharing Isn’t Always Caring
University is a time of sharing, from the accommodation you live in to the many group presentations you’re expected to do. Some of the most commonly shared things are the communal computers in the library. These shared devices can be used by dozens of people in one day, so remember to never click yes when asked to save your details. Keep track of which devices you’re logged in to and always sign out at the end of each session.
Wi-Fi hotspots are important for doing work while you’re out and about, but these open networks can also be ripe territory for hackers. When connected to the same public Wi-Fi, hackers can see which webpages you access and depending on how secure the sites you’re visiting are, your browsing history, searches, personal login information, photos, videos, emails, and comments. Use a Wi-Fi inspector app to analyse the security of the connection, or invest in a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to surf the net securely.
Be Cautious
Online Safety: A Lesson All Students Need To Learn
check out this post on Online Safety: A Lesson All Students Need To Learn
August this year was an exciting month for those students finishing sixth form and college. After spending months disconnected from the world to focus on their studies, their A-Level results were released. For many, it was an opportunity to celebrate and let off some steam before setting off for pastures new. The prospect of university and expanding their minds, surroundings and opinions is too good to turn down for many people. It is where, some say, you ‘find yourself’. But during this rollercoaster ride of meeting new people and experiencing new things, it’s important to stay safe.
From spraying traceable SmartWater on possessions, to using anti-drink spiking straws, safety lessons are instilled into students by the bucket load as they leave for higher education. However, there isn’t much advice concerning their digital safety. We live in an age where there are just as many people looking to do you harm online as there are in real life and it’s important for students to stay vigilant. While it’s essential to enjoy their new home, they need to ensure their personal details are secure and that they’re the only one that can truly ‘find themselves’ online.
Recent attacks like the one on UCL in July show that universities are prime targets when it comes to cyberattacks. Students’ details are highly sought after and hackers have a number of ways of targeting them. From phishing scams like the one seen in September, where cyber scammers posed as the Student Loans Company, to the creation of a completely fictitious university, cyber-attackers are not short of creativity. Students need to be aware of their online behaviour and learn how to best mitigate risks. By following a few simple steps, students won’t have to worry about who can see their information, leaving them lots of extra time to attend those all-important lectures.
P1ck1ng Pa55w0rd5
Some people, no matter how many times they’re told, simply never change their passwords. They stick with predictable standbys and default options like ‘123456’ or even worse, ‘password’. Remembering them can be a chore, yes, but ensuring you have different passwords for each account is a necessity. If you don’t have the memory to remember all these different variations then a password manager is the answer for you.
Password managers greatly simplify the entire password process, enabling you to secure all your passwords behind one master password. All you have to do is remember one secure password and your accounts will auto-fill with their applicable passwords whenever you need access. Remembering one password isn’t too hard, right?
Keeping Social Media Social
Adding new friends on social media is a first step for many students cementing friendships. With so many fresh faces in such a short period of time it can be hard to keep track, but it really is imperative. Thousands of fake profiles are made every day with malicious intent, so be aware that it isn’t difficult for those same impersonators to list a university on their profile, too. Make sure you don’t accept anyone you haven’t physically met, no matter how attractive they are.
Sampling the offerings of your new surroundings is essential if you’re to feel at ease in your new home.
But as you post pictures on Instagram, or check-in on Facebook, remember that this information is permanent and available for many to see. It’s easier than you might think to accidentally reveal sensitive information such as your card details, address and when you’re out of the house, through pictures on social media. Be aware that most social media platforms are, in their essence, public.
Sharing Isn’t Always Caring
University is a time of sharing, from the accommodation you live in to the many group presentations you’re expected to do. Some of the most commonly shared things are the communal computers in the library. These shared devices can be used by dozens of people in one day, so remember to never click yes when asked to save your details. Keep track of which devices you’re logged in to and always sign out at the end of each session.
Wi-Fi hotspots are important for doing work while you’re out and about, but these open networks can also be ripe territory for hackers. When connected to the same public Wi-Fi, hackers can see which webpages you access and depending on how secure the sites you’re visiting are, your browsing history, searches, personal login information, photos, videos, emails, and comments. Use a Wi-Fi inspector app to analyse the security of the connection, or invest in a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to surf the net securely.
Be Cautious