#Automation Testing Agency

[hiringjournal]

5 Common Mistakes to Avoid When You Hire Test Automation Developers

In the modern software development space, automated testing plays a pivotal role. It speeds up the release cycles, enhances product quality, and reduces the risk of bugs reaching the production phase. That’s why several tech companies are now considering hiring software engineers with this skill as a part of their core development team.

But to hire for this role can’t always be straightforward. It’s easy to make mistakes, especially when you are under the pressure to move fast. In this article we will uncover the 5 common pitfalls that you need to avoid when building your automation team.

How to Build a Reliable QA Team Without Slowing Down Development

Prioritizing tools over skills

Many hiring managers neglect to assess a candidate's fundamental problem-solving skills in favour of focussing too much on particular automation technologies, such as Selenium, Cypress, or Appium.

Yes, tool experience matters. However, competent test automation engineers ought to be flexible enough to operate with various frameworks. Instead of just marking off tool names, pay attention to how they create reusable test cases, plan test strategies, and troubleshoot problems.

Skipping real-world test scenarios

General coding questions or theoretical-only technical interviews frequently fall short. You want someone who can handle edge cases in actual apps and think critically when you hire test automation engineers.

Provide real-world examples from your product rather than generic code problems. Find out how they would go about testing an API under load, a complicated form, or a payment gateway. This gives insight into how they’ll perform on the job.

Ignoring communication and collaboration power

There is no siloed approach to test automation. QA analysts, product managers, and developers collaborate closely with automation engineers. However, a lot of hiring teams ignore soft talents.

Seek out applicants who can articulate their strategy in detail, pose insightful queries, and offer helpful criticism. Working across functional boundaries is just as important in software businesses as developing a flawless test script.

Hiring without a clear plan of action

Hiring someone too soon or with ambiguous expectations is one of the biggest blunders businesses make. Determine your true needs before bringing someone on board: Are you starting from scratch? Making the switch to automated testing from manual testing? Adding to an already-existing framework?

Finding the proper person for the job—not simply someone with the right title—is made easier when you have a roadmap. Working with an IT staffing service can help if you're pressed for time or don't know where to begin. They can connect you with applicants who share your project objectives and technical requirements.

Overlooking code quality and maintenance 

Good automation isn't just about writing scripts that pass. It involves creating dependable, readable, and maintainable test code. Ask test automation engineers how they handle flaky tests, how frequently they refactor test suites, and how they deal with CI/CD pipeline issues when you recruit them. Long-term maintainability should be a criterion for hiring.

Closing Words

Your team can benefit greatly from hiring a test automation engineer, but only if you do it correctly. By avoiding these typical blunders, you can be sure that the person you hire will be able to assist your larger development objectives and improve your QA process.

Take the time to hire with purpose, whether you want to do it internally or through an IT staffing agency. Not only do the top test automation engineers create scripts, but they also instill trust in your product. And that trust is invaluable in the fast-paced tech companies of today.

[promeqasoftwaretesting]

Manual Testing vs. Automation Testing, which Is Better?

Check the difference between manual testing and automated testing in our info Manual Testing shows lower accuracy due to the higher possibility of human errors. Automation Testing depicts a higher accuracy due to computer-based testing eliminating the chances of errors. Check the difference between manual testing and automated testing in our info

[wseinfratech]

Manual and Automation QA Plan | Get a Quote | WSE Infratech

Manual or Automated Quality Assurance is a clearly defined procedure for identifying bugs to be rectified from the end product. A typical quality assurance process in development involves testing the product for performance, functionality, compatibility, and usability. However, the impact of QA goes much beyond that!

While automated testing speeds up repetitive operations and increases productivity, manual testing is essential for developing products not ready to be automated. Both these services are carried out by trained specialists and offer a detailed insight into user experiences. Together, these methodologies provide a robust defense against potential issues, ensuring the final product meets the quality standards.

[veganism]

The genocide is also experimentation on living beings

Israel is currently testing new weapons in Gaza, some of which will soon be sold globally as "battle-tested," according to Antony Loewenstein, an author who has written a widely acclaimed book on the issue.

For years, the Israeli defense sector has used Palestine as a laboratory for new weapons and surveillance tech, he told Anadolu, adding that this is also the case in the current ongoing war on Gaza.

One of the main reasons why "many nations, democracies and dictatorships support Israeli occupation" of Palestine is because it allows them to buy these "battle-tested" weapons, asserted Loewenstein, author of The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World.

Another aspect of Israel's war on Gaza has been the use of artificial intelligence technology, he said.

According to Loewenstein, AI has been one of the key targeting tools used by the Israeli military in its deadly campaign of airstrikes, leading to mass killings of Palestinians-now over 28,500-and damage on an unprecedented scale.

The current war on Gaza is "inarguably one of the most consequential and bloody," he said.

He described Israel's use of AI against Palestinians as "automated murder," stressing that this model "will be studied and copied by other nation-states" and Tel Aviv will sell them these technologies as tried and tested weapons.

In the last 50 years, Israel has exported hi-tech surveillance tools to at least 130 countries around the world.

To maintain its illegal occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and blockade of the Gaza Strip, Israel has developed a range of tools and technologies that have made it the world's leading exporter of spyware and digital forensics tools.

But analysts say the intelligence failure during the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks casts doubts over Tel Avis's technological capabilities.

Israel's reliance on technology "is an illusion of safety, while imprisoning 2.3 million people under endless occupation," said Loewenstein, who is Jewish and holds Australian and German nationalities.

He described Israel's response in Gaza as "apocalyptic," stressing that the killings of Palestinian civilians, including children and women, is "on a scale of indiscriminate slaughter."

- 'BLOOD MONEY'

Loewenstein, who is also a journalist, said Israel has honed its weapons and technology expertise over decades as an occupying power, acting with increasing impunity in the Palestinian territories.

This led a small country like Israel to become one of the top 10 arms dealers in the world, he said, adding that Israeli arms sales in 2021 were "the highest on record, surging 55% over the previous two years to $11.3 billion."

In his book, Loewenstein explores thoroughly Israel's ties with autocracies and regimes engaged in mass displacement campaigns, and governments slinking their way into phones.

The Israeli NSO Group sold its well-known Pegasus software to numerous governments, a spyware tool for phones that gives access to the entire content, including conversations, text messages, emails and photos even when the device is switched off.

Israeli drones were first tested over Gaza, the besieged enclave that Loewenstein referred to as "the perfect laboratory for Israeli ingenuity in domination."

Surveillance technology developed in Israel has also been sold to the US in the form of watch towers now used on the border with Mexico.

The EU's border agency Frontex is known to have used Israeli drone technology to monitor refugees.

Loewenstein explains in his book that the EU has partnered with leading Israeli defense companies to use its drones, "and of course years of experience in Palestine is a key selling point."

"So again, one sees how there are so many examples of nations that are wanting to copy what Israel is doing in their own area in their own country on their own border," he said.

These technologies and "are sold by Israel as battle-tested," he said.

In other words, he contends that Palestinians essentially have become "guinea pigs," and despite some nations and the UN publicly criticizing the Israeli occupation, in reality "they're desperate for this technology for themselves for their own countries."

"And that's how in fact, the Palestine laboratory has been so successful for Israel for so long," he said.

In his exhaustive probe into Israel's dealings with arms sales around the world, he noted that the country has monetized the occupation of Palestine, by selling weapons, spyware tools and technologies to repressive regimes such as Rwanda during the genocide in 1994 and to Myanmar during its genocide against the Muslim Rohingya people in 2017.

"This to me is blood money. I mean, there's no other way to see that and again, as someone Jewish, who has spent many, many years reporting on this conflict, both within Israel and Palestine but also elsewhere, it's deeply shameful that Israel is making huge amounts of money from the misery of others," he said.

"This is not a legacy that I can be proud of."

- 'NO NATION ACTUALLY HOLDING ISRAEL TO ACCOUNT'

Profiting from misery is to some extent the nature of what capitalism has always been about, but Israel does this with a great deal of impunity, "because Israel does what it wants," said Loewenstein.

"There is no accountability, there is no transparency, there is no nation actually holding Israel to account," he added.

Israel's regime is shielded from any political backlash for years to come because nations are reliant on Israeli weapons and spyware, said the author.

Israel may not be the only player employing surveillance technology that leads to human rights violations, but it still plays a dominant role, which is why Loewenstein insists that it deserves singular attention.

Israel's foreign policy has always been "amoral and opportunistic," he said, calling on all nations to take a stand and hold Israel accountable, and acknowledge that the world is buying what Israel is selling.

[unwelcome-ozian]

Weaponizing violence. With alarming regularity, the nation continues to be subjected to spates of violence that terrorizes the public, destabilizes the country’s ecosystem, and gives the government greater justifications to crack down, lock down, and institute even more authoritarian policies for the so-called sake of national security without many objections from the citizenry.

Weaponizing surveillance, pre-crime and pre-thought campaigns. Surveillance, digital stalking and the data mining of the American people add up to a society in which there’s little room for indiscretions, imperfections, or acts of independence. When the government sees all and knows all and has an abundance of laws to render even the most seemingly upstanding citizen a criminal and lawbreaker, then the old adage that you’ve got nothing to worry about if you’ve got nothing to hide no longer applies. Add pre-crime programs into the mix with government agencies and corporations working in tandem to determine who is a potential danger and spin a sticky spider-web of threat assessments, behavioral sensing warnings, flagged “words,” and “suspicious” activity reports using automated eyes and ears, social media, behavior sensing software, and citizen spies, and you having the makings for a perfect dystopian nightmare. The government’s war on crime has now veered into the realm of social media and technological entrapment, with government agents adopting fake social media identities and AI-created profile pictures in order to surveil, target and capture potential suspects.

Weaponizing digital currencies, social media scores and censorship. Tech giants, working with the government, have been meting out their own version of social justice by way of digital tyranny and corporate censorship, muzzling whomever they want, whenever they want, on whatever pretext they want in the absence of any real due process, review or appeal. Unfortunately, digital censorship is just the beginning. Digital currencies (which can be used as “a tool for government surveillance of citizens and control over their financial transactions”), combined with social media scores and surveillance capitalism create a litmus test to determine who is worthy enough to be part of society and punish individuals for moral lapses and social transgressions (and reward them for adhering to government-sanctioned behavior). In China, millions of individuals and businesses, blacklisted as “unworthy” based on social media credit scores that grade them based on whether they are “good” citizens, have been banned from accessing financial markets, buying real estate or travelling by air or train.

Weaponizing compliance. Even the most well-intentioned government law or program can be—and has been—perverted, corrupted and used to advance illegitimate purposes once profit and power are added to the equation. The war on terror, the war on drugs, the war on COVID-19, the war on illegal immigration, asset forfeiture schemes, road safety schemes, school safety schemes, eminent domain: all of these programs started out as legitimate responses to pressing concerns and have since become weapons of compliance and control in the police state’s hands.

Weaponizing entertainment. For the past century, the Department of Defense’s Entertainment Media Office has provided Hollywood with equipment, personnel and technical expertise at taxpayer expense. In exchange, the military industrial complex has gotten a starring role in such blockbusters as Top Gun and its rebooted sequel Top Gun: Maverick, which translates to free advertising for the war hawks, recruitment of foot soldiers for the military empire, patriotic fervor by the taxpayers who have to foot the bill for the nation’s endless wars, and Hollywood visionaries working to churn out dystopian thrillers that make the war machine appear relevant, heroic and necessary. As Elmer Davis, a CBS broadcaster who was appointed the head of the Office of War Information, observed, “The easiest way to inject a propaganda idea into most people’s minds is to let it go through the medium of an entertainment picture when they do not realize that they are being propagandized.”

Weaponizing behavioral science and nudging. Apart from the overt dangers posed by a government that feels justified and empowered to spy on its people and use its ever-expanding arsenal of weapons and technology to monitor and control them, there’s also the covert dangers associated with a government empowered to use these same technologies to influence behaviors en masse and control the populace. In fact, it was President Obama who issued an executive order directing federal agencies to use “behavioral science” methods to minimize bureaucracy and influence the way people respond to government programs. It’s a short hop, skip and a jump from a behavioral program that tries to influence how people respond to paperwork to a government program that tries to shape the public’s views about other, more consequential matters. Thus, increasingly, governments around the world—including in the United States—are relying on “nudge units” to steer citizens in the direction the powers-that-be want them to go, while preserving the appearance of free will.

Weaponizing desensitization campaigns aimed at lulling us into a false sense of security. The events of recent years—the invasive surveillance, the extremism reports, the civil unrest, the protests, the shootings, the bombings, the military exercises and active shooter drills, the lockdowns, the color-coded alerts and threat assessments, the fusion centers, the transformation of local police into extensions of the military, the distribution of military equipment and weapons to local police forces, the government databases containing the names of dissidents and potential troublemakers—have conspired to acclimate the populace to accept a police state willingly, even gratefully.

Weaponizing fear and paranoia. The language of fear is spoken effectively by politicians on both sides of the aisle, shouted by media pundits from their cable TV pulpits, marketed by corporations, and codified into bureaucratic laws that do little to make our lives safer or more secure. Fear, as history shows, is the method most often used by politicians to increase the power of government and control a populace, dividing the people into factions, and persuading them to see each other as the enemy. This Machiavellian scheme has so ensnared the nation that few Americans even realize they are being manipulated into adopting an “us” against “them” mindset. Instead, fueled with fear and loathing for phantom opponents, they agree to pour millions of dollars and resources into political elections, militarized police, spy technology and endless wars, hoping for a guarantee of safety that never comes. All the while, those in power—bought and paid for by lobbyists and corporations—move their costly agendas forward, and “we the suckers” get saddled with the tax bills and subjected to pat downs, police raids and round-the-clock surveillance.

Weaponizing genetics. Not only does fear grease the wheels of the transition to fascism by cultivating fearful, controlled, pacified, cowed citizens, but it also embeds itself in our very DNA so that we pass on our fear and compliance to our offspring. It’s called epigenetic inheritance, the transmission through DNA of traumatic experiences. For example, neuroscientists observed that fear can travel through generations of mice DNA. As The Washington Post reports, “Studies on humans suggest that children and grandchildren may have felt the epigenetic impact of such traumatic events such as famine, the Holocaust and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.”

Weaponizing the future. With greater frequency, the government has been issuing warnings about the dire need to prepare for the dystopian future that awaits us. For instance, the Pentagon training video, “Megacities: Urban Future, the Emerging Complexity,” predicts that by 2030 (coincidentally, the same year that society begins to achieve singularity with the metaverse) the military would be called on to use armed forces to solve future domestic political and social problems. What they’re really talking about is martial law, packaged as a well-meaning and overriding concern for the nation’s security. The chilling five-minute training video paints an ominous picture of the future bedeviled by “criminal networks,” “substandard infrastructure,” “religious and ethnic tensions,” “impoverishment, slums,” “open landfills, over-burdened sewers,” a “growing mass of unemployed,” and an urban landscape in which the prosperous economic elite must be protected from the impoverishment of the have nots. “We the people” are the have-nots.

The end goal of these mind control campaigns—packaged in the guise of the greater good—is to see how far the American people will allow the government to go in re-shaping the country in the image of a totalitarian police state.

[mariacallous]

Stories about AI-generated political content are like stories about people drunkenly setting off fireworks: There’s a good chance they’ll end in disaster. WIRED is tracking AI usage in political campaigns across the world, and so far examples include pornographic deepfakes and misinformation-spewing chatbots. It’s gotten to the point where the US Federal Communications Commission has proposed mandatory disclosures for AI use in television and radio ads.

Despite concerns, some US political campaigns are embracing generative AI tools. There’s a growing category of AI-generated political content flying under the radar this election cycle, developed by startups including Denver-based BattlegroundAI, which uses generative AI to come up with digital advertising copy at a rapid clip. “Hundreds of ads in minutes,” its website proclaims.

BattlegroundAI positions itself as a tool specifically for progressive campaigns—no MAGA types allowed. And it is moving fast: It launched a private beta only six weeks ago and a public beta just last week. Cofounder and CEO Maya Hutchinson is currently at the Democratic National Convention trying to attract more clients. So far, the company has around 60, she says. (The service has a freemium model, with an upgraded option for $19 a month.)

“It’s kind of like having an extra intern on your team,” Hutchinson, a marketer who got her start on the digital team for President Obama’s reelection campaign, tells WIRED. We’re sitting at a picnic table inside the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, and she’s raising her voice to be heard over music blasting from a nearby speaker. “If you’re running ads on Facebook or Google, or developing YouTube scripts, we help you do that in a very structured fashion.”

BattlegroundAI’s interface asks users to select from five different popular large language models—including ChatGPT, Claude, and Anthropic—to generate answers; it then asks users to further customize their results by selecting for tone and “creativity level,” as well as how many variations on a single prompt they might want. It also offers guidance on whom to target and helps craft messages geared toward specialized audiences for a variety of preselected issues, including infrastructure, women’s health, and public safety.

BattlegroundAI declined to provide any examples of actual political ads created using its services. However, WIRED tested the product by creating a campaign aimed at extremely left-leaning adults aged 88 to 99 on the issue of media freedom. “Don't let fake news pull the wool over your bifocals!” one of the suggested ads began.

BattlegroundAI offers only text generation—no AI images or audio. The company adheres to various regulations around the use of AI in political ads.

“What makes Battleground so well suited for politics is it’s very much built with those rules in mind,” says Andy Barr, managing director for Uplift, a Democratic digital ad agency. Barr says Uplift has been testing the BattlegroundAI beta for a few weeks. “It’s helpful with idea generation,” he says. The agency hasn’t yet released any ads using Battleground copy yet, but it has already used it to develop concepts, Barr adds.

I confess to Hutchinson that if I were a politician, I would be scared to use BattlegroundAI. Generative AI tools are known to “hallucinate,” a polite way of saying that they sometimes make things up out of whole cloth. (They bullshit, to use academic parlance.) I ask how she’s ensuring that the political content BattlegroundAI generates is accurate.

“Nothing is automated,” she replies. Hutchinson notes that BattlegroundAI’s copy is a starting-off point, and that humans from campaigns are meant to review and approve it before it goes out. “You might not have a lot of time, or a huge team, but you’re definitely reviewing it.”

Of course, there’s a rising movement opposing how AI companies train their products on art, writing, and other creative work without asking for permission. I ask Hutchinson what she’d say to people who might oppose how tools like ChatGPT are trained. “Those are incredibly valid concerns,” she says. “We need to talk to Congress. We need to talk to our elected officials.”

I ask whether BattlegroundAI is looking at offering language models that train on only public domain or licensed data. “Always open to that,” she says. “We also need to give folks, especially those who are under time constraints, in resource-constrained environments, the best tools that are available to them, too. We want to have consistent results for users and high-quality information—so the more models that are available, I think the better for everybody.”

And how would Hutchinson respond to people in the progressive movement—who generally align themselves with the labor movement—objecting to automating ad copywriting? “Obviously valid concerns,” she says. “Fears that come with the advent of any new technology—we’re afraid of the computer, of the light bulb.”

Hutchinson lays out her stance: She doesn’t see this as a replacement for human labor so much as a way to reduce grunt work. “I worked in advertising for a very long time, and there's so many elements of it that are repetitive, that are honestly draining of creativity,” she says. “AI takes away the boring elements.” She sees BattlegroundAI as a helpmeet for overstretched and underfunded teams.

Taylor Coots, a Kentucky-based political strategist who recently began using the service, describes it as “very sophisticated,” and says it helps identify groups of target voters and ways to tailor messaging to reach them in a way that would otherwise be difficult for small campaigns. In battleground races in gerrymandered districts, where progressive candidates are major underdogs, budgets are tight. “We don’t have millions of dollars,” he says. “Any opportunities we have for efficiencies, we’re looking for those.”

Will voters care if the writing in digital political ads they see is generated with the help of AI? “I'm not sure there is anything more unethical about having AI generate content than there is having unnamed staff or interns generate content,” says Peter Loge, an associate professor and program director at George Washington University who founded a project on ethics in political communication.

“If one could mandate that all political writing done with the help of AI be disclosed, then logically you would have to mandate that all political writing”—such as emails, ads, and op-eds—“not done by the candidate be disclosed,” he adds.

Still, Loge has concerns about what AI does to public trust on a macro level, and how it might impact the way people respond to political messaging going forward. “One risk of AI is less what the technology does, and more how people feel about what it does,” he says. “People have been faking images and making stuff up for as long as we've had politics. The recent attention on generative AI has increased peoples' already incredibly high levels of cynicism and distrust. If everything can be fake, then maybe nothing is true.”

Hutchinson, meanwhile, is focused on her company’s shorter-term impact. “We really want to help people now,” she says. “We’re trying to move as fast as we can.”

[meret118]

This week, we spoke with four federal-government IT professionals—all experienced contractors and civil servants who have built, modified, or maintained the kind of technological infrastructure that Musk’s inexperienced employees at his newly created Department of Government Efficiency are attempting to access. In our conversations, each expert was unequivocal: They are terrified and struggling to articulate the scale of the crisis.

. . .

“This is the largest data breach and the largest IT security breach in our country’s history—at least that’s publicly known,” one contractor who has worked on classified information-security systems at numerous government agencies told us this week. “You can’t un-ring this bell. Once these DOGE guys have access to these data systems, they can ostensibly do with it what they want.”

. . .

Given the scope of what these systems do, key government services might stop working properly, citizens could be harmed, and the damage might be difficult or impossible to undo. As one administrator for a federal agency with deep knowledge about the government’s IT operations told us, “I don’t think the public quite understands the level of danger.”

. . .

These systems are immense, they are complex, and they are critical. A single program run by the FAA to help air-traffic controllers, En Route Automation Modernization, contains nearly 2 million lines of code; an average iPhone app, for comparison, has about 50,000. The Treasury Department disburses trillions of dollars in payments per year.

Many systems and databases in a given agency feed into others, but access to them is restricted. Employees, contractors, civil-service government workers, and political appointees have strict controls on what they can access and limited visibility into the system as a whole. This is by design, as even the most mundane government databases can contain highly sensitive personal information. A security-clearance database such as those used by the Department of Justice or the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, one contractor told us, could include information about a person’s mental-health or sexual history, as well as disclosures about any information that a foreign government could use to blackmail them.

Even if DOGE has not tapped into these particular databases, TheWashington Post reported on Wednesday that the group has accessed sensitive personnel data at OPM. Mother Jones also reported on Wednesday that an effort may be under way to effectively give Musk control over IT for the entire federal government, broadening his access to these agencies.

. . .

With relatively basic “read only” access, Musk’s people could easily find individuals in databases or clone entire servers and transfer that secure information somewhere else. Even if Musk eventually loses access to these systems—owing to a temporary court order such as the one approved yesterday, say—whatever data he siphons now could be his forever.

With a higher level of access—“write access”—a motivated person may be able to put their own code into the system, potentially without any oversight. The possibilities here are staggering. One could alter the data these systems process, or they could change the way the software operates—without any of the testing that would normally accompany changes to a critical system. Still another level of access, administrator privileges, could grant the broad ability to control a system, including hiding evidence of other alterations. “They could change or manipulate treasury data directly in the database with no way for people to audit or capture it,” one contractor told us. “We’d have very little way to know it even happened.”

. . .

Musk’s efforts represent a dramatic shift in the way the government’s business has traditionally been conducted. Previously, security protocols were so strict that a contractor plugging a non-government-issued computer into an ethernet port in a government agency office was considered a major security violation. Contrast that with DOGE’s incursion. CNN reported yesterday that a 23-year-old former SpaceX intern without a background check was given a basic, low tier of access to Department of Energy IT systems, despite objections from department lawyers and information experts. “That these guys, who may not even have clearances, are just pulling up and plugging in their own servers is madness,” one source told us, referring to an allegation that DOGE had connected its own server at OPM. “It’s really hard to find good analogies for how big of a deal this is.” The simple fact that Musk loyalists are in the building with their own computers is the heart of the problem—and helps explain why activities ostensibly authorized by the president are widely viewed as a catastrophic data breach.

-----

“‘Upgrading’ a system of which you know nothing about is a good way to break it, and breaking air travel is a worst-case scenario with consequences that will ripple out into all aspects of civilian life. It could easily get to a place where you can’t guarantee the safety of flights taking off and landing.” Nevertheless, on Wednesday Musk posted that “the DOGE team will aim to make rapid safety upgrades to the air traffic control system.”

Even if DOGE members are looking to modernize these systems, they may find themselves flummoxed. The government is big and old and complicated. One former official with experience in government IT systems, including at the Treasury, told us that old could mean that the systems were installed in 1962, 1992, or 2012. They might use a combination of software written in different programming languages: a little COBOL in the 1970s, a bit of Java in the 1990s. Knowledge about one system doesn’t give anyone—including Musk’s DOGE workers, some of whom were not even alive for Y2K—the ability to make intricate changes to another.

. . .

Like the FAA employee, the payment-systems expert also fears that the most likely result of DOGE activity on federal systems will be breaking them, especially because of incompetence and lack of proper care. DOGE, he observed, may be prepared to view or hoover up data, but. . . it doesn’t appear to be prepared to carry out savvy and effective alterations to how the system operates.

. . .

But DOGE workers could try anyway. Mainframe computers have a keyboard and display, unlike the cloud-computing servers in data centers. According to the former Treasury IT expert, someone who could get into the room and had credentials for the system could access it and, via the same machine or a networked one, probably also deploy software changes to it. It’s far more likely that they would break, rather than improve, a Treasury disbursement system in so doing, one source told us. “The volume of information they deal with [at the Treasury] is absolutely enormous, well beyond what anyone would deal with at SpaceX,” the source said. Even a small alteration to a part of the system that has to do with the distribution of funds could wreak havoc, preventing those funds from being distributed or distributing them wrongly, for example. “It’s like walking into a nuclear reactor and deciding to handle some plutonium.”

. . .

DOGE is many things—a dismantling of the federal government, a political project to flex power and punish perceived enemies—but it is also the logical end point of a strain of thought that’s become popular in Silicon Valley during the boom times of Big Tech and easy money: that building software and writing code aren’t just dominant skills for the 21st century, but proof of competence in any realm. In a post on X this week, John Shedletsky, a developer and an early employee at the popular gaming platform Roblox, summed up the philosophy nicely: “Silicon Valley built the modern world. Why shouldn’t we run it?”

More at the link.

The coup has already happened, and we lost.

[dandorime]

The Victorium Awaits

Well, took me a little longer than I'd anticipated, but if you're still up for some IEYTD RP fun (on Discord), here's your sign. :D

Backstory

You work for the Enhanced Operatives Division of the Secret Agency Group. A mysterious invitation has come through the intraoffice mail and landed on your desk: you've been selected to participate in the Agency's Advanced Certificate Education (ACE) program, a special training camp for the best of the best. They want to send you and your handler to the Victorium, an automated facility, where you'll work together with other agent-handler pairs to conquer challenges designed to test your wits, your mettle, and your telekinetic skills. Are you up for the challenge?

Details

This is a low-stat, longform written game. There are no official meeting times. Each player will control two characters simultaneously: one agent and one handler. You can play a canon character, bring your OCs, or make fresh characters just for this game (no worries). The only participation expectations are that you'll check in once roughly every 24 hours or so and respond if your characters are in action. Please see the laws/rules in the server for more details.

Everyone's welcome, even if you're not playing. :3 Setup is still in progress, but I think we'll be ready to kick off the game within a few days.

Pings! (apologies if you didn't want to be pinged, I felt bad leaving people out)

@grimm-bot, @chronologicallyonline, @tillywunderwing, @toastedfork, @thelittlehorrorshite, @uhhhhhhhmoss , @the-one-and-only-043 , @phoenix-and-found-family, @gr3yyyyy, @markophoenix, @dawnphoenixrises, @eodasks, @agentwraith, @ghostlystarwanderer, @agent-toast, @definitelyunhingedagentphoenix

I understand Discord is a problem for some folks, and for that, I apologize. I don't know anywhere else to to host online. If you have recommendations for where I should run future games, please let me know. Thank you!

[dertaglichedan]

China and Russia plan to build nuclear power station on moon

Planned for 2035, the nuclear reactor would power research and exploration of the moon's south pole as part of the the International Lunar Research Station project.

What you need to know:

China and Russia plan to build a nuclear reactor on the moon by 2035 to power a permanent lunar base.

The International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) will rely on the power plant for its scientific research.

The IRLS involves over a dozen international partners and is seen as a rival program to NASA's Artemis Program.

China and Russia plan to build an automated nuclear power station on the moon by 2035.

A memorandum of cooperation for the project was signed between Russia's space agency Roscosmos and the China National Space Administration (CNSA) this week.

The power station will be part of the proposed ILRS lunar base and will provide energy to enable long-term lunar exploration and scientific research.

ILRS is seen as a rival to the US-led Artemis program, which plans to build an orbital lunar space station called "Gateway" from 2027. 

Artemis involves NASA and the space agencies of 55 other countries, including European Space Agency member states.

What is the International Lunar Research Station?

The ILRS project aims to establish a scientific research base on the moon located within 100 kilometers (62 miles) of the lunar south pole.

It will feature long-term autonomous operations and short-term human missions.

"The station will conduct fundamental space research and test technology for long-term uncrewed operations of the ILRS, with the prospect of a human being's presence on the Moon," Roscosmos said in a statement.

[promeqasoftwaretesting]

Automation Testing Agency in India

India has turned into a worldwide center for software development, and in this scene, automation testing agencies have a key part. These agencies excel at using cutting-edge tools and methods to make sure software applications work well, stay reliable, and run .

An automation testing company in India provides a full range of services to boost the quality and performance of software products. These services include automated functional testing, regression testing, performance testing, and security testing, which ensures consistency and speed. By using machines to do repetitive and time-consuming jobs, these companies help businesses get products to market faster and save money, while keeping high quality standards.

Indian automation testing agencies stand out for their know-how. They hire skilled pros who know their way around cutting-edge automation tools like Selenium, QTP, Appium, and TestComplete. These experts excel at writing custom test scripts that copy real-world user actions making sure the software holds up well in different situations.

These agencies often blend their testing methods with CI/CD pipelines. This combo ensures automatic testing of every code change. It's key to keep things quick and flexible in today's software dev world.

Indian automation testing agencies offer more than just technical skills. They provide affordable and adaptable solutions. These agencies create customizable options for all types of businesses, from new startups to big corporations. Companies around the world choose them because they deliver top-notch services at good prices. This makes Indian agencies a popular pick for businesses wanting to boost their software quality with automation.

[wseinfratech]

Quality Assurance (QA) testing is a vital part of product/ web/ software development workflow, contributing to its functional efficiency in business.

We comprise a skilled team of QA professionals who conduct functional tests on critical parameters like units, regression, integration, sanity, acceptance, interface, and end-to-end system to ensure it meets the quality standards before reaching final users. The test run results help us identify critical loopholes and bridge them effectively.

We aim to drive measurable results with strategic planning, user persona analysis, audit, reporting and regressions with state-of-the-art technological tools and advanced strategies.

[elementramarketing]

Fuel Your Growth with Performance Marketing

Turn clicks into customers with laser-focused strategies and real-time results.

Introduction: Marketing That Delivers, Not Just Promises

In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, businesses no longer have the luxury of spending blindly on ads and waiting for miracles. What they need is performance marketing—a results-driven approach that focuses on conversions, not just impressions. It's data-backed, ROI-focused, and scalable, making it the future of modern marketing.

🎯 What is Performance Marketing?

Performance marketing is a digital strategy where advertisers pay only for measurable results—be it clicks, leads, sales, or app installs. Unlike traditional branding methods, performance marketing demands proof. Every campaign is trackable, every rupee spent is accountable.

Key components include:

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising

Affiliate marketing

Social media paid campaigns

Native and display ads

Retargeting & programmatic advertising

💡 Why Businesses Love Performance Marketing

Performance marketing offers powerful benefits for brands across industries:

✅ Cost-Effective – No upfront lump sums; pay only for outcomes ✅ Trackable & Transparent – Live dashboards show real-time performance ✅ Highly Targeted – Reach only your ideal audience with pinpoint accuracy ✅ Scalable – Start small, test, and grow based on results ✅ Optimized for ROI – Every ad is backed by metrics that matter

From startups to big brands, everyone wants results—and this strategy delivers.

📈 Lead Generation: The Lifeline of Sales

No leads = no business. Performance marketing supercharges your sales funnel with high-quality, intent-driven leads across platforms:

Google Search & Display Network

Meta (Facebook/Instagram) Ads

LinkedIn for B2B targeting

YouTube & OTT for awareness-based targeting

Landing pages with integrated lead capture forms

By using tools like A/B testing, heatmaps, and behavioral tracking, marketers ensure that visitors convert—not just click.

🔧 Tools & Techniques that Drive Results

The magic lies in optimization. A great campaign uses:

Advanced analytics (Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, UTM tracking)

Retargeting to re-engage bounced traffic

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) for better lead quality

Funnel building with precise customer journeys

AI and automation for budget control and ad performance

When campaigns are backed by smart data, results are not left to chance.

🧠 Who Should Use Performance Marketing?

E-commerce brands looking to scale sales

Startups wanting fast market penetration

Service-based businesses aiming for qualified leads

Real estate, education, fintech, and healthcare sectors for niche targeting

Agencies managing multiple client portfolios

🌟 Final Word: Measure More. Waste Less.

Marketing budgets are shrinking, but expectations are growing. Performance marketing strikes the perfect balance by focusing only on what works. It’s not about shouting louder—it’s about reaching smarter.

🔗 Ready to generate real leads and real growth?

Start your performance marketing journey today!

👉 [Click Here] to explore high-ROI digital strategies!

[theinsigniaconsultant]

The Insignia Consultant | Best Digital Marketing Agency & Expert Social Media Marketing Services in Nagpur

Driving Growth, Building Brands — Your Digital Success Starts Here! In today’s hyper-competitive digital world, simply having an online presence is not enough. Businesses need strategic digital marketing to attract, engage, and convert customers consistently. If you are searching for the best digital marketing agency in Nagpur, look no further — The Insignia Consultant is your trusted growth partner

We offer a full suite of digital marketing services, with a special focus on expert social media marketing, SEO, Meta Ads, Google Ads, and growth hacks that drive measurable results.

Why Choose The Insignia Consultant? Many agencies promise results, but very few deliver sustainable growth. At The Insignia Consultant, we believe in building systems that convert — not just running ads or chasing vanity metrics.

✅ Proven track record of delivering ROI ✅ Customized strategies based on your business goals ✅ Data-driven campaigns with real-time optimization ✅ Transparent communication and monthly reporting ✅ Strong focus on creative storytelling and brand positioning

Common Challenges Businesses Face Are you struggling with any of these problems?

Low website traffic and poor visibility on Google

Low-quality leads that don’t convert into sales

Inconsistent social media engagement and growth

High ad spend with little return

Lack of clear marketing strategy and tracking

👉 If yes, it’s time to work with an expert team that understands both the art and science of digital marketing.

Our Expert Digital Marketing Services in Nagpur ✅ 🔍 Search Engine Optimization (SEO) On-page & off-page SEO

✅ Local SEO for Google Business Profile

✅ Technical SEO audits

✅ High-quality backlink building

📱 Social Media Marketing (SMM) ✅ Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube marketing

✅ Organic content strategy + Paid ad campaigns

✅ Influencer collaborations

✅ Community building and engagement

🎯 Meta Ads & Google Ads ✅ Meta (Facebook & Instagram) Ads with conversion-focused funnels

✅ Google Search, Display, YouTube Ads

✅ Retargeting & remarketing campaigns

✅ A/B testing & optimization for lower CPA

✅ 🚀 Growth Hacking & Advanced Strategies Viral content marketing

✅ Automation workflows

✅ AI-powered tools for campaign efficiency

✅Cross-channel marketing strategies

Why SEO-Friendly Blogs Matter To stay ahead of the competition, we continuously publish SEO-friendly blogs on trending topics such as:

✅Latest SEO techniques

✅Meta Ads updates & hacks

✅Google Ads strategies

✅AI in digital marketing

✅Conversion rate optimization (CRO)

✅Building scalable marketing funnels

Internal linking: Each blog is carefully structured to link back to our core services pages (SEO, SMM, PPC), driving higher engagement and organic traffic.

Book a Free Consultation Today 🚀 At The Insignia Consultant, we don’t just market — we build brands and create experiences that inspire action. Whether you’re a startup or an established business in Nagpur, we can help you achieve next-level growth.

👉 Ready to scale your business online? 👉 Want more leads and better ROI?

Book your free consultation learn more about our services!

[digitalekta]

Are Digital Marketing Jobs in Demand? Here’s Why 2025 is the Best Time to Jump In

In today’s fast-paced online economy, one question is buzzing everywhere: Are digital marketing jobs in demand? The short answer? Yes—more than ever! From small startups to global brands, businesses are investing big in digital strategies, and skilled marketers are at the center of it all.

If you're a student, a fresh graduate, or someone looking for a career pivot, now is the perfect time to enter the digital marketing industry. Here's what makes this field one of the hottest job markets today—and how you can take advantage of it.

📈 The Growth of Online Businesses is Fueling Digital Marketing Demand

As eCommerce and online services boom, companies are battling for visibility on platforms like Google, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn. They need experts who understand SEO, social media marketing, PPC, email marketing, and more.

According to recent industry data, digital marketing is expected to grow by over 10% annually, with roles like SEO specialists, content strategists, and performance marketers seeing the biggest jumps in demand.

💻 Top Digital Marketing Skills That Companies Are Hiring For

In 2025, these in-demand digital marketing skills are leading the hiring charts:

SEO & SEM (Search Engine Optimization & Marketing)

Social Media Advertising (especially Meta Ads & LinkedIn)

Content Marketing & Copywriting

Email Marketing & Automation Tools

Google Analytics & Data Interpretation

Video Marketing (especially short-form reels & TikTok content)

Upskilling in these areas can significantly boost your chances of landing a remote digital marketing job or even starting your own agency.

🌍 Freelancing & Remote Work: Digital Marketing is the Gateway

One of the biggest advantages of a digital marketing career? Location independence. Whether you’re sitting in Delhi, Dubai, or Dallas—you can work with clients globally.

Freelancing platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, and LinkedIn are full of high-paying gigs in content writing, Facebook ads, funnel building, and email automation. Remote jobs in digital marketing are not just real—they’re thriving.

🎓 Students & Freshers: Why Digital Marketing is the Smartest Career Move

If you’re still studying or just graduated, digital marketing gives you the edge to:

Earn while learning (internships & freelancing)

Build your personal brand on social media

Gain real-world experience before applying for jobs

Start a side hustle or grow your own brand

Digital marketing isn’t just a job skill—it’s a life skill in the digital age.

🚀 Final Thoughts: The Future of Digital Marketing is Bright & Global

So, are digital marketing jobs in demand?

Absolutely. With businesses shifting online, content becoming king, and algorithms constantly evolving—digital marketers are more important than ever. Whether you're a creative soul, a data geek, or a strategic thinker, there’s a place for you in this booming industry.

👉 Start learning, keep testing, and stay consistent—and this digital wave can take your career to the next level.

[mariacallous]

Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency has deployed a proprietary chatbot called GSAi to 1,500 federal workers at the General Services Administration, WIRED has confirmed. The move to automate tasks previously done by humans comes as DOGE continues its purge of the federal workforce.

GSAi is meant to support “general” tasks, similar to commercial tools like ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude. It is tailored in a way that makes it safe for government use, a GSA worker tells WIRED. The DOGE team hopes to eventually use it to analyze contract and procurement data, WIRED previously reported.

“What is the larger strategy here? Is it giving everyone AI and then that legitimizes more layoffs?” asks a prominent AI expert who asked not to be named as they do not want to speak publicly on projects related to DOGE or the government. “That wouldn’t surprise me.”

In February, DOGE tested the chatbot in a pilot with 150 users within GSA. It hopes to eventually deploy the product across the entire agency, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The chatbot has been in development for several months, but new DOGE-affiliated agency leadership has greatly accelerated its deployment timeline, sources say.

Federal employees can now interact with GSAi on an interface similar to ChatGPT. The default model is Claude Haiku 3.5, but users can also choose to use Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 and Meta LLaMa 3.2, depending on the task.

“How can I use the AI-powered chat?” reads an internal memo about the product. “The options are endless, and it will continue to improve as new information is added. You can: draft emails, create talking points, summarize text, write code.”

The memo also includes a warning: “Do not type or paste federal nonpublic information (such as work products, emails, photos, videos, audio, and conversations that are meant to be pre-decisional or internal to GSA) as well as personally identifiable information as inputs.” Another memo instructs people not to enter controlled unclassified information.

The memo instructs employees on how to write an effective prompt. Under a column titled “ineffective prompts,” one line reads: “show newsletter ideas.” The effective version of the prompt reads: “I’m planning a newsletter about sustainable architecture. Suggest 10 engaging topics related to eco-friendly architecture, renewable energy, and reducing carbon footprint.”

“It’s about as good as an intern,” says one employee who has used the product. “Generic and guessable answers.”

The Treasury and the Department of Health and Human Services have both recently considered using a GSA chatbot internally and in their outward-facing contact centers, according to documents viewed by WIRED. It is not known whether that chatbot would be GSAi. Elsewhere in the government, the United States Army is using a generative AI tool called CamoGPT to identify and remove references to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility from training materials, WIRED previously reported.

In February, a project kicked off between GSA and the Department of Education to bring a chatbot product to DOE for support purposes, according to a source familiar with the initiative. The engineering effort was helmed by DOGE operative Ethan Shaotran. In internal messages obtained by WIRED, GSA engineers discussed creating a public “endpoint”—a specific point of access in their servers—that would allow DOE officials to query an early pre-pilot version of GSAI. One employee called the setup “janky” in a conversation with colleagues. The project was eventually scuttled, according to documents viewed by WIRED.

In a Thursday town hall meeting with staff, Thomas Shedd, a former Tesla engineer who now runs the Technology Transformation Services (TTS), announced that the GSA’s tech branch would shrink by 50 percent over the next few weeks after firing around 90 technologists last week. Shedd plans for the remaining staff to work on more public-facing projects like Login.gov and Cloud.gov, which provide a variety of web infrastructure for other agencies. All other non-statutorily required work will likely be cut, Shedd said.

“We will be a results-oriented and high-performance team,” Shedd said, according to meeting notes viewed by WIRED.

He’s been supportive of AI and automation in the government for quite some time: In early February, Shedd told staff that he planned to make AI a core part of the TTS agenda.

[adnanqadir452]

Digital Advertising Companies: Transforming Business Growth Online

In an increasingly digital world, businesses must have a robust online presence to stay competitive. From startups to global enterprises, brands are relying on digital advertising companies to reach their audiences, generate leads, and increase conversions. These companies play a vital role in helping businesses navigate the complex landscape of online marketing using data-driven strategies and targeted campaigns.

What Are Digital Advertising Companies?

Digital advertising companies are specialized agencies that use online platforms and tools to promote brands, products, or services. Their goal is to increase brand visibility, drive website traffic, and ultimately improve sales and ROI. They leverage platforms such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, and more.

These companies don’t just run ads—they research, plan, test, and optimize campaigns to ensure maximum performance based on business objectives.

Services Offered by Digital Advertising Companies

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Paid advertising on search engines (like Google and Bing) to show your ads when potential customers are actively searching for your services.

Social Media Advertising

Targeted ads on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X (formerly Twitter), ideal for building brand awareness and engaging specific demographics.

Display & Banner Advertising

Visual ads placed on relevant websites across the web to increase brand recall and attract new visitors.

Video Advertising

Running ads on video platforms such as YouTube to connect with audiences through engaging video content.

Retargeting/Remarketing

Re-engaging users who have previously visited your website by showing them personalized ads across different platforms.

Programmatic Advertising

Using automated technology and AI to buy and place digital ads in real time for optimized performance and reach.

Benefits of Hiring a Digital Advertising Company

Expert Strategy Development: They understand which platforms, ad types, and formats work best for your goals.

Time & Cost Efficiency: Avoid trial-and-error by letting experts manage and optimize campaigns.

Access to Advanced Tools: They use premium tools for tracking, analytics, and audience insights.

Higher ROI: Better targeting and continuous optimization mean improved results with lower ad spend waste.

Why Choose Logelite Pvt. Ltd. as Your Digital Advertising Partner?

At Logelite Pvt. Ltd., we specialize in crafting high-performance digital ad campaigns that align with your brand goals. Our certified advertising experts help businesses grow through:

Strategic planning & audience targeting

A/B testing and real-time optimization

Transparent reporting and performance analysis

Comprehensive multi-channel ad management (Google, Meta, LinkedIn, etc.)

We focus on results—whether it’s lead generation, website traffic, or brand engagement. Our data-driven approach ensures every ad spend delivers maximum impact.

Conclusion

Digital advertising companies are crucial partners in today’s online marketplace. With the right strategy and execution, they help businesses expand their reach, attract new customers, and grow revenue. Whether you're looking to promote a product, build a brand, or boost sales, partnering with an experienced agency like Logelite Pvt. Ltd. is a smart investment.