How do memes make money?

                  Before starting to read this article, do one thing open your social media account ..wait....now what do you see...Yes! exactly there is an 85% chance that you would be given a warm welcome by a meme on your feed. Need of memes nowadays has reached at par with that of having lunch!.....Everyone of us nowadays find it difficult to live without memes (almost an addiction) as they come very close when the point of being relatable to our lives comes up.

So how do they earn?                

                             A very simple basic explanation would be that whenever you come across a meme you click on it, then you are navigated to another webpage where you find loads of other of these attractive things.

                             Next thing you do is that you keep on scrolling down in want for more (before you realise that how your minutes turned into hours)....now during this process of scrolling down you also come across several ads on which you might or might not necessarily click on. 

                             There are fixed rates for everything for example- the website owner earns 'X' amount of money for 'Y' no. of views and the same thing goes on for clicks.Yeah...it's just this much...simple isn't it?? (go start making memes 😜!)

Do meme pages on social media earn anything?

                            The answer would be NO if you're thinking to earn money directly via Facebook or Instagram. What I mean here is that no social media website has a policy to pay you directly based on your followers or likes which most of the people think they do. (I hope this clears your misconception fellas !). Still for those who had a similar thought in their minds....don't worry as gaining followers on social media by making memes is a very good idea to give a boost to any of your future businesses or startups.
                           However there are many indirect ways to earn from your meme pages like:

• Doing sponsored posts for brands (you need quite a following for that :))
• Becoming an affiliate and making commission (Amazon affiliate is a very good choice)
• Creating/Selling your product
• Providing paid services
  

How to earn money from memes? 👀💲💲

**This portion below does not in any form act as a guarantee to earning from memes. Down below are just some tips which may increase your earnings based on your following**

1. Blogging with AdSense for some extra cash.
2. Apply for some sort of grant.(In 2011,Indiana University got a $1 million grant to study memes)
3. Try to become as innovative and creative you can be. Believe this, there is nothing like original content...(irrespective of the source 😉)
4. Join business support groups. They help you to drive a lot of traffic for your content.

                                         

Remember that it's quite a tough job to solely depend on what you earn online. So don't ever get trapped by this concept which looks quite attractive but in reality is not so.

Is AI taking over us?

Remember the title of this blog next time you say "ok google" or "hey siri" to your phone (or iPhone!). For those who didn't get the word 'AI' here, it stands for artificial intelligence and this creepy yet useful concept is gradually taking over the lives of all the smartphone users (no one left out I hope?). For those who find opening wikipedia a huge task out of laziness, here is the definition : Artificial intelligence (AI, also machine intelligence, MI) is intelligence demonstrated by machines, in contrast to the natural intelligence (NI) displayed by humans and other animals. In computer science AI research is defined as the study of "intelligent agents": any device that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of successfully achieving its goals.

Of course everyone of us remembers Jarvis(don't we?) and if not jarvis, 'Courage the Cowardly dog'is too hard to forget. (Cartoon Network ..eh?).

Coming to the point, is AI really taking over us?, is it good or bad? and why should we care about it? ......I will try to answer the above questions in this blog.

Types of AI

Broadly speaking there are 4 major types of AI currently active in the world: Reactive machines, Limited memory,Theory of mind, and Self awareness. Since this is not a tech blog I am not going to elaborate each one, however if you still want to get your hands on some information you can do that here. 

Some examples to remind you that you're surrounded by AI if you use a smartphone :

1. Google Assistant  (all android users) 
   
2. Siri (time to regret spending $999 👍) 
   
3. Cortana by Microsoft (Ok, not that popular !)
   
4. Bixby by Samsung 
   
5. Alexa by Amazon (welcome the new kid !)
   
   

Is it really taking control?

Frankly speaking, my answer would be "yes" and that too in a lot more ways anybody might have thought of. Now , pay attention as here I am talking a bit more 'globally' as India in terms of AI research is quite far behind other countries. In fact, according to Analytics India Magazine when it comes to R&D, Chinese govt. spends 2% of it's GDP in research while we spend a meagre 0.6% compared to the size of our economy. 

Since many of you would argue the opposite and some of you might even underestimate the power of what AI can do , below here I'm giving out a small clip from the latest Google I/O 2018 : 

Now for some of you (who don't like to keep themselves updated with tech innovations) might have been left out in awe...wondering where technology has reached. This is not the only thing happening around...search the web and you'll find yourself trapped by AI and some people do agree to my point here (Hi Elon Musk !). 

So wrapping it up , I would say that AI could very easily control and prove to be a real threat if  gone under wrong hands but it's still too early to come to a concrete decision. Do tell me what you guys think. down in the comments :)

Why should I care about it?

                         That's the most apt question you should be asking right now. Point is that we may not realise immediately that we are being very slowly being engulfed into the influence of artificial intelligence. With loads of advantages ranging from waking you up to booking your hotel room, these bots don't let you think 'bad' about'em and that's how companies take advantage of human nature. Even small kids at the age of 8 are being involved with these bots which can't be stated as something wrong but there's nothing like spending your childhood in the fields instead of talking to these bots.

                        The debate on weather AI is good or bad is endless with everyone stating their own point of view regardless of the fact that one day we might end up talking to these bots instead of real people. My suggestion would be 'proceed with caution' . Try asking yourself  at the end of the day, "With whom did I spend my more time today, real people or with Siri?" . Most of you might get a very positive answer for some years since AI still hasn't spread to it's maximum potential....but in the near future you'll surely start getting your answer as 'Siri'

*I am not biased with any company regarding AI. I find Google Assistant as good as Alexa or Siri or any other of these machines cum humans*

That's it for this one ...please make sure to leave your comments below and don't forget to follow and share ! :)

                                            

The Endangered Attention span

Our rapidly decreasing attention spans

The reason why there is a high chance of you not being able to finish this article, is your depleting attention span. Our attention span is defined as the length of time for which a person is able to concentrate on a particular activity. So now at least you know why you are lagging behind in your work.

In case you are still here and have not scrolled down this article, I must congratulate you, as you have crossed the average human attention span, which is roughly 8.25 seconds- 0.75 seconds less than that of a goldfish (not kidding, goldfish have an attention span of 9 seconds, look it up if you don’t believe me).

According to study, in 2000 we had an average span of 12 seconds and with technology advancing it will only become lesser. But is that a reason to worry? Probably… but we can’t be sure. Shorter attention spans are a direct consequence of technological advancements, but with every step we take towards the future, we somehow catch up with it (at least that’s how it’s been so far).

The reason I thought of writing this article was that we should at least be aware of it, so here’s a pretty apt example:

Most youtubers these days use a very simple camera trick to make sure users don’t get bored of the video, and watch it till the end instead of closing it midway and engross themselves in a cat video compilation. Instead of taking a continuous shot of a scene, they break it up into a lot of fragments. Whenever they are doing a monologue while directly looking at the camera, they cut it up into a lot of parts and then compile all of it.

I don’t know whether you fully understand what I’m trying to say, but maybe you’ll notice this the next time you search ||Superwoman|| on youtube. I am giving out one of the video where you can notice the trick easily :

What does this have to do with attention spans? Everything. YouTube channels are very aware of the fact that viewers will get bored pretty fast (8.25 seconds to be exact) and hence employ this technique to keep their viewers in their grasp.

It’s a world of instant gratification these days, and so we can’t wait too long for anything. With the surge of content these days, we get bored too easily! How often do you make it to the end of a song you are listening to, without fast forwarding to the next track? How often do you finish reading an article on the net, and registering the minutest details in your mind? How often do you speed read a question on your test and later regret it because you missed the important points?

In closing, I’d like to say that although we really can’t do much about it, its always good to know and be aware of the changes in society and human psychology. And if you truly made it till the end of this article then maybe things aren’t so bad for you.

By Arjun Kulshreshtha (guest author for my blog)😊

Do leave your comments below and please follow and share :)

CAPTCHA : A necessary evil

WHAT IS THIS?

Some of you might think that this is a very stupid question as after arrival of Jio almost everyone in India has internet access and hence there is 90% chance he/she might have gone through the irritating process of CAPTCHA, but let me remind you guys in contrast to the above statement still (late 2017) the rural internet penetration is only 20.26%*.

Now, for some of us who don't know what CAPTCHA is:

It's a kind of challenge -response test which is used to tell humans and bots apart. (Bot: A web robot that runs internet tasks over the internet). 

Also, it has got a pretty long name..So here's what CAPTCHA stands for - Completely Automated  Public  Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.('Turing' was a test developed by Alan Turing..to know more :Turing Test) It was developed by a group of 4 people including Luis von Ahn. {I'm not giving out the other three names cause I want it to remain a blog and not turn it into a wiki and secondly no one gives a damn to the names, do we? :) } (Click for all the four names)

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You can find CAPTCHA almost everywhere, weather you're booking a movie ticket or making an online transaction.

*(Source:https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/internet/internet-users-in-india-expected-to-reach-500-million-by-june-iamai/articleshow/63000198.cms)

WHY CAPTCHA ?

Spam. Everyone familiar with this word (I'm very sorry for others who're not) knows that this four letter word makes life look like hell in your inbox. 

The two main issues CAPTCHA satisfies is Security and Accessibility. Now let's put up some examples so that it can easily fit in our brains :

• It protects the transportation online booking systems from bots which book tickets in thousands later to be sold in black
• Protects users from spam comments on their blogs. (Although at this stage i would still be happy with spam comments  :) )
• Lastly, the most important is that it secures e-mail accounts.(quite familiar)  

TYPES OF CAPTCHA:

• The 'looks kinda easy' type (It even has an audio option !)

Could also be called 'almost extinct'

• The most common one (also called reCAPTCHA v2)

                           

Yeah , I ain't a robot 

• The newest kid on the block (still under development)

Also called 'reCAPTCHA V3', it's still under development and we all are wondering what more interesting and simple do the folks at google have in their heads !

**Now some you might have at some point in your lives got an opportunity to go through the 'math', 'shapes' or even 'puzzle' CAPTCHA.....but I tend to leave your imaginations to you only as the above mentioned types now only exist in our half heads.**

  

So time to bid adieu. I've tried to cover as much in the simplest way possible .Do leave your suggestions and queries downstairs and also don't forget to Follow my blog for regular updates . Thank You :)

The Coloured Dot Scenario

To be able to understand this article properly...you need to have the following minimum basic qualification:

• Must have read 2-3 newspapers in your lifetime (I put this here as most of don't tend to read them as they seem "boring" in the "modern world")   

Well some people also have an excuse.."Nobody does so why should I?"..Go on a morning walk on Sunday (tough..eh?) and notice the source of morning entertainment for people at your or someone other's balcony.(Yes you guessed it right ..it's newspapers !)..Start reading them now if you still haven't.

Now without deviating further from the topic..let's come straight to the point. When you last read a newspaper you would have surely noticed those "nonsensical" dots (Hearts/Squares/Circles)...at the bottom of almost every page and if you're a normal being, at some point of your life you must have wondered about them. 

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Now can I know the real thing please !

Now coming to the core part, actually these dots are nothing..but alignment marks more popularly known as 'registration marks' among the printing community. Also they are sometimes referred to as CMYK (Cyan,Magenta,Yellow,Black) due to the variety of colours they're usually seen in.

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OK..So, what do they do?

It's quite simple..they are used to align the text while printing.Plates of all these colours are laid out on a page separately and lined up in the same spot while printing. This is necessary to print a full colour image accurately.*

If these dots are not in the same line,the image and hence the print comes out to be blurry..

*(It's like taking an aim in those RPG shooter games ..if you align the sniper rifle correctly ,you get the target or you're dead :) )

• You might as well know that these dots are not only limited to newspapers but are used in almost every material which has printed texts(books,brochures etc.) , the only difference being that they're cut off during binding and that's why you only get to see them in newspapers

How was this important for me?

Many of you might have this question, so i decided to put it up here only. See, what I mentioned in my introduction (previous post :Introduction to my blog) was that what I do here is to answer your daily life queries that might come up in your mind from time to time and that's what i have done. 

(*Speaking otherwise this same question was asked in an IAS interview :)...Might prove useful !)

Thank You and please make sure to leave your comments . Please subscribe if you want an all time aid for your daily queries :)..speaking of queries you can also leave one below...and i'll try to answer it if suitable.

Welcome to my blog !

Welcome to my blog,

In case you're wondering what this whole blog is about...it's actually quite simple.It's gonna consist of some types of articles like : my personal reviews on any trending topic, my answers to curious minds i.e. the questions you ask me in the comments...and at last some daily life (usually forgotten/ignored) but important answers to typical mind boggling queries. What I do on this blog is that I try to answer some of your daily life queries that you might come across but tend to ignore or forget them due to unavailability of  instant source of information at that very moment. Now to explain you better..consider an example : you're sitting in any usual Indian cafe/bar and you notice that the idiot box on the wall keeps on displaying same boring ads again and again , after this I'm sure every one of us would have wondered that how does the particular company who is paying for the add slot actually keep an eye wheather the cafe is displaying the ads or not??....By now you must have understood the real meaining of you are going to see on this blog. So, let me tell you that you would get to savour 2-3 articles a week (which is actually quite less) in the beginning with a promise of increase in the numbers if you guys liked them. Thank You and make sure to leave a comment !