The SamSam Ransomware That Hit Atlanta Will Strike Again

Atlanta isn't the SamSam ransomware strain's first victim—and it won't be the last.

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Tech Tools to Help With Hand and Arm Injuries

For those who have recently injured or lost their dominant hand, everything from apps to bungees exist to ease the frustration.

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This Week in the Future of Cars: Back to Normal?

A ban for Uber, a challenge to Tesla, and Jaguars for Waymo.

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RSS Readers Are Due for a Comeback: Feedly, The Old Reader, Inoreader

After years of letting algorithms make up our minds for us, the time is right to go back to basics.

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Ocean Acidification Could Be a Net Positive for Some Fish

Baby herring adapt to extra carbon dioxide in the water; cod and clams, not so much.

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A Short History of Mark Zuckerberg's Privacy Gaffes at Facebook

Facebook has been updating its privacy settings for more than a decade. Will this time be different?

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Crispr’d Food, Coming Soon to a Supermarket Near You

This week the USDA announced it has no plans to regulate gene-editing technologies like Crispr, opening the door to a boom in designer foods.

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OK, We Need to Talk About 'Ready Player One'

Was the movie everything we hoped it would be? Two WIRED editors (and proud ’80s kids) hash things out.

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Learn How to Fold a World-Record-Setting Paper Airplane

John Collins shows you how to fold the innovative paper airplane design that earned him a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records.

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Facebook's Election Safeguards Are Still a Work in Progress

The social media giant Thursday outlined several attempts to help protect the midterm elections, but still has a long way to go.

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Jaguar's New F-Pace SUV Is Fast, Sporty, and Expensive

It goes from 0 to 60 in 4.1 seconds, and it has fatter tires and updated aerodynamics to match.

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You Can Model China’s Tiangong-1 Space Station Crash

When and where will the Chinese space station land? We can’t know for sure—but we can examine some variables.

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Some Frogs May Be Developing a Chytrid Fungus Resistance

Certain frog species are rebounding after a fungal invasion, probably not because the fungus got any less deadly—the frogs may be evolving to resist the pathogen.

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Pinterest Adds New 'People You Follow' Tab to Your Feed

The new "following" tab shows you pins from people you follow in reverse-chronological order.

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Photographing a Robot Isn't Just Point and Shoot

Photographer Giulio di Sturco's latest subject is a humanoid named Sophia—and capturing her essence took time.

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Georgia criminalizes routine security research

Georgia is a hub for cybersecurity research, with leading university computer science and security programs and a new $35m state cybersecurity research center underway; but the Georgia state legislature just passed SB315, the most onerous prohibition on computer security research ever passed in the USA. (more…)

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Mac OS update adds support for fancy external video cards

Matt Burns at TechCrunch:

"The additional horsepower isn’t needed for general use, but the added graphics cards supercharge Macs for VR rendering and gaming. Only a handful of eGPUs are compatible with macOS so choose carefully before adding one to your rig."

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is the best card for games on the compatibility list, but most of the eGPU boxes are pretty bulky. Your best best is probably the Sonnet Box, which is the smallest and comes with an RX 570 built in (with a cheaper RX 560 option). The caveat is that it doesn't have USB-C output, so you can't put it between a Mac and the LG UltraFine monitors that Apple actually sells. Other eGPU boxes have this feature.

This will probably go unheralded but I think it's a huge milestone in Mac history: serious game support! Finally!

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'The Unbitten Elbow' by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky

Reader recommended, and absolutely delightful, The Unbitten Elbow depicts the fervor and zelotry of the Soviet state as it rots from the brain to the heart.

Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky is another fantastic Soviet era writer of dystopic fiction. Folks in Russia were already living in the worst dystopia most Westerners could imagine. In The Unbitten Elbow, we see an old Russian proverb, that the elbow is always near but impossible to bite, tested by the strength of an entire nation.

Absurdity abounds in this 10-15 minute read.

The Unbitten Elbow by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky via Amazon

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California coffee cups to get cancer warning

The National Coffee Association failed to demonstrate that a known-carcinogen produced during the coffee brewing process is not harmful. A judge in the Bear Republic ruled coffee cups need to carry a warning.

Via the NYT:

The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed in 2010 by the Council for Education and Research on Toxics, a nonprofit group based in Long Beach. The group charged that Starbucks and other companies — a group that eventually included 91 defendants — did not warn consumers that ingesting coffee would expose them to acrylamide, a chemical formed when coffee beans are roasted.

California keeps a list of chemicals it considers to cause cancer or reproductive harm, and acrylamide has been included since 1990. The state’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, known as Proposition 65 after it was passed in 1986, requires businesses to provide warning labels when exposing consumers to any of the hundreds of chemicals listed.

Judge Elihu M. Berle, in Los Angeles County Superior Court, wrote in a proposed decision on Wednesday that the companies failed to show that acrylamide does not pose a significant risk when produced during the coffee roasting process.

“Since defendants failed to prove that coffee confers any human health benefits, defendants have failed to satisfy their burden of proving that sound considerations of public health support an alternate risk level for acrylamide in coffee,” the judge wrote.

https://youtu.be/1azwQxMaTxE

Barry's Gold Blend tea merely invokes an existential crisis. Drink Barry's.

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Trump administration will require every visitor to the USA to divulge all social media identities

Today, the US State Department published a notice in the Federal Register seeking comment on a plan to require 15,000,000+ foreigners who get a US visitor visa to disclose all their social media identities as a condition of entry. (more…)

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What do you call someone who derives pleasure from the bread of affliction?

What do you call someone who derives pleasure from the bread of affliction?

A matzochist.

###

Why do we have a Haggadah at Passover?

So we can Seder right words.

Share your own in the comments! Happy Passover!

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How to fold World Record-setting paper airplanes

John "The Paper Airplane Guy" Collins shows us how to fold "Suzanne," the aircraft that set a 2012 world record for flying 69.14 meters.

"I bring paper airplanes into classrooms and start talking about complicated ideas involved with fluid dynamics and using paper airplanes to explain it," Collins told Wired. "If you can have a group of middle schoolers and high schoolers that don't look at their phones for 45 minutes while you're doing a demonstration, you've hit success," he says.

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Facebook deathwatch: a decade ago, it was impossible to imagine the fall of Myspace

In 2007, the Guardian's Victor Keegan published "Will MySpace ever lose its monopoly?" in which he enumerated the unbridgeable moats and unscalable walls that "Rupert Murdoch's Myspace" had erected around itself, evaluating all the contenders to replace Myspace and finding them wanting. (more…)

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Referendums and low-engagement voters produce catastrophic outcomes (but what about corruption?)

The idea of representative democracy is that we pay lawmakers to give serious attention to the nuances of policy questions and cast votes on our behalf in accord with their understanding of our preferences, applied to those nuanced understandings. (more…)

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This is the first 3D visualization of a melting snowflake

Developed by Jussi Leinonen of NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, this is a visualization of the first ever 3D model of a snowflake melting in the atmosphere. Eventually, a deep understanding of how snow actually melts could "help scientists recognize the signature in radar signals of heavier, wetter snow -- the kind that breaks power lines and tree limbs -- and could be a step toward improving predictions of this hazard." From JPL:

Leinonen's model reproduces key features of melting snowflakes that have been observed in nature. First, meltwater gathers in any concave regions of the snowflake's surface. These liquid-water regions then merge to form a shell of liquid around an ice core, and finally develop into a water drop. The modeled snowflake shown in the video is less than half an inch (one centimeter) long and composed of many individual ice crystals whose arms became entangled when they collided in midair.

"NASA Visualizes the Dance of a Melting Snowflake" (JPL)

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Oklahoma teachers walk out, sensing weakness from GOP legislators who caved on taxing the oil industry

Oklahoma teachers will walk out en masse this coming Monday, despite a historic agreement from the ailing state legislature to give them a long-overdue pay raise which will be paid for by increasing taxes on the state's previously untouchable oil and gas industry. (more…)

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Five years after Google conquered and abandoned RSS, the news-reader ecosystem is showing green shoots

RSS was a revelation for blogging and online media; we got our first RSS feed in 2001 and I have relied heavily on RSS feeds to write this site (and stay informed) for nearly two decades now; in 2005, Google bet heavily on RSS with its Google Reader product, which quickly eclipsed every other reader, so that by the time they killed it in 2013, there wasn't anything sophisticated, robust and well-maintained to switch to. (more…)

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"Kingpin: The Hunt for El Chapo": Game designers review the CIA's declassified tabletop training game

Douglas Palmer got wind of a classified CIA program to create board games to train spies, so he used a series of Freedom of Information Act requests to get copies of two of these games: the first is called "Kingpin: The Hunt for El Chapo" and the second (which the CIA revealed to a SXSW audience in 2017) is called "Collection Deck." (more…)

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Learn Python for a price that works for you

Hailed for its versatility and user-friendly design, Python is one of the best first languages for aspiring programmers to learn. However, not all of us have a natural affinity for programming, but you can get the training you need without breaking the bank thanks to the Pay What You Want: Absolute Python Bundle.

Here's how the deal works: Simply pay what you want, and you'll unlock one of the collection's five courses. Beat the average price paid, and you'll get the remaining four at no extra charge. Plus, if you beat the top price, you'll be entered into a major giveaway and earn a spot on the leaderboard.

Featuring nearly 60 hours of training, this collection will take you from beginner to expert in Python programming. You'll follow along with the collection's example-based curriculum, taking on core concepts, like input, functions, lists, and loops. Then, you'll dive into more advanced ideas, like automation framework design and creating deep learning models.

You can catalyze your Python education for a price you choose with the Pay What You Want: Absolute Python Bundle. 

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When Joan Rivers and Martha Stewart decorated matzo houses for Passover

The late-great comedienne Joan Rivers was a frequent guest on Martha Stewart's daytime show. One year for Passover, they built gingerbread-like houses with sheets of matzo and decorated them with other kosher foods including macaroons, chocolate, dried fruits, and nuts. Such a cute idea!

Watch: https://youtu.be/V9rTS8yNziI

Happy Pesach to those of you out there who celebrate!

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Confession: You can't trust a junkie with a new laptop

There's still plenty of life left in my 2015 MacBook Pro. But sooner or later, I'll ditch my computer in favor something new.

The nerd in me is wicked excited with the notion of using an ultra light laptop with an external graphics processor, for several reasons. I've always wanted to own a gaming laptop, but I could never justify the price, or the weight of one in my bag. Going with a computer that can connect to an external GPU means that I could invest in the laptop first, and then the GPU when I could afford it. And since the GPU for the rig is external, I wouldn't be forced to carry around a heavy bastard of a computer with me every time I needed to take off on assignment. That said, I was hesitant to buy one without seeing how it'd perform, first and foremost, as a work machine. I really like the look of the Razer Blade Stealth: the laptop's industrial design is what Apple might have come up with if their design department had a shred of edge or attitude. So, relying on the privilege of my position as a tech journalist, I asked Razer if I could borrow one.

They said yes.

I spent the past month working on Razer's insanely well-built ultrabook. It was pimped out with 16GB of dual channel RAM, and an Intel Core i7 2.70Ghz processor. It's zippy! But then, that's in comparison to my daily driver: a three year old Core i5 with 8GB of RAM. The Razer Blade Stealth is an easy machine to fall in love with. It feels as solid built as any Apple laptop I've ever used. I'd argue that, subjectively, it feels better to pick up and carry than any other portable computer that I've handled. There's something really satisfying about its weight. There's a decent number of ports for connecting to legacy hardware, HDMI for using it with an external display and a USB C/thunderbolt port for charging it and, yes, connecting to an external GPU rig.

I found myself quickly getting attached to this thing, and hating myself for it. As I used it, I attempted to rationalize why I should buy it.

The usual suspects filled my head: I deserve nice things. It'd be good for my work. Gaming helps to manage some of my PTSD symptoms. Yadda yadda yadda. It's a series of excuses that I feed myself, often. Buying new shit gives me a quick rush of endorphins. Consumerism and booze (especially where it concerns buying booze!) have long been my drugs of choice.

Last week, I made the decision to box the Razer Blade Stealth back up. This week, I ask Razer to send me a return shipping label. I need to get it out of the house as we'll be traveling north to spend our summer in Canada soon. Shipping it back means one less thing that I don't own will be in our RV home for customs to scrutinize when we cross the border. But more than this, I needed it out of my life. Using it made me feel too good, too quickly. When you're an addict, of any kind, it's easy to be roped into accepting the monkeys that long to cling to your back. A new computer. Too much drink. Both result in too little money on hand, for me at least. That I have a job that allows me access to all the shiny things in the world makes it that much worse. It's a path that's led me to some dark places in my past. I've no interest of going there again.

As for the rest of you, if you're looking for a solid ultrabook that can handle work and some hella heavy gaming with the use of an external GPU, the Razer Blade Stealth is amazing. But until the computer I currently own dies or becomes too old to use, I'll have to go without it.

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Earthworm jerky exists, unfortunately

Today on "WTH is Walmart trying to sell my friend Terry through a Facebook ad"**: Earthworm Jerky. (Last time it was funeral potatoes.)

At first, I thought he was pulling my leg. But he's not one to joke about stuff like this:

Reviews are poor for these "100% edible dehydrated large earthworms" in a "spicy marinade," so I don't recommend buying them:

**I have to think that the-store-that-no-longer-shall-be-named is advertising weird items to draw some attention (after all, negative attention is still attention). Good job, it worked. I feel right into their trap. I'm sending all their "earthworm jerky" traffic to Amazon though.

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People from 70 countries imitate the sounds cats and dogs make

Not everyone around the world agrees that cats say "meow" and that dogs "woof." Watch in this Conde Nast Traveler video as 70 people from 70 countries share their interpretation of how pets sound. I feel like all these sounds should be incorporated into a song or something.

(Blame it on the Voices)

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Patti Smith 'Horses' concert documentary announced

In 2015, Patti Smith went on tour with her band to celebrate the 40th anniversary of her debut album, Horses. Now it's been announced that a new documentary titled Horses: Patti Smith and her Band has been made using footage of the tour's final gig at Los Angeles' Wiltern Theater.

In an interview with Rolling Stone in 2014, the then 67-year-old said,

"I think we continue to deliver all of these songs sometimes stronger than when I was young... So I'm going to be happy to celebrate it, to perform the album with happiness, not with any kind of cynicism or a cashing-in thing. It will be a true, proud celebration, so the answer is yes."

I attended one of the three sold-out shows at The Fillmore in San Francisco in early 2015 and can attest that it was a strong performance. The 1975 album was performed in its entirety, in sequence, and Patti rocked the whole show hard.

The new film was directed by Steven Sebring and executive produced by record producer Jimmy Iovine. It premieres April 23 at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. After the screening, Smith and her band will perform some songs, including the album's title track.

(PAPER)

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Will Smith gets friendzoned by Sophia the human-like robot

Sophia is an advanced social robot in her second year of development by Hanson Robotics. In this video, she's on a date in the Cayman Islands with actor Will Smith. He turns on the charm, goes in for a kiss but is immediately, awkwardly friendzoned by her.

Last year Sophia was on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon with her creator, former Imagineer Dr. David Hanson. On it, she tells Jimmy a joke and then plays Rock, Paper, Scissors with him: https://youtu.be/Bg_tJvCA8zw?t=2m20s

P.S. You can follow Sophia on Instagram! I just did. https://ift.tt/2pRKzgs

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Watch Carrie Fisher slap the pretty right off of Oscar Issac's face

A lot of Star Wars fans were butt hurt over the Last Jedi's treatment of iconic Star Wars characters. Others, not so much--I'm one of those. I think it was a fun film that pushed the franchise forward in a new and interesting direction. No matter which camp you fall into, there's one thing that we can all agree on: Watching Carrie Fisher slap the silly shit out of Oscar Isaac over and over will always be entertaining.

While I'm not crazy about sharing anything from Entertainment Tonight, damn this is fun.

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Pope won't apologize for brutal treatment of Indigenous Canadians

For more than a century, the Canadian government was responsible for perpetuating horrendous abuses against native peoples who were unfortunate enough to be living in an area where a imperial colonialist power decided to set up shop. It was government policy for Indigenous children to be separated from their families, the without the permission of their parents or tribal elders, and them into what were known as residential schools: institutions predominantly run by the Catholic Church, along with a small handful of schools that were handled by Anglican, Presbyterian and United Church interests.

Once the kids were secured into these boarding schools, they were taught the 'right' way to live--right being in accordance to western culture. Were the incarcerated children to dare to speak their own language or act according to cultural norms outside of what their white caretakers felt was 'civilized,' they were met with severe corporal punishment. Mortality rates at the schools were high. So were instances of physical and emotional abuse. Children were often buried in unmarked graves or simply disappeared. Even after the last residential school closed in 1998, its legacy of hate and abuse remains.

In 2015, Canada finally confessed to its part in this long-running crime. The nation's Truth and Reconciliation Commission looked to the crimes of the residential school system, saying that they amounted to cultural genocide. The commission made 94 recommendations that it felt would go along ways towards righting the wrongs of the past. One those recommendations was that the Pope step forward and apologize for his church's role in the residential school system. It makes sense: the bulk of the schools were operated by the Catholic Church. There's precedent for it, too: in the past, Popes have apologized for other shitty things that the church has done.

Last May, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a personal appeal to Pope Francis, asking him for an apology, on behalf of all Canadians. The pope's response?

Nope.

From the New York Times:

“The Holy Father is aware of the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which he takes seriously,” Bishop Lionel Gendron, who is president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, wrote in an open letter to Canada’s Indigenous people released on Tuesday. “After carefully considering the request and extensive dialogue with the Bishops of Canada, he felt that he could not personally respond.”

It wouldn't have been the first time that a pope's apologized for the church's bullshit. As the New York Times points out, Pope Benedict XVI apologized for the decades of sexual abuse that many Catholic priests heaped on members of their flock in Ireland, back in 2010. More recently, Pope Francis asked for forgiveness for the church's role in the Rwandan genocide. Thousands were killed during that one. Maybe the problem with apologizing for what went on in the residential schools is that around 80,000 people who were forced to attend them are still alive. Admitting culpability through apology could open the doors to one hell of a class action lawsuit against the Church.

The Pope's got a trip to Canada planned in the near future. Apparently, meeting with native politicians and tribal elders will be a priority. I guess we'll see what happens.

Image via Wikipedia Commons

 

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Adnan Sayed of the Serial podcast wins right to a new trial

As listeners of the Serial podcast know, Adnan Syed was a Baltimore, Maryland high school student sentenced to life in prison for the 1999 murder of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee. Now, he's getting a new trial. From Rolling Stone:

Syed's conviction was overturned in June 2016 by retired Circuit Court judge Martin Welch, but the Attorney General's Office quickly appealed the ruling. Today's decision affirms Syed's right to a new trial, but based on an issue that the Circuit Court had considered and ultimately rejected – that Syed's trial attorney had demonstrated "deficient performance" and "prejudiced Syed's defense" by failing to pursue alibi witness Asia McClain...

(The Maryland Court of Special Appeals') decision comes down to this: "Syed's murder conviction must be vacated, and because Syed's convictions for kidnapping, robbery, and false imprisonment are predicated on his commission of Hae's murder, these convictions must be vacated as well. The instant case will be remanded for a new trial on all charges against Syed."

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Watch a cheetah jump into vehicle during a safari

"A cheetah decided to explore our vehicle on a safari I was leading for Grand Ruaha Safaris (in the Serengeti National Park," wrote wildlife photographer Peter Heistein on Instagram. "Another one jumped up on the hood and was staring at us through the windshield. They were just curious, we kept calm and let them go about their business. Quite a thrill to be this close!

"Our guide Alex Mnyangabe... helped us through the encounter with instructions on how to treat the animal 'with respect.'"

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Help crowdfund the Harlem Cryptoparty and 100 unlimited, privacy-protecting wifi hotspots for Puerto Rico

https://ift.tt/2Ieb9I2

Calyx is an amazing nonprofit, privacy-oriented activist ISP (they were the first ISP to successfully resist a secret Patriot Act warrant); they are notable for offering an unlimited, unfiltered, unthrottled 4G/wifi hotspot for a tax-deductible $400 year (mine has repeatedly saved my bacon). (more…)

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Watch this bizarre Komputer Tutor supercut of the phrase "floppy diskette"

An absurd and wonderful example of semantic satiation, starring the "Komputer Tutor" Kim Komando, best known for her bestselling 1990s instructional videos sold via infomericial. And in case you were wondering, Kim Komando is still at it!

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Hacking particle accelerators for unexpected science

As advanced atom smashers like the Large Hadron Collider come online, older ones are sometimes abandoned or, better, used for unexpected science experiments. Examples range from recording high-speed X-rays of the biological "motor" that flaps a fly's wings to finding an easter egg in a Degas painting. In the video above, Science Hack Day "global instigator" Ariel Waldman reveals how researchers hack particle accelerators for new uses.

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Science determines mysterious source of that knuckle cracking sound

There are bubbles in your joint fluid that POP! when a joint is "cracked."

Via Phys.org

Using a mathematical model alongside a geometrical representation of the joint, experts from Paris' Ecole Polytechnique and Stanford University in the United States simulated the events leading up to the crack.

"The sound that is generated when one cracks his or her knuckles is due to the partial collapse of a cavitation bubble that's in the fluid in the joint," explained Abdul Barakat, a professor at the Ecole Polytechnique.

"It could be multiple bubbles, but we showed that the collapse of a single bubble is sufficient to give you the signature sound you get," he told AFP by phone.

Every joint in my body makes noise.

Image via Vecteezy

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Timely video about "dark patterns," the tricks websites use to manipulate you

If you've tried to delete your Facebook account and found yourself mysteriously lost and frustrated, welcome to the world of Dark Patterns, the website and app trickery designed to make you agree to things or otherwise fool you into doing something other than you intend.

The video uses closing an Amazon account as an example. It's essentially impossible: even if you find the one deceptively-titled link three layers down through the most irrelevant-seeming menu options on the site, all it gives you is a generic "live chat" window. You cannot close your account without a fundamentally adversarial interaction with a person whose job depends on stopping you.

Pictured here, though, is something this week from Facebook, promising "text anyone in your phone" but really a ruse to let the company track your phone calls and texts--a fact you might be able to figure out from the tiny, unreadable silver-on-white text it doesn't want you to read.

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Throw out metal grill brushes, say doctors

The sharp, thin metal bristles of grill brushes end up in your food and then in your throat, from where there is "no surefire way of removing them," say surgeons. Throw them out.

That was the case for Lisa Wadden two years ago. The Dartmouth, N.S., woman ate a burger her husband had barbecued and noticed something pierce her throat.

"Every swallow, it just was this crazy pain, burning," she said.

"It was like I was being poked again with it every single time that I swallowed."

X-rays showed Wadden had swallowed a thin wire about 1.5 centimetres long, which had become embedded in her throat.

Over four months, she had multiple CT scans, X-rays, scopes and two unsuccessful attempts to remove it through surgery. Dempsey, who was Wadden's otolaryngologist, told her it was best to wait for scar tissue to build up around the wire and lessen the pain.

Get yourself a grill stone at Amazon, folks. Or if that's too rustic for you, one of these fancy copper scrapers.

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How to Use Continuous AB Testing to Increase Conversions

When was the last time you updated your website?

If you have to stop and think for a minute to answer that question, you may have a problem. Your website needs to be monitored and updated on a regular basis.

However, you don’t want to make changes without any rhyme or reason. That’s why you can use A/B testing as a tool to help guide your website updates.

But before you start A/B testing, you need to understand how it works. It’s not just a one-time thing. Some of you may have tried these tests in the past and seen an improvement. So why did you stop?

For those of you who have never tried A/B testing, it can be difficult to know where to get started. Regardless of your situation and experience with A/B testing, I can help you out.

Continuous A/B testing will make your website more efficient.

I’ll explain how you can use this strategy to improve your business and help you boost your conversion rates.

How A/B testing works

A/B testing isn’t really that difficult of a concept to understand. You start by creating a hypothesis about a certain element and then run a test to see if your theory was right.

To do this, you create two different versions of your website. Then half of your site traffic will get sent to one version, and the other half gets directed to the variation.

Here’s a visual representation to give you a better understanding of what I’m talking about.

Once you set up the test, you wait and see which variation has higher conversion rates. Then you draw conclusions and update your website with the version that converts the most.

What’s tricky about A/B testing is deciding how long to test things and what elements need to be tested.

Honestly, there’s not one right answer to those questions. But I’ll give you some guidance to help you run these tests efficiently.

Test your CTA buttons

When you’re trying to get higher conversions, it’s best to start with the button that gets people to convert.

Obviously, these buttons are different for each company in every industry. It depends on your goal on a specific landing page as well. Some of you may be trying to drive a sale while others may be trying to get site visitors opt-in to their email subscription list.

The key here is just picking one element to start. You don’t want to test two theories at once. Testing multiple hypotheses doesn’t give you conclusive results because you won’t know which variation impacted the results.

That’s why you should be running tests continuously to maximize the efficiency.

Start with something subtle and easy such as the size, color, or placement of your CTA button. For example, you could hypothesize that a larger CTA button will have higher conversions.

You can also test the actual text written on your CTA button. Try testing power words against action words.

Here are some of the power words that convert the most.

Are any of these words currently used in your call-to-action?

Here are some more statistics about the conversion success of words that entice an action.

Based on the numbers in these graphics, you could hypothesize that a call to action that says, “Sign up for free” will have higher conversion rates than one that says, “Download now.”

But there’s only one way to find out. Test it.

After you test one of these and you’re satisfied with the results, move on to another. So if you started with the size of your CTA button, then move on to the color. After that, you can test the text or placement.

Test all of the CTAs this way on each page of your website.

Less than half of websites have a CTA button that can be spotted in less than 3 seconds. So putting so much effort into testing your CTA will definitely give you an edge over your competitors.

Evaluate your headings

After you’re satisfied with your CTA button analysis, move on to other components of your website that stand out the most.

Your headlines and subheadings definitely jump off of the page at visitors, so it makes sense to test those next.

If your headlines aren’t worded properly, visitors may not even read all of the content on the page. So while testing the CTA may seem more important, visitors could miss out on your entire value proposition if the headers don’t keep them engaged.

In addition to conversions, you should be looking at analytics that shows how long each visitor stays on the page for.

If one headline causes the average page viewing time to be significantly longer than the variation, it will definitely increase the chances that the visitors will convert.

Here’s an example of an A/B test on a website’s headline.

As you can see, the two pages are identical, except for the headlines. The variation has different words for the main heading and subhead.

The test yielded conclusive results. Website visitors who saw version A filled out the form at a 27.76% higher rate than the ones who saw version B.

If your tests are only within 5% or so if each other, you may not be able to say that one is definitely better. To find out for sure, you can run an A/A test before your A/B test to see what your standard deviation is between the same version of a web page.

Improve your checkout process

For those of you with an ecommerce website, you need to find ways to minimize shopping cart abandonment.

Using A/B tests on the layout of your checkout process can really help you maximize conversions. You’ll be able to tell which elements are working and which ones can be tossed away.

I’ll give you some ideas of what you can start testing.

Are you accepting coupon codes? If you have an option for visitors to input a coupon code during the checkout process, it could cause them to go searching for a code.

But if these codes aren’t always readily available and they’re just something you use to offer a disgruntled customer, it shouldn’t be a primary element of your checkout process.

Test it out to see what kind of results you get.

You could also test a guest checkout vs. login to checkout conversion rates. I’m assuming you’re offering a secure checkout, so use A/B tests to see if the size and placement of your security badges have an impact on conversions.

Test every element on the page. You’d be surprised at how something small could make a huge difference.

Here’s a great example of something subtle that iHerb used to when A/B testing their checkout process.

Take a look at the left side of the screen. They have a shipping cost calculator. All the customer has to do is input their zip code and they’ll get an estimate on their shipping costs.

But the heavy-duty bag promotion draws lots of attention away from the calculator.

Here’s another version of that same page.

As you can see, the image was removed and the “Calculate” button was placed much closer to the “Proceed to Checkout” CTA.

OK. So technically they changed two elements of this page, which I know I said you shouldn’t do. But this was subtle enough to be effective.

I’m a big advocate for removing clutter from your pages, so I think it was a smart decision to get rid of the image in addition to moving the placement of the calculator.

Find out which images convert

You definitely want to use images to help you improve your website. But it’s just a matter of what images to use and where to place them.

If you’re on the fence about a decision, or you have some images already in place on your website, run A/B tests to see which ones have the highest conversion rates.

For example, you could test an image of a man vs. an image of a woman to see if one yields different results. Or you could test an image of the same model, but with different facial expressions, such as smiling vs. a serious face.

Is it better to have one big image as the background of your website? Or will a white background with the image in the forefront have higher conversions?

The only way to find out for sure is by testing your theory.

You should also consider the size and position of your images in relationship to other elements of your website.

Continuously run these tests to maximize your conversion rates.

For example, let’s say you find out that a photo of a man converts higher than a photo of a woman. Now you’ve got to find the most optimal position of that photo on the page, so your tests will continue.

Test different color schemes

Colors can make a huge impact on how people see your website. That’s because certain colors have a psychological impact on our mind.

We’re programmed to associate certain colors with things. For example, but what color does everyone wear to a funeral? I’m not trying to sound grim, but that’s one of the reasons why we automatically associate the color black with death.

Test colors for every component of your website, such as the color of the text, the menu icons, and CTA buttons.

Here’s an example that tests the colors of the call-to-action on this website.

The pages are identical, including the text. The only thing that’s been changed is the color. Refer back to what I said earlier about our minds automatically associating certain colors with things.

Well, we’re programmed to go on green and stop on red. So a valid hypothesis for this A/B test would be that a green CTA button will have higher conversions than the red one.

Use A/B tests to improve your emails

Everything we’ve discussed so far is based around your website. But that’s not the only platform that you use to get conversions.

A/B testing is not limited to your website. You can also test factors from your email marketing campaigns.

Test things similar to what we’ve already talked about. Focus on your CTA, colors, images, headings, and text.

But with email, you can test other factors as well.

For example, use A/B testing on your email subject lines. The content of your message can be the same, but see if you have a significant difference in open rates and conversions based on the subject.

Test the word count of your marketing emails.

Recent studies suggest that emails between 50 and 125 words have the highest conversion rates.

So think outside of the box when you’re running these A/B tests.

Don’t assume that you’re only allowed to test elements of your website. Email campaigns are another viable option.

Revisit your early tests

A/B tests don’t just last for a day or two.

Typically, you’ll want to run each test for at least a few weeks or so to make sure that you’ve got a large enough sample size to yield conclusive results.

So let’s say you run 4 or 5 different tests on your CTA button. That alone could take 3 months. Then you move on to test your headlines, images, colors, and checkout process.

By the time you get through all of these tests, a year or two could have passed since your initial test.

Well, don’t stop now. Go back and see if your CTA is still as efficient as possible.

Conclusion

A/B testing is one of the best ways to increase your conversion rates.

But you don’t just run one test and call it a day. This process needs to be a continuous part of your marketing strategy. Always strive to make improvements to your website.

Test things like your CTA buttons, headlines, and checkout process.

You can also test visual elements such as your images and color schemes on your pages.

A/B testing isn’t just restricted to your website. You can apply this strategy to your email marketing campaigns as well.

Once you finish testing something, move on to the next element. After you’ve tested everything, start back at the beginning.

What elements of your website are you testing first to improve your conversion rates?

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5 Ways to Create a Brand Logo For Your Company in Just Minutes

If you want your business to succeed, you’ll need to pay close attention to your brand strategy.

No matter what size your business is, branding creates trust.

A strong brand creates instant recognition in the marketplace, especially amongst your customers.

The bigger you build your brand, the easier it is to create better opportunities for your business.

Your goal with branding should be to build loyalty and share your customer’s values. Do this right, and both your customers and your competitors will always remember you.

If you’re yet to define and build your brand, this guide can show you where to start.

One of the best ways to leave a positive and lasting (visual) imprint of your brand is to create a unique brand logo.

Getting your brand logo professionally designed can be expensive.

Look at 99Designs research. They found that a professionally-designed logo can cost you anywhere from $100 up to $2500+, with the quality varying depending on the actual cost.

That sounds pricey, right?

You could take it upon yourself to design your logo from scratch. Investing some time in learning how to graphic design.

I could even show you where to find some free fonts you could use.

Or, I could show you how to design a brand logo for your company with minimal effort on your part.

You see, gone are the days when your only option was to get a graphic designer to create your logo. They usually came with a hefty price tag.

Now, you can use online resources to design and create your very own brand logo for free.

And you can literally do it within a few minutes.

Some of these companies will even allow you to download your logo without having to invest any money.

In this article, I’ll walk you through five ways to create a free brand logo for your company in just minutes.

1. Free Logo Design

Free Logo Design is an online software that allows you to create a brand logo of your own and incorporate it into your business.

You can do this in a few simple steps:

• Select an existing logo template.
• Use the editor to move and scale your text or image.
• Download your logo.
• Display your logo everywhere.

First of all, you’ll need to go to the homepage and enter your company name, as shown.

You should notice right off the bat that Free Logo Design gives you four design options as you type.

These images are too generic. You’ll want to be more specific.

So, pick a category from the drop-down menu and click “Start.”

For the “new” Kissmetrics brand logo, I’ll pick “Business & Consulting.”

Once you’ve clicked “Start,” it will bring you to the design page where a pop-up platform will display auto-generated logo templates from existing images.

You’ll see some containing your company’s name.

In the “Business & Consulting” category, the software generated 90 designs, with a maximum of 15 per page.

For the next step, go through all of the designs and find a logo that you think will:

• Visually look good
• Define your brand
• Be a remembered by your customers
• Fit your brand strategy

Once satisfied with your decision, select the desired logo and click “Add.”

From there, it will take you to the logo editor where you may notice that the text and graphics are overlapping or jumbled up.

Each part of the graphic is an individual element, but the text grouped as one.

This is your default logo.

You could leave it as it is but, quite frankly, it won’t look great.

In this case, I’d like to move the text under the graphic and center it.

Select the text and drag it into position.

Once the text is aligned and looks pleasing to the eye, I’ll select all elements and move back to the center of the screen.

To do so, click and drag the cursor over the elements you want to move.

This creates a selection box of all elements that you can move (or rotate if required). A properties box that shows each element individually will also appear.

If you need to edit these elements, you can do so under the “Actions” toolbar.

An element’s colors can be edited, moved, flipped and rotated.

You can also edit the color, alignment/curve and font style of the text if you’re not quite happy with it.

Or you can add an extra logo, icon, shape or more text, from the options on the right.

Add an extra element or edit logo color if required.

Sometimes you can get stuck tweaking your design, potentially for hours.

For the “new” Kissmetrics brand logo, the goal is to create a completed logo design in only a few minutes.

And that’s all that’s needed. As it is, I’m happy with the design.

Now, with the design complete, it’s time to download your new brand logo. You can easily do this by clicking “Save,” at the top-right corner of the screen.

Free Logo Design will then prepare your logo for download. Once ready, it will give you the following options:

Click “Download” and enter your name and email address.

The finished logo will now be sent to you, free of charge.

Although the free PNG file is of a low-resolution, it’s ideal for website use and email signatures.

Even the high-resolution download is reasonably priced. Currently, at $39, this includes a PDF, EPS, and vector SVG file.

This is a steal in comparison to the prices I mentioned earlier for a professional design, and it’s very cost-effective for a bootstrapping business startup.

Whether you’re a bootstrapping startup or not, realizing your brand’s importance can play a major role in your business’s success.

By equipping your company with a new brand logo, you’ll be one step closer to achieving this success.

2. Logomakr

Another free resource with a hands-on approach is Logomakr.

With Logomakr, you can instantly make a brand logo for your company.

Most of these free online logo makers use similar concepts when designing and editing. They use existing templates on a user-friendly design platform.

To create your design with Logomakr:

Go to their homepage, and it will greet you with an instructional video. This will quickly run through the simple process of using their platform to design a logo.

It also presents you with the following design advice to consider:

1. Make your logo clean and simple.
2. Make sure your logo is 100% original.
3. Make sure you’re able to copyright your own logo.
4. Make sure the logo fits the style of your industry.
5. Make sure your final logo images are in vector format.

With your concept in mind, you’ll need to pick a graphic for your logo.

Next, search the 1,000,000+ graphics in Logomakr’s database, by using the search bar at the top left of your screen.

For my design, I’ll search “kiss.”

The database should then give you hundreds of free-use images to choose from (for that particular search word).

Scroll through the results and select the image you’d like to use.

You’ll then return to the editing page, where you’ve multiple options to edit your design.

You can add text, shapes, paint, scale, move or change the color of your graphic.

For this example, I’ll scale up the graphic to be larger. That way, it’ll stand out more.

Next, you’ll need to add your company name. Using the “add text” function, I’ll add “kissmetrics.”

Once you’ve added the text, you’ll notice two drop-down menus at the top of the screen.

One is for the font category and the other is for the font style.

Select the font style or category that you think will have the best visual impact on your design.

You can play around with the text and the scales of the elements (text, image or shapes) so they sit proportionate to each other.

Once you’re satisfied, consider the colors you’ll use in the final design and how that ties in with the overall color scheme of your branding strategy.

At Kissmetrics, I’m partial to the color blue.

You can change the color in three easy steps:

1. Select the elements you wish to change.
2. Click on “Change Color” in the tools section.
3. Pick the color you want in the top-right corner.

Once done, you’re ready to save and download a copy. Do this by clicking on “Save Logo” at the top right corner of your screen.

This will then bring you to your final set of options, depending on the use of the logo.

To opt for the free version, you’ll need to download and give credit to Logomakr.

Same goes for sharing the image on social media, which you can share instantly using the social media share buttons available.

You can also click on the link that says, “Paste This Code” to automatically copy the code. Then, just paste it into your website’s backend.

For this design, I’ll click on “Download And Agree To Give Credit.”

Again, to download a higher-res image than the one provided for free, you’ll need to pay a premium. In this case, it’s $19.

With the high-res image, you’ll be able to use it on banners, company clothing and for printing purposes.

Copy the logo’s reference into a text document and save so that you can return to the design at a later stage.

If you’ve followed the simple steps above you should now have a free brand logo that you can use as many times as you like.

You can do all of that in under 5 minutes, too.

3. Canva

Next on the list of software that offers free downloads is Canva.

If you’re not familiar with Canva, it’s simple design software that is quite popular with graphic designers, bloggers, and infographic creators.

Its popularity is due to its simplistic drag-and-drop design tools and a huge collection of photos, graphics, and fonts.

With the easy-to-use platform, you can create your brand logo in five easy steps:

Go to Canva’s Online Logo Maker and create an account.

Once you’re done, click on the “Start Designing A Custom Logo.”

The first thing you’ll want to do is change the name of your logo design at the top of the screen.

Next, select “Elements” from the toolbar and decide on a category. For this design, I’ll use an image from “Icons.”

A library of multiple icons will then appear. Scroll through them until you find an image you can use. Then, select it.

Some elements have the word “free” beside them. These are free-use graphics that you can use in your logo design.

Now that you have the main graphic for your logo, select the element and change the color.

Remember: always keep your branding theme in mind. So, once again, I’ll use blue.

Next, you’ll want to add your company name by selecting the “Text” tool from the toolbar. Similar to “Elements,” you have a library of templates to choose from.

Scroll through to find a text that will fit your brand, keeping in mind the “free-use” templates.

Find your favorite and click on it. I’ll use “Blue Wood.”

You’ll notice that the text will center on top of the logo element. Click on it and drag it to where you want it.

Move both text and element so that they align with the center of the design template.

Once satisfied it’s time to edit the text.

Click on and select the small text above “Blue Wood.” Delete this text.

Click on and select the text “Blue Wood” and replace it with your company name, “kissmetrics.”

Next, edit the color and size of the text by selecting the text and using the text toolbar at the top of your screen.

You also have the option to change the font style using the drop-down menu.

Your logo should now be ready to download. Click the “Download” button at the top right of the screen.

You’ll be given different file types to select for download.

The file types available are JPG, PNG, PDF standard and PDF print. For the Kissmetrics logo, I’ll choose PDF standard.

Once downloaded, you’ll be able to view your new brand logo in a PDF reader.

Canva doesn’t yet support, exporting logos in a vector format.

They suggest, for higher-res graphics, you should make your logo as large as possible and download the PDF print version.

Also, with a PNG file, you’ll be able to add your logo to your website.

Another quick, simple and free way to create a brand logo for your company.

4. GraphicSprings

GraphicSprings is software that allows you to use their platform to design and create a logo for free.

To begin your design, go to their logo design page and enter your company name.

Next, add an image from the database by selecting “Choose Your Graphic” from the side toolbar, left of the screen.

A sub-search bar will pop-up under your last selection, with a list of categories underneath.

If you know the graphic you’d like to add, enter it into the search bar.

GraphicSprings have included an “Internet” category, which is quite fitting, so I’ll use that.

Click the category you want and a database containing stock images/graphics will appear.

(Just like the previous software).

Can you spot a common theme yet?

This simple concept works across each platform, eliminating the need to “reinvent the wheel.”

Search through the results, and once you see an image that you’d like to use, select it.

By selecting the graphic, the software should instantly create your design and take you to the editing page. Once you’re there, it will prompt you to select the elements for editing.

Click on the text to edit it. It will allow you to change the font style, size, and format. You can also add some cool effects like stroke, shadow, or glow.

For simplicity, I’ll leave it as it is.

The options for editing are also basic. You have the ability to change the color and add some effects.

Canva will break the graphic into different elements (similar to Free Logo Design), so you can edit each piece individually.

I’ll stick with the color theme of blue, but I’ll keep the two-tone effect.

Next, select each element and change the colors accordingly.

Once the editing is complete and you’re satisfied with the design, click “Download Your Logo” at the bottom right of the editing page.

It will take you to the payment page where you can buy the high-resolution image from as low as $19.99.

To access the vector files with the ability to edit after you purchase it, you’ll need to pay for the standard package, which costs $39.99.

With this option, you’ll have the ability to make aftermarket changes to your logo whenever you please.

5. Designimo

Designimo also requires a payment once the design is complete, but you can use the design tools for free to create the graphic for your logo.

They previously offered a low-res free download, but they now produce high-res images only.

Designimo is logo design software similar to Free Logo Design and GraphicSprings.

Similar to the way that you enter the name of your company into the search bar and select a category that suits your industry.

It’ll then auto-generate multiple graphics using a huge database of existing designs.

Again, the level of editing is quite basic, but the results are equally as good.

It also follows the simple process that Free Logo Design uses:

• Select
• Edit
• Download
• Display

For a quick video tutorial to help you use the platform, check out how it works here.

To ensure your design goes as smooth as possible, I’ll walk you through the process below.

First, go to the homepage and enter your company name.

Then, select a category from the drop-down menu, which ranges from “Alphabetic Text” to “Travel & Hotel.”

For this example, I will use the category “Alphabetic Text.”

Designimo will provide you with numerous individual designs under each category.

While the other categories use existing graphics made up of symbols, the “Alphabetic Text” generates logos in the shape of the letter selected (hence the name).

It also files them alphabetically.

For the Kissmetrics logo, I’ll select the letter “K,” and go through the results. Each letter has multiple pages of designs, so navigate through them.

Once you’ve found one you’d like to proceed with, simply select the graphic.

You’ll then land on the editing page, equipped with basic design and editing tools. Using the tools available, you can:

• Increase/decrease element size
• Rotate graphics left/right
• Flip vertical/horizontal
• Change text size and font style to suit
• Apply opacity to an element (i.e., make see-through)
• Easily move elements by clicking and dragging

For this alphabetical logo, I’ll be a little creative and use the symbol shaped as “K” and use it to start the company name, “Kissmetrics.”

By deleting the “k” from the text, I now have a completely different and unique looking logo.

Edit the text size or font style, if required.

The default font is OK, so I’ll leave it as it is.

Next, change the colors to match your theme.

If you’re happy with the design, your new brand logo should now be ready to download. Click on “Download Now” or “Save For Future” (if you’d like to come back and work on it).

To download your image, first, you’ll need to register your details and sign up for an account.

You’ll then be brought to an order confirmation page, to confirm and proceed to checkout.

Pay and download.

The cost for a high-res image, including PNG, JPG and EPS Vector files, is $29.95.

Although not free, the brand logo you can create and download using this software is a high-quality graphic at a relatively low price.

Conclusion

When it comes to starting a new business, the number of tasks on your to-do-list along with the costs of setting everything up can be overwhelming.

From the initial set-up and registration to branding.

Yes, it can be challenging.

But creating a brand logo for your company doesn’t have to be.

Branding should be the core of your company’s marketing strategy.

Your brand should tell a story.

And part of that story is your logo.

You’ve established, that having a clean and simple logo your customers will remember is essential.

Being an expert in graphic design or outsourcing to a freelancer or professional agency was once the norm.

But now, the Internet is full of innovative people with new ideas and free software that can help new businesses reduce their startup costs.

With these platforms incorporating simple and user-friendly tools, it’s possible, as I’ve just demonstrated, to create a free brand logo for your company in minutes.

These platforms are also designed to stop you from becoming paralyzed by design.

Previously, you may have been up all night studying “how-to-design” videos on YouTube.

Now you don’t have to.

These platforms do most of the designing for you and, and they’ll even give you some quick tutorials. All that you have to bring to the table is a good idea and an eye for a visually-pleasing design.

With your brand’s color and theme in mind, pick the software easiest for you.

If you follow the step-by-step processes mentioned above, you should have a quality brand logo that you can use for your business.

At least now you’ll have one less startup task to deal with.

In terms of user-friendliness, design results, or cost, which software would you recommend?

About the Author: Neil Patel is the cofounder of Neil Patel Digital.

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