Vincent Ye
8/10/22
Today I will be writing about creating music on your computer. It seems yesterday's blog is not here, I think I may have forgotten to save it. The blog from yesterday is about commodities so I will try to write about what I had yesterday and then how to create music on your computer. A commodity is a basic good used in commerce that is interchangeable with other goods of the same type. Commodities are most often used as inputs in the production of other goods or services. A commodity thus usually refers to a raw material used to manufacture finished goods. A product, on the other hand, is the finished good sold to consumers. Commodities can be bought and sold on specialized exchanges as financial assets. There are also well-developed derivatives markets whereby you can buy contracts on such commodities. The sale and purchase of commodities are usually carried out through futures contracts on exchanges that standardize the quantity and minimum quality of the commodity being traded. Now I will be writing about creating music on your computer. If you have a computer, the next pieces of gear you should get are DAW(digital audio workstation), a MIDI controller, an audio interface, and mixing equipment. DAWs are programs that run on your computer that allow you to record, edit, and produce audio files. MIDI (short for musical instrument digital interface) is a protocol designed for controlling digital instruments. It does not produce any sound, rather, it simply transmits information on how the music was produced. Anyone who wants to record their instrument needs an audio interface. Audio interfaces provide the link from your computer to any of your external hardware. This includes your piano, guitar, headphones, monitors, and microphone. An audio mixer is a device with the primary function to accept, combine, process and monitoring audio.
Vincent Ye
8/1/22
Today I will be writing about how to get started with magazine writing. The first step is to study whatever your target publication is, you have to do research and look into the topic deeply so that your publication is successful. The second step is to find story ideas, this can be done with conversations with friends or family, events at places such as restaurants, fairs, plays, meetings, and protests, there are also newspapers with lots of information that may help with finding ideas, other magazines to see what story ideas are there, search engines with keywords on the topic you want to write about, celebrity involvement to see what can happen from there, and many others. The third step is to find the "news hook" which is just what should be written at the moment such as publications on the LGBTQ community during pride month. The fourth step is to leave enough time, magazines work ahead so it is important to think ahead and plan for future magazine publications. The fifth step is to learn to write query letters, it is important not just to write up something and send it in, a good magazine writer should query the editor and then pitch your story idea. If the editor finds the idea good, you would get an assignment to continue with the story. The sixth step is to start small, one should start their way up from the bottom since it is next to impossible to immediately be with the top magazine writing companies straight out of one's education. The seventh step is to try starting with a shorter piece with around three hundred to five hundred words as opposed to starting out with pieces with thousands of words. The eighth step is to pitch trade magazines and custom publishers, since a person is just starting out, things won't always be easy and simple. The ninth step is to learn LOI basics, this is simply the format and how exactly the magazine should be written and made. The tenth step is to find sources since interviewing people can help with the scoop and getting the story. The eleventh step is to start conducting interviews, there are also many tips on how to give an interview with an overview of how to ask your questions. The twelfth step is to write the first draft, this allows for any mistakes or minor finishing touches to be made. The thirteenth step is to rewrite your draft and the fourteenth step is to get feedback. With all of this done, it is time for the fifteenth step which is to turn in your story and have it published.
Vincent Ye
7/23/22
Today I will be writing about REITs. Real estate investment trusts are an alternative to buying real estate directly, it is about investing in real estate to make money rather than making money after buying and owning real estate. Real estate investment trusts have been a popular investment since it started in 1960. This can be similar to stocks and stock market exchanges but just with real estate. Typically, real estate investment trusts are for those who want to have some type of business in real estate but do not have enough money for a complete investment or purchase. Real estate investment trusts are a good choice for those who do not have enough capital because this financial plan allows people to make money without needing too much start-up money. Some real estate categories that can be invested in are industrial and office, retail, residential, lodging and resorts, health care, self-storage, specialty, storage units, mortgages, malls, and many others along with a mix of these. Buying or investing in real estate investment trusts can be done by nearly any investor regardless of portfolio size and availability. A benefit of real estate investment trusts is the taxes, real estate investment trusts are suited to be placed in retirement accounts because of the way real estate investment trusts are taxed.
Vincent Ye
7/27/22
Today I will be writing about what forex is. Forex is the global electronic marketplace for international business. There is no physical central location since the majority of the world has this. Even though there is no central physical location, the forex market is the largest with trillions of dollars worth being moved from businesses, banks, brokers, and other financial institutions. The forex market is open all day for twenty-four hours a day, five days a week, with it also open on many holidays on which the stoke markets are closed. Forex is an international market for international trading, this used to just be limited to governments and financial institutions but now individuals can also directly buy or sell currencies on forex. Forex exists so that large amounts of currencies can be exchanged for the equivalent value of another currency at market price. This is used when a trade occurs between financial institutions from different countries, an example can be an American company trading the United States dollar for the Japanese yen in order to pay for a certain good or service that has been ordered from Japan and is paid in yen.
Vincent Ye
7/22/22
Today I will be writing about guest blogging. Guest blogging is one of many resources that businesses use to both inform their customers and guide them to their products and services. This is a method that allows businesses to communicate with their customers whether it is for reviews or advice on bettering their products. A person that guest blogs for a company would typically be someone that was invited from outside of the company and the writer would usually work in the same industry or be an expert on what the business of the organization is marketing. Guest blogging would benefit both parties, it benefits the writer because if they are new to their field or if their company is small, it is a chance to get their thoughts out on a product that can go out to a large audience. This allows for brand awareness, an influx of fresh content, a show of leadership, and an increase in SEO which makes a website more popular in the rankings. Some benefits for the guest blogger are advantageous relationships, a larger reach, a bigger audience, some extra money, and the fame that may come with it.
Vincent Ye
7/21/22
Today I am writing about backlinks. Backlinks are links on websites that can lead to another website. It can be said that these backlinks are votes for specific websites. Google and other search engines have these backlinks which lead from one website to another website. Backlinks are important because each website with a backlink to a specific website can give some information such as whether that specific website is valuable, credible, or useful. Therefore, the more backlinks to a specific website, that website would be more popular and would rank higher on Google and other search engines. This information is helpful to Google or other search engines' algorithm which also changes daily. Google makes thousands of changes to its algorithm which rely on backlinks providing information. This means that backlinks are going to be one of the most important factors in search engine rankings. Typically, backlinks have seven characteristics which are relevance, traffic, authority, ink profile quality, editorial standards, outbound link quality, and indexation. With these characteristics, one can tell whether to stay away from certain backlinks. Some examples could be public blog networks since it is an artificial link that can be risky for your security, blog comments since they may not be reliable, and web 2.0 backlinks. In order to get backlinks, a person would need to use the following tips which are authority transfer technique, adding internal links on your website to relevant search engine optimization pages, using the LIS technique, using predictive link techniques, and many others which can be found online.
Vincent Ye
7/13/22
Today I will be writing about how to get a book or a piece of writing published. There are normally two ways to get something published, the first way is to publish traditionally and the second way is to publish independently. Both methods can earn money and require hard work. To publish independently is to do everything yourself which results in not having certain benefits when publishing traditionally. When publishing traditionally, there is usually more fame, less money out of pocket, access to the New York Times list, access to prestigious awards, and better distribution from stores. When publishing traditionally, it is helpful to follow these certain seven steps, prove yourself, write a query letter and a book proposal, get an agent, get a publisher, get paid, write or re-write your book, and finally publish your book.
Vincent Ye
7/12/22
Today I will be writing about predictive analytics. Predictive analytics has been around for decades but recently, more and more organizations are turning to predictive analytics for many reasons, including how to increase their bottom line and competitive advantage. These organizations use predictive analytics because currently, there has been a growing volume of many different types of data, more interest in using data to produce valuable insights, faster computers, cheaper computers, easily usable software, readily accessible software, tougher economic conditions, and a need for competitive differentiation. Predictive analytics is important because it is extremely beneficial in detecting fraud, optimizing marketing campaigns, improving operations, and reducing risk. Currently, many industries use predictive analytics such as banking services, financial services, retail services, government services, public services, oil services, gas services, utility services, health services, manufacturing services, and many more. Predictive analytics uses predictive models which can be separated into classification models and regression models which use known results to develop a model that can be used to predict values for different or new data.
Vincent Ye
7/7/22
Today I learned about algorithms and algorithmic thinking. In simple terms, algorithms are just ways to do things, processes to solve some type of problem. Algorithmic thinking is a mindset that was derived from machines, algorithmic thinking is a way of systematically working. It can be used for problem-solving, similar to how a computer would run. The process of an algorithm would be to clearly define a problem, break down that problem into simple parts, define the solution for each of these simple parts, implement the solution, and finally increase the efficiency of the problem-solving algorithm. Some examples of what an algorithm can accomplish can be looking for a word in the dictionary, sorting a list of numbers, generating the Fibonacci Sequence, finding prime numbers, recipe/steps of baking a cake, making a sandwich, finding equations, searching for things you want, and many other things. There are many algorithms involved in everyday life since the internet is very prevalent today.
Today, I decided to switch from app development to artificial intelligence because I wanted to see what it was all about since I was interested. I learned about the six major branches of artificial intelligence which are machine learning, neural networks, expert systems, robotics, fuzzy languages, and natural language processing. I also learned about the salaries of artificial intelligence engineers which range from the different years of experience. Typically someone with no experience would earn about $87000 per year, people with 1-3 years of experience would earn about $96000 per year, people with 4-6 years of experience would earn about $106000 per year, people with 7-9 years of experience would earn about $111000 per year, people with 10-14 years of experience would earn about $118000 per year, and those with more than 15 years of experience would earn about $129000 per year. Lastly, I learned about how artificial intelligence engineers can get jobs or internships with no experience because artificial intelligence is still relatively new so as long as one has a good understanding of the theory which they should get at their college, there would be a specialty that they can further their understanding of at the job or internship.
Vincent Ye
7/5/22
Today is the first day back from doing Techie Youth last year, there are some changes and I can vaguely remember how the website works. I immediately scrolled down on the main page to see what new topic I could start on and I was interested in mobile app development. To start off, I learned information about the salary of mobile app developers. The salary of a mobile app developer is typically higher in the United States compared to an Asian country with the average yearly average at $105220 in the United States and $4100 per year in India, one of the lowest reported salaries for mobile app developers. There are also differences in salaries within the United States with cities like New York, Houston, and San Francisco being higher than Philadelphia and Columbus. The entry-level application development salary is $78914 in the United States.
I also learned about skills that one should have in order to be a successful app developer. One of the most important skills would be knowing multiple programming languages. Some languages that most app developers use in the United States are Java which many have at least heard about, Kotlin for Android, and objective-C with Swift for iOS. Another skill is diversity, it is important to have expertise in different platforms and earn experience in these different platforms. Marketing skills are also important because you wouldn't want to make the most perfect app but no one actually uses it. Information security is also important to keep the app and personal information safe. Being analytical to offer solutions made with the understanding of any problem that may arise while making the app. The final skills would be communication because good communication ability to reach out to people can help immensely whether it is help or guidance.