When Encore founder Andr Eriksson became a developer at Spotify, he found the work of building backends for cloud applications mundane and repetitive, far from the rush he felt while collaborating with World of Warcraft maker Blizzard as a teenager.

The Swedish backend maker on its website refers to those repetitive backend tasks, for the developer at least, like being a hamster on a wheel. His idea behind Encore is to make it easier and faster to get to the fun part of software development.

I personally was spending the vast majority of my time as an engineer, just doing the same type of work over and over again, managing the infrastructure, configuring things, you know, all that sort of repetitive and undifferentiated tasks that are just the daily life of building backends for the cloud these days, he said. And then looking around, I noticed every single team was doing that. And then looking outside of the company, every other company was also doing the same thing.

The company was exploring available tools, but not finding they provided that much benefit, he said. After thinking long and hard about the problem, he decided that the core issue is that engineers spend so much time building systems that have no idea what theyre trying to do.

So he set out to build a system that, in effect, could read your mind. Sort of.

In order to help developers do their job more effectively, we need tools that actually understand what developers are trying to do, he said. Were all used to all these tools that really have absolutely no idea what youre trying to do; they dont understand that youre building a backend at all.

Even the ones that are backend-specific, they dont understand what your backend is about; they dont understand how it fits together. And when you dont have that understanding, youre very limited in your ability to actually aid developers in getting their job done. And thats where Encore is different.

Written it Go, Encore is designed to match the design in the engineers head, an approach it calls the Encore Application Model.

With any programming language, you have a compiler and a parser that analyzes your code, then builds a binary that you then run on a server.

Encore is essentially another layer on top of that, where we add additional rules to how youre expressing backend concepts like, This is how you define an API. This is how you query a database, this is how you define that you need a queue for a cache or whatever. So you have all of these really important concepts in building distributed systems that come up over and over again, and were taking them and turning them into native concepts that you express in a certain way, he explained.

Essentially, Encore runs a set of opinionated rules atop your cloud account and its Backend Development Engine requires they be followed.

We have a parser, which works just like a regular compiler for programming language, that is then parsing the code and enforcing those rules: Oh, youre trying to query a database, but youre not following Encores rules. So in a way, its a programming language built on top of Go that instead of compiling it into a binary, its compiling it into a description of a distributed system which is like, here are all the services, here are all of the different endpoints, here are the requests and the response schemas, here is where youre doing an API call between this service and that service. Heres where youre defining a database or a key-value store. Heres where youre querying the database.

So it becomes this really, really rich description of how your whole system fits together. And it very much models the mental model of the engineers that are building that system, because thats how they think about this, he said.

Using static analysis of the metadata, it creates a graph of your system, much like if you were drawing this out on a whiteboard, with boxes and arrows representing systems and services and how they communicate and connect to the infrastructure.

It provides the ability to:

Encore doesnt want to host your software. While it does offer hosting to help startups and hobbyists get up and running quickly, for production it runs atop your cloud accounts on Amazon Web Services, Azure or the Google Cloud Platform.

It makes much of its open source roots and your control of your cloud accounts, stressing that if, for whatever reason, you want to leave Encore, you still own the data and access to those accounts.

Its a full-fledged programming tool, just at a slightly higher abstraction level thats dedicated for building cloud-based backends, Eriksson said.

Most of the engineers that are using Encore are actually very experienced. They come from a world where they know how to do all of this stuff with cloud infrastructure and scalable distributed systems. Theyre just fed up with it. They actually want to build products, not mess around with all of that toil. And they really like that Encore enables them to do that, he said.

Eriksson launched Encore along with Marcus Kohlberg, also a Spotify alum, in 2021. It touts an engineering team with experience at Google and the UK-based online bank Monzo. The company open sourced the Encore Go Framework last year under Mozilla Public License 2.0. Its the basis for the Backend Development Engine, announced recently along with a $3 million seed round led by Crane Venture Partners.

Encore is dramatically changing the developer experience for building distributed systems in the cloud, said Krishna Visvanathan, cofounder of Crane Venture Partners. It stands apart because of its ability to deeply understand source code and automate what would otherwise slow development and business to a halt, while giving developers the freedom to develop for any application or cloud environment. Encore is a clear leader and first mover in this space.

With its experience with large-scale distributed systems, its looking to solve those problems, but provide a compelling product for startups as well.

I think this approach, which is very opinionated, and really focuses on a very integrated approach, where we can actually make investments into solving problems that large engineering organizations never have the time to get to. I think theres substantial value there on the enterprise side of really sophisticated analysis about how your systems fit together and work, Eriksson said.

He noted that if youre into game development you use a game engine like Unity or Unreal Engine. But to build a backend, traditionally, you just open a file and start typing.

So theres this real massive difference in experience and integration between the game industry and the backend industry. And thats kind of where we want to take this, providing a really powerful and integrated experience that improves on not just for individual developers, but how you collaborate, and how youre working in teams, and how whole organizations work.

And then going beyond developers into insights and analytics and machine learning and data, he said, of the long-term vision.

On the more immediate horizon, its much more about how do we take this experience and making it more accessible to larger companies that want to integrate it with already existing systems and backends, being able to seamlessly integrate it with existing infrastructure, and that sort of thing.

And then just adding more cloud primitives, as we call it, the building blocks of distributed systems, like caches, and queues and object storage, and all these sorts of things that youre building back inside of these.

Brian Ketelsen, cloud developer advocate at Microsoft, is a fan. He gushed in email:

I have used Encore for a few projects now, and Im completely in love. The first project was an ambitious conference management platform undertaken with a few volunteers in the Go community. In just a few weeks we were able to put together a complete conference management system that included everything a conference needs: ticketing, program scheduling, call for papers, room management and more. It was really easy to onboard new volunteers to help with the code and everyone was impressed with the speed at which we were able to develop. This project was just over a year ago, so it was built using an older version of Encores platform.

More recently I was invited to do a keynote for DevWeek Mexico. I knew Encore was planning a 1.0 launch around the same time and they had just released Azure support. I work for Microsoft as an Azure cloud developer advocate. So I decided to build a Life API as a demo app for the keynote.

My goal was to create an API that covered all of the things I would manually do as a developer advocate. I have a new baby at home with some severe medical issues, and we ended up spending much of the time I had planned to write my talk and app in the ICU with the little one. We got home on Friday my keynote was Monday. I was able to build out the entire API and build a new website that consumes it in just a few hours over the weekend.

To say that Im impressed with Encore would be a gross understatement. From a functional perspective, Encore is built for developers. The development experience is well crafted with almost zero friction after installing the encore command-line app and creating an account. The Encore platform allowed me to write only the business logic for my application instead of spending countless hours setting up hosting, continuous integration, automated deployments and the rest of the operational things that drag a new project down in the beginning. For a smaller project like mine, that probably saved me a total of 15-20 hours of time.

Operationally, Encore really shines. Because Encores tools analyze the code Ive written, they are able to inject all the boring boilerplate that I hate writing. Yes, I want distributed tracing; No, I dont want to annotate every function with dozens of lines of repetitive code to make it happen. Once my code was deployed, I could go to the Encore dashboard and view distributed traces and detailed logs. That single pane approach to ops is such a wonderful simplification from the usual suite of 5-8 different tools a team might use to manage a deployed application.

Treating RPC calls as local function calls in code is another delightful time-saver. Instead of writing my API as a big monolith, I decided to break each functional area into separate microservices to explore how well Encore worked in an environment where there are many services exposed with public and private (internal) endpoints. Everything about the process was smooth and boring in the best possible way. Encore manages database connections, secrets, database migration, logs and infrastructure. Thats SO MUCH code I didnt write.

Every tool like Encore that is designed to speed up development comes with tradeoffs. As a developer, it is your responsibility to understand the tradeoffs that come with the decisions made on your behalf by the tools.

Encore was clearly built by people who understand both the needs of the developer and the needs of the ops crowd. There arent any decisions in their platform that I couldnt accept and embrace. The icing on the proverbial cake is the ability to host the application on my own Azure subscription so Im not dependent on someone elses cloud.

See more here:
Encore Models, Builds the Backend Designed in Your Head - thenewstack.io

On May 4, GitHubs CSO Mike Hanley announced that all users who upload code to the site must enable one or more forms of two-factor authentication (2FA) by the end of 2023 or leave. Its about time!

In case youve been asleep for the last few years, software supply chain attacks have become commonplace. One of the easiest ways to protect it is to use 2FA. 2FA is simple. Besides using a username/password pair to identify yourself you also use a second factor to prove your identity.

Under the surface, 2FA gets complicated. They rely on one of three standards: HMAC-based One Time Password (HOTP). Time-based One-Time Password (TOTP), or the FIDO Alliances FIDO2 Universal 2nd Factor (U2F) standard. But, you dont need to worry about that as a developer, unless security, authentication, and identity are your thing. You just need to, as Hanley puts it, enable one or more forms of 2FA.

Its not that freaking hard. Still, today, only approximately 16.5% of active GitHub users and 6.44% of npm users use one or more forms of 2FA. Why are developers so stubbornly stupid?

As Mark Loveless, a GitLab senior security researcher, put it recently, The main reason for low adoption of a secondary authentication factor is that turning on any multi-factor authentication (MFA) is an extra step, as it is rarely on by default for any software package. And we do so hate to take even one extra step.

Mind you, smarter developers on bigger projects do get it. Patrick Toomey, GitHubs director of product security engineering, recently observed that Open source maintainers for well-established projects (more than 100 contributors) are three to four times more likely to make use of 2FA than the average user. That comes as no surprise because larger and more popular projects appreciate their position and responsibility in the open source software supply chain. In addition, these projects often become GitHub organizations, with the ability to manage access to their repositories using teams and set security policies, including a requirement to enable 2FA.

Another factor in people refusing to get a 2FA clue is simple ignorance. For example, a discussion on the Reddit programming subreddit on the issue showed many people assume that 2FA is either hard (Spoiler: Its not) or its not that secure because if uses a phone. True, 2FA that uses texting is relatively easy to break. Just ask Jack Dorsey, Twitters founder. Dorseys own Twitter account was hijacked thanks to a SIM swap attack.

But the important point here is you dont need to use your texting, aka Short Message Service (SMS). For 2FA, GitHub explicitly tells you that can also use:

Its not that hard, people! It really isnt. And, as for those who whine, This will kill projects! any project thats killed because its developers cant do basic 2FA security is better off dead.

For too long in open source communities, weve been too inclined to think that hackers only attack proprietary programs. As James Arlen, Aiven CISO (chief information security officer), observed, The reality of open-source software development over the last 30+ years has been based on a web of trust among developers. This was maintained through personal relationships in the early days but has grown beyond the ability of humans to know all of the other humans. With GitHub taking the step of providing deeper authentication requirements on developers, it will dramatically reduce the likelihood of a developer suffering an account takeover and the possibility of a violation of that trust. In short, Angel Borroy, a Hyland developer evangelist, told me, bad guys can see open source code too.

GitHub is giving you until 2023. Thats much too kind of them. Your GitHub accounts being hijacked is a real and present danger. Adopt 2FA today. Adopt 2FA not only on GitHub but on all your code repositories and online services. Its the best way you can protect yourself and your code from attackers today.

Featured image Ed HardieonUnsplash.

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Github's 2FA Move Was Long Overdue The New Stack - thenewstack.io

Fintech startup Yapily is announcing that it plans to acquire finAPI the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals before it closes. Both companies offer open banking solutions in Europe.

With this move, Yapily is consolidating its position in Europe and growing its business in Germany, more specifically. The terms of the deal are undisclosed, but the company says it is a multimillion-euro transaction.

Based in the U.K., Yapily offers a single, unified open banking API to interact with bank accounts. Unlike Tink or TrueLayer, Yapily offers a low-level solution without any front-end interface. Developers have to code their own bank connection flow. The result is more control and no Yapily logo.

Due to European PSD2 regulation, banks have to offer programming interfaces (APIs) so that they can work better with third-party services. Yapily has focused specifically on official API integrations and covers thousands of banks. It doesnt rely on screen scraping and private APIs.

Companies can leverage open banking to check the balance on a bank account, fetch the most recent transactions, but also initiate payments directly from a bank account.

FinAPI is also an open banking provider. Originally from Munich, Germany, the company has been around since 2008 Schufa acquired a majority stake in finAPI in 2019. It offers an API with coverage in Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. Like Yapily, finAPI clients can obtain account information and initiate payments using an API.

In addition to those pure open banking products, finAPI also offers the ability to verify the age and identity of a customer. This can be useful to comply with KYC (Know Your Customer) regulation.

Yapily currently covers 16 European markets and the company says it is the leader in the U.K. But the startup isnt currently active in Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. With todays acquisition, the company is expanding to these three new markets and becoming the leader in Germany.

As you can see, theres some product feature overlap between Yapily and finAPI. And the acquisition makes sense as the two companies didnt start in the same market.

Yapily works with companies like American Express, Intuit QuickBooks, Moneyfarm, Volt, Vivid and BUX. FinAPIs clients include ING, Datev, Swiss Life, ImmobilienScout24 and Finanzguru.

This is a hugely exciting milestone for Yapily on our journey from disruptive startup to ambitious scale-up. Within three years from launch, we have commercialized our platform, grown our customer base, and now have the largest open banking payments volumes in Europe. Working with finAPI, we can gain more speed, agility, and depth to accelerate innovation and shape the future of open finance in Europe and beyond, Yapily founder and CEO Stefano Vaccino said in a statement.

When it comes to payments in particular, Yapily and finAPI have processed a combined total of $39.5 billion in payment volumes over the last 12 months. Essentially, Yapily will double its customer base with this acquisition.

Follow this link:
Yapily to acquire finAPI in open banking consolidation move - TechCrunch

Owocki was something of a rock star at the conference. He is credited with coining the term BUIDL in 2017. Admirers approached him nonstop to talk, express their support, or ask for a copy of his book, GreenPilled: How Crypto Can Regenerate the World, which was the talk of the conference and quickly sold out of the 400 copies he had ordered. Owocki is about as far from a casino person as youll find in the crypto world. In one of several presentations he gave, Owocki told the crowd that since research shows money stops increasing happiness after about $100,000 in annual income, Web3 founders should maximize their happiness by giving their excess money to public goods that everyone gets to enjoy. Theres cypherpunk, which is all about privacy, decentralization: hardcore libertarian shit, he told me. Im more of a leftist. Im more solarpunk, which is, how do we solve our contemporary problems around sustainability and equitable economic systems? Its a different set of values.

The internet, he explained, made it possible to move information between computers. This revolutionized communication. Blockchains have made it possible to move units of value between computers. Owocki believes this can be harnessed to revolutionize how human beings interact through something he calls regenerative cryptoeconomics. Cryptoeconomics, he writes in GreenPilled, is the use of blockchain-based incentives to design new kinds of systems, applications, or networks. Regenerative cryptoeconomics means doing this in a way that makes the world a better place for everyone. The goal is to break free from the zero-sum, rich-get-richer patterns of capitalism. Owocki believes that the right cryptoeconomic structure can help solve collective action problems like climate change, misinformation, and an underfunded digital infrastructure.

The key tool for achieving this is a decentralized autonomous organization. In theory, a DAO (yes, pronounced the same as the ancient Chinese word for the way of the universe) uses cryptocurrency to boost collective action. Typically, members join by buying some amount of a custom token issued by the DAO. That entitles them to an ownership stake in the DAO itself. Member-owners vote on what the DAO doeswhich is mostly to say, what it spends money on, since a blockchain-based entity can do little besides move funds from one address to another.

The young concept already has a checkered history. The first DAO, named simply The DAO, collapsed in 2016 after someone exploited a loophole in its code to siphon off what was then worth some $50 million in Ethereum currency. Similarly colorful failures have followed. DAOs were nonetheless all the rage at ETHDenver, where attendees waxed on about their world-changing potential. Kimbal Musk, Elons photogenic brother, spoke about his Big Green DAO, a food-related charity. Giving away money via a DAO, he insisted, got rid of all the painful bureaucracy of philanthropic nonprofits. Its way better, he said, though he also granted that there are many ways to fail, and this one could fail spectacularly.

What is it about a DAO thatunlike, say, a Kickstarter pagefrees humanity from the collective action problems that threaten to doom the species? According to Owocki, its the ability to write code in ways that tinker with incentive structures. (In this sense, the first DAO was arguably Bitcoin itself.) Our weapon of choice is novel mechanism designs, based upon sound game theory, deployed to decentralized blockchain networks as transparent open source code, he writes in GreenPilled. Indeed, the book has very little to say about technology, per se, and much more to say about various game theory concepts. These range from the sort of thing youd learn in an undergrad econ classpublic goods are non-excludable and non-rivalrousto things that wouldnt be out of place in a sci-fi novel: community inclusion currencies, fractal DAO protocols, retroactive public goods funding.

Its hard enough for me to grasp how a DAO works. So while Im in Denver,I create one.

One of the most powerful incentive design techniques, according to Owocki, is something called quadratic voting. Standing near the edge of the Shill Zone, Owocki turned around to show me the back of his purple baseball jacket, which said Quadratic Lands. The Quadratic Lands, Owocki explained, are a mythical place where the laws of economics have been redesigned to produce public goods. Its just a meme, he said. I dont want to tell you it already exists. (Everyone at ETHDenver was concerned, rightly, about my ability to separate metaphorical claims from literal ones.)

In a quadratic voting system, you get a budget to allocate among various options. Lets say its dollars, though it could be any unit. The more dollars you allocate to a particular choice, the more your vote for it counts. But theres an important caveat: Each marginal dollar you pledge to the same choice is worth less than the previous one. (Technically, the cost of your vote rises quadratically, rather than linearly.) This makes it harder for the richest people in a group to dominate the vote. GitCoin uses an adaptation, quadratic funding, to award money to Web3 projects. The number of people who contribute to a given project counts more than the amount they contribute. This rewards ideas supported by the most people rather than the wealthiest: regenerative cryptonomics in action.

Here is the original post:
The Web3 Movements Quest to Build a Cant Be Evil Internet - WIRED

Terry Angelos, Visa's global head of fintech and crypto.

DriveWealth

One of Visa's top executives is leaving the payments giant for a brokerage technology start-up, CNBC has learned.

Terry Angelos, Visa's global head of fintech and crypto, will take over as chief executive officer of start-up DriveWealth next week. Angelos joined Visa seven years ago as part of its acquisition of TrialPay, which he founded and led as CEO.

DriveWealth lets consumer finance apps like Block's Cash App and Revolut offer stock trading by providing necessary behind-the-scenes infrastructure. The Jersey City-based broker-dealer was one of the first to allow fractional investing, or buying stocks in smaller dollar amounts vs. whole shares.

While retail trading boomed during the pandemic, Angelos said the long-term opportunity is in taking U.S. equities international. He estimated roughly a billion people across the world, outside of China, access financial services from a digital wallet or a fintech app and are looking for exposure to blue-chip stocks.

"If you were to think about the single, most reliable long-term asset that people around the world want to own, it's equity in U.S. companies," Angelos said. "Traditionally, people outside the U.S. don't have the ability to open up a brokerage account. That's something that we think we can help solve."

U.S. companies have been less of a safe haven this week with the Dow hitting its lowest level of the year on Monday. Still, over the past six decades, U.S. stocks have seen a roughly 10% annual return.

DriveWealth was last valued at $2.8 billion and is backed by Softbank, Fidelity's venture capital arm and Citi Ventures among others. The company operates as a licensed broker-dealer, providing clearing and settlement on behalf of its fintech customers, which handle the consumer experience and apps.

DriveWealth also provides custody for individual accounts and stocks. To connect to these apps, it uses software known as an API, or Application Programming Interface. The company said it doubled its customer base year over year, with 140% growth in international partners. While it's starting with stocks, DriveWealth also offers crypto investing infrastructure.

Individual investor activity has slowed significantly from its 2021 peak at the time of the GameStop frenzy. The retail participation rate, measured by retail volume as a percentage of total trading volume, recently fell to its lowest level since the pandemic began, according to Rich Repetto, managing director and senior research analyst at Piper Sandler.

That pullback has hurt shares of Robinhood, which recently said it was cutting 9% of its workforce after ramping up hiring to keep up with demand, and other publicly traded brokerage firms.

Still, Angelos said DriveWealth has seen increased participation and account growth during the recent downturn, and pointed to the long-term value of U.S. stocks.

"We're still in the growth cycle of making equities available to people who otherwise wouldn't have had access and will continue to see growth, even though there may be volatility or pullbacks among more active traders," he said.

As for an initial public offering, Angelos said it's "potentially on the road map." But for now, he said he's focused on increasing its footprint and returning to the chief executive role after almost a decade at Visa.

See the original post here:
Visa's top crypto executive Terry Angelos leaves for Softbank-backed brokerage start-up DriveWealth - CNBC

Kubernetes has standardised on the Linux Foundations free software signing service, sigstore, to protect against supply chain attacks. sigstore, first released in March 2021, includes a number of signing, verification and provenance techniques that let developers securely sign software artifacts such as release files, container images and binaries with signatures stored in a tamper-proof public log. The service is free to use and designed to help prevent what are increasingly regular and sophisticated upstream software supply chain attacks.

sigstores founders include Red Hat, Google and Purdue University. Its adoption by Kubernetes one of the worlds most active open source communities, with close to six million developers (a huge number given that CNCF data from December 2021 suggests that there are 6.8 million cloud native developers in total) is a significant vote of trust in the standard for verifying software components. (nb The Linux Foundation hosts both sigstore and Kubernetes, as well as Linux, Node.js and a host of other ubiquitous critical software projects.)

Kubernetes 1.24 released May 3 and all future releases will now include cryptographically signed sigstore certificates, giving its developer community the ability to verify signatures and have greater confidence in the origin of each and every deployed Kubernetes binary, source code bundle and container image.

Few open source projects currently cryptographically sign software release artifacts, something largely due, the Linux Foundation suggested on sigstores launch back in March 2021, to the challenges software maintainers face on key management, key compromise / revocation and the distribution of public keys and artifact digests.

The move by Kubernetes maintainers comes as supply chain attacks escalated 650% in 2021. The Kubernetes team in early 2021 began exploring SLSA compliance to improve Kubernetes software supply chain security, explaining that sigstore was a key project in achieving SLSA level 2 status and getting a head start towards achieving SLSA level 3 compliance, which the Kubernetes community expects to reach this August [2022]

(SLSA is a set of standards and technical controls that provide a a step-by-step guide to preventing software artifacts being tampered with, tampered artifacts from being used, and at the higher levels, hardening up the platforms that make up a supply chain. It was introduced by Google as a standard in June 2021.)

Dan Lorenc, originalco-creator of sigstorewhile at Google (and presently CEO / co-founder ofChainguard) told The Stack that the sigstore General Availability (GA) production release is due out this Summer.

This means enterprises and open source communities will benefit from stable APIs and production grade stable services for artifact signing and verification. This is being made possible thanks to the dedicated sigstore open source community, which has fixed major bugs and added key features in both services over the past few months. Sponsors like Google, RedHat, HPE and Chainguard provided funding that allowed us to stabilize infrastructure and perform a third-party security audit he said, adding: Many programming language communities are working towards Sigstore adoption and the Sigstore community is working closely with them. We just announced a new Python client for PyPI and are hoping to extend this to other ecosystems like Maven Central and RubyGems.

In terms of broader enterprise adoption (likely to accelerate when it is GA) he said in an emailed Q&A that a number of enterprises have already adopted Sigstore and are using it for signing and verifying both open and closed software. Notably the Department of Defense Platform One team has implemented Sigstore signatures into the IronBank container hardening platform which means they can verify container images, SBOMS and attestations.

sigstores keyless signing has raised some concernst that it could make revocation harder but thats not the case, he added, telling The Stack: No, in fact the opposite is true! While it is true that the signatures on software are stored forever, software verification using Sigstore does support artifact revocation. Further, Sigstore allows after-the-fact auditing to help organizations understand the extent of a compromise, and Sigstore makes discovering compromises in the first place easier by posting signatures on a transparency log. The Sigstore community recently published Dont Panic: A Playbook for Handling Account Compromise with Sigstore with more details on this

In terms of policy automation or vendor services support for sigstore, Lorenc as a co-creator had understandably got in early. His companys Chainguard Enforce, announced last week, is the first tool with native support for modern keyless software signing using the Sigstore open source standard he said, adding that the product will give CISOs the ability to audit and enforce policies around software signing for the code they use.

sigstores release had met with genuine appreciation across the community in 2021, with Santiago Torres-Arias, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Purdue noting that the software ecosystem is in dire need of something like it to report the state of the supply chain. I envision that, with sigstore answering all the questions about software sources and ownership, we can start asking the questions regarding software destinations, consumers, compliance (legal and otherwise), to identify criminal networks and secure critical software infrastructure. This will set a new tone in the software supply chain security conversation.

Its great to see adoption of sigstore, especially with a project such as Kubernetes which runs many critical workloads that need the utmost protection, said Luke Hinds, Security Engineering Lead at Red Hat, CTO & Member of the Kubernetes Security Response Team & Founder of the sigstore Project in a May 3 release.

Kubernetes is a well known and widely adopted open source project and can inspire other open source projects to improve their software supply chain security by following SLSA levels and signing with sigstore, added Bob Callaway, Staff Software Engineer at Google, sigstore TSC member and project founder.

He noted: We built sigstore to be easy, free and seamless so that it would be massively adopted and protect us all from supply chain attacks. Kubernetes choice to use sigstore is a testament to that work.

Security firm BlueVoyant earlier in 2021 noted after a survey of 1,500 CISOs, CIOs, and CPOs from the US, UK, Singapore, Switzerland and Mexico) that 77% had limited visibility around their third-party vendors (let alone the components they were using) and 80% having suffered a third-party related breach.

Users can find out how sigstore works in more detail here.

Original post:
Kubernetes has standardised on sigstore in a landmark move - The Stack

Participants include industry-leading firms that have backed several of the most successful Web3 companies, such as a16z, AppWorks, Cadenza Ventures, Coatue, Coinfund, Digital Currency Group (DCG), Dispersion Capital, Fabric Ventures, Greenfield One, HashKey, L1 Digital, Mirana Ventures, OP Crypto, SkyVision Capital, Spartan Group, Union Square Ventures, and Dapper Ventures.

"We are thrilled to see such a strong vote of confidence in the Flow ecosystem from some of the world's leading investors in Web3 through their commitment to this Fund," said Roham Gharegozlou, CEO of Dapper Labs. "With their active participation and support, the Ecosystem Fund has the opportunity to become a real game-changer for the 7500+ strong and fast-growing developer community in the Flow ecosystem."

With a focus on enabling more distributed and equitable Web3 opportunities to developers around the globe, participants will focus on providing support for gaming, infrastructure, decentralized finance, content and creators. The resources are expected to be used by developers for product development, product scaling, team expansion, user acquisition and general operating expenses.

"The Ecosystem Fund is an opportunity to power the next generation of developers across the global Flow community," said Dan Rose, Chairman of Coatue Ventures. "Coatue has already backed multiple companies building in the Flow ecosystem including Dapper Labs, Crypthulu and Faze Technologies, and we are excited to play an active role in enabling more Web3 opportunities."

In addition to financial support, the developers in the Flow ecosystem will be able to leverage expertise via informational events, office hours, accelerators & incubators, subsidized office space and similar initiatives. For example, investors will provide Flow teams office space in cities such as Berlin (Greenfield One) and Asia (for AppWorks Accelerator program), and Liberty City Ventures will be providing two scholarships for college students to work on Flow-related projects. As a Venture Partner for Bybit and BitDAO, Mirana Ventures will also help catalyze strategic collaboration opportunities for Flow projects.

"As web3 accelerates and sophisticated app developers search for the best platforms, Flow is perhaps the best decentralized blockchain built for the scale, security, and ease of use most modern startups need to succeed." said David Pakman, Managing Partner at CoinFund. "The Flow Ecosystem Fund will be a huge accelerator of innovation and growth on the platform and we at CoinFund are excited to work with this talented community to help drive innovation and growth."

Originally developed by Dapper Labs to create more efficient, secure and scalable proof-of-stake blockchain experiences, Flow is an open-source, developer-friendly and energy efficient blockchain built for consumer applications. With global partners including the NBA, NFL, UFC and Dr. Seuss; unicorn developers such as Animoca and PlayCo; and emerging projects such as Genies, Fancraze and Cryptoys, Flow has seen daily transactions triple since September 2021 as it has grown into the leading blockchain for nonfungible token (NFT) sales by number of NFT transactions.

To learn more about Flow and the Flow Ecosystem Fund, please visitwww.flow.com/ecosystemsupport.

About Flow

Flow is the blockchain designed to be the foundation of Web3 and the open metaverse, supporting consumer-scale decentralized applications, NFTs, DeFi, DAOs, and more. Powered by Cadence, an original programming language built specifically for digital assets, Flow empowers developers to innovate and push the limits that will bring the next billion to Web3. Created by a team that has consistently delivered industry-leading consumer-scale Web3 experiences including CryptoKitties, Dapper, and NBA Top Shot, Flow is an open, decentralized platform with a thriving ecosystem ofcreators from top brands, development studios, venture-backed startups, crypto leaders, and more. For more information, visitwww.flow.com.

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FLOW LAUNCHES $725 MILLION ECOSYSTEM FUND TO DRIVE INNOVATION ACROSS THE FLOW ECOSYSTEM - PR Newswire

Low-Code/No-Code solutions are not new they have existed in some way, shape, or form for more than thirty years. Microsoft Excel was probably the earliest LCNC solution of its kind it enabled workflows in various ways for billions of people, most of which are still using it. As a developer, I remember my world changing when Microsoft released Visual Basic. Its graphical user interface (GUI) allowed developers to modify code by simply dragging and droppingobjectsand defining their behavior and appearance through the creation of an abstraction layer that hid complexities and automated routine tasks.

The idea ofcreating high-quality solutions at speed and scale without deep coding capabilities or an expensive development team is what most businesses want. Momentum around these Low-Code/No-Code solutions started ramping up in the early 2000s with companies like Smartsheet, which focuses on breaking down silos and creating a dynamic work environment. But that momentum has begun to increase significantly over thelast decade and even more so in the last five years. We saw the launch of AirTable for workflows, Coda for in-doc collaboration, Microsoft Power Apps and Appsheet, which was acquired by Google, for creating apps, Unqork with its visual development platform, and Plus Docs for real-timedata capture and sharing. All of this has the singular focus of democratizing technology to empower creators and builders in the modern world.

Low-Code/No-Code is a visual and hassle-free approach to software development. Low-Code/No-Code democratizes software application development. Users without deep programming knowledge are able to build enterprise-level applications that are deployable to teams and across enterprises.

In its simplest construct, you can think of Low-Code/No-Code as a visual and hassle-free approach to software development. Low-Code/No-Code platforms abstract, automate and optimize every step of a process and enable rapid delivery of any software solution. Low-Code/No-Code democratizes software application development users without deep programming knowledge are able to build enterprise-level applications that are deployable to teams and across enterprises.

Developers utilize Low-Code for rapid software delivery and workflow automation. Other professionals or knowledge workers are able to develop simple apps or expand app functions with minimal visual programming, automatic code generation, and model-driven design.

On the other hand, No-Code takes a more visual approach to creating apps or solutions without the need to know any programming languages. Users can drag and drop components to create a complete solution. Its critical to know that in reality, No-Code is never truly without code there is code involved, but it is abstracted behind an easy-to-use visual user interface.

Many factors are contributing to the acceleration of the creation and use of Low-Code/No-Code solutions.

Weve seen communities of makers grow faster over these last two years: sharing bread baking recipes on TikTok, DIY home improvement projects on YouTube. Just as were seeing people outside technology getting really excited about building stuff again, were seeing it in no code as well: people are posting challenges, like One Hundred Days of No Code on Twitter and creating maker communities supporting their building journeys. The no-code building blocks have been around for a decade, but these open maker communities are quickly on the rise. Coda Head of Solution Services John Scrugham

As the barrier to entry to participate in what was previously a highly technical field keeps getting lower, were seeing the number of people who want to change how things have always been done spike. People are more comfortable with technology, and as John Scrugham, Codas Head of Solution Services, said during Madronas annual meeting, all anyone needs is a $200 device with basic capabilities, and they can pull up everything they need to start building a solution to a productivity issue theyre having. That mindset is not limited to the workplace. John said he thinks that the recent growth in the creator/maker mindset spurred by the pandemic is inspiring people to try it in all aspects of life.

Weve seen communities of makers grow faster over these last two years: sharing bread baking recipes on TikTok, DIY home improvement projects on YouTube. Just as were seeing people outside technology getting really excited about building stuff again, were seeing it in no code as well: people are posting challenges, like One Hundred Days of No Code on Twitter and creating maker communities supporting their building journeys, said Coda Head of Solution Services John Scrugham. The no-code building blocks have been around for a decade, but these open maker communities are quickly on the rise.

It is really important for product growth and viral adoption of these types of products that people arent just using them at work. If that were the case, you wouldnt be able to share them with other people, which is pretty important. Plus Docs CEO Daniel Li

Another important observation thatPlus Docs CEO Daniel Li made was that people are now using Low-Code/No-Code tools not just in their work lives but also outside of work because there is so much low-hanging fruit to improve cumbersome workflows and processes anywhere.

As an example, we at Madrona use Plus Docs to track the performance of some of our portfolio companies and have also built a set of dashboards to track the ski conditions at Whistler for the avid skiers we have on the team.

It is really important for product growth and viral adoption of these types of products that people arent just using them at work, said Plus Docs CEO Daniel Li. If that were the case, you wouldnt be able to share them with other people, which is pretty important.

Low-Code/No-Code platforms put the power of application development into everyones hands. Users can range from knowledge workers all the way to field specialists, including those that run x-ops functions. The primary goal is to do things faster and cheaper in a more repeatable and systematic way using software and automation versus manual tooling.

If once a week you have to provide a status report, and youre comfortable going through your emails, pulling out information, going to spreadsheets, cutting out information, and building that deck for that status meeting, and you think that is the best you can do. Youre probably not the target user of this technology. But if you think theres got to be a better way to get information right from the source and present it through a live dashboard, so you never have to rebuild this deck that is the mindset. You have to be somebody who wants to change the status quo. Smartsheet Chief Product Officer & EVP of Engineering Praerit Garg

Having spent years building Smartsheet, Chief Product Officer & EVP of Engineering Praerit Garg explained the typical Low-Code/No-Code user well during Madronas annual meeting: Someone who looks at problems differently and thinks there are better ways to solve them.

He further added: If once a week you have to provide a status report, and youre comfortable going through your emails, pulling out information, going to spreadsheets, cutting out information, and building that deck for that status meeting, and you think that is the best you can do. Youre probably not the target user of this technology. But if you think theres got to be a better way to get information right from the source and present it through a live dashboard, so you never have to rebuild this deck that is the mindset. You have to be somebody who wants to change the status quo.

The consumerization of technology is back! The user is and wants to be more in control of their ability to build, deploy and manage at scale. With the advent of the creator economy, builders want solutions deployed in seconds without having to go through a cumbersome development process. The underlying framework that makes this possible is truly intelligent software with not just analytical but decision-making capabilities. There will always be work that requires the skills of what you can call professional programmers but there are only so many of them coming out of college.

We are excited to see what sort of new ideas the millions of other people that are no longer constrained by the requirements of deep coding knowledge and now have the capacity to innovate around technology in a way they never have before. At Madrona, we want to meet the next great founders who are innovating in the Low-Code/No-Code space. My contact info is linked in the byline!

July 14, 2020

This is the third in our series describing our investment themes for 2020 and beyond. Software is eating the world, but today, most organizations have a limit on how quickly they can build software. While

December 17, 2020

Today we are excited to announce our investment in Rec Room, an online universe where people can play and create games with their friends. We first met Nick Fajt and the founding Rec Room team

October 25, 2017

Today we are pleased to announce that Ted Kummert is rejoining Madrona as Venture Partner. Ted spent the last four years at Apptio as EVP of Engineering and Cloud Operations. While at Apptio (NASDAQ:APTI), Ted

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The Progress of Low-Code/No-Code and an Update to our Thesis - Madrona Venture Group

Times Square Arts Presents ZERO NUKES, a Large-Scale Sculpture by Artist Pedro Reyes and Call to Action to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons

New York, NY May 10, 2022 This May, Times Square Arts presents Amnesia Atmica NYC, a public exposition centered around artist Pedro Reyess ZERO NUKES, a 30-foot-tall inflatable sculpture that will function as a beacon to bring experts, political leaders, and engaged citizens together to address nuclear threat. On view in Times Square from May 17 May 24, 2022, the sculpture will serve as a central platform for a series of public programs and events designed to spotlight the voices of activists, artists, scientists, and community organizations in the anti-nuclear field, and drive conversations around non-proliferation and disarmament. Amnesia Atmica is curated by Pedro Alonzo, who specializes in ambitious artworks in public spaces.

ZERO NUKES is the centerpiece of Amnesia Atmica, commissioned by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which focuses on three main areasnuclear risk, climate change, and disruptive technologiesand equips the public, policymakers, and scientists with the information needed to reduce man-made threats to our existence. ZERO NUKES focuses on the zero as a graphic, visual, and conceptual element common to all languages. The structure stands as a symbol of global unity for a single non-controversial cause: to avoid the destruction of life on earth.

We commissioned Pedro Reyes to create an artwork that engages with the growing threat of nuclear conflict. Amnesia Atmica is his response, says Rachel Bronson, President and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Events in Ukraine are a stark reminder that nuclear weapons continue to threaten humanity on a daily basis. ZERO NUKES is Pedros latest contribution to this collection.

Amnesia Atmica holds a topical urgency and warning as nuclear weapons states around the world are investing in ways that are making these weapons more rather than less usable. The project will feature a two-day expo on May 19 and 20 showcasing artists, organizers, and organizations offering hands-on activities, a VR experience, information booths, and merchandise to engage the hundreds of thousands of visitors who pass through Times Square weekly. Public programs will be led by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and will include experts from organizations in the field, such as the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, a global coalition focused on mobilizing civil society around the world to support the specific objective of prohibiting and eliminating nuclear weapons; The Tank, a Manhattan-based non-profit arts presenter and producer serving emerging artists; Games of Change, an organization that supports using games for social change; Global Zero an international movement dedicated to stopping the spread of nuclear weapons; and Union of Concerned Scientists, a science advocacy group dedicated to solving the worlds most pressing problems.

There is no better public platform than Times Square to host a diversity of viewpoints and in turn, open minds and encourage a better understanding of the complexities around the most pressing issues of our day, says Tom Harris, Times Square Alliance President.

Times Square has a rich cultural history as an epicenter of protest and a platform that elevates a chorus of voices of our era, says Times Square Arts Director Jean Cooney. We are thrilled to turn this platform over to a range of artists confronting the most important topics of our times, such as Pedro Reyes and the issue of nuclear disarmament.

Times Square Arts will unveil Pedro Reyes ZERO NUKES, on Tuesday, May 17th at 1:30pm. If you are interested in covering or attending the unveiling, please email Ali Rigo ([emailprotected]).

Download a copy of this press release here.

PUBLIC PROGRAMMING

Public Unveiling, Tuesday May 17th at 1:30pm (Duffy Square)

1:30pm Remarks from Times Square Alliance

1:45pm Remarks from Mitchie Takeuchi, Producer The Vow From Hiroshima, Not Just A Survivor Film LLC. Mitchie will share her experiences as a second-generation Hiroshima survivor, her father having served the Red Cross in Hiroshima before and after the bombing.

1:50pm Beatrice Finn, who received the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of ICAN, will speak about the immediacy of nuclear threats. ICAN NYC will be part of the Mobilization Expo, hosted by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on Thursday and Friday to share what New Yorkers can do.

1:55pm Remarks from Pedro Reyes, artist of Zero Nukes

2:00pm Adjourn; Performance produced by The Tank

Mobilization ExpoPartner organizations dedicated to reducing nuclear weapons will host information sessions, public displays, and hands-on activities to encourage public engagement and mobilization. Participating organizations include: B(L)OOM; Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists; Das Bombe; Games for Change; Global Zeros Bomb Squad; Horizon 2045; ICAN; NYCAN; PATH Collective; Reverse the Trend; #StopInvestingInDestruction; Union of Concerned Scientists; among others.

Expo Schedule:Thursday, May 19, 12pm-8pmFriday, May 20, 12pm-8pm

ZERO NUKES: Performance SeriesZERO NUKES is a series of anti-nuclear performances curated and produced by Meghan Finn, Artistic Director of The Tank, a Manhattan-based non-profit arts presenter and producer serving emerging artists. The series is part of The Tanks outdoor series, Open Air Tank. Emerging artists will perform storytelling, hip hop and spoken word in Times Square beneath the mushroom cloud. Musical performers include Miriam Pultro, Questa Music, Elyse Durand, Baba Israel and Grace Galu of Soul Inscribed, Sarah Cagianese of Frances Rose, and Doll Parts. Performance and spoken word artists include Gabriel G Torres, Paige Cowen, David Trevor Lawson, Kev Berry, Carol Maz, Ben Firke, Emma Gomez, and Hunter Gause.

Performance Schedule:Tuesday, May 17, 2-4 pm- following the unveilingWednesday, May 18, 2-4pmThursday, May 19, 2-4pmFriday, May 20, 2-4pmMonday, May 23, 2-4pm

Artists Against the BombA collection of urgent messages calling for universal nuclear disarmament. The campaign is an international effort by artists, writers and activists who, through words and pictures, call for a reduction of the worlds nuclear weapons down to zero. The effort is designed to support disarmament organizations across the globe.

StockpileA new participatory work by Pedro Reyes where 12,075 rocket shaped balloonsequivalent to the total estimated number of global nuclear weaponswill be handed out to the public throughout the event. The balloons are a limited edition artwork that will be given to participants upon posting an image of ZERO NUKES on social media with the hashtags #ZERONUKES and #AmnesiaAtmica or upon following a participating organization such as the Bulletin.

Stockpile Schedule: Daily Handout, 4pm

Virtual Reality: On the Morning You Wake (to the end of the world)Games for Change will showcase On the Morning You Wake (to the End of the World), a virtual reality experience that uses innovative documentary storytelling and virtual production techniques to viscerally recreate the lived experiences of people of Hawaii, who, for 38 minutes, had to react during a false alert in January 2018. Learn more about the project here.

On the Morning You Wake (to the End of the World) Schedule:

Time: 12pm-8pm, May 19 and 20

Address:1560 Broadway, Suite 901New York, NY 10036Due to construction, entrance at 165 W. 46th Street

Take ActionThe project will consist of a QR code leading to information that guides the public in how to get involved, including clear ideas on how to take action, reach your representative, and find organizations to follow. Join local and international efforts to reduce nuclear dangers, discuss current events with experts, connect with various education and advocacy organizations, and post your concerns to social media. You can even cast your vote to share what time you think it should be on the Bulletins iconic Doomsday Clock. Also, feel free to tag and follow Times Square Arts Instagram account (@tsqarts) to get involved.

Merchandise KioskThe kiosk operated by public art ambassadors will feature an assortment of information as well as merchandise available for the public to buy such as shirts, hats, and buttons. The graphics on the kiosk designed by Pedro Reyes will prominently display the ZERO NUKES imagery. Any net proceeds will go towards traveling the cloud in support of other disarmament-based events.

Frieze New York Art FairAmnesia Atmica will be presented in collaboration with Frieze New York from May 18-22. Frieze will feature two booths dedicated to Amnesia Atmica, one designated for a historical archive featuring contributions to the disarmament movement by artists and activists in the 20th century; and the other an installation of imagery and merchandise from the ZERO NUKES campaign. One of the two booths will also feature Pedro Reyes limited edition interactive artwork Stockpile.

ABOUT AMNESIA ATMICAAmnesia Atmica opened in Mexico City in 2020 to raise public awareness, revitalize the once vibrant anti-nuclear community, and most importantly, put pressure on political leaders, policymakers, and global citizens by informing them of the consequences of inaction. It included an early version of ZERO NUKES, a locally curated dance performance, and presentations by leading dignitaries. The artist aims to draw attention to the issues of nuclear threat and the failure of experts and leaders to contain it. The title, Amnesia Atmica, urges visitors to not forget or ignore the global issues at hand and engage first-hand with solutions-oriented thinking and strategies. Inspiration for Amnesia Atmica was sparked at an incubator created by N Square, a network of innovators committed to ending the nuclear threat.

It is exactly because of what we are confronting around the world today that I created this piece. Im hoping to provide an invitation for people who want to get engaged, learn from others, connect and create a safer future. Im trying to provide a megaphone for the disparate voices committed to abolishing nuclear weapons. Im trying to provide answers for those asking what can I do?, says Pedro Reyes.

Artists like Pedro Reyes can play an important role in revitalizing the disarmament community. While ZERO NUKES sends a clear multilingual message in support of the disarmament movement, Amnesia Atmica is a symbol of the consequences of inaction, says curator Pedro Alonzo.

Reyes has garnered international acclaim for large-scale projects that explore current social and political issues, through the use of mediums like sculpture, performance, video, and activism. His work tends to investigate the power of individual and collective organization to incite change through communication, creativity, happiness, and humor, making Times Square an ideal locale for his project, as an epicenter of both protest and kitsch. New York City was also the center of the 1982 Rally for Nuclear Disarmament, making a return to the city generations later a fitting representation of the timelessness of nuclear instability.

Reyes is working with experts in the nuclear realm on the project, including the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, among others.

Supporters of the project include the Bancel Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, N Square, Abakanowicz Arts and Culture Charitable Foundation, David Rockefeller Fund, The Prospect Hill Foundation, Lisa Tung and Spencer Glendon, Miner / Nagy Family.

ABOUT PEDRO REYESReyes (b. 1972, Mexico City) lives and works in Mexico City. He has won international attention for large-scale projects that address current social and political issues. Through a varied practice utilizing sculpture, performance, video, and activism, Reyes explores the power of individual and collective organization to incite change through communication, creativity, happiness, and humor.He studied architecture at the Ibero-American University in Mexico City. Solo exhibitions have been held with Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland (2020); SCAD, Georgia, USA (2019); Creative Time, New York, USA (2016); Dallas Contemporary, TX, USA (2016); La Tallera, Cuernavaca, Mexico (2016); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA, USA (2015); ICA, Miami, FL, USA (2014); The Power Plant, Toronto, Canada (2014); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, USA (2011); Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, USA (2011); CCA Kitakyushu, Japan (2009); Bass Museum, Miami, FL, USA (2008;) and San Francisco Art Institute, CA, USA (2008). Reyes has participated in group exhibitions at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan (2015); The National Museum of XXI Century Arts (MAXXI), Rome (2015); Beijing Biennale, China (2014); Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (2013); dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany (2012); Liverpool Biennial, UK (2012); Gwangju Biennial, South Korea (2012); Lyon Biennale, France (2009); and the 50th Venice Biennale, Italy (2003). In Fall 2016, Reyes served as the inaugural Dasha Zhukova Distinguished Visiting Artist at MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

ABOUT PEDRO ALONZOPedro Alonzo is a Boston-based independent curator. He is currently an Adjunct Curator at Dallas Contemporary. Since 2006 he has specialized in producing exhibitions that transcend the boundaries of museum walls and spill out into the urban landscape, addressing audiences beyond the traditional museum public. In 2017 he formalized his practice by establishing A&C. At the ICA Boston, he curated Shepard Faireys 20-year survey, Supply, and Demand. For the MCA San Diego, he organized the group exhibition Viva la Revolucin: A Dialogue with the Urban Landscape, which featured site-specific works inside the museum and throughout downtown San Diego. In 2015 Alonzo began to develop exhibitions designed to engage the public, starting with a citywide exhibition in Philadelphia, Open Source: Engaging Audiences in Public Space, followed by working with JR to place a gigantic image of a Mexican child named Kikito, overlooking the US/Mxico border wall in Tecate. Since 2016 Alonzo has worked with The Trustees, Massachusettss largest conservation and preservation non-profit, to launch and curate the organizations first Art and the Landscape initiative, resulting in site-specific commissions created by the artists: Sam Durant (2016), Jeppe Hein (2016), Alicja Kwade (2018), and Doug Aitken (2019). In 2019, Pedro Alonzo worked with Now + There as guest curator for Oscar Tuazons Growth Rings and in 2020 for Jose Dvilas To Each Era Its Art. To Art, Its Freedom. for Central Wharf Park in Boston. The most recent project he developed at Dallas Contemporary was a major exhibition that brought together rarely seen works by Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara.

ABOUT THE BULLETIN OF THE ATOMIC SCIENTISTSThe Bulletin equips the public, policy makers and scientists with the information needed to reduce man-made threats to our existence. At its core, it is a media organization, publishing a free-access website and a bimonthly magazine. But it is much more. The Bulletins website, iconic Doomsday Clock, and regular events draw attention to three main areas: nuclear risk, climate change, and disruptive technologies. What connects these is a driving belief that because humans created them, we can control them. The Bulletin is an independent, nonprofit 501 c (3) organization founded by Manhattan Project scientists nearly 75 years ago. It gathers the most informed and influential thought leaders tracking man-made threats and brings innovative thinking to a global audience. The Bulletin applies intellectual rigor to the conversation and does not shrink from alarming truths.

The Bulletins iconic Doomsday Clock uses the imagery of apocalypse (midnight) and the idiom of nuclear explosion (countdown to zero) to convey threats to humanity and the planet. It is currently set at 100 seconds to midnight, the closest its ever been to midnight. The Clock is set every year by the Bulletins Science and Security Board in consultation with its Board of Sponsors, which includes 11 Nobel laureates. The Clock has become a universally recognized indicator of the worlds vulnerability to catastrophe from nuclear weapons, climate change, and disruptive technologies.

ABOUT TIMES SQUARE ARTSTimes Square Arts, the public art program of the Times Square Alliance, collaborates with contemporary artists and cultural institutions to experiment and engage with one of the worlds most iconic urban places. Through the Squares electronic billboards, public plazas, vacant areas and popular venues, and the Alliances own online landscape, Times Square Arts invites leading contemporary creators, such as Mel Chin, Tracey Emin, Jeffrey Gibson, Ryan McGinley, Yoko Ono, and Kehinde Wiley, to help the public see Times Square in new ways. Times Square has always been a place of risk, innovation and creativity, and the Arts Program ensures these qualities remain central to the districts unique identity.

CONNECT WITH AMNESIA ATOMICA@tsqarts@zeronukes@_pedro_reyes_ @bulletinoftheatomicscientists@trucatriche #ZeroNukes

PRESS CONTACTSAli RigoSenior Account Executive, Cultural Counsel[emailprotected]

Lauren GagnonAccount Coordinator, Cultural Counsel[emailprotected]

Download a copy of this press release here.

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PRESS RELEASEAmnesia Atmica NYC Opens in Times Square this May - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists