Category Archives: Evolution

Mad Stars shares a recent Q&A with Richard Smoorenburg, the Managing Director Data and Digital at Media.Monks.

Based in The Netherlands, prior to Media.Monks, Smoorenburg was Chief Digital OfficerIPG Mediabrands

Over the course of the conversation, he shares his thoughts on data regulation, the Metaverse, why he thinks aspects of the agency model are crumbling, and more.

Theres no secret sauce other than having a vision and being perseverant. Right from the start, there was a plan as to how wed like to grow, what type of clients wed like to attract, and what type of entrepreneurs wed look for in acquisitions. Generally, the best thing digital agencies can do is to create a plan, stick to it and work to make it happen.

For starters, its an amazing industry that is known for attracting diverse talent as well as providing breeding grounds for them. I was lucky enough to have seen many companies focused on data, creative and media from the inside, and though they are all different, they share their approach in attracting young people to the industry. So, as a talented young professional, you have the power to determine the direction of your career. Theres one personality trait that Ive always been on the lookout for and that is curiosity. On another note, its not only about starting with whyit goes beyond Simon Sinek.

Obviously, theres a lot going on with regards to data and privacy, including the whole cookie depreciation issue thats been postponed by Googlebut I wouldnt say that thats the biggest issue were facing right now. Recently, advertisers struggle with the unclarity and mismanagement around Google products.

The EU might be one region, but when it comes to privacy laws its a bit more nuanced. Over the past months, weve seen news articles from other member states that point out GDPR risks in Google Analytics. As a union, were not at a point yet where we can have one directive, which makes interpreting these local decisions difficult for, for instance, cross-border e-commerce companies.

Yes, in all fairness, the model is crumbling. Holding companies face difficulties in finding the right talent for running their digital operations, all the while the number of channels is increasing. Were already seeing that media plans are based on the people and knowledge that agencies have, and thats a problem when it comes to pushing creativity and innovation to the next level.

I believe that in order to succeed, we should focus on building the entire customer journey around data collection and then run campaigns to test hypotheses and validate outcomes.

I always say that if you ask a carpenter to fix a problem, hell likely reach for his hammer and some nails. The same goes for the holdcos; theyre still largely staffed, compensated and foundationally built around offline buying. So, what are you going to get? Theres no one right answer to this question, as the solution differs per advertiser, but generally having a digital agency in either the drivers or (at the very least) passenger seat for your customer journey sounds like a more future-proof solution than having a traditional agency determine the direction.

Well, to be perfectly honest, not many advertisers have reached that point yet, where media, data, creative and technology are seamlessly integrated. Truth be told, its not a simple feat either. The old world tends to look into what has worked in the past, using that for their next creative briefing. In my view, thats too limited, as it assumes a ceteris paribus when thats absolutely not the caseto the contrary, all other factors are typically not the same, so the learnings from previous campaigns are not as relevant as they were when you ran the campaigns.

So, I believe that in order to succeed, we should focus on building the entire customer journey around data collection and then run campaigns to test hypotheses and validate outcomes. This process of constantly being on top of the most relevant target audience and what it is that moves them is ongoing and done in real time.

For those who think that the metaverse is still a long way off, Id say think again. The metaverse is already herethe plane is just being built as we fly it, and its bringing us to a completely new, exciting destination. The metaverse is designed to deliver experiences over ads. In this highly interoperable digital ecosystem, ads wont stick to 2D. Instead, theyll be objects, spaces, skins, avatars and experiences. Both logistically and creatively thats a different approach to any of the digital social media we have seen so far. Games come close, though, and the success of Fortnite and Roblox as digital hang out zones for social activities is an indicator for the need to re-conceive advertising as we know it.

For those who think that the metaverse is still a long way off, Id say think again. The metaverse is already herethe plane is just being built as we fly it, and its bringing us to a completely new, exciting destination.

For the past years, Media.Monks has been working on the elements that lay the digital plumbing and foundations of the metaverse. Were building out to what will be the future of digital commerce and customer experiences, and have already shown what this will look like through digital events such as the second annual Song Breaker Awards. The metaverse is part of the next phase in digital and the next frontier for business growth: virtualization. Weve actually just released a report on it. You can read it here.

As I mentioned, I love all our client work. That said, streamlining Mondelz first-party data, among the other work that we have done for the brand, is one thing that Im especially proud of. Our client Mondelz is one of the worlds largest snacking companies, delivering delicious treats across 37 brands to consumers in over 85 marketsthats what Id like to call true global presence.

Mondelz hired us as its data agency of record, a model designed to help brands access, control and measure their data holistically as it continuously travels through the marketing and advertising lifecycle. Our global scale paired with our ability to work around the clock was ideally suited to help the brand engage better with its ecosystem of paid media partners in each market around the world. In all, with the brands data better organized and collected in an integrated data warehouse, Mondelz teams were better able to parse their and their partners data for campaign performance and media spend.

First of all, providing a visual representation of a case will definitely increase your chances. Make sure that you put as much effort into delivering the case as you can. Second, given Im more of a generalist, I tend to look at the wider craft instead of the deeper craft. If you have considered an omni-channel strategy and have managed to execute that flawlessly, then Im more interested in the learnings than the results. Third, make sure the case has at least some impact. I deliberately stay away from the word purpose, but Id say: show us the impact of the work and always be proud of the results.

This was published in collaboration with Mad Stars, South Koreas annual awards show. You can learn more here.

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Q&A: Richard Smoorenburg on The Future of The Industry, Data Regulations and The Evolution of The Agency Model - Branding in Asia Magazine

Its hard not to immediately recall Justin Jeffersons 64-yard touchdown when thinking about the Minnesota Vikings 23-7 win over the Green Bay Packers. Jefferson was open, hilariously wide-open. Cousins threw it to the spot Jefferson would be, and Jefferson made an extra effort to beat two Green Bay defenders to score a touchdown.

Its a result of Jeffersons eloquent route-running, a perfect pass from Cousins, and Kevin OConnells modern scheme. But Cousins did a subtle thing, something Tom Brady has mastered, to make that play happen. He slid in the pocket, avoiding Green Bays rush, to buy an extra second so Jefferson could create the separation he did. Then he stepped up in the pocket to deliver the pass.

I came out of the fake and felt like I needed to slide, Cousins said after the game. Your eyes are downfield, so youre just kind of feeling it. Youre not really knowing whats going on. Try to slide and find the soft spot in the pocket. You know the route hasnt declared yet, so youre thinking, I got a shot; there is grass. We will see what the safety and corner do as I move.'

Its not the first time Cousins has stepped up in the pocket and delivered a throw like that. However, its the first time since hes arrived in Minnesota where it feels like he might do it routinely. Every quarterback has permission to succeed, to deliver in the biggest moments. But not every signal-caller is allowed to make a mistake. For a quarterback to feel like its their team, they need to be allowed to fail. They will be supported if they create adversity because they will ultimately drive winning.

Cousins has felt like a passenger for a lot of his time in purple. Rick Spielman signed him out of necessity. Teddy Bridgewater and Sam Bradford had gotten injured, and Case Keenum couldnt replicate his magical 2017 season. $84 million is a hefty check to cut. But the next quarterback to sign always makes more, and few teams can win a championship with mediocre quarterback play. Trent Dilfer and Joe Flacco are the exceptions to the rule. Coming off of 2017, the Vikings needed to get the best quarterback available, and they did.

Still, Cousins knew that Mike Zimmer wanted to spend that money on the defense. The defense was Zimmers passion. If Cousins throws a pick, hes putting it in a tough spot. If he steps up in the pocket and fumbles, it could tire out Zimmers elite unit. Zimmer may have told Cousins to throw the ball deep last year. But in the back of his mind, Cousins had to know that Zimmer would get upset if he compromised the defense.

OConnell hasnt rubber-stamped wanton passing by any means. Hes not trying to turn Cousins into Jameis Winston. But OConnell is using the illusion of complexity to open up Cousins first read and has asked him to stay with it longer. OConnell wants to maximize Jefferson, as he did in Week 1. And if teams focus on Jefferson, Adam Thielen, Dalvin Cook, and K.J. Osborn are viable secondary options.

OConnells ask of Cousins is that he plays with a quiet mind. There will be a raucous crowd in Philadelphia on Monday night, but Cousins will receive clear direction on each play.

When I say quieted mind, its really not the environment, its not the noise, says OConnell. Its kind of misleading. Its more of just what his job is. What were asking him to do on a snap-to-snap basis, and then how clear and concise I can be coaching him. Because, as you guys have seen, when he knows what to do and what were asking of him, he can go out and really execute at a high level, which drives our whole offense for us.

So coming off our performance last week, hes going to establish himself a standard of what to expect out of Kirk every single week. His preparation is off to a great start. But its all about my role and my communication with him during our time together throughout the week, making sure he and I are on the same page, and he can be an extension of me out there.

Thats the key for Cousins. He has to be an extension of OConnell on the field. He wasnt an extension of Zimmer; Barr was. Zimmers bailiwick was defense. Barr was the guy with the red dot, and he made sure that his teammates executed Zimmers unique scheme correctly. Cousins was the responsibility of whoever the offensive coordinator was that year. But this year, thats changed.

Cousins acknowledged Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and OConnells contributions after the Vikings beat Green Bay by giving them the game ball. You guys who have played in the league long enough know this, and I believe strongly, that everything rises and falls on leadership, he said to his teammates. Speed of the leader. Speed of the team. Alright, these two guys are running this organization, and theyre going to go as far as they can take us.

All the way, Mark Wilf responded. All the way, Cousins echoed.

For that to happen, Cousins needs to be in command of the offense. Adofo-Mensah determined whos on the roster. OConnell understands how to maximize their talents. Cousins has to execute. For him to do that, he has to slide to avoid pressure. He has to step up in the pocket and trust his receivers on deep balls or riskier throws. Fortunately, Cousins seems to understand that. After the Packers game, he said he knows he has to move to buy his receivers time. He said he might occasionally scamper for yardage when the pocket breaks down.

It was probably more just need to move, he said. Needing to move, and [the receivers] stayed on their routes, and I needed to buy a tick to get away from somebody. Im going to go back. I always try to be pretty critical of how you play better. I think there are a few times I could have taken off and run.

Sometimes you have to push forward, hit, and try to get some yards.

Thats not the sound of a passenger. Thats the ambition of someone whos taking charge, and thats addressing a chief frustration among fans. Why isnt Cousins taking command? Why is he content to check down or throw in front of the sticks on third down? How come he doesnt throw deep more?

Cousins is who he is. He will not become Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, or Justin Herbert. Cousins will occasionally throw to a tight end or a running back. He may throw it away when he feels pressure instead of moving around in the pocket. But if he buys time and throws deep more often, he can operate this high-powered offense. Thats what OConnell is asking of him. Hes not asking Cousins to take a huge step forward this year; hes asking him to step up in the pocket.

In regards to a huge step forward, if youre talking statistically, if youre talking playing the position, I dont necessarily think that my expectation is a huge step forward for Kirk, he says. But my expectation is that he plays the position really well. And hes going to be our leader on offense and take care of all the things that he can be as an extension of me and our coaching staff out on the field.

But at the same time, I want him to go turn it loose and feel confident that hes got some really good players around him, hes got a group up front, and then weve got some running backs that we can rely on to really marry everything together, letting those guys set the tone for how we want to play.

Cousins has to be a commercial pilot. He needs to maximize the talent around him. That means avoiding interceptions, but it also means pushing the ball down the field. Cousins gave Adofo-Mensah and OConnell game balls after Week 1, but hes the one with the pigskin in his hands on gameday.

At the start of the season, The Athletics Mike Sando asked 50 NFL executives and coaches to rank each starter 1 through 32 and divide them into five tiers. The top tier is guys like Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady. Mahomes, Burrow, and Herbert. The executives and coaches listed Cousins as the 15th-best quarterback. They named him the best Tier 3 QB, placing him with guys like Jimmy Garoppolo, Carson Wentz, and Jared Goff.

The Vikings can do something this year if he becomes a Tier 2 quarterback. Were talking players like Matthew Stafford, Russell Wilson, and Deshaun Watson on the high end, but also Dak Prescott and Derek Carr. Cousins can be a Tier 2 quarterback if he operates with a quiet mind, and Minnesota can do big things if he does. Cousins doesnt have to throw behind his back or flick the ball around defenders. He has to step up in the pocket and hit Jefferson deep. He has to bring out the best in the players around him. Cousins has to keep things moving forward.

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The Evolution of Kirk Cousins' Expectations - Zone Coverage

SubjectsGrey squirrels and rats

Data were collected from five (1 female, 4 melanistic) adult wild-caught Eastern grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) of unknown age weighing 590700g under a wildlife scientific collectors authorization from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. Once a squirrel was caught inside a commercial trap (Havahart Squirrel & Chipmunk Live Trap), the trap was placed in a large plastic storage box and immediately transported to the Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping at the University of Western Ontario (5-min transport time). Squirrel anesthesia was induced by administering 45% isoflurane and oxygen with a flow rate between 1 and 1.5l/min using a precision vaporizer attached to the plastic storage box, which served as an induction chamber. Data were collected from five adult male Wistar rats aged 812 weeks and weighing from 250350g. Rat anesthesia was induced by placing the animals in an induction chamber with 45% isoflurane and oxygen with a flow rate between 1 and 1.5l/min.

Both species were lightly anesthetized via spontaneous inhalation of 1.52% isoflurane mixed with oxygen flowing between 1.5 and 2L/min throughout the scan. Respiration, SpO2, and heart rate were continuously monitored using a pulse oximeter and were observed to be within the normal range throughout the scans (squirrels: respiration=3580 (mean 57) bpm, SpO2=95100%, heart rate=230318 (mean 274) bpm). Body temperature was also measured and recorded throughout, maintained using warm-water circulating blankets, thermal insulation, and warmed air. All animals were head-fixed in stereotactic position using a custom-built MRI bed with ear bars and a species-specific palate bar as part of the anesthesia mask22. Upon completion of imaging, 35ml of warmed NaCl was administered subcutaneously. A small ear punch was made in squirrels to mark the animal and avoid repeated study of the same squirrel. A blanket and supplemental heat were provided for recovery. After recovery, squirrels were transported in the plastic storage/induction box back to the capture location and released. One squirrel died during recovery. Its brain was removed, fixed by submersion in formalin, and subsequently imaged for ultra-high resolution structural MRI at the University of Pittsburgh Brain Institute. All experimental procedures were in accordance with the Canadian Council of Animal Care policy and protocols approved by the Animal Care Committee of the University of Western Ontario Council on Animal Care.

To compare the squirrel and rat data to marmoset data, we used fMRI data from our open-access resource (https://marmosetbrainconnectome.org)41. This database contains resting-state fMRI data from 31 awake marmosets (Callithrix jacchus, 8 females; age: 14115 months; weight: 240625g) that were acquired at the University of Western Ontario (5 animals) and the National Institutes of Health (26 animals).

For both rats and grey squirrels, data were acquired on a 9.4T 31cm horizontal bore MRI scanner (Varian/Agilent, Yarnton, UK) and Bruker BioSpec Avance III console with the software package Paravision-6 (Bruker BioSpin Corp, Billerica, MA) and a custom-built, high-performance 15-cm-diameter gradient coil with 400-mT/m maximum gradient strength42 at the Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping at the University of Western Ontario. The animal holders and radiofrequency receive arrays were built in-house, and design files for these stereotactic holders have been made available22 with geometrically optimized phased array receive coil designs for the two species. The rat coil was made up of 6 channels, while a larger marmoset coil with 8 channels was used for the squirrels. Both coils have a similar signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Preamplifiers were located behind the animals, and the receive coil was placed inside a quadrature birdcage coil (12-cm inner diameter) used for transmission.

For the rats, functional imaging was acquired during one session for each animal, with 6 functional runs (at 600 volumes each) with the following parameters: TR=1,500ms, TE=15ms, field of view=38.438.4mm, matrix size=9696, voxel size=0.40.40.4mm, slices=35, bandwidth=280kHz, GRAPPA acceleration factor: 2 (anterior-posterior). T2-weighted structural scans were acquired for each animal with the following parameters: TR=7,000ms, TE=44ms, field of view=3838mm, matrix size=192192, voxel size=0.20.20.4mm, slices=35.

The squirrel imaging was similar to rat imaging with functional imaging data acquired from one session for each animal with 34 functional runs (at 600 volumes each) with the following parameters: TR=1500ms, TE=15ms, flip angle=40 degrees, field of view=6464mm, matrix size=128128, voxel size=0.50.50.5mm, slices=42, bandwidth=400kHz, GRAPPA acceleration factor: 2 (anterior-posterior). T2-weighted structural scans were acquired for each animal with the following parameters: TR=7000ms, TE=55ms, field of view=6464mm, matrix size=384384, voxel size=0.1330.1330.5mm, slices=45. As an in vivo registration template, we also acquired a structural T2-weighted image from squirrel #5 with an isotropic voxel resolution with the following parameters: TR=15,000ms, TE=48ms, field of view=5151mm, matrix size=256256, voxel size=0.20.20.2mm, bandwidth=50kHz, slices=100, number of averages=3.

For the squirrels, an ultra-high-resolution ex vivo template was also generated from squirrel #5 the same brain used as the in vivo registration template. The sample was fixed by submersion in 10% formalin for one week, then imaged at the University of Pittsburgh Brain Institute on a 9.4T 30cm horizontal bore MRI scanner (Bruker BioSpin Corp, Billerica, MA) equipped with a Bruker BioSpec Avance Neo console and the software package Paravision-360 (version 3.2; Bruker BioSpin Corp, Billerica, MA) and a custom high performance 17cm gradient coil (Resonance Research Inc, Billerica, MA) performing at 450mT/m gradient strength. To maximize sensitivity, a custom 30mm inner diameter millipede quadrature coil (ExendMR LLC, Milpitas, CA) was used. The sample was placed in a 50ml conical centrifuge tube, filled with Fomblin oil (Solvay Solexis, West Deptford, NJ), and placed under vacuum (27 inHg) for 30min to remove air bubbles. A T2*-weighted structural scan was acquired with the following parameters: TR=100ms, TE=8ms, field of view=353020mm, matrix size=700600400, voxel size=0.050.050.05mm, bandwidth=50kHz, number of averages=2, total scan time=14h, 48min. The T1 relaxation time of the tissue was measured (mean T1=1047ms), and an optimum flip angle (Ernst angle) of 24.7 degrees was set for a TR of 100ms.

For the marmosets, functional imaging was acquired from two sites. The University of Western Ontario data were acquired using the same 9.4T scanner as the rat and squirrel data. A custom 5-channel receive coil was used, which was rigidly fixed to the head implant43. Radiofrequency transmission was accomplished with a quadrature birdcage coil (12-cm inner diameter) built in-house. Functional imaging was performed over multiple sessions (days) for each animal, with 4-6 functional runs (at 600 volumes each) per animal with the following parameters: TR=1500ms, TE=15ms, flip angle=35 degrees, field of view=6464mm, matrix size=128128, voxel size=0.50.50.5mm, slices=42, bandwidth=500kHz, GRAPPA acceleration factor: 2 (anterior-posterior). T2-weighted structural scans were acquired for each animal during one of the awake sessions with the following parameters: TR=5,500ms, TE=53ms, field of view=51.251.2mm, matrix size=384384, voxel size=0.1330.1330.5mm, slices=42, bandwidth=50kHz, GRAPPA acceleration factor: 2.

The NIH marmoset data were acquired using at 7T 30cm horizontal bore magnet (Bruker BioSpin Corp, Billerica, MA, USA) with the software package Paravision (Bruker BioSpin Corp, Billerica, MA, USA), a 15-cm-diameter gradient coil with 450-mT/m maximum gradient strength (Resonance Research Corp, Billerica, MA, USA) and custom 10-channel phased-array receive coil which conformed to the 3D printed head holder. Radiofrequency transmission was accomplished with a 16-rung high-pass birdcage coil. Functional imaging was performed in a single session with 4-8 functional runs (at 512 volumes each) with the following parameters: TR=2000ms, TE=22.2ms, flip angle=70.4, field of view=2836mm, matrix size=5672, voxel size=0.50.50.5mm, slices=38. Two sets of spin-echo EPI with an opposite phase-encoding direction (left-right and right-left) were collected for the EPI-distortion correction (TR=3000ms, TE=0.44ms, flip angle=90 degrees, FOV=2836mm, matrix size=5672, voxel size=0.50.50.5mm, axial slices=38). T2-weighted structural image scans were acquired for each animal during one of the awake sessions with the following parameters: TR=6000ms, TE=9ms, flip angle=90, FOV=2836mm, matrix size=112144, slices=38, voxel size=0.250.250.5mm, number of averages=8.

For squirrels, rats, and marmosets, data were similarly processed with custom preprocessing pipelines using the Analysis of Functional NeuroImages (AFNI)44 and FMRIB Software Library (FSL)45 software packages. Raw functional images were converted to NifTI format using dcm2niix46 and reoriented from the sphinx position using FSL. The images were then despiked (AFNIs 3dDespike), and volume registered to the middle volume (AFNIs 3dvolreg). The motion parameters from volume registration were stored for later use with nuisance regression. For the rats, images were smoothed by a 1mm full-width at half-maximum Gaussian kernel to reduce noise (AFNIs 3dmerge); for the larger squirrel and marmoset brains, a 1.5mm kernel was used. An average functional image was then calculated for each run and registered (FSLs FLIRT) to each animals T2-weighted imagethe 4D time-series data was transformed using this matrix. T2-weighted images were manually skull-stripped (including the olfactory bulb in all three species), and this mask was applied to the functional images.

Each individual animals T2-weighted images were non-linearly registered to high-resolution anatomical templates: for squirrels, images were registered to the higher-resolution anatomical image from squirrel 5 (voxel size=0.20.20.2mm). For rats, images were registered to the anatomical image provided in template space (voxel size=0.050.050.05mm)47. For marmosets, images were registered to the NIH marmoset brain atlas (voxel size=0.20.20.2mm)48. Functional images from all three species were bandpass filtered between 0.01 and 0.1Hz.

For frontal regions, seed analyses were conducted between the mean time course within each seed region and every other voxel in the brain (with the nuisance regressors described above). Group functional connectivity maps (Z score maps) were then calculated for each of the frontal seeds in the three species. For rats, seeds (0.9mm isotropic cubes) were placed in frontal areas Fr3, FrA, M2, LO, and MO based on the atlas (see Fig.2, red squares). For squirrels, no atlas is available; therefore, 6 seeds (1.6mm isotropic cubes) were placed in the frontopolar cortex (see Fig.2, red squares) across area F based on a paper from the Kaas lab26. For marmosets, seeds (single voxels) were placed in frontal area 6VA, 6DR, 8AD, 8AV, 45, 47L, 46D, and 46V (see Fig.2, red squares) using our open-access resource (https://marmosetbrainconnectome.org)41given the high statistical power of this functional connectivity dataset, averaging across multiple voxels was not necessary.

We then specified eight common regions extrinsic to the frontal cortex in all three species (placement shown in Fig.2 as blue squares). For each species, regions of interest were manually drawn in the posterior parietal cortex (PPC), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), S1, M1, insula (Ins), striatum, superior colliculus (SC), and pulvinar (Pul). For the rats, these regions of interest were 0.9mm isotropic cubes; in the squirrels and marmosets, 1.5mm isotropic cubes. The placement of the cubes was based on definitions of these areas in the rat and marmoset atlas and the squirrel cortical parcellation by Wong and Kaas23. We also systematically translated the seed regions about the original anatomically defined centroid in each species and found that the placement had minimal impact on the overall fingerprint pattern (Supplementary Figs.7, 8 and 9 for rats, squirrels, and marmosets respectively).

With the eight regions of interest defined in each respective species, we then extracted the mean connectivity values within these regions (with variance shown in Supplementary Fig.10)these values constituted the fingerprints, with a separate fingerprint for each seed region, for each species. To compare across the species, we normalized the fingerprint to a range between 0 (weakest connection with any of the target regions) and 1 (strongest connection with any of the target regions). We thus compare a connectivity pattern with target areas rather than absolute strength in any given species23. For the comparisons, we calculated the multidimensional cosine similarity across the matrix of functional connectivity fingerprints23intuitively similar to a correlation value. The cosine similarity analysis provided an index of how similar or different the interareal fingerprint patterns were. By comparing the cosine of the angle between vectors (i.e., fingerprints), the cosine similarity metric indexes how similar the orientation of a set of vectors are in normalized space, with high similarity values indicating similar fingerprints (i.e., vectors in the same direction) and low scores indicating dissimilar fingerprints (i.e., vectors of diverging direction). By plotting the fingerprints in spider plots, we show the specific regions where the fingerprints differ. We applied this technique to compare squirrel, rat, and marmoset frontal FC patterns with the eight extrinsic regions.

Permutation testing was used to test for statistical differences between fingerprints across the species. Permutation tests were performed via in-house code written in Matlab. Pair-wise comparisons of fingerprints were performed for each seed region of interest by first randomly dividing individual (i.e., scan-level) fingerprints into two groups (with fingerprints from each of two species randomly forming the comparison distributions), group-wise averaging, then normalization of the fingerprints to a range of 0 (weakest connection with any of the target regions) and 1 (strongest connection with any of the target regions). Cosine similarity was then calculated across species. This process was iterated 10,000 times, yielding a distribution of cosine similarity values that trended towards 1. A cosine similarity value smaller than the lowest 1 percentile of permuted cosine similarity values was defined as a significantly different fingerprint comparison.

Further information on research design is available in theNature Research Reporting Summary linked to this article.

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Frontoparietal connectivity as a product of convergent evolution in rodents and primates: functional connectivity topologies in grey squirrels, rats,...

Stetson Bennett took a sip of coffee and grinned.

What's it like having tight ends Brock Bowers, Darnell Washington and Arik Gilbert to throw to?

"It's a safety net," Bennett told ESPN in July.

But Georgia's veteran quarterback was underselling it. He went on to reveal a phrase they use around the football facility when talking about that trio: "Open by birth." As in, their size and talent leave them always open.

When No. 1 Georgia travels to South Carolina on Saturday (noon ET, ESPN), the evolution of the tight end position will be on full display. They're no longer glorified offensive linemen with their hands stuck in the dirt. They're more skilled and more versatile -- and there are more of them -- than ever before.

Take Bowers. He's 6-foot-4, 230 pounds and moves like a running back after the catch -- which is no wonder because he played some running back and triple-option quarterback in high school. He caught 13 touchdowns and averaged 19 yards per catch last season, earning SEC Freshman of the Year honors and a spot on The Associated Press All-America team.

Washington, on the other hand, is 6-foot-7, 270 pounds and has the kind of quick-twitch burst typically associated with forwards in the NBA. He was hampered by injuries for much of last season -- which paved the way for Bowers' emergence -- but he left an impression late. In the SEC championship game he made 6-foot-2 Alabama linebacker Henry To'oTo'o look like a child when he easily snatched a jump pass out of air for a touchdown. Washington set the internet abuzz in Week 1 of this season when he caught a short pass in the flat and single-handedly destroyed Oregon's defense.

0:28

Georgia tight end Darnell Washington goes up and over the defender for an impressive 25-yard gain.

Then there's the 6-foot-5, 255-pound Gilbert, whom the casual fan might not be aware of but is worth paying attention to. While the LSU transfer hasn't caught a pass since December 2020, there's a reason former Tigers coach Ed Orgeron once compared his skill set to that of Hall of Fame receiver Calvin Johnson. And there's a reason Gilbert made the SEC All-Freshman Team in 2020, when he caught 35 passes for 368 yards and two touchdowns. His two-touchdown performance in the spring game -- including one catch in double-coverage -- had Georgia fans salivating.

And because Georgia is Georgia, there's one more talented tight end waiting in the wings: freshman Oscar Delp, a top-100 prospect who checks in at 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds.

When Bowers was asked by reporters in the preseason to describe the tight end group in a single word, he answered, "I guess elite."

Washington said simply, "Mismatch."

"We're all unique," Washington added. "If you put a speedster like Brock in, he does his work. Then you put a guy like me in, I'm oversized. There's no linebacker that I feel like personally that can trouble me. Then you've got Arik, he's a hybrid. He can do everything -- like, he can do it all. And then, just keep rotating, break down the defense and create a mismatch around the field."

Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer told ESPN that it is unusual to see the number of tight ends the Bulldogs have at their disposal.

"But I'll be honest," he added. "I feel pretty dang good about the guys that we have, too. And I'd say it's very similar. We've got multiple skill sets."

He's not wrong. Jaheim Bell is one of the best all-purpose players in college football, regardless of position. Against UNC in the Duke's Mayo Bowl, he had 159 yards receiving and 21 yards rushing. The first line in his official team bio says it all: "Swiss Army Knife."

And he's not alone. This offseason, Austin Stogner transferred in from Oklahoma, where he caught three touchdowns last year.

Faced with multiple tight ends like that, what's a defensive coordinator to do? An SEC assistant described the matchup nightmare they represent.

"You want to go big?" the assistant said. "Because if you do, we'll spread you out. You want to go small? We're going to pound you."

THE LONG ARC of football history moves along two variables: size and speed.

Size -- and therefore strength -- mattered most in the sepia-toned bygone era of ground-and-pound offenses. So defenses gathered as many big linemen and linebackers as they could in order to shrink the space between the hashes. Then, after some fits and starts, offenses got wise and countered with speed, spreading the field with three to five receivers. So heavy-footed linebackers who couldn't cover in space were out, replaced by smaller, faster defensive backs.

College football essentially turned from tug-of-war into track. And while that's admittedly a far too simplistic interpretation of the 153-year history of the sport, it gets us up to date and sets up the position that is not only bridging eras but is the next link in the evolutionary chain: the modern tight end, a hybrid who's just as capable of lining up between the hashes and blocking as he is splitting out wide and playing receiver.

The way Smart sees it, the change was inevitable.

He pointed out how those old-school, run-oriented offenses really only featured one guy: the tailback. No one ever talked about the great block a tight end had, he said.

And now that spread offenses are everywhere and everything is geared toward the passing game, it's no wonder that tight ends are getting in on the action.

"It's becoming basketball," Smart said. "Because in basketball, the center is gone. Everybody's a guard. Well, in football the evolution is everybody's a pass-catcher. So if you're big and you're a pass-catcher, what does everybody draft in the NBA? The 6-10 guy that can play guard. So we're looking for the 6-6 guy that can play receiver and tight end."

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Judging by the depth they've accumulated at the position in Athens, Smart and his staff are searching in the right places.

And by doing so, they've created a multiple-tight-end offense that doesn't have to sacrifice anything in terms of run vs. pass.

"It's a great X-and-O scheme advantage because you can flex guys out," Smart said. "I mean, teams are trying to figure out whether we're gonna run it down their throat or we're gonna open it up and throw it."

No. 14 Utah makes opposing defenses wonder the same thing. The Utes were the only team in the country last season to feature two tight ends in the top 20 in receiving yards: Bryant Kuithe (611) and Dalton Kincaid (510).

Kyle Whittingham's squad led the Pac-12 in both yards per play and rushing yards per game.

"When you've got tight ends that can block -- as well as our outstanding receivers -- then it opens up a bunch of opportunities in the run game as well as to get mismatches in the passing game," Whittingham said. "Defenses, how are they gonna play? Are they gonna put a fifth DB out there in a nickel? Are they gonna play 4-3 personnel? And whatever they choose to do, we should have an answer for that.

"To be able to move [tight ends] around -- shift them, motion them, try to create a situation where you can out-flank the defense -- it opens up so many possibilities."

In some ways, it feels like a trickle-down from the early 2010s New England Patriots offense that featured both Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez at tight end. Or maybe it's more like the 2006 Indianapolis Colts who won the Super Bowl thanks to the trio of Ben Utecht, Dallas Clark and Bryan Fletcher. Coaches interviewed for this story cited both as potential origins.

Whatever starting line you choose, the tight end revolution has officially arrived in college football.

Consider the 2011 so-called "Game of the Century" between Alabama and LSU. The Crimson Tide's tight end at the time was 270-pound Michael Williams, ostensibly an extra blocker who wound up transitioning to offensive tackle in the NFL. Ten years later, Williams' successor was 230-pound Jahleel Billingsley, who had such good hands and ability to run after the catch that Alabama used him as its primary kick returner.

Let that sink in for a moment: a tight end returned kicks for the No. 1 team in the country. That's how far we've come in only a decade.

BEAMER LISTED ALL the ways in which Bell is utilized within the Gamecocks' offense.

"He's kind of a hybrid of three different positions," he said. "He's a receiver, he's a tight end and he's a running back."

Darn it -- hold on a second. Beamer also remembers the season opener, when they lined up in the wishbone and handed the ball to Bell from the fullback spot. So make that four positions and counting.

You'll have to forgive Beamer if he feels some whiplash these days. Only four years ago, he left a job coaching tight ends at Georgia for the same role at Oklahoma. And once he got to Norman, he inherited a player neither he nor Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart would have considered recruiting out of high school. The freshman was 6-foot-4 and versatile, but he weighed only 220 pounds, not big enough to help in the run game.

Sooners coach Lincoln Riley found a role for him on offense, though. The player's name was Grant Calcaterra, and he made all-conference teams three times in college -- twice in the Big 12, once in the AAC -- before he was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in April.

"Then I fast-forward two to three years later and basically Calcaterra is what Brock Bowers is now," Beamer said. "Brock is maaaaybe a little bit bigger than Grant, but as far as what Georgia is doing with Brock, it's a lot of the same stuff we're doing with Jaheim."

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Bell took that handoff at fullback against Georgia State, which is basically what Bowers did last year against Vanderbilt when he motioned across the formation, for a mini jet sweep that resulted in a touchdown.

"It all goes back to getting your best players on the field," Beamer said, "and so many players nowadays are more and more comfortable with this stuff."

Beamer believes it's because today's players grew up watching Antonio Gates, Jimmy Graham and Vernon Davis in the NFL. Those guys used to be unicorns on the recruiting trail, but not anymore. Beamer said he rarely sees a high school tight end get in a three-point stance. "You just never see them block anymore," he said.

Go look at the Mackey Award, Beamer said, which is given out to the top tight end in college football.

"Very rarely do they play a true tight end," he said. "They're basically glorified, flexed out receivers, and that's the name of the game right now."

The ESPN 300 -- a ranking of the top prospects coming out of high school -- averaged 10 tight ends per class from 2018 to '22. But the 2023 class shows that more difference-makers are on the way, with 17 tight ends featured on the list.

Teaching them the finer points of blocking may be a chore for college coaches, but even a below-average blocking tight end -- by virtue of his size -- can be an effective weapon.

Put two hybrid tight ends on the field together, along with two receivers and a running back, and an offensive coordinator has the entire playbook at his disposal. If the defense fields four defensive backs, the OC can put the tight ends along the line of scrimmage and run the football, utilizing their size advantage. But if the defense wants to sub DBs for linebackers, the OC can motion the tight ends into space and use their speed advantage.

And in either scenario, an OC can choose to go no-huddle and make substituting basically impossible for the defense.

Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said size and speed have always been the name of the game, especially in the SEC. Blend the two, he explained, and you have a "weapon."

So during the course of last season, Pittman and his staff tried to reverse engineer their own hybrid, moving Trey Knox from receiver to tight end.

One offseason and 40 pounds of muscle later, Pittman likes what he sees from Knox.

"Hopefully we can get some mismatches," Pittman said earlier this summer.

So far, so good, as Knox leads the team with two touchdowns through Arkansas' first two games.

"You may think, 'Well, the tight end has to be an extended tackle,'" Pittman said. "Those days are over."

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Georgia, South Carolina matchup to feature evolution of the college football tight end - ESPN

And yet I believed, more than ever, that we were natures dearest creatures, its adepts, its glowing initiates. My battered self slept on Brodys chest.

On the way to Oklahoma the next day, we had a creepy driver who told dirty jokes and laughed at the punch linesIt was her pussy all along! He didnt try to touch me, but he kept repeating the lines and grinning. When he dropped us off at a rest stop, I decided I had nine dollars in my wallet that we could spend for a motel.

You are such a princess, Brody said.

Were starting to smell, I said.

Excuse me, Miss Royalty.

We fought over this until I thought he really was going to sleep outside by himself, but in the end he let me check us in. And I took a rapturous shower, for so long that the hot water ran out on Brody. Who had no interest in making love that night. O.K., if that was how he felt. I slept poorly and sadly, hearing the murmur and whistle of his breath.

Our last day in Texas was steamy hot and had one unpleasant incident. Brody tried to steal a pack of American cheese and three pepperoni sausages from a gas-station grocery, and the guy followed us to the door and said, People get shot for less. I was terrified. Brody said nothing and kept his head down as he gave up the goods.

Arizona was thrilling to see outside the windowsthere really were cacti!but it was midnight on a dark desert night by the time we got close to Tucson, where his friend lived. He wont mind our showing up so late?

Wed been let out at a bare strip of closed snack joints along the highway. There were two pay phones, and one of them worked. Brody fed it all his change and dialled a number that rang and rang. After what seemed like hours, I heard him say, Russell? Yeah, its me. Really. I told you.

He wanted Russell to come pick us up, wherever we were, but Russell apparently wanted us to hitch to his house. So we stood with our thumbs out, but no vehicle of any kind was stopping at this hour. Brody got more change from me and went back to the pay phone to call again. And in the wee hours of the morning an old Dodge Dart came out of the black highway and stopped for us. What an asshole you are, the driver said. He looked O.K., skinny in his T-shirt, wearing a straw cowboy hat to keep out the sun to come.

Russell, my man, so good to see you, Brody said.

Whos the girl?

Cara. Isnt she cute?

Not really, he said.

I was in the back seat, they were in the front, and Brody looked back at me, scowling.

I dont even know you, Russell said, and youve got me driving all over the state for you.

They had met, by Brodys account, at a retreat in Nebraska that his high school, St. Somebodys, had had with other Catholic schools. He and Russell had sneaked away from the sylvan premises together and had been sent home in disgrace, thereby forming a lifelong bond, or so Brody had decided.

Im so happy to be in Arizona, Brody said. It just feels freer here. The air.

I fell asleep in the car, with the free air blowing on my head, and Brody woke me up later to walk me into a very small adobe house, cluttered with furniture I couldnt see. I was put in an armchair to sleep, and I didnt wake up till bright daylight got me, and I could hear voices from what turned out to be a kitchen alcove.

The girl is awake, Brody said, looking over at me.

The two guys were laughing about something (that was good) and eating toast, and Brody actually gave me a piece from his plate. I scarfed it down without even speakingI hadnt known how hungry I was. Russell said I could finish the loaf if I went out for supplies afterward with Brody. A fifteen-minute walk to the grocery store, and we could admire the scenery.

I saw that Russells cube of a house was one room, with too many chairs in it. In the corner was a mattress with blue sheets, which seemed to be where Russell slept.

You know what I think? Brody said. You know that retreat we were on? They were right about one thing.

Father Mike. Dont remind me.

He said that nature was how God revealed Himself to us. Have you been outside yet? What kind of God wants it to go up to ninety-seven by noon?

Russell said, Well, the great thing is, this house has a swamp cooleryou know how they work? Youre only sweltering a little, right?

Youve gone very local, Brody said.

I was still thinking about God and nature. I had my own secret theory, that sexual feeling existed to impress on humans the sense of a beyond, the reality of another plane. There was no other reason for it to be the way it was. I certainly wasnt going to say any of this to Brody, though Id once talked to Nini about it.

I sort of loved the landscapeso flat you could see foreverwith its clusters of houses, the vivid blue sky, and a horizon with mountains on one side. And I liked the little bodega where we pooled our money to get bread and peanut butter and hot dogs and milk. I felt sure that we could find jobs in this city. Russell worked in a Xerox store a few days a weekwe could do that. Brody and I could be a couple, living together.

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Evolution, by Joan Silber - The New Yorker

Born Pink, the sophomore album from Blackpink, glitters with all the beguiling elements that made the quartet the biggest girl group in the world. Lisa, Jisoo, Jennie, and Ross sweet, two-faced black and pink duality, door-busting attitude, and fierce independence are all accounted for, and their immense charm remains undiminished. But the thrilling novelty has worn off. As Blackpink has become more of a brand than a band, their musical evolution has stalled. Born Pink delivers the same tried-and-true Blackpink sound that has cemented their success. That consistency will delight some and bore others. Whichever camp you fall into, the bottom line is that Born Pink fails to unlock new dimensions of musical development and depth for a group that has always been bursting with potential.

We cant talk about Born Pink, the album, without talking about Blackpink, the brand. Since their 2016 debut, the star power and sway of Blackpinks individual members have at times eclipsed their music, which has been doled out sparingly. The quartet has fewer than 30 songs to their name, and the tracks on Born Pink account for just eight of them. Taylor Swift, by comparison, has released more than 60 songs since 2017. Doja Cat has dropped at least 47 since 2018, and Justin Bieber more than 40 since just 2020.

In many ways, Born Pink underscores that Blackpinks music now serves to bolster their reputation as a brand, not the other way around. Vogue declared that no one loved Blackpink more in 2021 than the fashion industry and on Born Pink, that love is mutual. The group was dressed by Mugler in the teasers for lead single Pink Venom, and Lisa name-drops Celine on the track (she has been an ambassador for the brand since 2019). On Shut Down, Jennie raps, See these dresses? We dont buy it, we request it as a nod to their economic force as front-row fixtures and muses for fashion houses.

And there are other kinds of endorsements tied to Born Pink, too, which affirm the album as a commercial project as much as a musical one. The track Ready for Love, for example, was released as a collaboration with gaming heavyweight PUBG before appearing on Born Pink, and a Los Angeles pop-up store celebrating the album is co-branded with Spotify.

Read more: The Best K-Pop Songs and Albums of 2022 So Far

BLACKPINK at the Spotify x BLACKPINK BORN PINK Pop-up Experience LA

Courtesy: Spotify

Blackpinks production team at YG Entertainment, led by the inexhaustible Teddy Park, have always delivered solid pop that revels in brash individuality and swaggering superiority before retreating to heartbroken corners for wounded laments. Born Pink solidifies this musical and lyrical perspective as Blackpinks very identity, Blackpink-core.

Every track on the album would be as at home on any previous Blackpink release as this one. Pink Venom sweetly threatens to inject pink venom straight to ya dome and ends with the groups signature vocal percussion, this time a repeated ra-ta-ta-ta. Shut Down is a boastful kiss off to naysayers while Tally is an apathetic sex-positive declaration of self-worth (and contains several f-cks, perhaps the most thrilling surprise of the album). Typa Girl is an Im not like other girls anthem accented by punchy snaps and piano.

The 80s synth-tinged Yeah Yeah Yeah is a welcome switch-up, since musical elements of that era are rare within Blackpinks discography. Ross Hard to Love, a strange addition as the only solo track on the album, is still a solid pop-rock bop. The Happiest Girl is a palatable ballad, with the girls nursing a wounded ego and an ailing love. It includes a rare sung verse by rapper Lisa, whose voice is beautiful. Ready for Love, the PUBG collaboration, rounds out the album as a straightforward dance track without adornment.

Born Pink cements a visual aesthetic, too. In our walk-up to the album, we called pre-release single Pink Venom an on-the-nose extension of the groups visual universe for its use of the color palettes, earth, fire, and water elements, combat imagery, and large group dance finale weve seen from the group in the past.

The music video for second single Shut Down is even more straightforward, intentionally referencing past visuals from older music videos: a chair-sized globe from Whistle, a trash bag-laden pickup truck from BOOMBAYAH, DDU-DU DDU-DUs mirrored tank and pink shopping bags for Jennie, umbrella for Jisoo, Blackpink-branded katana for Lisa, and chandelier swing for Ros. The scenes have been drained of color and recast in black and pink, to underscore them as key iconography of Blackpinks visual universe.

Here, theres a straight line to be drawn to the other biggest band in the world, BTS, whose recent anthology album Proof plucked tracks from across the more than dozen albums theyve released since 2013. Proofs lead single, The Best is Yet to Come, also saw them relaxing amongst iconic imagery from their past music videos. Those scenes represented a decade of growth that took them from scrappy, macho-posturing nobodies to sleek, soft Top-40 mainstays.

Blackpink has not been given the agency to evolve in nearly the same way, though they are more than capable of it. Born Pink may be YGs way of sketching the blueprint of the groups musical legacy, but the members should be empowered to build on top of it soon.

We often expect artists to evolve before our eyes, testing new phases of personality, expression, and style. Each new musical release offers greater insight, newer stories, more dramatic highs and lows. Pitted against those expectations, Born Pink falls flat.

But what if evolution isnt the point? On the back of less than three dozen songs, Blackpink has risen to become style icons and superstars, the most popular girl group in the world. Why, some might argue, would they change what theyre doing?

Still, I found myself listening to the album thinking, After so much time, how do they still sound the same? Lisa, Jisoo, Jennie, and Ros have traveled the world and have surely experienced their share of pain, loss, joy, and melancholy. Its hard to believe that things wouldnt have shifted inside them, that new love wouldnt have bloomed in their hearts, that challenging thoughts wouldnt have troubled their minds. They dont owe us anything, but they do have their own stories to tell. Blackpink may have been born pink, but the world is still waiting to hear all the new colors theyve grown into.

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Contact us at letters@time.com.

More Must-Read Stories From TIME

Contact us at letters@time.com.

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Blackpink's 'Born Pink' Is More of Their Signature Formula - TIME

The Connecticut Sun walked off the floor of Michelob Ultra Arena down 1-0 to start the best of five WNBA Finals series, an eerily similar start to the 2019 Finals series they competed in against the Washington Mystics.

But, even with many of the same faces on the roster and an analogous first game in the Finals, this is a different team. Before and after the game, players and coaches alike have issued sentiments of growth over the past three years and even over the past few series.

As soon as the last second ticked off the clock, the Sun gathered by their bench and were vocal, uplifting one another and staying connected. They walked off the court disappointed, to be certain, but confident in who they were with a resolve to play their game regardless of opposition and circumstance.

Its the playoffs. Nothing (from the regular season) matters anymore, which we proved last series, said Alyssa Thomas post-game.

Theres a game two, and we will watch the video and be prepared for the next game. After this game, we have to have a lot of confidence. This is a three-point game, and we had a chance to tie. We know that all you need is one, and then theres two games at our place.

Comparing this presser with the one afterGame One in 2019, that additional confidence comes from experience is palpable.

Courtney Williams brought a physical embodiment of this team to Game One in Las Vegas.

Williams told me pregame that she took a shot to the eye in Game Five of the Semi-Finals series with the Sky, leading to the shiner we saw in Game One yesterday.

It sounds clich, but nothing has come easy for the Sun this season. Theyve been bruised up all season long. They take their lumps, at times self-inflicted.

Aces head coach Becky Hammon repeatedly called the Sun relentless and rough before and after the game.

The air with which she mentions their playstyle and grit is almost with an annoyance borne out of admiration; they play a near polar opposite style of the Aces and really any team in the league. When they drag you in the mud, its frustrating, but its difficult not to appreciate their commitment to mucking it up.

This team found something against Chicago. They shed the tension thats plagued them in some of their most significant moments, particularly early on in that series.

Through their constant grit, theyve found a way to play looser, have more fun, and enjoy the process, something Sun coach Curt Miller attributed heavily to DeWanna Bonner at the close of the Semifinals.

This team has looked to find a balance in their preparation, commitment to detail, and discipline, alongside their ability to enjoy the game and be more hands-off, something Miller spoke to before the game.

Its my 20th season as a head coach, and youre continually learning, constantly learning flaws about you, Xs and Os wise, personality-wise.

As a head coach in college, first at Bowling Green and then at Indiana, Miller was hands-on to the max. Management and controlling the controllable led Bowling Green to their first and only Sweet 16 appearance in school history.

Finding ways to take the hands off the wheel and knowing when not to coach has helped propel the Sun further in the postseason.

Ive probably coached less this year than (any of) my 20 years, but I have a veteran group. Im fortunate that I dont have to overcoach. Preparation is our pillar, our key piece to what we believe in, and we believe that were prepared. Now Im going to manage them and just support our players, said Miller before the game.

He also mentioned how pivotal the coaching staff has been, that they sometimes run things at large, and he just manages personalities more than he used to.

I have tremendous players to lean on and the elite assistant coaches.

Even after the loss, the team didnt feel they were tight or played tense. Their offense sometimes struggled, especially once the Aces employed more zone in the second half. Vegas dragged the Sun into multiple late clock scenarios, and they had gaffs in clock awareness. I cant remember the last time I watched a game with that many tie-ups and shot clock violations all-around.

Ultimately, Connecticut felt good about its process, however.

I dont think it ever felt tight, said Jonquel Jones after the game.

Im happy with the game that we played, and we gave ourselves a good opportunity to come out with a win, and it just didnt go our way. Were excited about Game 2.

Down to start a series is never ideal; since the league shifted to a best of five series in the Finals in 2005, only four teams have won the championship after losing the first game.

Yet, this is how things have gone for the Sun in the playoffs. They were up against the wall in the first round after a drubbing in game two that was much further apart than the final score indicated. They promptly beat Dallas by 15 in Dallas to close the series. Against the Sky, they looked like a fighter out on their feet, and game three felt disastrous. They made it to the Finals anyway.

While the Sun may not win this series, please make no mistake, they are a different team than they were three years ago. Theyre a different team than they were three weeks ago, and a different team than they were three games ago when they went down 2-1.

WNBA reporter Mark Schindler writes a column onWNBA.comthroughout the season and can be reached on Twitter at @MG_Schindler. The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the WNBA or its clubs.

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The Sun's Evolution - WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA - WNBA.com

The first ransomware appeared in 1989. It was distributed via floppy disks; its encryption could be easily reversed, and the ransom of $189 was to be paid to a PO box in Panama. Since those humble beginnings, ransomware has evolved into the massive international cybercrime it is today, that causes billions in damage to organizations big or small.

As new successful attacks are reported daily, it seems that the defenses against the ever more sophisticated attack vectors are lagging the attackers. As many organizations continue to struggle to defend themselves against ransomware, it is worth looking at the currently available technologies and how effective they are in combating it.

IT-Security cannot guarantee the defense against ransomware

Obviously, the best ransomware attack would be the one that does not even reach the network. Security vendors are working continuously to keep pace with the attackers but have no definitive recipe against the whack-a-mole of new security threats like APTs (Advanced Persistent Threats) and Zero Day Exploits, let alone the fact that human insiders still pose one of the biggest risks to organizations networks. IDC recently revealed in its The State of Ransomware and Disaster Preparedness: 2022 survey that 93 percent of organizations suffered a data-related business disruption during the past 12 months, and 67.8 percent of respondents experienced four or more such disruptions.

IT-Security, generally the first line of defense, cannot defend against all attacks and cannot guarantee 100 percent security. As a result, all organizations need to plan for the worst case of a successful attack on their network, which is not any more just an 'if' or a 'when' but more a 'how often'.

Backups do not have the capability to prevent data loss or downtime

The chances that an organization will sooner or later be victim of a successful ransomware attack are somewhere between 'likely' to 'certain'. To prepare for this scenario, many organizations rely on a technology to recover from an attack that they already use: Backups.

Looking at the current landscape of vendors of data protection software and storage systems that promise solutions against ransomware, Backup-vendors are amongst the loudest voices, marketing their solution aggressively. However, as most new applications will be deployed in the cloud or at the edge, these previous generations of data protection software and storage systems simply do not have the capability to prevent data loss or downtime. Not surprisingly, most organizations lack confidence in their current backup and DR solutions. Only 28 percent of respondents in the IDC-survey expressed 100 percent confidence in their backup systems ability to recover all data.

At the same time, organizations are facing ever-increasing complexity in providing data protection and disaster recovery using a variety of interleaved data protection products. These often include backup and recovery software, snapshots, mirrors, and replicas, along with disaster recovery (DR) strategies to ensure data recovery in the event of any failure, such as a ransomware attack. Given the cost of downtime (according to IDC, the average cost of downtime is $250K per hour across all industries) and the disruption caused by data unavailability, data-driven organizations are becoming less tolerant to downtime and data loss.

More organizations are looking at DR to recover their data

As ransomware-attacks become ubiquitous it is becoming clear that current solutions are failing organizations in need of solutions to protect against extended downtime and data loss.

IT organizations are looking for solutions that can drive down service-level agreements like RTO and data loss SLAs (RPO) to near zero, equating to no downtime and no data loss. Current solutions based on IT-Security and traditional periodic backups are failing as the requirements for ransomware recovery and disaster recovery are changing. Organizations need better solutions to deal with emerging challenges and ensure data recovery in the event of any failure.

Continuous Data Protection reduces RPO and eliminates the backup gap

In response to these challenges, Continuous Data Protection (CDP) has a growing role if not a necessity as it can significantly reduce the potential for data loss, regardless of cause, while reducing the time to recovery and simplifying recovery. CDP captures data changes as they are written meaning the effective RPO is reduced to seconds and virtually eliminates the backup gap that can act as a major cause for data loss.

Conclusion: CDP is a priority in the evolution of ransomware recovery

With the ubiquitous threat of ransomware and many new applications being deployed at the core, cloud, and edge, IT organizations are facing ever-increasing complexity in providing data protection and DR. By using CDP to return to a point just seconds or minutes prior to an attack or any disruption, including ransomware, recoveries can be made quickly and with minimal data loss, especially when combined with recovery orchestration and automation. To ensure recovery in any circumstance, organizations must prioritize the need in the latest evolution of recovery technology: CDP.

Image credit: AndreyPopov/depositphotos.com

Christopher Rogers is Technology Evangelist at Zerto a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company.

Excerpt from:

CDP: A priority in the evolution of ransomware recovery - BetaNews

When Clay Helvey looks back at the evolution of his pro career, theres a line of demarcation that splits the first half from the second half.

In his first two years within the Giants organization, drafted out of Division II powerhouse Tampa in 2018, he was a completely different pitcher than the version that has emerged in the past two years, he said.

I had to kind of change who I was, Helvey said Thursday. And not completely. But I essentially got better, and it forced me to change.

Early on, Helvey wasnt satisfied whatsoever with what he had shown. He knew he was better.

The right-hander posted a 6.27 ERA between the 2018 and 2019 seasons. And he went through multiple role changes out of the bullpen, which made it tough to discover an identity on the mound.

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Until Helvey simply decided to let go. To not worry about what inning he was brought in, how many innings he would pitch or what batters he would face. He stopped overthinking in a mindset shift that began late in the 2019 season.

The mental adjustment has been a catalyst to the marked improvement in performance Helvey has displayed during the past two seasons. The 6-foot-3 195-pounder out of Fort Mill, S.C., has posted the best season of his career this year, which put him on a path to his first promotion to Double-A earlier this summer with the Richmond Flying Squirrels.

The mindset switched and, kind of, the drive changed a little bit, Helvey said, of his career progression that began about three years ago. I wasnt content with just being OK. I wasnt content with just being good enough. And I wanted to be better.

Growing up, early in his time at Fort Mill High, Helvey considered himself a better hitter than pitcher. But Jake Robbins, a former major league pitcher for Cleveland and the vice president of Matthews, N.C.-based Showcase Baseball Academy, saw potential in Helvey as a pitcher.

Robbins worked with Helvey to begin trying to hone the talent he saw. And Helvey began to focus more on pitching as a sophomore at Fort Mill.

He performed well enough on the mound that he began to get recruited as a pitcher and committed to play at the College of Charleston where his older brother, Nathan, was a pitcher.

Helvey pitched in six games and allowed three earned runs in five innings. Though he couldve stayed there, he felt it was a good idea to seek a fresh start elsewhere.

He landed at St. Johns River State College, a junior college in Palatka, Fla.

With the Vikings, Helvey posted a 4.52 ERA in 63 innings and eyed a move back up. But he didnt have the ample credits to transfer to a Division I school.

So Helvey, remembering the positive assessment he heard of the program at Tampa from a teammate at the College of Charleston, found a home there. And he saw further improvement, enough to draw the attention of MLB scouts.

Tampa really let me kind of pitch my own way and show off my stuff, for what it was worth, Helvey said.

Helvey had a 3.34 ERA in 70 innings at Tampa in 2018. The Giants picked him in the 22nd round of that Junes draft, 646th overall.

As Helvey got better as a pro, he had to, as he termed it, relearn how to pitch. He began to throw harder, and the quality of his pitches improved.

Part of the relievers journey was simplifying his arsenal into a three-pitch mix of four-seam fastball, slider and curveball. By streamlining, Helvey cuts back on how much he has to think while on the mound, and it has helped him.

With the Flying Squirrels, Helvey had a stretch of 12 straight appearances from Aug. 5 to Sept. 11 in which he didnt allow an earned run. He has a career-best 2.68 ERA this year in a career-high 53 innings.

Erie 5, Flying Squirrels 1: Andrew Navigato cracked a two-run home run in the fifth inning to highlight the SeaWolves Eastern League victory at The Diamond on the penultimate day of the regular season.

Carter Aldrete homered, his sixth of the year, in the eighth to drive in the only run for Richmond (25-42), which will wrap up its regular season Sunday with a 1:35 p.m. game against Erie at The Diamond.

The Flying Squirrels, who won the Southwest Division title in the first half, will then prepare for the best-of-three Eastern League semifinals, which begin Tuesday. Richmond will face the second-half champion, either Bowie or Erie. Bowie and Erie are tied after the BaySox lost to Akron on Saturday night.

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Excerpt from:

After evolution, Flying Squirrels reliever Clay Helvey has enjoyed best season of his career - Richmond Times-Dispatch

The evolution of the electric vehicle market in Israel as told by one of our readers, Assaf, in the comments section of an article on the launch of the Leapmotor T03 in Israel makes some fascinating reading. Here is how Assaf describes the Israeli market.

Structurally it is more like New Zealand in being all-import and relying only on ocean shipments, except with Israelis having higher income and with the authorities discouraging it, there is far less used-import action than in NZ. Affordable EVs are mostly a Chinese domain in Israel. The first one on the ground was the GAC GE3 SUV in 2020, selling for ~130k NIS ($38-40k), and quickly joined and exceeded in volume by the MG ZS. These prices are considered midrange to a bit below cars are expensive in Israel!

Now here is one of the most interesting parts of his summary of the Israeli market.

The Chinese EV invasion has forced other importers to stop ridiculous mark-ups on the EVs they sell in Israel, so now you can get the Zoe for roughly the same price, and the Koreans and the Leaf for perhaps 20-40k NIS more. Tesla also landed in Israel in 2021 with a big bang as everywhere, but both supply and prices are out of reach for the majority.

Assaf says that the entry of Chinese EVs in the Israeli market led to importers of other EVs reducing prices of their EVs. This is something we will start to see very soon in more places around the world as Chinese EV makers are now finally starting to zone in on exporting their products to as many markets as possible. Chinese automakers have been working hard to satisfy domestic demand for EVs in the worlds largest market over the past decade. They have also been working hard to continuously improve the range and quality of EVs in the Chinese market. A lot of them now have room to export several models, and it looks like they intend to do so at scale. People outside China have been following with envy all the cool and affordable EVs with excellent range being introduced in the Chinese market, and wondering when they will get their hands on one. With major players such as SAIC and BYD now aggressively targeting the export market, people outside China wont have to wait for an eternity.

As Assaf says, affordable EVs in Israel are mostly from Chinese automakers. Chinese automakers may just do for the EV sector what Chinese solar panel makers did for the solar industry. As Chinese solar panel makers ramped up production of solar panels, the prices kept falling, making solar panels more affordable for more people around the world. Reports say that 10,460 new EVs have been delivered to customers in Israel so far this year (up to July 2022). These registrations are 70% higher than during the same period last year. Chinese EVs are responsible for a significant chunk of those sales. The report also says that the Geelys Geometry C is one of the top selling vehicles so far this year. A look at the sales charts reveals quite a few prominent Chinese models, including models from Geely, MG, Skywell, Maxus, Hongqi, LynkCo, GAC, and DFSK.

The biggest takeaway from all this exciting action is the news that the Geometry C electric car was the best-selling vehicle model in Israel in August!An EV topped the sales charts in Israel for the first time ever. Demand for EVs is also sky high in many parts around the world. Interest in electric vehicles is growing around the worlddespite some of the FUD being peddled by some automakers who want to prolong the ICE age. As more affordable EVs start arriving around the world, we could see the same trend that we are seeing in Israel, where the wave of competitive models with decent range will force providers of other models to reduce prices as well. This will drive up demand and increase operational efficiencies with economies of scale as global EV automakers ramp up production, catalyzing further adoption of EVs. In the not too distant future, electric cars will be so common in most that they will simply be called cars.

Originally posted here:

The Evolution Of The Israeli EV Market Gives Us An Example Of Whats To Come In Other Markets - CleanTechnica