How to outperform FBI at home. Part 1.
In 2012 FBI spent billions of dollars on its efforts to find the owner of Silk Road… and they failed.
Instead, it was Gary Alford, an IRS inspector, who identified Ross Ulbricht and put him in prison using just Google Search.
How?
He asked himself — “What is the earliest mention of Silk Road on the web?” — and searched for the oldest posts on Bitcoin related forums and one of the accounts with the username “Altoid” caught his attention. By tracking down that username everywhere throughout the internet, he managed to find an email associated with it on one of the cryptocurrency forums — RossUlbricht@gmail.com.
The lesson? Don’t shit where you eat.
In 2012 FBI spent billions of dollars on its efforts to find the owner of Silk Road… and they failed.
Instead, it was Gary Alford, an IRS inspector, who identified Ross Ulbricht and put him in prison using just Google Search.
How?
He asked himself — “What is the earliest mention of Silk Road on the web?” — and searched for the oldest posts on Bitcoin related forums and one of the accounts with the username “Altoid” caught his attention. By tracking down that username everywhere throughout the internet, he managed to find an email associated with it on one of the cryptocurrency forums — RossUlbricht@gmail.com.
The lesson? Don’t shit where you eat.
Hard times create engineers.
Engineers create good times.
Good times create project managers.
And project managers create hard times.
Engineers create good times.
Good times create project managers.
And project managers create hard times.
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Working on my new personal website 🫦
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New article on medium 👀
https://medium.com/@almazbisenbaev/how-to-avoid-hermann-grid-illusion-when-designing-grids-c39ebccb2664
https://medium.com/@almazbisenbaev/how-to-avoid-hermann-grid-illusion-when-designing-grids-c39ebccb2664
Medium
How to avoid Hermann grid illusion when designing grids
Herman grid illusion is caused by the dark blocks stacked into a grid, which creates black blobs at the intersections. In this article I…
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MVPs in startups serve as invaluable tools for entrepreneurs to test their hypotheses, gather feedback, and iterate on their ideas without committing extensive resources upfront. If you have no idea what your MVP should look like, here are the 4 common types of MVPs:
Video MVP
A video that explains your product or solution to measure traction, It’s not really a product though, but it does let you collect some data for the next iteration.
The Concierge MVP
With this approach, you focus on making one customer happy rather than handling thousands of them. Lots of downsides with this approach, but it will let you validate you hypothesis on a real customer.
The Wizard of Oz MVP
Might sound weird at first, but I find this the most effective method. Your users will think they’re interacting with the technology, but behind the scenes most of the work will be done by a human sitting in your office.
Landing Page MVP
Build a landing page with an explanation of your solution. This will let you collect your potential users’ emails so you can sell the product to them later.
Video MVP
A video that explains your product or solution to measure traction, It’s not really a product though, but it does let you collect some data for the next iteration.
The Concierge MVP
With this approach, you focus on making one customer happy rather than handling thousands of them. Lots of downsides with this approach, but it will let you validate you hypothesis on a real customer.
The Wizard of Oz MVP
Might sound weird at first, but I find this the most effective method. Your users will think they’re interacting with the technology, but behind the scenes most of the work will be done by a human sitting in your office.
Landing Page MVP
Build a landing page with an explanation of your solution. This will let you collect your potential users’ emails so you can sell the product to them later.
Жаңа подкаст эпизоды - “Портфолиом жоқ болса, алғашқы клиентімді қалай табуға болады” деген сұраққа жауап
https://youtu.be/d2wrotuUr7c
https://castbox.fm/episode/Salem-Alem-—-3-эпизод-id5000598-id687244786
https://youtu.be/d2wrotuUr7c
https://castbox.fm/episode/Salem-Alem-—-3-эпизод-id5000598-id687244786
YouTube
Salem Alem — 3 эпизод. “Портфолиом жоқ болса, алғашқы клиентімді қалай табуға болады”
A few days ago I made my first WordPress plugin called PowerTools. It's a set of tools that maximize your productivity when working with WordPress.
It's free and available here: https://github.com/almazbisenbaev/wp-powertools
By now the plugin has got 6 useful tools (and I'm planning to add a lot more):
HTML Junk Remover
This setting removes the excessive HTML code from the frontend (useless meta tags and stuff)
Junk Cleaner
This tools lets you reduce the database size by deleting the drafts and revisions.
CPT Manager
Easily create and manage custom post types.
Gutenberg disabler
Disable the new post editor and switch back to the traditional WYSIWYG editor.
Admin bar toggler
Remove the 32px margin from the <html> element if it messes with your layout or just disable the admin bar completely from the front end.
System info
Displays all the available info about your server and WordPress installation.
It's free and available here: https://github.com/almazbisenbaev/wp-powertools
By now the plugin has got 6 useful tools (and I'm planning to add a lot more):
HTML Junk Remover
This setting removes the excessive HTML code from the frontend (useless meta tags and stuff)
Junk Cleaner
This tools lets you reduce the database size by deleting the drafts and revisions.
CPT Manager
Easily create and manage custom post types.
Gutenberg disabler
Disable the new post editor and switch back to the traditional WYSIWYG editor.
Admin bar toggler
Remove the 32px margin from the <html> element if it messes with your layout or just disable the admin bar completely from the front end.
System info
Displays all the available info about your server and WordPress installation.
GitHub
GitHub - almazbisenbaev/wp-powertools: Simple tools that solve common problems during WordPress development and maximize your productivity
Simple tools that solve common problems during WordPress development and maximize your productivity - almazbisenbaev/wp-powertools
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How I customize the WooCommerce checkout UI for my clients:
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7225226414197800960
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7225226414197800960
Subscribe to my second channel where I post dope web designs @dopeweb
Telegram
Dope Websites
Beautiful websites for inspiration
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Made a quick tutorial on how to code this nice & smooth animation with just 4 lines of CSS: https://youtube.com/shorts/9W24eKInACA?si=5Tg9UKfseth3vJp-
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Marketing tip: How to avoid ending up in spam folder when sending cold emails or newsletters
1. Go to mail-tester.com.
2. Get a temporary address to which you can send your email.
3. Check your email's quality score. If it's above 5.5, go ahead and send it out to your customers.
1. Go to mail-tester.com.
2. Get a temporary address to which you can send your email.
3. Check your email's quality score. If it's above 5.5, go ahead and send it out to your customers.
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How can you fit a whole character in just 1 pixel?
New video on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/9FzsDC85zDw?si=vreH5am9R21rDayw
New video on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/9FzsDC85zDw?si=vreH5am9R21rDayw
YouTube
Can you fit a character in just one pixel?
Someone made a font that can make your character 1px wide and 5px tall. In this video I epxlain how it works.
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Retards: ChatGPT
Mediocres: Claude, V0, Bolt, Lovable, Cursor, Replit
Pros: ChatGPT
Mediocres: Claude, V0, Bolt, Lovable, Cursor, Replit
Pros: ChatGPT
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JavaScript pro tip:
Use Intl.NumberFormat method instead of formatting numbers manually. It’s a built-in API that handles locale and formatting rules for you.
Example:
✅ Perfect for:
- Financial apps
- Displaying dates and currencies
- Internationalization
Don’t reinvent the wheel. Use what JavaScript already has out of the box.
Use Intl.NumberFormat method instead of formatting numbers manually. It’s a built-in API that handles locale and formatting rules for you.
Example:
const amount = 1234567.89;
const usd = new Intl.NumberFormat("en-US", { style: "currency", currency: "USD" }).format(amount);
const eur = new Intl.NumberFormat("de-DE", { style: "currency", currency: "EUR" }).format(amount);
const jpy = new Intl.NumberFormat("ja-JP", { style: "currency", currency: "JPY" }).format(amount);
console.log(usd); // $1,234,567.89
console.log(eur); // 1.234.567,89 €
console.log(jpy); // ￥1,234,568
✅ Perfect for:
- Financial apps
- Displaying dates and currencies
- Internationalization
Don’t reinvent the wheel. Use what JavaScript already has out of the box.
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Not sure if this is news to anyone, but there is this thing I've learned a long time ago when I was beginning my journey as a web developer: if a classname or an ID in your HTML contains the word "ad" (even as a substring), Adblock will think it's an ad and will hide the element.
So yeah, it also means that when testing your website, you should sometimes test it with Adblock installed just in case.
So yeah, it also means that when testing your website, you should sometimes test it with Adblock installed just in case.
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I recreated the same component in different versions of React (because I have no life) https://medium.com/@almazbisenbaev/the-same-component-but-in-different-versions-of-react-42072a3fc8f2
Medium
The same component, but in different versions of React
I recreated the count button component in different versions of React, starting from the earlist one.
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In 2009, a 27-year-old Stanford graduate named Kevin Systrom was spending his nights and weekends tinkering with code after his day job at a travel startup. He wasn't trying to build the next billion-dollar company. He just wanted a side project. The idea was simple: a mobile app that let people check in at locations, earn points and maybe share photos. He named it "Burbn", after the whiskey brand.
Burbn had one problem - it tried to do too much and felt like a bad mashup of existing apps. But turns out people liked one feature: they really liked posting photos. They liked it so much that Systrom and his co-founder, Mike Krieger, decided to kill almost all other features and focus only on photos. They stripped the app down to its bones. Just a clean, lightweight way to share square photos with filters that made your phone pictures look better than they really were. In October 2010, they pivoted under a new name: Instagram.
It blew up instantly. Within 24 hours it gained 25000 users, and within a week - 100000, then in a month - a million. Servers crashed constantly. Systrom and Krieger worked sleepless nights patching things together while trying not to lose momentum.
But rapid growth wasn’t their only challenge. There was competition everywhere. Hipstamatic had cool filters. Path was building social networks around photos. Even Twitter was playing with photo sharing features. In fact, Instagram’s advantage wasn’t actually its originality - it was speed and simplicity. It opened quickly, photos uploaded fast, and filters made everyone feel like a better photographer.
By 2012 Instagram had 30 million users and only 13 employees. That was the year when Mark Zuckerberg offered them one billion dollars in cash and stock. For a company less than two years old, with no revenue, it was a crazy number. It turned out to be one of the smartest acquisitions in tech history.
After the acquisition Instagram faced problems over privacy policies, accusations of copying Snapchat and the founders even left the company after clashes with Zuckerberg. But the app kept growing and expanded beyond photos to video, stories, shopping and reels. By the late 2010s it wasn’t just a photo app anymore. It was shaping culture, commerce and even politics.
What began as a failed check-in app from a guy hacking on weekends turned into one of the most influential platforms of the 21st century.
Burbn had one problem - it tried to do too much and felt like a bad mashup of existing apps. But turns out people liked one feature: they really liked posting photos. They liked it so much that Systrom and his co-founder, Mike Krieger, decided to kill almost all other features and focus only on photos. They stripped the app down to its bones. Just a clean, lightweight way to share square photos with filters that made your phone pictures look better than they really were. In October 2010, they pivoted under a new name: Instagram.
It blew up instantly. Within 24 hours it gained 25000 users, and within a week - 100000, then in a month - a million. Servers crashed constantly. Systrom and Krieger worked sleepless nights patching things together while trying not to lose momentum.
But rapid growth wasn’t their only challenge. There was competition everywhere. Hipstamatic had cool filters. Path was building social networks around photos. Even Twitter was playing with photo sharing features. In fact, Instagram’s advantage wasn’t actually its originality - it was speed and simplicity. It opened quickly, photos uploaded fast, and filters made everyone feel like a better photographer.
By 2012 Instagram had 30 million users and only 13 employees. That was the year when Mark Zuckerberg offered them one billion dollars in cash and stock. For a company less than two years old, with no revenue, it was a crazy number. It turned out to be one of the smartest acquisitions in tech history.
After the acquisition Instagram faced problems over privacy policies, accusations of copying Snapchat and the founders even left the company after clashes with Zuckerberg. But the app kept growing and expanded beyond photos to video, stories, shopping and reels. By the late 2010s it wasn’t just a photo app anymore. It was shaping culture, commerce and even politics.
What began as a failed check-in app from a guy hacking on weekends turned into one of the most influential platforms of the 21st century.