This feed is disabled. You can enable it at Your account(Feed generated with FetchRSS)

Best gifts for writers, according to the Medium communityWe surveyed over 1,000 Medium writers; here are the best gifts for writers in 2024, according to writersPublished inThe Medium Blog7 min readJust now--Image designed by Jason CombsBuying the right gift for the writer in your life can be a daunting proposition.Writers are great, sure, but can I be honest? Were a little much sometimes. Exacting. Set in our ways. We are opinionated, often about the tiniest details. We want, say, a notebook but it needs to have dots, not lines, and open flat, but not be too bulky, and ideally the pages are perforated, and also it needs to have the paper that absorbs the ink of the very rare pen that is our absolute favorite. Frankly, writers can be kind of exhausting. No wonder many people get their writer friend a gift card and call it a day.To help guide you, we surveyed over 1,000 Medium writers about what gifts they most want to receive this year, from notebooks to pens to writing subscriptions. They went into detail surprise! and shared what unique gifts they love and what they hope theyll get as gifts this year. Here are the results of the survey, in a handy best-of gift guide format. Happy gifting.Tl;dr: The best of the best gifts for writersIm going to assume some of you are reading this at the very last minute as you realize that youve neglected to get a gift for the writer in your life in time for the family gathering/Secret Santa event thats coming up.Weve got youhere are the best gift ideas from our survey:Best notebook: the Moleskine Classic NotebookBest pen: the Pilot Precise V5Best book about writing: On Writing by Stephen KingBest writing subscription: MediumFor those of you with more time left in the holiday season to plan or more specific needs for the writer you have in mind, heres a breakdown of the top five gifts by vote in each category: Notebooks Books about writing Pens Writing software Writing-related subscriptions Keyboards Writing accessories Bonus gift: time and recognitionWeve also added a wildcard option for each section not the most popular selection, but a random unique vote outside the top picks we thought was fun.NotebooksWriters have a thing about notebooks. Even for those who mostly publish online, nothing replaces a physical notebook for scribbling ideas, doodling while your mind wanders, or capturing that passing-but-perfectly-formed thought. Here are the top five notebooks from the survey.Top writers choice: Moleskine Classic NotebookPhoto by Alin Luna on UnsplashProbably the most widely available classic notebook on the market. Moleskine almost defines the category for a lot of people; if youve received a notebook in the past as a gift, chances are good that it was a Moleskine. Fountain pen aficionados avoid Moleskines, as the paper isnt great with fountain ink, but for your regular scribbler, a Moleskine notebook is a useful and thoughtful gift.Other favorites:Leuchtturm1917 Hardcover Notebook Classic (A5) (215 votes)Midori MD Notebook (A5) (79 votes)Field Notes Original Kraft Memo (77 votes)Apica Premium C.D. Notebook (A5) (69 votes)Wild card response:Good ole Dollarama (Dollar Store) notebooks.Books about writingTop writers choice: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King (216 votes)Photo by Kelly Brito on UnsplashI bought a copy of this book during a recent trip to Edinburgh, Scotland, and it doesnt disappoint. Even if Stephen Kings fiction isnt your cup of tea (which I think is sad for you), his thoughts on the approach to writing and creativity generally are worth your time. This was the overwhelming favorite book gift idea in the survey. And what writer isnt also a book lover?Other favorites:Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad by Austin Kleon (187 votes)Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott (116 votes)The War of Art by Steven Pressfield (105 votes)The Artists Way by Julia Cameron (88 votes)Wild card response:Several Short Sentences About Writing by Verlyn KlinkenborgPensTop writers choice: Pilot Precise V5 (146 votes)Photo by Kelly Sikkema on UnsplashThis was far and away the favorite gift choice for Medium writers a little surprising as its also available for a little over $1 USD per pen from most online retailers. While not the fanciest of writing tools, its a reliable workhorse with a nice flow and feels like a clear step up from a ballpoint, though that was the #2 favorite from our survey.Other favorites:Zebra Ballpoint (99 votes)Faber-Castell Grip (78 votes)Platinum 3776 (77 votes)Pilot Metropolitan Collection Fountain Pen (73 votes)Wild card response:The one I stole from someone else because it writes so nice.Writing softwareTop writers choice: Medium (441 votes)Image designed by Jason CombsIf youre not writing in a notebook, whats the best software to write, online or offline? Our survey saysMedium!Were getting into murky territory here; I cant pretend to be impartial about this choice. Luckily, you dont have to take my word for it: the writers in our survey chose it above a lot of other dedicated writing software.Other favorites:Microsoft Word (222 votes)Google Docs (212 votes)Grammarly (115 votes)Scrivener (41 votes)Wild card response:Subscribing to the quiet company of midnight skies and the echoes of my own thoughts.Writing-related subscriptionsTop writers choice: Medium (889 votes)There you have it: If youre a writer or know a writer, or have even heard of writing then a Medium gift membership is the best subscription gift idea out there. I dont make the rules.But seriously, this was pretty close to 100% of the votes we got on the survey question for the best writing-based subscription. We love Medium, and we were happy to see that our writers do, too.Other favorites:Coursera (58 votes)Skillshare (34 votes)Masterclass (17 votes)None (i.e., the best subscription is no subscription!) (11 votes)Wild card response:Notion Subscription. I gather all my thoughts in Notion, then write a post from the gathered thoughts.KeyboardsTop writers choice: Apple Magic Keyboard (310 votes)Photo by Mitchel Lensink on UnsplashApples Magic Keyboard is a quieter, lower-profile keyboard, but works great with Apple products, is available everywhere, and has a lower price point than some of the other favorites. The other choices in this category are mechanical keyboards with bigger, noisier, more tactical keys.Basically, if youre not going down the mechanical keyboard rabbit hole, this keyboard is probably a great gift for the writer in your life.Other favorites:Logitech Pop Icon Keys (230 votes)Keychron K6 (61 votes)Keychron K3 Max (54 votes)Epomaker TH80 Pro (47 votes)Wild card response:Razer Huntsman V2Writing accessoriesTop writers choice: Coffee-warming mug (342 votes)Photo by Stephen Andrews on UnsplashThis is really just a drink-warming mug. Coffee is an option, sure, but writers who are partial to tea will also love one of these USB-charged warming mugs to keep their morning beverage of choice warm while they type away (or scrawl in their new notebook).Other favorites:Mug with a clever saying on it (196 votes)Footrest (136 votes)Freedom (productivity app) (106 votes)Vintage typewriter (103 votes)Wild card response:Coffee, cream and sugar. Or pie.Bonus gift: time and recognitionThere was one thread I wanted to mention last a gift, to be sure, but not one you can buy and package up.When we asked writers to tell us what the perfect gift would be, rather than asking them to choose their favorite option from a category, they consistently mentioned time and recognition as the things they most wanted more of.Both of those gift ideas are tricky to give. Believe me, if I knew how to package them up in a way you could gift, they would have been at the top of the list. But you can think of all these options as a stand-in for time and recognition: Better tools make writing easier, faster, and more rewarding. (This may not be true for mug with a clever saying on it, but just go with me here.) And the fact that youre supporting your favorite writer with a gift tailored to their passion is very validating to them.The overwhelming thing this survey made clear was that established and aspiring writers alike just want things that will help make the very weird thing they do sitting alone and writing words that much easier and more pleasant. Anything you can do to help them there will be the greatest gift of all.

The sun sets over Death Valley, California, on July 7, 2024, a day when its temperature reached 129 degrees Fahrenheit. Etienne Laurent / AFP via Getty ImagesJust one year after 2023 made the record books as the hottest year in Earths documented history, climate scientists are all but certain that 2024 will take its title.According to a new report by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), a European research group that tracks global temperatures, November 2024 was the second warmest November on record, after November 2023. Both beat out historical temperature averages for the month by large margins. November 2024 was 0.73 degrees Celsius warmer than the average global November air temperature from 1991 to 2020, and it was 1.62 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial November average for 1850 to 1900.With just one month of the year left, it is effectively certain that 2024 will be warmer than 2023, and thus the warmest calendar year on record, C3S reports.Keeping global temperatures less than 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average, as the Paris Agreement stipulates, now seems increasingly unlikely. With November in the rearview, 2024 is on track to be the first year to exceed that 1.5 degrees Celsius limit after 2023 fell short of the marker by just 0.02 degrees. A graphicreleased by C3S in November and based on data for the first ten months of the yeardemonstrates how 2024 is projected to be the first year to surpass 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming above the pre-industrial average. Copernicus Climate Change Service / ECMWF. Data source: ERA5Last years record-melting temperatures were in part due to an El Nio eventa natural occurrence that saw a buildup of warm water in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, exacerbating extreme weather and raising temperatures globally. El Nio ended in May 2024, and some scientists suspected La Nia, the converse climate pattern in which colder water builds up in the same part of the Pacific, would soon begin. But despite some predictions that it might occur in late summer or fall, the cooling pattern has so far failed to materialize.These phenomena left researchers a little perplexed, Jonathan Overpeck, a climate scientist at the University of Michigan, tells Tammy Webber of the Associated Press (AP).Heat released from the warmer ocean waters associated with El Nio might prevent the cooling effect that often, in decades gone by, helps bring the temperature back down, Overpeck suggests to the publication. He adds that the rate of warming seen this year, so closely following last years increase, is a scary thing.C3S reported earlier this year that summer 2024 was the hottest on record globally. And in the United States alone, November 2024 clocked in as the nations sixth warmest on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. For Alabama, Louisiana, Maine and Mississipi, it was the warmest documented November in history.This excess heat raises the risk of other types of extreme weather. Swiss Re, an insurance firm that researches the effects of climate disasters, estimates that economic damage related to climate change in 2024 was $320 billion25 percent higher than the average over the past decade, per the Guardians Damian Carrington.Losses are likely to increase as climate change intensifies extreme weather events, the firm tells the Guardian.The evidence of this damage was abundant worldwide. This year, hurricanes battered coastlines, destroying whole neighborhoods and leaving scientists to wonder if a new Category 6 might be necessary to describe the nature of these supercharged storms. Forest fires spread into regions like the northeastern U.S., which rarely burned before. And floods in eastern Spainin October killed at least 224 people, leading the government to offer its citizens paid climate leave in case of extreme weather.These new global temperature records are terrible news for people and ecosystems, as Jennifer Francis, a climate scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, who was not involved with the new assessment, tells the AP.Even if temperatures fall in the new year with the possibility of a La Nia event, this does not mean temperatures will be safe or normal, Friederike Otto, a climatologist at Imperial College London, tells Reuters Kate Abnett and Alison Withers.We will still experience high temperatures, resulting in dangerous heatwaves, droughts, wildfires and tropical cyclones, Otto adds.This grim record that 2024 will almost certainly set in its final few weeks offers another indication that this pattern of extreme heat and violent weather, as scientists say, is no longer the anomaly but the norm.And, thoughone year above the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshhold does not mean the world has breached the Paris Agreement, it does mean ambitious climate action is more urgent than ever, asSamantha Burgess, C3S deputy director, says in a statement.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Climate Change, Environment, Global Warming, Heat, NOAA, Weather, World Records

Merriam-Webster has been printing English dictionaries since 1831. Brandon Bell / Getty ImagesFollowing a contentious presidential election, Merriam-Webster has chosen its word of the year for 2024: polarization.The American dictionary publisherannounced its selection today, defining the term as division into two sharply distinct opposites. However, asPeter Sokolowski, Merriam-Websters editor at large, tells theAssociated Press Anna Furman, the word suggests a very specific kind of division.Polarization means that we are tending toward the extremes rather than toward the center, he says.Merriam-Webster chooses each word of the year based on lookup datahow often a word was searched in its online dictionary. Last year, the winning word was authentic, while gaslighting claimed the title in 2022. Meanwhile, the words of the year in 2021 and 2020 were vaccine and pandemic, respectively.The basic job of the dictionary is to tell the truth about words, Sokolowski tells the AP. Weve had dictionaries of English for 420 years, and its only been in the last 20 years or so that weve actually known which words people look up.The data offers a glimpse into the ideas that are gaining traction in American culture. Per the announcement, this years top word reflects the desire of Americans to better understand the complex state of affairs in our country and around the world.Some of Merriam-Websters other contenders for 2024 included demure (popularized byTikTok videos), totality (linked to the total solar eclipse), fortnight (the title of aTaylor Swift song) and allision (used to describe theBaltimore bridge collapse).Polar derives from the Latin word polaris, which refers to the North and South Poles. Meanwhile, the verb polarize was first used in a scientific journal in 1811, according to theOxford English Dictionary.In the centuries that followed, polarization took on new meanings. Its sometimes used to describe non-political divides, but its most frequently used in the U.S. to describe race relations, politics and ideology, per the AP.'Polarization' is Merriam-Webster's 2024 word of the yearWatch on Idealistic differences between political parties often feel insurmountable, as theWashington Posts Shadi Hamid wrote in a column in October. People have fundamentally different conceptions of what is right, true and good, he wrote. Polarization isnt just a phase. Its now our default setting.As Sokolowski tells the AP, the dictionary is meant to act as a universally neutral and objective arbiter of meaning. When it comes to the word polarization, most people seem to agree about its definition. Major news outlets across the political spectrum have used the word to reflect on American politics, especially during this years presidential election.Polarization was widely used to describe America in 2024, says Greg Barlow, Merriam-Websters president, in the announcement. Ironically, its a concept that is shared by both sides of the political divide.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: American Presidents, Democracy, Language, linguistics , Political Leaders, Politics, Pop culture, US Government

This feed is disabled. You can enable it at Your account(Feed generated with FetchRSS)

This feed is disabled. You can enable it at Your account(Feed generated with FetchRSS)

Arkadium confirmed today that it has launched a record number of games on its platform, in part thanks to its new publishing initiative.Read More

With 77% of enterprises victimized by adversarial AI, the question isn't if your Security Operations Center (SOC) will be targetedit's when.Read More

Xsolla teams with StarNest to establish new game development academyXsolla SVP says this "partnership represents a significant milestone"Image credit: Xsolla News by Vikki Blake Contributor Published on Dec. 9, 2024 Xsolla has partnered with telecommunications firm StarNest to create a new game development academy.The academy and incubator program established with Azerbaijan's Innovation and Digital Development Agency (IDDA) will train 90 young designers, as well as offer mentorship, financial support, and opportunities to exhibit their games worldwide.Xsolla is also hoping to establish a regional hub in Baku and dedicated facilities that will, according to PocketGamer, "act as a technology hub for central Asia.""This partnership represents a significant milestone for Xsolla as we collaborate with Azerbaijani leaders to unlock the region's potential," said Xsolla SVP of global strategic partnerships Rytis Joseph Jan."By combining our global expertise with the visionary leadership of our partners, we aim to empower the next generation of talent in Azerbaijan and drive meaningful innovation with global impact."Xsolla has predicted that mobile gaming will produce $98.7 billion in total revenue in 2024, with China forecast to lead the market by generating $34.6 billion.This is according to its recent Autumn 2024 State of Play report, which has also estimated that the compound annual growth rate from 2024 to 2027 will grow by 6.4%, with the market expected to reach $118.9 billion by 2027.

Marvel Rivals tops 10m players in 72 hours | News-in-briefNetEase's Hero team-based shooter hits the ground running on opening weekendImage credit: NetEase News by GamesIndustry.biz Staff Contributor Published on Dec. 9, 2024 This is a News-in-brief article, our short format linking to an official source for more information. Read more about this story by following the link below:Marvel Rivals tops 10m players in 72 hours