First item on business is General Questions, pubwysuig 1-5. Thank you. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will reconsider its decision to pause capital funding for NHS Highland in respect of completion of the refurbishment of Granton health centre in light of reports that these works were nearly completed i ddangos i gafodd, a'i gydag i gwaith perilu iawn i gydag llwyddiadau ysgrifell yn ôl i ddifod ei gieith ar Argwm Nidol. Rwm wedi bod yn gweithio'r ffocas bwllfa yn yr agus ym Mgrhaenftegach, rwy'n teimlo i fyfydol graf, os ym 22, 27, 28, unrhyw yn ymolio'n sylwf yn hunu arwyddo'r £1,3 billion. Diwrnod yma yn gweithio'r gwybru i ddigon yw'r cyd, ac yn cael ei gaelio'i gydag development and the grant in health centre phase 2 has been paused at this stage until the necessary capital funding becomes available. The cabinet secretary is aware that there is a cross-party campaign supported by myself, Ed Mountain and Rhoda Grant. It is a non-political campaign. The cost of the project is £2.4 million, but unlike every other project in NHS Highland, the project is nearly completed. £2 million of the £2.4 million have actually been incurred, and the materials are on site, waiting to be installed, but if there is not an overturn of the decision within the next three weeks, abortive costs will be incurred, which together with the running costs of the old Victorian Ian Charles building, which was to be decommissioned, will mean that the overall costs will far exceed the notional savings. Will the cabinet secretary, whom we met yesterday and whom he is willing to listen to, be much appreciated seriously reconsider that a small sum of £400,000 would help to save this vital project that promised the community nearly a decade ago? I thank Fergus Ewing for his question and for both his engagement with Edwin Mountain and Rhoda Grant and the grant in on-spay medical practice in NHS Highland, whom, as he says, met with me yesterday to discuss the situation. I am very grateful for the further information that has been provided across all those participants in that meeting. I gave a commitment yesterday that I would, without prejudice, without any commitment, look to go away and consider the position and the potentially exceptional situation that there is there. I committed to come back to those who were on the meeting as soon as I possibly could. Edward Mountain Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I, too, am pleased to be working with Rhoda Grant and Fergus Ewing. The 2015 redesign of healthcare in Strath Spay and Badenoc will require the closure of two hospitals and an upgrade of two GP practices, including the grant and practice. The non-completion of the grant and medical practice, which was the last piece in the jigsaw, will leave this Government and NHS Highland without one shred of credibility in space life. I ask Cabinet Secretary to reflect on that when he is making his decision. Edward Mountain Thank you, Presiding Officer. I thank Edward Mountain for reiterating a point that he raised with me yesterday. Of course, that will be part of the consideration in this case, and I look to take a swift decision, the positive or negative, as quickly as possible. Murdo Fraser To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it is supporting the museum sector. The Scottish Government provides significant support to the museum sector and will continue to do so. For example, we have given cultural bodies an uplift in 2024-25, which includes the National Museum Scotland. We continue to support the national development body for Scotland's museum sector, the museum's gallery Scotland, and we have committed to providing an uplift of £800,000 to the V&A Dundee, despite the Scottish Government's challenging 2024-25 budget position. I am pleased that our investment continues to support our museums and world-class collections, ensuring that they are cared for and enjoyed by everybody across Scotland. I thank the minister for her response. I am sure that she will want to join with me in welcoming the opening this week of the new Perth Museum, a fantastic new resource created by Perth and Cynros Council, with the assistance of £10 million from the UK Government by way of the Tay cities deal and, of course, home now to Scotland's stone of destiny. How will the Scottish Government help to capitalise on the economic and cultural opportunities offered by the new museum? I thank Marjo Fraser for raising that, and I am very pleased that Perth Museum will reopen on 30 March after a significant redevelopment project. Alongside the stone of destiny, the museum houses the Perth and Cynros recognised collections of national significance, as well as being situated in one of Scotland's heritage buildings. As you know, Perth Museum will be managed in partnership with Perth and Cynros Council and Culture Perth and Cynros and was supported by Tay City regions deal, which received funding from the Scottish Government alongside other partners, including the UK Government and regional partners. As mentioned, the Scottish Government continues to provide funding to the national development body for Scotland's museum sector, MGS, which provides valuable strategic investment, advice, workforce development and advocacy. To ask the Scottish Government how many children aged 16 and under have been prescribed puberty-suppressing hormones by NHS Scotland since 2014. The Sandiford Young People's Gender Service, based in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, offers a range of support to young people and their families. Referol to paediatric endocrinology for consideration for endocrine intervention is only one potential option of the overall clinical pathway offered. According to figures provided by NHS Scotland from 2016 to December 2023, just under 100 young people aged 16 or under were referred by the Sandiford Clinic to paediatric endocrinology in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Lothian for further assessment for puberty blockers. Not all of those referred would have been assessed as suitable to progress on to this medication. I understand that NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde are currently reviewing their data systems and I shall write to Ash Ragan with the relevant information for the 2014-2016 period when available. Following medical evidence reviews, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, France and England now sharply restrict or prohibit the use of puberty blockers for gender dysphoria. There is weak to no proof that they help, but there is much evidence of serious side effects. They prevent bone density developments, they render children infertile, they can cause damage to the heart and cause severe depression. Class action lawsuits in the US courts now involving thousands of patients damaged by puberty blockers. What will it take for this Government to step in and protect Scotland's children from this unethical experiment? We are aware of the new clinical policy that has recently been issued by NHS England on the routine prescription of puberty suppressing hormones for children and young people as a treatment option for gender dysphoria. The details of that are being closely considered by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and its relevant clinical team as the provider of the young people's gender service at Sandiford. Any decision on how such healthcare is delivered in Scotland will rightly be made by health boards and their clinicians. It should also be noted that NHS England's announcements follow their interim policy position last year, recommending that puberty blockers are only accessed via a research programme. It is establishing. The Scottish Government and NHS Scotland remain observers to the study development and we are considering what further engagement may be appropriate. The cash review was clear in its recommendations and, given the action taken in Scotland, was on the basis of lack of evidence that the puberty suppressing hormones were safe or effective, many in Scotland will be expecting action from Government. Can I ask the health secretary what actual discussion he has had with NHS Scotland in light of the decision taken in England? If action is to be taken, what time scales for such action and will he set this out to Parliament? We have been consistently clear that the on-going findings of the cash review and the review's final report once published will be and are being considered closely by both the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland in the context of how such healthcare is best delivered here in Scotland. Although the cash review only extends to NHS England's services, Scottish Government officials and NHS Scotland clinicians have met with Dr Cass on multiple occasions to share information on improvement work in Scotland and expected outcomes of that review on-going. We have much to get through, colleagues, concise questions and responses. I appreciate that question number four. To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support the mental well-being of asylum seekers accommodated in hotels in Scotland. The Home Office is responsible for the provision of asylum accommodation and support, including the use of contingency hotels. The Scottish Government has consistently made clear to the UK Government that hotels are not appropriate accommodation and we continue to be concerned about the effect prolonged stays in hotels having people's wellbeing. People seeking asylum living in Scotland are entitled to access healthcare, including referral to mental health services. The Scottish Government funds a range of action that supports mental health and well-being, which is available to anyone living in Scotland, regardless of their residence status. She will be aware of the overwhelming evidence of worsening mental health among hotel-accommodated asylum seekers. There have been at least five suicide attempts in the last few months. Asylum seekers do not feel safe. They feel like they are in open prisons. The Ferret and the Scottish Refugee Council identify the rise in far-right hostility and the fact that about 500 asylum seekers have to share bedrooms with strangers as contributing factors. How can the Scottish Government and public agencies, including the NHS, mitigate the impacts of those measures and provide increased safety, reassurance and mental health support to people seeking asylum? We absolutely recognise that the circumstances and the uncertainty that asylum seekers and refugees face, which is often distressing and can lead to an increased risk of suicide. In implementing the Scottish Government and COSLA's suicide prevention strategy creating hope together, we are working hard to tackle the inequalities that can lead to suicide, as well as prioritising communities and groups where there is a heightened risk of suicide, which includes asylum seekers and refugees. To improve the mental health and wellbeing of our asylum seekers and refugee community, we are engaging with public sector partners, including the NHS. We are also connecting with existing projects such as supporting asylum seekers and refugees such as mental health foundations elevate projects. We also continue to fund the Simon Community Scotland, who are doing excellent work in supporting asylum seekers and people with no recourse to public funds. Our partnership this year is delivering peer support for people living in Glasgow, which has been developed to meet specific needs of that community. More widely. To ask the Scottish Government for an update on the cost of living tenant protection Scotland Act 2022. Emergency Act has provided tenants with extra protection and stability at a time when rents have been rising across the UK, but, as Parliament agreed, it must come to an end on 31 March. All rent increase notices issued until 1 April still need to comply with the cap, as well as giving three months notice. From that date on, we know that many landlords will continue to act responsibly. However, without action, there could be cases where tenants face sudden extreme rent increases. I am pleased that Parliament recently approved regulations to temporarily modify the rent adjudication process by which tenants can ask for a review of rent increases. That will protect tenants by preventing a cliff edge as we transition out of the emergency legislation while continuing to support responsible landlords. I thank the Minister for that response. Over the 18 months of the emergency rent cap, the number of privately rented properties on the public landlord register has grown by more than 5,000, despite attempts by landlord groups and some opposition MSPs to claim the opposite. With the Minister publishing a bill yesterday that delivers much of the new deal for tenants in the Butehouse agreement, including new rights for tenants and long-term rent controls, how does he think that proposals should be greeted by responsible landlords who want to provide a good and fair service? The member is right that private renting has always been a very dynamic sector. Some landlords are leaving and others are entering, and the evidence growth of registered properties available for private rent over the last 18 months demonstrates that further. I acknowledge that there are some limitations to that data. There could be a time lag in landlords' deregistering properties, for example, but a fairer, well-regulated private rented sector is in the interests of both tenants and responsible landlords and can be attractive to investors. Therefore, our proposals will help to improve affordability for tenants in the private rented sector while recognising the importance of landlords investing in the quality of property. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what action it is taking to support tenants in light of accelerating rents. As I said in the answer to the last question, the cost of living act has provided tenants with much needed stability within tenants at a time when rents have been rising across the UK. In 2023-24, we also invested over £83 million in discretionary housing payments, a vital tool to reduce poverty, safeguard tenancies and prevent homelessness. I am also delighted that the new housing bill has now been introduced, a set-out in the programme for government. The bill will enable the delivery of our commitment for longer-term proposals for private rented sector rent controls, strengthen tenants' rights and other protections, and duties aimed at the prevention of homelessness. Katie Clark I welcome the publication of the Housing Scotland Act and congratulate living rent, tenants' unions and all who have campaigned for rent controls legislation. As the minister knows, we face a housing emergency and the minister has referred to concern about a cliff edge. A dedication system being proposed by the Scottish Government is complicated and there is concern about the burden on councils. Living rent is calling for a rent cap. What consideration has been given to input interim measures to help tenants whilst we wait for the legislation to come into force? I join the member in congratulating all those who have campaigned for progress in this area for a long time. As indeed have I, I first proposed rent controls well over a decade in this Parliament and got very little support at that time from any part of the political spectrum. I am glad that the case has much more support today. The member is also aware that the temporary emergency legislation that this Parliament passed did have that time limit. If it had not had that time limit, if it had not been temporary emergency legislation, it would have failed the legal test of proportionality and necessity that we have to do. The legislation was challenged in court and the large reason that we won that challenge was that we met that proportionality and necessity test by the temporary nature of emergency legislation. The adjudication provisions that we have made are more complicated than a rent cap by necessity, but we have put a great deal of effort into raising awareness of tenants' rights and making sure that they are able to exercise the rights and protections that are available to them. To ask the Scottish Government how many children in Aberdeen have been lifted out of poverty since the inception of the Scottish child payment. It is estimated that the Scottish child payment will keep 60,000 children in Scotland out of poverty in 24-25, but this impact cannot be broken down to local authority area level. However, published statistics show that over 327,000 children in low-income families in Scotland were receiving the Scottish child payment in December 23, with over 10,000 of those children in Aberdeen city. Since the launch of the Scottish child payment, over £570 million in payments have been made to the families who need it most in Scotland, with more than £18 million of those payments being made in Aberdeen city alone. Thank you, Presiding Officer. It is gratifying that the Scottish child payment has contributed to lifting 100,000 children in Scotland out of poverty. Has the Scottish Government had any discussion with the UK Government about whether it will replicate the scheme south of the border? Is it possible that Barnett consequentials for Scotland could help us to do even more to lift people out of poverty here? We have repeatedly called on the UK Government to make key changes to reserve benefits, including to introduce an essential guarantee and to reverse damaging welfare cuts such as the two-child limit steps that would lift 40,000 children out of poverty in Scotland next year. The First Minister also wrote to Keir Stammer in January to find ways of working together to tackle poverty should Labour form the next UK Government. No reply has been received from either Labour or the current UK Government, and neither have indicated any intention to match ambitious anti-poverty measures taken here in Scotland. The minister points to the impact of the child payment rightly, but does he accept that on last week's poverty and inequality statistics and the budgetary decisions of his Government, including slashing the housing and employability budgets, that the IPPR, Save the Children and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation have said that the interim poverty targets are now at risk or are going to be missed? Does he agree with those experts? We will continue to do all within our powers to reduce child poverty but also to mitigate the ingrained austerity of successive UK Governments. I will come back to the point that I just mentioned previously in the previous answer to Kevin Stewart. We have wrote to Keir Stammer in regard of what he has said. We have had no answers back in terms of that. The other point is incredibly important. In contrast, the UK Government has scrapped its child poverty target, for example, in 2016, and has continued its campaign of austerity. We want to talk about comparing records. In January, children's groups, along with the Well Children's Commissioner, criticised the well-run Government for failing to set targets.


Back in 1999, when I started, I used to be called as a web designer. So I always used to struggle to tell people that no, I do user experience and usability, information architecture, tell everything and finally they say, that's fine, you're still a web designer. So from there to here, it sounds really exciting. Okay, so I'm here to tell a story, a story that actually tries to tell you what makes sense. Right? The real intention of trying to tell you this story is to highlight the fact that out of the many eventual benefits that you see out of a great design, money is just one of them. It's not the main important thing. There are a lot of other outcomes and money is just one of the outcomes of great design. The real value of any design is when you touch the emotions of the users, meet the expectations of the users and create a cohesive environment in which they can sit down and work. That's what I call as great design and applies to any kind of design, literally any design, whether you take it a product design or application design or anything, emotions, expectations and creating a cohesive environment, these are the most important aspects. So as any story has, this story also has a premise. By the way, this is not my company. This is a company for which I've worked on a consulting basis. So EdgeFX Kids is a premise of our story. EdgeFX Kids is a product company which is based out of Hyderabad. They are experts in creating electronic and electrical project kits for third and fourth year engineering students. So third and fourth year engineering students have to submit their projects as part of their curriculum and I don't want to get into the aspect of ethics over here, so they can go and purchase those products from them and they can submit it over there. So let's not discuss that aspect, okay? Fine, so they have a good research team backed by great experts, so they do their due diligence. They go around India, go to all the universities, colleges, speak to the students, understand what the needs are, accordingly come up with great products and I understood that their quality is also great because I've done my own background research, their quality is really great and this is the premise basically. We'll talk a lot more about it as we move forward, okay? So as any story requires, this story also has got a protagonist, which is the hero if you want me to call it as, then this is the protagonist of the story. So these are the project kits. As I mentioned earlier, their research team comes up with projects that are always up to date right from the old analog devices to the ones that run on the iOS or Android. They have got everything that people call as the latest ones and the beauty is all these project kits have got three different versions to them. A version number one in which the student buys that kit, which has got all the components in it, the zero board, the bread board and has got the soldering device and the multimeter and all those things are put into it. All that he has to do is look at the guide or look at the videos and build it all by himself, which they call it as a DIY kit. The other one is a ready-made kit for lazy ones like me. They just go and buy the product, submit it to the college, get the marks, pass, take a certificate. And the third one is a combination of these two, okay? A hybrid kit, a DIY kit and also a ready-made kit together into it.  So that's about it. So again, please don't ask me any questions about ethics over here. I'm not here to answer all of those, okay? My job was to design for them, create a great e-commerce site, and this story is all about that. So let's go to the next one. So you have the protagonist, then you need to have an antagonist, or else you'll not have a story at all. And we don't have one, but we have two over here. An antagonist and the accomplice, the bad design. This is the e-commerce design with which they're working. So as I mentioned earlier, they have a great product or a product line, 500 project kits. You can call them as the latest ones in the market. And the quality, whichever student I've spoken to, the student says that the quality is excellent, and they provide everything. As I mentioned to you, they have the zero board, the multimeter, the soldering, and whatnot.  But still, the online sales were really, really bad. The reason for that is if you look at this particular design, it doesn't even look like an e-commerce site, right? I think you have a large image in the center, which doesn't take you anywhere. Yes, it does talk about what are the contents of the kits. But even before that, you need to first try to create a conversion on an e-commerce site, that is not happening. And if you try to observe, there is a search on the right-hand top corner, which looks like a disabled field, and a button right next to it. So on and so forth, the categories are put on the top, and they're not really too many, and people used to get confused with what they are. Now let's switch to the accomplice over here. And this happens to be the project details page. Now you look at it, it looks like any e-commerce project page. Now as I mentioned earlier, each project, each of those 500 projects have three different versions to them. The DIY, hybrid, and ready-made. It has a table at the bottom, but it doesn't tell you that you have an option to purchase each one of those. It doesn't tell you what are the benefits you get out of it. So this project details page also has got a lot of confusion in it. It doesn't really lay out the information properly. And on top of it, you find a lot of font inconsistency. Design style is also a passage, old style of design, and stuff like that. So we have, just looking at those two screens, we have said that these many things in just about two minutes. And if I give you that for about five or ten minutes, you'll enlist another 20 or 30 different problems. When you sit down and fix them, you can easily come up with a good layout and add your prowess of visual design. You can make it really look sexy and start selling it. But do you think that is design? That is definitely not design because whatever we are talking now about the flaws that you see over there, the design style being passing and all that stuff, all this is based on the experience that we have given over a period of time and a lot of common sense added to that. That's it. But we haven't spoken to the actual end users and figured out what exactly they want. Unless and until you speak to them, sit with them, understand their environment, empathize with them, and figure out what is the need of theirs, you cannot conclude that whatever issues that I have figured out and if I fix them, will be done. Okay? So this is what we wanted to do next, something more to it. So we have decided to come up with a plan and this was the plan. I might be running a little fast because I'm already scared that people are pushing them, your time is out. So if I'm running fast, so stop me, I can go slow and I can answer all the questions. So this is what we wanted to do. So we have divided the research aspect into four different parts. Number one, we wanted to understand the value that is actually claimed by the company for all those project kits. Is it really there or not? So we wanted to go around all the colleges, speak to the students, figure out if they really appreciate all those project kits on our, if they really understand what is the value of individual kit, the versions of each of those projects, and if they really like all those projects. Number one, that's what we wanted to do. For that, we conducted individual interviews. We went around to the colleges and spoke to the students. Number two, we wanted to figure out the competition. So what exactly is the competition this company has got? Is there anyone else who does similar kind of job in this area? For this, we did a lot of online research and we also spoke to the students and also the faculty members of all the colleges because they give you for standard information because majority don't mind for this if any academician is over here. I'm sorry if I'm sounding very critical over here. Majority of these colleges, with all those faculty guys, they have literally less amount of knowledge of what is the latest in terms of these electronic and analytical projects. The guides also don't really perform well, but they know really where to find the project. Whether you have to go to Sultan Bazar or Koti to fetch all the components and build it together and showcase it over here. So that knowledge they have. So we went around and tried to understand the competition. The third one is the user experience study. So we took the actual e-commerce application to the end users. We brought them rather to a controlled environment wherein we asked them to sit down and started asking them to perform certain specific tasks which always lead it to a purchase. And while doing so, what we wanted to understand was like what are the flaws there are in that application and what are the knee-jerk reactions that the users show while they're using it at application. And any expectations and verbal communication and all those things. And the last one is the influences. I'll come back to this a little later. So for this, we'll come back to that as I mentioned. So now, after we have performed all these three particular steps, so we figured out that these are the results. First, students love the projects. They have no problems whatsoever. And they also are fine with the pricing. When I said fine, I'm not saying that they love the pricing because some of the projects were about 14 or 15,000 rupees, but still they are fine with it because the quality of the project is like that. So there are absolutely no problem there. And the next one is the beauty is they have negligible competition. There are a lot of websites which sell the components but very less sites which actually create kits specifically for this particular strata and sell them. So which is what HFX kits does. And the third one is not all projects are at one place. This is something that we need to understand. Yesterday I was speaking to someone about reading between the lines and this is exactly the reading between the lines. So some of the students said that not all projects are at one place and they also said not easy to find a project that I want. So one of my designer who was part of the team who was working with me said when we were summarizing and patronizing all the responses and finally we said these are the concluded statements after the user study. There were a lot more but I'm just highlighting the most important ones. Not easy to find a project that I want. He said like, so why don't we have a search at a prominent place and make the design very good and probably that'll solve the problem. Well, the users did not say that I'm not able to search a project. Specifically when we have asked the questions they said fine, we'll search it. That's okay. But I'm not able to find a project that I want. So this is something, there is a huge difference in between these two things. We don't understand clearly what they want what they mean by that particular statement but there is a difference. That is what we need to understand with influences. For example, when I was talking about or when I was mentioning about empathizing with the users you sit down with them you ask them a bunch of questions in an environment which is conducive to them or to your whatever it is. So they will be answering, trying to answer questions, answer those according to the environment in which they are and they're very, what you call that as, cautious in their responses. In majority of the cases, especially in the Indian scenario the users don't want to hurt you, right? They like in a typical Hyderabad way even if they don't know the direction they say see the job, right? So the users also like that. Fine, okay, let me not disturb this fellow. If he asked me a question if I think that it is bad I will say it is okay. And the designer goes back to his desk and say they said this is okay, this is okay, this is great. So overall I am good. So that is bad approach. So if you, a lot of times when you ask the questions you don't get the right answer. So majority of the questions what you ask will give you a premise of where exactly you need to fix your design but it will not give you the nuances of the areas that you need to fix. For that you need to understand their environment. For that you need to understand all the peripheral influences that are falling on them. For example, this site has got something called as expert search. So the moment you open the application a chat application pops up and expert pings and starts asking what can I do for you? So the users talk to them. During the initial discussions with them we figured out that a lot of people actually speak to these experts then pick up a phone call, make an order and then go to their office and pick the project. So what do you call that as? Do you call it as an online sale, online conversion? It is not an online conversion at all. The conversion did start at the website actually took a tangentially different route. So the revenues were great but the online revenues were not at all great because the site is not actually doing the job that it is supposed to do. So the first thing we out of the many other peripheral influences that we have studied the first influence and one that I'm gonna discuss here because the positive of time is discussing with those experts and trying to figure out what could be the reasons for that last statement. So these are the three excerpts of randomly picked up excerpts of chat conversations between them. So if you look at the first statement the first one it says I'm really confused about the project of final year. The second one says which one is the best in electronic projects? And the third one says give me project ideas. All right? It is evident that all these three guys are clueless about which project to pick. So when you go back now you look at the last statement. That is not about search at all. That is about their confusion to pick the right kind of project. So if you have directly concluded with that statement from your user research and say that put a great search on top just like Google then you're not doing the design at all properly. You need to understand clearly where exactly there is a deviation. That's point number one. Point number two look at the last statement. It is the same for all the three ones. It clearly says please check the model number whatever it is and then it says you can search the model numbers in the gray colored search box at the right hand top corner. You type whatever and then after you type it you need to enter or you click on the go button on next to it. So it is ridiculous, right? The expert is actually telling the end user what is that search field whether it is a gray colored one or yellow colored one, go there, click, type the number and then press enter. If that is the case of user experience on your website then it is a downer, straight away a downer, right? Then we thought, okay fine. So we can at this point also straight away go back to our desk and say that okay, there is a search problem. We need to fix that. And there is also a problem related to people finding the project kit that is useful for them. But no, we didn't do that because we wanted to go back to the experts and ask why are you giving this kind of detail to each and every user? There could be some reason for that because no sane person will be giving this kind of detail to someone who is studying engineering. After all engineering students are supposed to be intellectuals, right? So no pun intended guys, okay? So we went to the so-called experts and spoke to them and figured out that there is another startling revelation over there. The experts said, majority of these students try every single option, okay, I'm zero minutes? Okay, I'll quickly finish, give me two minutes. So the majority of these students go around, scout for the projects and figure out that they are failing to find the right kind of project and then finally what they do, they come to this website. So they are coming to this website in a panic mode or it is out of laziness or maybe because they couldn't get anything, scampering for everything and finally they figured out that this website can give it to them. So there is an aspect of mood over there. So you need to address that mood also in your design. You, unless and until you address that mood, legibility is extremely important when panic is going to be the primary mood of the users who are using your application. So this is the next level of revelation. Apart from this, we have found out a lot of others which I'll detail as we move forward. So instead of showing you all the wire frames, so I'll show you the final result. Or rather, the influences, we have divided them into tangible and intangible ones. The tangible ones that we have discussed already, the intangible ones is the other one that we figured out from them. It is, I don't have a credit card, okay? You might say that, you know, okay, fine. They can go back and use one of their parents' credit cards and finalize it. But the point over here is from the point of finalizing the project and going back to the parents, there is some time gap, okay? And that can lead to shopping cart abandonment. Believe me, about 69.7% of average shopping carts are abandoned every single day. That's a large number and for a smaller company, it is caring. So you should not let anyone abandon their cart. You need to convert it right away. They got an idea? You need to convert it, fine? And similarly, not sure what to buy. We discussed about it. Will my choice be accepted? Will my college accept it or not? And the last one is, how do I prepare for the Viva? I'm sure a lot of you guys are relating to that, right? Okay, so this is what we did. So if you look at it very carefully, we have added a widget at the center of the screen where it says, can I help you find your project? Where in the user will type which year, which branch and which category they are actually looking at. We added another filter to it. What is the price point you're looking at? And that was a big hit. And then we added, we made the search very prominent one. Then we have added all the categories on the left-hand side. Give a sorting of branch. Then we added cash on delivery. And then we also added something called as project acceptance status based on the survey we did with all the colleges. And we also fixed the accomplice wherein we brought all the details of the kits on the top. We added the project video and also documentation, including the Viva questions. Again, no ethics, please. Okay. We also figured out that their overall design coherence of their entire ecosystem was not great because a lot of students actually visit their campus and talk to them and the packaging also was not good. So just we fixed it. In overall, we have fixed their customer experience, the entire customer experience based on whatever study we have done. So the result, as I said, the eventualities are always great. The bond states have fallen down. The dwell time has increased. The conversions have increased. To speak about the revenues, which is one of the great eventualities, the entire 2013 revenues, the 2014's first quarter revenues were thrice the 2013's year revenues. So yes, design works, really works. So online sales, all that you need to do is to arrive at this kind of conclusion to the design. You need to be aware and awake all the time. Believe me, guys, e-commerce in India is at a nascent stage, very, very nascent stage. We just, only 4% of Indians buy online against the world average of 8%. UK buy, you know, 15.6% from the UK buy it online. We're still very far away from that. I'm not really saying whether you should buy it online or not. As designers, as working for e-commerce sites, you need to be always aware, awake, look at all the possible influences and come up with a great design rather than creating a templatized e-commerce websites. Unless and until you do that, you cannot really call yourself as great designers. Thank you. When we do designs, you know, like if we see Flipkart or Amazon like e-commerce, we'll have the cart at the right side and the users are used to it. If we change the template somehow, like you're saying you shouldn't follow the approach and you should understand users. We'll definitely do that. But according to some design patterns, like the cart should be at the right, logo should be at the left. If we change the template, what are the influences should we overwrite the pattern or shall we lose the users or not? To follow the template and go ahead with the design, what I meant is each e-commerce site will try to sell something and each of the sale point is unique, completely unique. Unless and until you understand the user's expectations and the unique proposition of all those sales, you cannot straight away say that, you know, this stamp of design will work over here also. But that doesn't mean that you should also change the logo position and the cart position, right? Because if you do that, you're actually defeating the purpose over there completely because people are used to certain norms and you should not actually tamper with them, right? Yes, you know, this is Abhinand Nair. I have a question over here. And the question was about navigation. Why did not you go with a mega menu over there? Why did I not go with mega menu? Okay. Which could have solved a lot of problems, like when the user is searching for any of the project or this one could have sorted out over there. So why did not you go for mega menu and why you went for search, that concept whatever you are told. Okay, so as I mentioned, I skipped a certain amount of details because I could have gone on with this particular project for about four or five hours. But what happened was most of the students wanted to look at the complete list of projects right about the fold. And also they wanted a sorting over there. So I had to go with a conventional mode of showcasing all the details over there. And on top of it, I have a big problem to solve over there because majority of the students don't know which project to buy. So that had occupied a larger area where I'm trying to give them a widget wherein it solves the problem for them. So we had to add a somewhat of artificial intelligence over there to retrieve the data according to the combinations that they provided. Yes, I could have gone there, but it didn't because some of the requirements didn't allow me to go there. Should also include the streamlining the backend, like items set up and price set up. We have changed, as I mentioned a little earlier, we added a lot of artificial intelligence into it. And we also added the, we went around to the colleges and spoke to them and said, which kind of projects would you allow? And for which years would you allow? So there is a lot more intelligence we had to add to the backend. And accordingly, the front end and the middle layer also had to be changed. So, yes, we did make changes. Any more questions? How much timeline did you put on research thing? Okay, I missed actually mentioning about this lady, the owner or the CEO of this company is a very pragmatic lady. Her name is Kamini Gupta and she gave us ample time. When I told her, went to her and explained that this is the problem that I perceive in that, perceive in that. So she gave us the required amount of time that we wanted. So we spent about four weeks research, which is a luxury, seriously speaking. Not many companies will give you that, but I had the luxury then.


What's going on guys welcome back to the channel critical overload here since about a few different horror topics in this video here today We'll be talking about saw X we'll be talking about scream 7 basically a cliff notes version of my earlier video from the day We'll be talking about the exorcist believer and we'll be talking about Chucky season 3 now starting off with saw X saw X has officially been rated R not that it was expected to hit anything else below that But it's been rated R for sequences of grizzly bloody violence and torture language and some drug use We also got a new look at Paulette Hernandez's character crying in her trap and keep in mind I've touched on this fact in the trailer and TV spots if examined close enough It does seem to confirm what her characters fate will be in the upcoming sick game Nick John has planned for these frauds out in New Mexico Or not New Mexico in Mexico. I should say Director Kevin Gruder also had this to say about the film recently when speaking to Empire magazine Kramer is the center of the story and He said that saw X will feature John Kramer more than any other saw saw X is an emotional journey that you go on with John Kramer And less a slaughterhouse that you experience from the point of view of the victims Obviously, there will be people that can't handle it, but I think There will be people that can't handle it But I think it has a good chance of appealing to people beyond Gore-freaks now again I do want to add this a lot of this story is expected to be from John's POV as we've been told so chances are We'll get a better understanding of him Because of this narrative decision So for those of you who have been looking forward to seeing what I guess you could argue is closely the Like a jigsaw to I think actually the rating that saw X just got being rated R I think one of the alternative titles that it has listed is calling this movie jigsaw to which in a lot of way does make sense Considering that this is going to be a very Kramer's a Kramer centric and driven Narrative from his perspective as opposed to the victim's perspective So you guys let me know she thought about the new image down the comment section below What do you think about John? John's not John's but Kevin's comments on the film down below dump jumping into a Scream seven. So here's my cliff notes version of my scream seven video from earlier today So after sitting on this for a while I decided to discuss more of what I've heard about scream seven since more reputable folks beyond myself have heard this same thing and just Are not talking about it due to the strikes. You're just not hearing about it for the always very reasons now Neff Campbell Negotiated her return as Sydney Prescott prior to these ongoing strikes She either secured the deal or didn't because of the looming strike I was told that she didn't sign on but that could have changed But most importantly at least we know that she has one foot in the door at least now. Here's the thing one rumor that I haven't really had Too much To let me say okay I believe it but fandom Empire shout out to this channel fandom Empire They had also been hearing that radio silence will be not directing But they would be producing and they also heard a third part of their rumor So two-thirds of the rumor came true the third part of the rumor that they had was at scream seven will be a Sydney centric story now I Would prefer this be done with a balance between Sid and Sam co-existing somehow and having their own arcs Versus Sydney taking over completely and having Sam in the core for and whoever else decides to come back as supporting roles in what is essentially just All Sydney in every which way. I just think you should find that balance similar to how shout out to you Ryan you did point this out Ryan with your Screen podcast Ryan showers for those of you who are not familiar check out his podcast amazing podcast But Ryan pointed out that they have been able to find this balance between Sydney and Gale and a lot of the past sequels So they can do it with Sam and Sydney. I see no reason why you can't do it If you're competent enough to do it, I would say but diving into the ex-believer a new image from David Gordon greens the ex-believer came out from Empire magazine today and He said this as well about the film. He said the Halloween franchise The Halloween movies are in the slasher genre. They're they're a place to play and Maybe have some campy fun But this one was more researched and a bit academic the narrative we were sculpting and the relationships We were were more dramatic. It's a very different approach We're talking about the horror genre But my main ambition was to preserve the dramatic integrity and not lean into what's evolved Within the genre as a result of the original film Now, I mean a lot of people me being one of them would argue that what we've seen just seems like a modern Exorcist movie with all the generic things we've seen from Exorcism movies that want to be the exorcist But now this one is just attached to the legendary IP to help boost his box office The new image that came across your screen earlier of and down Or and out the girls and men from what I can only assume is the church looks like it's from a sitcom if I'm being quite honest But execution again, like I've stated is everything For anyone interested in reading an alleged plot leak a more updated plot leak allegedly I'll leave a link to that in the description, but I will say this this plot leak Contradicts the newly released image and other aspects of what I've been told plot wise they happen to be backed up by the recent Released image from Empire magazine. So this plot leak can be real But also could be from an earlier screening or it could be complete BS But if it's from a recent screening Then the movie is marketing itself with scenes and images that likely are not going to be present in the final cut And if this plot leak that you decide to read because I'm not going to specifically Outright talk about it But if you decide to read what I'm going to link in the description if this ends up being true I will share with you what they changed and give context on that image of and that was released today from Empire magazine If that's not in the movie because if they are utilizing things that was cut from previous test screenings I mean, it's a brilliant way to misdirect your audience. But at the same time you could you could be in for probably a worse Reception than initially thought depending on what you guys think about this plot leak again I'll link it in the description Jumping into Chucky season 3 Chucky season 3 has to have a trailer dropping soon.  So text me at<PHONE_NUMBER> now to join the Chucky party. It doesn't sound like a bad political party at all I mean the leader is a murderer. So everything's cool and fine with us. Now if you already texted this number You won't get anything out of him right now, but newbies who did not text it last time Did get something saying I? Got something coming for you soon or something along those lines Here's the thing. It's the end of the day Chuck and nothing dropped in fairness He didn't say it would be today He just said soon, but I take it soon could be tomorrow at this point Friday But I'm hoping at least it's something this week and not something next week. We need that trailer We're only getting four episodes. That was also confirmed this week. We're gonna get four episodes only I'll leave a link to that confirmation in the description for those of you want to check it out Chucky season 3 will only be four episodes. It's confirmed Let me know what you guys think about this down in the comments below if you haven't already, of course Make sure you subscribe turn on post notification in this video in the description. I have links on my social media accounts I'm on Facebook Twitter and Instagram you can message me there So let me know if there's any movies news or reviews I'm gonna cover in the future and with all that in mind guys. I will see you in the next video


Therefore, it's time for Members' Statements, the member from here onwards. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the County of Bruce and their branding project team, as well as tensing communications on receiving an award of excellence at the International Association of Business Communicators. The award is in recognition of the County's Be an Explorer brand campaign designed to inspire all who live, work and visit Bruce County to explore the world around them and travel the roads less taken. In an article in the Mild May Town Crier, Bruce County CAO Kelly Coulter said that the compass icon and messaging really captures Bruce County's essence while at the same time representing a pathway as we journey into our future. While the award was never the intention of the project, it was a wonderful recognition of time and effort that was put into the project. And Bruce County has so many amazing venues to explore, the grotto to the north, the sandy beaches around King Cardin and all the amazing natural features that we have from top to bottom in the county, as well as the amazing towns and villages that actually are destinations that can't be missed if one truly wants to appreciate what the rural countryside and small town Ontario has to offer. And I would like to share with you as well that Ward Mitchell and said the purpose of developing the brand has really evolved and it's encompassed Bruce County's soul and spirit. Having our project recognized as a testament to the successful work and commitment by our team.  Thank you very much. Here are the members from Windsor to come see. In appreciation of the random acts of Poetry Day held every October speaker, a group of seven poets in Windsor has a new book out recognizing our colorful history. Our poet laureate Marty Gervais wrote this one about a much publicized visit to Windsor many years ago by Sir John A. McDonald. It's called That Day in Sandwich with the Prime Minister. His voice, a sing song normally holds sentences drifting out and rising and falling but forever lost in a monotone as he paced back and forth before the crowd scowling at his opponent. Today in Sandwich Sir John A. is silent and seated smug and staring at the stage floor in this open air debate a drunken stupor clouding Mackenzie's reason jargon ripping into him scandal and hearsay with political wrangle. Sir John A slumps in a chair lingering for that moment to lift his frumpy but narrow frame to tower before the crowd and warily waves a crooked finger all the while struggling to retrieve the right word in this scandal and hearsay and political wrangle then suddenly vomits all over the stage an abrupt hush as Sir John A's left hand almost in slow motion reaches for a handkerchief tucked deep within the pockets of his waistcoat and swabs his mouth in eyes agape he begins his apology and turns to his opponent and with a polite and civil nod of his head he says Mr. Chairman I don't know how it is but every time I hear the honorable gentlemen speak it turns my stomach. Speaker it's a great book it's called because we have all lived here poems along the south shore and speaker it was edited by your poet laureate from Brantford John B. Lee. Hence the extra time. I know that story too the member from Mississauga streetsville. Thank you speaker today the world celebrates Diwali the Hindu festival of light it is among Hinduism's principal festivals and Diwali is now a Canadian festival too. Diwali signifies the victory of good over evil light over darkness hope over despair and knowledge over ignorance hundreds of members of our Ontario Hindu seek Jane and other communities celebrate Diwali annually as well in sixteen nineteen six guru guru Hargobind Saib G was freed from the famous fort of Gwalior by Emperor Jahangir Guru Sahib negotiated his release and that of fifty two kings and princes to coincide with Diwali in Mississauga our celebrations include dinners hosted by the Hindu Heritage Center and the Ram Mander despite last weekend's wet weather Diwali razzmatazz brought its music and artistic light to celebration square at Mississauga in Lizgar Meadowvale and streetsville our own annual Diwali reception at Vic Johnson Community Center filled the main hall with our Hindu seek and this year are Chinese seniors as well hundreds of members of our own Peel region south Asian community gathered in Brampton last week to celebrate Diwali by whatever name we call it the values of Diwali or what we believe in and try to live by every day happy Diwali Shubh Diwali Daniel Wad Shukriya Rabra Ka thank you very much speaker thank you for the member statements the member from Vaughan thornhill hill sorry thank you very much mr. Speaker the largest club in Canada is CAA South Central Ontario for CAA and it's headquartered in thornhill so I'm very pleased to rise today and say a few words about the Canadian Automobile Association which is founded in nineteen oh three as an advocacy organization and today they focus more on transportation and infrastructure mobility traffic safety and consumer protection CAA is known for responding to members when they're broken down and in need of roadside assistant and it's regarded by members of this legislature as a trusted stakeholder when it comes to traffic safety and transportation issues and what's interesting is that one in four Ontario motorists is a CAA member and included in that is my own family mr. Speaker and my daughter who's nineteen got her driver's license last June and we didn't really think to sign her up for CAA as a member but she's driving a bit of an older car and it broke down slowly on the side of the road it needed a new alternator and this August it was quite hot and she was driving between Guelph and Kitchener and CAA came and took her to a dealer and she left the car and the keys there and it was a great positive experience so I want to thank the CAA tow truck driver I don't know who it was but I want to give a big shout out to him and I hear that that's a really one of their top performing areas is in the Guelph Kitchener area so thank you to CAA thank you for all you do thank you for visiting us here at Queens Park today and hoping that we don't need you too often. I do apologize to the member from Foreign Hill should know her writing by now the member from London West. Thank you Speaker I rise today during local government week to recognize the dedicated locally elected school board trustees who are responsible for governing public education in our province. School board trustees are the oldest form of elected representation in Ontario. They are champions of public education whose singular focus is the promotion of student achievement and well-being and ensuring that all students are able to reach their fullest potential. School boards bring together elected trustees appointed Indigenous trustees and elected student trustees. This year I want to congratulate the Thames Valley District School Board for its leadership in creating a seat at the board table for Canada's first ever Indigenous student trustee. Gista Kennedy a grade 11 student at Saunders Secondary School in London will bring the voices of First Nations, Métis and Inuit students to school board decision making a historic first not just for Ontario but for our nation. Speaker this is what truth and reconciliation looks like and what public education is all about. It is about celebrating and respecting the contributions of First Peoples and ensuring their voices are heard in curriculum and in governance. It is about embracing diversity in our schools and our communities and closing achievement gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students between black and non-black students and others. It is about providing students with special needs, the resources and supports they require to learn. Speaker school board trustees are critical to our future as a province and as a society and I salute them for their advocacy and commitment. Thank you. Thank you for the number six from Ottawa. Mr. Speaker, to rise in this legislature today to extend my warmest greetings to the Canadian Azerbaijanis community. On October 18, 1991 the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan adopted a declaration of independence and declared its independence from the USSR. Independence granted Azerbaijan the right to maintain its cultural heritage, a rich heritage that we get to enjoy here in Ontario. The community of Azerbaijanis in Ontario adds to our immense multicultural fabric and we are delighted to celebrate it today. I would really like to recognize the value of partnership and friendship that exists between Azerbaijan and Ontario. Both sides benefit from this close bond. Indeed the relationship was made even stronger when my colleague Reza Mouridi, the Minister of Research, Innovation and Science led a very successful innovation mission to Azerbaijan. So to all the Azerbaijani community, please accept my sincere best wishes for a meaningful and memorable Independence Day. Felicitations. Thank you very much. Thank you very much Mr. Speaker. I rise today to recognize a significant personal commitment from Shakir Ramatula of Flato Developments to health care in our community. The Markham-based developer has pledged a half a million dollars over 10 years toward the new Markville Hospital. His company is also currently in the first stage of developing 800 family homes in nearby Dundalk. Mr. Ramatula realizes residents need and want access to health care and so he wants his company to be a vital part of helping to build the local hospital. I quote him this is just a way of saying we're supporting the community and that should make them proud and that should make them feel they've bought their home from a builder who cares, who is involved in the community. We're not just out there to just build the homes and we're gone, we're going to be here. We're going to stay around and we want to work with the community. I'm also pleased to share at the house that Greybrews Health Services has just submitted its design plan for the new hospital which will have four beds, a palliative care room, 24-7 emergency with 7 treatment areas, a procedures room, laboratory, diagnostic imaging, physio and a space for ambulatory care clinics. Construction is expected to begin in 2019 and be complete by 2021. In my six years as MPP this has been a priority file for me and I've been very vocal about it. This is why my constituents and I are very excited to see this project finally coming together. It has been 15 years since a fundraising campaign was launched to help Greybrews Health Services build the new hospital and a total of 12 million dollars is raised in just a couple of years by the generous people of Markville here. It has also been 12 years since Grey County donated the land for the facility. I know the members of the legislature will join me in acknowledging this great contribution from Mr. Ramatula and Plato Developments and for their ongoing investments that will help make several key equipment purchases over the coming years. Thank you Speaker. Thank you for your member statements from member from Scarborough Age of Court. Thank you Mr. Speaker. I rise today to recognize the community health and well-being week from October the 16th to the 20th. The theme for this week is health equality at the centre. During this week we have an opportunity to reach out to the people who face barriers to achieving the best possible health and well-being. We recognize that not all Ontarians have equitable access to health services, Indigenous people, Franco Ontarians, newcomers and people with mental health and addiction challenges often struggle to get health care they need. Through the patients first act the government demonstrate their commitment to improving health access and equality as well as reducing health disparity. The passing of this legislation empower the lens to be responsible building a more sustainable efficient and accessible health care system. I want to recognize Scarborough Age of Court home folk nurse practitioner-led clinic for putting health equality at the centre by addressing barriers to well-being such as racism, sexism and homophobia. The clinic staff offer a variety of primary health care, mental health services, outreach programs for people facing homelessness and impactful education mentorship programs for at-risk youth in Toronto and York Region. During this week Mr Speaker, Ontario's 107 community government primary health care organizations will host events to showcase their work in serving the people most at risk for poor health and I encourage all my colleagues and Ontarians to visit these organizations throughout this week and I look forward to visiting home folk nurse practitioner-led clinic later this week. Thank you Mr Speaker. Thank you for the member statements. The member from Chattanooga. Thank you Mr Speaker. School bus drivers are Ontario's unsung heroes. They ensure the safety of our children as they get in and out of buses. They have a difficult and stressful job as it is but the government is making life harder for them. Why? Well funding for school bus drivers is already tight and the sudden rise in the minimum wage which the government plans to introduce is already posing a serious problem. These contracts determine payment years ahead. Other service providers can manage the new minimum wage by raising prices. But school bus operators are bound by long-term contracts which never contemplated at 32% wage increase. Government demands for school bus service providers have increased costs much faster than the funds have risen. Now this latest cost increase has pushed the system to the brink of failure putting jobs in danger but there's more. Everyone knows that it is illegal to pass a school bus when it is stopped, lights flashing and stoparm extended. Almost a year ago my private member's bill 94 addressed the blow by crisis. I recommended that cameras be installed on school buses in order to capture the blow by as it occurs. The government installed for several months but recently invited me to a consultation about installing cameras on school buses. So it seems the MTO is finally interested in doing it. But let me say this. Speaker we cannot let the school bus safety fall off the radar and today I would like to specifically show my appreciation for school bus drivers by promising now and to never give up the fight to crack down on blow by. Thank all members for their statements.


Live from the JSA Podcast Studio, presenting Data Movers, showcasing the leaders behind the headlines in the telecom and data center infrastructure industry. Hey everybody, welcome to our podcast series, Data Movers. I'm your host, Jamie Scott Okutaya, CEO and founder of JSA. Along with my fabulous co-host, happy to be social media influencer, Mr. Evan Pristel. Hey Evan. Hey Jamie and hi everyone. Thanks for joining Data Movers where we sit down with the most influential folks leading today's telco and data center world, supporting the network infrastructure requirements of our modern workplace. Jamie, I have a question for you. Do you still believe in email marketing? Is that something you still do at JSA? Sure, sure. It's actually pretty big deal. It's a good way to get folks that have bought into your email permissions, right? They want to hear from you. It's a good way for them to keep in touch for sure. Yeah, why? Why you ask Mr. Evan Pristel? Well, I was just curious because over the pandemic, I started my own newsletter based on the Twitter review platform and I'm up to 70,000 subscribers. That's pretty cool, right? That's awesome. That is craziness. Craziness, 70,000. Well, think about it too. Your reach on social, you have like what, 250,000 to 1,000 per social board? Maybe more now? I don't even know. I haven't checked. It's up there, yes. So if you think about a percentage of all those boards, 70,000, yeah. I mean, I can see you getting that quality subscription list. Wow, that's amazing. Yeah, that's great. Thanks, thanks. I want to hear from you on a regular basis. I'll subscribe, but let's chat to our next guest who's also in this new world of digital. Well, talking about amazing resources for our industry besides Evan's newsletter, I really can't wait to introduce you guys if you don't know already. Our fabulous guest, where we really love to hear from folks like this, people who are moving and shaking our industry with their insights or perspectives in the future of our industry. For sure, our guest Eric Bell today, founder of backstale.com, fits that definition. Welcome, Eric. Thank you. It's great to be here. Yeah, welcome, Eric at backstalebaxtel.com. Looks like you're the Google of data centers. Is that a way to describe you? Yeah, I mean, I guess you could say Google of data centers or perhaps the help of data centers. We want to help people find the right data centers for their needs and provide information for them to make that decision. Fantastic. Well, let's start off walking us through your career and how you came to create backstale.com. Looks like it started as a hobby. Is that right? That's correct. Yeah, so walking through my career and it did start as a hobby project learning how to program. But looking at my career early on, late 90s I was looking for a career change. I had a business degree.  Took a few computer classes, got started in a call center. Within a few months was plucked out by the chief network architect and he wanted to train a few people up from scratch or a couple of people up from scratch. And so really joined their IP engineering backbone team and learned everything on the fly. Did a lot of reading and on the job training. And what that really taught me it was the power of small teams. Small teams being able to affect a lot of change and if you have a lot of people or a small number of people pulling in the same direction you can really accomplish a lot. Over time I transitioned in that role to peering interconnection built out their peering interconnection platform. The way interconnection is simply the way the internet's a collection of private networks. And it's the way those private networks interconnect and they interconnect in various billions around the US and around the world. Anyways, over time I pointed my career towards the customer out of engineering and more towards the customer. So various roles as sales engineering. One of my favorite was a product manager role worked at Equinex as a product manager of interconnection in charge of peering and cross connects and that sort of thing. And then moved on to core site and sales and business development roles there. And so that kind of sums up my career in a nutshell. Effectively started out in engineering and pushing my way towards product and business development. And you certainly have worked at the best of the best in our industry Equinex core site to interview. How has your previous expertise, your experience that you've gathered at these locations really shaped the way back style serves the space today? Yeah, so even though I had the business degree my origin in the industry is in engineering, right? So I appreciate and understand the engineering mindset. That's kind of the way I think, but I also through my last positions in the corporate world were in sales and business development. So it provides a combination of a unique mindset where I understand the sales process but I also think like an engineer. And although I started back style, I think that engineering mindset made me kind of yearn to get back there. So I was a little bit bored with my sales roles. And so doing back style, create back styles as a way to learn programming and yearning to kind of get back and my hands dirty in the technical space. Yeah, so how to fuse the two? I really wanna focus on accuracy within back style, transparency, almost all the information is available at least right now without a login. So it's just publicly available. And so it's creating that transparency. And I wanted, I think back then there weren't many resources. There have been more resources now, but at the time there was only a data center map which a lot of folks use, but ironically it didn't really have a mapping function. It just listed data centers in each metro. And so the information was a little bit stagnant and wanted to provide more tools for that data center buyer to find information because there was information asymmetry. All the information at the time was in the hands of the data center sales team. So I wanted to provide those tools and that information to the data center buyer. And over the years, I've played around with different business models. So for example, last year or the previous years was focused on more of an agency model where we mashed up buyers and sellers. And this year we've been focusing on developing our advertising platform and lead gen tools for data centers. Something really cool about backstale.com it allows you to hone in on specific regions around the world versus limiting it to a city or a state. I'm just online here. And I looked up, for example, my area, the Boston Metro Greater Boston Data Center Market. And there were 47 data center sites. I had no idea there were this many around this area. That's intriguing. But can you comment on some of the regions where you've seen the market really booming? Yeah, so good question. And we have stacked things to be regional specific. So for example, and I'll get to the booming part, but for example, if you're in Boston, you can also see if you go up a level, you can see all the data centers in Massachusetts or you can see all the data centers in the United States. The same thing is true in the way we post news or events. So if you're only interested in data center or events in Boston or events in Massachusetts, you can see those, right? And events are a little bit light now because there's not many in-person events. But from a news perspective, if you're looking for news only in France, you can get that in a way to tailor the news that you receive in the data center industry because I can tell you that there's a lot of news out there and be able to hone in and put some blinders on and just only see the news for what you're interested in. Do the same thing for companies. So if you're only interested in Equinix news or in Volta news, you can see that as well. In terms of areas that are booming, I would say that of course the trend in the last few years has been edgier metros, right? Everyone's talked about the edge and some of it has been promised and some of it has been in reality. So places like Ohio, there's Indonesia or India, those places are moving at a pretty good clip. Connecticut has an interesting up-and-coming story, I think. I think there's some secondary markets in the US that are moving into or growing into primary markets like Phoenix or Hillsborough. They've seen a lot of development recently. It's also, they're curious about how Brexit will impact the UK. In the data center industry, particularly recently through the pandemic, right? There's been so much growth. And so rising tide lifts all boats but you kinda wonder how Brexit's gonna impact the UK. Data center industry going forward. I saw recently, I think back in June, Euronext announced that it was moving from London to Italy as where their data center will be located. I could go on and on. But I think you can't discount the main markets too. I think when you look at satellite imagery over Northern Virginia, there's just tons of development, particularly in Northern Virginia and driven by Amazon and some others. But yeah, there's just massive building even in primary markets. Really is. So with all that information at your fingertips, are you noticing any interesting industry trends that we should be keeping our eye on? I know you talked a little bit about the geo-metros and the Brexit movement impact. And of course Northern Virginia, but anything massive regional focus, but overall industry trends? Yeah, so I think that it may it's no secret that data centers use a lot of resources, a lot of energy and a lot of water. And I'm encouraged, really encouraged recently that there are a lot of data center participants, particularly the hyper, led probably by the hyper scale, but also by some co-location companies announcing green projects. So for example, not only green projects to fund or to to energize certain data centers, building a solar farm or wind farm nearby a data center to support it. And that's been mostly hyperscalers, but also companies making commitments to become carbon neutral by a certain date. And I think that it's something I have a big interest in and I think something you'll see back still start to track more in depth to have a lot of data to help track and support these endeavors. Yeah, absolutely. Awesome, awesome. So Eric, you're based out of Colorado. I love that lamp by the way in your background is, do you live in a saloon in the old West? Is that because I want that lamp, I will pay any amount for that. Ooh, okay, let's talk afterwards. It's very low, it's very low tech for folks who are watching the video, but in all seriousness, so what do you do around Colorado when you're not gunslinging? What do you do in your spare time? Ah, yeah. So we moved out to Colorado in 2007. We moved here because it was warmer, you know, it's surprising Colorado is a little bit of a, as a bunch of people from all over, a lot of people from the South as well. And they kind of looked at me funny when I say I moved here because it was warmer, but it is, right? Moved here from the Wisconsin area. But I, you know, and I think we made a list of places where we wanted to move. And, you know, of course, down the East Coast and a little bit in the West Coast and visit some of those places, but Colorado to me was the best combination of weather. You know, it had, still had tech industry and medium cost of living, but access to fun things to do. So yeah, it's still quite a data center and telecom hub, so you're in the right place. Oh yeah, for sure. There's a lot of headquarters, companies that are headquartered, you know, the two, some of the largest network companies in the world are headquartered here. You know, like level three or Xeo or Lumen, that is level three, but yeah. So and a bunch of medium-sized or small-sized companies in the industry are also headquartered here. But, you know, in terms of things to do, you love to just, you know, ski, which is classically Colorado. And next week, my family's getting together, extended family were coming in to Winter Park, rented a large house and we're all gonna enjoy some of the activities up there. So what are some hobbies that you might not expect when you start to participate again that you love to do? Yeah, so I have three kids that are, you know, most important to me.  And so you don't often see me sitting down. I like to keep moving and I'm often out doing things and so I must think of myself as being in three different worlds. One is the tech and data center space.  Second, probably that no one would ever, you know, that worlds don't overlap is love to dance. Yeah, so yeah, exactly, exactly. Yeah, different types of dance and stuff like that. And I'll start out Lindy Hopping back in the day. And Lindy Hopping is a jazz, you know, original jazz dance and love doing that. But, you know, blues dance, just dancing to live music. And a thing called a stag dance is more boldery dance with this kind of solo dance. But yeah, all that stuff. We'll put some videos in the show notes. Absolutely. Okay. I love it. You know, my sister teaches ballroom. And so I grew up like going Friday nights to her studio and taking a ballroom class here and there. And it is awesome. I just love it. Yeah, I love it too.  And some, you know, dance originally was that. I was definitely not comfortable. I remember, you know, when I was first learning Lindy Hopping long time ago, I didn't know anything about music. You know, people ask me, do you play an instrument?  That's my instrument. But really, it might be myself, right? You know, I moved to music now. And I remember being in the car to teach myself about time, you know, eight counts or whatnot, you know, just trying to find the beat in music. And now I don't have a problem, but I just had to practice that over and over again. It's an income naturally, but you know, love it now. And then a third area is probably adrenaline sports, right? And this is where it doesn't overlap with the tech or the dance, right? And so I'm in a few ice hockey leagues. I love ice hockey. That one I knew for some reason. That one you knew. I've talked about this before. Yeah, yeah. But it's funny though, because I was expecting ice hockey from, then you came out with dance. And now I'm like, there's no predicting what you're gonna say. I love it. And another thing, one wheel. Like I have a, I don't know if you guys have heard of one wheel. It's probably popular out in LA. It's a self balancing skateboard. It's one large wheel and your platform on both sides. And I love it because it feels a lot like wakeboarding or surfing.  Luckily I haven't broken anything yet on the one wheel. Yeah, they speed down here in SoCal by and my dog flips out. So I think my dog's responsible for at least half of those broken collar bones. Right, yeah.  Cause you can't push it too far cause that's where you do, you know.  I always like, please just hop off. I'm so sorry. That's my dog. Yeah, well, you know what? I'm, I actually might, I have a dog, a new dog, right? And he's very energetic. And so I do run him on the one wheel. So I take it to the next level and run my dog on the one wheel. I need to, I need to get my dog more socialized about that. And I think I'm gonna have to like at least buy a skateboard or something and start out with maybe four wheels and work my way down. When do you people work? All you people are doing is having fun and games here. This is a serious business. We need to be much more. So cool. Oh my goodness.  Evan, you want to kick it off? Sure. You mentioned your developers. So I'm curious, what's your favorite platform on mobile, Apple, Android or BlackBerry? Well, I, Apple, a few years ago transitioned to the Apple ecosystem and you just kind of get sucked in. And I don't mind because it, everything just works together. It's seamless. You know, my phone integrates with my computer which integrates with my pad which integrates with, you know I can show screencast up to my Apple TV. So I don't mind being sucked into the Apple ecosystem. And so I'm assuming on your Apple phone with the app that you use the most? I would say, I mean, outside of the email and calendary and whatever type of stuff it's Google Analytics where I actively track the site's performance all the time. And there's been some times where I've caught, there's been a few things, you know caught in performance problems. You know, say for example when we need upgraded database server like things started to crash a little bit.   The whole data center burned down. You know, earlier this year and we had a spike on Backstall. I was like, what is going on? So it was a way for us to almost see the news as it was coming in. So yeah, I would say Google Analytics and then there's an app that I used to read Hacker News which is kind of a forum with, you know yeah, from the Y Combinator community. So that's something I enjoy as well. Nice, okay. And you're out in Colorado. What holiday does Colorado do best? Like what's your favorite holiday out there? What do we do best? I mean, it's hard to find a Colorado type holiday but I would say people in, I would say this is advice if you're gonna come out here to ski, right? A lot of people wanna come out here to ski and a lot of people come out for Thanksgiving or Christmas to ski. In my opinion, that's way too early. The best known Colorado is later in the year March and April. Oh, nice. The ski hills close down often in mid-April and sometimes you get the best snow afterward. I'm like, no, there's great snow up there, right? Why are they closing down? Of course, it's various reasons but I would say that spring break then in Colorado because it's the best snow on the hills. Awesome, awesome. And what's your favorite food? Favorite, oh, favorite food, ice cream. We do. Ice cream every night, for sure. Jamie might know this but New England has the highest per capita consumption of ice cream in the world. So. They know that I moved so out of New England. Providence, Boston, we love our ice cream. Wasn't Ben and Jerry's started up in the Northwest? Vermont, yeah, I mean, it's all about our ice cream. So wonderful. Well, thanks for joining. It's really fun learning about you, your amazing array of hobbies but more importantly, your incredible mission in opening up the information space in the data center world, very important mission. So thanks so much. Thank you, thanks for having me. And go ahead and tell our viewers if they don't know already, where can folks go to learn more about Backstown? I would say just go to Backstown itself, B-A-X-T-E-L.com or Google it, you'll find it or search for any data center and hopefully we'll be in the top 10 of the results but yeah, thanks. Nice, nice. Eric, thank you so much. And of course, Evan, as always. And folks listening, if you enjoyed today's Data Movers podcast, go ahead and check out more at jsa.net slash podcast. We release data movers episodes every other week on Wednesday morning. So go ahead and check us out there. And follow us on Twitter at JS Goddow and Evan Kerstel where we live and breathe as well. For sure. And as always everybody, happy networking. And I'll see you guys next week. Bye.