Modelus Blog

DBA Assistant released!

Thu, 14 Sep 2017 10:45:00 -0100

Exciting news: We have released a brand-new mobile app - DBA Assistant!

If you work with SQL Server, this app is for you. DBA Assistant helps you diagnose your database performance issues in such areas as Waits, Blocks, Deadlocks, CPU, Disk, Memory and Indexes. Follow our guide and you will be on your way to a well-tuned SQL database!

Check out DBA Assistant on the App Store!

Quiz Voyage v 3.5 released

Mon, 17 Apr 2017 11:22:00 -0100

New version of Quiz Voyage is available on the App Store! Check it out!

Enjoy and get smarter!

Quiz Voyage v 3.4 released

Tue, 24 Jan 2017 06:40:00 -0100

New version of Quiz Voyage is available on the App Store. We updated U.S. Presidents and U.S. Naturalization Civics Test.

Happy quizzing!

Quiz Voyage v 3.3 released

Fri, 23 Dec 2016 06:53:00 -0100

Check out our new Chemical Elements quiz in Quiz Voyage v3.3.

Happy Holidays!

IT Skill Assessment v 3.0 and Quiz Voyage v 3.1 released

Fri, 25 Nov 2016 06:52:00 -0100

New versions of IT Skill Assessment and Quiz Voyage are now available on the App Store.

All topics are accessible for FREE. Enjoy and get smarter!

Quiz Voyage v 3.0 released

Wed, 09 Nov 2016 07:17:00 -0100

Our Educational Quizzes have gone through exciting changes to make you enjoy the app more than ever!

What is new in Quiz Voyage:

1. All educational topics are now available absolutely FREE!

2. New speed control options are available for Quiz Voyage Premium Customers.

3. The new name ‘Quiz Voyage’ paired with the new icon will shine on your home screen.

Check out Quiz Voyage on the App Store. Happy quizzing!

Book Review: Understanding ECMAScript 6

Sat, 08 Oct 2016 06:46:00 -0100

Nicholas Zakas
Understanding ECMAScript 6

ECMAScript 6, aka ES6, is the 6th edition of ECMAScript specification. Released in 2015, ES6 adds many new features for writing complex web applications:

Classes and Modules
Promises
Arrow Functions
Symbols
Sets and Maps
Iterators and Generators
Proxies and Reflection

For a number of years, I felt uncertain about building high-complexity JavaScript applications. Even best examples lacked organizational and interface clarity and testability and often produced unintentional side-effects. ES6 is a giant step forward in allowing developers create clean and intention-revealing JavaScript code.

Today, ES6 has become the foundation for building modern web applications. Understanding ES6 is now essential for all web developers. Nicholas' book will help you get started. It is well organized, easy-to-read, and especially well-suited for developers with previous ECMAScript 5 experience. Each chapter highlights the problem addressed by ES6, demonstrates what had to be done previously in ECMAScript 5, and how the code changes in ES6.

This is a great ES6 book. Find it on LeanPub. Happy reading!

Book Review: Hooked

Tue, 16 Aug 2016 05:29:00 -0100

Nir Eyal
Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products

Easy-to-read, insightful, and practical book on the Hook Model, a 4-step process to build customer habits. Habit-forming products have competitive advantage since the first-to-mind solution typically wins.

Nir's Hook Model consists of 4 stages:

Trigger
Action
Variable Reward
Investment

Triggers activate behaviors. They can be external, such as email, or internal that emerge inside users' minds. Triggers reduce the thinking required to take the next step.

Actions are behaviors done in anticipation of the reward. Nir provides the following formula: B=MAT

The user must have sufficient Motivation
The user must have the Ability to complete the desired action.
A Trigger must be present to activate the behavior.

Variable Reward rewards users by solving their problem. It creates desire. Nir idenitifies 3 types of rewards:

Tribe (social rewards)
Hunt (the need to acquire physical objects)
Self (intrinsic motivation)

Investment increases chances that users will keep using the product and start another Hook cycle. The more users invest their time and effort into a product, the more they value it.

I highly recommend Nir's book to anyone involved with product design and development. The book provides a structured framework for how to build successful products and includes many useful tips and insightful examples. Happy reading!

Black background in RDP solved

Tue, 16 Aug 2016 00:24:00 -0100

I run into an issue with my RDP client not rendering correctly Windows applications. For example, SQL Server Manager and Notepad displayed large black areas:

The fix is to add the following line at the end of your .RDP file:

bitmapcachepersistenable:i:0

IT Skill Assessment v 2.7 released

Tue, 15 Sep 2015 05:02:00 -0100

Screen your job candidates and challenge your team members with IT Skill Assessment. Or, test your own knowledge and prepare for an important interview. IT Skill Assessment covers a wide variety of topics: ASP.NET MVC, C#, CSS, HTML, iBatis, JavaScript, LaTeX, Objective-C, SASS, Selenium, Silverlight, SQL, WPF, and others. New quizzes are added monthly. Includes free HTML5 quiz.

What's New in Version 2.7

Multi-Level Quizzes. Sharpen your skills with multiple levels of difficulty.
Timer. Race against time while answering challenging questions.
Detailed scoring. See what is going on inside your points.
Lifelines. Use Time Freezer and Time Extender when in time trouble. Use Extra Life and 50/50 when you need help with an answer.
Game Center Leaderboards. See how you rank among all users or your friends.
Game Center Achievements. Earn coveted achievements: Perfectionist, Genius, and Savant.
Integration with Facebook. Invite and challenge your friends or share your quiz results.
Bonus Lifelines. Earn daily lifeline when you login. Get additional lifelines when you earn achievements.
Quiz Preview. Take a peek inside the quiz before downloading it.
Configuration. Decide whether you want timer and lifelines available and at which levels.
Improved User Interface and Usability.Invite your Facebook friends, configure timer and lifelines, and check out our new IT quizzes.

This is a big update. I hope you get a chance to check it out. Happy quizzing!

Educational Quizzes v 2.7 available for general public

Tue, 15 Sep 2015 04:58:00 -0100

Version 2.7 of Educational Quizzes by modelUS is live. Happy quizzing!

How would you fare on the U.S. Citizenship Interview?

Tue, 04 Aug 2015 18:22:00 -0100

To help new and potential immigrants prepare for the U.S. Naturalization Civics test, we added it to the collection of Education Quizzes. Enjoy!

Educational Quizzes version 2.5 is live

Sun, 28 Jun 2015 13:54:00 -0100

Version 2.5 of Educational Quizzes by modelUS is live. Invite your Facebook friends, configure timer and lifelines, and check out our new math quizzes. Happy quizzing!

Only 13% of Employees are Engaged at Work

Thu, 18 Jun 2015 02:16:00 -0100

The vast majority of employees worldwide are actively disengaged at work. Only 13% are engaged, according to the Gallup's State of the Global Workplace report. As a result, employees are emotionally disconnected from their workplaces and less productive. This affects productivity, profitability, customer satisfaction, employee turnover, morale, and even safety incidents.

Understand and use your Talents and Skills

The report provides insights into what your company can do today to accelerate Employee Engagement. The authors emphasize the need to effectively understand and use your people’s Talents, Skills, and Energy. Gallup’s research highlights the role of a manager in their employees’ engagement levels. It emphasizes the need to coach managers and hold them accountable for their employees’ engagement. This is the focus of Modelus Talent.

Talent helps you engage, motivate, and involve your team. It allows your employees to understand how they can be the most efficient and how they can bring the most value to your organization. It indicates which capabilities are important today and what you need to work on for tomorrow. It helps your employees find the right team within your organization, where they can make the best use of their talents and achieve the biggest growth.

Hold your managers accountable for Engagement

Modelus Talent streamlines Hiring and Management practices to accelerate Employee Growth and Engagement. Get ahead of your competition today. Connect with us at info@modelus.com to learn how to build a highly engaged workplace with Modelus Talent.

Educational Quizzes Marketing Video

Sat, 13 Jun 2015 01:41:00 -0100

We published a new marketing video for Educational Quizzes by modelUS. Enjoy!