Reader's Corner No: 113: Sandwich Feuds, The Extortion Economy, and Sunsetting Python 2

DesignHammer's staff shares of the week include fast food restaurant feuds, cyber insurance and the rise in randomware attacks, and preparing for Python 2's EOL.


Popeyes and Chick-fil-A’s Chicken Sandwich Feud

David Minton

Source: American Marketing Association

Takeaway: The latest battle in the fast-food wars pits the reigning king of the chicken sandwich, Chick-fil-A, to newcomer, at least when it comes to sandwiches, Popeyes. Neither strangers to social media, the two exchanged shots on Twitter, with other firms, including Wendy’s, Shake Shack, Zaxby’s and Bojangles’ entering the fray. While burgers first come to mind when thinking of fast food giants (three of the top five US chains focus on burgers), chicken is still big business, with Chick-fil-A and Popeyes combining for over $10 billion in annual revenue in the US. While we are all waiting to see how Popeyes’ new campaign turns out, Steve Heisler looks at some previous fast boot social media exchanges between fast-food heavyweights, including naming the winners and losers in the various efforts.

Tags: #SocialMedia, #Marketing


The Extortion Economy: How Insurance Companies Are Fueling a Rise in Ransomware Attacks

Michael Nicholson

Source: ProPublica

Takeaway: One of the driving forces in the increase of ransomware is 'cyber insurance.' The number of companies offering cyber insurance policies is growing rapidly, and cyber insurance is one of the few lines of insurance that is currently growing. In many cases, it is cheaper for the victim to have the insurance company pay a ransom of even hundreds of thousands of dollars rather than recover from backups or rebuild systems (Atlanta recently declined to pay a $51,000 ransom; to date they have spend $8.5 million to recover files and rebuild systems).

Tags: #InformationTechnology, #IT


Sunsetting Python 2

Jay Roberts

Source: Python.org

Takeaway: Python 2 is reaching end-of-life in 3 months. Make sure your toolchain supports Python 3.

Tags: #Programming, #Python


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