Probabilistic Graphical Models About the Course What are Probabilistic Graphical Models? Uncertainty is unavoidable in real-world applications: we can almost never predict with certainty what will happen in the future, and even in the present and the past, many important aspects of the world are not observed with certainty. Probability theory gives us the basic foundation to model our beliefs about the different possible states of the world, and to update these beliefs as new evidence is obtained. These beliefs can be combined with individual preferences to help guide our actions, and even in selecting which observations to make. In this class, you will learn the basics of the PGM representation and how to construct them, using both human knowledge and machine learning techniques; you will also learn algorithms for using a PGM to reach conclusions about the world from limited and noisy evidence, and for making good decisions under uncertainty. Course Syllabus Topics covered include: Introduction and Overview.
RGB-to-Hex Color Converter RGB-to-Hex Conversion Question: How do I convert RGB values of a color to a hexadecimal string? Answer: The RGB-to-hexadecimal converter algorithm is simple: make sure that your values are in the range 0...255, convert R, G, B to hex strings, and then concatenate the three hex strings together. Convert RGB to Hex color values here: function rgbToHex(R,G,B) {return toHex(R)+toHex(G)+toHex(B)} function toHex(n) { n = parseInt(n,10); if (isNaN(n)) return "00"; n = Math.max(0,Math.min(n,255)); return "0123456789ABCDEF".charAt((n-n%16)/16) + "0123456789ABCDEF".charAt(n%16); } Notes: The script parses the input R, G, B values as integers using the standard function parseInt(string,10); the second, optional argument 10 specifies that the value must be parsed as a decimal number. RGB/hex codes for named colors supported in most browsers are listed below: See also:
Coursera.org Machine learning is the science of getting computers to act without being explicitly programmed. In the past decade, machine learning has given us self-driving cars, practical speech recognition, effective web search, and a vastly improved understanding of the human genome. Machine learning is so pervasive today that you probably use it dozens of times a day without knowing it. Many researchers also think it is the best way to make progress towards human-level AI. In this class, you will learn about the most effective machine learning techniques, and gain practice implementing them and getting them to work for yourself. This course provides a broad introduction to machine learning, datamining, and statistical pattern recognition.
15 simple and effective email marketing tips To make sure your emails don’t get flagged as spam – and deleted before they even get to your subscribers – avoid using words such as ‘Free’, ‘£££’, ‘Save’, ‘Discount’, etc., in both the subject line and the content of your email. 2. Maximising Click-Thru Rates Both web pages and emails can contain a lot of text and graphics, and this sometimes makes it harder to get your subscribers to perform a certain task, such as clicking on a link to see your special offers. Numerous research papers tell us that the majority of Internet users respond better to a plain, bold, blue text link – such as this – as opposed to a banner or button. 3. If you were standing in a crowded street, which of these would get your attention: “Hi, YOU!” 4. If you want to grow your mailing list, then there’s 2 things that you absolutely must have: a double opt-in process, and a quick way to unsubscribe. 5. Don’t get accused of spamming – always, and I mean always use a double opt-in confirmation process. 6. 7. 8. 9.
Coding the Matrix: Linear Algebra through Computer Science Applications About the Course When you take a digital photo with your phone or transform the image in Photoshop, when you play a video game or watch a movie with digital effects, when you do a web search or make a phone call, you are using technologies that build upon linear algebra. Linear algebra provides concepts that are crucial to many areas of computer science, including graphics, image processing, cryptography, machine learning, computer vision, optimization, graph algorithms, quantum computation, computational biology, information retrieval and web search. Linear algebra in turn is built on two basic elements, the matrix and the vector. In this class, you will learn the concepts and methods of linear algebra, and how to use them to think about problems arising in computer science. Recommended Background You should be an experienced programmer. You are not expected to have any background in linear algebra. Suggested Readings Coding the Matrix is an optional companion textbook.
10 Essential Features of Every Good Business Website So your business has a website — or you're in need of one for your brand new venture. Web design can be an overwhelming process, so we've spoken to a few web designers who told us what you need to have on your site ... and what you can probably do without (like crazy Flash animation). The first thing you must do is secure a good, catchy URL. Make sure it makes sense for your business, doesn't have quirky spelling and is available on social platforms, too. Panabee can help you get creative if your business name is taken, and Name Vine is a great resource for seeing what's available. Once you've set up your domain, it's time to build out the site and make some big decisions. 1. Sure, a website should be aesthetically pleasing, but it's more important for it to be useful. 2. "The biggest failure that people have is that they try to build the website they want, not necessarily the website they need," says designer Josh Frankel. 3. Don't want your phone ringing off the hook? 4. 5. 6. 7. 9.
7 Mistakes to Avoid on Your Ecommerce Site We've all been there. You're all set to buy something, credit card in hand, but for one reason or another you never close the deal. Maybe the third time you were asked to enter your credit card number you gave in. Perhaps it was the exorbitant shipping costs. Maybe the site crashed. The truth is, there are at least seven things that send potential customers fleeing in horror from your website, some of which were chronicled in this perceptive comic from The Oatmeal. 1. Every 2 seconds of load time on your site equals an 8% abandonment rate, according to Gomez, the application monitor from Compuware. It's easy to see why: Do you want to waste your time waiting for a site to load? Unfortunately, there are a lot of reasons why your site is loading so slowly. 2. If you're asking consumers to take more than five steps to buy something off your site, then you're asking too much. Welcome/cart contents pageBill-to sectionShip-to sectionPayment moduleConfirmation/thank you page 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
What You Need to Know About Building a Mobile App for Your Brand In case you haven't noticed, most of your potential customers have gone mobile. Last June, consumers began spending more time on mobile apps than on the web, according to researcher Flurry. Earlier in the year, Mary Meeker, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, released a report showing that combined sales of smartphones and tablets overtook PCs for the first time. You may have noticed that you yourself are spending more time on your smartphone or tablet these days as well. While creating a mobile website seems like an easy, cheap way to maintain visibility in this environment, another option is to create your own app. How much have prices come down? Mind you, that's the average cost. iOS or Android? Now that your expectations are more grounded, it's time to take a look at your options. There are two schools of thought: One is that iOS is the standard and affords you the opportunity to create an elegant app. The choice, however, may be a false one. Keep It Simple
Research Average Email Campaign Stats of MailChimp Customers by Industry There are a lot of numbers in MailChimp's free reports, but you might be wondering how your email-marketing stats compare to others in the same industry. What kind of open rates should companies like yours expect? MailChimp sends billions of emails a month for more than 10 million users. We only tracked campaigns that went to at least 1000 subscribers, but these stats aren’t pulled from a survey of giant corporations with million-dollar marketing budgets and dedicated email-marketing teams. Updated: March 1, 2016 Average Email Campaign Stats of MailChimp Customers by Company Size What’s the average open rate for email-marketing campaigns? Tips for Improving Your Stats When it comes to subject lines, boring works best.