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Telegram to award grants to bot developers

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Re: Telegram to award grants to bot developers

#31

Post by mr337 »

secfirstmd wrote: post #29
mocko wrote: post #27

Telegram user here. I'm not anti-bot but puh-lease, spend this money on audited open-source crypto and secret-by-default chats rather than gimmicks like 'stickers' (yuk) and rewards for promising bots. I want a messaging app that's simple, secure, open and cross-device. Not one that's splurging on daft bloatware features while the key issues go unaddressed. [edit] to clarify the term 'cross-device' - I mean I want to…

So basically what you want is Signal then: iOS https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/signal-private-messenger/id8... Android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.thoughtcri... [Blatant plug] If you want more info on managing digital/physical security threats, check out an open source free app we just launched called Umbrella: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.secfirst.u...

Do they have a web interface? I saw something in beta that required Chromium.

Why I went telegram is the ability to use it between my linux laptops and phone without missing a beat.

Re: Telegram to award grants to bot developers

#32

Post by hardwaresofton »

jsprogrammer wrote: post #20
hardwaresofton wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you referring to where I wrote "profit made be spent on the company"? If so, I'd like to point out that expenses are not the only way you can spend on a company. Someone may also invest profit that they have made into expansion, for example. "profit" can never be consumed by expenses, by definition (as you have pointed out). Profit can, however, be re-invested in a company, as opposed to being taken by the owner…

An investment is an expenditure of money. What part of money set aside for expansion will not go to an expense? Where does it go?

How I'm understanding is that these things happen at different times.

1. Business operates for X days (1 quarter, 1 year, whatever)

2. Business calculates it's profit (revenue - expenses)

3. Business now has a choice on what to do with it's profit.

At t = 3, the profit is not an expense, though it will ultimately be used to benefit the company/cause (if it's a nonprofit).

nonprofit organizations must decide what to do with profit, if they have generated more revenue than they have expenses. The difference between a nonprofit organization (from another org) is that the profit must go either back into the company, or into the cause. Arguably, the money that goes back into the company goes into the cause anyway, as it is in service of the cause.

Maybe it's just a matter of semantics, I could see it being incorrect to call something "profit" that is never allowed to be spent on anything other than the company/cause. However, the strict definition of profit is pretty bare-bones, simply revenue - expenses, so I think it qualifies.

Re: Telegram to award grants to bot developers

#33

Post by nachtigall »

mr337 wrote: post #31
secfirstmd wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So basically what you want is Signal then: iOS https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/signal-private-messenger/id8... Android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.thoughtcri... [Blatant plug] If you want more info on managing digital/physical security threats, check out an open source free app we just launched called Umbrella: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.secfirst.u...

Do they have a web interface? I saw something in beta that required Chromium. Why I went telegram is the ability to use it between my linux laptops and phone without missing a beat.

https://whispersystems.org/blog/signal-desktop/ does it for me. As you said, it requires Chrome/Chromium

Re: Telegram to award grants to bot developers

#34

Post by robryk »

mocko wrote: post #30
secfirstmd wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So basically what you want is Signal then: iOS https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/signal-private-messenger/id8... Android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.thoughtcri... [Blatant plug] If you want more info on managing digital/physical security threats, check out an open source free app we just launched called Umbrella: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.secfirst.u...

I figured someone would say that. I want actual cross-device, not Signal's weird "link your phone up to your MacBook" solution. So not Signal as it presently stands. Also (last time I checked; maybe it has improved) Signal's support for inline media within conversations was light years behind Telegram. Don't get me wrong, I applaud Signal's focus on security, but its usability simply isn't there yet.

> (...) not Signal's weird "link your phone up to your MacBook" solution

What are the properties of this solution that you dislike?

Re: Telegram to award grants to bot developers

#35

Post by espadrine »

felixrieseberg wrote: post #25
collyw wrote: post #19

Can someone explain to me what bots are for. It looks like using something similar to a REST API over Telegram. Whats the point / use / advantage of that?

We at Microsoft think about bots as somewhat "intelligent", as in - they understand your intent. There's a little example chat with a pizza bot: It's a subtle difference, but being able to have a conversation vs navigating a flow chart is pretty powerful for a bunch of applications. Hey pizza bot! > Hey Jeremy! The usual tonight? Nah, I'd like to try something new > We have added three new items: > 1) Hawaiian > 2) B…

I wonder if you had a look at what I consider your largest competitor, Facebook Messenger. What are the pros and cons of wit.ai compared to LUIS, in terms of quality, performance, ease of setup?

Re: Telegram to award grants to bot developers

#36

Post by mkohlmyr »

mocko wrote: post #30
secfirstmd wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So basically what you want is Signal then: iOS https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/signal-private-messenger/id8... Android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.thoughtcri... [Blatant plug] If you want more info on managing digital/physical security threats, check out an open source free app we just launched called Umbrella: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.secfirst.u...

I figured someone would say that. I want actual cross-device, not Signal's weird "link your phone up to your MacBook" solution. So not Signal as it presently stands. Also (last time I checked; maybe it has improved) Signal's support for inline media within conversations was light years behind Telegram. Don't get me wrong, I applaud Signal's focus on security, but its usability simply isn't there yet.

I can't reply to the post underneath yours but I very much agree with you and for me the reason I don't want the "link your phone to your macbook" solution is because my phone and it's number are very much not going to be permanent. I do however have an email address I intend to use for a very long time.

I was actually looking for a chat solution earlier today and neither telegram nor signal fit the bill for these very reasons.

I want telegrams nice-looking apps, with signals security. Could I use WhatsApp? Maybe, but Facebook owning it makes me uncomfortable.

Re: Telegram to award grants to bot developers

#37

Post by dsp1234 »

kome wrote: post #13
johnieeboy wrote: post #2

So you have to make the bot first and then be awarded the grant?

it's a prize, not a grant. but grant just sounds better...

Good news, everyone! This year, Pavel Durov will be giving away one million dollars to bot developers in the form of grants starting at $25,000 each.

Note that 'grants' is bolded in the article. A grant is not a prize, and a prize it not a grant. So it's one or the other, and since what they are doing would normally be called a prize (or reward), the fact that they specifically mention grants is likely because it has special significance.

It's like if I say to my uncle, "I'm giving you a gift of $10,000 in the form of a loan. Enjoy your $10,000". A gift can't be a loan, and a loan can't be a gift (for tax purposes). But I might say that, because the tax treatment for loans and gifts are different.

So that goes to my question of whether or not calling it a grant has tax significance.

Re: Telegram to award grants to bot developers

#38

Post by philipplgh »

collyw wrote: post #19

Can someone explain to me what bots are for. It looks like using something similar to a REST API over Telegram. Whats the point / use / advantage of that?

https://medium.com/@philipp_lgh/building-an-ibm-watson-power...

also feel free to use the code when participating in the challenge

Re: Telegram to award grants to bot developers

#40

Post by Sanddancer »

educar wrote: post #10

So telegram is a non-profit. And they splurge 1M USD? What am I missing? Edit: to clarify, what I meant is that I expected non-profits to make good use of their money and not give away large sums of money in prize competitions. Certainly, no NGO or non-profit I know of does this. Raises a red flag for me.

There are other nonprofits that do similar. The XPrize, for example, has similar contests for space travel. Contests like this encourage groups that may be happily in the shadows to come forward and be bold, and show off what they've been working on. The money definitely will help, but creating names can be more worthwhile.
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